Owen Davies

The best kind of indie bookshop is one that stocks 8 copies of your book, has somewhere cosy for the littlun to sit while you sign them, & can involve a muddy trek through a beautiful clough to get there

P.S. there are 8 signed copies of #Folklore in Hebden Bridge's The Book Case

Folklore in the landscape garden. Fancy a maypole? Researching 18th-19thC garden aesthetics. Influential Thomas Whately (1726-1772) suggested:

"if a situation can be found for a May-pole, whence it would not obtrude itself on every view, that also might not be improper"

When saving becomes loss: Archival memory in the digital age Explore archival memory, data loss, and attempts to preserve the past in the digital age at this year’s Annual Digital Lecture.

Join us on 20 November for the Annual Digital Lecture, a partnership between The National Archives, UK and the School of Advanced Study. The wonderful @nannathylstrup.bsky.social will be speaking about ‘When saving becomes loss: archival memory in the digital age’. Free to register!

Enjoy!

Thanks @pressgazette for this report on @thenerve.news first week.

We’ve blasted past through our targets. New newsletter out today so please do sign up www.thenerve.news & a huge thank you to everyone who’s supported us so far! 🙏🙏 🙏

Folklore & nature. When modern understanding trumps the idea of "folk wisdom". A century ago & more, hedgehogs and grass snakes were terribly persecuted in Britain. Killed in their many thousands because they were thought to suck the milk from cows. Read more in our new book.

Screenshot saying “Full list of books used to traunAnthropic AI model released”

No, @thebookseller.com this is not the full list of books used to train Anthropic’s AI. It excludes many books (including mine) that were stolen and used but which do not meet the specific criteria of the settlement. Books not copyrighted in the US are excluded, so UK editions get nothing.

Absolute Units - a podcast from The Museum of English Rural Life.

New Absolute Units is live!

Join us and @katrinanavickas.bsky.social as we explore resistance to enclosure in the modern era: from riots, to raves, to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

Listen below, or search 'Absolute Units' wherever you get your podcasts!

merl.reading.ac.uk/explore/abso...

'as a rich and fascinating overview and introduction to British folklore this book is really essential reading for anyone interested in the subject. I know I’ll be returning to my copy again and again' - a lovely review of #Folklore on @shinynewbooks.bsky.social shinynewbooks.co.uk/folklore-a-j...

Be the fairest of them all, excel at domestic chores & rely on your prince to ensure a happy ending? But folklore & fairytale give us much more than gender stereotypes. Come hear me talk on #Folklore & Women in Liverpool on 5 Nov (& Nottingham 19 Nov) www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/folklore-w...

“Know how to make this work for you.”

This is the last set of posts from the French History Network ECR in 2025*

We asked what advice ECRs would give to other ECRs or PG students.

🗃️

frenchhistorysociety.co.uk/6695/

Thanks Claire! Hope you enjoy it.

Where now for Britain’s Universities? UK higher education now faces a very bleak future, retreating in the face of little public sympathy and limited political interest.

New from me: a *free* short version of my Political Quarterly piece on universities... The issue is settled now: the massified and accessible Higher Education system we have spent tens of billions building since the 1970s is coming to an end. (1/2)
politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...

Where now for Britain’s Universities? UK higher education now faces a very bleak future, retreating in the face of little public sympathy and limited political interest.

For this reason, and apart from the occasional article, I won't be sounding off much more about the great university debacle. Let's see what's in the White Paper and Budget, but I've advocated enough and huge upheaval and shrinkage is now inevitable. (2/2)
politicalquarterly.org.uk/blog/where-n...

Great news!
JSTOR now have a free account with an Independent Researcher category. You can access 100 documents per month

www.jstor.org/action/showL...

Fantastic #openaccess article 📄 by @dralanagharris.bsky.social & Laura Mitchison in Transactions @royalhistsoc.org on disability, ethics, public history, photography & oral history: Essential read for any of us doing public engagement work on sensitive histories. 🌟

www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

That's it! Send my thanks to your friend.

Thanks Stephen. It is at Wycoller, but not that bridge!

That's the card I bought that got me going on this! Thanks very much for further info on bridge. Appreciated. Will take a look tomorrow.

Thanks. Looking for an image to compare.

Packhorse bridge photos - Goyt Valley I've just come across some wonderful photos of the old packhorse bridge on Flickr. I'm not sure when they were taken - perhaps in the '30s or '40s. The bridge now spans the Goyt about a mile upstream.

Thanks Hannah! It does look similar, but the stone coursing looks different and the land on therigh side of the bridge this historic photo of the same... Will look for more images of same www.goyt-valley.org.uk/tonys-packho...

No luck so far!

The Haunted Bridge. A mystery to solve ... I have this postcard called "The Haunted Bridge" but cannot identify it. It's described as a British beauty spot. The card was posted from Nottingham, early 20thc.

Woo hoo!
I'm also going to be revealing some of the research I've been doing this year on the 1980s, unpublished work in progress, to get feedback from you contemporary historians out there.

The front cover of Ancient Times zine

Its here!

The first ever Ancient Times, our new zine covering everything stone related and beyond.

This issue contains French Megaliths, Daniel Gumb, Flint, Stonehenge, Druids and more!

40 pages of stone-mania.

Copies will be shipped in October.

stoneclub.bigcartel.com/product/anci...

Considering turbulent current times, we do consider the issue of Englishness/Britishness and the use of folklore in the book, as well as Welshness and Scottishness.

Folklore front cover

Folklore back cover

Publishing today!

From village rituals and fairytales to UFOs and fanfiction, witches, wizards and wickermen, British folklore is a living tradition that continues on.

Available from all good bookshops and online now.
@cerihoulbrook.bsky.social
@odavies9.bsky.social
#folklore #booksky

Thank you! I'm sure we could arrange a copy if you want to send an address.

Thanks Paul. Look forwarding to your new Reaktion book.