British Myths and Legends

The oldest surviving heroic legend in English begins with a wild creature of the fens that hunts men for prey.

‘Beowulf’ is the oldest surviving epic in English. Set in Scandinavia, it tells of a hero who pays off a debt of honour, by helping a family friend to rid his neighbourhood of a wretched but deadly enemy.

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A prince falls for a dazzling dance-partner who teasingly vanishes at midnight.

An unhappy young woman treated as a serving-maid by her step-sisters is magically transformed into the belle of the ball. But the prince whose heart she has captured is not content with a lover who vanishes at midnight.

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William is Cumbria’s very own blend of Robin Hood and William Tell - with a happy ending, too.

Outlaw William Cloudsley could not resist one last visit to his beloved wife and children. But the Sheriff of Carlisle was waiting for him...

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John Lambton goes fishing on a Sunday, and lets loose all kinds of trouble.

This tale from County Durham is one of the best-known local legends. A ‘worm’ is an Old English word for a dragon, in this case something strangling and slimy rather than fire-breathing. The hero (if that is the right word) is John Lambton, a much-travelled Knight of Rhodes whose father died in 1431 and left him the Lambton estates.

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A classic tale from Switzerland of overbearing authority and a father with a very steady hand.

Whenever royal families married, fought and died in Mediaeval Europe, the borders of their realms changed, and their long-suffering peoples were told to forget whatever loyalties they had sworn last, and swear new ones. There were always those willing to prosper by spying on their fellows, and according to legend, one day a Swiss archer named William Tell was spotted in an act of lese-majesty.

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