Legends of the Sea & Shore

The coast and the deep water hold their own company — mermaids and selkies, drowned bells and sunken lands, the ghost ships and warning lights of the wrecking coasts. These are the stories of communities that lived by a sea that gave and took in equal measure, and of the shoreline as a threshold between worlds.

GhostsCyhyraethRiver Tywi Valley and Glamorganshire coast, WalesA Welsh death omen — a disembodied wailing voice heard in the dark, always three times, always before a death. It has no body to see, only a sound described as a fading, groaning cry, most often heard near water or along the coast of Glamorgan before a wreck. PiratesDaniel Fall, the Pirate of the Norfolk CoastGreat Yarmouth, Norfolk, EnglandPrivateer Daniel Fall, sailing under American colours with letters of marque from three nations, terrorised the Norfolk coast in 1780-82 — a Yarmouth gravestone still marks 'the infamy of Fall the Pirate'. DeitiesDonnBull Rock (Tech Duinn), Beara Peninsula, County Cork, MunsterDonn, the Dark One, drowned during the Milesian invasion of Ireland and was buried on Bull Rock — Tech Duinn, the House of the Dead, where he decreed all souls must gather after death. Aquatic LegendsDoom BarCornwallA dangerous sandbar at the mouth of the River Camel, linked to the Mermaid of Padstow. In legend, a dying mermaid cursed the harbour after being shot, raising the bar to wreck ships forever. Fae & SpiritsDu SithIsle of Islay, ScotlandThe Black Elf of Islay — a wholly malevolent fairy of the Inner Hebrides, said to haunt the moorland and coastal margins of the island. Unlike the mischievous fairy folk, the Du Sith bears nothing but hostility toward any human it encounters. Fae & SpiritsDuergarNorthumberlandMalevolent dwarf-like spirits of the Northumberland border hills, the Duergar lure travellers off safe paths with lights on moonless nights and abandon them on cliff edges. Associated specifically with the Simonside Hills, they are among the most ill-disposed fairy beings in northern English tradition. Sacred SitesDunwich: The Drowned City BellsDunwich, Suffolk, EnglandOnce East Anglia's greatest port, medieval Dunwich was swallowed by the sea in the 1280s — during storms, the bells of eight sunken churches are still heard ringing from the deep. WitchesDòideag of MullIsle of Mull, Argyll, ScotlandThe Dòideag—'Little Frizzle'—was the most feared storm-witch of the Isle of Mull, famed for raising tempests; in 1588 she is said to have called down fire that sank a Spanish Armada galleon in Tobermory harbour, whose treasure-laden wreck lies unraised to this day. Aquatic LegendsEach-UisgeArgyll, ScotlandThe water horse of the Highland lochs — more dangerous than the Kelpie of rivers. It took the form of a fine grey horse or a beautiful stranger; those who mounted it could not dismount as it plunged into the depths. Only iron or the scent of horsehair could break the glamour. PiratesEustace the MonkEnglish ChannelA renegade monk turned mercenary pirate, Eustace terrorised the Channel for both England and France in the early 1200s — and was rumoured to have learned black magic in a cave at Toledo. BeastsFad FelenGlamorgan, WalesThe Yellow Plague — a monstrous creature of Welsh legend whose breath carried pestilence across the land. Said to take the form of a great serpent or a yellow mist rolling off the mountains, it features in tales of St Teilo who fled its devastation across the sea to Brittany. DragonsFiley DragonNorth YorkshireA fearsome dragon that made its lair in the tidal gully of Filey Brigg. The townsfolk defeated it by luring it to eat so much sticky parkin cake that its jaws seized shut and it plunged into the sea to drown. The jagged rocks of the Brigg are said to be its bones, jutting into the North Sea still. Aquatic LegendsFinfolkOrkneyPowerful sea-sorcerers of Orcadian folklore who move between the underwater realm of Finfolkaheem and the vanishing island of Hildaland. They steal mortals for spouses and servants. GiantsGiant of Petta WaterPetta Water and Kneefell, Shetland Mainland, ScotlandA Shetland giant who tried to carry off the trows that pestered him, but his kishie basket broke under their weight and scattered them across the landscape. His footprint became Petta Water, and the hollow where he knelt became Kneefell. Sacred SitesGiant's CausewayBushmills, County AntrimFionn mac Cumhaill built a stone road to fight the giant Benandonner — then, seeing his rival's size, hid as a baby. Convinced the 'infant's' father must be monstrous, Benandonner fled, ripping up the road behind him. Aquatic LegendsGlashtynIsle of ManThe water horse of the Isle of Man — a shape-shifting creature that emerges from sea and loch as a fine grey stallion, and, like its Scottish cousin the Each-Uisge, ensures that any rider who mounts it cannot dismount as it plunges back into the deep. GiantsGogmagogCornwallThe last of the giants of Albion, said to have roamed Cornwall before being cast into the sea by the Trojan hero Corineus. Effigies of Gog and Magog still march in the Lord Mayor's Show — ancient guardians of the City of London. PiratesGrace O'MalleyRockfleet Castle, County MayoThe sea-captain Gráinne Ní Mháille ruled the shores of Clew Bay and negotiated with Elizabeth I as an equal. Rockfleet Castle, her stronghold on the tidewater, remains the place most closely bound to her legend. Sacred SitesGranny Kempock StoneGourock, ScotlandA hooded standing stone above Gourock harbour, walked round seven times by newlyweds and sailors for luck — and, in 1662, the alleged target of a witch coven who tried to topple it into the sea. Sacred SitesGreat Bell of Burgh le MarshLincolnshire, EnglandIn 1629, sexton Guymer locked himself in Burgh le Marsh church and rang the bell through a storm until he died at the rope — his sacrifice steering a doomed ship clear of the Lincolnshire shore. Aquatic LegendsGreat Silkie of Sule SkerryOrkney, ScotlandOn the lonely rock of Sule Skerry, the Great Silkie sheds his sealskin to father a human child, then claims them both — paying in gold and foretelling the day a gunner's shot will end them all. Sacred SitesGulf of CorryvreckanBetween Jura and Scarba, ArgyllOne of the world's great whirlpools, feared in Gaelic tradition and tied to tales of sea trials, drowned princes, and the Cailleach washing her plaid in the roaring waters. DeitiesGwyWelsh MarchesThe second daughter of the giant Plynlimon, who raced her sisters from the mountain summit to the sea. She became the River Wye — a liminal boundary between Wales and England, civilisation and wilderness. Her valley holds Tintern Abbey and some of the oldest oak forest in Britain. PiratesHard Apple Blyth, the Smuggler of PagleshamPaglesham, Essex, EnglandPaglesham's churchwarden, grocer and parish constable William 'Hard Apple' Blyth ran a smuggling operation under the noses of the very authorities he was sworn to serve.
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