NFS on the road
In October 2025, three of the NFS project team — Dr David Clarke, Dr Diane Rodgers, and Dr Sophie Parkes-Nield — were invited to Crediton, mid-Devon, home to project partners The Folklore Library and Archive, to present to local residents about the National Folklore Survey for England.
Here we are in full flow: David Clarke, Diane A. Rodgers, and Sophie Parkes-Nield.
We talked about the need for a national folklore survey such as ours, alongside earlier attempts at similar. We described why we have chosen the methodology we have, the intricacies of survey design, and how we have consulted others along the way. And although we couldn’t reveal any early findings, we did invite the audience to attempt some of our Halloween-related survey questions and indulge us in a group discussion about Halloween celebrations and how they may have changed over the course of our lifetimes.
Our audience was extremely knowledgeable and engaged with the material, with plenty of fascinating questions and sharing of experiences, which made us even more excited about the prospect of revealing our headline findings in the coming weeks.
A huge thank you to Mark and Tracey Norman from The Folklore Library and Archive who were the perfect hosts. Not only did they organise a fantastic event, but they took us on a folklore tour of Dartmoor, stopping at Kitty Jay’s Grave, Hound Tor, Widecombe-on-the-Moor, and other folkloric sights of interest, carrying us very carefully along the roads known to be bewitched by the Hairy Hands…
Thanks to Tracey Norman for the excellent photos.