The Newcastle Castle occupies a strange position in the city centre. So strange that some people can’t believe we have a castle in town at all!

Various buildings have stood on the site for centuries, dating back to the Romans and their Pons Aelius fort. Robert Curthose, the eldest son of William the Conqueror, originally founded Newcastle Castle in 1080.

This early castle was made from wood, and builders rebuilt the castle in stone between 1168 and 1178. It has been a castle, a prison, a beer cellar and Civil War stronghold. Now, it’s a visitor attraction, and one that I highly recommend seeing if you can.

But as with any English castle, stories both sad and strange abound within Newcastle Castle. Let’s examine three of its legends as part of our exploration of folklore found within cities in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/newcastle-castle/

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Walk along Stowell Street in Newcastle upon Tyne and turn into St Andrew’s Street, and you might notice a plaque on the wall. It marks the site of the house where Tyneside bard Joe Wilson was born - though it’s unclear how many people know who Joe Wilson is.

There was a resurgence of interest in the 19th-century songwriter a few years ago, particularly thanks to the musical play, The Great Joe Wilson, that toured the north east in 2018. It was a rousing, whistle-stop tour of the bard’s short life and songs.

But who was he, and why is he important if we’re looking at a city through a folklore lens? Let’s find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/joe-wilson

Hear 'Keep Yor Feet Still, Geordie Hinny': https://youtu.be/W4BBDu8pd7s?si=MYyov6vkqNjYpvRV

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Find the links to the writing workshops here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/start-here/

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Inhabitants of the Tyneside region are undoubtedly familiar with the 19th-century song, 'The Blaydon Races'. It describes a journey from Newcastle's city centre to Blaydon to see the races, and even became immortalised in art. The song is traditionally sung in the local Geordie dialect, although over time, some of the language has softened to make it more easily understood by outsiders.

Now sung at football and rugby events in the area, the song preserves a slice of history, and the characters that populated the area at the time. Given this month's focus on exploring a city's folk life through its history, looking at a folk song that came to represent the city seems the ideal subject for an episode!

But what are the Blaydon Races, and why did they end up being the subject of a music-hall song? Let's find out in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/blaydon-races

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

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Newcastle upon Tyne is famous for many things: its bridges, nightlife, and being the birthplace of Greggs are just some of them. We've seen plenty of world firsts here, been on the frontline of science and technology, witnessed ethical consumption in the 18th century, and turned a Roman settlement into a city.

But our disasters are perhaps less well-known. Newcastle has suffered from plague, fire, flood, and cholera - among other things. Why don't we hear about these as often, if at all?

Let's explore the Great Plague of 1636, the Great Flood of 1771, and the Great Fire of 1854 to see what they can tell us about the city we can encounter here in the 2020s in this week's episode of Fabulous Folklore.

Find the blog post with all the images and references here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/newcastle-disasters

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

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We're onto the final instalment in this series of Festive Folklore episodes, that are coming to you with the help of some of my Fabulous Folklore friends! This time we're turning our attention to New Year and I'm joined by my podcasting pals, Bethan Briggs-Miller and Ailsa Clarke, and together they are Eerie Essex!

We chat about nut-related stock market predictions, ways to bring good luck into your new year, the Mari Lwyd, and our own New Year traditions and practices.

Find Eerie Essex online: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1827712

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

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Dr Kate Cherrell is a writer and broadcaster specialising in the long 19th century and paranormal history. Her academic interests include 19th-century Spiritualism, mourning traditions, the gothic, the monstrous feminine, and death history. She is the author of Begotten (2025), Memorials to the Dead (2026), and writes commercially on paranormal history for various magazines and publishers. She is co-founder of Not of this Wold festival, director of The Bats’ Ball annual cemetery gathering and sits on the director’s board of Lincoln Book Festival. As a historian, she has co-hosted Haunted Homecoming, Unexplained: Caught on Camera and has provided historical expertise on The Yorkshire Exorcist, Paranormal, and Weird Britain.

In this chat, we talk about the fashion for Christmas ghost stories, where it came from, why television plays such a big role in our fascination with MR James at Christmas, and where the genre might go next!

Find Kate online: https://burialsandbeyond.com/

Order Begotten: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/12992/9781803418049

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

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For this third episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm adding my own tale to the noble tradition of the Christmas ghost story! And it arrives right ahead of the winter solstice...

With plenty of folklore Easter eggs for you to spot, I'm also ably supported with storytelling content by my podcast pals, Owen Staton from The Time Between Times podcast, Wayne Gilbert from the Eerie Edinburgh podcast, and Dave Silk, the storyteller coming to you from the heart of Old Newcastle.

So pull up a chair, get comfy, and enjoy...

Find The Time Between Times podcast at: https://www.youtube.com/@TimebetweenTimes

Find the Eerie Edinburgh podcast at: https://eerieedinburgh.com/

Find Dave Silk at: http://instagram.com/davetaleteller/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

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Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

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For this second episode in our Festive Folklore series for December 2025, I'm joined by my podcast pals, The Faerie Folk podcast and Sian Powell from Celtic Myths & Legends.

We discuss some plant-based traditions from Herefordshire, the Mari Lwyd, and Cornwall's Montol Festival. We also talk about Christmas films, our own Christmas traditions, and what we'll be enjoying for Christmas dinner...

Find The Faerie Folk at: https://thefaeriefolk.libsyn.com/

Find Celtic Myths & Legends at: https://celticmythspodcast.libsyn.com/

Get your free guide to home protection the folklore way here: https://www.icysedgwick.com/fab-folklore/

Become a member of the Fabulous Folklore Family for bonus episodes and articles at https://patreon.com/bePatron?u=2380595

Buy Icy a coffee or sign up for bonus episodes at: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick

Fabulous Folklore Bookshop: https://uk.bookshop.org/shop/fabulous_folklore

Pre-recorded illustrated talks: https://ko-fi.com/icysedgwick/shop

Request an episode: https://forms.gle/gqG7xQNLfbMg1mDv7

Get extra snippets of folklore on Instagram at https://instagram.com/icysedgwick

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