Tales of witches, dragons and ghosts are the just some of the highlights of an annual campaign exploring North Yorkshire’s rich history.
To celebrate Local and Community History Month in May, the library service has joined up with museums, artists and storytellers to host a range of folklore-themed events.
Ryedale Folk Museum in Hutton le Hole has been entertaining visitors with stories of witchcraft on the North York Moors for decades.
The museum has three unusual carved oak wooden columns, known as witch posts, that supposedly have the power to prevent evil. Fewer than 20 are known to exist.
As part of the month-long campaign, Pickering Library is hosting a talk about witches’ heritage on the Moors featuring collections at the museum including the witch posts and tokens. It will be held at 2pm on Friday, 12 May.
North Yorkshire County Record Office will hold pop-up archive displays with sessions from 10am to 2pm on Wednesday, 10 May, at Skipton Library, from 10am to 2pm on Friday, 12 May, at Whitby Library, and from 10am to 1pm on Monday, 15 May, at Richmond Library.
Staff from County Archives will bring records of local interest including historic maps, photos, recipes, remedies and tales of witches from the collections.
Executive member for libraries, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “We are really excited to be hosting folklore-themed events throughout May in partnership with local tourist attractions and storytellers.
“Many villages and towns have traditional stories about wise old women, hermits, hobs and fairies or sightings of ghostly apparitions and strange beasts roaming the Moors and Dales.
“This annual campaign provides an opportunity for local people to explore the county’s heritage. Every North Yorkshire community has a story to tell.”
In Craven, libraries are working with the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) which has donated packs of story trails based around folklore in north Craven. Visitors will be able to learn about a hidden giant, curious howlet, horrible trolls and mysterious boggart in four family story trails around Stainforth, Ribblehead, Clapham and Feizor. Library visitors will be able to collect the trails from libraries in Bentham, Settle, Skipton and Ingleton for a small donation to the YDMT for the duration of Local History Month.
Among the other events on offer are ghost story readings at Knaresborough Library with the Knaresborough Mummers at 7pm on Thursday, 4 May. The Whitby storyteller will be at Whitby Library for a talk on legends and folklore at 5pm on Friday, 19 May.
The Kirkbymoorside History Group is also leading two guided walks in the town on Victorian and Edwardian Kirkbymoorside and hidden histories which will include stories of local ghosts at 10am on Saturday, 27 May.
Skipton Library holds in its archive the spell book of Timothy Crowther, who was both Skipton’s Town Clerk and “cunning man” in the late 1700s, which has long fascinated social historians in the UK and abroad. Dr Tabitha Stanmore, a historian from the University of Exeter who specialises in magic and witchcraft in medieval and early modern England, will explore the life of Crowther and the role magic played in 18th century Britain at Skipton Library at 2.30pm on Thursday, 18 May.
Northallerton Library will be hosting a dragon-themed story telling session by Hoglets Theatre followed by a puppet-making workshop from 10am on Saturday, 20 May.
To find out more about what is happening during Local and Community History Month and to book your place, visit your local library branch or individual Facebook page.
Library members can take advantage of free resources including historic newspapers, maps, ephemera in local studies collections in branches as well as access to a number of online resources.