Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project

A project exploring the origins, legacies, connections and futures of folk tales in Lincolnshire, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (2/2024-7/2025) and hosted at Nottingham Trent University.



Get the project anthology, Lincolnshire Folk Tales Reimagined, published in March 2025 and featuring many of Lincolnshire’s finest writers reimagining local folk tales.

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  • Fabulous Coffee

    What happens when folk tales and coffee come together? Rory Waterman finds out by talking to Seven Districts Coffee founder Ben Southall.

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  • Shag Foals: the Lackey Causey Calf

    Susanna O’Neill writes about the Lackey Causey Calf, which tried to lure people into a stream between Wrawby and Brigg with the lights of its…

  • The Lincolnshire Poacher

    The Lincolnshire Poacher

    In Folklore of Lincolnshire (2013), Susanna O’Neill notes that the song is ‘akin to the National Anthem for Lincolnshire’. It has given its name to…

  • The Ungrateful Sons

    Mr Lacy leaves all his possessions to his three sons, on condition that they each take care of him, for one week at a time.…

  • Old Jeffrey

    One of England’s most famous poltergeists, and inspiration for many subsequent ghost stories. The poltergeist was reported to haunt Epworth Rectory, the childhood home of…

About the project

‘Lincolnshire Folk Tales: Origins, Legacies, Connections, Futures’ is a project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (grant number AH/Y003225/1), and is led by Dr Rory Waterman and the Research Fellow Dr Anna Milon in the School of Arts and Humanities at Nottingham Trent University. The project explores the origins, legacies, intertextual and social connections and futures of Lincolnshire folk tales (LFTs), and is intended to facilitate wider engagement with this heritage from writers, the general public, and scholars.

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