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.



Our books:
Rory Waterman, Devils in the Details: On Location with Folk Tales in England’s Forgotten County (Five Leaves, 2026), exploring folk tales across Lincolnshire, and the places associated with them.
Anna Milon and Rory Waterman (eds), Lincolnshire Folk Tales Reimagined (Five Leaves, 2025), featuring fourteen of Lincolnshire’s finest writers reimagining local folk tales.

news
  • Rory Waterman I’m not a ‘guest writer’, I’ll confess: I was the project lead on the Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project during its funded period, and now keep the website going on my own. But please excuse the indulgence. My new book, Devils in the Details: On Location with Folk Tales in…

Latest Articles
  • Ciapek

    Is a wholly true story a folk tale? Well, no, not according to most definitions – but what if that story involves a folk hero?…

  • Twyford Wood (RAF North Witham)

    Twyford Wood (RAF North Witham)

    RAF North Witham was established in 1942, and closed in 1960. It encroached upon what had been Twyford Forest, and after the closure of the…

  • Jack and the Day of the Fair

    Jack and the Day of the Fair

    We love receiving original contributions of creative writing. Below, you’ll find a new addition to the Jack tale genre, sent to us by Peter Irons,…

  • The Leaning Tower of Surfleet

    The Leaning Tower of Surfleet

    The tower of St Lawrence’s Church, Surfleet leans towards the main road through the village, which straddles the River Glen.

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.