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The Haxey Hood
The Haxey Hood is a game, played annually on the twelfth day of Christmas. It involves a ‘lord’, a ‘fool’, eleven ‘boggins’ including a ‘chief boggin’ and anyone else who wants to join in – usually a few hundred people.
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Havelok and Grim
The name Grimsby comes from the Old Norse male name Grímr, and the suffix ‘by’, which denotes a settlement. That is all we know for fact, but there hangs a tale. The tale is as follows: Havelok, rightful king of the Danes, is brought up by a lowly…
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Avoiding the Toll
Johnny o’ the Grass was a wiseman from Louth, and allegedly got his powers by making a deal with the Devil. An old tale informs us that he rode up to Tibs Toll-bar, near Girsby Hall, and was told he had to pay a toll for his donkey but not for himself…
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St Botolph & the Devil
It is often windy around St Botolph’s Church, commonly referred to as the Boston Stump. This wind is often particularly strong on the footpath by the tower, the most exposed spot in the churchyard. But don’t make the mistake of thinking that is because this side of the churchyard is next to the river, which…
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Little Hugh
The tale of Little Saint Hugh is perhaps the most prominent of several antisemitic tales of child murder that proliferated in England in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. His death in 1255 led to the Crown prosecuting alleged Jewish ritual child murder…
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Doddington Hall Ghosts
One of Doddington’s several reported ghosts is that of a young woman is said to jump from the roof of this Jacobean stately home (which can be visited), screaming as she falls. It is said that she is escaping the unwanted advances of a squire.
Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project 