So, I was walking in our local forest today, and thought maybe we could share bits of setting and local legends to help us with out fantasy settings and maybe even place names. For instance I have NO idea what it's like to live somewhere really hot and dry, or somewhere where there is snow 6 months out of 12. Because, to all intents and purposes, I live in The Shire 
So, to start. I live 10 minutes walk from St Leonard's Forest:
As well as being part of the Ur Forest as it were ( ie part of the ancient woodland that once covered most of England. It is old, and full of memory) it has some great legends, and some really great visuals - the sort that really help with my settings.
Legend 1- St Leonard and the Dragon. Yes, my forest has ( or had) a dragon. St Leonard done killed it It's said that the aloe vera that grows there grows from the blood of the saint. Apparantly he didn't like nightingales singing and putting him off his prayers so he got rid of them too
Legend 2 - Mick Miles Race. There is a long, wide, straight path through the forest, where tis said no tree grows. Because? Local legend has it that Mick Mills (or Miles), a famous smuggler, met the Devil besides an old oak tree. The two raced for each others souls and such was their speed that the trees were set ablaze. Mick won and kept his soul but since that time no tree has grown on the path of their legendary contest.
There are a few other legends and places of interest ( The supposedly haunted Doomsday Church. I don't know about haunted but it's damn creepy. The Sunoak, with it boughs that spread in the shape of the sun's rays)
The Hammerpondstake their name from the iron smelting that dates back, possibly to roman times, but is recorded first in 1327. The pond's water drove the hammers and bellows, and the trees fed the furnaces. However, Cromwell saw the smelting round here as a bit of a threat so he sent a force to destroy them and the ponds were mostly left to revert to nature.
Here they are:
And then we come to the town. Parts of the town date back to...oooh a long time ago (Here are some older houses that got relocated to a musuem. <-- that will take you to a virtual tour) It has a few peculiarities, such as twitten paths ( possibly derived from 'betwixt and between') , that is, paths that strike the quickest route, sometimes dividing two houses that are built over them. The houses are such that even at my lowly height I almost need to duck to get through the doors .
This one is on my way to work ( this is pictured just as it comes out from between the houses. )
So -- How about where you are? Pictures, legends, etc, that might spark something in someone who would never otherwise know about it.
So, to start. I live 10 minutes walk from St Leonard's Forest:
As well as being part of the Ur Forest as it were ( ie part of the ancient woodland that once covered most of England. It is old, and full of memory
) it has some great legends, and some really great visuals - the sort that really help with my settings. Legend 1- St Leonard and the Dragon. Yes, my forest has ( or had) a dragon. St Leonard done killed it
It's said that the aloe vera that grows there grows from the blood of the saint. Apparantly he didn't like nightingales singing and putting him off his prayers so he got rid of them too Legend 2 - Mick Miles Race. There is a long, wide, straight path through the forest, where tis said no tree grows. Because? Local legend has it that Mick Mills (or Miles), a famous smuggler, met the Devil besides an old oak tree. The two raced for each others souls and such was their speed that the trees were set ablaze. Mick won and kept his soul but since that time no tree has grown on the path of their legendary contest.
There are a few other legends and places of interest ( The supposedly haunted Doomsday Church. I don't know about haunted but it's damn creepy. The Sunoak, with it boughs that spread in the shape of the sun's rays)
The Hammerpondstake their name from the iron smelting that dates back, possibly to roman times, but is recorded first in 1327. The pond's water drove the hammers and bellows, and the trees fed the furnaces. However, Cromwell saw the smelting round here as a bit of a threat
so he sent a force to destroy them and the ponds were mostly left to revert to nature. Here they are:
And then we come to the town. Parts of the town date back to...oooh a long time ago
(Here are some older houses that got relocated to a musuem. <-- that will take you to a virtual tour) It has a few peculiarities, such as twitten paths ( possibly derived from 'betwixt and between') , that is, paths that strike the quickest route, sometimes dividing two houses that are built over them. The houses are such that even at my lowly height I almost need to duck to get through the doors . This one is on my way to work ( this is pictured just as it comes out from between the houses. )
So -- How about where you are? Pictures, legends, etc, that might spark something in someone who would never otherwise know about it.
