Folklore of Kent

This book covers a truly wide range of folklore- from the Hop-Pickers, Wassailing to the Hooden Horse- and of course Kent’s long history of witchcraft and cunning folk. Tales of black dogs and devil blessed parsley cover these pages. Shell art and tales of Ivy maids are not to be missed, nor is the Shrovetide festivities or ‘beating the bounds’. A great look at the landscape and why East and West Kent are so thoroughly different in culture and understanding- this book should be on your shelf if you’re interested in county folklore, myth, legend, culture and song.

Why we love it

As a canting lass from Kent, I’m happy to say that this book remain true to the folklore and culture  of Kent- I was able to pick things out from this book that many of my own family have participated in over the years. (Some of which even I wasn’t aware of being old traditions!)  It gives a wide range of traditions and customs and gives just enough information- and a great bibliography- to be able to research further. A thoroughly good book!

Of Note

Some of the folklore mentioned in this book more so belongs to the Kentish Canting Tribes, rather than to Kent as a whole. For example, in the chapters on Hop Pickers “Part of the mystique of the Kentish Hop Yards was created by the special language Indigenous to their work”- the language they are speaking, unbeknownst to the authors is actually Hopper’s Cant, a Canting language specific to the Hopping Trade- or the Hopper’s Tribe. This specific tribe had it’s own traditions, songs, religions and so forth that was then shared with the other Canting tribes. Many of the other things mentioned in the book are also of the Canting Tribes- a specific culture which although can be Kentish, isn’t the same as Kentish culture on the whole. Ironically, the authors use Canting words in this tome without even realising it!

In a similar vein, words such as ‘tinker’ and ‘gipsy’ are used in this book- based on how people identified at the time of the historical notes being written. These days people often prefer to use other names for these particular Canting tribes, such as Irish Travellers, Summer Walkers, Pavee and Romany.

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