Cloven Country: The Devil and the English Landscape

by Jeremy Harte

Overview

Now in paperback, an exploration of the myths of England’s deceptively bucolic rolling hills and country lanes believed to be created and shaped by the Dark Lord himself.
 
According to legend, the English landscape—so calm on the surface—is really the Devil’s work. Cloven Country tells of rocks hurled into place and valleys carved out by infernal labor. The Devil’s hideous strength laid down great roads in one night and left scars everywhere as the hard stone melted like wax under those burning feet. With roots in medieval folklore of giants and spirits, this is not the Satan of prayer, but a clumsy ogre, easily fooled by humankind. When a smart cobbler or cunning young wife outwitted him, they struck a blow for the underdog. Only the wicked squire and grasping merchant were beyond redemption, carried off by a black huntsman in the storm. Cloven Country offers a fascinating panorama of these decidedly sinister English tales.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781789146516
Publisher:	Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date:	08/25/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	336
File size:	7 MB

About the Author

Jeremy Harte’s books include Explore Fairy Traditions, which won the Folklore Society’s Katharine Briggs Award. He is coeditor of the journal Time and Mind, and in 2006, he was elected to the Committee of the Folklore Society. He is a curator of the Bourne Hall Museum in Surrey.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1 His Work Undone: The Devil’s Ambitious Projects Fail
2 Down Tumbled the Stones: Landscapes Shaped by the Devil’s Hand
3 Have at Thee! Churches Shifted, Targeted and Raided by the Devil
4 There Stood the Stranger: Rash Deals and Binding Promises with the Devil
5 Off in a Sheet of Flame: Fighting the Devil and Escaping His Clutches
6 Neither Inside nor Outside: Raising the Devil and Laying Him Afterwards
7 Woman’s Wit Is Better than Man’s: Maidens and Mothers Beat the Devil
8 Amid the Shrieking of the Storm: The Devil Appears to Carry off Sinners
9 To Chase Forever: The Devil Is a Huntsman, and Souls Are His Prey
References
Bibliography
Photo Acknowledgements
index

Editorial Reviews

From the Devil's Chapel in the Forest of Dean to the Devil's Chimney on the Isle of Wight, the dark lord has been credited with creating huge features in our landscape. Jeremy Harte's book is a lighthearted look at the folklore behind these landmarks, uncovering mysterious stories handed down through generations. It's a devilishly entertaining romp through our countryside, just out in paperback.

This England

"This is a damnably good book, thanks largely to Harte's wit and erudition and ability to take folk tales at more than face value, and tease out inferences that would be opaque in a less insightful writer's hands."

Northern Earth

"With so much folklore resting on oral tradition, in which old cycles of storytelling disappear with the breath used to speak them, to be lost beyond recall, it is heartening to have authorities like Jeremy Harte tethering them to the record with books like this. Especially when it makes for such a wickedly good read."

Literary Review

"Come for the telling of folktales; stay for the workings of folklore. Cloven Country is testament to Harte's deep personal and learned knowledge of the folklore of England. He’s seemingly read everything and been everywhere - and given the book is illustrated from his collection, clearly also bought the postcard. His writing style is wry and frequently aphoristic. Harte is one of Britain's most eminent folklorists."

Fortean Times

"A rich and heady hodge-podge of legends and lore, some still told by locals down to the present day, narrated with verve by an expert in English folklore with an enviable gift for storytelling."

Reading Religion

"Cloven Country is an extensive and well-rounded exploration of the image of the Devil as reflected in the English landscape and folklore record, penned in Harte's inimitable clever and witty style. Although rigorously academic, you always feel like you have sat down for a pint with Jeremy, probably in a pub named after one of the Devil's exploits, whilst being regaled with tales. Pull a chair up to the fire, get yourself a drink and a copy of Cloven Country . . . You will not be disappointed."

Folklore Podcast

"Harte—a curator at Bourne Hall Museum in Surrey—has an encyclopedic knowledge of the diverse sources of England’s traditional tales and proves himself to be an authoritative guide . . . From the demon who appears as a fearsome figure hurling stones, gouging out valleys and heaping up hills, or as a sinister black-clad huntsman with his fiery-eyed hounds howling across Bodmin Moor, to ideas about how a woman’s wit is better than a man’s when it comes to besting the lord of darkness, Harte takes his reader on a devilishly entertaining tour of England and its richly storied landscape."

The Guardian

"This is my favourite book of the year so far. It is immaculately researched, superbly written and - like all Jeremy Harte’s work - genuinely breaks new ground in folklore studies. Only somebody with his breadth of knowledge, not only of the lore but of related fields of history, myth and literature, could have done as well."

Ronald Hutton

"From a perusal of any detailed map of England, you would think we were a people satanically obsessed. Place names include the Devil’s Highway, the Devil’s Punchbowl, the Devil’s Thumb, the Devil’s Frying Pan… Even midnight is 'the Devil’s dancing hour' and the dragonfly is 'the Devil’s darning needle'... Fear not, says Jeremy Harte in this fascinating study, Britain is not as terrifying as these names make it appear."

The Times

"Engagingly written and with fitting a pinch of mischief, Cloven Country is both erudite and entertaining. Jeremy Harte is one of the country’s leading folklorists and behind his relish for telling tales lies a deep understanding of how devil legends formed in our landscape. Equally delightful to read in a comfy chair or out in the field searching for the many sites he explores."

Owen Davies

"Harte has woven together a rich and wildly entertaining romp through the Devil-pocked English landscape. It is hard not to feel more than a little sympathy, given the amount of times the Devil seems to have been outwitted by all and sundry, but then he must be content in the knowledge that his efforts to disrupt have led to him being memorialized across the UK, in the form of dykes, tors, bridges, cauldrons and punch bowls."

Simon Costin