The Jolly Reiver

Cannock Museum and Theatre to close

In a sad but not unexpected decision Cannock Chase council, having completed the 'consultation period' have decided to proceed with the closure of the local theatre and museum.

This was despite massive local resistance, and in the face of the proposed savings being realistically negligible.

To anyone paying attention this outcome was a foregone conclusion, the consultation period lasted a short time over the Christmas/ Yuletide period when everyone is thinking about personal matters.

The survey they sent out also focused heavily on what should be done regarding heritage once these assets were gone.

This decision degrades the area and robs it of access to importance heritage assets.

My advice is: Take an instrest in your local heritage now, learn and save what you can, before they try to bury even more of it.

My new video on Dorset’s most haunted church is now available on Patreon!

Was filming in Dorset recently in the ruins of an old church and was approached by a man in his 60s out walking his dog.

He was curious as to what I was doing and said he wasn’t surprised I was filming in Dorset because “this county is the most beautiful in England, it’s unspoiled by ‘progress’ and still feels like home”.

I had a similar situation in a pub in Somerset in the evening after a day of filming. Couple of local lads a few years younger than me saw my tripod and gear under my table and asked what I was doing. They proceeded to tell me why Somerset was the most beautiful county and recommending places that I simply must not miss. Usually these chats would lead to people telling me how bad the country’s decline is, as if I wasn’t already aware.

There were other situations similar to these as well. Filming in an old Manor House, the lovely old lady volunteer telling me about her deep connection to the area and why this house is so important.

Was great to see such local pride from young and old. It’s true that the cities in the YOOKAY are increasingly just ugly hellscapes full of awful people (one big change I’ve noticed recently is petrol station cashiers behind thick security glass and far more shelves/aisles locked up for security in supermarkets).

But the countryside of England is still beautiful, safe, and filled with good people. A real land of contrast at the moment.

https://youtu.be/yMaKBLOZ5qk?si=Q8x8ydfARPCU4xHd

My new video is up for Patrons now and will be out on YouTube tomorrow.

There’s a small village in Wiltshire where a number of features in the local area are named after a black dog. I went there to investigate the gruesome story behind this 🐺

I had hoped that I’d see some of the wild horses I’d heard about in the West Country, but no luck. However as I was finishing up on my last day of filming, one appeared from nowhere, approached me, and allowed me to stroke her.

Magical experience 🐴

What could’ve happened here? 👀

The Dead Woman’s Ditch was my 20th filming location this week. Big project on the way.

I’ve always disliked Cider. However after staying with The Wessex Nomad and being introduced to proper West Country Cider, I have since changed my position.

One of my most popular videos from the days when I made my content on my old mobile phone was the story of the Pirate of Porlock. Seems only fitting I do a remake, filmed on location on the north coast of Somerset! 🏴‍☠️

Glastonbury Tor. Another one of those locations where the pictures just cannot do it justice.

England is beautiful 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

A proper gem amongst the sea of new-age hippie shops in Glastonbury 🍺

Visited Castle Rising in Norfolk. Comfy place. On to Cambridgeshire now where I’ll film a video before heading to Somerset.

Sadly the Dark Hedges in County Antrim has taken a battering in this storm. It wasn’t too long ago that 6 were cut down for safety concerns, with 5 more due to be cut down soon. Less than half of the trees remain now, with huge gaps in what was once a long corridor.

Here’s a link to my video about the ghost of the dark hedges, filmed on location in 2023.

https://youtu.be/R8ZbcojFDnw?si=mK1u0qihVRI4jagc

Appreciate heritage while you can because things can be lost at any moment.

I’m on X if you’d like to follow me there. Probably won’t post anything that I won’t post on here but there it is

https://x.com/thejollyreiver?s=21

But chances are all around you. It is the mark of the kind of man I mean that he makes his own chances. You can't hold him back. I've never met him, and yet I seem to know him so well. There are heroisms all round us waiting to be done. It's for men to do them, and for women to reserve their love as a reward for such men. But you shouldn’t do it merely to please me. You should do it because you can’t help it, because it’s natural to you - because the man in you is crying out for heroic expression!

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World

First video for YouTube of 2025 now up!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2u1sAkjEg8k&t=326s

Had phone calls with the owners of 2 private castles today.

I’m slowly building up a network of connections with privately owned castles and building good relationships with their owners.

Instead of just using online images of castles or getting drone footage of the outside without permission, I’m arranging to get private tours where I can not only bring you the folklore/stories of these locations, but share their family history, interview the owners, etc. I have 3 arranged so far, the first one I’ll go to once I’m back from my SW filming trip.

While at the present time I only have small and medium castles lined up, I do have my sights set on some big ones too.

Making a few changes to this itinerary. There’ll be no more Estonia videos because I think 3 is enough now to be honest. I was meant to fly out today to film in Slovakia but I’m no longer able to due to a knee injury. I’m quite relieved in a way though tbh.

I think it’s nice to maybe include some foreign folklore stuff once in a while but if I recorded in 🇸🇰, 🇦🇹 & 🇭🇺 as I planned to then that would be maybe like 8/9 videos total filmed abroad. The main reason I set up my channel was to preserve 🇬🇧 & 🇮🇪 folklore and I don’t want to get away from this too much.

I’m presently bashing out scripts for my upcoming trip to South West England. It’s around 6 hours drive for me so SW English folklore isn’t something I can put up regularly. So I’ll be maximising my time down there and want at least 6 videos to come out of this. Some will be filmed with The Wessex Nomad and some will be just me.

I’ll also be taking into account the results of the poll from Jan 6 and prioritising the most popular topics of 🪨💀🍄🛡️

New Video: A Walking Tour of the Folklore of Tallinn’s Old Town

This is my last video filmed in Estonia. I think 3 is enough tbh. Back to Britain after this.

But in this video I take a look at lore and legend in this Baltic capital.

https://youtu.be/LLc8vDphMVo?si=ESQpbDH5bFfa68Z-

One of the best sources of folklore from northern England and Scotland is Henderson’s book Notes on the Folklore of the Northern Counties.

Published in 1866, he collects countless stories, legends, beliefs, traditions, etc in an age when these things are fast starting to die out.

If, for example, you’ve heard of Redcaps, it was Henderson that collected all the info we have on them by speaking to borderers and recording it in his book.

I’ve managed to obtain a first edition. 159 year old. It’s taken me years to find one of these. Can’t imagine there’s many left!

My most recent (nearly finished) watercolour. This is the Hurlestane, or Hurl Stone, on the moors near Chillingham Castle.

Thought to be placed here by a giant long ago, the stone is said to be a favourite haunt of the Faery folk. There are many old accounts of sweet harp music emanating from here, as well as sightings of faeries dancing in a ceremony sort of way.

I went here once and all the cows in the field were forming a protective ring around it, oddly enough.

My new video is out for Patreon followers now. My final video in Estonia, a walking tour of the folklore of the Old Town. Will be posted on YouTube on Friday at 6pm.

“The age in which we live is remarkable, as in other points of view, so in this, that old habits and customs, old laws and sayings, old beliefs and superstitions, which have held their ground in the universal mind from the remotest antiquity, are fast fading away and perishing. We of the nineteenth century may congratulate ourselves on their disappearance; we may lament it, but the fact remains the same; and I for one will frankly acknowledge that I regret much which we are losing, that I would not have these vestiges of the past altogether effaced. It were pity that they should utterly pass away, and leave no trace behind.
My heart as well as my imagination is too closely bound up with the sayings and doings which gave zest to the life of my forefathers, and so I became a FolkLore student.”

William Henderson, reflecting on age-old British customs and folklore dying out in 1866.

Ava’s first birthday 🎂

Well, 2024 comes to an end and I thank everyone that has watched and shared my videos. I didn’t get as much done this year as I’d hoped to due to personal reasons but I’ve got huge plans for 2025:

1. I’ll be uploading the final 2 videos I filmed in Estonia, the ghosts & legends of Tallinn’s Old Town

2. I’ll be filming in some Slovakian castles in January, with a possible day of filming in Hungary

3. Then back to English Folklore, filming in Somerset with the Wessex Nomad

4. I’ll be in Barcelona in February with a few days spare so I’m planning on heading to the micro-nation of Andorra to film some videos on their folklore

5. I have a number of videos planned in the north-west Scottish Highlands, both history and folklore

6. As much content as I can in Northumberland before I relocate for work

7. At the end of the year I’m making a WW2 documentary which will take me to Singapore, Malaysia, Burma and Taiwan. I’m sure I’ll also get a few videos out on the strange folklore of these far-off lands

https://youtu.be/1wDl7tuaLZM?si=X5r06eNcuDMqLyz0

My final video of 2024 is available for patrons now and will go up on YouTube tonight at 17:30. This will be an introduction video to Estonian mythology 🇪🇪

Comfy illustration by Finnish artist Inari Krohn 🇫🇮🌲

I recently took up watercolour painting so that I could create my own art to use in videos instead of using AI as some suggested I should.

I call this one Wisps in the English Fenlands.

New Video: This is the 4th video I’ve done regarding 25 Creatures from the folklore of various nations. This time Estonia 🇪🇪

https://youtu.be/0pbvTrxpT6s?si=Nj9GjS7Ovbtuc3kb

One interesting creature from Estonian folklore I’ve learned about while here is the Kratt.

A Kratt is made from household items, odds and ends. A farmer will build a Kratt and then use magic or an incantation to bring it to life so that this creature can do the farm work for him, alongside anything else he wants done.

The similarity of Kratts to artificial intelligence has led to this character being used as a metaphor for AI in Estonia. The Algorithmic-Liability law is also called the ‘Kratt law’.

Interestingly, Kratts inevitably turn on their masters and try to kill them. Unless, the farmer can destroy it first.

Perhaps there’s a lesson to be learned from the old stories here… 🤔

Pikk Hermann Tower. Small piece of folklore behind this is that whoever flies their flag atop this tower is the ruler of all Estonia. The blue, black and white has flown since 1989 after the hammer and sickle was torn down 🇪🇪

An Ancient King’s Curse

In the heart of Tallinn you’ll find Toompea Hill, historically the seat of power in Estonia. It’s also thought to be the burial place of Kalev, the heroic giant that lies sleeping beneath the hill (much like our own Arthur). He features on the main Estonian chocolate brand packaging as pictured.

In the late 19th century, the Russians began to build the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral on Toompea as part of their policy of Russification. A symbolic power-flex over the Estonians.

It was said that during construction, Russian builders came across an iron door while digging the foundations for the cathedral. The door was inscribed:
“Damned be everyone who dares disturb my peace”

The superstitious Russians were worried, but were forced to complete the project. Yet the church became plagued with structural problems and total collapse has often been a worry. Even to this day, scaffolding is a very common sight.

So what’s to blame? Shoddy Russian workmanship or an ancient Hero’s curse?

🧐🇪🇪🇷🇺

The Jolly Reiver pinned «This year’s Halloween video is now live! 🎃 https://youtu.be/0Qkc96rZfAs?si=utF-cnILt_dlDbZC»

This year’s Halloween video is now live! 🎃

https://youtu.be/0Qkc96rZfAs?si=utF-cnILt_dlDbZC

Currently in Estonia. I decided to take a long walk to the outskirts of Tallinn where I found an old military graveyard. Here you’ll see in the far corner the graves of 15 British sailors that died in the Baltic in 1919. But why?

I’ll make a video on the topic and tell their story. The names are faded from most graves now so it’s important these lads aren’t forgotten.

🇬🇧🇪🇪

Hedgehog I rescued was released again last night. Run to freedom little one! 🦔

Today I hit 40,000 subscribers on YouTube. And I’m fast approaching 2,000,000 views. These days I’m feeling more empowered and motivated than ever as more and more people take an interest in the preservation and celebration of our history and folklore. Thank you to everyone that watches and shares. And of course to my patrons that make it all possible.

This has come at a good time, as I’m just about to leave for Estonia, where I’ll be exploring some of the lore and legends of this fascinating but hugely underrated country.

Onwards to 50K now!

My Halloween Special is now available to Patreon supporters, and will go up on YouTube on Saturday October 26th at 6pm!

Aerial shot I took of Buckholm Tower and the moors outside of Galashiels. The setting of this year’s Halloween video!

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🎃

Ava’s first competition in Alwinton yesterday, the last Shepherd Show of the year in the borders.

Traditionally, the show marks the end of summer and the time for hill farmers to begin preparations for winter.

🍂❄️

I’m out filming my Halloween video for this year at the moment. Last year’s Halloween video filmed in Northern Ireland did very well, and this year it’ll be in Scotland.

While filming on location, I made a discovery that provides strong evidence that the tale in question is not just a story to frighten people, but actually has truth to it. What might this be? You’ll have to wait until the 31st!

This is why it’s vital to film on location though, and investigate the area instead of just relying on websites and even books.

And so the spooky season begins…

🕸🎃🪦

Abubaka by Nokse Mojo