What do we know about fairies? A treasure trove of newly digitised information accessed here shows that the Disney image of Tinkerbell is but a weak shorthand for the plethora of different kinds and types inhabiting the British and Irish Isles. Fairy sightings are deeply tied to local areas; even the names can be different. In, for example, Cornwall they are `piskeys'; in parts of Southern and Midland England they are 'pharises'; in Ireland they are sidhe ('si'). But as the new information from digitised local historical sources shows in exciting ways, their local character varies: in Sussex they are puckish but kind, but in the Scottish Highlands or Ireland you might end up dead after an encounter. Are fairies still with us? Yes they are. Included with the book are new sightings of fairies up to the present. In fact, it turns out that there are even travelling Fairies who reached Canada and New England.
Simon Young was awarded a starred First in Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic from Cambridge University, as well as the Chadwick Prize for Celtic studies. Since then he has lived in Spain, Ireland and Italy, where teaches at the International Studies Institute Florence. The author of many academic articles, he has written for the Daily Telegraph, History Today, the Spectator, and the Guardian. He previously published The Celtic Revolution (Gibson Square). Ceri Houlbrook is a Researcher at the University of Hertfordshire's History Department, focusing on heritage and archaeology of contemporary folklore.
Why Fairies Only Exist in Britain and Ireland / Part One: Home Fairies / 1 Fairy Magic to Cottingley Photographs (Yorkshire) / 2 Fairy Queens and Pharisees (Sussex) / 3 Pucks and Lights (Worcestershire) / 4 Fairy Holes and Fairy Butter (Cumbria) / 5 The Seelie and Unseelie Courts (Scotland) / 6 Trows and Trowie Wives (Orkney and Shetland) / 7 The Fair Family and Enchanters (Wales) / 8 Pouques and the Faiteaux (Channel Islands) / 9 George Waldron and the Good People (Isle of Man) / 10 Piskies and Knockers (Cornwall) / 11 Pixies and Pixy Rocks (Devon) / 12 Fairy Barrows and Cunning Folk (Dorset) / 13 the Sidhe and Fairy Forts (Ireland) / Part Two: Travelling Faries / 13) Puritans and Puckwudgies (New England) / 14) Fairy Bread and Fairy Squalls (Atlantic Canada) / 15) Banshees and Changelings (Irish America) /
