The Local Mythstorian Podcast
Hosted by founder of The Local Mythstorian project, Eli Lewis-Lycett, each episode focuses on Eli's extensive research into a piece of folklore or curious local history from across Cheshire, Derbyshire or Staffordshire, revealing the hidden story within. Visit thelocalmythstorian.com for more.
Episodes
29 episodes
Tales From Antiquaria - A History of the Ancient Parish of Leek
Tales From Antiquaria is Eli's new podcast series, with each episode presenting highlights from a nineteenth century regional folklore collection. This is episode one that was released on 21st October 2025. If you enjoy the n...
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20:47
Village Horror Story - The Brutal Folklore of Civil War Bagnall (The Lost Episode)
Although the previous episode - The History of Witchcraft In Cheshire - was the official end of the podcast, the recent discovery of a recording from back in 2023, long since assumed deleted, means there is one more 'lost' episode to r...
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Season 3
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Episode 6
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17:04
The History of Witchcraft In Cheshire - Live from The Grange Theatre
The final episode of The Local Mythstorian Podcast is a live recording from Eli's talk at The Grange Theatre on Thursday May 22nd 2025, tracing the story of European witchcraft from its Roman origins through to the English witch-craze and into ...
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Season 3
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Episode 5
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37:14
The Long Grave - Little John and the Mystery of the Hathersage Giant
There are numerous legends regarding the subject of Robin Hood and his band of outlaws located throughout the UK. In the Derbyshire village of Hathersage however, there is a story concerning Robin’s chief lieutenant Little John that intrigues m...
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Season 3
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Episode 4
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27:31
Windstars and Cinder - H.G. Wells and the Inspiration of the Potteries
Known as the father of science fiction, H.G. Wells is as famous today as he was in his heyday of the 1890s. What isn’t so well known however, is the time he spent as a younger man amidst the burgeoning industrial landscape of the Potteries; and...
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Season 3
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Episode 3
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23:41
Christmas Special 2024 - The Hauntings of Cheshire
Bringing together a selection of unique curios and local tales concerning folklore and haunting from across the ancient county of Cheshire, join Eli by the fireside in this Christmas special from The Local Mythstorian Podcast.
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Season 3
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Episode 2
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16:19
Halloween Special - The Ghost of Barton Blount Manor
In this historically themed Halloween special, it's a personal tale from Eli regarding a very uncanny experience that he and his father shared when he was just 10 years old way back in 1993! Not quite a ghost story, but something wonderfully od...
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Season 3
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Episode 1
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15:34
Five Minute Mythstoria - A Cheshire Miscellany (Collection)
Originally released as a mini series of episodes regarding snippets of Cheshire lore and history.Mythstoric Journeys, the hardback anthology collection from Eli, is avail...
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Season 2
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Episode 12
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43:20
The Extraordinary Local Histories of Vale Royal - Live from The Grange Theatre
Recorded live at The Grange Theatre, Hartford on May 16th 2024, the last regular episode in Season 2 of the podcast presents Eli's talk on the extraordinary local histories of Vale Royal. Topics covered include the Vale Royal Rebellion, the pro...
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Season 2
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Episode 11
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40:58
Prescription Poison - Who Killed Thomas Meakin?
The story of Thomas Meakin's eighteenth century murder is a well-known legend of the Staffordshire Moorlands, yet there has never before been a full consideration of the circumstances surrounding his death, nor an inquiry into who may have kill...
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Season 2
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Episode 10
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16:45
Rites of the Spring - Derbyshire Well Dressing and the Cult of Arnemetia
A spring bonus episode of sorts, recorded for season one but never released, its seasonal theme sees it make it into Season 2...Well-dressing is much loved local custom which enjoys an almost exclusive patronage in the county o...
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Season 2
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Episode 9
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16:56
The Last Day of August - Great Budworth's Civil War Secret
The village of Great Budworth possesses one of the most remarkable churches in all of Cheshire, not just loved by locals but genuinely appreciated by history fans and enthusiasts of late medieval architecture right across the UK. Something visi...
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Season 2
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Episode 8
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33:03
The Hungry Prophet - The Legendary Sale of Robert Nixon
The story of Robert Nixon, the 'Cheshire Prophet’ starved to death by the king, was once the best known legend of the county, retold and republished dozens of times across the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Precisely who the man was howev...
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Season 2
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Episode 7
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33:22
The Local Crusader - Ranulf de Blondeville and the Saracens of Biddulph Moor (Live Special)
There are few more curious associations in local legend than that of Saracen prisoners being settled on the land that is now known as the Staffordshire Moorlands village of Biddulph Moor. Travelling back to the thirteenth century to discover th...
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Season 2
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Episode 6
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40:26
Invisible Fortress - The Vanishing of Shipbrook Castle
The castle at Shipbrook near Davenham is long lost to us today, its last traces being cleared from the land in the 1790s. However, in balancing the brutal events of early Norman England together with the history of a key local family, not only ...
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Season 2
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Episode 5
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33:40
Christmas Special - The Friar's Fool (Live Stream Event)
A mid-season bonus episode - a recording of The Local Mythstorian website Zoom live stream event from December 7th; The Friar's Fool - A Brief History of English Devil Lore and Its Place In Cheshire Legend.
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Season 2
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Episode 4
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21:53
A Ghost Story for Cheshire - The Bones of Marbury Park
The haunting of Marbury Park is one of Cheshire’s most enduring legends of the supernatural. Most retellings however, if not all, have simply sought to repeat the basics of the tale without looking deeper into the history of the protagonists wi...
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Season 2
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Episode 3
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35:07
Scholar of Magic - Ranulf Higden and the Wands of Chester Cathedral
The Cheshire monk Ranulf Higden is remembered to historians today as the author of a distant world history from the fourteenth century. However, beyond his daily religious work in the abbey at Chester, he was an inquisitive and curious man of h...
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Season 2
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Episode 2
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27:23
Blood In the Barley - The Hidden Story of the Vale Royal Rebellion
Welcome to Season 2!The Vale Royal Rebellion is a medieval tale of murder, manipulation and struggle set amidst one of the most turbulent periods in all of English history. Yet it is only when we bring the contributing political factors...
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Season 2
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Episode 1
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38:14
Five Minute Mythstoria - Collection of Six Mini Episodes
Originally a series of bite-sized episodes to bring season 1 of the podcast to an end, Five Minute Mythstoria looks to share snap-shot tales of curious history from across Cheshire, Derbyshire and Staffordshire. Includes;T...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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37:03
The Meltdown Murders - Castor's Bridge and the Borderland Smelters
In the last regular episode of the season, we look at how throughout the three-shires border region, where East Cheshire, Peak District Derbyshire and the Staffordshire Moorlands intertwine, tales of yore are peppered with dark legends of canni...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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29:19
Butterton Live Special - Mythstoric Origins in the Staffordshire Moorlands
A live recording from Eli's talk with Butterton History Group in September 2022, and touches on three topics from the Moorlands that haven't been covered in the regular podcast episodes; the Saracens of Biddulph Moor, the murder of Thomas Meaki...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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32:59
Death of the Jagger - John Turner and the Mysterious Birth of Jenkin Chapel
The manner of John Turner's death and the creation of Jenkin Chapel are two of the most curious bookmarks in the history of Cheshire's peak border region. But by considering both events together with the darker history of the area, we may disco...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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16:27
Changing Gods - Mercian Christianity and the Fallen Stones of Arbor Low
Arbor Low is regarded as one of the most important prehistoric sites in England and a bastion of our ancient cultural identity. It is most definitely a place of wonder, but its vision comes complete with the seemingly unanswerable conundrum as ...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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17:49
The Phantom Rebel - In Search of the Headless Horseman of the Staffordshire Moorlands
The story that originally inspired The Local Mythstorian project and a tale quite unlike anything else in the British Isles! The Headless Horseman of the Staffordshire Moorlands is one of the best known pieces of folklore in the region, but whe...
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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37:37
