FOLKLORE RISING

Artist BEN EDGE has travelled the length and breadth of Britain recording the weird and wonderful folk customs alive in communities all over the country, using his experiences and photographs as inspiration for a series of colourful and atmospheric paintings. In this extract from his new book, Folklore Rising: An Artist’s Journey Through the British Ritual Year, he finds himself in Devon to witness one of the county’s stranger traditions, and he speaks to FT about the redemptive potential of folklore in modern life.

Turning the Devil’s Stone, Shebbear, Devon, 5 November I’d arranged to meet the vicar at the Devil’s Stone it-self, and wandered over the wet grass to where the huge rock squatted beneath an ancient oak on the village green. Nearby, a tall figure was hovering, wrapped up in a scarf, gloves and coat: the vicar, a softly spoken man named Martin Warren who had kindly offered to speak to me about the origins of the strange tradition. He shared the story he had been told on becoming the vicar of Shebbear over 20 years ago. “We don’t do bonfires here, Guy Fawkes and all the rest of it,” he explained. “Instead, we turn the Stone on the fifth of November. The bell-ringers of St Michael’s ring the bells beforehand to…

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Fortean Times (Digital) - 1 Issue, 449

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