Studio Brief 2 - Visual Journalist CONVERSATIONS

Transcript 1- Grandma and Grandad on Yorkshire Folklore

L: First one, do you know any folklore tales about Yorkshire?

J: You told me the story of Rombald’s Giant.

GD: Well I only know how the calf… he strode across the valley and his heel knocked off the calf of cow and calf rock, and that rolled down the moor.

J: What was he running from?

GD: I’ve know idea…

J: You told me Grandad that he’d had an argument with his wife and she was chasing him.

GD: I never did!!

J: You did, she was chasing him with a rolling pin… and that he trod on the calf, broke it in two and then there’s a footprint on the other side of the valley.

L: Yeah, Almscliff Cragg

[…]

L: What themes or things do you associate with folklore?

GD: Witches, oh, Pendle Hill, the Pendle Witches

L: Is that true then? I thought you had made that up.

GM: They used to say there was a Witch living in Bingley when I was little.

[…]

L: My friend is convinced there is a Bradford beast thing.

J: Oh yeah the Bradford Beast.

L: What’s that then?

J: You know the pig, the boar that’s on everything in Bradford… so when it was just a castle, the town of Bradford, the village whatever, were scared of this giant pig in a forest. And then the king at the time fell ill and he said whoever kills the pig and brings me back it’s tongue, will be the next king. And then, some girl was out, loads of men were out trying to kill it, and the girl put a stake in the ground and the pig accidentally ran into it. She ran away, a knight came along, chopped off its tongue, went and claimed the glory for himself and then the girl went and told the king that she was the one the had killed it and he didn’t believe her. So the knight became the king. Nobody know’s who the girl was, but she is the rightful queen of Bradford.

[…]

GD: There’s Old Mother Shipton as well isn’t there? That’s a folk tale.

J: Oh yeah, but she was real though.

[…]

GD: Then there’s trolls again, the trolls used to live up there. Near Appletree Wick, over Simon’s Seat and up that gill where the river went underground.

J: So what’s Simon’s Seat?

GD: Must be some legend about it, but I don’t know.

[…]

L: Otley must have some folklore tales…­­­­

GD: Guy Fawkes comes from Otley

J: It’s hard distinguishing between folklore and stories, because some stories are real so they’re not.

L: So what are the 12 apostles? We walked past that on Rombald’s Stride.

GD: That’s a stone circle

L: Oh right, I suppose it’s more about how meanings change when you tell stories then.

Transcript 2 - Not Growing Up Club (Over 60s Drama and Story Telling Group)

M: There is the Rombald’s Giant, I don’t know what he was supposed to have done, I know there was one.

L: It’s his foot step isn’t it? I thought his footstep was the cow and calf and the toe…

J: No, his wife was making a pie or something and he ate it so she chased him, she chased him with a rolling pin. He stepped on the cow and calf and broke it in two and then the next foot print is on the other side.

L: Is the next footprint Almscliff Cragg? It’s the next footprint.

  […]

L: What about the frying pan on the Chevin? That must be but I don’t know.

S: Would that stone that’s on the wall by St Oswalds Church be one?

L: Yes, the wishing stone

J: How did the wishing stone come about?

M: It’s always been there since I was at school, and you used to touch the stone and make a wish.

[…]

L: So what things… creatures are associated with it?

M: Dragons

D: Giants

S: Unicorns

S: Is there a reason why that Fairy Dell place near the elephant trees is called Fairy Dell? I don’t know if there is but that would make you assume there was some kind of stories about the fairies round there.

J: I thought it was wear they buried all the kids from the plague.

[…]

J: Is Ilkley Moor Baht ‘at folklore?

REFLECTIONS ON RESEARCH
These first two transcripts document a dialogue with an over 60's drama group and Grandma and Granddad, aiming to collect information from a nostalgic approach. Considering the subject of folklore as storytelling and attempting to gather information about local curiosities. 

While these discussions may not form the base for my visual exploration, it is interesting to see how from just 2 dialogues, different interpretations have been made, demonstrating the transient nature of folklore and story telling. 

An issue which seems to prominent in local history is the Rombald's Moor giant. This is perhaps a story that I could consider when forming my initial visual responses, possibly exploring different ways in which it can be relayed visually to encourage new interpretations.