For centuries,
residents of the isolated hamlets of eastern Dartmoor would carry
their dead over the long and often dangerous pathway to Lydford for
burial. This path became known as the Lych Way, from the Old
English līċ, or corpse; also of course the source of lych gates in
churchyards. Such pathways, or corpse roads, existed all over the
country. Some, like the Lych Way, became famous for their macabre
setting, attracting their own legends and stories. One motif often
associated with corpse roads was haunting by a hideous black dog
whose howl portended death: on Dartmoor, it is tempting to
associate this with the Hound of the Baskervilles: Lydford lies
near Fox Tor Mires, which was almost certainly the Grimpen Mire,
where the Hound hunted its victims in Arthur Conan Doyle’s
story.
Ranging from the Dartmoor Lych Way to Scotland, this talk will look
at some of the stories associate with corpse roads, and how we can
(and can’t) match those stories to routeways in the contemporary
landscape. It will also consider the context of the stories
themselves, stories which became popular during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, a time of rationalism and industrialisation,
in which people began to reach for a past which was shrouded in
danger and superstition - and yet which provided an alternative to
the glaring certainties and inequalities of contemporary
society.
Tickets £12.50 including a delightful gin cocktail and a 20% donation to Highgate Cemetery.
Stuart Dunn
Stuart Dunn is Professor of Spatial Humanities at King’s College London. He is interested in the history, archaeology and myth of landscapes, and how stories about them are told. His current research concerns spatial narratives in the digital world, and how digital methods can enrich our understanding of landscapes in both the past and the present.
| Ticket | Event time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
|
Haunted Highways of the Dead
Corpse Roads and Britain’s Ghostly Landscapes |
19:00 - 21:00 | £13.75 |
Address
The Chapel: HIghgate Cemetery West, Swains Lane, London, N6 6PJ
Nearest Station
Archway (Tube)
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