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Cheese-rolling, horse skulls & morris dancers: Britain's strange folk customs
Episode 2232

Cheese-rolling, horse skulls & morris dancers: Britain's strange folk customs

Liz Williams runs through some of Britain's most bizarre and intriguing folk traditions

HistoryExtra podcast · Immediate

March 10, 202532m 45s

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Show Notes

From green men and jolly horse skulls, to chasing cheese down hills and morris dancing, Britain has a rich tradition of folk customs. Some are strange, some downright silly. But, as Liz Williams tells Ellie Cawthorne, some of these traditions can also have a darker aspect, based on shame, judgement and social conformity.


(Ad) Liz Williams is the author of Rough Music: Folk Customs, Transgression and Alternative Britain (Reaktion Books, 2025). Buy it now from Waterstones: https://go.skimresources.com?id=71026X1535947&xcust=historyextra-social-histboty&xs=1&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.waterstones.com%2Fbook%2Frough-music%2Fliz-williams%2F9781836390602.


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