You may recall my recent post about the folklore surrounding the mysteries of the Holy Grail, and a newspaper article proposing a connection between the Grail and a small town called Hertford, situated in the gently undulating countryside of rural Hertfordshire - an old English county just North of London.

Yesterday, the same newspaper reported the "discovery" of an elaborate network of tunnels beneath the streets of Hertford - apparently the local residents of Hertford had no idea that the tunnels were there! These "secret passages" are thought to date back at least as far as the Crusades, and the Knights Templar are said to be involved.

What makes this story interesting, I think, is that knowledge of this local phenomenon was present in local folklore, yet that knowledge was untapped. The local people, even local historians had lost or gorgotten the knowledge, if indeed they ever had it, but it was retained in what might be called "the folkloric record".

While no individual knew the existence or extent of the underground tunnels, many people had heard of one passage or entrance but assumed that it was an isolated structure - a "one-off". We had the pieces of the jigsaw all along, but the whole picture was not seen until the pieces were assembled as a collective record of local folklore.

I wonder what other information may lie dormant and untapped in folk songs, folk lore, and even myths and legends?


SOURCE: Hertfordshire Mercury, "The secrets of underground Hertford", pp 16-17, 8 October 2004.
http://www.herts-essex-news.co.uk/mercury/news/story.asp?id=159459
Archived: http://www.theinsider.org/mailing/article.asp?id=0620