Hello all you lovely Mudcatters! I've been an avid fan of this site for a while as the best source for folk lyrics and the history behind both lyrics and preservation - I am always astounded and delighted by the amount of enthusiasm and knowledge here! I wonder now whether any of you have any knowledge that could help me with a project I'm researching for...

I'm working with a group called 'Languages, Myths and Finds' (www.languagesmythsfinds.ac.uk) and we're aiming to harness enthusiasm for the forthcoming Vikings exhibition at the British Museum, bringing research on the less obvious areas of Viking settlement in the British Isles to those areas themselves.

As you may guess by the title of the thread, I'm working on the Cleveland/Teesside part of the project and would absolutely love to know if anyone here knows of Scandinavian or Viking-related folklore from this area of the country.

I'm familiar with the Ballad of Roseberry Topping, but I find it odd that for a hill named after the Norse god Odin (who is very rare in place-names) the hill is best known through a story about Anglo-Saxons! Similarly Loftus - an Anglo-Saxon burial was discovered there, but the place-name is about as viking as you can get!

Any thoughts from locals/those in the know? Does anyone know of any local areas or stories associated with the vikings/norse/Scandinavians?

Your help will be greatly appreciated and credited in a booklet that we are hoping to produce on the area. We'll be supplying copies of this booklet directly to local museums (whom we will also be working with!) and hope that it will continue to inspire and inform locals and visitors alike of the area's Scandinavian past, which isn't just confined to being in between York and Lindisfarne!

Many thanks in advance for any help you can offer,

Jo SB.
Project website as blue clicky!