Picking Up Threads or Spinning New Yarns? Presentation

I presented a paper (‘Picking Up Threads or Spinning New Yarns? Investigating the Uncanny in Industrial Communities’) at this year’s (2025) DVMWHS Research Workshop, in the Strutt Centre, Belper, today, summarising the IF project.

Poster for the DVMWHS Research Workshop.

For any who were unable to make it; and audience members who might find further perusal useful; I’ve provided the content here. I’ve adapted the narration read from a script during the presentation to better suit this format (i.e. third-person speech); this doesn’t include any live ‘ad lib’ asides. (I may also provide a video conversion of the presentation for online viewing, although file size might make this option unworkable.)

This is also available to view online as a PDF.

Title page of presentation, depicting two animated witches flying over the night skyline of late 1700s Derby.

1. This paper introduces an independent, archaeological research project, integrating creative practices: the Industrial Folkways project (or I.F. / IF). As there’s quite a bit to get through, details of my research, teaching and community work background are provided [elsewhere] online.

So, for the purposes of this paper, I’ll only mention that I used to teach Adult Education for various Universities (which informs IF educational work); but that I had to find different ways of working, due to disabilities. This prompted me to develop more flexible educational community projects, out of which this project has developed.

2. Introduction: Aims

Illustration of several women in old fashioned clothing, and a dog, looking into a blazing fire in an inglenook fireplace.

The project explores lifecycle and seasonal customs, and supernatural beliefs and practices, in Derbyshire during the 1700- and 1800s.

Reproduction of a 1792 map of Derbyshire, copied by the presentation author from a print of the original.

In particular, it’ll investigate the effects of mechanisation, urbanisation and commercialisation on concepts of, reactions to, and perceived interactions with, the ‘uncanny’: that is, notions of preternatural beings and realms; considering continuity and change.

Print illustrating a man in a boat on a river, beside industrial buildings; labelled 'Silk Mill, Derby (Early 1800s)'.

Print illustrating, in the mid-ground, a horse-drawn vehicle on a road, in front of several buildings; a chain barrier between trees, and a built feature (possibly containing a statue), suggest parkland in the foreground; in the background are hills; labelled 'Matlock Bath from the Temple House'.

Print illustrating a hairy humanoid monster, with a pointed tale, large eyes, horns, and claws, from which a sheet-like piece of fabric is suspended behind. It stands beside a gravestone, its arms raised, scaring two women in old fashioned clothing.

3. I aim to sample eighteenth- and nineteenth-century contexts in and around the Derwent Valley, for potential evidence of folk magic and supernatural beliefs; and build on my studies into regional ritual practices and ‘superstitions’; Christmas customs; and traditions relating to love and marriage, and death and burial, in project development.

Photograph of industrial buildings next to a waterway with a weir; labelled 'Boar's Head Mill, Darley Abbey'.

Photograph of a white ceramic object, with signs of soot to the surface; labelled 'Eighteenth-century clay pipe bowl (unprovenanced). Some believed antique pipes were vestiges of fairy activities'.

Title slide of an interactive digital guide produced by the presentation author, depicting a snow-covered country house. the text reads 'Industrial Folkways Presents Pickwick in the Park A Dickensian Country Christmas'.

Photo showing a row of three recumbent gravestones abutting a low wall, next to a pavement; labelled 'Late eighteenth-century grave memorials to the wife of a local hosier, St Werburgh's Church, Derby.'

4. Introduction: Objectives

Print illustration a view of a town in the background; a river and fields in the mid-ground; and people in old-fashioned clothing, and animals, in the foreground. It is labelled 'Derby before the Silk Mill (Late 1600s)'.

The objective is to compare traditions in Georgian and early Victorian urban and industrial neighbourhoods, with those from contemporaneous and earlier rural and agricultural communities, considering how popular traditions were adapted and created in maintaining and (re-)shaping social relationships and identities.

Print illustration a large room with an inglenook fireplace, in which two children sit beside a roaring fire. The room contains several adults and children in old fashioned clothing; one boy has wet hair, and bends over a tub of water. In his mouth is an apple, and more apples float on the water.

Print illustration a church at night, in front of which are gravestones, besides which stands a man wearing a long shirt with a tattered hem. Another man. in old-fashioned clothing, runs away from him, holding out his arms in fear.

Print illustrating a sleeping man and woman sitting in front of a fireplace, beside a table with drinking vessels. A ghostly cat is coming out of the fireplace surrounding by smoke.

5. Investigation may enhance what we know of people’s hopes and fears at this time of profound change, providing opportunities for getting to know, a little better, both the people whose labour fuelled the Industrial Revolution, and those who’s money financed, and profited from, these developments.

Print illustrating a woman, wearing a head-scarf, sitting on a broken chair in front of a small fire, on which a streaming cauldron sits on bricks; a broom leans against the wall behind her. She appears to hold a sheet of playing or picture cards on her lap, and talks to two well-dressed women sitting in front of her, on a chair that has been turned on its side. Two men in top hats stand behind a curtain behind them; one pokes a walking stick through the curtain, to touch the back of the head of one of the well-to-do women.

Print illustrating a frightened man and woman lying in a four-poster bed, who look at a woman sitting on a chair at the end of the bed, who appears to be wearing a shroud. A serving woman knells on the floor beside the bed, and seems to have knocked over a candlestick; the nearby bedcovers have perhaps caught light.

Print illustrating a soot-covered man in a long shirt emerging from a fireplace, from which a frightened man and woman run.

Print illustrating a small room, with a broken chair. A man wearing only a worn long shirt holds a large iron in one hand, and a smoking candle in a holder in the other. He appears to be frightened by a black cat in front of him. Label reads 'Wellcome Collection (CC-BY-4.0)'.

Print illustrating a horse-drawn vehicle, on a road through stone cliffs, leading from a stately home on a hill, in front of woodland, and wood-covered hills. What appear to be industrial buildings can be seen in the foreground, in front of which are led and driven horses. It is labelled 'Willersley Castle, Cromford, Derbyshire'.

6. There’s also scope to challenge the influential and pervasive narrative of educated ‘middling-’ and ‘higher-sorts’ that so-called ‘superstitions’ were principally the domain of the ignorant ‘lower orders’ (particularly women, and especially the old, and servant classes).

Print illustrating a woman wearing a headscarf reading the palm of a neatly-dressed man on horse-back.

Print illustrating a woman with a headscarf tied over loose, long grey hair, looking into and pointing at a teacup with one hand that she suspends with another. A young woman, whose shift and stays are fallen off her shoulders, looks intently into the cup. One the table, the cup's deep saucer contains liquid. A bowl of salt has been spilt; and a knife and fork are crossed; both then believed to bring bad-luck.

Print illustrating numerous people in a bedroom, with an alcove containing a bottle, from which a figure arises, a sign above saying ‘Bottle Conjuror’. Several men are gathered in the room, including several in the wigs and gowns of clergymen - one of whom holds a lit candle to look under a bed; another is seated at a table with a candle, pen and ink, and blank book, saying 'Brother don't disturb it' to one looking up at a painting or drawing of an angel and a woman, labelled 'Eliz Canning and the Angel', holding out a watch and saying 'If a gold watch knock 3 times'; and a fourth says 'Now thou infidel, dost thou not believe' to another man, who replies 'yea if it had happened sooner t'would have serv'd me for a new character in the Lyar the story would tell better than the cat & kittens'. Another man says 'I saw the light on the clock'; and a man who has just entered the room, wearing a band around his eyes to indicate blindness says 'I would be glad to see this spirit'. One coachman says to another ‘How they swallow the Hum’, who replies ‘Ay Tom I’ll lay 6 to 4 it runs more nights than the coronation’. Women prey by the side of a bed in which two small children lie, one of which holds its hands above the bed clothes; on the back panel of the tester bed is an image of a person in a shroud, holding up a gavel, and surrounded by light beams. One woman says ‘I never shall have rest again’; and another ‘O! That they would lay it in the Red Sea’.

Print illustrating a frightened, well-dressed gentleman in a wig, who raises his cane against a man in a monster costume, which has large eyes and horns, and appears to be breathing smoke or fire; buckled shoes can be seen poking out from beneath. A well-dressed boy lies on the floor, laughing.

7. Many physical traces of Georgian and early Victorian, so-called ‘superstitious’, practices survive. By looking at evidence for folk magic – which typically represents clandestine actions – we might glimpse hopes and fears beliefs, perceptions and emotions, that wouldn’t have been spoken of, much less committed to more formal forms of writing.

Photographs of an inglenook fireplace, with shapes carved into the wooden lintel highlight in red; and of a smaller fire surround, with shapes carved into the stone highlight in red. The label reads ‘Examples of apotropaic graffiti locations’.

These residues might easily be found within environments in which we still live, work, worship, and relax, today; and seeking out and recording them requires minimal cost, equipment, knowledge, skills and time (making use of existing freely-available resources). Project participation might consequently both provide opportunities to broaden interest in and enable engagement with the historic environment, and allied services.

8. Methods | Source | Materials

Painting depicting am elderly robed, bare-breasted and -footed woman with long, loose, grey hair, decorated with leaves; her muscular arm holds a band towards an altar, on which is flaming and smoking matter, and next to which stands an illuminated, white-robed spirit. A younger awe-stricken woman stands by, looking on.

9. Data Collection: Study Areas

I’m preparing to begin sampling and crowd-sourcing a range of data from the region – principally comprising potential material evidence traces of folk magic (which I’ll say more about in a moment), from built environments dating to the late 1700s – mid 1800s; and I’ll analyse this material alongside that from other contexts, features and finds; and other forms of historical evidence.

A satellite map of the Derwent Valley (labelled ‘IF Study Areas’ and ‘Google Earth’) has blue markers labelled ‘Derby’, ‘Darley Abbey’, ‘Belper’ and ‘Cromford’; and markers labelled ‘Markeaton’, ‘Allestree’, ‘Duffield’, and ‘Matlock Bath’. An inset closeup of the Derby marker has two blue markers, one in the northwest suburbs labelled ‘Nun’s Green’, the other in the northwest quarter of the City Centre labelled ‘Cathedral Quarter’.

This’ll involve targeting a sample of industrial housing; and commercial and community premises and spaces (including, for example places of worship, and associated memorials; shops; and pubs); in and around the Derwent Valley (highlighted on the above map in blue).

I’ll also open up more general participation, to crowd-source data from similar and broader contexts within and beyond the Derwent Valley, dating to, before, and after, this time, for comparative analyses (highlighted on the above map in yellow). This’ll include integrating material relating to potential later ritual activity at prehistoric, Roman, Medieval, and Early Modern monuments, features, and sites (which I’ll say something about in a moment).

10. Data Collection and Submission

Overlapping screen capture images of the project social media webpages: Historypin, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky; and the project WordPress blog, and website.

Recording techniques are simple, employing easy-to-use and readily available equipment (such as mobile phone cameras and torches), and participants can submit findings through online resources, such as the project blog, and other social media.

Streetview screen capture of a street of stone houses, labelled ‘Belper’ and ‘Google Earth’.

Some buildings will be targeted by leafletting, or post; and potential participants approached through relevant community and special interest groups; local and regional media; and online.

Contact will also be made with other relevant projects and organisations, to evaluate the potential for data-sharing; previously-recorded material will also be referenced (i.e. that logged through other relevant projects; academic publications; and in museum collections and archives).

Streetview screen capture of a street of brick and rendered houses, labelled ‘Darley Abbey’ and ‘Google Earth’.

11. Data Collection: Locations
Evidence is typically found within and around buildings in locations that were in the past previously considered vulnerable to entrance by malignant forces: doorways, windows, and chimneys; under floors, behind wainscotting, and on ceilings; in attics, lofts and voids; and external enclosures and boundaries (particularly in the vicinity of gateways and other entrances).

Photograph of a wooden plank door, with a red circle highlighting incisions in the surface.

Photograph of a wooden plank door, with a red oval highlighting slashed incisions into the surface of the lintel.

Photograph of a medieval stone window, with a red oval highlighting shapes cut into the surface of the sill.

Photograph of a stone window jam, with a red oval highlighting shapes cut into the surface.

12. Data Collection: Range of Evidence
The range of evidence that community participants might find can be very generally divided into several, often intersecting, categories. These are:

Ritual ‘graffiti’, and other surface markings;
Votive and apotropaic deposits (that is, propitiations and inducements to spiritual forces; and protective objects; respectively);
Written and material remains of ‘spells’ (that is, rituals attempting to harness magical forces with the intent of achieving specified outcomes);
Material traces of practices associated with the intention of evoking ‘good-luck’ more generally.

Print illustrating a man standing on a stool, while hammering a horseshoe onto the lintel of a cottage door, while a woman and children look on. A black cat arches it’s back in fright on the thatched roof above the door, while a demon runs away in fear.

From The True Legend of St. Dunstan and the Devil, Edward G. Flight, 1852

Principal Community Source Material

13. Ritual ‘Graffiti’
This typically comprises simple incised slashing; symbols, including pentagrams, hexagrams, hexafoils, hearts, crosses; concentric and intersecting circles and grids; possibly a narrow range of letter characters (if still significant – as in the early Modern era); hand and shoe outlines, and other pictograms; and burning, soot and chalk markings.

Photograph of a slashed incisions into the surface of a wooden door lintel (close-up of location highlighted in previous image).

Incised / Scratch Markings (including; or alternatively comprising; ‘Marian’ Marks: see below)

Photograph of incisions into the surface of a wooden door (close-up of location highlighted in previous image).

Photograph of incisions into the surface of a wooden church pew, with close-up inset, highlighting a circle enclosing six petal-shaped points.

Photograph of incisions comprising a circle enclosing six petal-shaped points, cut into the surface of a building stone.

‘Daisy Wheels’ (Hexafoils)

Photograph of an inverted ‘v’ shaped incision, cut into the surface of a stone church arcade pier.

Photograph of overlapping ‘v’ shaped incisions, cut into the surface of a stone church effigy memorial.

Photograph of overlapping ‘v’ shaped incisions, forming a ‘w’, cut into the surface of a stone church building wall.

‘Marian’ Marks

Photograph of two shoe-shaped incisions, one containing the initials ‘w p’, cut into the surface of a stone church window sill (close-up of location highlighted in previous image).

Shoe Outlines

Photograph of hollowed-out scorch-marks, in the surface of a wooden inglenook fireplace lintel (close-up of location highlighted in previous image).

Photograph of scorch-marks, in the surface of a wooden upright of a timber-framed domestic building.

Scorch / Burn Marks

14. Apotropaic Deposits

Votive deposits might comprise: coins, texts, and animal bones placed within or beneath building foundations, roofing, and repairs.

Photographs illustrating old, worn, leather shoes (labelled ‘Concealed shoes (St Edmundsbury Heritage Service, St Edmundsbury Borough Council, Edmund Patrick CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia)’); of a glass bottle, with iron objects (labelled ‘Witch Bottle, c. 1820, Navenby, Lincolnshire (Portable Antiquities Scheme CC By 4.0)’); and of three desiccated animals in a display case (labelled ‘‘Dried’ cats and rodents, Stag Inn, Hastings, East Sussex (The Voice of Hassocks, Wikipedia, CC BY 1.0)’). The slide is labelled ‘Concealed Deposits’.

Apotropaic deposits tend to comprise:

concealed footwear and clothing (most frequently shoes, but might include any garments; which are usually worn, damaged, or partial);
‘mummified’ (that is, naturally dried) animals (frequently cats, birds and rats, which might be posed, and nailed to building features);
‘witch’ bottles (that is, ceramic or glass vessels containing a restricted range of material that commonly includes finger-nail parings and human hair; nails and pins, which might be bent; often liquid – usually urine; and texts);
and iron objects (such as knives and horseshoes).

15. Spells and ‘Good-luck’ Tokens
The latter category might overlap with that of the material remnants of attempts to use magic for other than protective purposes (such as love spells). The same might be said of pierced animal hearts (often bovine), stuck with nails or pins, and hung within chimneys; and iron objects (such as knives and horseshoes).

Photograph of two old, worn, bent coins, and an old pierced coin (labelled ‘’Crooked’ and pierced sixpences (unprovenanced)’); and a print illustrating a walking horseshoe, chasing demons, black cats, and witches (labelled ‘From The True Legend of St. Dunstan and the Devil, Edward G. Flight, 1852’). The slide is labelled ‘Spells and ‘Good-luck’ Tokens’.

Portable charms, talismans and amulets also fall into this category (that is, artefacts intended to bring general ‘good luck’ – such as ‘crooked’ sixpences; gain power over others; and protect against evil; respectively). Consequently, stray finds from the region are also of interest (as might be found in gardens and yards; within boundaries; and on formerly utilised open land).

16. Later Activity at ‘Antique’ and Natural Sites and Features
I previously mentioned the prospect of integrating material potentially indicating later activity at prehistoric, Roman, Medieval, and Early Modern monuments; to this can be added comparable activity at certain natural features, notably rivers, wells, springs, caves and hilltops, and associated features (such as trees). Both categories of site are associated with supernatural realms and beings in Industrial Age folklore; as are a narrow range of (later) artefacts.

Photographs illustrating four prehistoric standing stones, in a rural landscape (labelled ‘Remains of Nine Stones Close (‘Grey ladies’), Harthill Moor, Derbyshire (Photo: from Michael Maggs, Wikimedia, CC by 4.0)’, and ‘Prehistoric monument in lead mining area, associated with fairies in nineteenth-century folklore.’); and an old brick and stone building, in a built-up area (labelled ‘‘Nunnery’ building, Nun’s Street, Derby’ and ‘Construction of an industrial district in the 1820s unearthed probably associated medieval human remains’). The slide is labelled ‘Later Activity at ‘Antique’ and Natural Sites and Features’.

I’m interested in the distribution and deposition of these assemblages, which might be recognised through archaeological investigations (potentially recorded in previous excavations and surveys), and as surface finds. I’d therefore welcome photos taken by the public of prospectively relevant artefacts in situ, and their map/GPS coordinates. I’d also be grateful for up-to-date photos of the sites themselves; their environs; and access to them.

(Although I’ve studied and visited most of the relevant sites – having taught archaeology of Derbyshire and the Peak District for the University of Nottingham and WEA, disabilities have prevented me from revisiting them, for some time.)

17. Telling, Making and Engagement with the Historic Environment
I intend to use local archaeological material to inform and inspire the production of a few simple craft activities for participants.

Photographs illustrating a museum archaeology gallery (labelled ‘Derby Museum archaeology collection: popular 19th century supernatural narratives and interpretations may be explored through archaeological storytelling’); a street of large, Georgian, brick-built houses (labelled ‘Friar Gate, Derby, on former common land: late 18th century opponents to development evoked history / folklore and the supernatural’); and a red, textile, hexafoil, suspended in a window (labelled ‘Decorative hexafoil textile craft activity’).

I also plan to integrate this material in archaeological storytelling, which is a well-established technique that I’ve often employed in teaching, and in sharing research through Public History endeavours. This’ll involve my creating and presenting written, and possibly oral, narratives, that’ll both impart information on participation, and on discoveries, in potentially accessible and memorable ways. And I’m exploring how the project might provide opportunities for participants to also produce and share archaeologically-informed stories.

18. Prospective Outcomes

Print illustrating a raggedly-dressed elderly woman, carrying a baby on her back, who reads the palm of one of two young women, near to a country cottage, at which a woman leans on a garden gate.

Project activities hold the potential to expand knowledge and understanding in areas highlighted as priorities for further study within the DVMWHS research agenda.

19. In particular, it may start to answer the questions of:

How ‘the move from a rural to an industrial society impacted upon folk culture’;
How ‘antiquarian studies revised perceptions of the past for Derwent Valley communities’, considering the extent to which ‘public cultures of Enlightenment developed across the social spectrum’; also the
‘Impact of industrialisation and population movements on the world views on these communities’; and ‘interactions between pre-factory industrial and agricultural settlements’.

20. And it looks at the:

Impact of Enlightenment-period religious beliefs, including those of factory owners – and how this may have affected relationships between employees and their employers.

Given that project research enables insight into private (even secret) practices and beliefs, it may be particularly valuable in determining how ideologies imposed from above (as requirements not only for employment, but also housing, education, and social integration) actually played-out behind closed doors, that is, enabling us to look at the

Extents to which ‘factory owners [actually] exercise[d] control’ over the personal, family and community lives of mill workers.

Comparisons within and between neighbourhoods, settlements (and other sites), and regions may contribute to ‘understanding of:

Regional variability in the pace and nature of change’; ‘of the economic, social and political impact of Enlightenment thinkers’; of the
‘Relationship between scientific, industrial and technological innovation in the Derwent Valley; and how developments in these areas impact[ed] upon scientific and technical education’.

Looking at the significance of prehistoric, Roman, medieval and later features, sites and monuments may contribute to investigations of the:

Impact of ‘18th century tourism and consumer culture […] on the Derwent Valley’; and perhaps offer opportunities to enhance the ‘development of tourism and recreation’ today.

21. Public History and Potential Social Benefits
Various potential social benefits might also come from the project (and I discuss this on the website and blog – details of which are on the next slide). Indeed, I see its potential for rendering such returns as important as its capacity to advance historical study, so am looking at how the different stages of participation might be marshalled in supporting a number of local community and charitable organisations.

For example, I created an interactive digital guide, display, and activities, and related activities, for Derby Parks; I’m considering how I might integrate and develop previous studies into employing creative archaeology in working with survivors of domestic and sexual violence; and am preparing activities for a particularly apposite campaign by Hospice UK – Dying Matters.

Logos for the Past Sense project; the Dying Matters campaign; the Festival of Archaeology; and Heritage Open Days.

Depending on work-loads, I may also be able to occasionally partner with other practitioners, groups, or historic sites and venues interested in adapting project investigations; or in working together to produce related resources and activities, or a small event, or exhibition (for example, as part of the Festival of Archaeology, Heritage Open Days, or Georgian Derbyshire Festival); for educational, or possibly fundraising, purposes.

22. Find Out | Participate | Partner
Also, please let me know if making relevant discoveries (I’ll provide more information on what to look for, and how, through social media, in the near future).

(And if anyone would like to be more directly involved with the project – in data collection and management, promotional activities, or other tasks – I’d very much welcome any help!)

If anyone has any further questions, or would just like an informal chat about the project, please get in touch.

•Email: industrialfolkways@gmail.com

kirstenleach@industrialfolkways.org.uk (to July 2025)

•Blog: https://industrialfolkways.wordpress.com/

•Website (to July 2025): https://industrialfolkways.org.uk/

•Social media: https://linktr.ee/industrialfolkways

Industrial Folkways Creative Heritage Project

Folk traditions and supernatural beliefs in Industrial Age Derbyshire

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