Stories of the Hills celebrates the intangible heritage of the Quantock Hills, from folklore and music, to traditional crafts and lesser known local stories and people, ensuring its preservation for future generations. It is part of the National Lottery Heritage Fund funded Quantock Landscape Partnership Scheme, of which Halsway is a partner organisation.
An Intangible Heritage Resource
Here you can find out more about the lesser known history of the Quantocks. Articles cover five categories: folklore and legends, folk music, folk traditions, traditional crafts and industry and the stories of lesser known but no less remarkable locals.
Our artist’s map – a key resource for this project – was hand drawn by Somerset artist Andrea Oke. It pinpoints fascinating locations connected to the stories and heritage of the Quantock Hills, you can use it to navigate and explore local stories.
Also available to accompany this website is a Learning Resource Pack for schools, aimed primarily at KS2, but also useful for KS1 and KS3. Some printed copies of the artist’s map and teacher resource are available.
The Value of Intangible Heritage
The Quantock Hills is an area full of stories – such intangible heritage is so often overlooked but it is key to the identity and history of the places where we live. Intangible heritage is our history, the history of ordinary people. It is fantastical at times and creatively inspiring, it goes beyond imaginative fancy into the world of real social history – to what people really believe and did. This social and creative history is embedded in the history of our landscapes.
Intangible heritage might not be provable the way factual history arguably is, but it is just as much part of history as a dramatic battle or the stories of Kings and Queens (in fact both often filter into folk history, adding an interesting element to any interpretation of how people felt at the time). It helps us understand, it helps us imagine and empathise, it helps bring places to life, it offers a living history that we can take and help evolve into our own futures.
Events and Activities
As well as these resources, the project will see music workshops in schools and a number of fascinating events and activities in the area for you to sign up for. Further information about these can be found on the Halsway Manor website.
We hope you enjoy discovering all the stories these hills hold dear, just waiting for you to discover.
