Abstract
Alderley Edge in North-East Cheshire provides a strikingly clear case study of the ways in which space is infused with the intersecting historical, personal, and communal meanings which constitute place. For many of those who know it well, the enchanting qualities of the site extend beyond the metaphorical. It is home to a legend of which variant versions are found across Europe from antiquity to the present: the legend of the sleeping king or hero and his army, who will awaken when need is greatest. This invited book chapter explores the relationship between the legend (as a distinctly medievalist imagining), its medieval precedents, and its new re-imaginings in contemporary literary and oral culture of the NW Midlands, which present a new chapter in a long regional oral and literary culture of storytelling as placemaking.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Magical Tourism and Enchanting Geographies |
| Editors | Jane Lovell, Nitasha Sharma |
| Publisher | Routledge |
| Publication status | Accepted/In press - 2024 |