The Folklore Map
← Back to the map
‹›

Mystery · Lulsley

The Fairies' Cave

A cliff over the Teme hides a little cave. The village women knew exactly what to leave there.

Open on the map: directions, what's there today and read-aloud →

Illustration: The Fairies' Cave
The legend
Mystery

The Fairies' Cave

Leave it broken. Leave a bun. Come back at dawn.

Stand where it happened

What's there
Wooded cliff above the River Teme
Legend from
Local tradition
Tone
Light-hearted
MysteriesStonesGhosts

Before you go

Wooded riverside cliff and SSSI; the cave is hard to reach and paths are not confirmed. Check access before you go.

  • Osebury Rock, Lulsley
  • Near NOT FOUND
  • The pin marks the village; the exact spot isn't recorded.

Leave a broken peel and a fresh bun in the cave tonight. By morning it will be mended.

Osebury Rock is a wooded cliff above the River Teme near Lulsley, west of Worcester. High in it is a small cave known locally as the Fairies' Cave. Women of the village would leave a broken kitchen tool there overnight, such as a bread peel, with a fresh bun as payment, and find it mended by the fairy of the rock next morning. Jabez Allies listed a Fairies' Cave and a Witches' Oven at the rock in 1852. Nearby, Bate's Bush, a maple at the crossroads said to have grown from the stake driven through a buried suicide, was believed to be haunted.

Sources

  1. Osebury Rock, Wikipedia —
  2. Fairy's Cave, Mysteries of Mercia —
  3. On the Ancient British, Roman and Saxon Antiquities and Folk-Lore of Worcestershire, Jabez Allies (1852), Internet Archive —

Legends nearby

More Worcestershire folklore →