Alderman and Alphin

Our story for "Marriage Week" is a retelling by Eleanor of a giant legend, Alderman and Alphin.

Set in Saddleworth, which was once a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire but is found in Lancashire today, not far from Oldham and Manchester, it's the tale attached to two particular landscape features, Alderman's Hill and Alphin Pike, two hills overlooking the entrance to the Upper Tame Valley.

Eleanor's telling of the tale and its frame narrative, set in the early 19th century before the advent of the power loom, certainly takes inspiration from Thomas Hardy and Elizabeth Gaskell.

Details in the story were inspired by Ammon Wrigley's 1909 book "Saddleworth Superstitions and Folk Customs."

About Three Ravens 🔮

Three Ravens is a completely independent English myth and folklore podcast where we share stories, celebrate folk culture, and fall backwards through the hedgerows of history.

Hosted by real-life couple Eleanor Conlon and Martin Vaux, and mostly recorded at our home in rural Sussex in southern England, Three Ravens is rated 4.8/5 from over 500 reviews and has grown by word of mouth care of our lovely listener community ‘The Conspiracy of Ravens.’

We release three episodes a week, on Mondays, Thursday and Saturdays, through which we explore folktales, folkways, fairy stories, folk songs, mythology, local heritage, seasonal customs and traditional beliefs.

Our research inspires our retellings of stories from across history and culture, with episodes standing alone but connected together across over 500 chatty, mostly light-hearted, swear-free installments driven by passion, kindness and curiosity.

Now ranked as an all-time Top 5 podcast across several categories by Goodpods, charting in the Spotify, Apple and Rephonic UK Fiction Top 10 across 2024, 2025 and 2026, if you’re interested in ghosts, monsters, regional beliefs, and the things that unite us all, then join us round the campfire and listen in…

Join the Conspiracy of Ravens ✨

🌐 Official Website: Visit the Three Ravens Podcast Official Site to sign up for our mailing list, explore our episode catalogue, and enjoy our blog!

🎤 Three Ravens Live: Find tickets and news about our upcoming live shows!

🛒 Shop: Buy our books and exclusive Three Ravens Merch including mugs, tote bags, tees and hoodies from our Online Shop

👑 Patreon: Support the show and unlock ad free listening, monthly Patreon exclusive episodes, the Three Ravens Film Club, our community chat and newsletters at the Three Ravens Patreon

📚 Our First Book: Buy our stunning hardback collection of 39 historic stories Three Ravens Folk Tales

👻 Our Second Book: Order our brand new hair-raising host of 20 original ghost stories Three Ravens Ghost Tales

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 Our Third Book: Preorder our upcoming collection of Welsh regional legends Three Ravens Folk Tales of Wales coming to all good bookshops on St David's Day (March 1st) 2027

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The Folklore of Marriage

This week we have our second installment of our month long mini series about cycles of life, all about the history and folklore of marriage!We explore the early beginnings of marriage contracts, legal...

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Local Legends #71: Sue Bentley

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The Corn Maiden

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3 Aug 1h 3min