Illustrated Amberley Publishing Illustrated Tales of County Durham Paperback 96 pages 15 October 2026

The beautiful county of Durham is one of the most attractive of English counties. Here is a collection of strange tales and local legends from the county.

From its remote North Pennine uplands and the historic cathedral city of Durham to the more populous areas in the east, nearer to its North Sea coast, where towns like Sunderland, Hartlepool and Darlington grew massively in the Industrial Revolution, the historic county of Durham has a myriad of folk tales to tell. These stories include dragons and wyrms, fairies and brownies, and ghosts and apparitions, as well as legendary figures from the mists of time and mythical beasts. Here one will find the Middridge Fairies, the Bishop Auckland Boar, the Lambton Worm, the Witch of Washington and the Grey Lady of Durham Castle, among many others.

Illustrated Tales of County Durham will take the reader on a journey back through Durham’s hidden history where legend, folklore and reality are intertwined in a compelling story of the county’s magical past. These strange and spooky stories are accompanied by illustrations of places featured in the text, both present day and historical, in this hugely entertaining book.