The stamp programme for 2025 was changed in early January and then for a second time, as this issue was brought forward from April.
The Landscape of the United Kingdom is steeped in myths, legends and folktales that have captured imaginations for centuries. Royal Mail are exploring the mythical creatures and legendary figures of folklore with a set of 8 illustrated stamps, looking into the deeper meanings and values these stories convey.
The stamps in detail
these 1st class stamps are sold at £1.65 each but the price will rise to £1.70 on 7 April.
Beowulf and Grendel, England
One of the most important works of British literature, Beowulf is an Old English poem composed between the 8th and 11th centuries. At the centre of this hero tale is Beowulf, a Geatish warrior who travelled to Denmark to help rid King Hrothgar of the monstrous Grendel, who had been terrorising his mead hall.
One night, after the feast, Grendel burst through the door and began devouring the sleeping warriors. Beowulf, renowned for his bravery, challenged the monster armed only with his strength and courage. In frenzied combat, Beowulf tore off Grendel’s arm, and the monster slunk off to its lair to die. Beowulf later defeated Grendel’s vengeful mother, cementing his hero status in one of England’s greatest legends.
Blodeuwedd, Wales
The tragic tale of Blodeuwedd is found in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi, a collection of medieval Welsh stories. In the tale, Lleu Llaw Gyffes is cursed to never have a human wife. To foil this fate, magicians Math and Gwydion concoct a plan: they create Blodeuwedd from flowers. Yet, in a twist to the tale, Blodeuwedd falls in love with someone else.
To escape her marriage, she and her lover plot to kill Lleu by tricking him into revealing the secret of his immortality. Yet their plan fails. Though wounded, Lleu transforms into an eagle to escape. Gwydion transforms Blodeuwedd into an owl for her treachery, doomed to forever roam the night, shunned by other birds.
Loch Ness Monster, Scotland
Sightings of this legendary creature have a long history, with a Pictish carving supposedly depicting the flippered beast. A 7th-century text describes Saint Columba encountering a ‘water beast’ in the River Ness in AD 565. First, the beast killed a swimmer with a savage bite, later pursuing another man with a great roar. Invoking the name of God, Saint Columba banished the monster with the sign of the cross.
In 1934, the iconic image of the humped, long-necked beast was solidified in the global imagination when an alleged photograph of it appeared in the Daily Mail. This and many other photographs have been revealed to be hoaxes, and sonar explorations to locate the monster have been fruitless. Despite this, the legend of the fabled creature endures.
Cornish Piskies, Cornwall
These sprightly fairy folk are small creatures, often wearing red pointed caps and clad in green rags, lichen or coats and breeches. Piskies love to play tricks on humans, and tales abound of their mischief, from stealing and hiding household items to knotting horses’ manes into fairy stirrups. Their common pastime is leading travellers astray by luring them off the path in the bogs and moorlands with their ‘pisky lights’.
They are fond of revelry, especially singing and dancing in rings. Ever dualistic in nature, piskies are also known to help with chores around homes and farms, churning butter and stacking hay, especially if supper is left out for them overnight. It is sensible to turn your coat inside out to protect yourself from the piskies’ mischief.
Fionn mac Cumhaill, Northern Ireland
Fionn’s heroic deeds were chronicled in the Fenian Cycle, one of four major cycles of Irish myths recorded in the 12th century. Renowned for his strength and wisdom, Fionn (also known as Finn MacCool) was the leader of the Fianna, a band of warriors who defended the land from harm. One tale explains how the Giant’s Causeway came into existence. Fionn boasted of his strength so loudly that his claims reached the Scottish giant Benandonner, who issued a challenge.
In response, Fionn built a causeway across the sea to reach his opponent. Yet on nearing Scotland’s shores, he saw Benandonner’s towering form and hastily retreated. The Scottish giant followed him, and Fionn’s quick-thinking wife disguised the hero as a baby. Astounded by the gigantic size of the child and imagining the father, Benandonner fled, destroying the causeway behind him.
Black Shuck, East Anglia
The spectral black dog appears across many regions, as well as across Europe, yet nowhere is his spirit more alive than in East Anglia. Said to foretell death and destruction, this enormous hound wanders the countryside, his fiery saucer-like eyes aglow. He goes by many names, yet Black Shuck is the most familiar.
A chilling tale tells how a fiendish dog appeared in flashes of fire at Bungay Church in 1577 during a violent storm. Cavorting like the devil himself, he wrung the necks of two praying parishioners. Soon after, he swung down from the roof of Blythburgh Church killing two men and a boy, as well as burning the hand of another, before bolting away. The church door is said to bear the hound’s claw marks to this day.
Grindylow, Northeast England
Lurking in the rivers, ponds and marshes of Lancashire and Yorkshire, grindylows are sprites with green skin and long arms, with sharp claws and teeth to match. Some of these water demons have garnered their own tales and earned their own fearsome identities, from Jinny or Jenny Greenteeth to Nelly Long-Arms and Peg O’Nell. Peg Powler, a water hag from the River Tees, is known for her green hair and unquenchable thirst for human life.
In cautionary folktales used to keep children away from dangerous currents, Peg lures wayward souls to the water’s edge. Dragging them into the murky depths, she chooses to drown or devour them. River foam was often called Peg Powler’s ‘suds’ or ‘cream’. Strangely, Peg is believed to be particularly bloodthirsty on Sundays.
Selkies, Orkney and Shetland
These elusive creatures take on animal form while in the sea, yet both male and female magically transform into human form when shedding their seal skins to come ashore. Some engage in illicit affairs with humankind, even residing on land for a time, though they can ultimately never resist the sea’s call.
A folktale first recorded in the 19th century recounts how a bachelor stole the skin of a frolicking selkie and soon became overwhelmed with love at her pleading for its return. She reluctantly consented to be his wife, bearing several web-fi ngered children. Yet her endless yearning for the sea remained. Finally retrieving her skin, the selkie wife rushed to the shore, greeting her selkie husband with delight, and forever disappeared into the waves.
(Text courtesy of Royal Mail, from the Presentation Pack - no attribution.)
Technical Details
The 35 mm square stamps were designed by Godfrey Design with illustrations by Adam Simpson. They are printed in lithography on ordinary gummed paper perforated 14½ by Cartor Security Printers, in two sheets of 48.
Products available
Set of 8 stamps, first day cover, presentation pack, stamp cards, Beowulf & Grendel Medal Cover (5,000), framed stamp set.
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