Moneymaker Jack | Series 5 Episode 9: Berkshire

This week, Eleanor has finally sufficiently recovered from her really horrid flu to not only speak audibly, but also whisk us all the way across to the 'Royal County' of Berkshire!

We start by discussing the Boar's Head Feast, Sow Day, and St Adelaide's Day traditions, with St Adelaide having not only dug her own way out of jail but also single-handedly led the Holy Roman Empire, and become a warrior nun! After that, it's time to get properly back to business, and dig into the history and folklore of Berkshire.

We chew over a load of fascinating stuff, including Piers Gaveston's astonishingly daft methods for upsetting the nation's lords from his base at Wallingford Castle, the significance of Greenham Common in the English cultural consciousness, Berkshire's 'Swan Upping' traditions, and plenty else, all before Eleanor reveals some tasty options for this week's County Dishes, including the largely forgotten Reading delicacy, Cock's Sauce...

On the folklore front, interspersed with some excerpts from next Saturday's Local Legends interview with storyteller and author David England, we talk about the nigh-on psychopathic dating habits of Lady Frances Hendrick of Calcot Park, a mouse-loving ghost who's stuck in a pond, the methods Kintbury's local wizard might recommend for removing a church bell from the river Kennet, and much more besides.

Then it's on to the main event: Eleanor's story about Newbury's industrious 16th century folk hero "Moneymaker Jack."

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…

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