The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
The Pixies of Ottery St Mary
Pixies pop up everywhere before being banished once again from the town.
In partnership with:
Overview
Pixie Day is an annual midsummer’s day tradition that takes place in June in Ottery St Mary in Devon. The day commemorates the legend of the pixies being banished from the town into the caves known as Pixies’ Parlour. Folklore has it that a spell cast on the monks transporting bells to the newly-built church redirected them to the cliffs of Sidmouth but as the monks were about to fall one stubbed his toe and the spell was broken when he said “God bless my soul!”
On the Saturday nearest to midsummer’s day the pixies come out of the caves to imprison the bell-ringers but the vicar steps in to shoo off the pixies and free them. This is re-enacted every year. The original Pixies' Parlour is a sandstone cave on the River Otter. The Cornish name for pixie is spriggan and linked to Cornish tin mining. The earliest published version in 1853 of the Three Little Pigs’ story is from Dartmoor but in place of the pigs there are three little pigsies or pixies. The growth of the name pixie comes from old West Country dialect which swapped the letters in some words taken from old Saxon so piskies became piksies or pixies.
Related
Watch for free
Around the Village Green Around the Village Green
Travelogue 1937 12 mins Location: Finchingfield
Rural life in the Essex villages of Finchingfield and Great Bardfield - and the mixed reactions of older residents to changing times.
Watch for free
One Foot in Eden One Foot in Eden
Documentary 1978 49 mins Location: Orkney Islands
Orkney evoked through poetry, the sounds of nature, and the music of Peter Maxwell Davies.
Watch for free
A Day in the Hayfields A Day in the Hayfields
Non-Fiction 1904 3 mins Silent Location: Walton-on-Thames
Midsummer haymaking larks
Watch for free
West of England West of England
Industry sponsored film 1951 10 mins Location: Stroud
The Stroud valleys of Gloucestershire in glorious Technicolor - and with a Laurie Lee script.
Watch for free
Showtime Showtime
Documentary 1984 23 mins Location: Newark-on-Trent
From shire horses to the Royal Marines, welcome to the annual Newark Show. A serious business for the farming community, with prizes to win and 800 gallons of beer to be drunk.
Watch for free
Springtime in an English Village Springtime in an English Village
Documentary 1944 7 mins Location: Stanion
An extraordinary and unexpected snapshot of rural life in wartime in which a young black girl is crowned Queen of the May.
Watch for free
The Flaming Tar Barrels of Ottery St Mary The Flaming Tar Barrels of Ottery St Mary
Current affairs 1978 2 mins Silent Location: Ottery St Mary
Unique tradition of Ottery St Mary’s flaming tar barrels rolls on
Watch for free
Ottery St. Mary's Firing of the Cannon Ottery St. Mary's Firing of the Cannon
Current affairs 1976 4 mins Location: Ottery St Mary
Crack, Snapple, Pop! The 'Firing of the Cannon' celebration starts with a bang in Ottery St. Mary
Watch for free
Women in Action Panel Discussion Women in Action Panel Discussion
Inside Film 2024 28 mins
Action Xtreme - the UK's leading action film studio - hosts this panel discussion with four leading women in action cinema - Soo Cole, Jo Rolison, Jadey Duffield and Ioanna Karavela.
Watch for free
Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A Starve Acre - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 24 mins
Daniel Kokotajlo talks to Nia Childs about Starve Acre, his folk horror about a couple digging deep into grief in the heart of the Yorkshire Dales.
Watch for free
Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A Sky Peals - Exclusive Q&A
Short interview 2024 30 mins
Sky Peals director Moin Hussain and lead actor Faraz Ayub talk to Tomisin Adepeju about their magic realist drama.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell Inside the Archive: The Early Films of Michael Powell
Documentary 2024 42 mins
Documentary exploring the BFI National Archive’s role in rediscovering and remastering the early films of Michael Powell.
Watch for free
Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels Inside the Archive: The Riviera Revels
Short documentary 2024 12 mins
Bryony Dixon, curator of silent film at the BFI national archive, explores the origins of a series of comic travelogues, and Michael Powell's involvement in making them.
Watch for free
New Perspectives: Oldboy New Perspectives: Oldboy
Short documentary 2024 4 mins
Discover why Dan George of Northumbria University believes everyone should experience Oldboy at least once.