Editing Littleport (section)

==Local folklore and legends==
===Black dog hauntings===
Littleport is home to two different legends of [[Black dog (folklore)|spectral black dog]]s, which have been linked to the [[Black Shuck]] folklore of the East of England but differ in significant aspects.

The local folklorist W. H. Barrett tells a story set before the [[English Reformation]], of a local girl gathering wild mint from a nearby mere, who is rescued from a lustful friar by a huge black dog, both of which are killed in the struggle. The local men throw the body of the friar into the mere, but bury with honour the dog, which is then said to haunt the area.<ref name="TFF01">{{Citation |last=Barrett |first=Walter Henry |editor-last=Porter |editor-first=Enid |title=Tales from the Fens |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |publication-date=1963 |isbn=9780710010544}}</ref><ref name="CFT01">{{Citation |last=James |first=Maureen |chapter=Of Strange Phenomena: Black Dogs, Will o' the Wykes and Lantern Men |title=Cambridgeshire Folk Tales |year=2014 |publisher=History Press |publication-date=2014 |isbn=9780752466286}}</ref>

Cambridgeshire folklorist [[Enid Porter]] tells stories from the 19th century of a black dog haunting the [[A10 road (England)|A10 road]] between Littleport and the neighbouring hamlet of Brandon Creek. Local residents are kept awake on dark nights by the sounds of howling and travellers hear trotting feet behind them and feel hot breath on the back of their legs. Local legend says that the dog is awaiting the return of its owner, who drowned in the nearby [[River Great Ouse]] in the early 1800s. This haunting reportedly ended in 1906, when a local resident drove his car into something solid, which was never found, next to the spot where the dog's owner supposedly drowned.<ref name="CCF01">{{Citation |last=Porter |first=Enid |title=Cambridgeshire Customs & Folklore |year=1969 |publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul |publication-date=1969 |isbn=9780710062017}}</ref><ref name="MC01">{{Citation |last=Codd |first=Daniel |chapter=The Weird Animal Kingdom: Black Shuck and Other Phantom Animals |title=Mysterious Cambridgeshire |year=2010 |publisher=JMD Media |publication-date=2010 |isbn=9781859838082}}</ref>

===Cultural reference===
Littleport provided the inspiration for Great Deeping, the imaginary location of the ''Paradise Barn'' children's novels by [[Victor Watson (author)|Victor Watson]], set in the Second World War.<ref>Series website [http://paradisebarn.com/ Retrieved 20 February 2016.]</ref>