The Green Children of Woolpit

A Medieval Encounter with Aliens, the Fae — or Orphans of War?

In the middle years of the 12th century, two green-skinned children mysteriously appeared in a field in Suffolk. But who or what were they and where did they come from? Theories range from aliens and the Fae to orphans of war and naughty children.

My own interest in the Green Children of Woolpit began when I moved to East Anglia and encountered the village of Woolpit one day while returning from Bury St Edmunds — the village lies about 7 miles east of Bury. It was re-ignited when I wrote a book on the folklore and legends of the Yorkshire Wolds, which features a chapter on the writings of the 12th century monkish chronicler William of Newburgh. William was born near Bridlington, and Newburgh Priory was a daughter-house of Bridlington Priory. And, more recently, I’ve started writing an account of the life, times and tales of William of Newburgh. So let’s set the scene…

The basic story is at some point during the middle year of the 12th century, villagers bringing in the harvest near Woolpit found two children, a young boy and his older sister, by the mouth of one of the village’s wolf pits (the village actually derives its name from wolf pits, which were large holes in the ground used to trap wolves.) The children were undernourished, their…