"It has been the custom in the tithing of Motcombe, time out of mind, on the Sunday next after Holy Rood Day, in May every year, for each parish within the borough of Shaston to come down that day to Elmore, or Enmore Green, at one o'clock in the afternoon, with their minstrels, and play with games, and from one to two o'clock-one whole hour to dance. The Mayor of Shaston was to see that the Queen's Bailiff had a penny loaf, a gallon of ale, and a calf s head, with a pair, of gloves; to see the order of the dance that day, and if the dance failed any day and the bailiff had not his due, the bailiff and his men stopped the water from the four wells at Elmore which supplied the borough.
A slightly different account of this is given in Dyer's Brit. Pop. Customs, pp. 205-6"
Hope 1893
Map - Motcombe
Map - Enmore Green
No comments:
Post a Comment