Maypoles Galore! [work in progress]

[Note:  Many of these sources are still in copyright - however if my understanding of UK copyright law is correct the facts contained in them cannot be copyrighted, only the exact words, structure, images or layout (in these respects this page is unique and original, or using public domain images). As a mark of thanks and to add interest I have included a link to my sources.  If you own one of the sites or books I have used and do not want me to link to you please say, and I shall remove it.  If anyone wants to link to me I would be delighted!

I have also been very strict with dates - most of these places have had Maypoles erected for many many other years as well.

Where Maypoles have been used -

Cornwall

Brown Willy (Bron Wenelly, or Swallow Hill), 2010 (Here)

Bude, 2011 (Here)

Crealy, 2008 (Here)

Grade-Ruen, 2009 (Here)

Helston, ? (Here)

Mawnan Smith, ? (Here)

Millpool, 2008 (Here)

Padstow, 1923 (Here)

Padstow, 1935 (Here)

Padstow, 1980 (Here)

Padstow, 2004 (Here)

Padstow 2005 (Here)

Padstow, 2006 (Here)

Padstow, 2007 (Here)

Paul, ? (Here)

Penryn, ? (Here)

Saltash, 2011 (Here)

Troon, 1981 (Here)

West Loe, 2010 (Here)

Devon

Awliscombe, 2009, (Here)

Belstone, 2010 (Here)

Chagford, 1977 (The Book of Chagford: A Town Apart (Community History Series))

Denbury, 2011 (Here)

High Willheys, 2009 (Here, and Here)

Honicknowle, Plymouth, 1934 (Here)

Ilfracombe, 1999-2011 (Here)

Kingsteignton, ? (from a friend)

Lustleigh, -2010 (from a friend)

Malborough, 1994 (Here)

Meavy, 2004 (Here)

Meavy, 2011 (Here)

Moretonhampstead, 1981 (Here)

North Bovey, 2011 (Here)

Parracombe, 2008 (Here)

Shaldon, 2011 (Here)

Sticklepath, 2009 (Here)

Sticklepath, 2010 (Here)

Stoke Gabriel, 2010 (Here)

Tavistock, ? (Here)

Tiverton, 2009 (Here)

Tiverton, 2010 (Here)

Torrington, 2010 (Here)

Widecombe-in-the-Moor, 2008 (Here)

Woodbury, 2011 (from a friend)

Dorset

Abbotsbury, 2006 (Here)

Bridport, 2005 (Here)

Bridport, 2008 (Here)

Bridport, 2011 (Here)

Bridport, 2012 (Here)

Buckhorn Weston, ? (Here)

Cern Abbas, ? (Here)

Colehill, 2000 (Here)

Colehill, 2001 (Here)

Durweston, 1920's (Here)

Durweston, 1958 (Here)

Durweston, 1961 (Here)

Durweston, 1971 (Here)

Durweston, 2008 (Here)

Durweston, 2009 (Here)

Durweston, 2010 (Here)

Durweston, 2011 (Here)

Fontmell Magna, 1904 (Here)

Fontmell Magna, 1960 (Here)

Glanvilles Wootton, 1909 (Here)

Gussage All Saints, 2009 (Here)

Litton Cheney, 2005 (Here)

Loders, 2007 (Here)

Loders, 2008 (Here)

Milton Abbas, 2009 (Here)

Monkton Wylde, 2003 (from Lunar Hine)

Puddletown, 2006 (Here)

Shaftsbury, 2010, (Here)

Shillingstone, 1929 (The Folklore Calendar by George Long)

Stalbridge, 2010 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 1669 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 1867 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 1897 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 1986 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 2003 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 2004 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 2007 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 2008 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 2009 (Here)

Sturminster Marshal, 2011 (Here)

Weymouth, 1977 (Here)

Weymouth, 2004 (Here)

Weymouth, 2005 (Here)

Winterbourne Houghton, 2006 (Here)

Winterbourne Houghton, 2007 (Here)

Winterbourne Strickland, 2006 (Here)

Somerset (incl. Bath and Bristol)

Allerford, ? (Here)

Buckland St Mary, ? (Here)

Butleigh, 1906 (Here)

Dunster, ? (Here)

Earth Spirit, Dundon, 2011 (from a friend)

Iron Acton, ? (Here)

Selworthy, ? (Here)

Shepton Beauchampe, 2011 (Here)

South Horrington, 1960-1980 (Here)

Wells, 1970-1990, 2009 (Here)

Weston, 2011 (Here)

Windmill Hill City Farm, Bristol, early 1980's (from my memory)

Yeovil, ? (from The Faery Folklorist)

Almost all of these are not of the type one might have found in medieval times, but they come from the same root, merely taking on addornments and styles of the late 19th / early 20th century. I would argue that this is an extencion of the long shaddow of the maypole, cast through pagan and christian and athiest eras. Comunity, dance, music and weird wyrd still, as always, weave a compelling and entrancinfg dance. The deaper and wider the roots, the stronger the tree. I hope the Mayday bankholiday is retained - even if it is not Mayday will continue, but perhaps not in the vibrant comunity binding way it does to this day, and has done for millenia.

Of course Maypoles in this form are not the only markers of mayday - plenty of other places and people mark this turning of the year. I am merely reflecting in this post one angle of this verdant moment in our collective calendar. 

I have done a separate map for maypole sitings - accessed here.

If you know of other maypoles please comment bellow... ]

Save May Day Bankholiday! Create a maypole forest....

[I have had an idea to help with the campaign to save the May Day / Beltane bank holiday.  Its not entirely Westcountry, but is about keeping our strong traditions healthy...

I was inspired by some train shaped bunting/petition to come up with my own small act of ‘craftivism’ – using artistic and crafty means to be an active person politically.

I realised, prompted by an old early childhood memory, that maypoles have been casting their long shadows over Britain in perhaps more profusion than many people realised – When I asked around most people had encountered a maypole in some form or other. I want to some how show this visually to those who will decide on the future of May Day bank holiday.

At the moment I am thinking of a large board, either with the outline of Britain burned on to it or pasted on in map form.  I would then drill holes into the board everywhere there was a maypole and put in a short twig. Hopefully most of Britain would be forested. Al the ones that had been used in the 21^st century I would tie a brightly coloured thread around.

This whole thing would then be given to the relevant political person as a physical demonstration of the popularity of the concept of May Day.  I would deliver it next May Day (2012).

This is where I need help –

Firstly if other people think this is a good idea we could regionalise it (saving me a lot of work!) and, after deciding on a scale create a sort of jigsaw map that could be fitted together (I bagsie the Westcountry – Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset!).

Secondly, if you have ever seen a maypole, tell me where and when! The more I can locate the more impressive the map will look…

And thirdly – tell me your thoughts on the whole idea! – Positive, negative – I can take it! (For instance I am not sure if Maypoles are a big thing in Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales – I know Beltane is, but does it involve maypoles? As the plans at the moment are only to scrap Mayday Bank holiday in Wales and England should I leave Scotland and Northern Ireland out?).

I hope we can retain the right to holiday on this most ancient of festivals.

Please share this with friends..]

A May Day celebration in Devon

[I had great plans for this May Day (or Beltaine, to use the Irish/Scotish/Manx term), but found that having a baby around does not make for complicated festivities...

I did manage to get some May blossom (hawthorn flowers) to decorate my daughters pram as we walked around town, in remembrance of my Granny (from Northamptonshire, not the Westcountry) who used as a girl to carry hawthorn blossoms from house to house on May Day, singing a rhyme my dad can never quite remember... It was a begging rhyme.

The Fire is lit...

Later in the day we went to a basket making friends May Day fire - a huge great conflagration of a years supply of pruning and a barn roof.

It felt like a fitting way to welcome in the flowers and grouth of May.

Old May day songs where sung, drums sounded out and a sunwise circling of the flames was walked with excitement and loud exclamations at the huge serpentine flames.

The flames of May

A little later some knife and axe throwing (at tree section targets) was practiced.

Later, as the flames dropped down to the embers first the bravest of the men, then the bravest of the women and finally the bravest of the children tried to jump the glowing fire, sometimes kicking up sparks in their wake as they landed a little short of the far side.

Hedgerow berry fueled home brew and commercial wines and beers where cracked open and crisps born by insistent children where eaten. I brought out my fiddle and played the Baring-Gould Chagford tune for perhaps its first public Chagford performance in over 100 years...  Soon artist Rima Staines joined in  on the Accordion (or rather carried on - I stopped - too much alcohol on not enough sleep) and then her partner, the story teller Tom Hiron accompanied her on clarinet.

Beautiful patterns my camera was not fast enough to capture

We had to leave then, the little one needing her bed, but the festivities carried on into the night, I imagine in a riot of multi-generational humans and a few teenage dogs. 

Next year, maybe then I can have puppets, masks and a May-pole....]

May Day at Helston

Helston on on the 8th of May - Flora day - Rod Allday [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"At Helston, in Cornwall, the May-day festivals are still observed with all the old-time spirit and enthusiasm."

Hewett 1900

Map - Helston

Some Devon May Day customs

May Blossom - Hawthorn - If you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog.

[I hope these are about Devon, anyway - with Hewett she is infuriatingly spartan with place references, and occasionally includes stuff from other counties - so treat with care...]

"There were, and still are, numerous superstitions attached to the merry month of May. Marriages taking place in May are supposed to bring ill-luck to the contracting parties. Cats born in this month are regarded as unpleasant creatures to have about one, as the practice of bringing into the house snakes, toads, and other objectionable vermin is ascribed to them.
 

May-dew, collected before or close upon sun-rise, is looked upon as an infallible beautifier of the complexion. Young girls arose early to wash their faces in it with the hope that their charms would be increased. On returning from the fields they would gather branches of hawthorn bloom, and suspend it over the entrance to the house, to protect it and themselves from the spells of witches and the evil eye.

On the first of May, persons were sent on ridiculous errands, and on their return, empty handed, were derisively addressed as May giize-chicks, or May goslings."

Hewett 1900

Introduction to Mayday by Hewett

Lustliegh May Queen Rock -  By Owain.davies (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"From the time of the Roman evacuation of Britain, A.D. 410, May Day festivals have been observed throughout the country. The Saxons retained the worship of Maia, the mother of Jupiter, on the first of the month, and from this custom the month derived its name.

This popular festival was observed with the joyful ringing of bells, music, dancing, and mummings. Every building was covered with a profusion of floral decorations. Kings and queens did not object to join the members of their Court, civic dignitaries, and the populace, in the enjoyment of May Day gaieties. The makers of the fun adorned themselves with wreaths and festoons of flowers. Girls, wearing a profusion of flowers, danced around the Maypole to the wild strains of fifes and drums. Men visited the beer shops, where they imbibed more than was good for them.

As the custom grew old, abuses crept in, and what was once a picturesque and innocent recreation degenerated into frantic drunken revels, which were a scandal and a nuisance."

Hewett 1900

[At a time when the government are threatening to remove our mayday bank-holiday it is worth remembering that this is among  the oldest holidays in Britain. As the festival was celebrated in Pagan Ireland it is very likely that it pre-dates the Romans and is thus our oldest that is true to its roots as a celebration of the changing year.]

Dunster Hobby Horse

"The hobby-horse is not yet actually gone by; it exists still here. On the first of May, "hobby horsing" prevails here, or at least did some few years ago. A number of persons, carrying grotesque figures of men and horses, of a sufficient size to cover them, walk about the town, and then go to Dunster Castle, where they are entertained, and receive a gift of money."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Dunster

[This appears to be a description of the Hobby Horses from Minehead, which still visits Dunster on May the 1st.]

Traitor Pool and the Obby Oss of Padstow

Padstow Obby Oss (or Hobby Horse)
I must apologize to the author of Ritual Animal Disguise, I have not cropped out your comment, and thus this could be copyright infringement. The image its self is so old I thought it would be OK to use.

"On the 1st of May, a species of festivity, Hitchins tells us, was observed in his time at Padstow: called the Hobby-horse, from the figure of a horse being carried through the streets. Men, women, and children flocked round it, when they proceeded to a place called Traitor Pool, about a quarter of a mile distant, in which the hobby-horse was always supposed to drink. The head, after being dipped into the water, was instantly taken out, and the mud and water were sprinkled on the spectators, to the no small diversion of all. On returning home a particular song was sung, which was supposed to commemorate the event that gave the hobby-horse birth. According to tradition the French once upon a time effected a landing at a small cove in the vicinity, but seeing at a distance a number of women dressed in red cloaks, whom they mistook for soldiers, they fled to their ships and put to sea. The day generally ended in riot and dissipation."

Hope 1893

Map - Padstow

Nine Maidens stone circle on May the 1st

[Cog and Wheels, a local all-lady Morris team dance at the Nine Maidens stone circle at Belstone every May the 1st at dawn. Their website here.] 

Belstone and the Nine Maidens

[On a guided walk today I was told of the Nine Maidens or Nine Stones on Belston Common.  The guide was from the village and said that as a child the old men had told him they used to go up there on May Day for 'ceremonies'.  When he asked what these consisted of he was told 'don' yu wory abote that, boy' - and laughed.  He took this to mean it was rude - a May Day shag at the circle!  He was in his late 50's early 60's - so these memories probably stretch back about 70 - 100 years.

The circle, of course, has more than nine stones (I think it was 16), but he linked the story to concepts of three times three, e.g. third child of the third generation "she would have to be female, of course".  He also linked it to the moon, saying that came in three phases - waxing, full and waining - presumably new dosent count because you cant see it!

The story I knew of the stones was the maidens turned to stone for dancing on the sabath.]

Bolster Day celebration, 2005

Final edit documenting the days events organised by the people of St.Agnes in Cornwall, UK on May 1st 2005. The locals dress up and perform a staged annual show on the cliffs near the town at Chapel Porth to relay a story about the giant 'Big Bad Bolster'. Legend tells he stalked the area and ate the locals. This footage was originallly filmed for Jeremy Deller and Alan Kane's Folk Archive. This edit was put together by Matt Redman and burnt to DVD for the folk of St.Agnes and organisers of the event for keepsake and thanks. The Bolster story itself is copyright to the St.Agnes Bolster Committee.

[held under a Creative Commons license:Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs - please feel yourselves attributed!]