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