Banning the Wakes in Exeter and Somersetshire

Exeter Morris Men dancing!

"When an order was made in 1627 and in 1631, at Exeter, and in Somersetshire, for the suppression of the Wakes [I think these where Wakes on the night before the parish church's saint day, associated with dancing, music and drink, and the feasting on the day itself], both the Ministers and the People desired their continuance, not only for preserving the memorial of the dedication of their several Churches, but for civilizing the parishioners, composing differences by the mediation and meeting of friends, increasing of love, and unity, by these feasts of charity, and for the relief and comfort of the poor."

Brand 1813

 






  

 

Map - Exeter

Revel of Mary Magdaline - Stocklinch

Stocklinch Village today - image by Nigel Mykura [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"In Collinson's History of Somersetshire, vol. i. Abdick and Bulston Hundred, p. 64, speaking of Stocklinch, St. Magdalen Parish, the author says : "A Revel is held here on St. Mary Magdalen's day.""

Brand 1813

 






 

Map - Stocklinch

[Mary Magdalene was a disciple of Jesus, and a saint in the Catholic church.  After the first half of the first millennium AD it was suggested by Pope Gregory that she was a prostitute, although the Vatican revised this in 1969 (Wikipedia!) - so for the period Brand and Collinson where talking about she would have been thought of as a 'repentant' prostitute - It makes me wander what nature her revel took...  Saint Mary Magdalene's day was the 22nd of July]

Belstone Village Fair

Across this western land villages will be opening up their streets to the games and stalls of their annual summer fair or fete.  At their best these are brilliant low key affairs, free of the social circles that separate people by income or profession or age.

All the pictures in this piece are either by me or by my wife Lunar Hine. Please attribute any you want to use elsewhere to her blog and to this blog as well.  Thanks!

Belstone Fair is a case in point. The communities of Belstone, Sticklepath, South Zeal and South Tawton lie of the north eastern edge of Dartmoor  are something any village would be proud of. South Zeal hosts the amazingly folky Dartmoor Folk Festival, with more beards than you can shake a stick at, and two large pubs so filled with musicians that the bar is often unobtainable, and your orders inaudible! I will say more about this event after I have been this year. Sticklepath hosts the amazing spectacle of the Sticklepath Fire Show, with up to 3000 spectators, all created by the collective good will of the local people. These communities are not like the League of Gentlemen (local communities for local people...), if you are willing to put the hours in, and to be slightly respectful of the work and experience of others, there is a place for you.

So in my usual meandering style we come back to Belstone Fair, where everything is so refreshingly human scale and about participation and enjoyment, and in such a beautiful setting. Their is very little of (what I see as) that home counties taint of the over manicured and sanitized neatness at Belstone. The wild still holds hands with the cultivated, the walls still have the odd weed in, the farms their piles of rusting iron. Ponies wander the streets, and their leavings decorate the lanes.

We arrived too late for the Maypole Dancing, but their was a few girls in white dresses around. The pole was of that school playground variety, and the CD player had replaced the band (the Silver Band that had been sought had not arrived).

There was a decorated bike competition for the children...

...the cup being won by the flying chef! (personally I thought the witch deserved it even more, but that's my folkloric soul interfering with my senses.)

Announcements where made by microphone...

...that was rigged up through some home speakers on top of a car that had to be turned on to work!

There was Wack the Rat (not a real rat - a ball of rags)...

..Smashing Pottery (30p for 6 blocks I think). This man had a near constant flow of children at his stall. It was brilliant to see how relaxed everyone was about children smashing things!

There was a plant stall...

...a Tea and cake tent...

... an alcoholic tombola, Pimms stall and meat barbeque (vegetarian option was fried onions or cake)...

...a book stall and DNP van...

.. a brick-a-brack stall (the man here did his very best to sell the nigh un-sellable!  I almost succumbed and bought 5 very small paddles - "you might find yourself up a creak and need a way to get out")...

..Nine Pins, or Skittles (not sure what it is called, you see it all over this bit of Devon - a well loved local game.  Note re-setter protecting his valuables)  The winner of the whole day one a box of chocolates...

...and then, best of all, the games. I missed most of the games, and most of what I did see I didn't photograph. There was three-legged races, normal races, welly wanging (chuck a welly as far as you can) etc. To end it all eggs where sold for £1 and couples where told to stand opposite each other in rows.  Two old women, one each end of the two rows conducted this with an absolute discipline (well most people obeyed them any way!).  The aim was to through the uncooked egg to your partner, who would through it back. The lines would then get further apart. The throwing took place one at a time down the line. If you did not catch the egg you where out. If you broke it you where out (and covered in raw egg).  If your friend decided to brake the egg over your head you where also covered in egg... The following pictures are from this event.

 Practice...

...Lining up...

...Disorder...

...Order...

...Good catches...

...Entertaining catches (note raw egg)...

...And a badly shot video.

It was a really fun afternoon - thanks Belstone! It is well worth spending a lazy Sunday afternoon on your local village green this summer.]

The West Country Man - a slightly anti-monarchy folksong reffrencing Barnstaple Fair

Ash tree leaves - By Pearson Scott Foresman [Public domain],

'There was an old man in the West Country ;
A blatch in his lease the attorney found,
Twas all for the felling of five ashen trees,
And building a house upon his own ground.

The old man, he would to London go,

To shew the King great part of his woe,
To shew the King great part of his grief,
And likewise to ax'n for some relief.

Now when the old man to London came,

The King he was to Windsor gone,
" Why if he had known that I was acoming,
He widden have gone so far from home."

When the old man unto Windsor came,

The gates were locked, and all secure,
" Why let's knock away with my oaken club,
There's room for me to get vore, to be sure."

"Yer sarvint, Maister Nobles!" shew me the king,
"Whot's this the King you sheweth to me ?
I zeed a chap to Barnstaple fair
Looked more like a king than thicky chap there."

"Yer sarvint, Mr. King !" the old man said,

"A blatch in my lease the 'torney' hath found,
And it's all for felling of five ashen trees,
And building a 'ouze pin tap his own ground."

The King he took the lease all up,

And signed it with his hand so free.
" Why, if us ciide a-had it a-diied at home,
Us needn't a-comed to thee."

The old man took the lease all up,

And for to go home was also willing,
But to make the King some sort of amends,
He took out his purse and gave him a shilling,

The King he thanked the noble soul,

And paid him down ten pounds in gold,
And every year for the sake of the sport,
Ten pounds were paid from Windsor Court.

The old man took the lease all up,

And for to go home he now was quite willing,
" But if I'd a-knowed thee'd agot so much money,
The devil-a-bit wid I a-gied thee a shilling."'

For this and the following song I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. W. H. Whiteaway, of Sunnyside, Exmouth, who is good enough to allow me to insert them here. He says, " these songs I give to you, from memory, as I can remember hearing them sung over sixty years ago."

Hewett 1900

Map - Barnstaple Fair

Map - Exmouth

[A tune exists here, Roud No. 18844 and 18877, in Sabine Baring-Gould's manuscripts, that looks like it might fit.]

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #8 - Candlemas day

Candlemas Day by Marianne Stokes 1901 - Via Wikipedia

"If the weather on Candlemas Day, February 2nd, be bright and dry, there will be a long continuance of cold wintry weather.

or,

If Candlemas Day be dry and fair,
The half of the winter is to come, and mair,
If Candlemas Day be wet and foul,
The half of the winter is gone at yule.

or,

If Candlemas Day be fair and bright,
Winter will have another fight,
But if Candlemas Day be clouds and rain,
Winter is gone, and will not come again.

Remove all Christmas decorations before Candlemas Day.

Down with the rosemary and the bays,
And down with the mistletoe,
Instead of the holly now upraise
The bright green box for show.

 

or,

If so the superstitious find,
One tiny branch just left behind,
Look ! for every leaf there may be,
So many goblins shall plague thee."

Hewett 1900

Introduction to Saint Columb silver ball hurling article, mentioning Flora Day at Helston

Flora-day at Helston - by Rod Allday [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"Of all the counties of England which possess certain definite and peculiar characteristics which distinguish them from the rest, there is none, perhaps, so strikingly marked in this way as the far-away county of Cornwall. So remote is it from the great centres of civilisation and commerce, stretching itself away from the rest of England, and reaching out into the vast Atlantic, as though it would shake hands with the land of the “Stars and Stripes”—living upon its own resources, self-satisfied and self-contained—it goes on in its quiet, sober, sleepy way, disturbed only by a general election or some great religious awakening.

Is it any wonder that superstitions linger long and find it hard to die in this land of pixies, pasties, and pilchards? And is it surprising that strange customs which have come down through the ages, clinging from generation to generation with strong tenacity, should still obtain among the people in spite of the advent of the railway and the board- school? Every parish holds on to its “feast,” and every town boasts of its “fair,” while each village and hamlet has a special feature or function of its very own.

Helstone—dreamy, picturesque Helstone — has its “Flora-day,” when its inhabitants turn out en masse, and to the lively stains of a brass band dance through the streets from one end of the town to the other..." [cont.]

Burrow 1899

Map - Helston 

 The Boy's Own Annual. Volume 21. 1898 - 1899

Giglet Fairs of Okehampton, Holsworthy and South Molton

The kitchen maid by Jean-Baptiste Simeon

"AT many towns and villages in Devonshire, on the first Saturday after Christmas-day, and at Ladyday, it was customary, up to a recent date, for women and girls desirous of being hired as domestic servants to repair to the "fair-field" of the district and stand in rows on exhibition. Persons in need of servants would then make a tour of inspection and select such as appeared suitable to their requirements.

This custom prevailed until a few years ago, at Holsworthy, Okehampton, and South Molton.

After the business of the day was over a revel or pleasure fair was held, known as " The Giglet Fair " and "Giglet Market."

At Okehampton Giglet Fair, bachelors were allowed, without the ceremony of introduction, to approach, make love, and propose to the "giglet" of their choice. It frequently happened that the joy bells, in a few weeks, announced the success of their venture."

Hewett 1900

Map- Okehampton
Map - Holsworthy

Map - South Molton

Mothering Sunday in Devon (part 2)

[cont] "...The custom arose from the practice of our Roman Catholic ancestors going in procession on Mid-lent Sunday, from the most distant parts of their parishes, to visit the Mother Church ; and, according to the custom of the times, much of the day, though nominally set apart for a religious service, was devoted to festivity and mirth. Instances of such perverted institutions are to be met with in the saints' festivals, the wakes, the revels, the church-ales, and fairs, many of which are still kept up in country villages, to say nothing of the more riotous festivities of Lent, Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas.

I'll to thee a simnel bring,
Gainst thou go a-mothering ;
So that when she blesseth thee,
Half that blessing thou'lt give me.

Hewett 1900

St Levan Fairies

'YEARS since--the time is past now--the green outside the gate at the end of Trezidder Lane was a favourite place with the Small Folks on which to hold their fairs. One might often see the rings in the grass which they made in dancing, where they footed it. Mr Trezillian was returning late one night from Penzance; when he came near the gate, he saw a number of little creatures spinning round and round. The sight made him light-headed, but he could not resist the desire to be amongst them, so he got off his horse. In a moment they were all over him like a swarm of bees, and he felt as if they were sticking needles and pins into him. His horse ran ofl and he didn't know what to do, till, by good luck, he thought of what he had often heard, so he turned his glove inside out, threw it amongst the Small Folk, and ere the glove reached the ground they were all gone. Mr Trezillian had now to find his horse, and the Small Folk, still determining to lead him a dance, bewildered him. He was piskie-led, and he could not find out where he was until broad daylight. Then he saw he was not a hundred yards from the place at which he had left his horse. On looking round the spot where he had seen the Small Folk dancing, be found a pair of very small silver knee-buckles of a most ancient shape, which, no doubt, some little gentleman must have lost when he was punishing the farmer. Those who knew the families will well remember the little silver buckles, which were kept for some time at Trezidder and some time at Raftra.'

Hunt 1903

The Fairy Gardens - part 1

'IF the adventurous traveller who visits the Land's End district will go down as far as he can on the south-west side of the Logan Rock Cairn, and look over, he will see, in little sheltered places between the cairns, close down to the water's edge, beautifully green spots, with here and there some ferns and cliff-pinks. These are the gardens of the Small People, or, as they are called by the natives, Small Folk. They are beautiful little creatures, who appear to pass a life of constant enjoyment amongst their own favourite flowers. They are harmless and if man does not meddle with them when they are holding their fairs--which are indeed high festivals--the Small Folk never interfere with man or anything belonging to him. They are known to do much good, especially when they discover a case of oppressed poverty; but they do it in their own way. They love to do good for its own sake, and the publication of it in any way draws down their censure, and sometimes severe anger, on the object whom it was their purpose to serve. To prove that those lovely little creatures are no dream, I may quote the words of a native of St Levan:...' [cont.]


Hunt 1903

The Four Leaved Clover - part 4

'...Our Betty told her daughter that everybody knowed that the Small People couldn't abide the smell of fish, nor the savour of salt or grease; and advised her to rub the cow's udder with fish brine to drive the Small People away. Well, she did what her mammy told her to do. Better she had let it alone. From that time Daisey would yield all her milk, but she hadn't the half; nor quarter, so much as before, but took up her udder, so that one could hardly see it below her flanks. Every evening, as soon as the stars began to twinkle, the cow would go round the fields bleating and crying as if she had lost her calf; she became hair-pitched, and pined away to skin and bone before the next Burrien fair, when she was driven to Church-town and sold for next to nothing. I don't know what became of her afterwards; but nothing throve with the farmer, after his wife had driven the Small People away, as it did before.'

Hunt 1903

The Four Leaved Clover - part 1

'NOT many years since a farmer lived in Bosfrancan in St Burrien, who had a very fine red-and-white cow called Daisey. The cow was always fat, with her dewlaps and udder sweeping the grass. Daisey held her milk from calf to calf; had an udder like a bucket, yet she would never yield more than a gallon or so of milk, when one might plainly see that she had still at least two gallons more in her udder. All at once, when the milk was in full flow, she would give a gentle bleat, cock up her ears, and the milk would stop at once. If the milkmaid tried to get any more from her after that, she would up foot, kick the bucket, and spill all the milk, yet stand as still as a stock, and keep chewing her cud all the time. Everybody would have thought the cow bewitched, if she hadn't been always fat and held her milk all the year round; besides, everything prospered with the farmer, and all the other cows had more milk than any of the neighbours. No one could tell what the deuce could be the matter with Daisey; and they tried to drive her to Burrien Church-town fair, that they might, be rid of her, as she was always fit for the butchers. All the men and boys on the farm couldn't get her to Church-town. As fast as they drove her up Alsie Lane, she would take down Cotneywilley, through by the Crean, down the Bottoms, and up the Gilley, and be in the field again before the men and boys would be half way home..' [cont.]

Hunt 1903

The Fairy Fair of Germoe

'BAL LANE in Germoe was a notorious place for piskies. One night Daniel Champion and his comrade came to Godolphin Bridge,--they were a little bit "overtook" with liquor. They said that when they came to "Bal Lane," they found it covered all over from end to end, and the Small People holding a fair there with all sorts of merchandise--the prettiest sight they ever met with. Champion was sure he saw his child there; for a few nights before, his child in the evening was as beautiful a one as could be seen anywhere, but in the morning was changed for one as ugly and wizened as could be; and he was sure the Small People had done it. Next day, telling the story at Croft Gothal, his comrade was knocked backward, thrown into the bob-pit, and just killed. Obliged to be carried to his home, Champion followed, and was telling of their adventure with the Small People, when one said, "Don't speak about them; they 're wicked, spiteful devils." No sooner were the words uttered than the speaker was thrown clean over stairs and bruised dreadfully,--a convincing proof to all present of the reality of the existence of the Small Folks.'

Hunt 1903

The giant of Morvah, part 2

[cont.] '...A Morva farmer writes:-- "A quarter of an acre would not hold the horses ridden to the fair,--the hedges being covered by the visitors, who drink and carouse as in former times. Morva Fair is, however, dying out."

The parish-clerk informed me that the giant had twenty sons; that he was the first settler in these parts; and that he planted his children all round the coast. It was his custom to bring all his family together on the 1st of August, and hence the origin of the fair. Whichever may be the true account of the cause which established the fair and the feast, these romances clearly establish the fact that the giants were at the bottom of it.

[a] The above notices were collected for me in Morva by the late C. Taylor Stephens, author of "The Chief of Barat-Anac," and "some time rural postman front St Ives to Zennor." Their connection with the traditions of Jack and Tom will be evident to every reader.'

Hunt 1903

Bampton Horse Fair

'The great annual Fete of Bampton is its autumn fair for the sale of Exmoor ponies, driven down by hundreds.'

Hope Moncrieff 1895

Pictures


[BBC do not allow copying and then broadcasting - shame]

How Tom and Jack found tin, part 11

[cont.] '...There was a vast hole in the earth, and there, at the bottom of it, lay the giant, crushed by his own weight, groaning like a volcano and shaking like an earthquake.

Jack knew there was an adit level driven into the hill, and he had quietly, and at night, worked away the roof at one particular part, until he left only a mere shell of rock above, so it was, that, as the giant passed over this spot, the ground gave way. Heavy rocks were thrown down the hole on the giant, and there his bones are said to lie to this day.

Jack was married at once to young Jane, her brother Tom to the Morva girl, and great were the rejoicings. From all parts of the country came in the wrestlers, and never since the days of Gogmagog had there been such terrific struggles between strong men. Quoits were played; and some of the throws of Tom and the tinkeard are still shown to attest the wonderful prowess of this pair. Hurling was played over the wild hills of those northern shores, and they rung and echoed then, as they have often rung and echoed since, with the brave cry, "Guare wheag yw guare teag," which has been translated into "Fair play is good play," -an honourable trait in the character of our Celtic friends. All this took place on a Sunday, and was the origin of Morva Feast and Morva Fair. We are, of course, astonished at not finding some evidence of direct punishment for these offences, such as that which was inflicted on the hurlers at Padstow. This has, however, been explained on the principle that the people were merely rejoicing at the accomplishment of a most holy act, and that a good deed demanded a good day.'

Hunt 1903