Celtic or British _Wyl_ or _Gule_, signifies a festival or holiday, and
explains Gule of August to mean the holiday of St. Peter _ad vincula_ in
this month, when the people of England, in Roman Catholic times, paid
their Peter-pence. _Lammas_ is, by some, derived from lamb-masse,
because on that day the tenants who held lands of the cathedral church
in York, which is dedicated to St. Peter _ad vincula_, were bound by
their tenure to bring a live lamb into the church at high mass. Others
derive it from the Saxon word Hlafmaesse, signifying _loaf-mass_ or
_bread-mass_, because on this day our forefathers made an offering of
bread from new wheat. Blount says, “Lammas Day, the 1st of August,
otherwise called the _Gule_ or _Yule_ of August, which may be a
corruption of the British word _Gwul Awst_, signifying the 1st of
August.” Blount further says, “that Lammas is called _Alaf-Mass_, that
is, loaf or bread mass, which signifies a feast of thanksgiving for the
first fruits of the corn. It was observed with bread of new wheat; and
in some places tenants were bound to bring new wheat to their lord on or
before the 1st of August. New wheat is called Lammas wheat.” Vallancey
further affirms that this day was dedicated to the fruits of the soil;
that _Laeith_ was the day of the obligation of grain, particularly of
wheat, and that _Mas_ signifies fruits of all kinds, especially the
acorn, whence the word “mast.”
Lammas is one of the four cross-quarter days of the year, as they are
now denominated. Whitsuntide was formerly the first, Lammas the second,
Martinmas the third, and Candlemas the last. Some rents are yet payable
at these ancient quarter-days in England, and they continue general in
Scotland.--Timbs, _Things not Generally Known_, 1856, p. 154; see
Soane’s _New Curiosities of Literature_, vol ii. p. 123; Brand’s _Pop.
Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 347.
It was once customary in England to give money to servants on Lammas
Day, to buy gloves; hence the term _glove-silver_. It is mentioned among
the ancient customs of the Abbey of St. Edmund, in which the clerk of
the cellarer had 2_d._, the cellarer’s squire, 11_d._, the granger,
11_d._, and the cowherd a penny.--_Med. Ævi Kalend._ vol. i. p. 334.
DEVONSHIRE.
The charter for Exeter Lammas Fair is perpetuated by a glove of immense
size, stuffed and carried through the city on a very long pole,
decorated with ribbons, flowers, &c., and attended with music, parish
beadles, and the nobility. It is afterwards placed on the top of the
Guildhall, and then the fair commences; on the taking down of the glove
the fair terminates.--_Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 1059.
ISLE OF MAN.
The first Sunday in August is called, by the Manks peasantry, _yn chied
doonaght a ouyr_. On that day they crowd in great numbers to the tops of
the highest hills, in the north to the summit of Snafeld, and in the
south to the top of Barule. Others visit the sanative wells of the
island, which are held in the highest estimation. The veneration with
which the Pagan deities were regarded having been transferred along with
their fanes and fountains to Christian saints, sanctified and sanative
wells became the resort of the pious pilgrim, and by the credulous
invalid libations and devotions were, according to ancient practice,
performed at these holy springs, which were believed to be guarded by
presiding powers to whom offerings were left by the visitants. Many a
wonderful cure is said to have been effected by the waters of St.
Catherine’s Well at Port Erin; by the Chibbyr Parick, or well of St.
Patrick, on the west end of the hill of _Lhargey-graue_; by Lord Henry’s
Well on the south beach of Laxey, and by the well at Peel, also
dedicated to St. Patrick, which, says the tradition, just sprang forth
where St. Patrick was prompted by Divine instinct to impress the sign of
the cross on the ground. Many extraordinary properties were ascribed to
the Nunnery Well, but the most celebrated in modern times for its
medicinal virtues is the fine spring which issues from the rocks of the
bold promontory called Maughold Head, and which is dedicated to the
saint of the name, who, it appears, had blessed the well and endowed it
with certain healing virtues. On this account it is yet resorted to, as
was the pool of Siloam of old, by every invalid who believes in its
efficacy.
On the first Sunday in August the natives, according to ancient custom,
still make a pilgrimage to drink its waters; and it is held to be of the
greatest importance to certain females to enjoy the beverage when seated
in a place called the _saint’s chair_, which the saint, for the
accommodation of succeeding generations, obligingly placed immediately
contiguous.--Bennet, _Sketches of the Isle of Man_, 1829, p. 65;
Waldron, _Description of Isle of Man_, p. 151; Train, _History of the
Isle of Man_, 1845, vol. ii. p. 121.
MIDDLESEX.
Lammas Day is noted in London for an annual rowing match on the Thames,
instituted by Thomas Doggett,[76] an actor of celebrity, in honour of
the accession of George I. to the throne of England. Doggett was so
warmly attached to the Brunswick family that Sir Richard Steele termed
him “a Whig up to the head and ears.” In the year after George I. came
to the throne, Doggett gave a waterman’s coat and silver badge, to be
rowed for by six watermen on the 1st of August. This he not only
continued till his death, but he bequeathed a certain sum of money, the
interest of which was to be appropriated annually, for ever, to the
purchase of a like coat and badge, by six young watermen, whose
apprenticeships had expired the year before. This ceremony is performed
every year, the competitors setting out, at a signal given, at that
time of the tide when the current is strongest against them, and
rowing from the old Swan, near London Bridge, to the White Swan at
Chelsea.--_Sports, Pastimes, and Customs of London_, 1847, p. 35.
[76] He first appeared on the Dublin stage, and afterwards, with
Colley Cibber and Robert Wilkes, became joint manager of Drury Lane
Theatre. He died in 1721.--Faulkner, _History of Chelsea_, 1829, p.
188.
In the parish of St. Luke, Chelsea, were formerly “The Lotts,” Lammas
land, for ages appurtenant to the manor of Chelsea. The lord of the
manor possessed the right of letting the land on lease for the spring
and summer quarters, beginning with March and ending in August, and the
inhabitants at large enjoyed the privilege of turning in their cattle
from August till February, being the autumn and winter quarters. This
state of appropriation continued till the year 1825 or 1826, when the
directors of the Kensington Canal Company took possession of them for
their own use immediately upon the completion of the canal; they have
detained them ever since, and have let them successively to several
persons, and received rent for the same. The Chelsea Lammas lands had
hitherto been opened on the 12th of August, being the first of the month
according to the old style. The graziers, butchers, and others with
their cattle, used formerly to assemble in the lane leading to “The
Lotts,” on the eve of Lammas, and when the clock had struck twelve they
entered the meadow.--Timbs, _Things not Generally Known_, 1856, p. 154.
SUSSEX.
The following curious custom once existed at Eastbourne. On the three
first Sundays in August a public breakfast, says Royer (_History of
Eastbourne_, 1787, p. 126), is given at the parsonage-house by the
tenants of the great tythes to the farmers and their servants, each
farmer being entitled to send two servants for every waggon that he
keeps. So that if a farmer have five waggons to do his necessary
business he may send ten servants, and so on in proportion for a less or
greater number. The farmers are entertained in the parlour with a
sirloin of hot roast beef, cold ham, Sussex cheese, strong ale, and
Geneva; the men are entertained in the barn with everything the same as
their masters except the beef. It is presumed that this custom had its
origin from the time the tythes were first taken in kind in this parish,
in order to keep all parties in good humour.
A petition to Parliament for the abolition of this custom was presented
as far back as 1640, and, in 1649, an ordinance was enacted that 20_l._
per annum should be paid for the relief of the poor in lieu of the
feast. In 1687 the custom was revived; more recently an annual payment
of 20_l._ for the education of poor children was substituted, and this
amount now figures year by year in the accounts of St. Mary’s schools as
paid by the Duke of Devonshire.--Chambers’ _Handbook of Eastbourne_,
1872, p. 35.
ST. WILFRID’S FEAST.
YORKSHIRE.
Hutton in his _Trip to Coatham_ (1810, p. 63), says the great annual
feast at Coatham in his time was celebrated on the first Sunday after
Lammas Day, old style, and called St. Wilfrid’s Feast, kept in
commemoration of the prelate’s return from exile. On the evening before
the feast commenced, the effigy of this favourite of the people, having
been previously conveyed some miles out of the town, made his public
entry as returning after a long absence, being met by crowds of people,
who, with shouts and acclamations, welcomed the return of the prelate
and patron. The same custom seems also to have been observed at
Ripon.--See _Every Day Book_, vol. ii. p. 1059.
SCOTLAND.
What appears as a relic of the ancient Pagan festival of the Gule of
August, was practised in Lothian till about the middle of the eighteenth
century. The herdsmen within a certain district, towards the beginning
of summer, associated themselves into bands, sometimes to the number of
a hundred or more. Each of these communities agreed to build a tower in
some conspicuous place, near the centre of their district, which was to
serve as the place of their rendezvous on Lammas Day. This tower was
usually built of sods, for the most part square, about four feet in
diameter at the bottom and tapering to a point at the top, which was
seldom above seven or eight feet from the ground. In building it, a hole
was left in the centre for a flagstaff, on which to display their
colours.
From the moment the foundation of the tower was laid, it became an
object of care and attention to the whole community; for it was reckoned
a disgrace to suffer it to be defaced; so that they resisted, with all
their power, any attempts that should be made to demolish it, either by
force or fraud; and, as the honour that was acquired by the demolition
of a tower, if effected by those belonging to another, was in proportion
to the disgrace of suffering it to be demolished, each party endeavoured
to circumvent the other as much as possible, and laid plans to steal
upon the tower unperceived, in the night time, and level it with the
ground. Great was the honour that such a successful exploit conveyed to
the undertakers; and, though the tower was easily rebuilt, yet the news
was quickly spread by the successful adventurers, through the whole
district, which filled it with shouts of joy and exultation, while their
unfortunate neighbours were covered with shame. To ward off this
disgrace, a constant nightly guard was kept at each tower, which was
made stronger and stronger, as the tower advanced; so that frequent
nightly skirmishes ensued at these attacks, but were seldom of much
consequence, as the assailants seldom came in force to make an attack in
this way, but merely to succeed by surprise; as soon, therefore, as they
saw they were discovered, they made off in the best manner they could.
To give the alarm on these and other occasions, every person was armed
with a “tooting horn,” that is, a horn perforated in the small end,
through which wind can be forcibly blown from the mouth, so as to
occasion a loud noise; and as every one wished to acquire as great
dexterity as possible in the use of the “tooting horn,” they practised
upon it during the summer while keeping their beasts; and towards Lammas
they were so incessantly employed at this business, answering to, and
vieing with each other, that the whole country rang continually with the
sounds.
As Lammas Day approached each community chose one from among themselves
for their captain, and they prepared a stand of colours to be ready to
be then displayed. For this purpose they borrowed a fine table-napkin of
the largest size from one of the farmers’ wives within the district, and
ornamented it with ribbons. Things being thus prepared, they marched
forth early in the morning on Lammas Day, dressed in their best apparel,
each armed with a stout cudgel, and, repairing to their tower, there
displayed their colours in triumph, blowing horns, and making merry in
the best manner they could: about nine o’clock they sat down upon the
green and had their breakfast.
In the meantime scouts were sent out towards every quarter to bring them
notice if any hostile party approached, for it frequently happened,
that, on that day, the herdsman of one district went to attack those of
another district, and to bring them under subjection to them by main
force. If news were brought that a hostile party approached, the horns
sounded to arms, and they immediately arranged themselves in the best
order they could devise; the stoutest and boldest in front, and those of
inferior prowess behind. Seldom did they await the approach of the
enemy, but usually went forth to meet them with a bold countenance, the
captain of each company carrying the colours, and leading the van. When
they met they mutually desired each other to lower their colours in sign
of subjection. If there appeared to be a great disproportion in the
strength of the parties, the weakest usually submitted to this ceremony
without much difficulty, thinking their honour was saved by the evident
disproportion of the match; but, if they were nearly equal in strength,
neither of them would yield, and it ended in blows, and sometimes
bloodshed. It is related that, in a battle of this kind, four were
actually killed, and many disabled from work for weeks. If no opponent
appeared, or if they themselves had no intention of making an attack, at
about mid-day they took down their colours, and marched, with horns
sounding, towards the most considerable village in their district; where
the lasses and all the people came out to meet them, and partake of
their diversions. Boundaries were immediately appointed, and a
proclamation made, that all who intended to compete in the race should
appear. A bonnet ornamented with ribbons was displayed upon a pole as a
prize to the victor; and sometimes five or six started for it, and ran
with as great eagerness as if they had been to gain a kingdom; the prize
of the second race was a pair of garters, and the third a knife. They
then amused themselves for some time with such rural sports as suited
their taste, and dispersed quietly to their respective homes before
sunset.
When two parties met, and one of them yielded to the other, they marched
together for some time in two separate bodies, the subjected body behind
the other, and then they parted good friends, each performing their
races at their own appointed place. Next day, after the ceremony was
over, the ribbons and napkin that formed the colours were carefully
returned to their respective owners, the tower was no longer a matter of
consequence, and the country returned to its usual state of
tranquillity.--_Trans. Soc. Antiq. of Scotland_, vol. i. p. 194.
AUG. 2.] BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.
Hunting the ram was a very ancient custom observed at Eton, but is now
abolished. Lipscomb, in his _History of Buckinghamshire_ (1847, vol. iv.
p. 467), thus describes it:--
The college had an ancient claim upon its butcher to provide a ram on
the Election Saturday, to be hunted by the scholars; but the animal
having upon one occasion been so pressed as to swim across the Thames,
it ran into Windsor Market, with the boys after it, and much mischief
was caused by this unexpected accident. The health of the scholars had
also occasionally suffered from the length of the chase, or the heat of
the season. The character of the sport was therefore changed about 1740,
when the ram was ham-strung, and, after the speech, was knocked on the
head with large twisted clubs, which are reported to have been
considered as Etonian curiosities. But the barbarity of the amusement
caused it to be altogether laid aside at the election in 1747, and the
flesh of the ram was given to be prepared in pasties. The dish still
continues nominally to grace the Election Monday, though the meat no
longer boasts its original toughness, being in fact the flesh of
excellent wethers.
Browne Willis (quoted by Brand, _Pop. Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 441)
would derive this custom from what was used in the manor of East
Wrotham, Norfolk, where the lord of the manor, after the harvest, gave
half an acre of barley and a ram to the tenants thereof; the which ram,
if they caught it was their own; if not, it was for the lord again.
In the _Gent. Mag._ (Aug. 1731, vol. i. p. 351) is the following:--
“Monday, August 2nd, was the election at Eton College, when the
scholars, according to custom, hunted a ram, by which the provost and
fellows hold a manor.”
AUG. 4.] APPRENTICES’ FEAST.
The City apprentices, about the time of Charles II., had an annual
feast. On one occasion Charles II. sent them a brace of bucks for dinner
at Saddlers’ Hall, where several of his courtiers dined with them, and
his natural son, the duke of Grafton, officiated as one of the
stewards.--Noorthouck, _History of London_, 1773, p. 248.
AUG. 5.] ST. OSWALD’S DAY
LANCASHIRE.
Dr. Whitaker (_History of Richmond_, vol. ii. p. 293) quotes a
manuscript description of a rush-bearing observed at Warton, on St.
Oswald’s Day, or the Sunday nearest to it--he being the patron of the
church. “The vain custom,” says the writer, “of dancing, excessive
drinking, &c., having been many years laid aside, the inhabitants and
strangers spend that day in duly attending the service of the church
and making good cheer, within the rules of sobriety, in private houses;
and the next in several kinds of diversions, the chiefest of which is
usually a rush-bearing, which is on this manner:--They cut hard rushes
from the marsh, which they make up into long bundles, and then dress
them in fine linen, silk ribbons, flowers, &c.; afterwards, the young
women of the village which perform the ceremony that year, take up the
burdens erect, and begin the procession (precedence being always given
to the churchwardens’ burden), which is attended not only with
multitudes of people, but with music, drums, ringing of bells, and all
other demonstrations of joy they are able to express. When they arrive
at the church they go in at the west end, and setting down their burdens
in the church, strip them of their ornaments, leaving the heads or
crowns of them decked with flowers, cut paper, &c., in some part of the
church, generally over the cancelli. Then the company return to the town
and partake of a plentiful collation provided for that purpose, and
spend the remaining part of the day, and frequently a great part of the
night also, in dancing, if the weather permits, about a Maypole, adorned
with greens and flowers, or else in some other convenient place.”
AUG. 5.] RAVENGLASS FAIR.
CUMBERLAND.
On the first day of a fair held annually in Muncaster, called Ravenglass
Fair, the lord’s steward was attended by the serjeant of the borough of
Egremont with the insignia called the Bow of Egremont, the foresters
with their bows and horns, and all the tenants of the forest of
Copeland, whose special service was to attend the lord and his
representatives at Ravenglass Fair, and abide there during its
continuance. On the third day, at noon, the officers and tenants of the
forest departed, after proclamation made; Lord Muncaster and his tenants
took a formal re-possession of the place, and the day was concluded with
horse races and rural diversions. Afterwards the fair was held for one
day.--Lysons, _Magna Britannia_, 1816, vol. iv. p. 141.
AUG. 5.] MIDDLESEX.
Formerly a silver arrow used annually to be shot for by the scholars of
the Free School at Harrow. The following extract is taken from the
_Gent. Mag._, 1731, vol. i., p. 351:--
Thursday, August 5th, according to an ancient custom, a silver arrow,
value £3, was shot for at the butts on Harrow-on-the-Hill, by six youths
of the Free School, in archery habits, and won by a son of Captain
Brown, commander of an East Indiaman. This diversion was the gift of
John Lyon, Esq., founder of the said school.
AUG. 6.] BLACK-CHERRY FAIR.
SURREY.
Henry VI., in the eighteenth year of his reign (1440), granted to John
de Harmondesnorth, Abbot of Chertsey, the right to hold a fair on St.
Anne’s Day, July 26th, old style; but this is now held in the town on
the 6th of August, and called “Black Cherry Fair,” from the abundance of
that fruit sold there.--Brayley, _History of Surrey_, 1841, vol. ii. p.
191.
AUG. 15.] ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY.
This was formerly a great festival; and it was customary to implore
blessings upon herbs, plants, roots, and fruits, bundles of which were
taken to the church and consecrated against hurtful things.--Timbs’
_Something for Everybody_, 1861, p. 98.
STAFFORDSHIRE.
The following abridged account of the Minstrels’ Festival at Tutbury,
celebrated at this season, is taken from _The Book of Days_, vol. i. p.
224:--
During the time of the Dukes of Lancaster the little town of Tutbury was
so enlivened by the noble hospitality they kept up, and the great
concourse of people who gathered there, that some regulations became
necessary for keeping them in order; more especially those disorderly
favourites of both the high and low, the wandering jugglers or
minstrels, who displayed their talents at all festive boards, weddings,
and tournaments. A court was, therefore, appointed by John of Gaunt, to
be held every year on the day after the festival of the Assumption of
the Virgin, to elect a king of the minstrels, try those who had been
guilty of misdemeanours during the year, and grant licences for the
future year, all which were accompanied by many curious observances.
The wood-master and ranger of Needwood Forest began the festivities by
meeting at Berkley Lodge, in the forest, to arrange for the dinner which
was given them at this time at Tutbury Castle, and where the buck they
were allowed for it should be killed, as also another, which was their
yearly present to the prior of Tutbury for his dinner. These animals
having received their death blow, the master, keepers, and deputies met
on the Day of Assumption, and rode in gay procession two and two, into
the town to the High Cross, each carrying a green bough in his hand, and
one bearing the buck’s head, cut off behind the ears, garnished with a
rye of pease and a piece of fat fastened to each of the antlers. The
minstrels went on foot, two and two, before them, and when they reached
the cross, the keeper blew on his horn the various hunting signals,
which were answered by the others; all passed on to the churchyard,
where, alighting from their horses, they went into the church, the
minstrels playing on their instruments during the time of the offering
of the buck’s head, and whilst each keeper paid one penny as an
offering to the church. Mass was then celebrated, and all adjourned to
the good dinner which was prepared for them in the castle, towards the
expenses of which the prior gave them thirty shillings.
On the following day the minstrels met at the bailiff’s house in
Tutbury, where the steward of the court, and the bailiff of the manor,
with the wood-master, met them. A procession was formed to go to church,
the trumpeters walking first, and then the musicians on stringed
instruments all playing; their king, whose office ended on that day, had
the privilege of walking between the steward and bailiff; after them
came the four stewards of music, each carrying a white wand, followed by
the rest of the company. The psalms and lessons were chosen in
accordance with the occasion, and each minstrel paid a penny as a due to
the vicar of Tutbury.