Day, in September, by the Nevilles of Raby. On one occasion, however,
Lord Neville claimed that himself, and as many as he might bring with
him, should be feasted by the Prior upon the occasion. To this the Prior
demurred, as a thing that had never been before claimed as of right, and
as being a most expensive and onerous burden, for the trains of the
great nobility of that day were numerous in the extreme. The result was
that the Prior declined to accept the stag when laid before the shrine,
by which they of the Nevilles were so grievously offended that from
words they got to blows, and began to cuff the monks who were
ministering at the altar. The latter, upon this occasion, were not
contented to offer a mere passive resistance, for they made such good
use of the large wax candles which they carried in belabouring their
opponents as to compel them to retreat. The retainers of the Nevilles
did not, however, condescend to take back again the stag which, as they
deemed, had been so uncourteously refused. The stag was an oblation by
the Nevilles of great antiquity, and appears to have been brought into
the church, and presented with winding of horns.--Ornsby, _Sketches of
Durham_, 1846, p. 77; Mackenzie, _View of County of Durham_, 1834, vol.
ii. p. 201.
SEPT. 8.] NATIVITY OF THE VIRGIN MARY.
LINCOLNSHIRE.
An old tradition existing within the town of Grimsby asserts that every
burgess at his admission to the freedom of the borough anciently
presented to the mayor a boar’s head, or an equivalent in money when the
animal could not be procured. The lord, too, of the adjacent manor of
Bradley, it seems, was obliged by his tenure to keep a supply of these
animals in his wood for the entertainment of the mayor and burgesses,
and an annual hunting match was officially proclaimed on some particular
day after the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. In the midst of these
extensive woods the sport was carried on, and seldom did the assembled
train fail to bring down a leash of noble boars, which were designed for
a public entertainment on the following day. At this feast the
newly-elected mayor took his seat at the head of the table, which
contained the whole body corporate and the principal gentlemen of the
town and neighbourhood--_Med. Ævi Kalend._, vol. i. p. 96.
SEPT 12.] HAMPSHIRE.
A fair used to be celebrated at Winchester on the 12th of September, and
was by far the greatest fair in the kingdom. The mayor resigned the keys
of the four gates to a magistrate appointed by the bishop, and
collectors were stationed on all the roads. Merchants resorted to it
from distant parts of Europe, and it formed a temporary city; each
street being appropriated to different commodities.--_Historical and
Descriptive Guide to Winchester_, 1829, p. 86.
SEPT. 14.] HOLY-ROOD DAY.
This festival, called also Holy-Cross Day, was instituted by the Romish
Church on account of the recovery of a large piece of the cross by the
Emperor Heraclius, after it had been taken away on the plundering of
Jerusalem by Chosroes, King of Persia.
It appears to have been customary to go a-nutting upon this day, from
the following passage in the old play of _Grim the Collier of Croydon_:
“This day, they say, is called Holy-Rood Day,
And all the youth are now a-nutting gone.”
In the _Gent. Mag._ is the following:--“Tuesday, September 14th, 1731,
being Holy-Rood Day, the king’s huntsmen hunted their free buck in
Richmond New Park, with bloodhounds, according to custom.”
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE.
It appears from the MS. _Status Scholæ Etonensis_, 1560, already quoted,
that, in the month of September, “on a certain day,” most probably the
14th, the boys of Eton School were to have a play-day, in order to go
out and gather nuts, a portion of which, when they returned, they were
to make presents of to the different masters. Before leave, however, was
granted for their excursion, they were required to write verses on the
fruitfulness of autumn, the deadly cold, &c., of the coming winter.
SURREY.
At Chertsey a fair is held on Holy-Rood Day (Old Style), and goes by the
name of “Onion Fair,” from the quantity of this esculent brought for
sale.--Brayley, _History of Surrey_, 1841, vol. ii. p. 191.
SEPT. 21.] ST. MATTHEW’S DAY.
In Brayley’s _Londiniana_ (1829, vol. ii. p. 30) is the following
extract from the MS. copy of the journal of Richard Hoare, Esq., during
the year of his shrievalty, 1740-41:--Monday, September 21st (1741),
being St. Matthew’s Day, waited on my lord mayor to the great hall in
Christ’s Hospital, where we were met by several of the presidents and
governors of the other hospitals within the city, and being seated at
the upper end the children passed two and two, whom we followed to the
church, and after having a sermon came back to the grammar-school, where
the boys made speeches in commemoration of their benefactors, one in
English, the other in Latin, to each of whom it is customary for the
lord mayor to give one guinea, and the two sheriffs half-a-guinea
a-piece as we did; afterwards, the clerk of the hospital delivered to
the lord mayor a list of the several governors to the several hospitals
nominated the preceding year. Then the several beadles of all the
hospitals came in, and laying down their staves on the middle of the
floor, retired to the bottom of the hall. Thereupon the lord mayor
addressed himself to the city marshal, inquiring after their conduct,
and if any complaint was to be made against any one in particular, and
no objection being made, the lord mayor ordered them to take up their
staves again; all which is done in token of their submission to the
chief magistrate, and that they hold their places at his will, though
elected by their respective governors. We were afterwards treated in the
customary manner with sweet cakes and burnt wine.
SEPT. 22.] BEDFORDSHIRE.
On this day, at Biddenham, shortly before noon, a little procession of
villagers convey a white rabbit decorated with scarlet ribbons through
the village, singing a hymn in honour of St. Agatha. This ceremony is
said to date from the year of the first Crusade. All the unmarried young
women who meet the procession extend the first two fingers of the left
hand, pointing towards the rabbit, and say--
“Gustin, Gustin, lacks a bier!
Maidens, maidens, bury him here.”
_The Penny Post_, November 1870.
SEPT. 24.] SCALDING THURSDAY.
In Laud’s diary occurs the following: “[1635] Sept. 24th, Scalding
Thursday.”
This was probably a homely term for the day of preparation for that
high-day Michaelmas, when the victim goose was scalded, plucked, and
hung--a week’s hanging is the rule for a goose.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._, vol.
iv. p. 441.
SEPT. 28.] MICHAELMAS EVE.
SURREY.
A curious custom once existed at Kingston, viz., that of the
congregation cracking nuts during the performance of divine service on
the Sunday next before the eve of St. Michael’s Day: hence the phrase,
“Crack-Nut Sunday.” This custom is considered by some to have had
originally some connection with the choosing of the bailiff and other
members of the corporate body on St. Michael’s Day, and of the usual
civic feast attending that proceeding. It would seem, however, from the
following passage in Goldsmith’s _Vicar of Wakefield_ (chap. iv.), that
the custom was not confined to Kingston; for the good vicar, speaking of
his parishioners, says:--“They kept up the Christmas carol, sent
true-love-knots on Valentine morning, ate pancakes on Shrovetide, showed
their wit on the first of April, and religiously cracked nuts on
Michaelmas eve.”--Brayley, _Topographical History of Surrey_, 1841, vol.
iii. p 41.
IRELAND.
The last Sunday of summer has been, heretofore, a day of great
importance with the Irish, as upon it they first tried the new potato,
and formed an opinion as to the prospects of the future harvest. The
day was always called, in the west in particular, “Garlic Sunday,”
perhaps a corruption of Garland Sunday.--_N. & Q. 1st. S._ vol. ix. p.
34.
SEPT. 29.] MICHAELMAS DAY.
At this season village maidens, in the west of England, go up and down
the hedges gathering crab apples, which they carry home, putting them
into a loft, and forming with them the initials of their supposed
suitors’ names. The initials which are found, on examination, to be most
perfect on _Old_ Michaelmas Day are considered to represent the
strongest attachments and the best for choice of husbands.--Brand, _Pop.
Antiq._ 1849, vol. i. p. 356.
_Michaelmas Goose._--It was long a prevalent notion that the practice of
eating goose on Michaelmas Day arose from the circumstance that Queen
Elizabeth received the news of the defeat of the Spanish Armada whilst
partaking of a goose on that anniversary. This, however, is disproved by
the fact that, so far back as the tenth year of Edward IV. (1470), one
John de la Hay was bound, amongst other services, to render to William
Barnaby, lord of Lastres, in Herefordshire, for a parcel of the demesne
lands, “xx^{d} and one goose fit for his lord’s dinner on the Feast of
St. Michael the Archangel.”--_Sports, Pastimes, and Customs of London_,
1847, p. 37.
In the poems of George Gascoigne, 1575, occur too the following lines:--
“And when the tenantes come to paie their quarter’s rent,
They bring some fowle at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent;
At Christmasse a capon, at Michaelmasse a goose,
And somewhat else at New-yere’s tide, for feare their lease flie
loose.”
Blount, in his _Tenures_, says that probably no other reason can be
given for this custom but that Michaelmas day was a great festival, and
geese at that time were most plentiful.--See Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._,
1849, vol. i. pp. 367-371.
BERKSHIRE.
It appears from a tablet in the church at Great Coxwell, that the Rev.
David Collier charged certain lands in the hamlet of Little Coxwell with
the payment of eight bushels of barley yearly, on the 29th of September,
for teaching the poor children of this parish to read, write, and cast
accounts, for three years, when they were to be succeeded by two others
to be taught for the same term, and so on successively for ever, and he
empowered the vicar and churchwardens, or the major part of them (the
vicar being always one) to nominate the children. The payment has been
regularly made, sometimes in kind, but latterly in money estimated at
the price of barley, at the Farringdon market, the nearest to the day
when the annual payment becomes due. The payment is made, under the
direction of the churchwardens, to a schoolmistress for teaching three
children to read, and, if girls, to mark also. The number of children
was formerly two only, who were further taught to write and cast
accounts; but this part of their education was discontinued many years
ago in consequence at the inadequacy of the fund, and, instead thereof
an additional child was sent to be instructed with the others.--Edwards,
_Old English Customs and Charities_, p. 40.
The inhabitants of Abingdon once had a custom of adorning their houses
with flowers, &c., on the election of a mayor. A writer in the _Gent.
Mag._ (1782, vol. lii. p. 558), says:--Riding through Abingdon early on
one of the first Sundays in October, he found the people in the streets
at the entrance of the town, very busy in adorning the outside of their
houses with garlands of flowers and boughs of trees, and the paths were
strewed with flowers. One house was distinguished by a greater number of
garlands than the rest, and some were making to be fixed at the end of
poles. On inquiring the reason, he was told that it was usual to have
this ceremony performed in the street in which the new mayor lived on
the first Sunday that he went to church after his election.
CORNWALL.
The manor of Roscarrock, the _Roscaret_ of Domesday, situated near
Endellion, was held in the time of Edward the Confessor by Alvin, and at
the time of the Domesday survey by Nigel under the Earl of Moriton. A
substantial house has been constructed on the site of the old mansion.
Roscarrock pays a modus of £9 in lieu of tithes; this modus was
anciently paid, according to established custom, in the church porch
before sunrise on the morning of Michaelmas Day.--_Parochial History of
County of Cornwall_, 1867, vol. i. p. 333.
ESSEX.
The Lawless Court is kept, says Morant (_History of Essex_ 1768, vol. i.
p. 272), at King’s-hill, about half a mile north-east of Rochford
Church, in the yard of a house once belonging to .... Crips, Gent., and
afterwards to Robert Hackshaw, of London, merchant, and to Mr. John
Buckle. Here the tenants kneel, and do their homage. The time is the
Wednesday morning next after Michaelmas Day, upon the first
cock-crowing, without any kind of light but such as the heavens will
afford. The steward of the Court calleth all such as are bound to appear
with as low a voice as possible, giving no notice, when he that gives
not an answer is deeply amerced. They are all to whisper to each other;
nor have they any pen and ink, but supply that office with a coal; and
he that owes suit and service thereto, and appears not, forfeits to the
lord double his rent every hour he is absent. A tenant of this manor
forfeited not long ago his land for non-attendance, but was restored to
it, the lord only taking a fine. The Court is called Lawless because
held at an unlawful or lawless hour, or _quia dicta sine lege_: the
title of it runs in the Court rolls to this day according to the form
below:--
KING’S HILL IN ROCHFORD.
Curia de Domino Rege
Dicta sine Lege,
Tenta est ibidem
Per ejusdem consuetudinem.
Ante ortum Solis,
Luceat nisi Polus,
Nil scribit nisi colis.
Toties voluerit,
Gallus ut cantaverit,
Per cujus solum sonitum,
Curia est summonita.
Clamat clam pro Rege
In Curia sine Lege,
Et nisi cito venerint,
Citius pœnituerint;
Et nisi clam accedant
Curia non attendat;
Qui venerit cum lumine,
Errat in regimine
Et dum sunt sine lumine
Capti sunt in crimine,
Curia sine cura
Jurati de injuria;
Tenta ibidem die Mercurii (ante diem) proximo, post Festum Sancti
Michaelis Archangeli, anno Regni Regis, &c.
There is a tradition that this servile attendance was imposed at first
upon certain tenants of divers manors hereabouts for conspiring in this
place at such an unreasonable time to raise a commotion.[77]
[77] At Kidderminster, says a correspondent of _Gent. Mag._ (1790,
vol. lx. p. 1191), is a singular custom. On the election of a bailiff
the inhabitants assemble in the principal streets and throw
cabbage-stalks at each other. The town-house bell gives signal for the
affray. This is called “lawless hour.” This done (for it lasts an
hour), the bailiff elect and corporation, in their robes, preceded by
drums and fifes (for they have no waits), visit the old and new
bailiff, constables, &c., attended by a mob. In the meantime the most
respectable families in the neighbourhood are invited to meet and
fling apples at them on their entrance.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE.
The custom of hanging out bushes of ivy, boughs of trees, or bunches of
flowers at _private_ houses as a sign that good cheer may be had within,
prevails in the city of Gloucester at the fair held at Michaelmas,
called Barton Fair from the locality.--_N. & Q. 1st S._ vol. ix. p.
113.
HERTFORDSHIRE.
In Brand’s _Pop. Antiq._ (1849, vol. i. p. 372) is the following account
of a curious septennial custom observed at Bishop Stortford and in the
adjacent neighbourhood on old Michaelmas Day, taken from a London
newspaper of the 18th of October, 1787:--
On the morning of this day, called Ganging Day, a great number of young
men assemble in the fields where a very active fellow is nominated the
leader. This person they are bound to follow, who, for the sake of
diversion, generally chooses the route through ponds, ditches, and
places of difficult passage. Every person they meet is bumped, male or
female, which is performed by two other persons taking them up by their
arms, and swinging them against each other. The women in general keep at
home at this period, except those of less scrupulous character, who, for
the sake of partaking of a gallon of ale and a plumcake, which every
landlord or publican is obliged to furnish the revellers with, generally
spend the best part of the night in the fields if the weather is fair,
it being strictly according to ancient usage not to partake of the cheer
anywhere else.
NOTTINGHAMSHIRE.
A correspondent of _Book of Days_ (vol ii. p. 393) gives the following
account of the ceremonies formerly connected with the election of the
mayor at Nottingham. On the day the new mayor assumed office (September
29), he, the old mayor, the aldermen, and councillors, all marched in
procession to St. Mary’s Church, where divine service was said. After
service the whole body went into the vestry, where the old mayor seated
himself in an elbow chair, at a table covered with _black_ cloth, in the
middle of which lay the mace covered with rosemary and sprigs of bay.
This was termed “the burying of the mace,” doubtless a symbolical act,
denoting the official decease of its late holder. A form of electing the
new mayor was then gone through, after which the one retiring from
office took up the mace, kissed it, and delivered it into the hand of
his successor. The new mayor then proposed two persons for sheriffs, and
two for the office of chamberlains; and after these had also gone
through the votes, the whole assemblage marched into the chancel, where
the senior coroner administered the oath to the new mayor in the
presence of the old one: and the town-clerk gave to the sheriffs and
chamberlains their oath of office. These ceremonies being over, they
marched in order to the New Hall, attended by such gentlemen and
tradesmen as had been invited by the mayor and sheriffs, where the
feasting took place. On their way, at the Week-day Cross, over against
the ancient Guild Hall, the town-clerk proclaimed the mayor and
sheriffs; and at the next ensuing market-day they were again proclaimed
in the face of the whole market at the Malt Cross. On these occasions
the mayor and sheriffs welcomed their guests with bread and cheese,
fruit in season, and pipes and tobacco.
SUSSEX.
At Chichester, Sloe Fair was always proclaimed under the Canon Gate by
the bishop’s steward eight days before the eve of St. Faith the Virgin,
during which time the jurisdiction of the mayor ceased, and the bishop
had power to collect, and did by his agent collect, the tolls of the
market and fair. An instance is recorded (1702) in the annals of the
corporation of the bishop claiming the keys of the city during the
Piepowder Court. The bishop’s claim arose from a grant made as early as
Henry I.--Dally, _Chichester Guide_, 1831, p. 24.
The bailiff of Seaford is annually elected on St. Michael’s Day. The
freemen of the town having previously assembled at the Court
Hall--leaving the jurats on the bench--retire to a certain spot at the
gate-post of a field near the west end of the town, where the
serjeant-at-mace of the body corporate nominates the chief magistrate
for the ensuing year, who is then and there elected. This peculiar
custom is supposed to have originated to prevent any influence on the
part of the corporation magistrates (jurats), and to enable the freemen
to make a free choice of their mayor.
WESTERN ISLES OF SCOTLAND.
Martin, in his _Account of the Western Isles of Scotland_, (1703, p.
79), speaking of the island Lingay, says that the inhabitants are much
addicted to riding, the plainness of the country disposing both men and
horses to it. They observe an anniversary cavalcade on Michaelmas Day,
and then all ranks of both sexes appear on horseback. The place for this
rendezvous is a large piece of firm sandy ground on the sea-shore, and
there they have horse racing for small prizes for which they contend
eagerly. There is an ancient custom by which it is lawful for any of the
inhabitants to steal his neighbour’s horse the night before the race and
ride him all next day, provided he delivers him safe and sound to the
owner after the race. The manner of running is by a few young men who
use neither saddles nor bridles, except small ropes made of bent instead
of a bridle, nor any sort of spurs but their bare heels; and when they
begin the race, they throw these ropes on their horses’ necks, and drive
them on vigorously, with a piece of long sea-ware in each hand instead
of a whip, and this is dried in the sun several months before for that
purpose. This is a happy opportunity for the vulgar, who have few
occasions for meeting except on Sundays; the men have their sweethearts
behind them on horseback and give and receive mutual presents: the men
present the women with knives and purses, the women present the men with
a pair of fine garters of divers colours; they give them likewise a
quantity of wild carrots.
Macaulay says it was the custom, till of late, at St. Kilda, on
Michaelmas Day, to prepare in every family a loaf or cake of bread,
enormously large, and compounded of different ingredients. This cake
belonged to the Archangel, and had its name from him. Every one in each
family, whether strangers or domestics, had his portion of this kind of
shew-bread, and had of course some title to the friendship and
protection of St. Michael.--_History of St. Kilda_, 1764, p. 22.
Martin, speaking of the Protestant inhabitants of Skye, says: They
observe the festivals of Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, and St.
Michael. Upon the latter day, they have a cavalcade in each parish, and
several families bake the bread called St. Michael’s bannock. Alluding
to St. Kilbar village, he observes that they likewise have a general
cavalcade on St. Michael’s Day, and take a turn round their church.
Every family, as soon as the solemnity is over, is accustomed to bake
St. Michael’s cake; and all strangers, together with those of the
family, must eat the bread that night.--Martin’s _Description of the
Western Isles of Scotland_, p. 213.
IRELAND.
In Ireland, this season is celebrated by the making of the Michaelmas
cake. A lady’s ring is mixed in the dough, and, when the cake is baked
it is cut into sections and distributed to the unmarried people at
table, and the person who gets the slice with the ring “is sure to be
married before next Michaelmas.”--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. ix. p. 520.
OCT. 2.] GOOSE FAIR.
NOTTINGHAM.
The origin of this fair arose from the large quantities of geese which
were driven up from the fens of Lincolnshire for sale at this fair,
which is on the 2nd of October, when geese are just in season. Persons
now living can remember seeing fifteen or twenty thousand geese in the
market-place, each flock attended by a gooseherd with a crook, which he
dexterously threw round the neck of any goose, and brought it out for
inspection by the customer. A street on the Lincolnshire side of the
town is still called Goosegate, and the flavour of the goose is fully
appreciated by the good people of Nottingham, as, on the fair day, one
is sure to be found on the table of twenty-nine out of a hundred of the
better class of the inhabitants.--_N. & Q. 1st S._, vol. vi. p. 563.
A writer in _Jour. of the Arch. Assoc._ (1853, vol. viii. p. 236),
alluding to the customs allowed at Nottingham, says that the mayor of
Nottingham formerly appears to have given a feast of hot roast geese on
the last day of his mayoralty previous to the election of his successor.
LANCASHIRE.
At Great Crosby, a suburban village about seven miles from Liverpool,
early in October, every year there is held a local festival, which is
called the “Goose Fair.” The feast takes place when the harvest is
gathered in about that part of the country, and so it forms a sort of
“harvest-home” gathering for the agriculturists of the neighbourhood. It
is said also that, at this particular period, geese are finer and fatter
after feeding on the stubble-fields than at any other time. Curious to
say, however, the bird in question is seldom, if ever, eaten at these
feasts.--_N. & Q. 3rd S._ vol. iii. p. 158, and vol. iv. p. 82.
OCT. 6.] ST. FAITH’S DAY.