Shouting the Churn

Eugene Aram, quoted by Hone, distinguished the churn supper, held when all the corn was shorn, from the mell supper held when it was all got in. For the churn supper a great quantity of cream was brought out in a churn and handed round by the dishful to be eaten with bread, while the reapers kept up the old cry of shouting the churn. In many places ale had taken the cream’s place, but the custom still lived round Whitby and Scarborough and about Gisburn in Craven. Aram also noted the northern saying that a horse which came in last had got the mell.