Martinmas is past and gone at Wooler

11 November · Wooler, Northumberland

Lore and belief

A Wooler rhyme lamented that Martinmas had come and gone with Christmas drawing near and no mutton left in the house for the feast. Denham printed it alongside another saying that between Martinmas and Yule water was worth wine.

Martinmas is past and gone, Christmas in drawing near, There's no a piece mutton in a' the house To serve out for Christmas cheer.

From The Denham Tracts, vol. 2, p. 96. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Martlemas beef hung up for Easter No longer kept EnglandAt Martinmas the farmer killed a beast and hung the beef up to dry in the chimney, keeping it until Easter.
Martinmas stray-sheep day at Patterdale No longer kept Cumberland, WestmorlandIn the dales round Ullswater nobody went looking for a strayed sheep; whoever found one simply looked after it.
St Martin’s little summer Lore and belief EnglandSt Martin's little summer was the name for the spell of fine days that sometimes breaks into the usual stormy weather about the beginning of November.
The Martinmas mart No longer kept Northumberland, ScotlandMartinmas was the time to kill beasts and salt them down for winter, so in Scotland and the north of England a fat ox for killing was called a mart.
Wroth Silver at Knightlow Cross Still kept WarwickshireBefore sunrise on Martinmas morning the parishes of the hundred of Knightlow paid their wroth silver, or ward money, to the lord of the hundred at the stump of Knightlow Cross near Rugby.

Martinmas is past and gone at Wooler

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