Folklore of England

12 November

Folklore from the old calendars

Clementing in Worcestershire No longer kept WorcestershireA correspondent born in Worcestershire remembered boys going in a band from house to house on the afternoon of St Clement's Day.
Old Clem at Woolwich No longer kept Kent, LondonOn the evening of St Clement's Day the blacksmiths' apprentices of Woolwich dockyard chose one of their seniors to be Old Clem, in a greatcoat, a mask, an oakum wig and a long white beard.
Queen Mary’s St Clement’s Day procession No longer kept LondonOn St Clement's Day in Queen Mary's reign a great procession went through the streets of London.
St Clement’s pot No longer kept StaffordshirePlot's Staffordshire recorded an old custom of going about on the night of St Clement's Day to beg drink to make merry with.
The smiths’ ode for St Clement No longer kept LondonThe secretary of the Benevolent Institution of Smiths, writing from Southwark in 1825, asked Hone not to forget St Clement, the smiths' saint.