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Folklore of Middlesex

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1 to 9 of 9 entries

15 January, not tied to the day

Folklore from the old calendars

Sworn at Highgate Still kept London, MiddlesexTravellers passing through Highgate for the first time were made to swear a mock oath on a pair of horns in one of the village taverns, with the landlord as priest and a waiter or ostler singing out Amen.

Shrove Tuesday

Folklore from the old calendars

Cocks for the Poor Rate at Pinner No longer kept MiddlesexIn the hamlet of Pinner, by Harrow on the Hill, throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday was a parish occasion, and the money it raised went towards the poor rate: the accounts record twelve shillings received for cocks at Shrovetide in 1622.
Football Day at Kingston No longer kept Middlesex, SurreyA Quaker travelling to Kingston upon Thames on Shrove Tuesday 1815 was told by the coachman that it was Football Day.
Hurdles on the windows at Teddington No longer kept MiddlesexShrove Tuesday football at Teddington was played with such spirit that careful householders protected their windows with hurdles and bushes.

Easter Sunday

Folklore from the old calendars

The Twickenham Easter cakes No longer kept MiddlesexTwickenham once divided two great cakes among its young people in church on Easter Day.

1 May

Folklore from the old calendars

The Paddington May-dance No longer kept London, MiddlesexHone remembered Jack-o'-the-Greens, figures dressed out in ribbons and flowers from the village May games, coming into the London suburbs to dance.

Ascension Day

Folklore from the old calendars

Points for the boys that were whipped at Chelsea No longer kept London, MiddlesexWhen Chelsea parish walked its bounds in 1679 the churchwardens paid for a dinner, for points for the boys, and four shillings to the boys that were whipped at the boundary marks so they would remember them.

Whit Monday

Folklore from the old calendars

Hocking and pigeon-holes at the Brentford Whitsun ale No longer kept MiddlesexA Brentford vestry of 1621 recorded that the townspeople had long met at Whitsuntide in their church house to eat and drink together, keeping up neighbourly feeling and raising a common stock for the church, the orphans and the poor.

4 August

Folklore from the old calendars

The Silver Arrow at Harrow No longer kept MiddlesexFrom the school's early days Harrow boys shot at the butts for a silver arrow, and John Lyon's ordinances of 1592 told parents to supply bow-shafts, bowstrings and a bracer.

From the shop: Folklore

The Folklore of DiscworldTerry Pratchett, Jacqueline Simpson
The Lore of ScotlandJennifer Westwood, Sophia Kingshill
The Fairies in Tradition and LiteratureKatharine Briggs

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