Folklore of Northern England

1 January

Folklore from the old calendars

Barring Out the Master No longer kept CumberlandAt Fasten's Even the scholars of the free school at Bromfield claimed an old right to shut their master out for three days.
Cock-throwing given up at Newcastle No longer kept NorthumberlandBy 1777 the Shrove Tuesday sport of throwing at cocks had been given up at Newcastle upon Tyne.
Great A, little A, this is pancake day No longer kept Northern EnglandIn parts of the north of England girls spent some of Shrove Tuesday playing battledore and shuttlecock, singing a rhyme as they played.
Hobthrust and the Fassen’s-eve cock Lore and belief Northern EnglandIn some northern farmhouses a cock and bacon were boiled on Shrove Tuesday evening, and everyone was expected to eat their fill.
Pancakes from the church leads at Sheffield No longer kept YorkshireAt Sheffield, pancakes were said to be thrown from the church roofs on Shrove Tuesday as the clock struck twelve.
Ringing the Pancake Bell in York Minster No longer kept YorkshireAt York it was an old custom that on Shrove Tuesday the apprentices, journeymen and servants of the city were free to go into the minster and ring the pancake bell.