Folklore of South East

Whit Sunday

Folklore from the old calendars

Fetching in the Fly at Oxford No longer kept OxfordshireOn a day in the Whitsun holidays the master cook of Oxford for that year rode out on horseback with his brother cooks, all in silk doublets, to Bartholomew's or Bullingdon Green to fetch in the Fly.
Greenwich Fair No longer kept KentFor Londoners Whit Monday meant Greenwich Fair, and from early morning crowds poured along the Kent Road and down the river to it.
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.
Peppard Revel No longer kept OxfordshireThe Reading Mercury of 24 May 1819 advertised Peppard Revel for Whit Monday.
The Eynsham timber No longer kept OxfordshireAt Eynsham the townspeople might cut down on Whit Monday as much timber as they could haul by hand into the abbey yard, the churchwardens first marking the trees.
Whitsun jaunts to Islington and Newington No longer kept LondonOver the Whitsun holidays Londoners poured out to Islington, Newington and the villages nearby to eat and drink.
Whitsun rides in Moorfields No longer kept LondonAt Whitsuntide children paid for rides at the fairground in Moorfields, going up and down on the swings.