Chopping Sticks and Counting Hobnails

29 September · Westminster, London

Still kept

At Michaelmas the new sheriffs of London went by barge to Westminster to be sworn in at the Court of Exchequer, where the City also paid two ancient quit rents. For a manor in Shropshire an alderman chopped a single stick, in token of the fuel the tenants once owed their lord. For a forge in the parish of St Clement Danes six horseshoes and sixty-one hobnails were counted out before the judge. The Quit Rents ceremony is still held every year at the Royal Courts of Justice.

the senior alderman below the chair steps forward, and chops a single stick, in token of its having been customary for the tenants of that manor to supply their lord with fuel.

From Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, cols. 1330-1331. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Half an Apple Goes to the Core Lore and belief SuffolkThe 1849 edition of Brand prints a rhyme said to be proverbial in Suffolk for Michaelmas and the apple season.
The Old Mayor’s Geese at Nottingham No longer kept NottinghamshireNottingham chose its mayor on Michaelmas Day, and Deering's History of Nottingham records that the outgoing mayor used to give hot roast geese at his house that morning, before the election of his successor.
Burying the Mace at Nottingham No longer kept NottinghamshireOn Michaelmas Day, when Nottingham's new mayor took office, the corporation went in procession to St Mary's Church.
The Lawless Hour at Kidderminster No longer kept WorcestershireWhen Kidderminster chose its bailiff at Michaelmas, the town-house bell gave the signal for an hour in which the townspeople pelted each other with cabbage stalks in the main streets.
The Moon and the Michaelmas Floods Lore and belief EnglandAn old weather saying held that you could count the floods of the coming season from the moon on Michaelmas Day.
St Michael’s Sheep in Ireland No longer kept IrelandMacaulay, quoted by Hone, says that in Ireland every family that could afford it killed a sheep on Michaelmas Day, and part of it had by law to go to the poor.
St Michael’s Bannock No longer kept Inner Hebrides, Outer HebridesMartin's account of the Western Isles, quoted by Hone, says the islanders kept St Michael's Day with a cavalcade in each parish, and at Kilbar with a turn round the church.
Goose on Michaelmas Day Lore and belief EnglandRoast goose was the Michaelmas dinner, when stubble geese were at their best, and it was said that whoever ate goose that day would never want money all year.

Chopping Sticks and Counting Hobnails

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