Holly Night at Brough

On Twelfth Night the people of Brough in Westmorland carried the holly tree, though by 1827 an ash was used, since ash was plentiful there. The two chief inns took turns to provide it, a torch was tied to every branch, and at about eight o’clock it was lit and carried up and down the town by a strong man, with the town band playing behind and stopping to cheer at the bridge and the cross, while rockets and squibs went off. When the torches had burnt down the tree was thrown among the crowd, and the two sides fought to carry it off to their own inn for a merry night that lasted till two in the morning. Hone’s correspondent guessed it came from branches carried in church processions at Epiphany.