Remember the Bonfire at Walthamstow

5 November · Walthamstow, Essex

No longer kept

On Bonfire Night the bonfire boys of Walthamstow chanted the Gunpowder Plot rhyme, asking for a stick and a stake for King George’s sake, and then gave three halloos. Forster remembered the verse from his earliest childhood there. He added that Walthamstow put on a grand display of home-made fireworks in 1783.

A Stick and a Stake for King George's Sake, / And pray remember the Bonfire. / They all then hallow three times.

From Forster's Perennial Calendar, p. 610. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Guy Fawkes’ Day Still kept EnglandAn Act of 1606 made the anniversary of the Gunpowder Plot a holiday, and by Chambers's day it was one of the most joyous days of the year for English boys.
The Purton bonfire No longer kept WiltshireFor weeks before the Fifth the boys of Purton went to every house begging faggots, with a rhyme threatening to take two if they were refused one, and one hard farmer lost a new pump to the fire.
The Islip bonfire rhyme No longer kept OxfordshireThe boys who carried the guy round on the Fifth had many local versions of the rhyme.
Beating the sticks round the Marlborough bonfire No longer kept WiltshireAt the Marlborough bonfires the country people walked round the fire in a ring, holding thick club-sticks over their shoulders.
The butchers’ bonfire in Clare Market No longer kept LondonOn the fifth of November the butchers of Clare Market built their own bonfire in the open market by Bear Yard and thrashed each other round it with the sinews of slaughtered bulls.

Remember the Bonfire at Walthamstow

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