Stamford bull-running

Every 13 November the bell of St Mary’s tolled a warning and a bull was turned loose in a barricaded street of Stamford, to be chased by men, boys and dogs. The great aim was to bridge the bull, driving it onto the Welland bridge and tumbling it into the river, after which the run went on through the muddy meadows and ended in a supper of bull beef. Tradition said Earl Warren began it in King John’s time and gave the butchers a meadow on condition they found a bull every year. After years of battles with magistrates, dragoons and the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the last run was in 1839.