Swan Upping

In summer the City’s barges went up the Thames to count and mark the swans, an outing Londoners called swan-hopping. Hone explains that the true word was upping, from taking up the birds to mark them, and reprints a tract of 1570 on the old laws of swans, with its upping days and its justices of swans. Owners paid for their swan marks, and stealing eggs or driving swans from their nests brought heavy fines. The City party used to land at Barn Elms for a cold dinner and dancing on the grass. Swan upping on the Thames still takes place every July.