The Cattern bowl at Worcester

Until shortly before Ellis wrote, the dean and chapter of Worcester gave out a rich mixture of wine and spices on St Catharine’s Day, the last day of their yearly audit, to the people living in the cathedral precincts. It was called the Cattern or Catharine bowl. In the villages round about, children went catterning for apples and beer with rhymes asking the gentle butler to fill the bowl. Mr Allies remembered apples roasting on strings before a farmhouse fire in Leigh parish at this season, studded thickly with oats.