The Marching Watch

23 June · London

No longer kept

In medieval London a watch of at least two thousand men paraded the city on Midsummer Eve and again on the eves of St Peter and St Paul. They carried cressets, torches in barred pots on long poles, and with the bonfires in the streets these lit up the town. Henry VIII came privately to see it in 1510 and returned with Queen Catherine for St Peter’s Eve, but later abolished it, perhaps fearing so large a muster of armed citizens.

In London, during the middle ages, this watch, consisting of not less than two thousand men, paraded both on this night and on the eves of St Paul's and St Peter's days.

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 1, p. 815. Read the original

Get a copy: Amazon · Bookshop.org · AbeBooks

We may earn a small commission if you buy through these links.

Also on this day

Folklore from the old calendars

The Ripon welcome table No longer kept YorkshireAt Ripon on Midsummer Eve, every householder who had moved into a new neighbourhood during the year set a table in the street before his door with bread, cheese and ale for anyone who cared to come.
St John’s Eve fires in Ireland Still kept IrelandDonald McQueen of Skye told of seeing the Irish St John's Eve fires in 1782.
The soul’s ramble on St John’s Eve Lore and belief IrelandChambers records the Irish belief that on St John's Eve every person's soul leaves the body and travels to the place where it will finally part from it in death.
Watching in the church porch Lore and belief EnglandIn England it was believed that anyone who sat up fasting all night in the church porch on St John's Eve would see the spirits of those who were to die in the parish in the coming year.
Midsummer men Lore and belief EnglandOn Midsummer Eve girls set sprigs of orpine in clay on a slate or potsherd and called them Midsummer men.
Catching fern seed Lore and belief EnglandBecause the seed of the fern is too small to see, people reasoned that whoever held it would become invisible.
Struell Wells on Midsummer Eve No longer kept UlsterAt Stoole, as Hone calls Struell, near Downpatrick, crowds gathered from midnight on Midsummer Eve at a mount sacred to St Patrick with three holy wells.
The Midsummer watch at Nottingham No longer kept NottinghamshireUntil the reign of Charles I every householder of means in Nottingham sent a man, armed with pike, musket or halberd, to keep a general watch on Midsummer Eve.
The Chester Midsummer show Still kept CheshireChester set its watch on St John's Eve with a great pageant.
Midsummer torches in Cornwall No longer kept CornwallBorlase, quoted by Hone, wrote that on Midsummer Eve the Cornish people lit bonfires and walked round them with torches tarred and pitched at the end.
The black dog at Whiteborough No longer kept CornwallBrand recorded that a Midsummer bonfire was once made on Whiteborough, a burial mound on St Stephen's Down near Launceston.
The Midsummer rose Lore and belief EnglandAmong the Midsummer Eve charms that a girl in the Connoisseur owned to trying was the rose.
Shoes in the form of a T Lore and belief DorsetA Dorset man writing for the Year Book said Midsummer Eve was the great night for girls to find out whom they would marry.
Farthing Loaf Day No longer kept WorcestershireBy an old bequest of a local spinster, a farthing loaf was given on Midsummer Eve to everyone born in Church Street, Kidderminster, rich or poor, who cared to claim it, and the day was known as Farthing Loaf Day.
The masons at Melrose No longer kept RoxburghshireSt John's Eve was a great day for the masonic lodges of Scotland, and Chambers took Melrose as the example, quoting a local history of 1861.
Bonfires of amity in London No longer kept LondonStow, quoted by Hone, described how in June and July, on the eves of feast days, bonfires were made in the London streets with every man giving wood or labour.
St John’s wort over the Welsh door No longer kept WalesPennant's manuscript notes that in Wales people had the custom of sticking St John's wort over their doors on the eve of St John the Baptist.
Green birch on the sign-posts at Little Brickhill No longer kept Buckinghamshire, LondonThe herbalist William Coles remembered riding through Little Brickhill, a town on the London road between Dunstable and Stony Stratford, and finding nearly every sign-post decked with green birch.
The Cooks’ bonfires on the Sandhill No longer kept NorthumberlandThe ordinary of the Company of Cooks at Newcastle, drawn up in 1575, bound the fellowship to keep up at its own cost the town's two bonfires on the Sandhill, as the ancient custom was.
The Cumwhitton wake on St John’s Eve No longer kept CumberlandHutchinson's History of Cumberland says that the parish of Cumwhitton held its wake on the eve of St John, with the lighting of fires and dancing.
The Burford dragon and giant No longer kept OxfordshirePlot's History of Oxfordshire records that the people of Burford, within living memory in 1677, made a dragon every year and carried it up and down the town with great jollity on Midsummer Eve, adding a giant as well for no reason anyone knew.
Snake stones at Midsummer Lore and belief Cornwall, Scotland, WalesBorlase found it a common belief in most of Wales, throughout Scotland and in Cornwall that about Midsummer Eve snakes met together in companies.
Three nails for the falling sickness Lore and belief EnglandLupton's Book of Notable Things gives a cure for epilepsy tied to Midsummer Eve.
Bede’s Well on Midsummer Eve No longer kept County DurhamAbout a mile west of Jarrow stood Bede's Well, where until about 1740 sick children were brought to be dipped; a crooked pin was dropped in and the well was laved dry between each dipping.
Fires to bless the apples No longer kept Herefordshire, SomersetOn Midsummer Eve people in Herefordshire and Somerset lit fires in the fields and along the lanes to bless the apples.
Hen’s eggs on the witches’ night Lore and belief EnglandMidsummer Eve was counted or called the witches' night, and on it hen's eggs were broken so that people might see what their fortune would be.
Birch trees at the Chester doors No longer kept CheshireOn St John the Baptist's Eve the people of Chester brought in a multitude of young birch trees and planted them before their doors to wither.
Broughton on Midsummer Eve No longer kept NorthumberlandNorthumbrian households sat down on Midsummer Eve to broughton, two cakes baked with thin slices of cheese between them.
The Bredogue No longer kept IrelandOn St John's Eve, and on some other feasts, people in the south of Ireland dressed a broomstick as a figure called a Bredogue.
Grass rent to Mannan on Barrule No longer kept Isle of ManOn Midsummer Eve the Manx carried green meadow grass to the top of Barrule as rent to Mannan-beg-mac-y-heir.
The culm fire at Port Eynon No longer kept GlamorganAt Port Eynon in Gower the villagers gathered culm, the small coal of the district, and kept it hidden for a fire on 23 June, Midsummer Eve.
A cheese through the Midsummer fire at Newton No longer kept GlamorganOld people at Newton in Glamorgan remembered meeting at a small stone enclosure near the village well on Midsummer Eve and throwing a small cheese across through the flames of the fire.
The phantom army on Souter Fell Lore and belief CumberlandOn Midsummer Eve 1735 a farm servant at Wilton Hill saw a regular army marching for over an hour along the east side of Souter Fell.
A Midsummer fire in the open street No longer kept EnglandOn Midsummer Eve, in most country places and here and there in towns, old and young gathered round a large fire made in the open street.
Children at the well on St John’s Eve at Barnwell No longer kept CambridgeshireBarnwell, then a village just outside Cambridge, was said to take its name from the children who played about a well there on St John the Baptist's Eve.
A Midsummer Eve supper for the man she would marry Lore and belief EnglandAn unmarried woman who fasted on Midsummer Eve could lay a clean cloth at midnight with bread, cheese and ale, sit down as if to eat and leave the street door open.
Burnt names and a looking-glass on Midsummer Eve Lore and belief EnglandOn Midsummer Eve lovers wrote their names on a paper at twelve o'clock, burned it, and carefully gathered up the ashes.
Burning bones to drive off the dragons Lore and belief EnglandSome medieval writers said the St John's Eve fires were made to drive away the dragons and evil spirits in the air.
Letters in a basin on Midsummer Eve Lore and belief DorsetA Dorset girl who wanted her husband's initial wrote the alphabet on scraps of paper at bedtime and floated them face down in a basin of water.
Sweet flag for Norwich cathedral on Guild Day No longer kept NorfolkOn Guild Day, when the new mayor and corporation of Norwich went to the cathedral service, the floor was strewn with sweet-smelling flags in their honour.
St Margaret’s dragon lent to St Sepulchre’s No longer kept LondonThe parish of St Margaret, Westminster, kept a dragon for the Midsummer Eve processions and was paid when a City parish borrowed it.
Kelton Hill horse fair No longer kept KirkcudbrightshireOn the first Tuesday after 17 June, Old Style, the village of Rhonehouse or Kelton Hill held a horse fair that its minister thought perhaps the largest in Scotland.
The burning wheel in the Vale of Glamorgan No longer kept GlamorganAt Midsummer people in the Vale of Glamorgan wrapped a cart-wheel thickly in straw, pushed a pole through its centre and, at a signal, set it alight and sent it rolling down the hill.
The voice in St David’s Well at Henfynyw Lore and belief CardiganshireA story of St David's Well at Henfynyw in Cardiganshire told how an old man who went there alone on Midsummer Eve heard a voice from the water crying for help.
Changelings taken on St John’s Eve Lore and belief North WalesIn North Wales the fairies were thought to be busiest at stealing babies and leaving their own in the cradle on Nos Wyl Ifan, St John's Eve.
The snail under the basin on St John’s Eve Lore and belief WalesA Welsh girl who put a snail under a basin on St John's Eve expected to find her future husband's name, or at least his initials, traced by its trail in the morning.

The Marching Watch

Also on this day

Questions and comments

Image credits