On the second Monday after Easter the people of Randwick chose a mayor and carried him with flags and drums to a horse-pond, where he sat in an armchair while the clerk gave out a song about the weavers’ trade line by line. As soon as it ended the mayor threw water in his attendants’ faces and a general soaking followed. A traveller described it in 1784, and another correspondent quoted Rudder’s county history on the magistrates’ failure to suppress it.
The Mayor of Randwick in the horse-pond
8 days after Easter · Randwick, Gloucestershire
No longer kept
One of the parish is, it seems, on the above-mentioned day, elected mayor, and carried with great state, colours flying, drums beating, men, women, and children shouting, to a particular horsepond
From The Gentleman's Magazine Library, Manners and Customs, p. 228. Read the original
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