The noble in a bowl at Swinford Ferry

36 days after Easter · Cumnor, Berkshire

No longer kept

Berkshire

When the Cumnor parishioners beat their bounds in Rogation week, they crossed at Swinford Ferry and took hold of the twigs on the far bank to claim the whole breadth of the Thames for the parish. The ferryman then gave the vicar a noble in a bowl of river water with a clean napkin, and the vicar fished out the coin and shared the water among the people. Chambers added that most of the dues went on ale.

The ferryman then delivers to the vicar a noble (6s. 8d.), in a bowl of the river-water, along with a clean napkin.

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 2, p. 760. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

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Reading the gospel at the springs No longer kept Berkshire, CheshireIn the parish processions a gospel was read at the springs to bless them, a custom kept at Sunningwell in Berkshire until 1688.
Gang Week in the North No longer kept Northern EnglandOn one of the three days before Holy Thursday the minister, churchwardens and parishioners walked the bounds of the parish, praying for the fruits of the earth and guarding the parish's rights.
The Bezant at Shaftesbury No longer kept DorsetOn Rogation Monday the mayor and aldermen of Shaftesbury went down the hill in procession to Enmore Green to pay for the town's water with a calf's head, a gallon of ale, two penny loaves, gold-laced gloves and the Bezant.
Gang Monday Land at Edgcott No longer kept BuckinghamshireAt Edgcott in Buckinghamshire about an acre of land, called Gang Monday Land, was let for three pounds a year to pay for cakes and beer for those who walked the parish bounds in Rogation week.
Loaf, cheese and ale for the bounds at Clifton Reynes No longer kept BuckinghamshireEveryone living in Clifton Reynes who walked the parish boundaries in Rogation week was given ale from a bequest of land, married people a small loaf, a piece of cheese and a pint, single people half a pint.
The boy in the boundary oven No longer kept BuckinghamshireWhere a Buckinghamshire house had been built with its oven jutting over the parish boundary, a boy was put into the oven during the Rogation perambulation to keep the line unbroken.
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The seven-yearly bounds money at Husborne Crawley No longer kept BedfordshireOnce every seven years an estate at Husborne Crawley in Bedfordshire had to pay four pounds on Rogation Day towards walking the parish bounds.
Processioning with flower poles at Wolverhampton No longer kept StaffordshireOn the Monday and Tuesday of Rogation Week the clergy and choir of Wolverhampton walked the town behind charity children carrying long poles dressed with every flower in season, chanting the Benedicite.
The Gospel in the Chequer Inn cellar at Standlake No longer kept OxfordshireAt Standlake the minister's Rogation Week procession stopped in the cellar of the Chequer Inn, where he read the Gospel at the head of a barrel.
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The noble in a bowl at Swinford Ferry

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