The Pancake Bell

Shrove Tuesday

Still kept

On Shrove Tuesday the church bells were set ringing in the morning, and one bell in particular, the Pancake Bell, told every household that it was time to start frying. John Taylor, the Water Poet, joked that it was supposed to ring at eleven but a knavish sexton usually rang it before nine, and that its sound sent thousands of people wild. A writer of 1790 said it had been the bell that called every parish to confession before Lent in Catholic times, and that in and about London the great bell was still rung and still called the Pancake-bell. Pancakes were then made and eaten all day, and there was great rivalry over who could toss them most neatly in the pan. The pancake bell is still rung in a few towns, and at Olney it starts the pancake race.

there is a bell rung called Pancake Bell, the sound whereof makes thousands of people distracted, and forgetful either of manners or humanity.

From Chambers's Book of Days, vol. 1, pp. 236-237; Hone's Every-Day Book, vol. 1, cols. 245-246. Read the original

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Folklore from the old calendars

Sown on Shrove Tuesday Lore and belief EnglandThe Book of Knowledge of 1703 held that whatever was planted or sown on Shrove Tuesday would always stay green.
Flowers, flowers, high-do No longer kept EnglandEllis noted that in some places at Shrovetide, if flowers could be found so early in the year, the younger children carried a small garland about to collect a few pence.
Great A, little A, this is pancake day No longer kept Northern EnglandIn parts of the north of England girls spent some of Shrove Tuesday playing battledore and shuttlecock, singing a rhyme as they played.
The football over Alnwick Castle wall Still kept NorthumberlandBrand was told, and saw for himself on 5 February 1788, that at Alnwick the town waits came playing to the castle at two o'clock every Shrove Tuesday.
The freshmen’s caudle at Merton No longer kept OxfordshireAnthony a Wood described how the freshmen of Merton College were put through their paces on Shrove Tuesday in 1647.
The pan’s hot No longer kept OxfordshireIn Oxfordshire the children went from door to door on Shrove Tuesday singing a shroving rhyme and begging for halfpence.
Dough-nut Day at Baldock No longer kept HertfordshireAt Baldock in Hertfordshire the children looked forward to Shrove Tuesday long beforehand and called it Dough-nut Day.
The noon bell at Newcastle No longer kept NorthumberlandAt Newcastle upon Tyne the great bell of St Nicholas's church was tolled at twelve o'clock on Shrove Tuesday.
Stoning the doors in Scilly No longer kept Isles of ScillyHeath's account of the Isles of Scilly says that every Shrove Tuesday, once the throwing at cocks was over, the island boys spent the evening throwing stones at the doors of the houses.
Cocks for the Poor Rate at Pinner No longer kept MiddlesexIn the hamlet of Pinner, by Harrow on the Hill, throwing at cocks on Shrove Tuesday was a parish occasion, and the money it raised went towards the poor rate: the accounts record twelve shillings received for cocks at Shrovetide in 1622.
Ringing the Pancake Bell in York Minster No longer kept YorkshireAt York it was an old custom that on Shrove Tuesday the apprentices, journeymen and servants of the city were free to go into the minster and ring the pancake bell.
Shrove Tuesday Weather Lore and belief EnglandThe Shepherd's Almanack of 1676 recorded two pieces of weather lore for Shrove Tuesday.
Sauty Bannocks and Dreaming Bannocks No longer kept HighlandsIn the Highlands the Fastern's E'en supper ended with sauty bannocks, made of eggs and meal with plenty of salt and toasted on the gridiron.
The Ring in the Crowdie No longer kept ScotlandEden wrote that crowdie was the never-failing dinner of all ranks in Scotland on Shrove Tuesday, as pancakes were in England.
The Wives’ Football at Inveresk No longer kept MidlothianSir Frederick Eden, drawing on the Statistical Account of Scotland, recorded a standing Shrove Tuesday football match in a Midlothian parish between the married and the unmarried women.
Fitz-Stephen’s Shrovetide No longer kept LondonThe earliest account of Shrovetide sport in England comes from William Fitz-Stephen, who died in 1191.
Throwing at Cocks No longer kept England, NorfolkThrowing sticks at a tethered cock was an old and cruel Shrove Tuesday sport, which Hone was glad to see dying out among decent people.
The Hoddesdon Curfew and the Pancakes No longer kept HertfordshireA correspondent told Hone that the old curfew bell at Hoddesdon, once rung for putting out all fire and candle light, was still rung at four in the morning on Shrove Tuesday, as it had been time out of mind.
The Cock-penny No longer kept Ross and Cromarty, ScotlandCock-fighting was a regular Shrovetide sport, and in many schools it was sanctioned by the master, who took a small fee from each boy called the cock-penny.
Football Day at Kingston No longer kept Middlesex, SurreyA Quaker travelling to Kingston upon Thames on Shrove Tuesday 1815 was told by the coachman that it was Football Day.
The First Pancake No longer kept EnglandBy custom the first pancake off the pan was given to the laziest member of the household or the last one out of bed, though since nobody would own to it, it usually went to the dog.
Ludlow Rope-pulling No longer kept ShropshireOn Shrove Tuesday the Ludlow corporation handed a thick rope, thirty-six yards long, out of a window of the Market Hall at four o'clock.
Lent Crocking No longer kept Dorset, WiltshireIn Dorset and Wiltshire boys went shroving in small bands, armed with the year's broken crockery.
Holly Boy and Ivy Girl No longer kept KentLate in the eighteenth century a Kentish village kept a Shrovetide custom in two halves.
Threshing the Hen No longer kept Cornwall, WalesA hen that had not laid before Shrove Tuesday was counted useless.
Barring Out the Master No longer kept CumberlandAt Fasten's Even the scholars of the free school at Bromfield claimed an old right to shut their master out for three days.
The Ba’ of Scone No longer kept PerthshireChambers knew of no place where Shrovetide football was played with more energy than Scone, near Perth.
The Pancake Greaze Still kept LondonAt eleven on Shrove Tuesday a verger of Westminster Abbey with a silver baton led the school cook, in white apron, jacket and cap, into the schoolroom carrying a pancake.

The Pancake Bell

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