Wroth Silver at Knightlow Cross

Before sunrise on Martinmas morning the parishes of the hundred of Knightlow paid their wroth silver, or ward money, to the lord of the hundred at the stump of Knightlow Cross near Rugby. The agent read out the notice and the names, and each payment was thrown into the hollow of the old cross socket on its mound. Failure to pay carried a forfeit of twenty shillings for every penny, and a white bull with red ears and a red nose. The payers then breakfasted at the lord’s expense, and the ceremony is still held at dawn every 11 November.