Oak Apple Day

Next: Saturday 29 May 2027

29 May, marking the return of Charles II in 1660, still kept with oak boughs in a few places.

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The year from Friday 4 December

Saturday 29 May

Sat 29 May from 18:30
Custom

Castleton Garland Day

Sets off from Market Place, Castleton, Derbyshire

Folklore from the old calendars

Birds’ eggs in the Oak Apple garlands No longer kept EnglandFor the 29th of May boys robbed hundreds of nests and strung the eggs like pearls through the garlands hung across the village streets, the big eggs of hawks, crows and magpies in the middle and the tiny wrens' eggs at the ends.
Blooding the hounds on Cranborne Chase No longer kept Dorset, WiltshireEvery 29th of May the buck-hunters of Cranborne Chase met with oak boughs in their hats to show their loyalty and hunted young male deer to enter the young hounds.
Lawless Day at Exeter No longer kept DevonMany people in Exeter believed that on 29 May the law took no notice of any breach of the peace short of downright riot, so the day was called Lawless Day.
May babies at Starcross No longer kept DevonAround Starcross the children marked Oak Apple Day by carrying May babies, small dolls neatly dressed and decked with flowers.
Nettles for the disloyal in Nottinghamshire No longer kept NottinghamshireOn Oak Apple Day Nottinghamshire children carried nettles as well as oak twigs, and stung anyone not wearing royal oak.
Oak boughs for Penderell and King Charles No longer kept LondonRichard Penderell, one of the brothers who hid Charles II after the battle of Worcester, was buried in the churchyard of St Giles in the Fields, and it was once the custom to dress his monument with oak branches every 29 May.
Oliver at Tiverton No longer kept DevonA correspondent told Hone that at Tiverton on 29 May young men dressed in the style of the seventeenth century and armed with swords paraded the streets collecting money.
Royal Oak, the Whigs to provoke No longer kept NorthumberlandBrand remembered that the boys of Newcastle had a taunting rhyme for Royal Oak Day, which they shouted at anyone they met on 29 May without oak leaves in his hat.
Scotland Feast at Sheffield No longer kept YorkshireOn the eve of Scotland Feast, kept every 29 May, the people of Scotland Street in Sheffield went out by night and brought back sixteen to twenty young trees, mostly birches from Walkley Bank, and planted them in rows down both sides of the street.
The end of birds’-nesting at Fishlake No longer kept YorkshireAround Fishlake, 29 May marked the close of the birds'-nesting season.
The Royal Oak Day holiday rhyme No longer kept Northern EnglandSchoolboys greeted the twenty-ninth of May with a rhyme threatening to run away if they were not given the day off.
Up with the rump at Driffield No longer kept YorkshireAt Driffield in the East Riding a three-line rhyme was sung or said every 29 May: up with the rump, down with the stump, and away with the Presbyterians.

Saturday 29 May

Castleton Garland Day

Folklore from the old calendars

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