Customs at Collections

Processions

In some church events the procession to and from it may be the most visible, but less important, part. Thus it is the procession is the part that everyone remembers.

‘St Wilfrid’ leads a procession of floats through the streets of Ripon in commemoration of his founding of the Cathedral, and being the first bishop, in the year 672. On Whit Friday a dozen villages in the Saddleworth area march to Uppermill for an open air service. In Bristol the Vicar, Churchwardens, interested parishioners, journalists and photographers hold the ‘Pipe Walk’ from Knowle to St Mary Redcliffe church to inspect the pipe and give thanks to Sir Robert de Berkeley for providing fresh water in the 12^th century. On Whit Sunday the same church sees a splendid procession of the Lord Mayor, High Sheriff, Judges, Councillors and other officials to the Rush Sunday Service, instituted (and paid for) by a former Lord Mayor in 1493. Lesser processions take place around the country on the first Sunday after the election of of a new Lord Mayor – as at Winchester. Warrington Walking Day would be the biggest Whit Walk of them all only it takes place on the nearest Friday to the beginning of July. About 6000 walk, from churches and schools of all denominations, led by a bewildering variety of bands. It is an opportunity to be amazed at how many types there are. Back in Ripon , on five ‘Horn Days’ throughout the year the Hornblower leads the mayor and other city dignitaries in procession to and from the Cathedral. Bounds Beating processions appear in many parishes especially on Ascension Day. The Tyburn Walk, from Newgate Prison (now the Old Bailey) to Tyburn Gallows (at Marble Arch) commemorates 105 Catholic martyrs who made the journey during the Reformation – though 2011 may have been for the last time. Christ’s Hospital School is in Horsham now but it was founded in 1552 in a building almost opposite the Old Bailey and next to St Sepulchre’s Church. Every September, after the ‘spital sermon’, the ‘Bluecoat March’ was from there to the Mansion House but recently the service moved to St Paul’s Cathedral and the march starts there. The Bluecoat Boys and Girls take part in the Lord Mayor’s Show as well, led by their fine brass band.

Until the advent of central heating systems churches were cold and damp places so a way to make them less of a penance was to strew the floor with rushes. In time rituals evolved around the annual replacement of the rushes. Rushcarts were elaborately loaded and decorated then pulled to village churches by cohorts of burly parishioners. ‘Rushbearings’ were made in symbolic forms and carried by the children in their Sunday best – though their actual construction would be by experienced adults. Once widespread these ceremonies are now confined to the north of England. Cumbria favours pretty Rushbearing processions by children while Yorkshire prefers more rugged Rushcarts.

Palm Sunday, the last before Easter, was the day Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, re-enacted annually throughout the Christian word ever since. Good Friday processions with Jesus carrying his cross are also held – this one in London, from Catholic Westminster Cathedral along Victoria Street to Anglican Westminster Abbey for an ecumenical service, was founded in 1990. ‘Bawming the Thorn’ in Appleton Thorn, Cheshire, was once part of the village ‘Walking Day’ in the tradition of nearby Warrington but on a much smaller scale. The thorn tree, inevitably grown from a cutting from the Holy Thorn of Glastonbury, is decorated with red ribbons while the children dance around it. Back in London, on the first practical day in October the beginning of the Legal Year is marked by impressive services in Westminster Abbey and Westminster Cathedral followed by a grand procession of the senior judiciary, led by the Lord Chancellor, across the road to the Houses Of Parliament for ‘The Chancellor’s Breakfast’ – not a ‘full English’, we are reliably informed, but ‘the kind of things you get at cocktail parties’. The Padley Chapel Ceremony commemorates the death of three Catholic priests hanged, drawn and quartered for their beliefs in 1588. The children are carrying their garlands through Bisley in the Cotswolds to dress the elaborate Victorian well in the village.

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St Wilfrid leading the procession for the Feast of St Wilfred in Ripon, North Yorkshire, 1972 (Ripon Cathedral stands on the site of a church founded in 672 by St Wilfrid. A controvertial figure, the Feast commemorates his return from exile)

The Dobcross contingent on their way to Uppermill on Saddleworth Whit Friday, Greater Manchester, England, 1984 (Similar processions come from several villages to an ecumenical service in Uppermill)

Ecumenical service in Uppermill during ‘Saddleworth Whit Friday’, Saddleworth area, Greater Manchester, England, 1984

Redcliffe Pipe Walk, Bristol, Avon, England, 1984 (An annual obligatory inspection of the pipe between St Mary Redcliffe church and a well a mile and a half away in Knowle provided by Lord Robert de Berkeley in 1190)

Nosegays in place for official worshippers at the Rush Sunday Service on Whit Sunday at the church of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, 1984

The Civic procession, led by the Lord Mayor, to the Rush Sunday Service on Whit Sunday at the church of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, 1984

The Vicar and The Lord Mayor, with their nosegays, after the Rush Sunday Service on Whit Sunday at the church of St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol, 1984

Getting ready for Warrington Walking Day, Cheshire, England, 1984 (This is a vast ecumenical procession of about 4000 children, plus attendant adults, on the Friday nearest 30 June)

A church party at the fine Town Hall preparing to take part in the great procession on Warrington Walking Day, 1984

Civic procession to and from the Cathedral on one of five ‘Horn Days’ in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England, this time on Christmas Day 1965. The famous Horn Blower is fourth from the right.

Civic procession leaving the Cathedral on Christmas Day 1965, one of the five annual ‘Horn Days’ in Ripon, North Yorkshire (The others are Easter, Whit Sunday, Mayor’s Sunday and St Wilfrid’s Day in August)

Passing through the Barbican whilst Beating the Bounds of the parish of St Botolph, Aldersgate, London, 1986

The ‘Tyburn Walk’, in remembrance of the 105 Catholic martyrs hanged at Tyburn gallows during the Reformation, in Oxford Street, London, 1984

The ‘Tyburn Walk’, in remembrance of 105 Catholic martyrs hanged at Tyburn gallows (near Marble Arch) during the Reformation, passing through Holborn, London, 1984

Girls of Christ’s Hospital School on the ‘Bluecoat March’ from Newgate to the Mansion House, London, 1985

Traditional Rushbearings prepared for the Rushbearing ceremonies in Grasmere, Cumbria, England, 1982

The Rush Cart on its way around the town during Rushbearing in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, England, 1986

The Rushcart at Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

Rush Bearings at Ambleside, Cumbria, England (The bearings would be carried by children but these are the adults who made them)

Saddleworth Rushcart, St Chad’s Uppermill, Oldham/Greater Manchester, 1996

Rushbearing at Warcop, Cumbria, England, 1995

Procession of the Wooden Ass on Palm Sunday which represents Christ riding into Jerusalem (There are many versions of this picture but this is from ‘Old England’, published c1860)

Good Friday procession in Victoria Street, near Westminster Cathedral, London, England

‘Bawming the Thorn’, Appleton Thorn, Warrington, England, 1996

Judges in procession from Westminster Abbey to the House of Lords for the ‘Lord Chancellor’s Breakfast’ at the start of the legal year, London, 1972

Judges service in Westminster Abbey at the start of the legal year before they cross the road to the Houses of Parliament for The Lord Chancellor’s Breakfast, London, c2000

Judges in Procession from Westminster Abbey to ‘The Lord Chancellor’s Breakfast’ in the House of Lords on 1 October, the start of the Legal Year, London SW1, England

Judges Procession from Westminster Abbey to the Palace of Westminster for ‘The Chancellor’s Breakfast’ at the start of the legal year

Civic Procession to the Cathedral on Mayor’s Sunday, the first Sunday after his election, Winchester, Hampshire, England, 1984

Padley Chapel Ceremony, Upper Padley, near Grindleford, Derbyshire, England, 1995 (Commemorates the death of Catholic Martyrs in 1588)

Procession to the Well Dressing at Bisley, Gloucestershire, England, late 1990s (Unlike the Derbyshire tradition, at Bisley garlands are carried in procession from the church to the elaborate Victorian wells, on Ascension Day, and put on display)