Customs at Collections

Easter Monday & Tuesday / Hocktide

Egg Rolling on Easter Monday in Avenham Park, Preston, is well known and popular now, though it had all but died out in the 1960s. A ‘London’ spectacular was the London Harness Horse Parade in Regent’s Park, but since 2006 it is no longer in London. Started in Battersea Park in 1885 to encourage the owners of working horses to look after them more humanely it soon moved to Regent’s Park where it stayed until logistics drove it back to Battersea for a few years and then a further 35 miles south to the South of England Showground in Ardingly, West Sussex. Meanwhile the Chulkhurst Charity is distributed in Biddenden according, it is alleged, to the bequest of Mary and Eliza Chulkhurst, conjoined twins who lived there in the 12^th century. Oranges are Rolled on Dunstable Downs. Every third year they lower the Maypole in Barwick-in-Elmet to paint it and replace the garlands that adorn it, then raise it again on Spring Bank Holiday. This double spectacular was a nerve-racking process involving ropes, ladders and about 200 burly Yorkshiremen until the insurance companies (no doubt aided and abetted by Health & Safety), moved in to suggest that a JCB might be a safer alternative. One can see their point, but one is not going to drive up from London to watch...

On Easter Tuesday the children of the parish (and anyone else who happens to be there) enjoy ‘Tuppenny Starvers’ at the church of St Michael-on-the-Mount Without in Bristol according to the bequest of Peter and Mary Davis in 1748. On the same evening the ‘Uppies and Doonies’ of Workington do battle for the second time - and yet again, for the third time, on Saturday.

Hocktide is a week later. In medieval times the festival involved the paying of rents and various celebrations which have long since died out, except at Hungerford where their ‘Tutti Men’ and Hocktide Court survive as one of England’s most famous customs. The Court Leet still administers affairs for the hundred householders granted ‘commoners rights’ by John o’ Gaunt in the 14^th century, while the Tutti Men are in fact officers of the court who gather tithes from the commoners in the form of kisses from the women and pennies from the men – and a drink in each house!

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‘Bottle Kicking’ at the Hare Pie Scramble & Bottle Kicking in Hallaton, Leicestershire, England, 1988 (Most ‘street football’ customs look like this - what insurance companies refer to as ‘riot and civil commotion’)

Commitment during the ‘kicking’ part of the Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking at Hallaton, Leicestershire, on Easter Monday 1965

Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking on Easter Monday at Hallaton, Leicestershire, 1965 (Parading the ‘bottles’ though the village before the ‘kicking’)

Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking on Easter Monday at Hallaton, Leicestershire, 1965 (A breakaway, likely to be short lived, during the ‘bottle kicking’)

Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking on Easter Monday at Hallaton, Leicestershire, 1965 (This is the Hare Pie - rumoured to be beefsteak these days)

‘Bottle kicking’ during the Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking at Hallaton, Leicestershire, England, c1990

A ‘bottle kicking’ goal is scored during the Hare Pie Scramble and Bottle Kicking at Hallaton, Leicestershire, England, c1990 (The ‘goals’ are two streams a mile apart)

Specially coloured eggs for Easter Egg Rolling in hilly Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire, 1981 (These stained and painted eggs were once standard but nowadays chocolate eggs and almost anything else that rolls will do)

Going Egg Rolling in Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire, England in 1966

Going Egg Rolling in Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire, on Easter Monday 1966

Easter Monday Egg Rolling, Avenham Park, Preston, Lancashire

At the Harness Horse Parade on Easter Monday in Regent’s Park, London, 1973 (Now moved out of London to the South of England Showground at Ardingly, West Sussex)

Brewer’s dray at the Harness Horse Parade on Easter Monday in Regent’s Park, London, 1973 (Now moved out of London to the South of England Showground at Ardingly, West Sussex)

At the Harness Horse Parade on Easter Monday in Regent’s Park, London, 1982 (This event is now held out of London at the South of England Showground at Ardingly, West Sussex)

The Harness Horse Parade on Easter Monday in Battersea Park, London, England, 2002 (This well-known Easter Monday event has moved out of London to the South of England Showground, Ardingly, West Sussex)

Special biscuits distributed with the Chulkhurst Charity (Biddenden Dole) depicting the benificent Siamese twins Eliza and Mary Chulkhurst popularly supposed to have willed sufficient money in 1134, Biddenden, Kent, 1983

Distribution of the Chulkhurst Charity (also known as the Biddenden Dole) consisting of bread, cheese and tea, at the Old Workhouse, Biddenden, Kent, in 1983

‘Pensioners and Widows of the Parish’ line up for the Biddenden Dole, or Chulkhurst Charity, on Easter Monday in Biddenden, Kent, England, 1983

The trustees of the Chulkhurst Charity with the ‘dole’ of bread, cheese and tea given to ‘pensioners and widows of the parish’ on Easter Monday in Biddenden, Kent, England,1983 (Also known as Biddenden Dole)

The elaborate ribbon garlands which have to survive three years of weather 50ft up the permanent maypole in the middle of Barwick-in-Elmet, West Yorkshire

Lowering the Maypole at Barwick-in-Elmet, near Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, on Easter Monday 1987 (Now, alas, with construction machinery and hard hats)

The Mayor of Dunstable at the Orange Rolling at Pascombe Pit on Dunstable Downs, Bedfordshire, on Easter Monday 1968

‘Tuppenny Starvers’ given, according to the bequest of Peter & Mary Davis in 1748, to the children of St Michael-on-the-Mount Without, Bristol, England, 1984

‘Uppies and Downies’ in Workington, Cumbria, take place three times each year, on Good Friday, Easter Tuesday and the following Saturday. This is the start of the ‘Tuesday Ball’ in 1984

Mr Scarlett, The ‘Orange Scrambler’ who accompanied the Tuttimen on their rounds during the Hocktide Ceremonies in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, 1965

The Court Leet, the principal reason for the Hocktide Ceremonies in Hungerford, Berkshire, England, 1990

A ‘Tuttiman’ (tithe collector) about to claim his tithe of a kiss from a fair commoner during his rounds of the 100 or so commoners houses at Hocktide in Hungerford, Berkshire, 1983

Hocktide Ceremonies in Hungerford, Berkshire, 1967 (The ‘Tuttimen’, accompanied by children hoping for pennies, on their rounds collecting tithes from the 100 or so ‘Commoners’ of the town)