A collection of living and defunct Shrovetide customs in the county of Nottinghamshire England

A seasonal extract from Customs and ceremonies of Nottinghamshire Shrovetide begun with Collop Monday, Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, Fritter Thursday and Kissing Friday is a moveable feast in February or March. Of these events only the first three appear to have been recorded in the county. Collop Monday A report in the Nottingham Evening Post (Saturday 1st March 1924) notes “Collop Monday. Collop Monday, the day before Shrove Tuesday, is so-called because our ancestors cut their fresh meat into collops or steaks for salting or hanging up till Lent was over. Yorkshire and many other places it is still a custom to have eggs and collops or slices of bacon at dinner this day.” The Lincolnshire Poacher, Nottingham, appear to be recently reviving the custom with eggs and bacon (collops) being served. Shrove Tuesday Shrove Tuesday, marks the coming of Lent. The day today more often called by its secular name. The cooking of pancakes is claimed to have originated in the county. Pancakes and races Pancake Day of course, is still a thriving custom across the county with many private pancake eating and races. Races are recorded in a number of places across the county: such as the Corner House, since 2002 and St Ann’s Nottingham, and Redgate School in Mansfield which was even attended by the town’s Mayor and Newark which have been ran since 1963. In Walesby, the first pancake made was always given to the hens. At East Bridgford, a hill called Pancake hill was used for local festivities. At Woodborough a pancake race undertaken at Roe Lane. Hotel staff took part in Newark's first pancake race day in 1963 and now it is a regular feature. Pancake or Shriving Bell Pancake races were often associated with the ringing of the pancake bell. This as Lindley (1907) notes that in the Shriving Bell used to be rung on Shrove-Tuesday to call people to confession or more correctly shriven, as of course the name shrove derives from. He notes that by 1837 in Sutton in Ashfield it was a signal for putting the pancakes into the frying pan. In Walesby, when the clerk rang the bell at 11 am. Other places were pancake bells were rung, usually in the middle of the day were Retford, East Bridgford. Woodborough, is one of the few places where the Pancake bell is still rung at 11.am this traditionally being undertaken by the village’s youngest apprentice. However, in Sutton-in –Ashfield, it was rung by the oldest apprentice in the town. A pancake bell is still rung at St. Leodargius’s Church, Old Basford and I was told that this was still rung until recently by a 90 year old man. Barring out Shrove Tuesday was in Victorian times, a half day holiday for children, but often this involved a quaint school ritual called barring out. It is also noted in Retford, that according to Lindley (1907) state: “school children claimed the privilege on that day of barring out the master and mistress from the school, and taking possession of the same, at the ringing of the Church bell.” Jackson (1992) notes that in the Roman Catholic school, an account by a John Watkins in Victorian times notes that: “We used to go inside the school before the teacher on that day and when she knocked on the door we would all shout ‘who’s there?’ and she had to promise us a holiday before we let her in.” In other schools in Worksop, students would do some work first and then at eleven o’clock, or earlier if they managed to push the clock a bit forward, the teacher would conveniently leave the room and denied entrance with the children singing: “Pardon, master, pardon, Pardon in a pan. If you won’t give us a holiday, then you stan.” This usually continued for around ten minutes after which the children were dismissed. Jackson (1992) believes it died out around 1850. At Skegby Stanton Hill Girl’s school, the local children had a rhyme: “Pancake day, pancake day if you don’t give us a holiday we’ll all run away. Where shell we run? Down Skegby Lane, here comes the teacher with the big fat cane” Lord’s hospitality at Aspley Hall An interesting lost Shrove Tuesday tradition is recorded at Aspley Hall, which may have been more common countrywide. It is noted that the Lord and Lady of the manor would: “provide batter and lard, fire, and frying pans, for all the poor families of Wollaton, Trowell and Cossall, who chose to come and eat their pancakes at his honour’s mansion, The only conditions attached to the feast were, that no quarrelling should take place, and that each wife and mother should fry for her own family, and that when the cake needed turning in the pan, the act should be performed by tossing it in the air and catching it again in the pan with the uncooked side downwards.....In addition to the pancakes each man was allowed a quart of good ale, women a pint, and children a gill. There being as little stint put by the worthy host and hostess on gossip and good-humoured pleasantry among the rustics as on their eating, and their being uniformly about eight or ton families in the kitchen at one time, either waiting for or partaking of the products of the four or five frying pans that were always kept going at the wide fire grate, the utmost hilarity and cheerfulness prevailed throughout the whole day. It was indeed a real rural carnival; a day towards which scores of villagers, and more especially the junior branches, looked forward every year with feelings of greatest delight.” Orange Raffling In Newark Market place a strange custom is noted: “In that curious miscellany of popular antiquities, Hone's Every Day Book, mention is made of a custom which existed on the anniversary of King Charles' execution, also on Shrove Tuesday. On those days the Market Place presented the appearance of a regular market, but the stalls only contained oranges, which might be raffled for, or, if preferred, purchased.” This is reported in the Norwell scrapbook which records that it last took place in 1886 when a local policeman quietly told them it was illegal! The account goes on to describe the equipment and method. The balls were made of either wood or glass and had a flattened surface numbered 1 to 26. The ball was dropped down a structure called the chimney, a square shaped tube of wood about 9 inches high with 21/2 inches insides. The ball was rolled on to a flat raised 12 inch square and slightly raised. As the ball came to rest the number uppermost was noted, the highest the winner. Oranges and Rolling Orange rolling would appear to have occurred in a number of isolated Nottinghamshire locations suggesting a more widespread tradition It was done at Ruddington’s Sharp Hill, along an ancient cart track from Wilford Hill to Rackman’s Bridge, according to an article in the Weekly Guardian 25/2/1939, when they reported it had lately fallen out of usage. It is said that oranges were rolled down turfed slope and that oranges failing to reach the desired point they were pounced upon by the eager contestants and devoured. The orange that rolled the furthest was the winner and: “The winner at its proud owner peeled and ate it without assistance or molestation.” At East Markham, a gift of an orange was given to school children who would ascend Orange Hill to roll it, but when this custom died out is unclear. At Upton-by-Southwell, children rolled them down Micklebarrow. At Lowdham School, the students got a holiday and the Reverend B. Michaelson gave each scholar an orange (157 of them) and divided 1400 marbles amongst them to play with. Whether the orange was used for rolling is unclear. General festivities Shrove Tuesday was celebrated on Gaddick’s Hill Egmanton as a ‘rollicking place’ and East Leake’s Mill Hill was similarly attended in the afternoon. At the villages of East Bridgford and Car Colston, and very probably at other locations, people visited the local mounds on Shrove Tuesday to play games. The nature of the games is unclear, but Shrovetide was generally a time for playing a variety of games for instance mass skipping by the whole community at Hilltop, Eastwood (Bennett, 2000). It was also the time of year when children brought out their whips and tops, hoops, and other toys after the winter. In Lambley children would pay half penny for 12 marbles on Shrove Tuesday in local shops and games such as hoops, shuttle-cock, skillet and billet, whip and top. At East Bridgford Buns and pennies distributed “Children there were presented with a traditional bun and newly minted penny for Shrove Tuesday by the revd V. K. Johnson and his wife..” Stoning the Wren A rather cruel custom is recorded from the Larkdale area of Nottingham called stoning the wren. The correspondent of The Guardian noting: “We have ample evidence of the boyhood of our own borough having kept up the observance of an ancient and widespread custom to a period well within living memory of living people. Before the older generation passes away it would be well to inquire if there are any others of your readers who can remember hunting the wren in the Larkdales.” The fact that we know very little of this tradition suggests sadly that no-one took up this challenge. However, we have record of the same custom being undertaken in other parts of the British Isles, indeed a ritualised version still continues on the Isle of Man. Stoning Wrens was undertaken at Larkdale and as was cockshying. In 1743 constables paraded to stop it. Copyright Pixyled Publications