Carry On Tours, Guided, Tours, London, England, Britain, UK

Harvest of the Sea Thanksgiving

St Mary-at-Hill, Bilingsgate, London - 1st October

St Mary at Hill is the old fisherman's church, as for centuries the fish trade was carried out at nearby Billingsgate and in the surrounding streets. The church is so old it is said that Thomas A Beckett was imprisoned there! On the first of October the church is decorated by the fish merchants of Billingsgate market with fish and nets and sometimes a boat. After the service the fish is sent to church army homes.

Pearly Kings and Queens Harvest Festival

St. Martin's in the Field, London - 1st October and 8th October

Pearly Kings and Queens are traditionally cockney costermongers and the best occasion to see them is the Pearly harvest festival, a service held at 15.00 on the first Sunday in October, the public are welcome to attend. The altar and the pulpit are arrayed with the fruits of the earth and a pearly King reads one of the lessons and the congregation sings the hymns of the harvest season. London’s costermongers with their barrows and stalls of fruit and vegetables have been part of London’s scene as far back as medieval times, but their famous costumes only came into being during the last two decades of the 19 century. This year there will be a ceremony at St. Paul's church in Covent Garden.

Quit rents ceremony

Quadrangle Court, Law Courts, The Strand, London - late October

Every October the controller and city solicitor pays the Queen’s Remembrancer the quit-rent for two holdings: the moors in Shropshire and the Forge in St clement Danes. Two knives, one sharp and one blunt were presented for the Shropshire property but have now been replaced by a billhook and a hatchet, and six horse-shoes with 61 nails for the forge. The ceremony is feudal in origin and is said to be the oldest surviving ceremony next to that of the coronation itself.

At the Quit Rents Ceremony the Queen's Remembrancer receives the newly elected Sheriffs of the City of London and gives each of them their Warrant of Approbation from the Queen of their election by the Livery of the City of London. This is also the occasion on which the Corporation of London present to the Court of Exchequer presided over by the Remembrancer, two 'services' to go quit of paying rent for two pieces of land now in theory held by the City.

One piece of land is known as 'The Moors' and is situated south of Bridgnorth in Shropshire. For this land the City present to the Court two knives, one blunt and one sharp. These qualities are tested by the City's Comptroller trying to cut through a hazel rod one cubit in length (19 inches) and the thickness of the Remembrancer's forefinger. The rod must merely bend over the blunt knife but must be cut through by the sharp knife for the City to 'go quit of paying rent' by the satisfactory performance of this service. The other service is for a forge formerly in Twizzers Alley just south of St Clement Danes Church in the Strand, London. This service is performed by the Comptroller producing to the Remembrancer six large horseshoes and 61 nails, which he must count out in Court before the Remembrancer pronounces 'Good service'. These ceremonies are some of the oldest legal ceremonies dating as they do from 1211 and 1235. The horseshoes date from 1361 when the tenant of the Forge was permitted to pay 18 pence per year provided she had these shoes made for use each year. They are probably the oldest set of shoes in existence. At this Ceremony, the chequered cloth from which the Court took its name is laid out on the Bench at which the Remembrancer sits. The cloth was used as a means for checking what was owed by each Sheriff who collected the taxes due from his County. Counters were placed on the right hand side to show what was owed and different counters were placed on the left hand side as the monies due were paid in. At the end of the day the two columns of counters should tally.

Goose fair

Forest Recreation Ground, Nottingham - 5th October

The goose fair is always held on the 1st Thursday in October and was established by charter in 1155, though it had existed long before then. From 1284 it was known as St Mathew’s fair and held on the feast of St Matthew the apostle, but by 1542 it had become ‘Goose’ fair. One of the principle surviving features is the ceremonial official opening by the lord mayor at 12.00 noon on the first day by a pair of silver bells, followed by an inspection and a proclamation read in the presence of Nottingham civic dignitaries. It is principally a large funfair now (Europe’s largest travelling fair indeed!) but was originally a livestock market.

Marlborough Mop Fairs

High Street, Marlborough, Wiltshire (the widest High Street in England!) - Saturday before and after Michaelmas

Originally the mop fairs were the hiring fairs for the farm workers and they were usually held in the local churchyards. Now they take the form of a funfair with musical rides, amusements and sideshow, starting at 12.00 noon and continuing into late into the evening. The 'Little Mop', the first fair, is held on the Saturday before old Michaelmas (11 October) and the 'Big Mop' a week later. If the 11 October is a Saturday they are held two weeks apart. This was once more of an employment fair, someone looking for farm labouring work, for example, would advertise his interest by wearing an ear of corn in his hat or carrying a scythe, a shepherd would wear a tuft of wool and a servant might carry a mop. If after the first week they were not suited to the job (in their or their employer's opinion), they could go to the 'Big Mop' Fair a week later to try again. Marlborough's Mop Fairs are thought to have been held for over 250 years.

World Conker Championships

Ashton, Northampton - 8th October

Held on the second Sunday in October every year, the world conker championships have been running since 1965! Thousands flock to Ashton to watch this great spectacle as modern day gladiators fight for glory armed only with a nut and 12” of string. Taking you back to your school days, you can join in the fun, but watch out for the conker big boys! There are nasty tricks afoot as some will use old tricks such as soaking their conkers in all sorts from varnish to urine in order to make them as hard as possible and win the championships. Once you knock one conker out your conker then takes on the qualities of that conker, so if you're both new and one knocks the other out, the winner becomes a 'oner'. If that 'oner' then knocks out another 'oner' it becomes a 'twoer'. If that 'twoer' knocks out a 'threer' it then becomes a 'fiver' - get it?

Pack Monday Fair

Sherborne, Dorset - 16th October

The traditional pack Monday fair was once a ‘Pact’ fair – a local hiring and employment fair for the region. During recent years the pattern has changed considerably. ‘Teddy Roe’s Band’ is no longer held and the sheep and horse fairs which attracted gypsies have also ceased to exist. The fair is still popular however, and street traders, large and small, still come from quite a wide area to set up their stalls in the main street. They arrive during the early hours of Monday morning and stay late into the evening. A large pleasure fair is also in attendance throughout the day.

Colchester Oyster feast

Town Hall, Colchester, Essex - 27th October

So ancient is the origin of the feast that no one is certain when it all began. It is known that in the time of Charles II it was a time honoured annual event, always taking place on the eve of St Denys day, the first day of St Denys fair which dates from1319. The feast is not open to the public as guests have to be invited by the mayor, however some tickets are available at a charge, by ballot. During recent years, the feast has been attended by members of the Royal family and by other eminent people!

Hallowe'en

Nationwide - 31st October

The history of Halloween dates back over 2000 years and was originally celebrated by the Celts in what is now Britan and Northern France. One of the major Celtic festivals was Samhain, who was the lord of the dead and the cold dark winter season. They believed that on October 31st, Samhain would call together the dead and their souls would take on the form of an animal. These creatures wandered the land of the living on this night and was called the vigil of Samhain. Fires were built on this night on illtops to strenghten the sun god and give him the power to overcome Samhain. At midnight, however, the fires would be stopped and Samhain would be worshipped instead as he was to be the ruler for the next 6 months. When the Romans came in replacing old 'pagan' worship with their own 'pagan' gods, they changed the focus of this worship. They had established all saints Day or 'All Hallows Day' on November 1st but like most festivals, the evening before the festival was worhipped as much as the day itself. all Saints/Hallows Day was a day in which all saints who didn't have their own day could be honoured. The two holidays eventually merged and soon October 31st was readily recognised as the night of the witch and eventually All Hallows Day Eve' became 'All Hallows Eve' and the 'Hallowe'en'!

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