England's Rushbearing festivals
There are 4 rushbearing festivals left in England/Britain.
Or so the members of my morris side tell me. There is Littleborough, Saddleworth, Sowerby Bridge, and Whitworth.
They are all in West Yorkshire or in Lancashire near the border of West Yorkshire. I am uncertain how many there were in the rest of England. A rushbearing festival consists of a large mitre-shaped cart made up freshly cut rushes, and uually with a banner on the front. the cart is processed around the village that hosts it, and dancing, drinking and other celebrations and activities follow the cart.
As you might have seen in one of my previous posts, our morris side helped run the Littleborough Rushbearing festival in early July.
The second Rushcart festival was on the weekend just gone - (August 25th). It was Saddleworth Rushbearing, which is about 10 minutes drive from where I live - just on the border of Greater Manchester. Or Lancashire - the border lines have changed so much over the decades who knows anymore. However, I have heard that Uppermill which is next to Saddleworth still consider themselves in Yorkshire even though they are now in Lancashire. By the way, Saddleworth has no official village - its more an area, and there is Saddleworth Moor too. But no offical village. Its almost a sub-county. Google Maps it and you'll see what I mean.
I digress.
The third Rushbearing is Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax. That one will be held this coming weekend - on the 1st and 2nd Sept.
The fourth Rushbearing is Whitworth, a little west of Littleborough in Lancashire. It going to be held on the same weekend as Sowerby Bridge. We, as a morris side are going to Sowerby on Saturday and Whitworth on Sunday, to get a taste of both.
We could not dance as a morris side at Saddleworth. This rushbearing festival is run by the Morris Ring - which is the men's only morris teams. Saddleworth Morris (North-West) is a men's only group that began in the early 1970s. I bought a history book of it on the weekend. In the book there were old sepia and black and white photos of Uppermill Rushbearing from the 1850s to the 1900s. I'd say that the Saddleworth Morris team (1974) revived the rushbearing festival of the area, beginning it again in the mid 70's. (I've not fully read the book).
But Saddleworth rushbearing use real rushes and a lot of them. Littleborough use some, but not to cover the cart completely. I heard only 2 of the 4 use actual rushes anymore, but according to the photos on the internet, I see that Sowerby Bridge uses rushes but Whitworth uses heather (I was told they used heather, but forgot). Originally, rushes were strewn across church floors. Littleborough church did not want that (too pagan??), Saddleworth (St Chad) church did (it smelt great!), but often in the old days the churches did not want rushes on their floors due to floor renovation so they attached them to a cart to parade around the village instead.
Anyway, that's a run down of the festivals I've been involved with lately. I'll post up images of the rushcarts on the coming weekend too.
Here are pictures of Saddleworth Rushbearing and banners...
Or so the members of my morris side tell me. There is Littleborough, Saddleworth, Sowerby Bridge, and Whitworth.
They are all in West Yorkshire or in Lancashire near the border of West Yorkshire. I am uncertain how many there were in the rest of England. A rushbearing festival consists of a large mitre-shaped cart made up freshly cut rushes, and uually with a banner on the front. the cart is processed around the village that hosts it, and dancing, drinking and other celebrations and activities follow the cart.
As you might have seen in one of my previous posts, our morris side helped run the Littleborough Rushbearing festival in early July.
The second Rushcart festival was on the weekend just gone - (August 25th). It was Saddleworth Rushbearing, which is about 10 minutes drive from where I live - just on the border of Greater Manchester. Or Lancashire - the border lines have changed so much over the decades who knows anymore. However, I have heard that Uppermill which is next to Saddleworth still consider themselves in Yorkshire even though they are now in Lancashire. By the way, Saddleworth has no official village - its more an area, and there is Saddleworth Moor too. But no offical village. Its almost a sub-county. Google Maps it and you'll see what I mean.
I digress.
The third Rushbearing is Sowerby Bridge, near Halifax. That one will be held this coming weekend - on the 1st and 2nd Sept.
The fourth Rushbearing is Whitworth, a little west of Littleborough in Lancashire. It going to be held on the same weekend as Sowerby Bridge. We, as a morris side are going to Sowerby on Saturday and Whitworth on Sunday, to get a taste of both.
We could not dance as a morris side at Saddleworth. This rushbearing festival is run by the Morris Ring - which is the men's only morris teams. Saddleworth Morris (North-West) is a men's only group that began in the early 1970s. I bought a history book of it on the weekend. In the book there were old sepia and black and white photos of Uppermill Rushbearing from the 1850s to the 1900s. I'd say that the Saddleworth Morris team (1974) revived the rushbearing festival of the area, beginning it again in the mid 70's. (I've not fully read the book).
But Saddleworth rushbearing use real rushes and a lot of them. Littleborough use some, but not to cover the cart completely. I heard only 2 of the 4 use actual rushes anymore, but according to the photos on the internet, I see that Sowerby Bridge uses rushes but Whitworth uses heather (I was told they used heather, but forgot). Originally, rushes were strewn across church floors. Littleborough church did not want that (too pagan??), Saddleworth (St Chad) church did (it smelt great!), but often in the old days the churches did not want rushes on their floors due to floor renovation so they attached them to a cart to parade around the village instead.
Anyway, that's a run down of the festivals I've been involved with lately. I'll post up images of the rushcarts on the coming weekend too.
Here are pictures of Saddleworth Rushbearing and banners...