W.Howitt (1862)
Source:
William Howitt (Auth.)
THE RURAL LIFE OF ENGLAND: THIRD EDITION [Plough-Monday]
London: Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts & Green, 1862, pp.471-472
Among a fair volume of folklore material, there is a brief description of
Plough Monday;
"We have now made a hasty sketch of those old festivals which still retain more
or less of their ancient influence. We have endeavoured to shew what is the
present state of custom and feeling in these particulars by contrasting it with
the past. New Year's Day is yet a day of salutations; Valentine's-Day has yet
some sportive observance amongst the young; and Plough-Monday, here and there,
in the thoroughly agricultural districts, sends out its motley team. This
consists of the farm-servants and labourers. They are dressed in harlequin
guise, with wooden swords, plenty of ribbons, faces daubed with white-lead,
red-ochre, and lamp-black. One is always dressed in woman's clothes and armed
with a besom, a sort of burlesque mixture of Witch and Columbine. Another
drives the team of men-horses with a long wand, at the end of which is tied a
bladder instead of a lash; so that blows are given without pain, but plenty of
noise. The insolence of these Plough-bullocks, as they are called, which might
accord with ancient license, but does not at all suit modern habits, has
contributed more than anything else to put them down. They visited every house
of any account, and solicited a contribution in no very humble terms. If
refused, it was their practice to plough up the garden walk, or do some other
mischief. One band ploughed up the palisades of a widow lady of our
acquaintance, and having to appear before a magistrate for it, and to pay
damages, never afterwards visited that neighbourhood. In some places I have
known them to enter houses, whence they could only be ejected by the main power
of the collected neighbours; for they extended their excursions often to a
distance of ten miles or more, and where they were most unknown they practised
the greatest insolence. Nobody regrets the discontinuance of this usage."
William Howitt (1792-1879) was born in Heanor, Derbys., of Quaker parents, but
educated away from home. He spent his early adult life in Nottingham, becoming
an Alderman, before moving to Surrey.
Index Terms:
| Locations: |
Heanor, Derbys. (SK4346); Nottingham, Notts. (SK5739)
|
| Years: |
First Publ. 1838
|
| Subjects: |
Plough-Monday; Malicious Ploughing; Plough Trailing; Retribution; Court Case; Plough-Bullocks
|
| Archives: |
TDRG Archive, Ref. TD00518
|
Last Updated Jan 1992 by Peter Millington.
|
