![Rush Bearing at Long Millgate, Manchester](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ad/Rush_Bearing_at_Long_Millgate%2C_Manchester.jpg)
Rushbearing is an old English
ecclesiastical festival in which
rushes are collected and carried to be strewn on the floor of the
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...
. The tradition dates back to the time when most buildings had earthen floors and rushes were used as a form of renewable floor covering for cleanliness and insulation. The festival was widespread in Britain from the Middle Ages and well established by the time of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
, but had fallen into decline by the beginning of the 19th century, as church floors were flagged with stone. The custom was revived later in the 19th century and is kept alive today as an annual event in a number of towns and villages in the north of England.
History
In 601 AD
Pope Gregory I
Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregor ...
wrote a letter to
Mellitus
Saint Mellitus (died 24 April 624) was the first bishop of London in the Saxon period, the third Archbishop of Canterbury, and a member of the Gregorian mission sent to England to convert the Anglo-Saxons from their native paganism to Chris ...
(a member of the
Gregorian mission sent to England to
convert
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
the
Anglo-Saxons from their native
paganism to Christianity) which read:
When, therefore, Almighty God shall bring you to the most reverend man our brother bishop, St Augustine, tell him what I have, upon mature deliberation on the affair of the English, thought of; namely, that the temples of the idols in that nation ought not to be destroyed. Let holy water be made, and sprinkled in the said temples; let altars be erected, and let relics be deposited in them. For since those temples are built, it is requisite that they be converted from the worship of the devils to the service of the true God; that the nation, not seeing those temples destroyed, may remove error from their hearts, and knowing and adoring the true God, may the more familiarly resort to the same places to which they have been accustomed. And because they are wont to sacrifice many oxen in honour of the devils, let them celebrate a religious and solemn festival, not slaughtering the beasts for devils, but to be consumed by themselves, to the praise of God...
Every church at its consecration was given the name of a
patron saint
A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...
and either the day of its consecration or the saint's
feast day became the church's
festival
A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival ...
. Church services began at sunset on Saturday and the night of prayer was called a
vigil
A vigil, from the Latin ''vigilia'' meaning ''wakefulness'' ( Greek: ''pannychis'', or ''agrypnia'' ), is a period of purposeful sleeplessness, an occasion for devotional watching, or an observance. The Italian word ''vigilia'' has become gener ...
, eve or, due to the late hour,
wake - from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
''waecan''. Each village had a wake with quasi-religious celebrations followed by church services then sports, games, dancing and drinking.
During the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...
the floors of most churches and dwellings consisted of compacted earth, and rushes (commonly "sweet flag" ''
Acorus calamus
''Acorus calamus'' (also called sweet flag, sway or muskrat root, among many common names) is a species of flowering plant with psychoactive chemicals. It is a tall wetland monocot of the family Acoraceae, in the genus '' Acorus.'' Although ...
'') or other herbs and grasses were strewn over them to provide a sweet smelling, renewable covering for insulation. The Household roll of
Edward II (1307–1327) shows a payment to a John de Carlford for "a supply of rushes for strewing the Kings chamber". In the Churchwardens' accounts for
St Mary-at-Hill
St Mary-at-Hill is an Anglican parish church in the Ward of Billingsgate, City of London. It is situated on Lovat Lane, a cobbled street off Eastcheap.
It was founded in the 12th century as "St. Mary de Hull" or "St. Mary de la Hulle". It was se ...
, London, payments of 3
d for rushes are shown for 1493 and 1504, and in the parish register of the church at
Kirkham, Lancashire, disbursements for rushes are found in 1604 and 1631 for 9s 6d, but not after 1634 when the church floor was flagged. At
Saddleworth
Saddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets as well as suburbs of Oldham on the west side of the Pennine hills.
Areas include Austerlands, Del ...
(then in Yorkshire) the church floor was covered with rushes until 1826.
The churches allocated a particular day in the calendar for the rushbearing and, by the 16th century, it was customary to ring the church bells and provide wine, ale and cakes for the rushbearers. Some festivals were more elaborate with
mimetic
Mimesis (; grc, μίμησις, ''mīmēsis'') is a term used in literary criticism and philosophy that carries a wide range of meanings, including '' imitatio'', imitation, nonsensuous similarity, receptivity, representation, mimicry, the ...
and representational elements. An account from
Cawthorne
Cawthorne is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. The village was once a centre of the iron and coal mining industry; today it is part of an affluent commuter belt west of Barnsley. A ...
in Yorkshire from 1596 said that the people "did arm and disguyse themselves some of them putting on womens aparrell, other some of them putting on longe haire & visardes, and others arminge them with the furnyture of souldiers, and being there thus armed and disguysed did that day goe from the Churche, and so went up and downe the towne showinge themselves".
The festival often attracted unsavoury characters, such as pedlars, cutpurses and pickpockets, and became a pretext for heavy drinking in otherwise quiet communities, such that even pillars of the community would occasionally disgrace themselves:
Tristram Tyldedesly, the minister at Rufford and Marsden on Sundays and hollidaies hath danced emongst light and youthful companie both men and women at weddings, drynkings and rishbearings; and in his dancing and after wantonlye and dissolutely he kissed a mayd...whereat divers persons were offended and so sore grieved that there was weapons drawn and great dissenssion arose.
Puritan
The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. ...
magistrates and ministers opposed Sunday rushbearing, probably because of the intemperance and indecorum which attended the occasion. Consequently, when
James I James I may refer to:
People
*James I of Aragon (1208–1276)
*James I of Sicily or James II of Aragon (1267–1327)
*James I, Count of La Marche (1319–1362), Count of Ponthieu
*James I, Count of Urgell (1321–1347)
*James I of Cyprus (1334–13 ...
issued the
Declaration of Sports
The ''Declaration of Sports'' (also known as the ''Book of Sports'') was a declaration of James I of England issued just for Lancashire in 1617, nationally in 1618, and reissued by Charles I of England, Charles I in 1633. It listed the sports and r ...
in 1617, which listed the forms of recreation permitted on Sundays and
Holy days, rushbearing was listed, along with other pursuits, such as archery,
Whitsun Ales,
Morris dancing
Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may ...
and the setting up of
Maypoles. Indeed, when James I visited Sir Richard Hoghton in Lancashire in 1617, the first entertainment offered was a rushbearing.
In the 18th century the ceremony usually formed part of the annual feast or
wake, held on the Sunday closest to the feast day of the saint to which the church was dedicated. The rushes were brought to the church in a procession, accompanied by music and Morris dancing. In some areas the rushes were carried in individual bundles and in others on a
rushcart
The rushcart ceremony (derived from Rogationtide) is an English tradition where parishioners process around their parish once a year, bearing rushes. They would end up at the parish church and place the rushes on the floor of the church, to repla ...
. Where a rushcart was used it became the main focus and was decorated with garlands and flowers, tinsel, and 'all the silver plate that can be borrowed in the neighbourhood'. When the procession reached the parish church the rushes were strewn on the floor and the garlands used to adorn the church. It is not known how long rushcarts have been a feature of the festivities, but an account by the Hon. H. Egerton from 1726 implies that the one he saw in use in
Prestwich was of long standing.
By the early 19th century the tradition had died out in many parts of the country but it evolved and survived in industrial parts of Lancashire.
''The History of the county of Derby'' (1829) gives descriptions of the rushbearings at
Chapel-en-le-Frith
Chapel-en-le-Frith () is a town and civil parish in the Borough of High Peak in Derbyshire, England.
It has been dubbed the "Capital of the Peak", in reference to the Peak District, historically the upperland areas between the Saxon lands (belo ...
:
It usually takes place at the latter end of August, on public notice from the churchwardens, of the rushes being mown and properly dried, in some marshy part of the parish, where the young people assemble: the carts are loaded with rushes and with flowers and ribands; and are attended to the church by the populous, many huzzaing and cracking whips by the side of the rush-cart, on their way thither, where everyone lends a hand in carrying in and spreading the rushes. At Whitwell, instead of rushes, the hay of a piece of grass-land called the church close, is annually, on Midsummer eve, carted and spread in the church.
and
Glossop:
Previously to our leaving Glossop we visited the village church...Here we observed the remains of some garlands hung up near to the entrance into the chancel. They were mementos of a custom of a rather singular nature, that lingers about this part of Derbyshire, after having been lost in nearly every other. It is denominated rush-bearing; and the ceremonies of this truly rural fête take place annually, on one of the days appropriated to the wake or village festival. A car or wagon is on this occasion decorated with rushes. A pyramid of rushes, ornamented with wreaths of flowers, and surmounted with a garland, occupies the centre of the car, which is usually bestrewed with the choicest flowers that the meadows of Glossop Dale can produce, and liberally furnished with flags and streamers. Thus prepared, it is drawn through the different parts of the village, preceded by groups of dancers and a band of music. All the ribands in the place may be said to be in requisition on this festive day, and he who is the greatest favourite amongst the lasses is generally the gayest personage in the cavalcade. After parading the village, the car stops at the church gates, where it is dismantled of its honours. The rushes and flowers are then taken into the church and strewed amongst the pews and along the floors, and the garlands are hung up near the entrance into the chancel, in remembrance of the day. The ceremony being ended, the various parties who made up the procession retire, amidst music and dancing, to the village inn, where they spend the remainder of the day in joyous festivity.
At this time there were some attempts to revive the custom, as it appealed to the
Romanticism
Romanticism (also known as the Romantic movement or Romantic era) was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate ...
of the period. In
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
, the ceremony was revived in
Warcop
Warcop is a village and civil parish in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. The parish had a population of 491 in the 2001 census, increasing to 532 at the Census 2011.
It is near the A66 road and is north of Kirkby Stephen and about 5 ...
and
Musgrave at the wish of the Rev. Septimus Collinson,
Provost of
Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
and a native of the village, after being extinct for about thirty years, but an attempt to revive it at
Great Langdale
Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet Great distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere i ...
proved unsuccessful. At
Grasmere the rushbearing took a different form. In Clarke's ''Survey of the Lakes (1770)'' the bearers were said to be women and girls but by 1887, when the romantic poet
William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication '' Lyrical Ballads'' (1798).
Wordsworth's ' ...
became involved, the rushbearings were described as "tall poles decked with rushes and flowers" carried by boys and girls up to the age of fifteen.
''Rural Ceremony''
Closing the sacred Book which long has fed
Our meditations, give we to a day
Of annual joy one tributary lay;
This day, when, forth by rustic music led,
The village Children, while the sky is red
With evening lights, advance in long array
Through the still churchyard, each with garland gay,
That, carried sceptre-like, o'ertops the head
Of the proud Bearer. To the wide church-door,
Charged with these offerings which their fathers bore
For decoration in the Papal time,
The innocent procession softly moves:--
The spirit of Laud is pleased in heaven's pure clime,
And Hooker's voice the spectacle approves! – William Wordsworth
In many places there was much competition between towns and villages to provide the best decked rushcarts and in the early 19th century it was said that the Lancashire town of
Rochdale
Rochdale ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, at the foothills of the South Pennines in the dale on the River Roch, northwest of Oldham and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough ...
could assemble at least eight, and sometimes a dozen rushcarts from the surrounding villages for the festival.
...The green rush, the green rush, we bear it along,
To the church of our village with triumph and song,
We strew the cold chancel and kneel on it there,
While its fresh odours rise with our voices in prayer.
Hark the peal from the old tower in praise of it rings,
Let us seek the green rush by the green woodland springs. - Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802-1838)
The rush-bearing here is at
Ambleside
Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England.
Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...
and the accompanying painting is by
Thomas Allom
Thomas Allom (13 March 1804 – 21 October 1872) was an English architect, artist, and topographical illustrator. He was a founding member of what became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He designed many buildings in London, i ...
.
Rushbearing today
Rushbearing ceremonies have survived, or been revived, in a number of towns and villages in northwest England including:
Lymm
Lymm is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England, which incorporates the hamlets of Booths Hill, Broomedge, Church Green, Deansgreen, Heatley, Heatley Heath, Little Heatley, Oughtrington, Reddish, Rushgreen and ...
and
Forest Chapel in Cheshire,
Gorton
Gorton is an area of Manchester in North West England, southeast of the city centre. The population at the 2011 census was 36,055. Neighbouring areas include Levenshulme and Openshaw.
A major landmark is Gorton Monastery, a 19th-century Hig ...
,
Littleborough, and
Saddleworth
Saddleworth is a civil parish of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham in Greater Manchester, England. It comprises several villages and hamlets as well as suburbs of Oldham on the west side of the Pennine hills.
Areas include Austerlands, Del ...
in Greater Manchester,
Newchurch in Pendle
Newchurch in Pendle is a village in the civil parish of Goldshaw Booth, Pendle, Lancashire, England, adjacent to Barley, to the south of Pendle Hill. It was formerly part of Roughlee Booth until its transferral in 1935.
History
Famous for the ...
in Lancashire,
Sowerby Bridge
Sowerby Bridge ( ) is a market town in the Upper Calder Valley in Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. The Calderdale Council ward population at the 2011 census was 11,703.
History
The town was originally a fording point over the once mu ...
in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...
, and
Ambleside
Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England.
Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...
,
Great Musgrave
Great Musgrave is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Musgrave, in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. It is about a mile west of Brough. In 1891 the parish had a population of 175.
Great Musgrave sits atop a hill nea ...
,
Grasmere,
Urswick
Urswick is a civil parish that includes the villages of Great Urswick and Little Urswick. It is located in the Furness area of Cumbria, England. The villages are situated to the south-west of the town of Ulverston. In the 2001 census the paris ...
and
Warcop
Warcop is a village and civil parish in the Eden district of Cumbria, England. The parish had a population of 491 in the 2001 census, increasing to 532 at the Census 2011.
It is near the A66 road and is north of Kirkby Stephen and about 5 ...
in
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
.
Rushbearing is also found in some parishes in North-East Wales such as
Holt and
Isycoed
Isycoed ( cy, Is-y-coed) is a community in Wrexham County Borough, Wales. It lies around 5 miles to the east of Wrexham, close to the River Dee on the border with England.
There is a primary school in Bowling Bank, and a late-Georgian church, ...
on the west side of the River Dee.
Rush Sunday is one of the highlights of Bristol's civic calendar, upholding a tradition which goes back over 500 years.
William Canynges of Redcliffe Street - merchant, five-times Mayor of Bristol, its MP and a principal benefactor of St Mary Redcliffe - was ordained priest after the death of his wife in 1467 and first celebrated Mass in the church on Whitsunday the following year.
To commemorate this, William Spenser, also sometime Mayor of Bristol, made provision in 1493 for three sermons to be preached before the Mayor and commonalty on the days after Whitsun; a change to one sermon on Whitsunday was made at the time of the Reformation.
Those attending carried nosegays and the floor of the church was strewn with rushes, traditions that are maintained to this day in the service held annually ever since and attended by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors of the City in their traditional robes and regalia.
https://www.stmaryredcliffe.co.uk/rush-sunday
References
;Bibliography
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*{{cite book , last1=Wilson , first1= Richard , last2=Dutton , first2= Richard , last3=Findlay , first3= Alison , title=Region, religion and patronage: Lancastrian Shakespeare , publisher=Manchester University Press , location=Manchester , year=2003 , pag
249, isbn=0-7190-6369-8 , url=https://archive.org/details/regionreligionpa00unse/page/249
English folklore
Culture in Greater Manchester