Folklore of Sussex

by Jacqueline Simpson

  9. FROM THE CRADLE TO THE GRAVE, pages 87–97

  INFANCY: C. Latham, Folk-Lore Record I (1878), 11–12, 44, 46; F.R. Williams, SNQ X (1944), 58; F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1881), 257 (born on Sundays); E. Bell-Irving, Mayfield (1903), 17 (born at midnight); Anon., SCM XVIII (1944), 320 (biting baby’s nails); author’s observation, 1960s (silver coin in baby’s hand); C. Woodford, Portrait of Sussex (1972), 202 (rabbit’s foot).

  CHURCHING AND BAPTISM: C. Latham, op. cit., 11–12; I.M. Stenning, SCM XXVI (1952), 430.

  HONEYSUCKLE STICK: F.R. Williams, SNQ X (1944), 58–62; L.N. Candlin, SCM (1949), 154–6.

  BANNS: J. Coker Egerton, Sussex Folk and Sussex Ways (1884), 92; L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1946), 144–5.

  WEDDINGS: T.W. Horsefield, The History and Antiquities of Lewes (1824), II 249–50; M.A. Lower, SAC XIII (1861), 231; L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1946), 144–5.

  ROUGH MUSIC: M.A. Lower, op. cit., loc. cit., (chaff-strewing); ‘B.L.’, SCM II (1929), 132 (at East Lavant); S.O. Woolley, Folklore LXIX (1958), 39 (at Copthorne). At Burpham, Bury, Lyminster and Arundel, Chris Hare, Good Old, Bad Old Days (2001), 13–16, citing article by Lawrence Graburn (‘Newall Duke’) in WSG 27.5.1954, letters in WSG 3.6.1954 and 10.6.1954, and police report from Lyminster in WSG 6.11.1873. At West Hoathley,Violet Alford in Folklore LXX , 511–12.

  SMOCK WEDDINGS: Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 5 March 1770 and 10 November 1794, reprinted in SCM IX (1935), 102, and XXIV (1950), 514.

  SALE OF WIVES: Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 8 and 15 November 1790; 17 July 1797; 25 February 1799; reprinted in SCM XVI (1942), 289; XXVII (1953), 341; and XXIX (1955), 94. H. Burstow, Reminiscences of Horsham (1911), 73–4; SCM I (1926/7), 336. The custom has been explored in S.P. Menefee, Wives for Sale (1981); he cites fourteen instances from Sussex, almost all between 1790 and 1825.

  DEATH OMENS: C. Latham, op. cit., 51–61; P.H. Lulham, SCM XIII (1939), 55–8; Folklore XIV (1883), 188 (heron at Chichester); L.N. Candlin, SCM XXI (1947), 130–1.

  CERTAIN FEATHERS HINDER DEATH: C. Latham, op. cit., 59; Anon., SCM VIII (1934), 701.

  FUNERALS: Salt on coffin, I.M. Stenning, SCM XXVI (1952), 468. Wool in shepherds’ coffins, B. Wills, Shepherds of Sussex (1938), 195–6; A.C. Piper, The Parish Church of St Andrew, Alfriston (n.d.), 8; Virgin Garlands, M.A. Lower, SAC XIII (1861), 231; A. Hare, Sussex (1896), 124.

  TELLING THE BEES: C. Latham, op. cit., 60; M. Robinson, SCM III (1929), 698; G. Haskins, SCM V (1931), 122; M. Wyndham, Mrs Paddick (1947), 132–3; L.N. Candlin, SCM XXIII (1949), 154–6, and personal communication 1972, from accounts given by informants in East Dean (1960), High Hurstwood (1956), and Twineham (1966).

  10. THE TURNING YEAR, pages 98–154

  JANUARY

  ‘RABBITS!’: H.S. Toms, SCM IX (1935), 698–9; author’s personal recollection from about the same time or a little later, and observation in Worthing, 1972; forfeit game, a Worthing informant, 1972, with reference to the 1930s.

  NEW MOON: C. Latham, Folk-Lore Record I (1878), 10–11, 30.

  MUD: W.D. Parish, A Dictionary of Sussex Dialect (1875), 63.

  NEW YEAR’S DAY: At Hastings, T.F. Dyer, British Popular Customs (1876), 11; at Shoreham, F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 238, and Folk-Lore I (1883), 192–3.

  WASSAILING APPLE TREES: W.D. Parish, op. cit., p. 59, s.v. ‘howlers’; P.H. Ditchfield, Old English Customs Extant at the Present Time (1896), 46–7; at Duncton, G.W. Harfield, WSG 11.1.1906; L.N. Candlin, WSG 29.12.1966; E.F.Turner, WSG 26.1.1967; at West Chiltington, H. Greenfield, SCM XV (1946), 34; at Horsted Keynes, personal communication from L.N. Candlin, 1971. More general allusions to the custom in the nineteenth century can be found in T.W. Horsefield, History and Antiquities of Lewes (1824), II, 267, and in the works of C. Latham and F.E. Sawyer cited above.

  WASSAILING BEES: T.W. Horsefield, op. cit., loc. cit.; L.N. Candlin, WSG 29.12.1966. A shorter version of the rhyme was cited in WSG 11.1.1906.

  PLOUGH MONDAY: M. Wyndham, Mrs Paddick (1947), 130; at Horsted Keynes, E. Coomber, SCM I (1926/7), 117.

  WEATHER LORE: L.N. Candlin, SCM XXV (1951), 18–19.

  FEBRUARY

  WEATHER LORE: W.D. Parish, op. cit., 42, s.v. ‘fill dick’; L.N. Candlin, SCM XXI (1947), 130–2.

  COCK-THROWING: W.D. Parish, op. cit., 69, s.v. ‘libbet’;A.R.Wright, British Calendar Customs I (1936), 22–3; at Brighton, L.N. Candlin, SCM XXI (1947), 284–6; at Mayfield, E. Bell-Irving, Mayfield (1903), 16.

  THRASHING THE HEN: M. Wyndham, Mrs Paddick (1947), 137–8.

  ASH WEDNESDAY: For twigs, see H. de Candole, SCM XVI (1942), 119; I. and P. Opie, Lore and Language of Schoolchildren (1952), 240; the custom was also described to L.N. Candlin by an eighteen-year-old informant at Ringmer in 1950. For marbles and other games, see F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 240–1; R. Merrifield, SCM XXVI (1952), 58–63, 122–7; L.N. Candlin, WSG 23.3.1967.

  MARCH

  FLEAS: C. Latham, Folk-Lore Record I (1878), 49–50; Anon., SCM XXVII (1953), 106; L.N. Candlin, personal communication, 1971, from information supplied by her grandmother, and by informants at Littlington in 1965 and at Arundel in 1954.

  MOTHERING SUNDAY: Personal observations by J. Simpson and L.N. Candlin.

  PALM SUNDAY: F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 240; Brighton Herald, 30 April 1831; Pond Pudding, L.N. Candlin, WSG 8.4.1965.

  APRIL

  GOOD FRIDAY GAMES: F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 241–2; M.F. Lindlay, SCM IV (1930), 429–30; L.N. Candlin, SCM XIII (1939), 272–3; R. Merrifield, SCM XXVI (1952), 58–63, 122–7; L.N. Candlin, Country Fair (April 1963), 41; L.N. Candlin, WSG 23.3.1967; Sam MacCarthy, Traditional Marbles, Tinsley Green (1981); Tony Wales, A Treasury of Sussex Folklore (2000), 103–7. Some villages did their skipping on Easter Monday, see Sawyer, op. cit., and S. Bridger, SCM XXVIII (1954), 401. For marbles at Selmeston, see W.D. Parish, Notes and Queries v:12 (1879), 18. For egg-rolling at Shoreham, H. Cheal, The Story of Shoreham (1929), 256.

  HOT CROSS BUNS: F.E. Sawyer, op. cit., 204–1; E.M. Bell-Irving, Mayfield (1903), 16; M. Hanna, SCM XI (1937), 187.

  HAKTFIELD DOLE: P. Tanner, SCM XXIV (1950), 138; F. Bunce SCM XXX (1956), 197 (with photograph).

  EASTER SUNDAY SUN-DANCE: W.D. Parish, A Dictionary of Sussex Dialect (1875), 57, s.v. ‘Holy Sunday’.

  CUCKOO FAIR: W.D. Parish, op. cit., 32, ‘Cuckoo-Fair’; C. Latham, op. cit., 10, 17; F. E. Sawyer, op. cit., 243–4; the earliest use of the name known to Sawyer was in Forster’s Pocket Encyclopedia of Natural Phenomena (1827). Cuckoo superstitions, Latham, op. cit., loc. cit.; P. Gosse, Traveller’s Rest (1937), 73; C. Woodford, Portrait of Sussex (1972), 201; cuckoo rhyme, C. Latham, op. cit., loc. cit., and L.N. Candlin, personal communication, 1971.

  SPUD-PLANTING SATURDAY: Bob Copper, A Song for Every Season (1971), 100–3.

  MAY

  GARLAND DAY: At Lewes, L.N. Candlin, personal communication, 1971, A.H. Allcroft, Downland Pathways (1924), 55, and T.W. Horsefield, History and Antiquities of Lewes (1824), II, 249–50. At Horsham, H. Burstow, Reminiscences of Horsham (1911), 69–70. See also W. Holloway, The History and Antiquities of Rye (1847), 608; and the Brighton Herald, 8 May 1824; for modern Brighton, L.N. Candlin, personal communication, 1971. See also Tony Wales, A Treasury of Sussex Folklore (2000), 127–30.

  JACK-IN-THE-GREEN: Roy Judge, The Jack-in-the-Green (2nd ed., 2000), 148–9. He also cites allusions to the custom from Brighton, Henfield, Horsham, Lewes and Rye.

  MACKEREL FISHING: F.E. Sawyer, op. cit., 259–60; J. Hornell, SCM XVI (1942), 6–11; L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1946), 84–6, from oral information from Dapper Twaites and others who remembered taking part in ‘Bendin’-In’.

  MAY SUPERSTITIONS: C. Latham, op. cit., 17–18, 52; Anon., SCM VIII (1934), 567; A.R. Wright, British Calendar Customs: England II (1938), 272 (a variant of the broom belief, in which the taboo is on using a brush made from broom twigs cut in May).

  OAK-APPLE DAY: E. Shoosmith, SCM X (1936), 362; L.N. Candlin, WSG 1.6.1967.

 
RYE HOT PENNY SCRAMBLE: Anon, Royal Pageantry, pub. Purnell (1967), 67.

  WHITSUN FOOD: F.E. Sawyer, op. cit., 246; L.N. Candlin, personal communication, 1971.

  HARTING OLD CLUB PROCESSION: R. Merrifield, SCM XXVII (1953), 216–23.

  JUNE

  SHEEP SHEARING: R.W. Blencowe, SAC II (1849), 247–56; N.P. Blaker, Reminiscences (1906), 5–8; M. Robinson, A South Down Farm in the Sixties (1938), 10–12; L.E. Brown, All About Bury (1948), 240–2; L.N. Candlin, WSG 16.6.1966; Bob Copper, A Song for Every Season (1971), 116–24. The Shearing Song can be found in full in Blencowe, Blaker, Copper or in B. Wills, Shepherds of Sussex (1938); only Copper prints the tune.

  MIDSUMMER EVE DIVINATIONS: F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 246; C. Latham, Folk-Lore Record I (1878), 33–4; L.N. Candlin, personal communication, 1971.

  FAIRIES ON MIDSUMMER EVE: F.E. Sawyer, Sussex Natural History, Folklore and Superstitions (1883), 15; H.D. Gordon, A History of Harting (1877), 19; N. Price, Pagan’s Progress (1954), 93.

  CATTLE ON MIDSUMMER EVE: C. Latham, op. cit., 17.

  GHOSTS ON MIDSUMMER EVE: C. Latham, op. cit., 20.

  JULY

  ST SWITHIN’S DAY: A.R. Wright, British Calendar Customs: England III (1940), 34–5.

  WHEATEARS: L.N. Candlin, Country Fair (July 1966), 35–6.

  EBERNOE HORN FAIR: S. Goodman, SCM XXIX (1955), 320–3, 403, 501; the reinstitution of the fair in 1864 is reported in WSG 4.8.1864. A. Beckett (SCM II (1928), 331, 338) recalled that in his youth the horns used to be given as a prize for general open-air sports, not cricket. For Ticehurst Cock Fair, see the Sussex Weekly Advertiser, 19 May 1788, quoted in SCM XIII (1939), 739.

  LITTLE EDITH’S TREAT: M. Gascoyne, Discovering English Customs and Traditions (1969), 60.

  AUGUST

  GROTTOS: F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 248.

  POPPY SHOW: Information from Mrs Irene Saxby, Worthing, 1978.

  SEPTEMBER

  ‘HOLLERIN’ POT’: H.P. Clark, Harvest Customs of Old Times (c. 1830), reprinted in SCM IV (1930), 796; N.P. Blaker, Reminiscences (1906), 8–11; Bob Copper, A Song for Every Season (1971), 148–50; also E.M. Cannon, SCM VII (1933), 569, for the custom as carried out at Ferring and elsewhere in the 1840s.

  HARVEST SUPPER: Food, L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1964), 241–2, and WSG 1.6.1966. Toasts, H.P. Clarke, op. cit, loc. cit.; N.P. Blaker, op. cit, 9; A. Dearling, SCM XVII (1943), 269, whose husband, born in 1853, had learnt the Master’s Toast when young.

  ‘TURN THE CUP OVER’: J. Rock, SAC XIV (1862), with tune; L.N. Candlin, op. cit.; Bob Copper, op. cit., 122–4, in a shorter version omitting the last two lines.

  DEVIL’S NUTTING DAY: A.R. Wright, British Calendar Customs: England III (1940), 77.

  OCTOBER

  ST CRISPIN’S DAY: Notes and Queries I (1852), 30; F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 250; L.N. Candlin, SCM XIII (1939), 672–3; J. Fergusson, SCM XIII (1939), 825; at Slaugham, M. Cooper, SCM XXII (1948), 354–8; at Horsham, H. Burstow, Reminiscences of Horsham (1911), 76–7.

  HALLOWE’EN: C. Latham, Folk-Lore Record I (1878), 30–1; Tony Wales, A Sussex Garland (1986), 76.

  NOVEMBER

  SOULING: L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1946), 265–6.

  CHICHESTER ICED CAKES: Anon., SCM VII (1933), 646.

  GUY FAWKES DAY: There are numerous descriptions of this in various towns and villages. For Lewes, see A. Beckett, SCM II (1928), 486–95, or The Spirit of the Downs (1909); Jim Etherington, Lewes Bonfire Night (1993). For Rye, F.W. Goodsell, SCM III (1929), 754; for Horsham, H. Burstow, Reminiscences of Horsham (1911), 74–6; for Battle, J. Donne, SCM XX (1946), 282–3; for Rottingdean, Bob Copper, A Song for Every Season (1971), 171; for Shoreham, H. Cheal, The Story of Shoreham (1921), 254–5; for Slaugham, M. Cooper, SCM XXII (1948), 358. For the rhyme, A. Beckett, SCM II (1928), 495. See also Chris Hare, Historic Worthing, the Untold Story (1991), 46–66, 215–18; Tony Wales, A Treasury of Sussex Folklore (2000), 30–4.

  HERRINGS AND SPRATS: F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 251; L.N. Candlin, personal communication, 1971.

  MARTINMAS WEATHER: F.E. Sawyer, A Paper Read to the Sussex Natural History Society (1888); L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1946) and personal communication, 1971.

  ST CLEMENT’S DAY: W.D. Parish, A Dictionary of Sussex Dialect (1875), 25–6, s.v. ‘clemmening’; A. Beckett, SCM I (1926/7), 230–2; L.N. Candlin, SCM XXI (1947), 400–2; F. Watts, SCM IV (1930), 339. ‘Twanky Dillo’ may be found in full in Beckett’s article cited above, or, with tune, in Bob Copper, A Song for Every Season (1971), 262–3.

  ST CATHERINE’S DAY: W.D. Parish, op. cit., 25, s.v. ‘catterning’; L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1946), 265–6.

  ST ANDREW’S DAY: M.A. Lower, SAC XIII (1861), 215–16; L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1946), 265–6; E. Bell-Irving, Mayfield (1903), 16.

  STIR-UP SUNDAY: L.N. Candlin, SCM XX (1946), 292–3, and WSG 18.11.1965; J. Simpson, personal recollections.

  DECEMBER

  GOODING DAY: M.A. Lower, SAC XIII (1861), 230–1; at Horsham, H. Burstow, Reminiscences of Horsham (1911), 78; at Lewes, L.N. Candlin, personal communication, 1971; at Mayfield, E. Bell-Irving, Mayfield (1903), 15; at an unnamed village, M. Wyndham, Mrs Paddick (1947), 55–6; at Beeding, H.E.B. Arnold, SCM XI (1937), 406; at Arundel, F.E. Sawyer, SAC XXXIII (1883), 254.

  LETTING CHRISTMAS IN: E. Coomber, SCM I (1926/7), 117; E. Canon, SCM VII (1933), 54; C. Latham, Folk-Lore Record I (1878), 9.

  CHRISTMAS LUCK BELIEFS: C. Latham, op. cit., 9; F.E. Sawyer, op. cit., 254; L.N. Candlin, WSG 18.11.1965.

  WASSAILING TREES ON CHRISTMAS EVE: T.W. Horsefield, The History and Antiquities of Lewes (1824), II, 267; at Chailey, W. Andrewes, Old Church Life (1900), 67.

  SINGING WASSAILERS: H.F. Broadwood, Notes and Queries 1:6 (1852), 600–1.

  WASSAIL BOWL AT SHIPLEY: L.N. Candlin, WSG 29.12.1966.

  TIPTEERERS (MUMMERS): The full list of Sussex Mumming Plays, with references, can be found in E.C. Cawte, A. Helm, and N. Peacock, English Ritual Drama (1967); there are forty-five known instances, though the texts do not in every case survive. For the Compton text and performance, see A. Beckett, SCM I (1926/7), 547–52; for modern revivals, see H. Scott, Secret Sussex (1949), 58–64; L.N. Candlin, WSG 6.12.1967; Worthing Herald 22 Dec. 1972.

  HUNTING THE WREN: W. Borrer, Birds of Sussex (1891), 80.

  WASSAILING TREES ON NEW YEAR’S EVE: E.W Swanton, Bygone Haslemere (1914), 285; R.W. Blencowe, SAC I (1848), 110; C. Latham, op. cit., 13.

  WASSAIL BOWL ON NEW YEAR’S EVE: L.N. Candlin, WSG 29.12.1966.

  11. LOCAL HUMOUR, pages 155–64

  THE HAT IN THE MUD: J. Coker Egerton, Sussex Folk and Sussex Ways (1884), 58; A. Beckett, The Wonderful Weald (1911), 159.

  VILLAGE JOKES: F.E. Sawyer, Sussex Place Rhymes and Local Proverbs (1884), has those about Amberley (webbed feet), Arundel, Balcombe, Barcombe, East Grinstead, Fletching, Horsham, Offham, Petworth, Piddinghoe, Playden, Rotherfield, Rottingdean, Seaford and Thakeham. For ‘Amberley, God knows!’ see M.A. Lower, The History of Sussex (1870), I, 8, and for Amberley yellow bellies, E. Porter, Cambridgeshire Customs and Folklore (1969), 383, on the authority of an Amberley informant. For Berwick, see A. Beckett, op. cit., 230; for Chichester, Lewes, Littlehampton and Storrington, A.S. Cooke, Off the Beaten Track in Sussex (1911), 284–5; for Yapton, C. Anscombe, SCM XVI (1942), 208–9, and A. Longley, unpublished material in Worthing Museum; the latter also gives the joke about West Wittering. There are jokes about Yapton in Tony Wales, A Sussex Garland (1986), 80; the dog ghost is in Patricia Squires, A Ghost in the Mirror (1972), 145–9. A further collection of rhymes upon place-names can be found in Tony Wales, A Treasury of Sussex Folklore (2000), 137–40.

  JOKES ABOUT FISHERMEN: F.E. Sawyer, op. cit.; E. Partridge, A Dictionary of Slang, s.v. ‘willock-eater’.

  PIDDINGHOE: See F.E. Sawyer and A.S. Cooke, op. cit., and also J.E. Lloyd, SCM XXIV (1950), 107–8. Interpretations are offered by Sawyer and Cooke, by B. Cleland, SCM XXI (1946), 265–6, and by L.N. Candlin, person
al communication, 1971, from an informant in Piddinghoe in 1959.

  PEVENSEY: M.A. Lower, Chronicles of Pevensey (1846), 35–40; E.V. Lucas, Highways and Byways of Sussex (1904), 332; A. Beckett, op. cit., 62–3, 81; J.E. Lloyd, op. cit.

  SOMPTING TREACLE MINE: The joke against scroungers was current in Worthing in the 1930s and 1940s (author’s personal recollection). For the Jimmy Smuggles cycle, see unpublished poems, tales and drawings by Alfred Longley in Worthing Museum.

  OTHER TREACLE MINES: At Rowhook, Patcham and Burpham, WSG 28.6.1973, 12.7.1973, 26.7.1973, 13.9.1973; oral information from local people; at Faygate, Rusper, Didling and Pallingham, Tony Wales, A Sussex Garland (1986), 80.

  FISHING FOR THE MOON: L.N. Candlin, Tales of Old Sussex (1985), 32.

  THE HANGMAN’S STONE: Bob Copper, A Song for Every Season (1971), 58–60.

  THE GREAT TURNIP: V. Lacey, ‘Letter to the Editor’, WSG 6.3.1958; also the wooden-legged sheep stealer.

  THE MARE’S EGG: A. Beckett, The Wonderful Weald (1911), 274–5.

  Bibliography

  The following are the main sources for Sussex folklore, but not every book and article consulted is listed here; those in which only one or two items are to be found have been mentianed under the appropriate headings in the notes.

  Allen, A. A Dictionary of Sussex Folk Medicine, 1995.

  Beckett, A. The Spirit of the Downs, 1909.

  — ‘The Sussex Mummers’ Play’, SCM I (1926/7), 545–52.

  — The Wonderful Weald, 1911.

  Bell-Irving, E. Mayfield, 1903.

  Burstow, H. Reminiscences of Horsham, 1911.

  Candlin, L.N. ‘Bat-and-Trap, Tip-Cat, and Other Games for Good Friday’, WSG 23.3.1967.