British Popular Customs, Present and Past. T. F. Thiselton-Dyer

of Norfolk (1806, vol. iii. p. 155) incidentally alludes. In 1442, he says, there was a great insurrection at Norwich, for which the citizens were indicted, who among other things pleaded in their excuse:

      “That John Gladman, of Norwich, who ever was, and at thys our is, a man of sad disposition, and trewe and feythfull to God and to the Kyng, of disporte, as hath been acustomed in ony cite or burgh thorowe alle this reame, on Tuesday in the last ende of Crestemesse, viz. Fastyngonge Tuesday, made a disport with his neighbours, havyng his hors trappyd with tynnsoyle, and other nyse disgisy things, corouned as Kyng of Crestemesse, in tokyn that seson should ende with the twelve monethes of the yere: aforn hym [went] yche moneth, disguysed after the seson requiryd, and Lenton clad in whyte and red heryngs skinns, and his hors trappyd with oystyr-shells after him, in token that sadnesse should folowe, and an holy tyme; and so rode in diverse stretis of the cite, with other people with hym disguyssd, and makyng myrth, disportes, and plays.”

Northamptonshire.

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      In many parts of this county the church bell is rung about noon, as the signal for preparing pancakes. At Daventry the bell which is rung on this occasion is muffled on one side with leather, or buffed, as it is termed, and obtains the name of Pan-burn-bell. Jingling rhymes in connection with this day are repeated by the peasantry, varying in different districts. The following are the most current:

      “Pancakes and fritters,

       Says the bells of St. Peter’s.

       Where must we fry ’em?

       Says the bells of Cold Higham.

       In yonder land thurrow [furrow],

       Says the bells of Wellingborough.

       You owe me a shilling,

       Says the bells of Great Billing.

       When will you pay me?

       Says the bells at Middleton Cheney.

       When I am able,

       Says the bells at Dunstable.

       That will never be,

       Says the bells at Coventry.

       Oh, yes it will,

       Says Northampton Great Bell.

       White bread and sop,

       Says the bells at Kingsthrop.

       Trundle a lantern,

       Says the bells at Northampton.”

      That the bells of the churches of Northampton used also to be rung on this day may be inferred from the following similar doggerel:

      “Roast beef and marsh-mallows,

       Says the bells of All Hallow’s,

       Pancakes and fritters.

       Says the bells of St. Peter’s.

       Roast beef and boil’d,

       Says the bells of St. Giles’.

       Poker and tongs,

Says the bells of St. John’s.[13] Shovel, tongs, and poker, Says the bells of St. Pulchre’s.[14]”

      Baker, Northamptonshire Words and Phrases, vol. ii. p. 92.

[13] St. John’s Hospital.

[14] The church of St. Sepulchre is often called “Pulchre’s” in Northampton.

      At Earls Barton the custom of making “leek pasties” is observed. A party of shoemakers, after procuring a chaff-cutter and a quantity of leeks, proceed to the green, where they publicly chop the vegetable to the amusement of the spectators.—See Gent. Mag., 1867, 4th S. vol. iv. p. 219.

Northumberland.

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      Formerly at Alnwick the waits belonging to the town used to come playing to the Castle every year on Shrove Tuesday at two o’clock P.M., when a foot-ball was thrown over the Castle walls to the populace.—Brand, Pop. Antiq., 1849, vol i. p. 92.

Nottinghamshire.

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      At Aspley Old Hall, in days gone by, butter and lard, fire and frying-pans were provided for all the poor families of Wollaston, Trowell, and Cossall, who chose to come and eat their pancakes at this mansion. The only conditions attached to the feast were, that no quarrelling should take place, and that each wife and mother should fry for her own family, and that when the cake needed turning in the pan, the act should be performed by tossing it in the air and catching it again in the pan with the uncooked side downwards. And many were the roars of laughter which took place among the merry groups in the kitchen, at the mishaps which occurred in the performance of this feast, in which his Honour and Madam joined.

      In addition to the pancakes, each man was allowed a quart of good ale, women a pint, and children a gill.—Sutton, Nottingham Date Book, 1852, p. 75.

      There is a curious tradition existing in Mansfield, Woodhouse, Bulwell, and several other villages near Sherwood Forest, as to the origin of pancakes on Shrove Tuesday. The inhabitants of any of the villages will inform the questioner that when the Danes got to Linby all the Saxon men of the neighbouring villages ran off into the forest, and the Danes took the Saxon women to keep house for them. This happened just before Lent, and the Saxon women, encouraged by their fugitive lords, resolved to massacre their Danish masters on Ash Wednesday. Every woman who agreed to do this was to bake pancakes for this meal on Shrove Tuesday as a kind of pledge to fulfil her vow. This was done, and that the massacre of the Danes did take place on Ash Wednesday is a well-known historical fact.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. vii. p. 450.

Oxfordshire.

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      In this county children go about singing the following rhyme, begging at the same time for half-pence:

      “Knick, knock, the pan’s hot,

       And we be come a shroving:

       A bit of bread, a bit of cheese,

       A bit of barley dompling,

       That’s better than nothing.

       Open the door and let us in,

       For we be come a pancaking.”

      At Islip in the same county this version is used:

      “Pit a pat; the pan is hot,

       We are come a shroving;

       A little bit of bread and cheese

       Is better than nothing.

       The pan is hot, the pan is cold;

       Is the fat in the pan nine days old?”

      Brand, Pop. Antiq., 1849, vol. i. p. 88.

Islands of Scilly.

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