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

this day by throwing stones against the doors of the dwellers’ houses: a privilege which they claim from time immemorial. The terms demanded by them are pancakes or money to capitulate. Some of the older sort, exceeding the bounds of this whimsical practice, in the dusk of the evening, set a bolted door or window-shutter at liberty, by battering in a breach with large pieces of rock stones, which sometimes causes work for the surgeon, as well as for the smith, glazier, and carpenter. The way of making reprisal, in such cases, is by a rope drawn across the road of the mischievous, by means of which their flight is suddenly interrupted, and themselves ignominiously hurled to the ground with the loss of their artillery.—Heath, Account of Islands of Scilly, 1750, p. 127.

Shropshire.

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      In The History and Antiquities of Ludlow, 1822 (pp. 188–189), occurs the following account of a custom formerly observed on this day: “The corporation provide a rope, three inches in thickness, and in length thirty-six yards, which is given out at one of the windows of the Market-House as the clock strikes four, when a large body of the inhabitants divided into two parties—one contending for Castle Street and Broad Street wards, and the other for Old Street and Corve Street wards—commence an arduous struggle, and as soon as either party gains the victory by pulling the rope beyond the prescribed limits, the pulling ceases, which is, however, renewed by a second, and sometimes by a third contest; the rope being purchased by subscription from the victorious party, and given out again. Without doubt this singular custom is symbolical of some remarkable event, and a remnant of that ancient language of visible signs, which, says a celebrated writer, “imperfectly supplies the want of letters, to perpetuate the remembrance of public or private transactions.” The sign, in this instance, has survived the remembrance of the occurrence it was designed to represent, and remains a profound mystery. It has been insinuated that the real occasion of this custom is known to the corporation, but that for some reason or other, they are tenacious of the secret. An obscure tradition attributes this custom to circumstances arising out of the siege of Ludlow by Henry VI., when two parties arose within the town, one supporting the pretensions of the Duke of York, and the other wishing to give admittance to the king; one of the bailiffs is said to have headed the latter party. History relates that, in this contest, many lives were lost, and that the bailiff, heading his party in an attempt to open Dinham Gate, fell a victim there.”

Somersetshire.

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      An odd practice seems to prevail in some parts of Somersetshire, and also in Devonshire and Dorsetshire on Shrove Tuesday, which is locally nick-named Sharp Tuesday. The youngsters go about after dusk, and throw stones against people’s doors, by what is considered by them an indefeasible right. They at the same time sing in chorus:

      “I be come a shrovin

       Vor a little pankiak;

       A bit o’ bread o’ your baikin,

       Or a little truckle cheese o’ your maikin,

       If you’ll gi’ me a little, I’ll ax no more,

       If you don’t gi’ me nothin, I’ll rottle your door.”

      Brand, Pop. Antiq. (Ed. Hazlitt), 1870, vol. i. p. 48.

Staffordshire.

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      In this county Shrove Tuesday goes by the name of Goodish Tuesday.—N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. v. p. 209.

Suffolk.

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      At Bury St. Edmund’s on Shrove Tuesday, Easter Monday, and the Whitsuntide festivals, twelve old women side off for a game at trap-and-ball, which is kept up with the greatest spirit and vigour until sunset. Afterwards they retire to their homes, where

      “Voice, fiddle, or flute,

       No longer is mute,”

      and close the day with apportioned mirth and merriment.—Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 430.

Surrey.

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      The following is taken from the Times of March 7th, 1862:

“Shrove Tuesday was observed, as in days of yore, at Dorking,[15] first by a perambulation of the streets by the foot-ball retinue, composed of grotesquely-dressed persons, to the sounds of music, and in the afternoon by the kicking of the ball up and down the principal thoroughfares of the town. The usual number of men and boys joined in the sport, and played, especially towards the end of the game, with a roughness extremely dangerous to the limbs of the competitors. As 6 o’clock drew near the struggle for victory became more vehement; the palm, however, was obtained, for the fifth year, by the players from the west end of the town. The old custom of tolling the ‘pancake bell’ during the morning was, on this occasion, as during the last two or three years, dispensed with.”—West Surrey Times.

[15] This custom prevails at Epsom. N. & Q. 3rd S. vol. i. p. 439. It seems to have been observed also at Twickenham, Bushy, Teddington, Kingston. See Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 245.

Isle of Wight.

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      At Brighstone parties of young boys, girls, and very small children parade the village, singing the following words:

      “Shroving, shroving, I am come to shroving.

       White bread and apple pie,

       My mouth is very dry;

       I wish I were well a-wet,

       As I could sing for a nut.

      Shroving, shroving, I am come to shroving.

       A piece of bread, a piece of cheese,

       A piece of your fat bacon,

       Dough nuts and pancakes,

       All of your own making.

       Shroving, shroving, I am come to shroving.”[16]

      N. & Q. 1st S. vol. xi. p. 239.

[16] For a more detailed account of the Isle of Wight Shrovers, see Halliwell’s Popular Rhymes, 1849, p. 246.

Yorkshire.

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      A correspondent of N. & Q. 2nd S. vol. v. p. 391, says that all the apprentices in the town of Hedon whose indentures terminate before the return of the day assemble in the belfry of the church at eleven o’clock, and in turn toll the tenor bell for an hour, at the sound of which all the housewives in the parish commence frying pancakes. The sexton, who is present receives