Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 23, 1912.djvu/473

 Collectanea. 449

Afterwards, the Mayor was borne back to the starting-place, and the rest of the day was spent in merry-making, feasting, and dancing. " To such an extent was this merry-making carried on, that after the Wap some one was deputed to ascend Randwick Hill and watch the chimneys, to see who could afford a fire ; and those who had so far exhausted their resources as to be unable to afford one would burn a handful of straw, thereby causing a smoke to ascend the chimney and so deceive the watchers."-^ On the following Wednesday, the " Wappers," headed by a band, marched round the parish, to receive from the farmers their annual allow- ance of cider. In 1847 or 1848, a gentleman tried to stop the Wap, obtained legal advice, and " wrote to London." " He only elicited the fact that the people of Randwick had been granted a charter, giving them full permission to hold the Wap, or keep " Lord Mayor's Day" (as it is sometimes called), on condition that a mayor was elected, and carried in the chair to the pool every year. If they failed in this but once, the practice could be legally stopped."

In 1892 the Wap was held for the last time. All the parapher- nalia of the Mayor's procession was burned a few years ago, except the (quite modern) chair of state. The whole thing had become a disorderly rabble, but the place it held in the affections of Randwick people may be gathered from the last request of an old " Wapper," — " Bury me just inside the churchyard wall, then I shall hear the Mayor go down." Possibly a Manorial ceremony has here been grafted on to an earlier rite. The mention of electors as " freeholders " is suggestive ; and I have definite knowledge of a procession which much resembles the Mayor of Randwick's. Until about 1850, the Bailiff and Jury of the Manor of Alvechurch, Worcestershire, after being sworn in (the Bishop being lord of the manor), perambulated the village. The " Mayor, "^ as the Bailiff was invariably called, was dressed in a red cloak, and carried in a chair, accompanied by a mace-bearer and by twelve jurymen wit'i lighted candles ; he was sometimes ducked in the millpond. A feast ended the proceedings, which were always in

Hartland for handing over to me some extracts from this poem, and the notes of Mr. C. A. Witchell.

-^ E. P. Fennemore, loc. cit.