Taken from
“Calendar of Customs, Superstitions, Weather-lore, Popular
Sayings and Important Events Connected with the County of Somerset”
- Reprinted from the Somerset County Herald 1920.
June 19th
– Letting of Puxton Dolmoors.
Among the
many ancient customs which were observed in olden days in our county
of Somerset, few are more interesting than the letting of the
Dolmoors at Puxton. In this and the adjoining parishes of
Congresbury and Wick St. Lawrence are two large pieces of land,
called the East and West Dolmoors, in which some of the villagers had
formerly certain common rights, decided every year by a kind of
lottery held on the Saturday before Midsummer-day. Among the Puxton
Church records are three sets of accounts, that is to
say, those of the Churchwardens, the Overseers of the Poor, and the
Overseers of the Dolmoors or Common Lands in this and the adjacent
parishes.
The
following curiosity descriptive account of the remarkable local
custom of allotting the Dolmoors is from a Somerset gentleman, and
appeared in a publication dated 1826:-
The two
large pieces of common land called Dolemoors which lie in the
parishes of Congresbury, Wick St. Lawrence, and Puxton, were allotted
in the following manner :- -On the Saturday proceeding Midsummer-day
the several proprietors (of the estates having any right in these
moors) or their tenants were summoned at a certain hour in the
morning by the ringing of one of the bells at Puxton, to repair to
the church, in order to see the chain (kept for the purpose of laying
out Dolemoors) measured. The proper length of
such chain was ascertained by placing one end thereof at the foot of
the arch dividing the chancel from the body of the church, and
extending it through the middle aisle, to the foot of the arch of the
west door under the tower, at each of which places marks were cut in
the stones for that purpose. The chain used for this purpose was
only eighteen yards in length, consequently four yards shorter than
the regular hand measuring chain. After the chain had been properly
measured, the parties repaired to the
Commons. Twenty-four apples were previously prepared, bearing the
following marks, viz., five marks called "Pole-axes," four
ditto "Crosses," two ditto "Dung-forks or Dung-pikes,"
one mark called "Four oxen and a mare," one ditto "Two
Pits," one ditto "Three
Pits," one ditto "Four Pits," one ditto "Seven
Pits," one "Horn," one "Hare's Tail," one
"Duck's-nest," one "Oven," one "Shell,"
one "Evil,"and one "Hand-reel."
It is
necessary to observe that each of these moors was divided into
several portions called furlongs, which were marked out by strong
posts, placed at regular distances from each other ; which posts were
constantly kept up. After the apples were properly prepared, they
were put into a hat or bag, and certain persons fixed on for the
purpose, began to measure with the chain before mentioned, and
proceeded until they had measured off one acre of ground ; at the end
of which the boy who carried the hat or bag containing the marks took
out one of the apples, and the mark which the apple bore was
immediately cut in the turf with a large knife kept for that purpose.
This knife was somewhat in the shape of a scimitar with its edge
reversed. In this manner they proceeded till the whole of the commons
were laid out, and each proprietor knowing the mark and furlong which
belonged to his estate, he took possession of his allotment or
allotments accordingly, for the ensuing year. An adjournment then
took place to the house of one of the overseers, where a certain
number of acres reserved for the purpose of paying expenses, and
called the "out-let or out -drift," were let by inch of
candle!
During the
time of letting, the whole party were to keep silence (except the
person who bid), under the penalty of one shilling. When anyone
wished to bid, he named the price he would give, and immediately
deposited a shilling on the table where the candle stood ; the next
who bid, also named his price and deposited his shilling in like
manner, and the person who first bid was then to take up his
shilling. The business of letting thus proceeded till the candle was
burnt out, and the last bidder, prior to that event, was declared the
tenant of the out-let or out-drift for the ensuing year.
Two
overseers were annually elected from the proprietors or their
tenants. A quantity of strong ale or brown stout was allowed for the
feast, or revel, as it was called ; also bread, butter and cheese,
together with pipes and tobacco, of which any reputable person, whose
curiosity or casual business led him to Puxton on that day, was at
liberty to partake, but he was expected to deposit one shilling with
the overseer, by way of forfeit for bis
intrusion. The day was generally spent in sociality and mirth,
frequently of a boisterous nature, from the exhilarating effects of
the brown stout before alluded to ; for it rarely happened but that
some of the junior part of the company were desirous of making a
trial of their skill in the sublime art of pugilism, when hard
knocks, thumps, bangs, and kicks, and consequently black eyes, bloody
noses, and sore bones were distributed
with the greatest liberality amongst the combatants. . . . Yet after
these civil broils,
the parties seldom bore each other any grudge or ill will, and
generally, at the conclusion of the contest, they shook hands, became
good friends again, and departed with the greatest sang-froid to
apply:-
“Fit
med'cines to each glorious bruise
They
got in fight, reds, blacks, and blues;
To
mollify th' uneasy pang
Of
ev'ry honourable bang."
In the
year 1779, an attempt was made to procure an Act of Parliament for
allotting these moors in
perpetuity : but an opposition having been made by a majority of the
proprietors, the plan was relinquished. The land, however, was
actually enclosed and allotted in the year 1811, and the ancient mode
of dividing it, and, consequentially, the drunken festival or revel,
from that time discontinued. It is interesting to note that the
custom of letting land by an inch of candle is still observed at
Tatworth, near Chard.
