Rushbearing

Rush Bearing

As with most churches in the 14th and 15th Century, Kirkheaton St Johns church had no seats for the congregation, and since the floors were of beaten earth, it was covered with dry rush`s. The likely source of the rush`s would have been a nearby area of a water meadow. One such area to the south east of the church is a field, which acts as a floodplain when Ox field beck floods, and where rush`s probably grew.

Rush Bearing and its history

Every church at its consecration was given the name of a patron saint and either the day of its consecration or the saint’s feast day became the church’s festival. Church services began at sunset on Saturday and the night of prayer was called a vigil, eve or, due to the late hour, wake – from the Old English “waecan”. Each village had a wake with quasi-religious celebrations followed by church services then sports, games, dancing and drinking.

It usually took place at the latter end of August, on public notice from the churchwardens, of the rush’s being mown and properly dried. In some marshy part of the parish, where the young people assembled ;the carts were loaded with rush’s, flowers and rebinds. These were conveyed to the church by the populous, many huzzaing and cracking whips by the side of the rush-cart, on their way thither, where everyone lend a hand in carrying and spreading the rush’s.

During the middle Ages the floors of most churches and dwellings consisted of compacted earth, and rushes (commonly “sweet flag” Acorus calamus or other herbs and grasses were strewn over them to provide a sweet smelling, renewable covering for insulation. The Household roll of Edward II (1307–1327) shows a payment to a John de Carlford for “a supply of rushes for strewing the Kings chamber”. In the Churchwardens’ accounts for St Mary-at-Hill, London, payments of 3d for rushes are shown for 1493 and 1504, and in the parish register of the church at Kirkham, Lancashire, disbursements for rushes are found in 1604 and 1631 for 9s 6d, but not after 1634 when the church floor was flagged. At Saddleworth (then in Yorkshire) the church floor was covered with rushes until 1826.

The churches allocated a particular day in the calendar for the Rushbearing and, by the 16th century, it was customary to ring the church bells and provide wine, ale and cakes for the Rushbearers. Some festivals were more elaborate with mimetic and representational elements. An account from Cawthorne in Yorkshire from 1596 said that the people “did arm and disguyse themselves some of them putting on women`s apparel, others putting on long hair & Visardes, or arming them with the furnyture of souldiers, and being there thus armed and disguysed did that day goe from the Church, and so went up and downe the towne showinge themselves”.

The festival often attracted unsavoury characters, such as pedlars, cutpurses and pickpockets, and became a pretext for heavy drinking in otherwise quiet communities, such that even pillars of the community would occasionally disgrace themselves:

The Puritans

Were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become more Protestant. Puritanism played a significant role in English history, especially during Protectorate. And so sore grieved that there were weapons drawn and great dissension arose. Puritan magistrates and ministers opposed Sunday Rushbearing, probably because of the intemperance and indecorum which attended the occasion. Consequently, when James I issued the Declaration of Sports in 1617, which listed the forms of recreation permitted on Sundays and Holy days, Rushbearing was listed, along with other pursuits, such as archery, Church Ales (see church ale below), Whitsun Ales, Morris dancing and the setting up of Maypoles Indeed, when James I visited Sir Richard Houghton in Lancashire in 1617, the first entertainment offered was a Rushbearing.

In the 18th century the ceremony usually formed part of the annual feast or wake, held on the Sunday closest to the feast day of the saint to which the church was dedicated. The rushes were brought to the church in a procession, accompanied by music and Morris dancing. In some areas the rushes were carried in individual bundles and in others on a Rush cart. Where a Rush cart was used it became the main focus and was decorated with garlands and flowers, tinsel, and ‘all the silver plate that can be borrowed in the neighbourhood’. When the procession reached the parish church the rushes were strewn on the floor and the garlands used to adorn the church. It is not known how long Rush carts have been a feature of the festivities, but they were still being Observed in 1726 in Prestwich.

By the early 19th century the tradition had died out in many parts of the country but it evolved in addition, survived in industrial parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire. One such rush Bearing event takes place each September in Sowerby Bridge Yorkshire.

Church Ale

Ale is a term to describe a Celebration, and was used as a celebrating eg; the birth of new born Lamb`s, or the marriage of a couple in the village where collections of money were made to pay For the ceremony and many more, and probably an excuse to drink ale rather than water which Could be contaminated and unfit to drink. The Church ale or Parish Ale was a party or festivity in an English parish at which ale was the Chief drink, it was a typical fundraising occasion with music and dancing, these parish festivals were of much ecclesiastical and social importance in medieval England. The chief purpose of The Church-ale (which was originally instituted to honour the church saint) and the clerk-ale, was to facilitate the collection of parish dues and to make a profit for the church from the sale of ale by the church wardens. These profits kept the parish church in repair, or were distributed as alms to the poor.

Church House

What led to Church House`s being built?

Church Houses were built to hold Church Ales when it became unacceptable to hold them in the nave of the Church. Churches had yet to install pews and the nave was the largest indoor space in the village – an open area, separated from the sanctuary by a rood screen. It was the natural place to hold ‘church ales’ – celebrations to raise money for good causes. The word ‘ale’ indicated not only the liquor that was drunk, but also the party itself. Ales were often linked to specific dates in the church calendar, such as Whitsun and the church’s Patron Saints Day. Sometimes there were Bride Ales to help poor couples fund their wedding, and Clerk Ales to help pay the parish clerk. Pilgrims visiting a church were often accommodated with lodgings food and drink within the church nave, which was the only open space it had to offer. Ale would have been brewed, and bread baked to serve these weary travellers, and also a bed for the night before they left for their next destination. Moreover, with time, the church was increasingly annoyed with ale being brewed in it. So a house was built near the church where brewing and baking could be carried out, and provided beds for any travellers. In later years Pews would have been added to the now empty Nave.

Church House or church ales were mostly run by the church wardens, who would hold their meeting there and would be drinking ale at the church`s expense. During church services they would often visit the house for a quick drink before returning to collect the offertory. And in time, The church sold these buildings, which later became public houses, but many were turned into Poor Houses or simply knocked down. One such building was the Kirk-style, or Beaumont arms (situated just east of the church), which could now provide all the needs of any pilgrims or travellers. The date of when the pub was built is unsure, but it is thought in the early 15^th century.