"The Hunting of the Earl of Rone." The Emergence of "New" Folklore Motifs: Individual Creativity and...

"The Hunting of the Earl of Rone." The Emergence of "New" Folklore Motifs: IndividualCreativity and Group ControlAuthor(s): Tom BrownSource: Folklore, Vol. 116, No. 2 (Aug., 2005), pp. 201-213Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of Folklore Enterprises, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30035278 .

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Folklore 116 (August 2005): 201-213

"The Hunting of the Earl of Rone." The Emergence of "New" Folklore Motifs: Individual Creativity and Group Control

Tom Brown

Abstract

This paper examines the emergence, over the past three decades, of innovative folklore motifs in "The Hunting of the Earl of Rone," in the Devon village of Combe Martin. This calendar custom, which was extant prior to 1837, was reconstructed in 1970 and has now become an established annual tradition. Detailed records of the source, stimulus and function of the various "new" elements (including plant-lore, dance steps, cross-dressing and rites of passage) show that individual creativity and group aesthetics have operated in constant tension to evolve the custom as it is today.

Introduction

The subject of this paper is the modern reconstruction and development of "The Hunting of the Earl of Rone," a calendar custom that formerly took place in the village of Combe Martin on the North Devon coast over a period of days (perhaps even a fortnight), climaxing on Ascension Day. It has been reported that it was banned by local by-law in 1837 because of "rough horse-play and drinking habits" (Coxhead 1957). The village lies five miles east of Ilfracombe in a valley that runs from the north-western edge of the Exmoor upland down to the Bristol Channel. It consists of a single main street, running for one and a half miles along the valley floor with side roads and lanes running off it, particularly to the north, up the steep sides of the combe. Apart from farming and market gardening, local industry up to the twentieth century was concerned with fishing, lime burning and coastal trade in the lower end of the village ("Seaside") and mineral mining, primarily for lead and silver, in the higher part of the village ("Head-town"). The name of the small river that runs down the combe, the Umber, is a clue to the fact that the mineral pigment, umber, also used to be dug and processed in the village. Various sources describe certain aspects of the old custom. There are only two eye- witness accounts: The Reverend G. Tugwell's North Devon Scenery Book (Tugwell 1863, 109-14) and The Transactions of the Devonshire Association (Devonshire Association 1917: 74-5). There are other descriptions in a number of travelogues and early folklore books (Wade 1895, 117-19; Chope 1938, 431-2; Coxhead 1957, 89-92). These, however, are of uncertain provenance and obviously borrow some details from previous accounts, although each adds a little to the totality of description.

The custom consisted of a series of perambulations of the village by a hobby horse, a fool, and a party of villagers dressed as (armed) grenadiers. On the last ISSN 0015-587X print; 1469-8315 online/05/020201-13; Routledge Journals; Taylor & Francis Group Ltd C 2005 The Folklore Society DOI: 10.1080/00155870500140248



202 Tom Brown

day the participants went to Lady's Wood, at the head of the village, where there was a mock fight and capture of a character known as The Earl of Rone. He was set back to front on a donkey and processed the length of the village to the sea (see Figure 3). He was shot from the donkey by the grenadiers and then revived by the hobby horse and fool on numerous occasions.

In 1970, a reconstruction was made of "what the custom may have looked like at the time it was banned" by a group of local individuals involved in folklife studies (Brown 1987, 17). This reconstruction was taken into carnivals in Bamnstaple and Ilfracombe, and, at that stage, was made neither as a revival nor a precursor to a revival, but solely as a demonstration. In making the 1970 reconstruction, gaps in the descriptions from the source texts became apparent. These were filled purely by creative invention and by elements drawn from comparable recorded customs, including: * The design of the hobby horse, the grenadiers' jackets and the Earl's mask. * Committal to the sea as the climax of the final procession. * Musicians and drummers added to the processions and the introduction of a

specific tune. It may be noted that nothing was added or changed that made the reconstruction contradictory to the old descriptions. In 1974, the reconstruction was added to the newly revived Combe Martin August carnival, at the request of its committee. In subsequent years the same happened, until, in 1978, the reconstruction moved to the new Spring Bank Holiday weekend, and was extended to take place over all four days. The Earl character, in parallel to the old form of the custom, only appears on the Monday night. At this time, the organisation and management of the perambulations passed from the orginators of the reconstruction to an ad hoc group of village residents that became known as The Earl of Rone Council (EoR Council). The custom has continued since, and has grown in scale, community involvement and complexity. Some five hundred local people-about twenty per cent of the village population (2001 Census)- now process in the finale on the Monday night. And hundreds more, both from the village and the wider North Devon area, watch it together with holidaymakers.

The old form of the custom as described in the source texts, and the various additions that were deliberately created at the time of the reconstruction of the custom, are not my concern here; nor is any debate about the origins of, or parallels to, "The Hunting of the Earl of Rone" as a calendar custom. I have documented these elsewhere (Brown 1987; 1989; 2000). This paper concerns only what has happened since 1978 when "the village" took over the custom.

From Old Folklore to Folklorismus and into New Folklore

In 1987, in her Presidential Address to the Folklore Society, Venetia Newall commented on the difficulty of separating so-called "genuine" folklore and "folklorismus"-recently invented traditions, folklore taken from its original context and put to new uses, or "fakelore." Drawing heavily on Hans Moser's work on folklorismus, Newall pointed out that:



"The Hunting of the Earl of Rone" 203

Folklorismus and Folklore are often complimentary and overlap-it is not always easy to separate them. What do we mean by "genuine" and does it really exist in Folklore? If it is true to say that one age's folklorismus is the next age's folklore, then the reverse is also true (Newall 1987, 131 and 146).

This is certainly the case with "The Hunting of the Earl of Rone": it has moved from folklore in the nineteenth century to folklorismus at the point where the twentieth-century reconstruction transferred to the village and, I would argue, it has moved on again to folklore as it has developed. Pertinent, in this case, is Moser's comment that "Those researching customs should look into sober facts instead of constantly delving into far-fetched meanings" (Moser 1964, 23; Newell 1987, 132).

Moser's warning, which is a corollary to Ludwig Wittgenstein's often overlooked critique of Frazer's The Golden Bough (Wittgenstein 1979), has been reiterated, in various ways, by most folklore students since. Notwithstanding this, the folklore researcher's imperative of recording "sober facts" and drawing conclusions from them inevitably leads, however cautiously, to a set of interpretations. The finer the detail of our facts, the less speculative these interpretations will be.

In the present case, we have an opportunity to take various developments and actually trace their genesis, their evolution and their function. More unusually, there is also the opportunity to note changes that have been rejected. My objective is to highlight elements that the custom has accreted unintentionally since the village took over the custom. Most are aspects that attract the attention of folklorists, and all involve a development of practice and, not surprisingly, an elaboration of what Alan Dundes first called the "metafolklore" of the custom (Dundes 1966); that is, the common stock of tales, anecdotes, attitudes and knowledge shared by individuals in the performing group: a body of personal and vicarious experience and expectations that can both bond and identify the group. As someone who has observed and recorded the custom since 1970, and as a student of calendar customs, I may be over-attentive to details that pass unnoticed by other participants. I have therefore selected a series of aspects that have been remarked upon and/or queried by other observers of the custom in the past few years.

The "New" Developments Within this record, I will also use an analysis developed in my doctoral thesis (Brown 2000), wherein I came to the conclusion that there were only five reasons for development or change in customs-and that these were definable by their stimulus.

1. Pragmatic-the overcoming of a (usually small) local difficulty. 2. Aesthetic-a change effected because it "looks good" or "feels right." 3. Opportunistic-response to an opportunity presented by developments

external to the group. 4. Social-caused by a shift or development of general social expectation or

mores. 5. Enforced-imposed by an outside agency, such as the police, the law, or banks.



204 Tom Brown

Changes in Costume

In 1970 the participants wore pseudo-nineteenth-century rural costume: long dresses for the women, with aprons, mob-caps and shawls; breeches, or yorked [1] trousers, with collarless shirts and waistcoats, or smocks, for the men, sometimes with a flat cap. Within the village, many of the younger women disliked mob-caps and simply went bareheaded but, about twelve years ago, one woman decided to wear flowers in her hair on the final night. Others subsequently discarded their mob-caps and wore a band of flowers and ribbons around the head. This aesthetic change spread rapidly: elaborate floral or greenery head garlands have developed, and many of the other women have now followed suit.

Long skirts, however, continue to be worn across the age-range, together with a "pretty" blouse and still usually with an apron. Shawls also remain as the weather tends to be unreliable. Several younger women also started wearing bum-bags and several sported backpacks. This caused consternation on aesthetic grounds on the part of some members of the EoR Council and other participants. By consensus, backpacks have been strongly discouraged although bum-bags, which effectively serve as attached handbags, are tolerated provided they are worn under the apron and thus are not obvious. Among the men, breeches have virtually disappeared, as have yorks. Few men now own collarless shirts, although those who do still wear them. Otherwise, ordinary (but not "loud") shirts are worn and waistcoats are still abundant. Among the younger generation, several mothers still provide mob-caps for their small girls, until they are old enough to resist. Even boys and young men, who otherwise spend their entire lives in the most recent design of "trainer" footwear, will select something less striking when dressed to join the processions: those who insist on wearing their trainers tend not to otherwise dress up, except sometimes by wearing a waistcoat, and will simply walk alongside rather than participate.

Thus, costume that originated in an attempt to "look old" has evolved as more modern aesthetics have eliminated some elements and encouraged others. Variations were individually created, but the group mediated. Functionally, of course, the use of costume sets participants apart from spectators.

While these changes have taken place among the followers, the grenadiers' costume has remained unchanged. The old texts simply said "dressed as grenadiers" and described the head-dress, but breeches, white socks and uniform jackets were all a creation of the reconstruction. Nevertheless, that costume is regarded as "traditional" and has not changed. The costume of the Captain of Grenadiers was created by the individual concerned and, since his death, has been passed on to his successor. In fact, the costumes of all the key characters, as extant at the time the custom returned to the village, have remained unaltered.

So it is held that the costumes of the key characters are fixed by tradition, while the general costumes of the rest of the Party have evolved, although within communal consensus, and continue to do so.

The Garlanded Rope At the front of the final procession, but behind Phyllis Ackland, the procession leader, is a line, across the street, of between seven and ten women carrying a rope that is garlanded with posies of fresh flowers and bunches of ribbons (see Figure 1).




A few years ago, and for a number of years, the front of the Monday procession became plagued by pre-teen boys who insisted on taking part while riding their bicycles in and out of the front ranks of the procession. This was obviously dangerous, but the boys declined to be discouraged, and so the EoR Council introduced the rope to stop this happening: a pragmatic change. Having introduced the rope, one individual decided it would look better decorated with ribbons and posies-an aesthetic change-and this is now the annual practice.

Once the potential of the rope to control where people went was established, its use was extended to help keep a passage open through spectators for the procession at critical points (at Church Green, for example, and on to the beach): an opportunistic change. Further opportunistic and pragmatic changes have resulted in there now being four ropes. Altogether, the introduction and development of the use of ropes show a series of pragmatic, aesthetic and opportunistic changes.

Figure 1. Women holding garlanded ropes. The hobby horse is just visible in the background. Copyright 2001, "Earl of Rone."

The May Garland

Towards the rear of the final procession is carried a pole, some four feet in length, of which the top three feet are profusely decorated with fresh flowers and ribbons. This is a Combe Martin May Garland. Once, when I was reminiscing with Phyllis Ackland, the procession leader, she recalled how, as a child, she and her friends used to make a May Garland and take it round the houses in Combe Martin singing on May morning before they went off to school. [2] "Can you remember how to make one, Phyllis?" "Oh, yes," she replied. Someone suggested that Phyllis ought to make one and that it should be carried in the final procession, because "It would feel right" and because "It was a bit of village history." Since then,



206 Tom Brown

Phyllis makes a garland every year and it gets carried in the final procession (see Figure 2). This aesthetic change is also a pragmatic change because the garland has a specific function as a signal. The procession is now so long (some two hundred yards in 2003) that a signalling method is needed between the front and the back to ensure that the death-and-revivals occur at the designated places. Accordingly, Phyllis has her ribboned stick at the front, the Master of Ceremonies of the band has a similar one, and the Garland Bearer is placed at the back of the procession. When the Earl gets to the appropriate place, the garland is raised. That signal is relayed, via the MC's stick, and Phyllis knows to stop the procession. Similarly, she can signal back up the procession if, for any reason, she has to stop. So the garland, introduced on aesthetic grounds, has found a pragmatic purpose. Its inclusion also refers back to another village tradition that is still within living memory. Such amendment of current practice, to emulate an older form of a custom, is not uncommon. [3]

Figure 2. The Combe Martin May Garland. Copyright 2001, "Earl of Rone.




Horse Maidens

The introduction of the role, and title, of Horse Maidens was another pragmatic change. The role was necessary to help in the change-overs from one horse-carrier to the next and, as so often, once the role is accepted it gets a title, and the metafolklore grows. Under the supervision of two older women, the Horse Maidens' role is also extended to keep young children and holidaymakers at a safe distance from the dancing hobby horse. There may be up to a dozen Horse Maidens, primarily within an age range of approximately eighteen to thirty-five. According to the meta-folklore, it is now "traditional" for the Horse Maidens to wear a spray of Lily-of-the-valley on the Monday evening. Again, in this case, we know the origin of this "tradition." One year, a senior member of the Party had a few Lily-of- the-valley blossoms in her garden and decided to bunch them and give them to the Horse Maidens-an aesthetic change of costume. They immediately became a badge of office. One of the Horse Maidens told a visitor so, and that visitor went on tell some villagers in the procession they were not allowed to wear Lily-of-the- valley because they were not Horse Maidens. Somerset folklorist Ruth Tongue reported that it was unlucky for maidens to wear Lily-of-the-valley. [4]

Nevertheless, it is now established practice and if, as frequently happens, the climate has determined that Lily-of-the-valley has already finished flowering when the custom takes place, then an alternative has to be found-as long as it is white. [5] Some members of the EoR Council go to considerable lengths to try and prevent their plants from blooming too early, much as Padstonians will do to hold back, or force, their traditional May flowers for Mayday. [6] It can also be noted that the wearing of Lily-of-the-valley, or a uniform substitute, also marks the wearers out as a distinct group among the totality of participants.

The Dancing Dancing in the processions has evolved over a number of years. Initially it was just two or three friends doing a basic polka step (1, 2, 3, hop) to the rhythm of the tune. Progressively, more and more people did it. Then, because processions move slower than the comfortable forward motion of the step, these chains started dancing across the road from side to side. Next, the dancers joined hands in chains of six or seven. It was then made more elegant (aesthetically pleasing) by lifting the joined hands to shoulder height. Eventually, alternate lines started dancing in opposite directions, producing a "scissor" effect. These are all aesthetic changes, with the added pragmatism of moving side to side. When, because of the onset of arthritis, two of the primary dancers had to modify the leg movement in the way they changed direction, others liked the movement and copied it. So here, a pragmatic change spread into a further aesthetic change in the wider group. The next development, however, demonstrates that aesthetic taste need not always be good taste.

Cross-dressing From the point at which control of the custom passed to the village in 1978, one grenadier habitually exchanged costume with one of the girls at some point during the weekend processions. Following his promotion to Captain of



208 Tom Brown

Grenadiers, other individuals assumed an occasional cross-dressing role. The practice is now established that at least two or three of the grenadiers (and occasionally others) will exchange costume at the half-way stage of the five-hour Sunday procession. Exchange is usually, but not always, between partners, and makes no attempt to exaggerate the adopted sex of either. Such cross-dressing is regarded as a normal and unremarkable part of the Sunday proceedings and passes without comment, except by irregular spectators who sometimes try to read more into it. This development of practice must be regarded as purely aesthetic.

The Earl in the Woods

The individual who plays the part of the Earl is a minor-nominated in secret by the retiring Earl who gives up his role when he grows too big or heavy for the donkey. The Captain of Grenadiers simply used to take the Earl to Lady's Wood about half an hour before the Hunting was due to start, and left him to hide. In recent years, however, a number of pre-teen children from the village have gone to the woods in advance of the grenadiers to hunt for the Earl themselves. The EoR Council decided in 2004 that a steward should stay in the woods to stop the youngsters doing their own hunting. Given the current concerns about child safety, the school secretary pointed out that the Earl should not be left alone in the woods with one adult: it had to be two-one of each sex. Thus a shift in general social concern and awareness has caused a change in an off-stage aspect of the custom-a change precipitated by social factors.

The Register and Enamel Badges When the village took over the custom, participants included not only villagers but also the local people who had been instrumental in the reconstruction. In addition, there were a number of individuals who had regularly supported the performance of the reconstruction but who lived as far away as Essex. The EoR Council wished all these people to continue their support but, for the benefit of new village participants, needed a means of identifying them, particularly as new membership was confined to residents of Combe Martin and the surrounding parishes (again, in accordance with the old texts). They introduced a register, containing a page (more recently, pages) for each year from 1970 onwards. Each year, all participants are invited to "sign the register." Apart from local residents who "have a right" to be members, non-residents can only become members of the Party by invitation of the EoR Council. The first signing of the register has become a low-key rite of passage and the front page in the Register bears the legend:

Any person who has signed this register, thereby holds the right to participate in the Hunting of the Earl of Rone ceremony in any subsequent year, and no further invitation should be expected.

The Register has become not only a means of the signatories identifying themselves as participants rather than spectators, but it has also become an historical record and, as such, a significant reference document.




Members of the Party also identify themselves by wearing an enamel badge in the design of the Earl's mask. These are sold only to senior party members, but are also given to young villagers on attaining the right to join the Party in the year they reach fourteen years of age. The badges used to be awarded during a village dance on the Saturday evening each year. The name of an individual due to receive their Senior Party Badge was called out. If they were present, they came to the front of the hall, received their badge and a handshake from the presenter(s), and returned to the crowd, to the applause of the company. The next name was then called out, and so on. The number of young people attending to go through this rite of passage declined in recent years (although most are still keen to get their badge), as did overall attendance at the dance itself. This led to a decision in 2004 not to hold a dance but a social evening instead-a pragmatic change. The presentation is now carried out during the lunch-break of the Junior Party on the Saturday.

The Death Run

One further rite of passage (or, more accurately, an initiation rite) remains to be described, and that is what became known as "The Death Run." From 1987 onwards, on one particularly steep sideroad, the Party would clear out of the way, leaving the Horse and Fool at the top of the hill. They would then rush, full tilt, down the hill to a roll on the drums. It was invariably some first-timer who had to carry the Horse. "The Death Run" was initially created for purely aesthetic reasons and subsequently acquired its initiation aspect. It lasted for about ten years but has now stopped, and the procession was even rerouted to avoid the hill. Some individuals on the Council decided that "The Death Run" was "too dangerous," and so it was stopped on the grounds of the risk to health and safety. Thus, an aesthetic development was stopped for social reasons.

Enforced Changes One kind of change has not yet been considered, and that is enforced change. An extreme example of this is the cessation of the original form of the custom in 1837, reputedly banned by local by-law (although it has not been possible to verify this). There have been few enforced changes to the new form of the ceremony. In 2001, following the foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks, animal movement restrictions still remained at the Spring Bank Holiday and prevented the EoR Council from using a donkey (see Figure 3). The result was that, instead of riding, the Earl had to walk the street-which he did backwards!

This had also happened a few years earlier when the donkey, which was a jack, was more interested in a braying jenny on heat and refused to go anywhere except towards her. Again, the Earl had to walk his route. On one previous occasion it had not been possible to obtain a donkey and the Earl had ridden a pony. Given that on three occasions the custom had to be conducted without a donkey, the EoR Council had considered whether it should maintain its own donkey in the village, but nothing was done. In 2003, the opportunity arose when the owner of a donkey called "Thistle" (which has been used for five years) retired her and offered her to the EoR Council. The donkey is kept on the smallholding of one of the EoR Council members-an opportunistic change in practice.



210 Tom Brown

Figure 3. The Earl, back to front on a donkey, is accompanied by the Grenadiers. Copyright 2001, "Earl of Rone."

From 1993 onwards, the police insisted on the Council applying for a road closure (under Section 21 of the Town Police Clauses Act. 1847) on the Monday night-an enforced change. Changes resulting from this would also have been enforced, and there were murmurings each year about "not being told how to conduct our custom." The cessation of traffic flow, due to the closure, actually reduced collection income, but otherwise the road closures made no difference to the conduct of the custom. In 2002 the police informed the EoR Council that a road closure would not be possible because of the Queen's Jubilee celebrations: a street- party running the entire length of the village had been planned, and closure for this purpose prohibited a later closure on the same day. The EoR Council was also informed that, due to demand on manpower that day, the police would not be able to service the final procession at all. Nobody complained at the withdrawal of service, nor the loss of the road closure, and the custom was maintained in the usual fashion. No application for a closure has been made since. The only other enforced change in the history of the modern custom was also caused by the donkey-which is not really an outside agency. New brick paving had been laid at the top of the beach and the donkey flatly refused to cross it. The Earl was marched on to the beach and, as this was adjudged an aesthetic improvement, this has remained the practice.

The Creation of New Roles

This has been entirely pragmatic: as the numbers taking part grew, so did the number seeking jobs, and the number of jobs that needing doing. Self-created roles tend to happen one year and then be continued without official approval, or even comment, by the EoR Council until such time as the individual does not participate one year, for whatever reason. At that point, if Party members realise the impact of the void, then someone officially fills the role. The roles of Donkey




Minders, Horse Maidens, runners, rope carriers, beer carriers, Captain of Grenadiers, band Master of Ceremonies, Chief Musician, Chief Drummer, children watchers, Procession Leader, rope decorator and Horse Managers have all been created in this way. No role has been created other than by an individual, and all have subsequently been mediated by the group.

A great many more changes or variations in practice have not been considered here, such as the occasional wearing of rosemary, in remembrance of those Party members now deceased, which came into the custom from a Yorkshire couple who had moved into the village. In another example, one individual who had moved into the village decided he would be a Town Crier, but, because the Party felt such a role had nothing to do with the custom, his behaviour was modified. There have also been further successful and unsuccessful additions, including the absorption of four newly-written songs concerning the custom into the weekend rituals or the introduction of "The Strawberry Cake" on the Saturday evening, which became a shared food experience. A new design for the "Wanted" posters (which advertise the advent of the custom) was made and offered but rejected, several years ago, although many participants requested a copy for their personal archives.

Conclusions

Throughout the development of the custom, spontaneous, creative ideas have been initiated by individuals. Each may, or may not, carry a number of other people with them. Where the result is pleasing to the Party, it may be repeated and, in some cases, become an established part of the custom. These additions and alterations invariably add to the metafolklore, but so too do those developments that have been rejected.

The EoR Council rarely anticipates change. Sometimes it will decide on logistic changes, to make some aspect of the custom work better, but these too can be rejected by the general consensus. As Jeff Bishop and Paul Hoggett found when examining informal community organisations in general (Bishop and Hoggett 1986), there is a strong tendency for such organisations to be managed "by some of us, for all of us" and not "by them for us". This is certainly the case with The Hunting of the Earl of Rone. The shared ownership of the custom, by all the participants, facilitates the imposition of a common aesthetic that governs development.

Change, in some aspect or other, is virtually continuous, and acceptable changes rapidly become established and regarded as traditional. Aesthetic and pragmatic changes are frequently found in concert: either an aesthetic change is attributed a pragmatic function, or a pragmatic change is given an added aesthetic aspect. The developments noted here have been various, and it has been possible to identify not only why things change, but also the mechanisms whereby change initiated by an individual is subsequently mediated by the group. It might have been all too easy to guess at the presence of the May Garland; or the Lily-of-the-valley; or the origin of the tune; or the meaning of cross-dressing; or the age of some of these elements. And certainly, for me, the lessons have been salutary: I have become very wary of interpreting the things I see in other customs.



212 Tom Brown

Notes

[1] "Yorks" is one of several localised names for the ties formerly used below the knee by agricultural labourers to keep trousers neat and, ostensibly, to prevent rats running up the trouser leg.

[2] Subsequent conversations with Phyllis have established that, although generations previous to hers maintained this tradition, hers was the last to do so.

[3] A similar practice may be noted in the Padstow Old 'Oss Party's reintroduction of a hobby-horse mask design from one hundred years previously. Similarly, the Bacup Nutters consciously reintroduced two of their repertoire of dances that they realised were no longer being performed.

[4] According to Ruth Tongue, "they were, as plants of the earth, too potent for unwary maids to wear [but] to wives and mothers they were quite friendly and healthful." As the chorus of the song "The Lily she Grows in the Greenwood" says, "Maidens, maidens take care! Her sweet- scented breath do tell your death. Maidens beware!" (Tongue 1967, 31).

[5] As I added the final corrections to this paper, Combe Martin had just finished the 2004 custom. My elder daughter, a Horse Maiden of several years' standing and who had married two months previously, was presented on the evening with the only Horse Maidens' corsage/posy to include Lily-of-the-valley. There were only enough blossoms for one posy and she was presented with it.

[6] The traditional quartet of May flowers, used on Mayday, are bluebell, cowslip, tulip and wallflower (gilly-flower). Bluebells and cowslips are predominantly used to decorate drums and instruments, while the full quartet are used in posies.

References Cited

Bishop, Jeff, and Paul Hoggett. Organising Around Enthusiasms: Mutual Aid in Leisure. London: Comedia Publishing Group, 1986.

Brown, Thomas W. The Hunting of the Earl of Rone. 3rd ed. Combe Martin: Rotapress for The Earl of Rone Council, 1987.

---. "The Earl of Rone." In Out of the World and into Combe Martin, ed. Robin Stanes. 81-4. Combe Martin: Rotapress for Combe Martin Local History Group, 1989.

-. "The Hunting of the Earl of Rone." In English Vernacular Performing Arts in the Late Twentieth Century: Aspects of Trends, Influences and Management Style in Organisation and Performance. 282-301. PhD dissertation, Department of Arts Policy and Management, The City University, London, 2000.

Chope, R. Pearce. Devonshire Calendar Customs. s.l., 1938.

Coxhead, J. R. W. Old Devon Customs. Exmouth: Raleigh Press, 1957. Devonshire Association. Transactions of the Devonshire Association 49 (1917): 74-5.

Dundes, Alan. "Metafolklore and Oral Literary Criticism." The Monist 50 (1966): 505-16.

Moser, Hans. "Der Folklorismus als Forschungsproblem der Volkskunde." Hessische Bliitter fiir Volkskunde 55 (1964): 9-57.

Newall, Venetia J. "The Adaptation of Folklore and Tradition (Folklorismus)." Folklore 98 (1987): 131-51.

Tongue, Ruth L. The Chime Child or Somerset Singers. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1967.

Tugwell, Revd George. The North Devon Scenery Book. London: Simpkin, Marshall & Co., and Ilfracombe: John Banfield, 1863.

Wade, Z. E. A. Pixy-led in North Devon. London: Marshall Brothers, 1895.




Wittgenstein, Ludwig. Remarks on Frazer's Golden Bough, ed. Rush Rhees. Translated by A.C. Miles, revised by Rush Rhees. Doncaster: Brynmill Press, 1979. Originally published as "Bemerkungen tiber Frazers Golden Bough." Synthese XVII (1967): 233-53.

Biographical Note Tom Brown holds a Masters degree and a Doctoral degree from the City University (London), Department of Arts Policy and Management. He was formerly Secretary of The Folklore Society and has worked as an arts manager for the English Folk Dance and Song Society, in local government, and in a freelance capacity. Together with his wife Barbara, he engages professionally in traditional folksong performances, and runs workshops on traditional song, specialising in West Country material.



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"The Hunting of the Earl of Rone." The Emergence of "New" Folklore Motifs: Individual Creativity and...

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