A blog from Robin Jeffries, Visitor Services Officer
Our marsh family at Toad Hole Cottage, Ludham lived in Victorian times (that’s a long time – 1837-1901). Though it was a period full of change in the outside world, when it came to day-to-day life in the cottage, many aspects probably continued in a familiar way, as they had done for decades if not centuries.
Activities and traditions very much followed the pattern of the year, life may mainly have moved at a slower pace, and they were perhaps more conscious than many of us of daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal changes in nature. In the domestic world, throughout the year, many dominant tasks related to food – growing or obtaining enough of it, preparing and cooking it. Though marsh families were actually better off than some in the countryside as there were different marsh occupations throughout the year. Every season had its saints’ days, traditions, superstitions and celebrations, and as with many such things there are many variations.
Spring is a time of beginnings and renewal in the natural world, with Easter in March or April following suit. Work and food were closely allied to nature and the western Christian calendar, with celebratory foods centred around spring (Easter) and winter (Christmas) – as many still are. Perhaps in summer and autumn they were too busy on the land and on the water, and maybe food was more plentiful and the weather was warmer, so there was less need for buns and cakes to fill you up, keep you warm and keep you going!
As many dates relate to Easter and Christmas, our order here relates to Easter this year (with Good Friday on 18 April).
A day for high winds or Winnol weather – you were advised not to sow seed on this day – it would not grow.
Pancake Day! The church bell would be rung to prompt people to make their pancakes. (Shrove comes from shriven, meaning to be absolved following confession.)
The ashes from the preceding year’s palms were burnt and blessed and used to mark a cross on the foreheads of the parishioners. Coquilles (pronounced ‘cook-eelers’) were the traditional Lent fare sold and eaten on this day. They were sweet buns, flavoured with nutmeg. The name may relate to the shape of tin used (like a shell).
The first quarter day when payment of rent was due; tenancies were renewed or terminated.
Children in service were given the day off to visit their mothers. They would present their mothers with nosegays (little bunches of flowers) and were rewarded with a dish of frummety (other similar names are also used) – simmered wheat grains with milk, egg yolk and sugar.
Beware practical jokes!
Pussy willow was used as a substitute for palm to decorate marshland churches.
Alms (money, food or other goods) were distributed to the poor from the church porch.
Hot cross buns were eaten. Pace eggs (hard-boiled eggs painted with natural dyes) were given and blessed. It was the traditional day for planting potatoes as the devil had no power over the soil on Good Friday.
The belief was that the sun danced for joy in remembrance of the resurrection, and people got up early and gathered to see this marvel at sunrise. The Lent fast ended and meat and eggs could be eaten again. Tansy cakes were also eaten, but they were more like an omelette than a cake. The bitterness of the tansy served as a reminder of Jesus’ suffering. Tansy was also supposed to kill off worms that had built up in the gut after eating fish all through Lent. So religion and practicality were happily combined. Warning: don’t try this at home – or anywhere else! Tansy is mildly toxic.
The Pace eggs were rolled in races downhill. Soul cakes, made with yeast and mixed spice, were baked for the poor. There were Easter fairs at Norwich and Great Yarmouth, where you could buy gingerbread ‘fair buttons’.
The day for divination. If an unmarried girl sowed hemp seed at midnight while chanting a song about hemp, then her future husband would appear mowing with a scythe. Those who would die before next Easter appeared in the churchyard at midnight.
Men collected money from women for various church and parish charities.
Women collected money from men!
Maypole dancing took place on the village green. The Queen of the May was elected and would lead a procession to the church to present a garland. May Day carols were sung by children in a door-to-door procession and girls dressed their dolls in their finest clothes and paraded them in return for pennies.
A sermon about Balaam’s ass forecasted the mackerel season. Mackerel come inshore to spawn in spring and the congregation would head off to the coast.
The ceremony of beating the bounds took place on any one of these days. A procession walked the parish boundary to familiarise the young with it by beating local landmarks with willow wands – literally beating the boundary into them.
A time for festivities.
The usual day for celebrations by village clubs and friendly (benevolent) societies. Society members would process to church wearing ribbons in the colours of their society, with a banner at the front.
The two-day Ludham Fair began. The evening of a fair day was the traditional time for courtship.
St John’s wort was gathered and hung round doors and windows to protect against evil and thunder. At one time it was a day for midnight bonfires, to ‘smoke’ the home from outside, as further protection. Burning groundsel offered the best protection.
One of the quarter days when rent was due.
If it rained, it would rain for 40 days. Yarrow that was cut and stuffed into a pillow on this day would bring happiness to the lovers who used it.
The harvest or horkey tide began with this festival. The men would meet at the pub from four onwards for their annual ‘wet’. People would carry some pennies to ‘bestow a largesse’ (generous gift) upon them.
Harvest home and horkey suppers. After the last or horkey load was brought into the farm bearing a kern baby (a figure made of corn) with it, the farmer would throw a supper for workers and neighbours. After the supper, there would be door-to-door begging for ‘largesse’ by the men.
September was ‘shacktime’ when beech mast (like nuts) was collected and women and children claimed their right to glean the fields after the harvest. Mothers relied on the money made from shacktime to buy their children shoes.
The traditional day to collect nuts.
This was during the herring season. The Dutch herring fleet set up a Dutch market on Great Yarmouth beach.
Another quarter day when rent was due, but it was also the day when the landowner held the annual audit. Traditionally the landowner was expected to provide a feast for all the tenants – goose was popular.
The Ludham ‘Mop’ and Sutton ‘Trot’ hiring fairs were held. Men were hired by landowners for the coming year, daughters were hired to go into service and contracts also ended. A ‘fastening penny’ was given to the employee to secure a new contract and was usually spent immediately at the fair. There was a week off for hired men living in and a day off for everybody else.
It was a time to take all precautions against witchcraft.
The traditional day to slaughter and salt the family’s pig. Children would go ‘souling’ for soul cakes.
The day for bonfires and burning guys.
The day to hang the salted meat in the chimney to smoke and dry.
He was the patron saint of East Anglia.
Children went ‘clementing’ for apples and pears.
Children went ‘Catterning’ for Cattern cakes. These were a bread dough made with yeast and caraway seeds, with cinnamon as an optional extra.
Walls were decorated with holly and ivy. A ‘kissing bough’ hung in the centre of the room – metal hoops decorated with greenery, apples and candles, with mistletoe underneath. Landlords provided tenants and labourers with frummety flavoured with rum. It was the last of the quarter days when rent was due, but for this day the landlord would often offset some of the cost with some free coal.
Wildfowling took place, with beating work available for children (beating reeds and bushes to scare birds into flight). Repps held its ploughing contest.
The belief was that everything attempted on this day (the massacre of the holy innocents in the Bible) would go wrong.
Church bells rang at midnight to herald the New Year. Pea soup and God’s kitchel cakes were served. Pea soup was a popular dish in the Netherlands, from where it may have originated – a variation of it is known by the Dutch as 'snert'. Norfolk pea soup is made with split peas, smoked bacon hock, vegetables, herbs and ginger. Kitchel cakes were a Suffolk speciality – triangular cakes made with puff pastry, currants, candied peel, ground almonds, cinnamon and nutmeg.
It was the day for ‘first footing’: the first foot to pass through the house should belong to a dark-haired man to ensure good luck.
It was the start of the period of wassailing apple orchards, asking God for a good harvest.
Plough Monday was the first Monday after Epiphany. It was the day for men to return to work after Christmas. ‘Plough money’ was collected by the plough boys in a door-to-door procession. Those who didn’t give risked having their gardens ploughed up.
The day for women to return to work after Christmas.
After sunset, the oldest woman of the household had to banish ague (symptoms similar to malaria) from the home by reciting a charm up the chimney.
This was the time to take down Christmas decorations. Oat cakes were eaten.
Candles and rush lights were consecrated and taken in a procession to protect against evil spirits and storms.
Jack Valentine left gifts for children on the back doorstep in the evening.
It’s interesting how some of these traditions persist to this day, often in a slightly different form, as with Valentine’s Day. Most people’s lives are different now, but some things have ‘come back’, the focus on local and seasonal produce, home cooking rather than convenience foods, plant-based health and care products, and an interest in aligning with the natural world.
If you visit Toad Hole Cottage, you can find out more about life on the marshes. In the garden there's a panel (with QR code to audio version) to tell you a bit about the marshman’s year. To find out about local food and drink today, the Beccles Food and Drink Festival provides a good introduction. You can find out about it in our Food for thought blog.
- The Cookbook of Unknown Ladies, 18th century
- A Country Compendium by Godfrey Baseley, 1977, originally published by Sidgwick and Jackson
- The East Anglian Magazine 1957-62
- Liber Cure Cocorum, c1430
- Nall’s Glossary of East Anglian Dialect, 1866, Larks Press reprint 2006
- Secrets of East Anglian Magic by Nigel Pennick, 2004, Capall Bann Publishing
- Traditional Dutch
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