Blankney Feast 1847

Around the middle of the the 19th century it was always a tradition that the village celebrated the annual Blankney Feast. Details of the event, held in 1847, were recorded in the book, Henry Chaplin a Memoir, written by his daughter the Marchioness of Londonderry.

Among the old customs which still survived at Blankney was the Blankney Feast, and a record has been kept of one of these held in 1847. The first event is "seven shillings to be run for by donkeys" (best of three heats). We can picture the future M.F.H. and owner of Hermit, at six years old, astride a donkey, urging his mount with youthful zeal and precocious judgement to the winning post; or perhaps coerced by a stern nurse to content himself with backing the favourite - as much as he could see of it over a thoughtless barrier of the voluminous skirts of the period. Other items in the programme include "A cheese to be won by men jumping in sacks", and "A pig with a soaped tail, to be run in all classes by boys under fourteen years of age: to be caught by the tail and dropped over the shoulder". The final item in the programme is "five shillings for a jingling match to last twenty minutes"-for which entertainment the reader may consult the pages of Tom Brown's Schooldays. So serious and sportsmanlike were the whole proceedings under the direction of the Squire, that a steward and a clerk of the course were appointed, and "no dogs or cats allowed on the course by order of the steward or whom he may appoint".

Footnote
A ' jingling match', referred to above, was a game played as follows:
A suitably large area would be roped off and a nominated number of competitors would be placed within the playing area, all blindfolded, except one. The player not blindfolded would carry a small bell, which he would ring, at the same time trying to avoid being caught by one of the blindfolded players. Presumably, the competitor who evaded capture the longest would be declared the winner.