Barlaston Wassail

Where: Barlaston Green, Staffordshire - Village Walk starting at Barlaston Green Carpark on Longton Road
When: 31st December
Time: From 9.30 to midnight

 

Barlaston Wassail is a unique recent custom, and one which celebrates our heritage; it was founded in 2004 by Tim Cockin as a charity fundraiser and also because many local settlements have Anglo Saxon origins. Now there’s a mummers’ play featuring Father of the Village, Beornwulf, with St Chad and King Wulfhere, sometimes performed on a couple of dates prior to the Wassail as well as on New Year’s Eve. 

The night itself begins with the walk starting at Barlaston Village Green Carpark at 9 pm for  9.30. The walkers carry twelve Saxon-themed banners, one for each month of the year. Verses to the Anglo Saxons depicted are read at intervals. When the walkers reach the Upper House (an hour later), the mummers play is performed. Then – at the Duke of York, Longton Rd – more mumming, the raffle and a fire finale, now with a burning longboat! Then the event becomes a sort of procession to the tree on the village Green for midnight. Everybody gathers round it to dance and sing Auld Lang Syne.

Helpful Hints

 Check the Facebook link below for full schedule with approximate times, and for any changes.

2024 details are yet to be announced but likely to follow a similar pattern to previous years.The 2023 schedule for Sunday, 31st December was: WALK – 9.30pm (the Village Green carpark, Longton Road, Barlaston, Staffordshire, ST12 9AA). PLAY 1 – 10.40pm The Upper House grounds  Play 2 & FIRE FINALE – 11.20pm outside the Duke of York AULD LANG SYNE – 11.55pm Tree-on-the-Green Barlaston’s own folk custom in its 19th year. Come and join us for the night WALK, then the impromtu PLAY, featuring volunteers, telling the tale of how the village got its name, woven into the story of the murdered Anglo-Saxon princes of Stone, culminating with a FIRE FINALE roasting on a funeral pyre outside the Duke of York. A procession down to the Village Green follows joined by lots more people in a ring round the tree outside the old school, singing AULD LANG SYNE at midnight.
From 2017 the walk returned to the countryside, as pre-2013, and is approx. 2 miles. Bring appropriate boots/ torch etc as it can be muddy underfoot. Late-comers and non-walkers may wait along Upper House drive. There is no entrance fee but raffle tickets will be on sale for fundraising (12 prizes, plus the winner’s name ‘inscribed’ on our collection of 12 Famous themed Tankards). As well as the Duke of York, there is another inn, Plume of Feathers, 1m away, for after-midnight drinking. 

Click here for the event Facebook pages: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5589088387835680/

https://www.facebook.com/BarlastonWassail?fref=ts

4 photos by Tim Cockin, others by me.

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