Horncastle: Old Bolingbroke Candle and Pin Auction

The candle and pin auction at Old Bolingbroke was until recently one of a handful of survivors of an ancient method of selling which involves the auctioneer taking bids whilst a candle with a pin stuck though it burns; when the flame reaches the pin, it falls out and whoever placed the last bid wins. In this case the property up for rent was a six acre grass pasture called the Playing Field ; the auction was most recently held at the Black Swan at nearby Horncastle and run by Robert Bell & Co, the local auction house. It appeared as Lot 1 in their annual sale of Summer Keeping; this was held traditionally on the last Thursday in March so that the grazier could turn cattle onto the land when the grass started growing in April, and the tenure lasted until the end of October. As it was part of a sale dealing with agricultural lettings, you could expect a (small!) farming crowd. The origins of the sale appear to be lost in the mists of time, but the revival had been going for several generations with only a brief break or two.

Helpful Hints

Thursday is Market Day in Horncastle and  Robert Bell & Co ran the auction since 2009 up to 2019 – earlier printed sources may well give different details for the sale as it had changed slightly over time and experienced more than one revival. Depending on the positioning of the pin, the whole auction lasted a fairly brief time- around quarter of an hour in 2019, including 4 other lots of grazing, which were knocked down whilst the candle was burning. It was held at a nice friendly pub and there’s a free public carpark just behind it, as well as the official pub carpark.

In 2019 it was held on Thursday March 28th -when I last inquired there were no plans for future auctions as the land has been set aside for wildlife conservation and rewilding. No auctions have taken place since 2019 due to overgrazing of the field, and of course covid restrictions would have meant the field would have needed to be let by another method during lockdown. I’ve been checking with Old Bolingbroke Parish Council, the lessors, and there are currently no future plans to let the land again – perhaps this will only be another break in the long tradition but for now the custom has lapsed.

Click here for the sale website: http://www.robert-bell.org/