May 16.]
Reading edition
Norfolk.
May 16.]
Norfolk.
In the parish of Rockland, annually on the 16th of May, a sort of country fair is held, called by the villagers the “Guild,” and which is evidently a relic of the Guild of St. John the Baptist, held here in St. Peter’s Church before the Reformation. On this occasion a mayor of the Guild is elected, and he is chaired about the three parishes of Rockland, and gathers largess, which is afterwards spent in a frolic. There is another antique custom connected with the guild which yet obtains: the inhabitants of certain houses in the “Street” have the privilege of hanging oaken-boughs outside their doors (and their houses are thence called “bough houses”), and on the day of the guild they draw home-brewed ale for all customers, and are not interfered with for so doing, either by the village licensed publican or the excise authorities.—N. &. Q. 2nd S. vol. vii. p. 450.
