Note 45 — CHARLTON HOUSE, KENT.
Reading edition
There are several wild traditions—and some of them not very delicate—concerning its origin. It is said to have been the result of an intrigue of King John with the wife of a miller: but the more probable origin is, that it was symbolic of the Ox of St. Luke, by which he is usually distinguished in ancient paintings, and to this Saint the Church of Charlton is dedicated. The Fair is now held on St. Luke’s day, the 18th of October, and the minister had a bequest of twenty shillings for preaching a sermon there. It was formerly kept upon a green opposite the Church, and facing the Mansion. At this fair were sold various articles formed of horn, such as drinking cups, &c., and horns gilded were sold and worn by the frequenters; during the reign of Charles the Second, it was a carnival of the most unrestrained kind, and persons used to start from London in boats, disguised as kings, queens, millers, &c., with horns on their heads, and men dressed as females, who formed in procession and marched round the church and fair. In the time of Brand, he tells us that the folks assembled consisted “of a riotous mob, who, after a printed summons dispersed through the adjacent towns, meet near Deptford, and march from thence in procession through that town and Greenwich to Charlton, with horns of different kinds upon their heads; and at the fair there are sold rams’ horns and every sort of toy made of horn, even the ginger-bread figures have horns.” In “Pasquil’s Night-cap, or Antidote for the Head-ache,” 1612, a poem by Nicholas Breton, a long and curious history of the annual meeting for the inauguration of these horns is given, as it used to be held in great pomp and with an immense concourse of people, all of whom
“In comely sort their foreheads did adorne, With goodly coronets of hardy horne;”
but he ends by telling us that—
“Long time this solemne custome was observ’d, And Kentish-men with others met to feast; But latter times are from old fashions swerv’d And grown repugnant to this good behest. For now ungratefull men these meetings scorn And thanklesse prove to Fortune and the horn, For onely now is kept a poor goose fair, Where none but meaner people doe repair.”