Skimmington
Encyclopedia
A skimmington, or skimmington ride, is a traditional custom comprising a public demonstration of moral disapproval of an individual or individuals. The form of the demonstration, and the reasons for it, varied between different places, but the general intent was public humiliation of the victim(s). A skimmington generally took the form of a rowdy parade
with effigies of the victims or people dressed up to represent them; in some cases the individual(s) themselves were forced to participate. Skimmingtons were typically noisy affairs, with rough music
made by the clattering of pots and pans.
region of England, and although the etymology is not certain, it has been suggested that it derived from the ladle
used in that region for cheesemaking, which was perceived as a weapon used by a woman to beat a weak or henpecked husband. The rationale for a skimmington varied, but one major theme was disapproval of a man for weakness in his relationship with his wife. A description of the custom in 1856 cites three main targets: a man who is worsted by his wife in a quarrel; a cuckolded man who accepts his wife's adultery
; and any married person who engages in licentious conduct. To "ride such a person skimmington" involved exposing them or their effigy to ridicule on a cart, or on the back of a horse or donkey. Some accounts describe the participants as carrying ladles and spoons with which to beat each other, at least in the case of skimmingtons prompted by marital discord. The noisy parade passed through the neighbourhood, and served as a punishment to the offender and a warning to others to abide by community norms; Roberts suggests that the homes of other potential victims were visited in a pointed manner during a skimmington. According to one citation, a skimmington was broken up by the police in a village in Dorset as late as 1917.
The antiquary and lexicographer Francis Grose
described a skimmington as: "Saucepans, frying-pans, poker and tongs, marrow-bones and cleavers, bulls horns, etc. beaten upon and sounded in ludicrous processions" (A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1796).
In Warwickshire, the custom was known as "loo-belling", and in northern England as "riding the stang".
During the Western Rising
of 1628–31, which was a rebellion in south-west England against the enclosure
of royal forest lands, the name "Lady Skimmington" was adopted by the leader of the protest movement. According to some sources the name was used by a number of men involved with the Western Rising, who dressed in women's clothes not only as a method of disguise, but also in order to symbolise their protest against a breach of the established order.
, on the Greensand Way
at grid reference TQ238498. The Skimmington Castle pub is nearby.
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
with effigies of the victims or people dressed up to represent them; in some cases the individual(s) themselves were forced to participate. Skimmingtons were typically noisy affairs, with rough music
Rough music
Rough music, also known as ran-tan or ran-tanning, is an English folk custom, a practice in which a humiliating and loud public punishment is inflicted upon one or more people who have violated the standards of the rest of the community...
made by the clattering of pots and pans.
Origins, history and form
Skimmingtons, or variations on them, are recorded in England as far back as the 17th century, and the practice is also recorded in colonial America from around the 1730s on. The term is associated particularly with the West CountryWest Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
region of England, and although the etymology is not certain, it has been suggested that it derived from the ladle
Ladle
Ladle may refer to:* Ladle , a serving device, typically for soup* Ladle , a foundry ladle used to carry and pour molten metal...
used in that region for cheesemaking, which was perceived as a weapon used by a woman to beat a weak or henpecked husband. The rationale for a skimmington varied, but one major theme was disapproval of a man for weakness in his relationship with his wife. A description of the custom in 1856 cites three main targets: a man who is worsted by his wife in a quarrel; a cuckolded man who accepts his wife's adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
; and any married person who engages in licentious conduct. To "ride such a person skimmington" involved exposing them or their effigy to ridicule on a cart, or on the back of a horse or donkey. Some accounts describe the participants as carrying ladles and spoons with which to beat each other, at least in the case of skimmingtons prompted by marital discord. The noisy parade passed through the neighbourhood, and served as a punishment to the offender and a warning to others to abide by community norms; Roberts suggests that the homes of other potential victims were visited in a pointed manner during a skimmington. According to one citation, a skimmington was broken up by the police in a village in Dorset as late as 1917.
The antiquary and lexicographer Francis Grose
Francis Grose
Francis Grose was an English antiquary, draughtsman, and lexicographer. He was born at his father's house in Broad Street, St-Peter-le-Poer, London, son of a Swiss immigrant and jeweller, Francis Jacob Grose , and his wife, Anne , daughter of Thomas Bennett of Greenford in Middlesex...
described a skimmington as: "Saucepans, frying-pans, poker and tongs, marrow-bones and cleavers, bulls horns, etc. beaten upon and sounded in ludicrous processions" (A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue, 1796).
In Warwickshire, the custom was known as "loo-belling", and in northern England as "riding the stang".
During the Western Rising
Western Rising
The Western Rising was a series of riots which took place during 1626-1632 in Gillingham Forest on the Wiltshire-Dorset border, Braydon Forest in Wiltshire, and Dean Forest, Gloucestershire, in response to disafforestation of royal forests, sale of royal lands and enclosure of property by the new...
of 1628–31, which was a rebellion in south-west England against the enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
of royal forest lands, the name "Lady Skimmington" was adopted by the leader of the protest movement. According to some sources the name was used by a number of men involved with the Western Rising, who dressed in women's clothes not only as a method of disguise, but also in order to symbolise their protest against a breach of the established order.
In art and literature
- The Late Lancashire WitchesThe Late Lancashire WitchesThe Late Lancashire Witches is a Caroline era stage play, written by Thomas Heywood and Richard Brome, published in 1634. The play is a topical melodrama on the subject of the witchcraft controversy that arose in Lancashire in 1633.-Performance:...
, a play by Thomas HowarthThomas HowarthThomas Howarth was an English cricketer who played for Derbyshire in 1873.Howarth was born in Glossop, Derbyshire and became a cotton weaver. He played for Derbyshire in the 1873 season in one first-class match against Lancashire in August, scoring seven runs in the two innings...
and Richard BromeRichard BromeRichard Brome was an English dramatist of the Caroline era.-Life:Virtually nothing is known about Brome's private life. Repeated allusions in contemporary works, like Ben Jonson's Bartholomew Fair, indicate that Brome started out as a servant of Jonson, in some capacity...
, features a horseback skimmington ride prompted by a woman who seeks greater independence - In Samuel ButlerSamuel Butler (poet)Samuel Butler was a poet and satirist. Born in Strensham, Worcestershire and baptised 14 February 1613, he is remembered now chiefly for a long satirical burlesque poem on Puritanism entitled Hudibras.-Biography:...
's HudibrasHudibrasHudibras is an English mock heroic narrative poem from the 17th century written by Samuel Butler.-Purpose:The work is a satirical polemic upon Roundheads, Puritans, Presbyterians and many of the other factions involved in the English Civil War...
, the central character encounters a skimmington in a scene notably illustrated by William HogarthWilliam HogarthWilliam Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"... - A skimmington is depicted in a plaster frieze in Montacute HouseMontacute HouseMontacute House is a late Elizabethan country house situated in the South Somerset village of Montacute. This house is a textbook example of English architecture during a period that was moving from the medieval Gothic to the Renaissance Classical; this has resulted in Montacute being regarded as...
, which dates from the Elizabethan era, and shows a man mounted on a pole, carried on the shoulders of others - A skimmington forms a well-known scene in Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
's 1884 novel The Mayor of CasterbridgeThe Mayor of CasterbridgeThe Mayor of Casterbridge , subtitled "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a tragic novel by British author Thomas Hardy. It is set in the fictional town of Casterbridge . The book is one of Hardy's Wessex novels, all set in a fictional rustic England...
. Effigies of the mayor and Lucetta, a former lover, are paraded through the streets on a donkey by a noisy crowd when rumours of their prior relationship surface. Lucetta, now respectably married to Henchard's rival Farfrae, collapses in distress and humiliation, miscarries her baby and dies.
Related place names
Skimmington is the name of a small village in SurreySurrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, on the Greensand Way
Greensand Way
The Greensand Way is long distance walk of in southeast England, from Haslemere in Surrey to Hamstreet in Kent. It follows the Greensand Ridge along the Surrey Hills and Chart Hills. The route is mostly rural, passing through woods, and alongside fruit orchards and hop farms in Kent and links...
at grid reference TQ238498. The Skimmington Castle pub is nearby.
External links
- DarkDorset.co.uk: Skimmington Riding (Several examples given in detail)
- Exclassics.com: online text of Hudibras by Samuel Butler, 1805 edition Part 2, Canto 2, lines 565–844 describe the mock-heroic attack by Hudibras and his squireSquireThe English word squire is a shortened version of the word Esquire, from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer"...
Ralpho upon the skimmington (not named as such in the text) and their ignominious escape - Samuel Butler (ed. Henry G. Bohn, with notes from Grey and Nash) Hudibras Vol 1, p. 196, (1859) Annotated edition The footnote describes a skimmington, and likens it to examples from PlutarchPlutarchPlutarch then named, on his becoming a Roman citizen, Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus , c. 46 – 120 AD, was a Greek historian, biographer, essayist, and Middle Platonist known primarily for his Parallel Lives and Moralia...
and JuvenalJuvenalThe Satires are a collection of satirical poems by the Latin author Juvenal written in the late 1st and early 2nd centuries AD.Juvenal is credited with sixteen known poems divided among five books; all are in the Roman genre of satire, which, at its most basic in the time of the author, comprised a...
. It also states that "The details of the Skimmington are so accurately described by the poet, that he must have derived them from actual observation." - Archive.org: John Brand, The Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, (1905 edition) pp. 551–552. Several early examples of skimmington rides and similar unnamed customs between 1562 and 1790, including one in Seville (1593)
- Archive.org: John Brand, The Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, (1905 edition) p. 563. Descriptions of Riding the Stang