Rush Bearing is now only a name. The ancient custom has
rapidly died out, and the fair which used to be the accompaniment
has in turn become the principal, and is now showing the symptoms of
rapid decay.
The old custom, spoken of by the "oldest inhabitants" with a
lingering regret at the degeneracy of those latter days, has survived in
Lymm much longer than in any of the surrounding parishes. In Thelwall
and Warburton there is no indication that such a custom ever existed,
yet the "oldest inhabitant" in those parishes can remember
when it was otherwise and the memory of the happy times by those well on
in the seventies is recalled by a sigh. Lymm , therefore, has held by
the custom long after her neighbours, and the fact that Rush Bearing is
dying out so quickly must be owing to the school master and the
influences which follow in his train.
The time for the holding of the feast is fixed on the Saturday preceding
the second Sunday in August. On that day it was a custom, established no
one knows how long, but certainly maintained within the memory of many
now living, to build a "Rush cart." This work for many
generations was the exclusive right of the Cheetham family, who were
also the sextons and bell ringers of Lymm Church. The church wardens for
the time being collected the necessary funds from the parishioners, the
four principal publicans always "being good for a sovereign
each," and it was a part of the duty of the said wardens to have
the four grey horses properly decorated with garlands. In return for
their services, they had their initials "pricked" in the back
of the rushes. It was also the duty of these officials to
have certain garlands made and carried on top of the Rush cart,
wherewith the church was decorated. These, strange to say, were hung in
the sacred edifice in very prominent positions and remained until they
made way for their successors at the following Rush Bearing.
Each of the four public houses in the village claimed in rotation the
right of having the cart built at their premises and it rested with the
farmers to find the grey horses. The last time this was in "proper
style," old Tim Newell of Agden, found the horses and for several
years afterwards, when grey were not forthcoming, old Mr Hanky, of
Statham found two black horses. Grey horses could not be accepted from
Statham as the old saying had it "Lymm greys and Statham
Blacks." These horses were dressed according "ancient
custom," with paper flowers and wreaths of the brightest colours,
and from the collars lofty arches of these bright flowers were sprung to
which were attached, and also round the collars, a large number of
bells.
When the cart turned out the Morris dancers dressed somewhat after the
style of Saturday last [Rushbearing
1889], followed, and a brass band Moorish chant, to which they
danced all day long. Living memory hath it that Thornley's band, of
Warrington, was the last that did ample justice to the festive occasion.
Every lane in the village was duly perambulated. The gentry in those
days were very hospitable, and a s a consequence as the day wore on the
procession became jolly, not to say rollicking, and by the time
Oughtrington Bridge was reached it too several attempts to get he horses
with their precious load between the battlements of that wretched
structure.
At eight o'clock on Saturday evening the cart was timed to reach Lymm
Cross, when the parishioners assembled and accompanied the cart to the
church. Here the garlands were removed and placed in the church, the
many now living remember the rushes being strewn on pathway through the
graveyard and placed in the aisles of the church, to the delight of
occasional frogs that found their way in during he night, and the terror
of lady worshippers at matins and evensong on the following day. A
little nearer our time the cart with its rushes was taken possession of
in turns by the publicans after its peregrinations, and those who wished
to see it had to pass through the premises, and have something to drink
"for the good of the house."
As a matter of course these festivals were always taken advantage of by
the strolling player. Living memory being limited, Snake's, Green's, and
Powell's Theatres were those that carried the last burden of entertaining the
villages, with such exciting performances as "Maria Martin,"
"Blue Beard," &e.
Public taste having degenerated, the place of the theatres were taken by
"Aunt Sallys", swings, and dobby-horses, and Humphrey
Cornwall, we are told, made a fortune with these latter.
The dobby-horses of those days were very primitive as compared with the
complex steam mechanisms(?) of to-day. A thing that represented a
horse was fastened to the end of an arm, a dozen of which swing on a
central pivot and the lads who were idly standing by were encouraged by
the proprietor "to give them a push." This was the dobby-horse
of the period. Some few year ago the Rush cart dropped out of the show
and a very determined effort was made under the leadership of George
Hall (whose public services can never be forgotten in Lymm) to resuscitate
it , but the thing could not live. The elements in human character must
change with the times, and the railway has connected Lymm with the great
cosmic monuments(?) of our day, and as a result the elements are wanting
on which the pageantry of half-a-century ago throve and fattened. After
Mr. Hall's effort came a donkey cart bearing the rushes, but this so
lacerated the feelings of the old people who remembered the thing
typified in its palmiest days, that the effort was not repeated. When
degeneracy starts it normally hurls itself rapidly to its connumeration(?)#,
and the donkey cart culminated in a coal wagon, drawn by a couple of
lads from Broom Edge bedecked with ribbons. This survived for two years
, and, alas, this year the thing has "gone stark out." So the
beginning of the end has come. When Mr. Hall took the matter up, with
his usual public spirit, the Local Board in the interest of business
tried to clear the road round the Cross from obstruction, and the action
caused the fair to be divided. It went first to Stanfield, but Mr. G.
Read, to test the question, put up a stand in the village. The matter
proceeded with, as the Board found that they had not the sympathy of the
public in doing away with the stands, but the fail r has never recovered
from that unfriendly blow. Now the main part of the fair has been
carried to a field up Pepper-street. The feeling of those who hoped
against hope in that the inevitable must come, and that the fall off
this year has been the most marked for a generation. The Non-conformist
and other excursions which denude the village of its inhabitants on the Monday
is largely responsible for the change which has been brought about, and
a day at the seaside is certainly preferable to the orgies of
half-a-century ago. |