What's a Rushcart doing at Saddleworth?
What's a Rushcart doing at Saddleworth?
I come from the deep south of England (Sussex) and way up North in Yorkshire and Lancashire they have some strange traditions.
One of the more exciting ones is pulling a two-wheeled cart through the villages of Saddleworth.
Not just the cart but a cart loaded high with bundles of rushes together with a Morris Dancer perched on top.
It is a spectacular site.
Rushes (A bit like straw) originally were used as a floor covering in Churches and were relaid each year. As time went on the re-laying of the new rushes became an excuse for festivities.
Villages would decorate a horse-drawn cart and parade it through the village, ending up at the Church.
Fast forward to this century the villages of Saddleworth no longer have a horse pulling a cart but about a hundred plus Morris Men. Also, the bundles of rushes are very well stacked as a very high tower and one volunteer a [http://www.saddleworthmorrismen.co.uk/] Saddleworth Morris Man is perched on the top for the spectacular journey through the villages. He is the Jockey but can do little to steer the cart, more on this later.
But that is not enough, they invite Morris Dancing teams from across England to join them. There is some bonus in doing that. All these Morris Men can help pull the cart up the hill and down dale.
Starting at Uppermill on the Saturday they pull the cart to Greenfield, then back to Uppermill. After lunch they visit Delph, Dobcross and Diggle villages. At each one there is a grand display of Morris Dancing and at least a pint of beer (maybe more if there's time).
The whole place is heaving with people. Only Morris folk in costume are allowed to pull the cart but the public line the streets and gather in large numbers at each of the dancing spots. They too seem to get very thirsty so the local pubs do a roaring trade.
There is quite an art in pulling a two-wheeled cart especially with a man perched on top.
We talk of pulling but as we all know, what goes up eventually goes down.
So we may start by pulling the cart up a hill but when we come downhill the men on the Stangs (that's the long bar you can see in some of the pictures) behind the cart have to work hard to stop it racing away with itself.
That's not all.
Keeping the cart level is a challenge.
It's OK on the level everyone is holding the stangs at waist height.
When going uphill those at the back have to raise the stangs above their head.
Going downhill the ones at the front then need to raise them above their heads. Sounds simple but after a few pints and brisk walking for a long while a frantic shout every now and then from the Jockey is quite essential.
Going round bends is also fraught with difficulties. If the lads at the front cut the corner the cart would crash into whatever could not move. So a wide swing is needed.
At the end of Saturday, the teams split up and visit local hostelries. We went to a Tapas bar and having decided that we had drunk too much beer, drank wine instead for the rest of the evening.
Sunday morning, up with the Larks and ready to go again at 9.30, up a long, very, very steep hill to the Church. I'm sure some of those who should be pulling were just hanging on and trying to stay upright. However, we got to the top. Sunday, unlike sunny Saturday, was raining but the show went on.
The Church was packed, including the gallery. The walls of the Church were festooned with the previous year's banners. This year the banner pinned to the front to the rushes was commemorating 100 years since the end of the first World War.
Rushes from the top of the cart were spread on the aisles and lusty singing accompanied the hymns.
After the service there is normally outdoor games as well as more Morris Dancing. However the weather was not too kind so the field wrestling, gurning and worst singer contests were abandoned.
The outdoor dancing was done mainly in the Church with just a few hardy souls dancing outside. This included the world famous Britannia Coconutters[https://www.coconutters.co.uk/] who finished off the afternoon entertainment.