Today is Plough Monday - Molly Dancing Tradition at Hockham Green Tonight 7pm

Today is Plough Monday,  the first Monday after Epiphany (The 12 days of Christmas). In the past on Plough Sunday it was common for the vicar to bless the plough...the men who will use it...and the work it would accomplish in the coming year. Farmers resumed their work on the following Plough Monday. It was a day when ploughmen traditionally marked the end of the Christmas period for the agricultural communities. The first records of it date from the 1300s.  Before the reformation there are records of the burning of plough lights, maintained in churches by guilds of dancers, in several Norfolk  churches. There is also the Norfolk 'Plough Pudding' which is a boiled suet pudding, containing meat and onions which was traditionally eaten on the day.

As agricultural work was scarce in the winter, farm labourers disguised themselves, by blacking their faces with soot, to get money by dragging a decorated plough around the the village. As they dragged the plough they would shout out "Penny for the ploughboys!". In east Anglia molly dancers often accompanied the plough, with the farm labourers to dance and entertain for money, they also blackened their faces with soot to disguise themselves so they could not be recognised by their future employers. This tradition is still kept alive in Wayland at Great Hockham, tonight it starts from the village green at 7pm, with the blessing of the plough and  molly dancing by the Hockham Clodhoppers. All the money collected on the night goes to charity.

You can find more information on Plough Monday on the following links:
http://www.ploughmonday.co.uk/
http://freespace.virgin.net/peter.millington1/PloughMonday/Origins.htm
http://greathockham.org/MollyDancers.aspx 

Visit to see Hockham Parish Records at the Norfolk Historic Environment Record and Air photography library at Gressenhall on 23th August 1.45pm

Visit to the Norfolk Historic Environment Record and Air photography Library at Gressenhall, to look at material from the Parish of Hockham. 8 places available, please book now sue@wayland.org.uk meet at Gressenhall 1.45pm.

The Norfolk Historic Environment Record exists to provide a record of all areas of known archaeological activity, sites, finds, cropmarks, earthworks, industrial remains, defensive structures and historic buildings in the county. The record is held on a computerised, searchable database with integrated digital mapping. Alongside this are further, more detailed, paper records, maps and drawings for many of the sites and finds.

The Norfolk Air Photography Library is housed at the offices of Norfolk Landscape Archaeology and is open to the public by appointment. The library contains over 85000 images of Norfolk, and consists of a number of collections. The largest of these contains over 40000 photographs taken by Derek A. Edwards between 1974 and 2000. These are images taken of archaeological sites throughout the county and provide an excellent record of Norfolk's heritage. 

The archives are housed within Norfolk Landscape Archaeology, which shares the same building as the Gressenhall Rural Life Museum. As you go into the courtyard of the museum you go right to the far wing of the building.

Hockham Hall and Church

Come to the Hockham Horn Fair Sunday 30th May

The Hockham Horn Fair dates from a charter granted by Henry III in 1272 for a fair to be held each year. The fair starts around midday. There will be local stalls, refreshments and activities going on as well as entertainment including maypole dancing and molly dancing. Come and see the Hockham Horn Dance preformed. You can find out more about this historic fair on Chris Garrod's Great Hockham website.

The Hockham Horn Fair 23rd May 2009

You can find out more about this historic fair on Chris Garrod's Great Hockham website.