CUSTOMS & FOLKLORE - ENGLISH MAYPOLES

By Tom Chambers

From here the practice of ribbon dances was taken throughout the country and taught  to primary school children. Much of this ‘school’ maypole dancing derives now from  the book Maypole Dancing by W. Shaw (re-published 1954) which, incidentally, does not claim ribbon dances to be of English origin (but neither does it state their original sources). 

Readers who may have seen French or Basque dance teams, such as those back at the 1976 Teesside Eisteddfod, will have seen their ribbon dances using a portable pole.

A member of the audience (in her ignorance) was heard to say “Just like our own English ones”!  In fact, ribbon dances similar to these were possibly seen by Ruskin on the continent, and then imported by him into England.

The true English Maypole is at least 30 foot tall, and sometimes as high as 100 foot (much too high to deck out with ribbons for ribbon dances). Pelynt (Cornwall) claims to have erected the highest English pole, a monster of 110 foot. These poles are, as a rule, permanently erected on the village green or some open space. Nearly all are painted white and decorated with red and blue strips … sometimes in vertical sections, but more often in narrow ‘barbers pole’ spirals. 

The pole at Nun Monkton (just west of York), is unusual in that it is painted with green spirals, while that at Withington (Gloucestershire) is plain white. Otley in Yorkshire is plain light grey, the same colour as the town’s lamp posts. Otley is probably the largest place to have a permanent pole; unfortunately it now has a sign fixed to it pointing the direction to the public toilets!

There is another group of completely undecorated poles, which are roughly confined to the northern highland zone of England. These include a large group in the Wharfedale district, two in what is now Cumbria (at Milburn and Temple Sowerby), and one in Teesdale at Ovingham. 

In the Wharfedale grouping, those at Long Preston and Kettlewell are painted, but these were erected relatively recently - the one at Kettlewell for the 1951 Festival of Britain, and the one at Long Preston to complement the nearby Maypole Inn.

Nearly all the English maypoles are topped with weather vanes, and a great number have sheet metal foxes at the top as the wind direction pointer. One of these is the famous pole at Barwick-in-Elmet (just east of Leeds). This is one of the few maypoles to be used in some seasonal ceremony (not counting the ‘Ruskin-ised’ maypoles which are used for ribbon dancing). This 2 ton, 89 foot tall giant is taken down once every third Easter Monday and re-painted in white with red and blue spirals; its four bell shaped garlands, which hang about 60ft from the base, are also rebuilt. 

These garlands are about 19 inches in diameter and have a wire frame covered with cloth rosettes of red, white and blue. Ribbons with bells hang from the bottom of each garland. When the pole is re‑erected on the Spring Bank Holiday Tuesday these bells tinkle in the breeze. In the centre of each garland is suspended a wicker basket with flowers inside. 

Because of the size and weight of the Barwick-in-Elmet pole, the re-erection process requires some 100 or so men to carry the pole to its hole, push it in with ladders, and pull it with guy ropes into a vertical position. Earth is then tightly packed around its base so that it stands firmly for the next three years. As a climax to the raising of the pole, a man climbs up the pole to release the guy ropes, and then completes the climb to the very top to spin the fox weather vane.

The packed earth method of fixing a pole is the most common, but some poles, particularly the new tubular steel poles such as that at Welford-on-Avon, have hinged brackets (similar to those used on flag poles) to aid the re-decorating process.

The symbolism of maypoles and their hoop and spiral garlands is of course sexual, and English maypoles quite probably originated as a fertility rite to assist crop growth during the critical time at the start of the growing season. 

The knowledge of this symbolism is certainly pre-Freudian and was known to John Cleland (the author of Fanny Hill in 1749). A similar interpretation was used by Hargreave Jennings in his interpretation of Rosicrucian symbolism in the late 19th century.

All a far cry from gallumping ribbon dancers, but then, they are so pretty!