Lent Crocking was an old Dorset custom that used to take
place on Pancake Day. It was similar to ‘trick
or treat’ although some would say it was ‘just blackmail’.
Boys would gather in the evening and parade through the
villages each armed with a collection of relics of broken pots, washing pans,
jugs, dishes & plates. The broken pots originally signified that as Lent
was beginning they were of no use. A lead youth would step forward and knock on
a door. As William Barnes wrote:
‘When the door is opened, the hero, who is perhaps a farmer’s boy, with
a pair of black eyes sparkling under the tattered brim of his brown milking hat
covered with cow’s hair and dirt like the inside of a blacksmith’s nest, hangs
down his head and with one corner of his mouth turned up into an irresistible
smile pronounces in the dialect of his county.’
‘I be come
a-shrovin’
Vor a little
pankaik,
A bit o’ bread o’
your baikin’.
If you’ll gi’ me a
little, I’ll ax no more
If you don’t gi’ me
nothin’
I’ll rattle your
door.’
If
disappointed, the youths would pelt the front door with broken crockery and
other missiles. This chant would vary across the county and on Portland it was:
‘Slit, slat, sling,
If you don’t give
me a pancake
I’ll make your doors
ring.’
An enterprising headmaster encouraged his pupils to throw
wood which he used to supplement his pile of wood to be burnt for the winter
heating of his house. It is reckoned the custom of Lent Crocking dated back to
Roman times. However, the practice started to die out when the victims started
to resort to legal action. In an early case, two young girls were fined six
shillings (30p) costs as well as eight shillings (40p) damages which were payable
to the widow, Harriot Cooper.
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