Local Customs

The Whitsuntide Procession
Whit Sunday or Whitsuntide is the name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Easter, when the descent of the Holy Spirit is commemorated. This would place it in May or June. In early times it was one of the stated times for baptism. Those to be baptised would put on white garments as a symbol of purity.

Whitsuntide parades started in 1867 (see Timeline) at a time when Sunday Schools (for Christian teaching and values) were increasingly popular. It was a big event locally. Throughout the country it was held as a walking parade for Sunday schools, of which there were plenty at the time, with the children and their families. Locally, it was probably the most important community event of the year. Children would often be bought new clothes ready for the occasion, or at least attired in their 'Sunday best.' Uncles, aunts and grandparents would all take part and dress well for the occasion.

Thurlstone Brass Band would lead the procession and the vicars, ministers or priests would stop the procession from time to time for a prayer or hymn. Every church and chapel had its own banner, proudly held aloft by the stronger members. The banners were colourful and ornate. The procession would be all the way from Penistone to Millhouse Green or in the reverse direction, a long way for the smallest children, although people often joined or left the parade as necessary.

Preparations for the Whitsuntide Walk would go on for months. Although principally for Sunday schools, with their ornate banners, it would be attended by schools, churches and chapels and proud families. Aunties, uncles and grandparents would all be there and some might travel far to be there to see their relatives. The Sunday schools would take the lead in rotation each year and it was considered a great honour. After the event, children might go back for organised teas and games.

The Government 'Abolished' Whitsuntide
Whitsuntide was popular with churchgoers and non-churchgoers alike, and everybody turned out to watch or be in the parade. The nearest equivalent in modern times would be the Penistone Parade. 'Whit Monday' was kept as a Bank Holiday until 1971 when it was replaced by the Conservative Government by 'Spring Bank Holiday' on the last Monday of May. In effect, it was as though the Government abolished Whitsuntide and then the parades just fizzled out. What a shame, as they were grand events, and within living memory.

On this page are two 1933 pictures of the crowd in Thurlstone waiting for the Whitsuntide Parade to come by, with more on the Old Pictures page.
What happened to the banners?

Penistone Parade Weekend
Penistone has always had parades of one sort or another, such as Whitsuntide, VE day, the end of war, a passing visit by a King and Queen and various Royal milestones. There was even a Cycle Parade around 1913 but that is long forgotten now. It is likely that the Penistone Parade (now Penistone Mayor's Parade) followed on as a replacement for the Whitsun Parade referred to above but, in the 1990s, it became more of a community weekend with more events than just the Parade.

In the 1970s, the Parade started in the town centre, down Shrewsbury Road to Sheffield Road, through Spring Vale to return via Green Road. Then it variously passed either through the council estate of Victoria St., Ward St, or straight up Green Road to Mortimer Road. The route seemed to change year on year.

The route now is from Talbot Road (near the Police Station), up St Mary's Street past the Royal British Legion, along Market Street where pub-goers will raise a glass or two, along High Street and Mortimer Road, up Clarel Street, around Bluebell and Park Avenue, back on to Market Street, down to St Mary's Street roundabout and on to the Showground via the lower field entrance by Tesco for judging. This means that the Parade goes twice past the bulk of the cheering observers on Market Street and those outside the Royal British Legion.

Penistone Parade is now fixed on the second Sunday of June, all organised by Penistone Town Council with the current Mayor deciding the theme and involved in the planning. The Round Table might be called upon by PTC to help run and marshal the Parade, which also includes managing traffic flow, and they will receive a generous donation of several thousand pounds to reward them and cover costs. The Round Table always do a good job and deserve our thanks. The theme has been anything from a Royal Jubilee to Film and TV Characters. However, the intrusion of party politics into Town Council business has led to an element of 'wokeness' in the event. In 2025 the theme was 'Pride' - which was a little controversial and did not please everyone. Some had suggested a return to a more traditional theme.

As 'Parade Weekend,' the format stayed the same for a while with a lively brass band and choral performance in the afternoon and rock band in the evening, the performances taking place in a Showground marquee with a bar and toilets. Cheapskates could listen for a while from a convenient bench seat on the Trans-Pennine Trail but it's a hard bench and they don't stay for long. The format was quite successful but did not stay constant and this might have been because of the Covid pandemic disruption. Now it might vary but the weekend will start on Saturday with some sort of entertainment, possibly in the Market Barn, and perhaps a children's race. The Sunday Parade is followed by a Gala on the Showground, or there might possibly be a smaller event in the Market Barn. Parade Weekend is a magnet for visitors to Penistone and the local population enjoy supporting the occasion.

Over time the Parade has changed but usually consisted of dressed-up children from various schools on the back of slow-moving trucks ('floats'), Scouts and Guides, Local companies, Farmers, Thespians, Fire Engines, Vintage Vehicles, Mountain Rescuers, and more. Unfortunately, the 'claims culture' and over-zealous 'elf and safety' protocols seem to have diminished the number of children riding on trucks. The trend has moved towards such as Marching Bands and more people on foot, although floats of some sort are always a feature.

Whatever its format, the Parade Weekend is well-supported and always something to look forwards to.

Penistone Feast
Nominally, the Penistone Feast was to celebrate the Feast of Saint John the Baptist. From 'Huddersfield Exposed' (edited): Penistone Feast was traditionally held on the weekend following 24th June, the Nativity Day of the saint for whom Penistone Church is dedicated, Saint John the Baptist. The date is also called 'The Feast of St John' and hence 'Penistone Feast.' It often included athletics and musical events such as 'Penistone Sing' which lasted right up to the late 20th century. Local custom has farmers beginning their haymaking on the first day of the Feast before attending the evening church service.

Country feasts in the old days were grand affairs. Chris Heath's book 'Denby and District IV' (p124) gives some insight into feasts and fairs as popular entertainment events in the 19th century. The early attractions would have had fortune tellers, Punch & Judy, waxworks, freak shows, jugglers, fire-eaters, illusionists and peep shows. There would also have many dodgy and opportunist characters hanging around to pick pockets or con the public. Chris describes typical refreshments as hot peas, gingerbread and nuts but we could definitely assume that a few beers would have been consumed too. I wonder if they had hot jacket potatoes. This was a long time before the invention of candy floss, chips and burgers.

From 'Bygones of Penistone' a Barnsley Chronicle column written by JW Penistone (1964), both Shrewsbury Road and the Church square were fully occupied by Penistone Feast. One Feast Sunday tradition was for families within easy distance to come home for Sunday tea. The railway company put on special trains from Manchester for this purpose (and for Penistone Show), from as cheaply as one shilling return.

In those hardier times, Feasts would have been popular diversions from the hard work of the day and when people normally worked for six days of the week. Mechanised funfairs would have been uncommon in those days but perhaps a simple carousel, roll-a-penny, shooting gallery and some boxing were possible. You can imagine the strapping farm lads volunteering to take on the fair's boxer or trying to beat them in the tug-o'-war. We might gain some insight into the 1934 Feast Weekend from Huddersfield Exposed historical website, referring to a Sheffield Independent report on the Penistone event (published 2nd July 1934):

Whatever 'Penistone Feast' might have been originally, it was eventually supplanted by the travelling funfair and its date became disconnected from the original Feast of St John had included Penistone Sing and Penistone Music Festival.

Certainly from the 1970s and probably long before, it was Marshall's Funfair in our area. From the noughties, Tuby's Funfair of Brighouse replaced Marshall's and it still holds funfairs twice a year (nominally), in the Spring and Autumn. The picture here is from a particularly cold day but it would normally have been much livelier. It is still sometimes called 'Feast Weekend' by local people.

St John's Festival and Penistone Sing
Saint John is unusual in the church calendar in that it is his birth ('Nativity') that is commemorated rather than his death. In some countries, the Festival of St John is celebrated on St. John's Eve, 23rd June. Penistone Church still holds a St John's Festival each year, to commemorate the Saint to which the church is dedicated. It has a range of stalls and the visitors can visit the tower to see the bells, clock and bell-ringers.

From 1885/6 until the late 1960s or early 1970s, Penistone Church organised 'Penistone Sing' on the first Sunday after the Feast (or 'Nativity') of St John. Most Facebook entries on the subject favoured the location as the old Vicarage lawn in fine weather and Penistone Church if wet, with Arnold White as secretary and taking donations. Another entry suggested it taking place on land near the Showground (as I had thought).

Penistone Music Festival
A music festival occurred at about the same time, presumably in connection with the other St John's events. It was often held in the open air behind the Town Hall. Later, it went on to become the Penistone Competitive Music festival and moved to the last Saturday of September each year, latterly at Penistone Grammar School. Unfortunately, it was announced in February 2019 that Penistone Music Festival would come to an end after years of successfully running under the guidance of Mr David Wilkinson as Secretary. There had been a problem in getting someone to take over the position from Mr Wilkinson.

The Sing
This too went into decline and disappeared. Various reasons were talked about, lack of support, a run of bad weather, poor advertising, etc., but it might simply have been the disconnection between St John's Feast Weekend and the schedule of the travelling funfair which had taken over the actual Penistone Feast (see above). On its own, the Sing was not a big enough event and was attended mostly by a subset of the dwindling and largely elderly congregation of the time. Rumours of its return continue to resurface from time to time as though it was thought to be a worthwhile tradition. See the 1880s timeline for more background to the Sing.

Penistone Annual Folk Festival
A Penistone 'Annual Folk Festival' was intended to be a Sing replacement as an annual event, but Barnsley Council's haphazard Market Barn booking system allowed a clash of bookings between an Artisan Fayre and the proposed Folk Festival. A first Folk festival was a success but, In the end, the second Annual Folk Festival was cancelled. Then it looked to be finished, although other folk events have taken place in the Market Barn and Chris McShane keeps the flag flying for folk music. See the Folk Festival Page.

Good Friday Flour Ceremony
This Good Friday tradition has continued for more than three centuries in Penistone. Easter is an official holiday time in the UK, with both Good Friday and Easter Monday as Bank Holidays. The name of Easter comes from the Saxon 'Oster,' meaning 'To rise' as an important date on the church calendar to commemorate the resurrection. In Penistone, Bags of flour are handed out to fulfil 'doles' by Penistone Mayor to the 'Poor of the Parish of Penistone' in Penistone Church's 'Sensory Gardens', following a family service in Penistone Parish Church. These doles fulfil the ancient charitable bequests in support of the 'poor of the parish.'

In 1559 William Turton (landowner of Denby) bequeathed a legacy of 'One Quarter of Rie to the Poor of the Parish of Penistone' every Good Friday, from the church porch, presumably by the Reverend. This is written on a large panel which can still be viewed in Penistone Church.

The picture below shows Penistone's Mayor of 2011, Cllr Carol Bradbury handing out the flour with the Bishop of Wakefield, the Right Reverend Stephen Platten in attendance. An open service took place half an hour later in the Market Barn on a bright, sunny day. This was possibly the first time that the then-new Market Barn was used for a public event which wasn't actually a market.

The West Riding Directory of 1837 has details of the doles (read the penultimate paragraph above in the graphic): 'Three Yearly Doles belong to the poor of the parish, viz., one quarter of rye, left by Wm. Turton, in 1559, out of a farm in Hoxley Gate, in Denby; 26s. 8d. left by Edward Booth, out of lands at Dean Head, near Hunshelf; and 20s. left by Wm. Rich, in 1673, out of lands at Hornthwaite.'

Mr Turton's rye was changed to flour in 1905 (Penistone Almanac 1907) and given out in the porchway of Penistone Church. From a regular Barnsley Chronicle column written by JW Penistone, 'Bygones of Penistone' in 1964, he remembers the flour being given out in the church porch and there is an old picture which has appeared on the Archive Group's Facebook showing this. In our time of plenty, we must try to imagine just how terribly poor many people were in those days, long before the Welfare State. The flour donations would have been very welcome.

The ceremony moved from the church porch to the steps at the churchyard entrance on Shrewsbury Road. Then to the Girls' National School on Church Street (which is now 'Busy Bees' children's nursery) when the Overseers of the Poor were responsible for the distribution. After the Town Hall had been built in 1914, the flour was given away on the Town Hall steps, possibly by the Council Clerk. Mr Penistone says (1964): 'Now, the Rating Officer acts as Almoner and the ceremony takes place on the Town Hall steps but no longer is a grover's scoop used to serve out the flour.' The flour would no longer be rye flour but ordinary wheat flour in 1 lb. bags.

After 1974, Penistone Urban District Council became Penistone Town Council under 'Local Government Reorganisation' and Penistone acquired a Town Mayor. Following improvements to the lower end of the graveyard around 2008 to make it a 'Sensory Garden,' the Ceremony moved there and became a mayoral duty, with the reverend providing spiritual support. Now in the 21st century, the tradition continues. It is conducted by Penistone Mayor in the churchyard with the clergy, preceded by a short service in the church. The flour is now very kindly contributed by Penistone Tesco through its community liaison.

Maundy Thursday 'Ale and Cake Day'
But the poor of Penistone now miss out on another freebie, 'Ale and Cake Day.' From 'Bygones of Penistone' (November 1964), Mr Penistone refers to: 'A curious tradition from the Trustees of Shrewsbury Hospital in the gift of ale and cake to the value of six shillings and eight pence, to be given on Maundy Tuesday.' Children would line up each side of 'New Road' (Shrewsbury Road), with girls on one side and boys on the other. The landlord of the Rose and Crown would provide a tiny tot of ale and a small piece of cake for each child. Some time between the 1837 Directory and the early years of the 20th century, the bread had become cake (or even a current teacake, which sounded like a compromise).

A photo on Facebook shows a group of people outside the walls of Penistone churchyard next to the south entrance where a banking rises above the road. There is a mixed group of 29 children standing on the road (no pavement at that time). A line of men four stands behind them on the banking, carrying jugs of ale and a basket. A further line of seven children leans against the church wall above them. Everyone has a hat or bonnet on of some sort.

The caption read: 'Ale and Cake Day Maundy Thursday Discontinued 190(x)' with the last digit cut off in the picture but Mr Penistone thought that the tradition had died out around 1911, with the Ale and Cake funds transferred to the Turton charity for the flour ceremony.

'Spaw Sunday'

"Spaw" is the old Yorkshire word for 'Spa' and, on the first Sunday of May, 'Spaw Sunday' is an annual gathering at Gunthwaite Spa (a well) which dates back centuries as one of the oldest local customs. It is also known as 'The taking of the Spaw Watter' (for good health). Gunthwaite Spa lies about two miles north of Penistone (OS: SE 2431 0614) and its waters are supposed to have miraculous restorative powers, if taken in the morning. One old report stated that the waters could cure scurvy and baldness. A 1980s newspaper report said that a grandmother with arthritis and a spinal disease made a great improvement after visiting the Spa over a two-week period. Within three years she was 'Fit as a fiddle'.

Old reports describe the event as a meeting of both 'gentry and peasantry' in the middle ages. As most people worked in the fields during daylight hours and for six or more days a week, it would have been a welcome moment of joy (and drunkenness) before returning to the working week. A procession to the Spa would be led by a band and clergy. The festivities would have included a blessing of the well by clergy (as in the present day), with music and beer but at one time in the olden days it became so boisterous and drunken that the gentry actually banned it for a few years.

In the early 17th century, bathing in the cold 'chalybeate' spring waters was thought to bring good health but this custom goes back much earlier than that. Originally, the water at Gunthwaite Spa came from a spring emerging by a little stream in rough undergrowth bordering the road. A later improvement was to fix an iron pipe through a wall with a metal cup hanging on a chain. Drainage was primitive and the imbiber would have to stand in a pool of spa water to fill the cup. This arrangement also suggested the possibility of bathing. They would have shrugged off the effects of cold water in those harder times as they would have been accustomed to washing themselves in cold water.

The metal pipe eventually corroded and the cup became battered and worn. Around the 1990s, the spa was renovated again. This time, it was set apart from the road and tidied up with a neat stone surround. As we were entering a health-conscious age, Barnsley MB Council's health inspectors tested the waters and declared it 'fit to drink'. Actually the water is very clear and pure and easily drinkable but its taste might have a hint of 'rotten eggs', with a mildly sulphurous smell, something to do with its silver content, albeit at safe levels. In the modern age, the brass band has played in an off-road position and someone used to provide tea and biscuits but regulations might have interfered with all that.

Gunthwaite Spa (From 'A History of Penistone' by JN Dransfield, 1906, page 110)
The surrounding country is lovely, and lying as it does, midway between the populous city of Sheffield, and towns of Barnsley, Huddersfield, Halifax, and Bradford, and with other cities and towns not far away, a more convenient, attractive, and healthy situation for a hydropathic establishment, or consumptive sanatorium, it would be difficult to find. It is a district typical of rural England. Woodsome Hall, Bretton Hall, Cannon Hall, Wentworth Castle, and Wortley Hall and Wharncliffe, are all within a few miles drive.

For what reason, or on what account it came to pass, I cannot say or learn, but the first Sunday in May has been immemorially held to be the opening day of the Spa, and bands of music, from various places, — as many as seven have been known to be there at once, — and stalls, &c., for refreshments, together with the numerous crowds who attended, made the occasion like a fair, and at last gave rise to such trespassing and unseemly conduct, that some thirty or forty years ago an end was put to such gatherings. Probably it was originally one of the seats of the disports of the middle ages in which both the gentry and peasantry joined, particularly at the returns of May-day, Whitsun tide, and Midsummer.

"Gunthwaite Spa Sunday - Ancient Mysterious Custom," a special article so headed in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, of May 3rd, 1904, is very interesting, and the following are extracts therefrom : — 'Once every year Gunthwaite Spa has greatness thrust upon it. It has no ambition of its own. It has been in existence as long as the memory of man can travel back, and had been there as long before the mystery and wonder of the district. But it has no history. What little is known of it (and that amounts to next to nothing), has been handed down by word of mouth from father to son, through many generations. People who have gone on pilgrimage to it regularly for years know little more about it than those who, like our representative, visited it for the first time yesterday. It has a spring of water in which the people of the district have wonderful faith. They look upon it as a sort of cure-all; but if you are to be cured you must drink of the waters on one special day in the year — the first Sunday in May. On other days the spring is just water. But on the first Sunday in May it becomes miraculously charged with all kinds of powers and properties, and people flock to it from far and near.

'Most of the pilgrims brought bottles or cups with them. They "supped " the water, made faces, and filled their bottles for their friends. One old lady, after handing a cup to her daughters, asked what they thought of it. One expressively described the water as "muck," and another said it tasted like "rotten eggs." The "rotten egg " description seemed to be the favourite, as though people in those parts are familiar with their taste. An old lady assured me the water was good for scurvy. Inquiries I made in Penistone were not very productive. But I learnt that the water is supposed to come from a mine in which there is supposed to be or to have been silver." It may be observed that at Ronscliff, in Cawthorne, near by, a silver mine was worked many years ago, and from one pound of ore eight ounces of silver were obtained. A silver tankard made from the ore is still in the possession of the Shirt family.'

It is stated that an old work records that the Spa, "for scurvey, inflamations, liver complaints and other diseases has proved effectual," and also contains the following account of a celebrated cure effected by it in olden times:

John Woodcock Rayner
"There's one old lady that nearly was kill'd
With scurvey, but it has her heal'd;
She tried all plans, she went to Spas,
And spent so much, there's no one knows;
For twenty years she suffered much,
But all she got would not it touch,
Till happy day ! when she began
To use this water (none such ran),
For now she is from scurvey free,
As any person need to be."

The band would have played in an off-road position and people would sit around enjoying the music. As a communal event it is often well attended, if largely unknown to many local residents. In 2011 perhaps fifty people turned up, watched the well being blessed and tasted the waters, followed by sitting around chatting to people in the sun. then a number of them would walk to the George Inn, along the road at Denby. The brass band would put in a performance at the pub. In good weather, it is the perfect excuse for a pleasant walk from Penistone. If attending, take a folding chair, a flask of tea and a sandwich.

The Boundary Walk
This was called the 'Beating the Bounds' as a very old tradition throughout the land, going back even to pre-conquest times. In the olden days, the positions of parish boundaries were very important as they marked the grazing limits and which parish a person might belong to; important to how paupers would be treated. Disputes often erupted between adjacent communities which could lead to fighting or even death. A boundary dispute between Holmfirth and Thurlstone had such an end in the days when the land between Holmfirth and Thurlstone was mostly moorland and not well-defined. The justice system at that time had depended on the status of the complainants. After some deliberation by the authorities, nobody was charged with the murder (see History Timeline 1524).

Beating the Bounds would be a parade led by the parish priest and church officials with villagers old and young walking around the parish boundary. ‘Rogationtide’ has long been the traditional date but the 1878 Penistone Almanack preferred 'Ascension Day', described thus: 'In early times set apart in honour of our Lord's Ascension into heaven. On this day the parish boundaries are frequently perambulated.'

Rogation Sunday is the more commonly quoted day for this event, the fifth Sunday after Easter. The smaller village boys (including choirboys) would have been beaten at each boundary stone or bumped into the stone so that they would never forget the boundaries or where the boundary stones were located. Prayers would be said for protection and blessings on the land. Perhaps no prayers were said for rapid convalescence from the bumps. The tradition is well explained on this Kent website but can easily be found elsewhere.

Penistone's Charity Boundary Walk is organised by Penistone Round Table. It starts and finishes at Cubley Hall with a fee requested towards the charity fund. A boundary map is on display in the car park of Cubley Hall. It is not often on Rogation Sunday but might be a random date in April or May as a charity event. Neither is it led by the parish priest, and the children probably won't be beaten at such boundary posts as are still remaining. Although the event has changed somewhat, it helps keep an old tradition alive in a different form. Local boundary walks take place around Oxspring, Penistone and Thurgoland. See Visit Penistone for a Penistone Boundary Walk map.

Penistone Community Bonfire
Thirty barrels of gunpowder were discovered in a cellar beneath the House of Lords, to be exploded on the occasion of the opening of Parliament, with the King as the main target. The 'Gunpowder Plot' was abandoned after a conspirator revealed the plans. His brother-in-law would have been killed in the explosion. Guy Fawkes was tortured to reveal names and other information, although he bravely resisted as much as possible to give his co-conspirators time to flee. Having signed a confession, he was put to death. The Gunpowder Plot had been a reaction to the persecution of Catholics in England. It would have changed the course of English history, had it killed the King and others. A law was passed requiring bonfires to be lit and church bells rung throughout the land on 5th November each year.

Although that law was repealed, the bonfire tradition continues to this day, although the actual custom had been eroded in some ways. Most people will know this famous poem relating to the Plot.

Of course, this is a national event but Penistone always does a good job of Bonfire Night. It might also be called Guy Fawkes Night but never 'Fireworks Night' (RT please note), as that 'Loses the Plot,' literally. Please see the link to Bonfire page below, for much more about the history and our local efforts.

Remembrance Sunday

This is, of course, a national tradition and can be found in cities, towns and villages throughout the land. Most places will have a War Memorial. Penistone War Memorial was erected in 1924 but, perhaps surprisingly, new ones have appeared in the district in recent times. A new Old Boys War Memorial, to remember the fallen alumni of Penistone Grammar School, was set up in 2012 near the car park entrance of newly-built school (Friday ceremony before Remembrance Sunday). The original WW1 Memorial had been a carved oak tablet associated with a memorial bookcase in the library of the earlier school which was demolished.

A new Thurlstone War Memorial stone was commissioned following the formation of 'Thurlstone Community Group' in 2011. The stone had been donated by Roger Hunt of Hillside Quarry, designed by Jim Millner (stonemason and landscape gardener) and the lettering inscribed by Elizabeth Stokoe. It was inaugurated on Sunday 4th May 2014 and the focus for the Thurlstone Remembrance Ceremony of November 2014. A new Thurgoland War Memorial was also erected and inaugurated in 2015. There is a lot of detail about the Thurgoland fallen on the 'Weebly' page.

Penistone Remembrance Day continues to be well-supported and does not show any signs of diminishing. The procession starts from (Upper) Back Lane by the Bowling Club (not the other Back Lane by the Market Barn). Led by Thurlstone Brass Band, it proceeds along Park Avenue and Market Street to Shrewsbury Road and meets with the rest of the community near the War Memorial outside Penistone Church. It includes British Legion personnel, Penistone Mayor, Councillors, Cadets, Penistone Scouts & Cubs and members of the public. It also includes serving members of the armed forces when they are available.

The names of the fallen are commemorated and words of Remembrance uttered. As the clock chimes eleven o'clock, two minutes of contemplative silence follows, to be concluded by a bugled 'Last Post'. Wreaths are laid on the Memorial base. The procession and public then proceeds into Penistone Church for the indoor Remembrance Service. After the service, the procession re-convenes and heads down St Mary's Street towards the Royal British Legion, for restorative beers. In recent times, there is also a Remembrance Ceremony at Penistone Grammar School, on the Friday before Remembrance Sunday; attended by pupils, teachers, councillors and the Principal. PGS has a permanent memorial to its alumni fallen, near the car park entrance.

Penistone Show
Not so much a custom as a phenomenon. This has a long history (see Timeline 1854) and its location has has moved around a bit. It was for a time held on what we now call Watermeadows Park (by the viaduct) and on fields near Church View Road. Its settled home is now 'The Showground', a recreational area donated to the people of Penistone many years ago. The Show has had several near-misses of being nearly cancelled for a number of reasons. Some were the Foot & Mouth Disease, BSE in cattle and even a gun siege in the 1980s. Then the Covid-19 pandemic came along and stopped it in 2020, achieving something that few other events have.

Parking is always a problem in Penistone and the Town Centre (Tesco) Car Park is time-limited. That is not enough either for Penistone town centre or Penistone Show but the show sensibly arranges for its own parking on the field. Employees of Tesco will turn away any Show visitors trying to use the sign-posted Penistone Town Centre car park (owned by Barnsley Council but run by Tesco). Penistone Show parking will be clearly sign-posted and marshalled an Penistone has easy access by railway. See Location.

Yorkshire Day
This was never been a big event in Penistone and local shops do not always take any trouble to dress up their windows. However, 2006 was a different story when Penistone was chosen to host the event for the whole of Yorkshire. It certainly put us on the map, for a while.

The nobs came from all over Yorkshire in their publicly-financed finery and gold chains. Just about every mayor and council dignitary was in a procession and Penistone Church. Unfortunately the weather was not kind and, being on a working day, it was poorly supported on the streets. On the other hand, the church was completely packed out and some people had to watch from the vestibule, including yours truly. Then they all traipsed off to Penistone Grammar School (the old version) for a traditional roast beef and Yorkshire pudding meal, again financed by their own communities. In spite of the weather, it was a good day. See Penistone's 2006 Yorkshire Day.

Penistone Arts Festival
Arts Groups in Penistone
There are two notable arts groups in the area which both came from from 'Penistone & District Visual Arts Group.' Hens' Teeth puts on 'Art at the Altar' in Penistone Church each November, and Pennine Artists hold their 'Artisan Fayres' in the Market Barn each year. Both events are well-supported and both have plenty to see. You might expect some cross-over of vendors at both venues. A story doing the rounds was that one group had a more commercial outlook while the other had more of a pure art motive. As both groups hold events where their works are for sale, it seems likely that this distinction might have diminished. Similar craft fairs with some of the same people take place at Yummy Yorkshire (Ingbirchworth) and Silkstone Church each year.

Penistone Literary Festival (Pen-Lit Fest)
One event which looked like becoming a solid annual tradition was Penistone Literary Festival (aka 'Pen-Lit'), which put on a series of workshops and talks by authors, some of which were free and others charged for. It was well-supported by the local public but then put on hold for 2017, with the hint that it might re-appear in 2018. In fact it never come back. This is an event that is just begging to be re-started, as the actual 'Arts Week' has plenty of art but is not strong on the written word. There are several local authors to tap into.

It had attracted some notable and well-known poets, writers and personalities, such as Gyles Brandreth, a versatile and perma-tanned entertainer; also the 'Bard of Barnsley' Ian McMillan; the comedian and folk singer Mike Harding, and an ex-PGS scientist, Dr. Kukula, who has even appeared in 'The Big Bang Theory' - a popular US TV comedy series. The notable local author, Jacqueline Creek has also appeared. Jackie used to run the Spring Vale fancy dress shop when she wasn't writing stories.

Penistone Arts Week (PAW)
An attempt was made in 2008 to establish an annual Penistone Arts Festival in association with the now-defunct 'Penistone and District Community Partnership' (PDCP) and with a connection to The University of Huddersfield but it somehow failed to gain any traction and fizzled out. You could say that it died in gestation. The intention had been to put on a wide range of artistic mini-events, including some rather innovative and interactive musical artworks in the churchyard but an apparent lack of co-ordination or perhaps 'More Chiefs than Indians' in its organisation kyboshed the progress.

Nothing was heard for a few years until 2017 with a new artistic initiative by Penistone Ward Alliance (funded and influenced by Barnsley Council), which has includes the BMBC councillors for the Penistone district, several PTC Councillors and a scattering of representatives from local community groups. This was for a new 'Penistone Arts Week' to be held in March 2018.

The new event was launched on 18th March 2018 at Generations Café in a drop-in afternoon tea. It was a week of artistic events including workshops in pottery, painting, night photography, with poetry walks and open microphone sessions, culminating in 'An Audience with Willy Russel' (otherwise titled 'Educating Rita Meets Educating Yorkshire') on 24th March 2018 and hosted by Channel 4's Johnny Mitchell, star of the award-winning documentary, 'Educating Yorkshire.' The Paramount showed two popular Willy Russell films, 'Educating Rita' and 'Shirley Valentine' to support the new festival. Some events were also associated with the Barnsley-based 'Hear My Voice Festival' which is a three-year project of creativity, poetry and words, managed by Barnsley Museums. The contact was the Chair of Penistone Arts Week, Chrissie Yates.

The event returned in March 2019 but spread its wings geographically wider than before. It included a travelling art exhibition by Thurgoland Primary School, bell-ringing at Wortley church, singing with a ukulele accompaniment at St Andrew's, a creative writing taster in Penistone, a talk about charitable giving, the story behind the 'No Horizon' play in Thurlstone, a 'Tai Chi and Mindfulness' taster in Penistone, a Hen's Teeth workshop in Penistone, a family yoga session in Penistone, 'The Buskin Buddies' at Wortley church, 'Lunch with Christa' in Penistone in Cubley Hall (television's popular Christa Ackroyd), 'Music in the Garden' at Spring Vale, poetry in Cawthorne Museum, a Folk Ensemble Concert at St Andrew's church. Top of the bill was a talk about the Barnsley film 'Kes' by its author Dai Bradley with a Q & A session.

Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented these events from taking place in 2020 and 2021 but the organisers have kept up appearances on social media, Penistone Arts Week (Facebook), and have kept it going in 2022 and beyond. With a full booklet of events the 'week' part of the title has been kept going but is more likely to be over perhaps ten days or more. It would be a ten-day event for 2026.

Christmas and New Year
A Merry Christmas from Penistone

Christmas used to start a week or two before Christmas Day (not October as the TV adverts would have you believe). The trimmings went up on the 6th December, followed by the Christmas tree. Sometimes the children might make some trimmings at school with gummed paper rings in a chain. A place would be found for some holly leaves and the red berries, presumably for good luck. That is an old tradition. A sprig of mistletoe might also be pinned to the ceiling for uncles and dads to try their luck. It was unusual, until recent times, for anyone to put decorations outside the home, except for an occasional Christmas wreath on the door but, these days, it is not unusual for a few fairy lights to appear outside the houses. In some cases, they are something like Blackpool illuminations, but it is all good fun and helps to put people in the right spirit.

In the days before LEDs, the Christmas fairy lights would have to be checked for blown bulbs. There would always be one or two. It was part of the fun for children to dress up the tree with baubles and not forgetting a traditional fairy on top. Some of the baubles might have been old family heirlooms. The presents would have been wrapped up and hidden away from prying eyes. And an old dressing gown would go in the wash (nuff said).

Carol Singing
Right up to the end of the 20th century, and probably a bit beyond, groups of carol singers would call door-to-door in the week or two before Christmas. They would usually sing only one verse, if you were lucky, of a popular carol. Perhaps a very rushed and garbled "We Three Kings". They would want to get in as many houses as possible, as time meant money. The smaller children would have an adult with them to make sure they sang properly. A popular carol for young songsters might be, 'Away in a Manger.' The chant which always followed it was:

Then it would be: Bang, Bang, Bang, Bang on the door (to make it shake) and you would give them a few coins. The cheekier kids might think you did not notice them singing and would just bang on the door anyway, so that you would give the benefit of the doubt and they would be on their way to con the next householder. Ah, but then you would ask them to actually sing something and watch them become flustered and colour up. It would be rare for them to know any verse in its entirety.

You don't get many visits by carol singers these days, maybe just one or two, if you are lucky, and they might be community-organised. In recent years, Penistone Round Table has gone around the streets with their Santa on a sleigh (a special trailer behind the car), raising funds for charity. They raise a lot of money this way and put it to good causes.

Of course, there are plenty of organised carol services in our area in churches and other venues. Very rarely these days, you might find the Salvation Army Band on a random street corner. Thurlstone Brass Band also plays in the open around Thurlstone near Christmas-time.

Family Celebrating
Of course Christmas has always been a time for family members to come together, culminating in the main event, Christmas Dinner, eaten in the afternoon of Christmas Day with beer or wine. These days, we might go out for a drink first. The dinner would typically be goose or turkey with stuffing, roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy. In 1588, Elizabeth I ordered her subjects to eat goose for Christmas dinner to celebrate England’s victory over the Spanish Armada and that tradition still works.

Before the age of 'Elf and Safety', the traditional Christmas Pudding might even have some coins baked in, wrapped in paper. Spring Vale School's Christmas Pudding always had sixpences in it when I was a lad - but they did warn us very strongly to watch out for them and not to swallow any. That could never happen now.

At home, the best cutlery would come out with napkins or doilies, which otherwise might never see the light of day. Then bottles of beer, spirits, Babycham, Cherry-B, sherry, port or perhaps Advocaat. It was either Advocaat or Egg Flip that our family was most averse to. You only ever saw this egg-based drink at Christmas (it was horrible). These days Bailey's Irish Cream would be a favourite but it would drain away too quickly. There would be Christmas crackers to pull at the dinner and the limp jokes were usually so bad that they were almost good. More of a groan than a laugh. Sometimes children would make their own crackers, using cardboard tubes collected over time. They would have to shout "Bang" when they were pulled.

In Yorkshire, the living room was often called 'The House' and another room kept clean and tidy for special occasions would be 'The Room'. Christmas was a time for people to use The Room, partly because of the need for more space with all of the visitors. So we might have heard the following at our house: "Where's Jack?" - "He's in t' house" (or more likely - "Upstairs somewhere!").

The Christmas Stocking
Presumably, in the old days it would have been a real stocking (a long sock) but it later became something like a pillowcase hung on the end of the bed. In recent, affluent times it would not be big enough but in leaner times it would have been one nice present and perhaps one or two smaller items. But some things were mandatory. These were: an apple, an orange and a new penny, the symbolism of which seems to have been lost.

Dad would wait for the children to be asleep, then put on his red dressing gown like Santa Claus. Avoiding the inevitable creaking stair, he would creep into the bedrooms to put presents in the children's pillowcases. It was a nice surprise to wake up to the presents.

New Year
One old national tradition which was observed to some extent locally, was 'first footing' to let in the New Year. The first person to call at a house after NY midnight was supposed to be a person with dark hair and they would usually bring a piece of coal. No doubt they would have been given a drink for their trouble. In fact, they might have gained a tipple at every house, leading to some instability in their knocking by the end of the row. I think this might have only happened with people who knew each other, like friends or close neighbours.

Pancake Day and Collop Monday
This is still widely celebrated in UK homes on Shrove Tuesday aka 'Pancake Day' which is a moveable date on the church calendar in February or March each year. Pancakes were a signature of Shrove Tuesday as they used ingredients such as milk and eggs which were traditionally given up for Lent. Connected with Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday is another old Yorkshire tradition of 'Collop Monday' but which failed to stand the test of time (see above).

The Pancake Bell
We discover from the Penistone Bell Ringers (Facebook) that the Pancake Bell had been rung at Penistone church on Shrove Tuesday for many centuries. This national tradition was even referred to by William Shakespeare, so we can presume it predates those times. The tradition returned to Penistone in 2019 and was set to continue.

Pancake Recipes
In Penistone, the local Co-operative food store is in the habit of providing all that is needed to make easy pancakes (such as instant pancake mix - just add water and shake the bottle) and wide range of toppings, which these days includes such as chocolate. My favourite is orange marmalade but a squirt of lemon juice with a sprinkle of sugar (or sweetener) is also a good choice. I say it is 'celebrated at homes' because that is the anecdotal evidence, however, it does not appear to be much supported in the local cafes.

Gervase Markham’s 1615 Pancake Recipe:
“To make the best Pancake, take two or three egges, and breake them into a dish, and beate them well: Then adde vnto them a pretty quantity of faire running water, and beate all well together: Then put in cloues, mace, cinamon, and a nutmegge, and season it with salt; which doue make it thicke as you thinke good with fine wheate flower: Then frie the cakes as thinne as may bee with sweete butter, or sweete seame, and make them brown, and so serue them vp with sugar strowed vpon them. There be some which mixe Pancakes with new milke or creame, but that makes them tough, cloying, and not so crispe, pleasant and sauoruy, as running water”

Here is an old rhyme, spotted in the 1879 Penistone Almanack, and seen elsewhere too:

'It is the day whereon the rich and poore,
Are chiefly feasted on the self-same dish,
When every paunch 'till it can hold no more,
Is fritter filled as well as heart can wish;
And every man and maid do take their turn,
And toss their pancakes up for feare they burne,
And all the kitchen doth with laughter sound,
To see the pancakes fall upon the ground.'

Collop Monday
Collops were slices of bacon. This old custom for Shrove Monday had been widespread throughout the country and locally but died out in the 19th century. According to John Ness Dransfield, people ate eggs and collops on Shrove Monday, the day before Pancake Day. Of course, the old pancake tradition of Shrove Tuesday still continues as always but nobody remembers the collops and eggs these days.

Bereavement
A solemn subject, I know, but many people stick to the old ways when there is a death in the family. One custom which was always observed in our district was to close all of the house curtains. The UK tradition is for mourners to wear dark clothes unless it was the desire of the departed that they do not. Even then, most people would regard it as respectful to dress up for the occasion with dark clothes and men would wear ties.

Not all funerals are conducted in churches these days as some are held at a crematorium or the burial at the cemetery. In Penistone, the very large funerals will be usually held at Penistone church. Very unusually these days, a funeral bell was tolled in Penistone in May 2019. Cremations are becoming more popular than burials in the modern age.

It is customary to put a note in such as the Barnsley Chronicle or other local newspaper to spread the word that someone has died. Social media etiquette is still in the making and the social rules are not really laid down about how to use them in the case of a bereavement. It is likely that someone's profile would not be deleted on such as Facebook when they die.

Local Customs and Traditions