The ancient custom of riding the stang still lingers in some remote parts of the country. Holding delinquents up to ridicule was a favourite mode of punishment practised by our forefathers, and riding the stang was the means generally employed for punishing husbands who beat their wives, or allowed themselves to be henpecked, or were profligate in their conduct. There are various designations for the custom. In Yorkshire, riding the stang is the name used; in Scotland the same term is applied; in the South of England skimmington-riding is the title generally employed, and on the Continent it is known by other appellations.

The mode of carrying out the ceremony is as follows: A man having beaten his wife, the young men of the village assume the attitude of public censors, and arrangements are made for riding the stang three nights in succession. A trumpeter blows his horn loud and long as day[300] gives way to night, and the villagers are brought together. A pole or a ladder is procured, and the most witty man in the village is placed thereon, mounted shoulder-high, and carried in great state through the streets. In one hand he has a large key or stick, and in the other a dripping-pan, and leads the music of the crowd. Men, women, and children join in the fun, and beat kettles, pans, pots, or anything else that will make a noise; tin whistles, horns, and trumpets are blown, the noise produced being better imagined than[301] described. As soon as all is ready, a start is made, and about every fifty yards the procession stops, and the mounted man proclaims at the top of his voice a rhyme suited to the nature of the offence, somewhat as follows:

We have an example noted at Sutton, near Hull, in August, 1877. It was given with great spirit by a youth, mounted after the customary manner on a ladder, to the evident enjoyment of a large gathering of the inhabitants, who were enraged at the brutal treatment of a woman by her husband:[302]

"Last night," says the Sunderland Daily Post of March 1st, 1887, "some excitement was caused in Northallerton by the celebration of the old custom of 'riding the stang,' which is to expose some one guilty of gross immoral practices, and of a breach of sacred matrimonial rights. Some hundreds of people followed the conveyance, in which two effigies were erected and exhibited through the principal streets. At intervals, a person in the conveyance shouted out in rhyme their object, and said they fully intended to make a complete celebration of the custom, which is to 'ride the stang' three nights in succession, and on the last night to burn the effigies on the green near the church."[303]

The stang was ridden at the ancient town of Hedon, 18th, 19th, and 20th February, 1889.

The house of the culprit is visited several times each night, and the proceedings kept up three nights in succession, and a circuit of the church is also made, as it is believed that those taking part in the ceremony will not be amenable to the law, if they do not omit this part of the custom. If the offence is a very serious one, the offender is burnt in effigy before his own door. In the olden days, the offender himself was often compelled to ride the stang.

Several of the old poets refer to this ancient usage. Allan Ramsay, in one of his poems, published in 1721, says:

Mr. Geo. Roberts, of Lyme Regis, forwarded to Sir Walter Scott some interesting notes on skimmington-riding. He informed Sir Walter that in the South of England: "About dusk two individuals, one armed with a skimmer and the other with a ladle, came out of some obscure[304] street attended by a crowd, whose laughter, huzzas, etc., emulate the well-known charivari of the French. The two performers are sometimes in a cart, at other times on a donkey; one personating the wife, the other the husband. They beat each other furiously with the culinary weapons above described, and, warmed by the applause and presence of so many spectators (for all turn out to see a skimmington), their dialogue attains a freedom, except using surnames, only comparable with their gestures. On arriving at the house of the parties represented in the moving drama, animation is at its height: the crowd usually stay at the spot some minutes, and then traverse the town. The performers are remunerated by the spectators: the parties who parade the streets with the performers sweep with brooms the doors of those who are likely to require a similar visitation."

Dr. King, in his "Miscellany," thus refers to the subject:

[305]According to Douce, skimmington is derived from skimming-ladle, used in the ceremony.

In Butler's "Hudibras," considerable attention is paid to the custom. A few of the lines are as follow:

A notice of an old Welsh ceremony appeared in the Liverpool Mercury on March 15th, 1887, and it will not be without interest to reproduce it. "That ancient Welsh custom," says the writer, "now nearly obsolete, known as riding the ceffyl pren—AnglicÉ, 'wooden-horse'—and intended to operate as a wholesome warning to faithless wives and husbands, was revived on Saturday night in an Anglesey village some three miles from[306] Llangefni. The individual who had drawn upon himself the odium of his neighbours had parted from his wife, and was alleged to be persistent in his attentions to another female. On Saturday night a large party surrounded the house, and compelled him to get astride a ladder, carrying him shoulder-high through the village, stopping at certain points to allow the womankind to wreak their vengeance upon him. This amusement was kept up for some time until the opportune arrival of a sergeant of police from Llangefni, who rescued the unlucky wight."

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