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Most of the countries in England and Wales have an ancient custom or traditional festival at some time during the year, many have more than one. This guide describes over one hundred events together with their recent history and their distant origins.

Many have become well known such as the Dunmow Flitch; the Durham Miner's Gala; the Helston Furry Dance; May Morning at Magdalen College, Oxford; the Royal Maundy Service; the Midsummer Day Ritual at Stonehenge; Swan Upping on the River Thames; and well-dressing at Tissington in Derbyshire. But there are dozens more- equally enduring and sometimes much more bizarre - that are held in small towns and villages across the country.

Mostly they are jolly festivals associated with the passage of the seasons of Christian feast-days, but occasionally they are more serious, as at the Eyam Plague Memorial in Derbyshire and Forty Shilling Day at Wotton near Dorking in Surrey. Some are very popular and in drawing large crowds can be a bit boisterous. These include the Tar Barrels Parade on New Year's Eve at Allendale Town, Northumberland; and many street-football contests such as Bottle Kicking at Hallation, Leicestershire; and Hurling at St Columb Major in Cornwall.

This comprehensive guide is alphabetically arranged and includes two lists of the events - one by county and the other in date order.

Martin Green lives in Cornwall and has made a life-long study of Britain's customs. He is also the author of a number of guides to London pubs and a collection of poetry.

"I would like to congratulate Martin Green on his research. Future historians will be grateful to him for recording these customs with such skill and enthusiasm." - Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, former Chairman of English Heritage.

126 pp; p/bk

Martin Green