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Riding the Stang by Dawn Robertson Find!

"Riding the Stang" is the first novel by writer Dawn Robertson and was published by Hayloft Publishing in 2000. I have already posted a find by this author - "Secrets and Legends of Old Westmorland" - and she is obviously someone who has a great interest in local history for this first novel is based on historical fact. It is set in the Upper Eden Valley and tells the story of a notorious incident which happened in the first decade of the twentieth century. The events described in the book are broadly based on documented facts and the geographical setting and place names are those where the events of the story actually happened. However the names of the main characters have been changed out of courtesy to local families still living in the area.

This is the story of John Law, a recently appointed married vicar, who moves with his wife Ellen to the lonely and isolated community of Stainmore where he meets the young and beautiful Mary Dennison who is the school mistress at the village school. Mary is a bright young girl and John begins to tutor her with the intention of helping her pass her teaching exams but friendship becomes something more as the couple fall in love. Rumour spreads among the community and one night the couple are attacked in an effort to bring the affair to an end. This incident ends up in court and gradually word spreads until the whole affair becomes talked about througout the country. John is forced to leave the clergy and emigrates to Australia while Mary disappears from all records and it is unclear what happened to her and how she spent the rest of her life.

From the first mention of the coal cart's wheels on the road you are back in a harsh, uncomfortable world where moral transgressions, especially by a churchman, attract universal condemnation. Page by page you absorb the feelings and tension of what seems a bygone age whose social code seems to outlaw forgiveness. The author captures the claustrophobic atmosphere of life in a small community with its fears, feuds and petty jealousies magnified by the hypocrisy of stiffling Edwardian morality.

ROUGH MUSICKING: Also Riding the Stang, Skimmington, Skimmity.

This custom apparently began as a New Year's tradition unique to the regions of Cumberland, Westmorland and the Yorkshire areas. The act of Riding the Stang belongs to a range of customs that were particular to the working classes in which they claim the right to manhandle their superiors. Can be compared to similar traditions enacted at the Corby Pole Fair as well.

 This custom involved a gathering of folks going about the village to a particular place or home with metal plates, tins, poles and such being struck loudly so as to make obnoxious noises (usually done at night). Also used as a way to *drum a man (or woman) out of the village* for such offenses as adultery, incest, spousal abuse. Another symbol of social disproval is the leaving of or scattering of chaff at the threshold of the home of the offender.

The above is the definition of 'Riding the Stang' found at www.experiencefestival.com/stang

I have also discovered an article in the New York Times dated 3rd October 1909 which reports the true story with the following headline: 

VICAR IN ENGLAND BEATEN AND TARRED; Bound Hand and Foot, He Is Carried Home from Fields on a Gate. ATTACK IS UNEXPLAINED Assailants Prove to be of Respectable Families and Some Actively Connected with Church Work.

The full article can be read at http://query.nytimes.com

25 October 2009 from Mary Rossall

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