Why toast will be hanging from apple trees in Hurworth

On Monday, the ancient tradition of apple wassailing is going to be revived at the Hurworth Grange community centre.

Hurworth Grange in 1955

It is a ceremony that is usually associated with the cider lands of Somerset and the south, where it dates back to pagan times. It is all about waking the trees up and blessing them, while providing an excuse to drink copiously, in the belief that it will encourage the tree to crop bounteously.

In the last couple of decades, there have been enthusiastic revivals of the apple wassail in the south, and now it is spreading to Hurworth which hasn’t previously been noted for its orchards although it did once have a pub with the word “wassail” in its name.

Pat Simpson hangs toast from the trees in the grounds of the Hurworth Grange ahead of Monday's apple wassail to encourage robins into the orchard. Picture: CHRISTOPHER BARRON

“Wassail” is an Old Norse word that means “good health”. Our ancestors adopted it as a drinking salutation like bottoms-up. “Wassail”, they’d say as they lifted a glass – “be in good health and good luck” – to which the reply was “drinkhail” – “drink to good health”.

The night before the great battle of 1066, the fields around Hastings were full of English soldiers preparing for the fight and all that could be heard in the darkness was cries of “weissel” and replies of “drincheheil” as the soldiers girded their loins.

Because the North East is not noted for its orchards – although Appleton Wiske, a handful of miles south of Hurworth, must once have had stand-out apple trees growing on the riverbank – most wassailing up here has been done at Christmas and New Year when carol singers roamed from door to door singing and drinking from the wassail cup.

Toast in the apple trees at the Bradford on Avon Wassail

Apple wassailing is on Twelfth Night when, led by a wassail king or queen, villagers noisily process to the orchard and find the oldest tree – in a Hurworth’s case, the community orchard was planted 12 years ago in the Grange’s grounds.

They have a bowl of mulled cider – known as “lambswool” – into which they dip some toast which they hang on the tree’s branches. This drives away evil spirits and attracts robins, which are regarded as the guardians of the orchards.

The remaining cider, which the participants haven’t yet drunk themselves, is poured around the trees roots, while loud noises – shouting, whistling, banging pots and pans, even firing guns – are made to scare away those evil spirits. Morris dancers are often in attendance to whoop and bang their staves together, and in Herefordshire, one apple wassail even sets fire to the ground around the tree.

The Silurian Border Morris Men in Herefordshire light fires in orchards in January to re-enact an ancient wassailing tradition, which aims to wake the trees from their winter slumber and improve the apple crop

With the poor thing now wide awake, it is addressed along these lines to encourage it to have a plentiful harvest:

Old apple tree we wassail thee
And hoping thou will bear
For the Lord doth know where we shall be
'Til apples come another year
For to bear well and to bloom well
So merry let us be
Let every man take off his hat
And shout to the old apple tree
Old apple tree we wassail thee
And hoping thou will bear
Hat fulls, cap fulls, three bushel bag fulls
​And a little heap under the stairs

The wassailers of Hurworth meet at 4.30pm at The Coffee Pot at Hurworth Grange on Monday, and are encouraging people to bring along noisy items and a torch. They will be joined by the Black Diamond Mixed Cotswold Morris team, and a choir, No Added Sugar, will sing a traditional wassail song. The orchard will be toasted with warm spiced apple juice and apple cakes, and café will be open for hot sustenance. All are welcome.

Looking towards Croft bridge with the Comet hotel on the left hand side of the road and the outline of the Pig and Whistle in the centre behind the pole

IN times gone by, once the wassail was over, the Hurworth wassailers would have been able to retire to the Pig and Whistle pub, which has the word “wassail” hidden in its name.

The Pig and Whistle was an ancient building that stood at the entrance to Croft Bridge – a disused block of public toilets beside the working men’s club is today on its site.

“Pig and Whistle” was a common nickname for a pub that was properly called The Lass and the Glass – an old sign of hospitality. In Old Norse, a “pika” was a girl, and “whistle” was derived from “wassail”, and so you have Pig and Whistle.

The Pig and Whistle was an old fashioned service station. As well as doing refreshments, part of it was a smithy where a blacksmith would do running repairs for travellers using the Great North Road – in wintry conditions, for example, he’d sharpen the horses’ shoes so they didn’t slip on the icy road.

The tollkeeper’s house was next to the smithy, where travellers paid to cross the bridge. It suffered many floods and was demolished in 1871, leaving the blacksmith’s forge spewing sparks out into the road.

The Pig and Whistle was demolished in 1939, and the toilet block must have been built in the early 1960s when the riverbank became a popular summer’s day out.

The view from Yorkshire into Durham across Croft bridge: the old Pig and Whistle is the building on the right of the bridge - you can just see its roof