Ruffians drummer Sue Allonby, who has researched Nick of Thungs, says, “To be honest it was essentially an annual lads outing with lots of food and drink. The first Sunday in May used to be known as Sting Nettle Day so a large pudding made of nettles, sausages, meat, oatmeal, barley and eggs was served accompanied by lots of beer and dancing.
“We thought we’d like to revive the tradition, but in a modified form, so after the maypole dancing we’ll have a few nettle cakes but give the beer a miss.”
The original Nick of Thungs site was Annel Cross, the crossroads above Downham. The custom is thought to have been started in 1670 by Nick Driver after he was saved from robbers by Downham villagers. In gratitude he vowed to provide “meat and sustenance” to travellers in the area. This seems to have lapsed at some point but it was revived in 1854 by Barrowford Lamb Club whose members met at Annel Cross on the first Sunday in May.
“We did consider setting up a maypole at Annel Cross but it wasn’t really practical,” says Sue, a professional storyteller. “Downham is much better and such a lovely setting. We’re really looking forward to doing this.”
She says the term Thungs comes from a Saxon or Old English word for Things, meaning gatherings or meetings. “Nick is, of course, a local name for a pass, as in the nick of Pendle, so Nick of Thungs was a meeting place on or by a pass. But it all came to an end in 1939, probably because of the Second World War.”
Malkin squire Gin Crewe says that maypoles were banned in England by the puritans after the Civil War and execution of Charles l in 1649 but made a comeback with the accession of Charles ll in 1660. The tradition started to decline again in the 18th century but had another revival during the Victorian period, later becoming popular in schools and among church groups.
She says, “These days ribbons tend to be associated with maypole dancing but that is relatively recent. Originally people would simply hold hands and dance in a circle around the maypole, or sometimes a tree, on May morning. The addition of ribbons was a Victorian innovation. Malkin has a portable maypole – complete with ribbons – that we’ll be setting up on May Day morning in Downham. It will be great fun. Dancing should start at sunrise, which is 5.33am.”
Traditionally, anyone wanting to attend Nick of Thungs had to recite the following tongue twister:
Thimblerig Thistlethwaite thievishly thought to thrive through thick and thin by throwing his thimbles about; but he was thwarted and thwacked, thumped and thrashed by 30,000 thistles and thorns for thievishly thinking to thrive through thick and thin by throwing his thimbles about.
“I think there must have been a certain amount of leeway with the tongue twister,” adds Sue. “It’s difficult enough to say at the best of times, but I’d have thought it well-nigh impossible for anyone who has already imbibed.”