THE DUKE'S HEALTH

Evening Star, Issue 19774, 26 January 1928, Page 2

THE DUKE'S HEALTH

QUAINT ENGLISH CUSTOM. Following the centuriesrold custom of collecting wroth silver at Knightlow Hill, near Coventry (England), on a recent Friday, over ,600 hardy spirits, who had faced the particularly chilly dawn, drank the Duke of Buccleuch’s health in hot rum and milk at a breakfast which lie had provided. Those taking part in the ceremony had gathered in a field at a squ.are, hollow stone, the remnant of an old praying cross and into this the representatives of the varous parishes threw their contributions of wroth silver to the Duke of Buccleuch as Lord of the Manor of the Hundred of Knightlow. The fine for default of payment is 20s, for every penny not or else the forfeit of a white bull with a red nose, and ears of the same color. It is not on record whether the latter penalty has ever been paid. During the last century a wild white hull was rejected on account of failing to answer the description. The quaint custom dgtes back to 1170. On the Friday of this year, at sunrise, the Duke of_ Buccleuch’a agent took his stand facing the east, and, the usual formalities having been observed, the parishioners deposited their wroth silver in sums ranging from one penny to two shillings and threepence halfpenny k Hie boEowed' stone.