Saddleworth rush-carts, from a painting about 1830

Originally it seems to have been the practice for the parishioners to carry the rushes to church in bundles. As the custom became more of a festival, these were ornamented, and were then borne by young men and maidens dressed in their best attire, and bearing flowers to decorate the church. This method prevailed all over the country, but in South East Lancashire a far more elaborate arrangement grew up. The rushes, which at one time had been brought to church on sledges, formed into the shape of a haystack, were placed on a cart, and the ingenuity of the people soon made this into an exceedingly novel and pleasing spectacle. Village vied with village in the beauty and size of their rush-carts; rivalry led to expensive ornaments; music and morris dancers followed, till the rush-bearing became a pageant, which once seen is rarely forgotten. "Rush-Bearing" by Alfred Burton, 1891

Alfred Burton gives his own eye-witness description of the rush-carts from the Saddleworth parish. In this book are numerous old photographs and engravings of the carts, the villages and the people. {These must surely be the oldest 'photos available the rush-carts?} Burton's chapters are "Rush-Strewing in Houses," "Rush-Strewing in Churches," "Carrying Rushes to Church," "The Rush-Cart," "The Morris-Dancers," "The Wakes" and "The Rush". The chapter "The Rush Cart" has Burton's own eye-witness account and photographs of the Saddleworth rush-cart, and the chapter has references to rush-carts accompanied by other Morris dance troups. "Rush-Bearing" was published privately in 1891 in a limited edition of 500 copies. Occasional copies can still be found with specialist book dealers. This section of the Ring site contains text and pictures from this unique description of NW morris and the associated Rush Carts, the information was copied from JM's personal copy No 297. {Section unfinished}
Book Sections:

Rush-Bearing

An account of the old custom of strewing rushes;
carrying rushes to church; the rush-cart;
garlands in churches; morris dancers;
the wakes; the rush.
by

Alfred Burton

Uppermill wakes, 1890
Uppermill Wakes in 1890

We know very little about the collector, except that he collected the information over a period of twenty or more years. In the Introduction he says: "many of our old customs are fading away into the dim mists of antiquity ... One of these is the old custom of strewing rushes, and its attendant ceremony of the rush-bearing, with its quaint rush-cart and fantastic morris-dancers. Once common to the whole country, it now lingers in a few isolated places, principally in the hill districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire. ... Although a dozen or more rush-carts could be met with twenty-five years ago, now the country has to be ransacked to find one, and that a mere caricature of the once well-built, well dressed cart of former times, accompanied by a few young men whose attempts to dance the morris show how rapidly it is being forgotten"

Burton researched his subject matter carefully, and the chapter on morris dancing is interesting in quoting a number of early continental European references together with drawing of the Munich Morris-Dancers. Among the credits are the following: Mr Morgan Brierly of Denshaw house "For notices of the custom in his neighbourhood; Mr J. Lawton, of St Chad's, Saddleworth, "For allowing him to reproduce "his picture of 'Saddleworth Rushbearing'"; Mr Llewellynn Jewitt for the plate of "Rush-bearing at Borrowdale"; Mr T. Oliver of Manchester for his line drawings; as well as the Bodlean Library, The Free Reference Library of Manchester, W. & R. Chambers, Chatto and Windus, and numerous references to various texts. We must assume that Burton took his own photographs since he does not credit anybody else. Unfortunately Burton's interest in the morris dancers did not go as far as noteing either the music or the dances.

Burton's chapters are "Rush-Strewing in Houses," "Rush-Strewing in Churches," "Carrying Rushes to Church," "The Rush-Cart," "The Morris-Dancers," "The Wakes" and "The Rush". The chapter "The Rush Cart" has Burton's own eye-witness account and photographs of the Saddleworth rush-cart, and the chapter has references to rush-carts accompanied by other Morris dance troups.

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