Ed Yarrow landlord at The George Inn, Hubberholme talks about the tradition of the candle burning at the inn.
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00:00 I'm Ed Yarrow, this is the George Inn at Hubberholm.
00:03 There are two elements of the candle, the fact that there's a candle in the George Inn.
00:08 The first element is the fact that this was built in 1640, but it's only been a pub since 1754.
00:15 And before it was a pub, it was the vicarage for the church.
00:19 And as the vicarage for the church, it was traditional that when the vicar was at home,
00:24 he'd put a lighted candle in the window so parishioners knew they could call.
00:29 Then when it became a pub, the tradition of lighting a candle when the pub was open started.
00:33 And that's partly because the pub was then owned by the church, until in 1969,
00:40 this was the last pub in England to be owned by and sold by the Church of England.
00:44 So it's often known as the Candle Inn.
00:47 So that's the first bit of the story, if you like.
00:50 The second bit is that in 1795, Lord Tennant, I believe it was, who owned pastureland in the area,
01:00 had 16 acres that was called the Poor Pasture and he bequeathed that to the parish of Buckton.
01:06 Part of bequeathing that to the parish of Buckton was that it should be auctioned off
01:12 on an annual basis at a meeting of the Hubberholm Parliament.
01:16 And it was decreed that the Hubberholm Parliament should sit in the George Inn.
01:20 And where you are sitting there, and down here is the lower house,
01:27 and through the end there, up the two steps, that's the upper house.
01:32 So the way this manifests itself these days is that the first Monday of January after New Year,
01:41 there is a service held at the church which is to celebrate the forthcoming land letting.
01:47 And then the vicar comes in, and this will be, it'll happen this Monday at about eight o'clock,
01:52 the vicar will come in and say, "Have you prepared the candle, landlord?"
01:56 And that is the only day in the year when the pub is open without the candle being lit.
02:03 Because me saying, "Yes, I have prepared the candle,"
02:06 signifies that we then ceremoniously light that candle
02:10 and then from that point forward anybody who's got a licence to keep livestock can bid for the land.
02:16 And that goes on all evening until when the candle expires,
02:21 whoever has the highest bid, they win the auction,
02:24 they pay the money over to the church, it goes into the pool pasty fund,
02:30 they get the right to graze that pasty land with their sheep for the next seven months,
02:34 and the church is obliged to share the money out amongst the poor in the parish.
02:39 So that's what happens, has happened since 1795 and happens every year on that day.
02:47 Generally speaking we'll be fully booked because it's something that's totally unique,
02:52 so all of our rooms will be taken, we've got lots of people who
02:56 want to come just to witness what's happening, and then in addition we'll get local farmers coming
03:01 because it's going to be one of the local farmers who will bid for and win the auction
03:06 and get the right to graze it with their sheep for the next 12 months.
03:09 So we'll get quite a lot of local farmers mulling around,
03:12 having a few beers and just chewing the fat generally kind of thing.
03:16 Well since 1795, except Covid, meant that we had to do it as a sealed bid as opposed to
03:25 it actually happening. So it was very important for us, for me,
03:30 for the community generally, that we reintroduced it immediately after Covid.