Name Index

To

“Crying the Neck” - A Devonshire Custom

Trans. Devon Assoc., vol.  XXIII, 1891, pp. 353-370.

by

Frederick Thomas Elworthy

Prepared by Michael Steer

The Paper was presented at its July, 1891, Tiverton General Meeting. Crying The Neck is an ancient harvest festival tradition once widely practiced in Devon and also in Cornwall. The tradition rapidly declined when harvesting became mechanized. In earlier times, reaping was done with either a hook or a scythe. Consequently, the harvest might last several weeks. When the last handful of corn (the neck) was reaped, one of the harvesters would raise it high above his head and shout, or cry in a loud voice. That early agrarian tradition is no longer practiced in Devon. However, it was revived in Cornwall in the early 20th century by the Old Cornwall Society. The author was a philologist and antiquarian, born in Wellington, Somerset. His extensive obituary is available in GENUKI. The Paper, from a copy of a rare journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.