The History of the Hobby Horse

Anyone for a Danish?

It is well known in Minehead  that, a long time back in the past, the Danes came sailing up the coast intent on landing and doing a spot of collecting for deserving seafarers (themselves). The people of Minehead sent the Hobby Horse to the shore, to prance and cavort in a menacing manner, which so startled the marauders that they decided the people of  Watchet might be a bit more welcoming and generous with their loose change.  (for proof see [1] below)

Whatever the truth - and old oral traditions contain more wisdom that we sometimes credit them with – the Hobby Horse is definitely traceable back at least to 1792, where it was recorded in the ledger at Dunster Castle . It is reasonable to suppose that it was well established. After all it was invited up to dance for the lord and lady and to be paid five shillings - nearly a week's wages [2] - for the show, so who knows how old it really is and where it came from?

Some people think that it may have been brought back from Africa by Minehead seafarers and elsewhere on this site you will find African masks and customs which bear remarkable similarities.

Others think that it is part of an ancient worldwide tradition of disguise that goes back at least 12000 years to Paleolithic times when people were recorded in cave paintings as dressing up as animals.

If you do a search you will probably find websites that claim it's a pagan fertility rite. They're barking mad, of course. [3]

Still others think it’s not a horse at all, but an upturned boat.

But here in Minehead we aren’t going to lose much sleep over any of that. As far as we are concerned The Original Sailors Horse is the direct descendant of that old Hobby Horse that fought off the Danish invaders. And until anyone with a time machine can prove us wrong, that’s the way it will have to stay in the Third Millennium, just as it was in the First.

And to prove that some things never change we'll still have some money off you for deserving local seafarers.

(We are licenced to collect for the RNLI)

Sources:

[1] - The descendants of Eye witnesses

[2] - in 1792 the average wage in the Minehead area was 6/-, nowadays (2006) it's about £400, so they did pretty well out of it. 1792 - Eden, Sir Frederick Morton "The State of the Poor: or a history of the labouring classes in England.." 1797; 

[3] - 2006 -  Various Internet sources