May 9 event includes local ale brewed especially for the church
As Wantage Parish continues to revive the ancient tradition of brewing a Parish Ale, the church of Saints Peter and Saint Paul will be hanging up a “Free House” sign to welcome the local community into the church for a pint.
On Saturday May 9, Wantage Parish will run its second annual Parish Ale festival offering two opportunities to enjoy DiscipAle, which has been created for Wantage by Indigenous Brewery in Chaddleworth.
A lunchtime session from 12pm will include performances by the Icknield Way Morrismen and Mabel Gubbins (an all-women traditional sword dancing side). At 7pm the church will host the Cakes and Ale Ceilidh, with Oxfordshire folk band Melobo.
To promote the event, Christopher Howson, a parishioner with a lifetime’s experience in graphic design, has painted a sign to be positioned outside the church, featuring symbols representing the church’s patrons Saints Peter and Paul – crossed keys for Saint Peter, a sword for Saint Paul.
Christopher said: “I was delighted to be asked to paint the sign. The sword and key symbols are fairly familiar around Wantage – as the Church School badge for example. I based our “Free House” sign on some lovely old ironwork, using the sword and key symbols, in the gate betweeen the churchyard and the vicarage.”
The Vicar of Wantage, the Reverend Katherine Price said: “Having revived the old Parish Ale tradition last year, we’re pleased to be running this successful event again. We see it as reflecting the Church’s historical commitment to hospitality. We think of our church as a Free House – in that God’s House is freely open to everyone in our community. So we put that on the sign!”
The brewing of Parish Ales was widespread in medieval England and generally took place at Whitsun, one objective being to raise funds for church repairs. The practice was suppressed after the Reformation, which Shakespeare alludes to in Twelfth Night when Sir Toby asks: “Dost thou think because thou art virtuous there shall be no more cakes and ale?”
However, as late as the 17th century, poet Francis Beaumont could still declare that:
“The churches must owe, as we all do know,
For when they be drooping and ready to fall,
By a Whitsun or Church-ale up again they shall go
And owe their repairing to a pot of good ale.”
Tickets for the Ceilidh are available at: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/wantage/wantage-parish-church