Sussex Bonfire Societies
The Sussex Bonfire Societies are responsible for the series of bonfire festivals concentrated on central and eastern Sussex, with further festivals in parts of Surrey and Kent from September to November each year.
The celebrations mark both Guy Fawkes Night and the burning of 17 Protestant martyrs in Lewes's High Street from 1555 to 1557, during the reign of Mary Tudor.
Development
The Sussex Bonfire tradition is a uniquely local form of protest with several influences under the motto We Burn For Good.
Whereas Guy Fawkes night in most parts of Great Britain is traditionally commemorated at large public fireworks displays or small family bonfires, towns in Sussex and Kent hold huge gala events with fires, processions and festivals. The tradition has remained strong for more than a century becoming the highlight of the year for many towns and villages in the South East. The Bonfire Societies use the events to collect money for local charities.
Guy Fawkes night was adopted by the early Lewes Bonfire gangs for convenience as this was the night that civil disobedience was tolerated when young men could let off steam which became riots. From the mid 18th century Guy Fawkes night celebrations began to take on an entirely different meaning as a rallying point to protest against authority. In 1785 the greatest riot perhaps ever known at Lewes began when a bonfire was started on School Hill in the centre of town.
Later many conscripted men returning from the Napoleonic Wars faced real hardship and added to this feeling of social injustice, forming themselves into gangs based around sea ports where they had connections and could operate with relative impunity. The French Marinière jumper was adopted as better equipment by the British sailors and as trophies of war. Additionally the Sailor suit was common dress for working-class people at the time because of its ready availability at ports and as counter-fashion for the working class. It also provided cover for the gangs to operate as you could hide in plain sight if other people are wearing the same thing. Different colour stripes differentiated the different gangs.
Later still the disenfranchised workers became increasingly politicised by radicals like
The radicals like Tom Paine began to form successful campaigns for political reform such as the
The banning didn't stop the Bonfire celebrations in Lewes and they spread to other parts of East Sussex in uprising. From 1827 the Bonfire Boys became more organised and darkened their faces to prevent arrest. From 1832 blazing tar barrels were rolled down the narrow streets of the commercial and wealthy centre of Lewes with timber buildings on either side, openly threatening life and property of the ruling classes.
The protests continued and in 1846 the local magistrate was knocked unconscious in a confrontation with Bonfire Boys as he emerged from his house to warn them of arrest. In "Observations on the Doings in Lewes of the 5th November 1846", printed anonymously in the
However, in 1850 Lewes Bonfire festivities were influenced again. After the
With the history of the Gordon Riots still in the mind of the authorities, the Police decided that 'forebearance on the part of the authorities is the better policy’. And so in Lewes, with the authorities grudgingly accepting it and the Police just watching, the Bonfire Boys marked the spot where the Lewes Martyrs had been burnt at the stake and marched with burning crosses to increase their notoriety and as a snub to the liberal elite. Out of this the tradition we know today was born and tacit permission was granted to make it a local custom so Lewes man could assert their liberties, whether as a Protestant under a Catholic throne or to protest authority, and as a protest for social justice and over inequalities. Later Mark Antony Lower, an anti-Catholic propagandist and schoolmaster from Lewes, tried to hijack the notoriety of the Lewes Bonfire Boys incorporating the Lewes Protestant Martyrs into their festivities for his own gain.
Some assert there is a
Organisation
The logistical set up required for the events often starts as early as February. This has led the Societies to pool resources and work together on each other's bonfires. This creates associated processions, with large festivals like Lewes and
The first Sussex Bonfire Societies' event starts with the Uckfield Carnival on the first Saturday of September and concludes with Hawkhurst and Barcombe festivals on the third Saturday of November.
The
Societies and processions can be broadly grouped into two main categories Carnival and Bonfire. Typically and not exclusively certain characteristics apply to each group. Carnival societies are generally much more family-oriented evenings where people turn out to have fun and make merry with music and laughter. Bonfire Societies are often the less family-oriented evenings typically with more drinking and debauchment occurring. However with ever increasing restrictions by Sussex Police this is reduced.
List of Bonfire Societies
- Lewes[1] – for more on these societies see Lewes Bonfire.
- Barcombe Bonfire Society[9]
- Battle (Battel Bonfire Boyes)[10]
- Bexhill Bonfire Society [11]
- Burgess Hill Bonfire Society[12]
- Buxted Bonfire Society[13]
- Chailey Bonfire Society[14]
- Chiddingfold Bonfire (Surrey)[15]
- Chiddingly Parish Bonfire Society
- Crowborough Bonfire & Carnival Society[16]
- Cuckfield Bonfire Society[17]
- East Hoathly & HallandBonfire & Carnival Society
- Eastbourne Bonfire Society[18]
- Edenbridge Bonfire Society (Kent)[19]
- Ewhurst & Staplecross Bonfire Society[20]
- Firle Bonfire Society[21]
- Fletching Bonfire Society
- Hailsham Bonfire Society[22]
- Hastings Borough Bonfire Society[23]
- Hawkhurst Gang Bonfire Society[24]
- Heathfield and District Bonfire Society[25]
- Herstmonceux (The Merrie Harriers)[26]
- Icklesham (Robin Hood Bonfire Society)[27]
- Isfield and Little Horsted Bonfire Society
- Lindfield Bonfire Society[28]
- Littlehampton Bonfire Society[29]
- Maresfield Bonfire Society
- Mayfield Bonfire Society[30]
- Newhaven Bonfire Society[31]
- Newick Bonfire Society[32]
- Ninfield Bonfire Society
- Northiam Bonfire Society[33]
- Robertsbridge Bonfire Society[34]
- Rotherfield & Mark Cross Bonfire Society
- Rye & District Bonfire Society[35]
- Seaford Bonfire Society [36]
- Shoreham-by-Sea Bonfire Society[37]
- South Heighton Bonfire Society[38]
- Uckfield Bonfire & Carnival Society[39]
- Vines Cross Bonfire Society
- Whatlington Renegades
- Who The Devil Are We Society
- Worthing Bonfire Society
Defunct Bonfire Societies
- Arundel Bonfire Boys Society
- Bognor Bonfire Society
- Brighton
- Brighton Borough Bonfire Society
- Brighton Bonfire Boys
- Chichester Bonfire Society
- Clapham and Patching Bonfire Club
- Crawley Bonfire society
- Eastbourne Old Town & Meads (boys) and Upperton & Southfields (girls) Bonfire Societies (circa 1980s) based at The Lamb in Eastbourne and incorporated with Waterloo BS and Commercial Square BS at The Lamb in Lewes
- Five Ashes Bonfire Society
- Hooe Bonfire Society
- Horsham Bonfire Society
- Lewes
- Town Bonfire Society[40]
- Landport Bonfire Society
- St Anne's Bonfire Society
- Newhaven
- Society based at the Blacksmiths Arms pub.
- Society based at the Jolly Sailor pub.
- Newhaven Carnival Society (which replaced the former two in 1902).
- Frog and Duck Bonfire Society (Newhaven)
- Ridgewood Bonfire Society (Uckfield)
- Shoreham Bonfire Boys
See also
- Culture of Sussex
- Guy Fawkes night
- Jack in the green
- Lewes Bonfire
- History of Christianity in Sussex
- Marian Persecutions
- Richard Woodman
- We wunt be druv
Bibliography
- Dimmock, Matthew; Quinn, Paul; Hadfield, Andrew (2013). Art, Literature and Religion in Early Modern Sussex. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-1472405227.
References
- ^ a b c d e f g lewesbonfirecouncil.org.uk Archived 17 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, accessed November 2009
- ^ "cliffebonfire.com". cliffebonfire.com. 31 October 2013. Archived from the original on 19 June 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "c-s-b-s.co.uk". c-s-b-s.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 April 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "lewesboroughbonfire.co.uk". lewesboroughbonfire.co.uk. Archived from the original on 12 May 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "njbs.co.uk". njbs.co.uk. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 23 October 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "southstreetbonfiresociety.co.uk". southstreetbonfiresociety.co.uk. Archived from the original on 22 September 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "southoverbs.com". southoverbs.com. Archived from the original on 22 January 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "waterloobonfire.co.uk". waterloobonfire.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "barcombebonfire.co.uk". barcombebonfire.co.uk. Archived from the original on 17 January 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "battlebonfire.co.uk". battlebonfire.co.uk. Archived from the original on 19 September 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "Bexhill Bonfire Society Facebook page". Bexhill Bonfire Society Facebook page. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- ^ "burgesshillbonfiresociety.co.uk". burgesshillbonfiresociety.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 February 2021. Retrieved 23 September 2016.
- ^ "buxtedbonfiresociety.co.uk". buxtedbonfiresociety.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 March 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ Chailey Bonfire Society (27 January 2013). "chaileybonfire.co.uk". chaileybonfire.co.uk. Archived from the original on 25 September 2009. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "chiddingfoldbonfire.org.uk". chiddingfoldbonfire.org.uk. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ [1] Archived 30 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 May 2014. Retrieved 13 July 2014.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "eastbournebonfire.co.uk". Archived from the original on 23 February 2008. Retrieved 28 March 2021.
- ^ [2] Archived 4 April 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "esbs.org.uk". esbs.org.uk. Archived from the original on 21 October 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "firlebonfire.com". firlebonfire.com. 26 October 2013. Archived from the original on 7 November 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "hailshambonfire.org.uk". hailshambonfire.org.uk. Archived from the original on 3 October 2011. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "Hastings Borough Bonfire Society". Archived from the original on 2 April 2005. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ "hawkhurst-gang-bonfire-society.org.uk". hawkhurst-gang-bonfire-society.org.uk. Archived from the original on 29 October 2012. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "heathfieldbonfiresociety.co.uk". heathfieldbonfiresociety.co.uk. Archived from the original on 28 June 2019. Retrieved 27 June 2019.
- ^ [3] Archived 10 December 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Robin Hood Bonfire Society, Icklesham". Users.globalnet.co.uk. 5 November 2000. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "lindfieldbonfiresociety.co.uk". lindfieldbonfiresociety.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 December 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "Littlehampton Bonfire Society". Archived from the original on 29 January 2014. Retrieved 3 February 2014.
- ^ "Mayfield Bonfire Society". Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 6 November 2016.
- ^ "Newhavenbonfiresociety". Facebook. Retrieved 3 March 2017.
- ^ "Newick Bonfire Society". Newick Bonfire Society. Archived from the original on 19 June 2005. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "northiambonfiresociety.co.uk". northiambonfiresociety.co.uk. Archived from the original on 29 November 2017. Retrieved 19 November 2017.
- ^ "robertsbridgebonfiresociety.com". robertsbridgebonfiresociety.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "ryebonfire.co.uk". ryebonfire.co.uk. 31 July 2013. Archived from the original on 25 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ Seaford Bonfire Society. "www.seafordbonfiresociety.co.uk". seafordbonfire.co.uk. Archived from the original on 5 December 2018. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
- ^ "shorehambonfire.co.uk". shorehambonfire.co.uk. Archived from the original on 16 November 2018. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ www.pixelpuppet.co.uk/www.splashdesigncreative.co.uk. "Welcome to the South Heighton Bonfire Society". Southheighton.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "uckfieldcarnival.co.uk". uckfieldcarnival.co.uk. Archived from the original on 24 August 2007. Retrieved 11 November 2013.
- ^ "Some Key Dates of Cliffe Bonfire – Cliffe Bonfire Society". Archived from the original on 31 December 2019. Retrieved 31 December 2019.