The White Bread Meadow

One of Britain’s ancient and curious country customs takes place each year to secure the rental of the White Bread Meadow, a small field of just over one acre 1½ miles north of the town. Ever since the mid-18th century, the lease of this pasture has been auctioned annually during a 200-yard race between two schoolboys and usually held on the Monday before Easter beside the Queen’s Bridge at the end of Eastgate although in recent years the date has been moved to the Monday before the May Day Bank Holiday.

A bequest in 1742 by Matthew William Clay, a gentleman of Bourne, gave two pieces of land, the rent of which was to be distributed each year in the form of white bread among the householders and commoners in the Eastgate Ward. The land was called the Constable’s Half-Acre and the Dike Reeve’s Half-Acre but when the Enclosure Award was made in 1770, the original land mentioned in the bequest was incorporated in the new field system so in lieu of the two original half-acres of land there was allotted just over one acre of land in Bourne Meadows as the basis for the charity and it is this land that is still let annually under the terms of the will. The conditions of letting were that two good loads of manure be put on the land, the meadow should not be overgrazed or poached, the fence be maintained in proper repair and that the hawthorn bush in the middle of the field should not be cut or damaged, by animals or weather, and although it has been blown down by the wind on two occasions, it has always been replaced.

Clay also stipulated in the terms of the letting the bizarre manner in which the new tenant should be chosen and the annual race continues to be held in the traditional form as in previous years with officially appointed stewards on hand to ensure that the rules are observed. The auctioneer starts the boys running and as soon as they have set off, the bidding for the grazing rights begins but can only go on until the boys return and then the highest bid made just before the race ends becomes the final one and the bidder becomes the tenant of the land for the following year. The rent money now goes to a local charity but in 1968, one of the last times that white bread was actually bought and distributed, between 300 and 400 loaves were handed out from the proceeds of the charity which then amounted to £13.

After the annual ceremony, the boys who ran the race received one shilling each from the auctioneers, although they get £1 today, and then everyone attended a feast of bread, cheese, spring onions and beer. Until 1890, this was held at one of the six pubs in the Eastgate area, the Boat, the Woolpack, the Butcher's Arms, the New Inn, the Anchor and the Marquis of Granby, but only the last two remain and the event alternates between them. In 1941, no cheese was available owing to wartime rationing and in May that year, a German bomber crashed on the Butcher’s Arms and destroyed the usual convivial venue while the Boat and the Woolpack have been demolished and the New Inn converted for use as a private house.

The event today is merely a token of what was intended and girls often take part in the race because no boys are available although the auction is still very real and its result is legally binding. But family traditions for the administration of the charity continue. John Bannister, senior, is a third generation steward, his grandfather Tom, senior, holding office from 1935 until 1960 while his father Tom, junior, was steward from 1951 until 1999 when John took over. The current head steward is Roger Macey who was appointed in 1972 when he took over from his father-in-law. The auctioneer and chairman of the charity, Stephen Knipe, has held office since 1995 when he took over from his late father George who had let the meadow annually between 1959 and 1994. A new tradition has also been born in recent years with the attendance of the Bourne Borderers, a local group of Morris dancers who have now become a permanent feature of the annual event.

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