Custom
The Byzant
Water was never free on a hilltop.
Stand where it happened
- What's there
- Hillside suburb with old springs
- Legend from
- Medieval tribute / revived custom
- Tone
- Light-hearted
A calf's head, a cask of ale and a jewelled staff, all for the right to water.
Hilltop Shaftesbury once had to fetch its water from the springs at Enmore Green, below the town in the manor of Gillingham. In return the town paid a yearly tribute, first recorded in 1364. The mayor walked down with bread, a calf's head, a cask of ale and a pair of gloves, and handed over the Byzant, a decorated staff hung with flowers and borrowed jewels, which was then given back. The ceremony had lapsed but was revived in 2018. It still walks from the Town Hall to Enmore Green.