Pageants 17
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Adel Church Octocentenary
Adel is a small, semi-rural suburb in the north of Leeds, West Yorkshire, which stretches across the River Wharfe. The name comes from its Saxon settlers, Adel or Adele meaning a ‘dirty muddy place... -
The Bradstone Pageant
The Bradstone Pageant of 1929 was a small event staged by Mary Kelly, the influential founder of the Village Drama Society. Also involved in the production of the pageant was Arthur Quiller-Couch, ... -
Aberford Parish Church Grand Pageant
The Aberford Coronation Pageant, held to celebrate the Coronation of Elizabeth II, was one of hundreds of such ventures across the country (see entries for, e.g., Burnley, Lancaster, Ingatestone an... -
The Albury Pageant
Small-scale village and church pageants were still occasional features of local community life in the 1990s; this is an example. It is perhaps worth pointing out that Surrey showed particular enthu... -
Walpole Old Chapel Tercentenary Pageant
Nonconformist religious groups were notably active in the pageant movement. This is a post-Second World War example from Walpole in Suffolk, which was put on by members of local Congregational chur... -
Tatsfield Church Pageant
This was a very small church pageant. Its main claim to fame was that its cast included two members of the great Liberal dynasty, the Bonham-Carters: Margaret and Rosemary. Small though it was, how... -
A Pageant of Ecclesfield
Pageants focused on parish churches and their histories continued to be a feature of cultural life in the English countryside after the Second World War. This is an example of one such pageant, hel... -
Lacock Pageant
The Lacock Pageant was a further testament to the popularity of village pageants in the inter-war period. It is notable in being a one-act pageant, commemorating the 700th anniversary of the foundi... -
‘A Goodly Heritage’
Village pageants were notably popular in interwar Surrey (see Merstham (1920) and Tatsfield (1938)). This example was held in association with the six-hundredth anniversary of the parish church, or... -
Old Moreton 1589-1914
In the early years of the twentieth century, Elizabethan revels held as added attractions during Merrie England-type fetes were ten a penny. However, that held in 1914 in the village of Odd Rode, C... -
Hellesdon Pageant of Thanksgiving for the Past
This is an example of one of the many small village-level historical pageants held in connection with the 1951 Festival of Britain. Hellesdon held a subsequent pageant in 1971. -
Hellesdon Pageant
Hellesdon had celebrated a previous pageant in 1951. This 1970 pageant, strongly religious in its themes, was staged by local schoolchildren in St Mary’s Church (the 600th anniversary of which the ... -
850 years of Crich Parish Church, 1135-1985.
This was a small-scale village pageant, held to commemorate the 850th anniversary of Crich Parish Church. It was staged indoors, in the church itself. Parish-level pageants, particularly associated... -
Chittlehampton Pilgrimage and Pageant
The Chittlehampton Pageant was a strange affair. It was organised by a number of groups from within the village, as well as from other parts of the county, who were brought together by the shared p... -
Pageant of Saint Laurence
Though historically themed, religious pageants often followed strikingly different approaches and dramatic methods to their secular counterparts, from the 1909 English Church Pageant through a rang... -
East Horsley Pageant
In the interwar period, village pageants were notably popular in Surrey. This is an example of one such pageant. Staged just once, it was like many such pageants closely associated with the local p... -
Church History Pageant, Great Bookham
Churches were involved in the pageant movement from the outset. For parish churches like St Nicolas, in Great Bookham, pageants offered a means of celebrating the long continuities of Christian wor...