Feather Balancing from Rye

This is an extract from the book 40 Humourous British Traditions

The Feather Balancing contest has been held in Rye every September 7^th since 1673 and was originally begun to commemorate the 100^th anniversary of the visit of Elizabeth I to the town. The contest was created because of the local fable that one of the Queen’s peacock feathers blew off her costume and was picked up by a local farmer Walter de Groote, who went down on one knee and returned the feather back to Elizabeth. She remarked how wonderful it was that de Groote could balance the feather on the end of his finger. De Groote replied that he could balance a feather on other parts of his anatomy too “if she wulde like to watche.”

De Groote was detained in the Tower of London for 25 years for his impertinence and was lucky to escape with his head. It was rumoured that the ravens kept away from his cell as de Groote would take any opportunity to steal feathers from them to practice his art.

The Confederation of Cinque Ports is a historic series of coastal towns in Kent and Sussex originally formed for military and trade purposes. This confederation comprises five ports: Hastings, New Romney, Hythe, Dover, and Sandwich and two so-called “Antient Towns,” Rye and Winchelsea. A royal charter of 1155 established the ports to provide 57 ships for 15 days’ service to the king annually.

Entrance to the Feather Balancing contest was confined to representatives of these five ports and two towns until 1973 when the contest went international. Originally there was only one category of feather, peacock, and one method of balancing, on the finger. The first winner was Simon de Vere, who balanced a feather on his finger for seven minutes 26 seconds. Once de Vere was pronounced the winner the contest was over. Organisers quickly realised that a contest should last longer than seven minutes and so came up with more categories for the 1674 contest.

This is an extract from the book 40 Humourous British Traditions