Swearing On The Horns - History

History

The earliest confirmed mention is in a burlesque routine performed in Haymarket Theatre in 1742. The 1785 edition of Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue held that the oath had been invented by a landlord of one of the public houses, to entertain guests and con newcomers out of some money. According to Grose, the custom had fallen into disuse at that time, which—considering its wide popularity in the early 19th century — indicates that swearing on the horns came in and out of fashion over the centuries.

At one time, members of all social classes took part in the swearing in. In Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Lord Byron alludes to it.:

"Many to the steep of Highgate die;

Ask, ye Baeceotian shades! the reason why?
'Tis to the worship of the solemn Horn,
Grasped in the holy hand of Mystery,
In whose dread name both men and maids are sworn,

And consecrate the oath with draught and dance till morn." —Byron

Young people would make mock pilgrimages from the city to experience the festivities, and by 1826 there were at least 19 different pubs in Highgate performing the ceremony. Some pubs would display a set of horns over their doors to indicate that travellers could be sworn in and made Freemen there.

By the mid-19th century, however, the tradition began to lose its popularity and had almost completely died out by 1875.

The custom is examined in detail in George Walter Thornbury's Old and New London from 1874. Thornbury believes the custom is at least as old as the Reformation and states that the text "was originally intended as a parody on the admission of neophytes into religious guilds and confraternities by the clergy of the Catholic Church". He holds that the ceremony began at the Gate House Inn (the site of the gate from which Highgate draws its name) as a club for travellers along the cattle route to Smithfield.

In 1906, members of the Hampstead Antiquarian and Historical Society held a public re-enactment of the ceremony at what was by then known as the Old Gate House Hotel. Throughout the 20th century the tradition was once again revived, and continues to be conducted on special occasions at certain Highgate pubs: The Wrestlers conducts theirs twice annually, under a set of stag antlers. In 2007, The Flask pub conducted the ceremony with a set of 200-year-old ram's horns taken from the Coopers Arms, as part of their beating the bounds festivities.