Now I Know: The Town That Keeps Tooting Its Own Horn

View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives

If you're familiar with a shofar, this isn't one. -- Dan

The Town That Keeps Tooting Its Own Horn

The English city of Ripon (here's a map) isn't all that different from any other city in the area. There are schools and churches, shops and parks, and everything in between. There are even three museums and an equestrian racetrack. In the middle of the public square is the Ripon Obelisk, a centuries-old monument topped by a weathervane, marking the city's economic center.

And every night, at 9 PM local time, you'll find one of these guys at the Obelisk, wearing a three-cornered black hat and carrying a really big horn. And if you're in the neighborhood, you may want to check it out -- he's carrying out what is very likely the world's longest-running daily municipal tradition.

The role of the Ripon Hornblower dates back to the year 886 -- yes, more than a millennium ago. As the BBC explains, "that was Saxon times, and also troubled times. The Vikings were raiding up and down the east coast and occupying parts of the country." Newer settlements lacked any semblance of government or security and therefore were at particular risk from raiders and local thieves alike. Ripon was one of those settlements. When King Alfred the Great visited the area, he saw the potential for Ripon to thrive and granted it a royal charter, making it an official city under his protection. But he also wanted the people of Ripon to protect themselves. So, Ripon, again per the BBC, instituted the following routine:

It was therefore decided to appoint a wakeman. That was a man who would stay awake and patrol the settlement and the surrounding areas from dusk till dawn. He kept a watchful eye for any approaching enemy or troublemakers, while the rest of the people slept safely in their beds. It was further decided that the wakemen should put the charter horn to good use. He would sound it at the four corners of the market cross each evening at 9pm to let the people know that the watch was set and he was now on patrol.

Fast forward a thousand years or so and the Vikings are long gone, of course, and today, Ripon has a modern police force. But the tradition of sounding the start of the overnight watch never went away. Every night at 9 PM, the tradition repeats. A hornblower goes to the Obelisk, stops at one corner of the monument, blows his horn, goes to the second corner, blows the horn again, and then repeats the same for the other two corners. For the first 750 or so years of the tradition, the watchman was also the town's de facto mayor -- as the person who set the night watch, he was also seen as the head of the police force. And when Ripon elected its first mayor in 1604, the horn-blowing tradition added a new step: at the end of the horn-blowing, the watchman or watchwoman finds the mayor, tips their cap, and states "Mr. Mayor, the watch is set." (Per a reddit comment, there's "a local legend that hornblowers in the past have located the mayor at ... not his own house. But a job's a job, so they made their announcement outside and left.")

The tradition has continued without permanent interruption since its beginnings. In the past, there could be a missed night here or there, particularly if the hornblower fell ill or if the weather was truly awful. To mitigate that, today, there are multiple people appointed to the hornblower role by the mayor. And due to COVID-19, the tradition went indoors from the spring of 2020 to midsummer 2021; per a local blog post, "With people not allowed to meet in groups or outdoors, this ancient ceremony [had] to adapt to [the] situation. The three present Hornblowers – Wayne Cobbett, Richard Midgeley, and Alison Clark, who perform the ceremony on a rotational basis [continued] the tradition by still blowing the horn every night. Whilst this [was] not done in the market square, they [did] it at their homes and [shared] footage each day on the Hornblower’s official Facebook page," which you can find here.

If you want to see the tradition in action but can't make it to Ripon, here's a video of the ceremony from 2012.

Now I Know is supported by readers like you. Please consider becoming a patron by supporting the project on Patreon.

Click here to pledge your support. (If you do, in gratitude, you'll have an ad-free Now I Know experience going forward.)

Bonus fact: If Vikings had visited Ripon, it's likely that watchman's horn would have been the only one present, despite the fact that if you Google "Viking helmet," almost all of the images are of helmets with horns. But that's probably ahistorical, as Smithsonian explains, "there is no sign that Vikings really wore horned helmets." The Gjermundbu helmet -- the only reconstructable Viking helmet discovered thus far -- shows no sign of horns. Most likely, the myth comes from artists who depicted the raiders a millennium after the Vikings' heyday; again, per Smithsonian, "the legend likely originated with Scandinavian artists in the 1800s, who popularized portrayals of the nomadic raiders wearing the equipment in their works."

From the Archives: Why Dyeing Rhinos May Keep Them From Dying: Another story about horns.

Like today's Now I Know? Share it with a friend -- just forward this email along.

And if someone forwarded this to you, consider signing up! Just click here.

Forward

Archives · Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2022 Now I Know LLC, All rights reserved.
You opted in, at http://NowIKnow.com via a contest, giveaway, or the like -- or you wouldn't get this email.

Now I Know is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Some images above via Wikipedia.

Now I Know's mailing address is:

Now I Know LLC

P.O. Box 536

Mt. Kisco, NY 10549-9998

Add us to your address book

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your email address or unsubscribe from this list

Older messages

Now I Know: Here's Something About Gary

Tuesday, June 7, 2022

The history of first name View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives I learned the fact below via this tweet, and the guy wants Twitter followers for helping spread the info, so,

Now I Know: D-Day's Doomed Dry Run

Monday, June 6, 2022

The real one went fine, thankfully View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives Today is the 77th anniversary of D-Day, so I figured this was a good story to share again. -- Dan D-

Now I Know: Today Actually IS National Doughnut Day!

Saturday, June 4, 2022

It's the Now I Know Weekender View this email in your browser · Missed an issue? Click here! If you're new to Now I Know, you'll notice that today's format is different than the rest of

Now I Know: It's Peeback Time!

Thursday, June 2, 2022

Meet the walls that fight back View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives Do not try this on random walls. Thanks! -- Dan It's Peeback Time! Hamburg, with a population of

Now I Know: How to Turn Donuts into Dough?

Wednesday, June 1, 2022

Attention-seeking, pastry edition View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives This is a great stunt but I don't know if I'd try it -- the odds of security not taking kindly

❓ Cashflow Call in 2 Hours! Today 3pm CST...

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Cashflow crew, It's our favorite time of the week! Cashflow call Tuesday! Today we have a special 'celebrity' guest joining us... Mr. Ryan Snow of Unconventional Acquisitions!

Reminder: 2nd half of 2022 🗓

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

The easiest way to grow a business is first optimize everything you've already got. For example, if you want to optimize your business for the rest of 2022, just having rough goals like this could

Link Building in 2022: Expert’s Tips

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Leverage these 9 powerful link-building tactics shared by Ann Smarty, an SEO expert with 10+ years of experience in the field Hi Reader, Wonder what link-building tactics work best in 2022? Meet Ann

Now I Know: The Banned Fashion Accessory You Wore on Your Head

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

It's more a dagger than a sword View this email in your browser · Missed one? Visit the Archives I'd love to see a movie where this "weapon" is a plot point. -- Dan The Banned Fashion

Strive For Excellence, Not Perfection

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Your weekly 5-minute read with timeless ideas on art and creativity intersecting with business and life͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌ ͏‌

The Dog-eared Issue

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Revisited again and again? ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

New Creator Research Released

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

It's time to share what over 1K creators had to say in the 2022 Content Entrepreneur Benchmark Research. ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌

[You're invited] Learn how to build a scalable mentorship programme with 360Learning and Pushfar

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

View in Browser | Forward to a Friend How to Build a Scalable Mentorship Programme to Help People Succeed People expect more than just a paycheque when they come to work. They want to know that the

Science-backed Adobe Color System

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

#111 - X ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ ‌ Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Logo image UX Database Newsletter #111 “Every great design begins with an even better story.” -

Monday Musings (The Great Flattening)

Tuesday, June 28, 2022

Read in your browser here. Hi friends, Greetings from Austin! The essay I just published about living here is the most popular thing I've written in a while. It was read more than 70000 times this