OVER the next few weeks we will be looking at some of the festivals that have made Warrington great through the collections at Warrington Museum.
This painting named Appleton Thorn was completed in 1880 by Robert Bateman.
Commissioned by Rowland Egerton-Warburton (1804–1891) of Arley Hall, it was designed to record the 1880 ceremony celebrating the marriage of Rowland’s heir Piers Egerton-Warburton (1839–1914) to Antoinette Elizabeth Saumarez.
It also records the 1880 revival of the ‘Bawming the Thorn’ ceremony, a unique annual ceremony held in Appleton Thorn every June.
The Appleton Thorn tree is said to be a descendant of the famous Glastonbury Thorn (said to have sprung from Christ’s crown of thorns) planted in 1178 by the lord of the manor, Adam De Dutton.
It still takes place, attracting hundreds to a parade around the village before a dance around the tree.
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