Town continues tradition with Rushbearing Festival

Crowds lined the streets in Sowerby Bridge as the town hosted its annual Rushbearing Festival.
By The Newsroom
Published 5th Sep 2016, 09:15 BST
Updated 5th Sep 2016, 10:16 BST
3 September 2016....... Dancers perform in Warley Village as the Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival passes through. The festival over two days is a huge procession of morris dancers, musicians, mummers and a 16 ft tall rush cart hauled by 60 men around pubs and churches in the Ryburn Valley and is the only one of its kind in Yorkshire. It celebrates a 17th century tradition where villages came together to lay fresh rushes on local church floors. Picture Tony Johnson.3 September 2016....... Dancers perform in Warley Village as the Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival passes through. The festival over two days is a huge procession of morris dancers, musicians, mummers and a 16 ft tall rush cart hauled by 60 men around pubs and churches in the Ryburn Valley and is the only one of its kind in Yorkshire. It celebrates a 17th century tradition where villages came together to lay fresh rushes on local church floors. Picture Tony Johnson.
3 September 2016....... Dancers perform in Warley Village as the Sowerby Bridge Rushbearing Festival passes through. The festival over two days is a huge procession of morris dancers, musicians, mummers and a 16 ft tall rush cart hauled by 60 men around pubs and churches in the Ryburn Valley and is the only one of its kind in Yorkshire. It celebrates a 17th century tradition where villages came together to lay fresh rushes on local church floors. Picture Tony Johnson.

The event featured a procession of morris dancers and musicians through the town on Saturday and Sunday.

And 60 men wearing Panama hats and clogs hauled a 16ft tall rush cart around pubs and churches in the Ryburn Valley during the weekend.

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The festival is organised every year to celebrate a 17th century tradition, where villages came together to lay fresh rushes on local church floors.

Performances throughout the weekend included the Friendly Brass Band, Sowerby Bridge Morris Dancers and Bradshaw Mummers.

The festival drew to a close with a procession in Ripponden on Sunday which finished at St Bartholomew’s Church

Related topics:Sowerby Bridge