Gazetteer of Historical Jacks-in-the-Green
Regularly updated details of all this years events can be found on the events page HERE
It would be great to get pictures and personal accounts of as many of these events as possible for our archives. All pictures that are used on the blog or added to the Flickr archive are copyrighted to the original photographer and are never reproduced without prior permission. Our aim is to provide a living archive of all the wonderful traditional Jack-in-the-Green events that take place every year.
If you are thinking of going to an event please do drop me a line to let me know and please consider taking an extra picture of Jack for our archives.
And if you know of a Jack-in-the-Green or Green Man event that I have missed or that has just started please do let me know.
You can contact me via the “contact us” tab at the top of this page or via THIS LINK
With the 2014 Jack-in-the-Green season about to start I have refreshed our gazetteer of locations where historical (and modern) Jack-in-the-Greens have been sighted.
You can access the Gazetteer HERE
The gazetteer is mainly drawn from newspaper references and details the location and where possible the dates of the sighting. The main reference is Roy Judge’s The Jack in the Green. Roy’s index of locations includes mentions of other May Day customs including garlands as well as mentioning for example “The sweeps celebrated the day after their accustomed fashion”. The gazetteer only details specific sightings of a Jack in the Green. I have also incorporated the wonderful work by Keith Chandler the music historian and “Professor of Morris Dancers” who was one of Roy Judges correspondents. Keith’s Article “It is the First of May” adds significantly to Roy’s work and includes more than a hundred new references. As with Roy’s list I have attempted to include only specific sightings of a Jack in the Green. I’m also indebted to Keith Leech (Keith Bogie) creator and guardian of the Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green for his book Jack-in-the-Green in Tasmania a great source of information on the overseas Jack-in-the-Green.
This is a work in progress, as time allows more details of each Jack will be added. If you know of any errors or Jacks I have missed please don’t hesitate to contact me via the contact us tab at the top of this page.
I am also trying to find out any more information about some of the named characters historically associated with the Jack-in-the-Green. These include: Black Sal, Dusty Bob, May Day Moll, Grand Serag, Jim Crow and Master Merryman. If anyone can shed any more light on these characters and why they would have been associated with the Jack I would love to hear from you.
The Company of the Green Man 