Local Folk

Oak Apple Day

By Peter Field

Roundhill Tavern

This photograph taken outside the Roundhill Tavern in Ditchling Road. Thanks to Roy Grant, one of My Brighton and Hove's online local historians, I know that the occasion was Oak Apple Day, the 29th of May, hence the wearing of oak leaves.

A day of celebration

Oak Apple Day or Royal Oak Day, was a holiday celebrated to commemorate the restoration of the monarchy, in May 1660. Parliament declared 29 May a public holiday: "Parliament had ordered the 29 of May, the King's birthday, to be for ever kept as a day of thanksgiving for our redemption from tyranny and the King's return to his Government, he entering London that day."

Can you help?

The photo - in a sturdy frame - has always been in the family, so it presumably shows somebody related to me, but I don't know who it might be. Nor do I know when the photo was taken. Can anyone help? If you can, please leave a comment below.

Click on the photograph to open a large version in a new window.