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Oak Apple Day

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.

Oak Apple Day at the Roundhill Tavern
From the private collection of Peter Field

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