LOCAL TRADITION.
[To THE EDITOR OP THE " SPECTATOR:9 SIR,—Sinee reading the interesting article on "English Historical Memory" which appeared in the Spectator of August 17th, a remarkable bit of local tradition pertaining to the battle of Stamford Bridge has come under my notice. The writer of the article referred to deplores the "ignorance of the English commonalty about their own history." This is true ; still, there are a vast number of local traditions, many of which are far more to be trusted than a good deal of so. called "history." Here is one of them, which I have from an old inhabitant who lives close to the site of the battle which was fought on Monday, September 25th, 1066. To commemorate this event a feast was held the first Sunday after September 25th in each year ; it was extended to the Monday and Tuesday following, and originally went by the name of the "Spear Pie Feast." The spear pie was a pie with an iron skewer stuck upright in the middle of it, and was made in the shape of a boat. This was to represent the feat of the Englishman who got into a boat and speared from below through the timbers of the wooden bridge the Norsemen who had for so long been defending it. In later days the pie was made of pears, which word in our East Yorkshire dialect is sounded " peears " ; and so the feast got in time to be called the "Pear Pie Feast." I regret to add that the feast and the pie have both disappeared, though only within the last few years; and there are those still living who can tell how the boat-shaped pies were made. It is worth mentioning that "Battle Flats" and "Danes' Garth" are still current field. names in the village, and these determine with exactness where the great battle of Stamford Bridge was fought-1 am, Sir, &c., M. C. F. MORRIS. Nunburnhofme Rectory, York.
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