Sadly a Derbyshire tradition that has disappeared was the annual lead miners holiday on the 13th May each year. It was celebrated all over the mining district called the King's Field (roughly the limestone area of the Peak that stretched from Castleton in the north, west to Hartington, south to Wirksworth, and east to Matlock and Calver, with the two inliers of Ashover and Crich to the east of the field). It was in existance by the mid-eighteenth century, but the date for it's founding is not known. Dr. Jim Rieuwerts in his book "Glossary of Mining Terms" (1998) refers to it and gives examples. Apparently the coes (small stone buildings with thatched roofs where tools, work clothes, lead ore were kept) were decorated with garlands and a dinner provided. Often mine owners were invited to dine with the miners and a good time was enjoyed by all, especially singing and ale consumption. Over the years the custom gradually died out, but in the Barmaster's Records at Chatsworth House there is a printed notice advertising the celebration of the traditional lead miners' holiday on 13th May, 1925 at Low Mine, Bonsall, which describes the entertainments. Older residents of the village when the Bonsall Book was being compiled in the early 2000's remembered on the day of the holiday joining in races on the mine's surface and trying to climb a greasy pole to recover a ham from the top.
Other traditions still remain, thank goodness. The annual Well Dressings which are unique to Derbyshire being the most well known. However, one other perculiar tradition remains, that of the Castleton Garland Ceremony which takes place on the 29th May annually. A Garland King and Queen both on horseback dressed in 17th century clothes ride slowly round the village stopping at each public house, where they partake of a drink. The Garland King wears a wicker beehive decorated with flowers and greenery which obscures him from the waist upwards. They are accompanied by the village school children dressed in white, who at each stop perform a dance, the boys make a circle holding wooden staves and the girls dance within the circle. Very strangely the music sounds like a Cornish floral dance. This isn't suprising as many Cornish miners migrated to the Derbyshire lead mining field and many settled and worked in the mines in and around Castleton. The day this ceremony takes place on is called Oak Apple Day, this was the date that Parliament commemorated the Restoration of King Charles 11 to the throne in 1660, and also his birthday. However, this ceremony predates the English Civil War and it's origins are very obscure. Along with friends I took my small daughter to see this ceremony many years ago, if you live in Derbyshire and have never seen it, it is well worth a visit to see it performed.
Another tradition that was observed in Castleton, until the outbreak of WW2, was the ringing of the church bells on the Castleton Barmaster's birthday (a Barmaster is the official who measures the ore, measures the meers, nicks the mines etc. etc. and with the Steward of the Barmote Court presides at the court). It ceased then because church bells, with one exception, were never rung during the war, they were to be rung only as a sign of enemy invasion.