This cache is close to a bridge where an unusual tradition takes
place.
At eight minutes past eight on the evening of 8th August (the
eighth month) villagers from Halford descend on a bridge over the
River Stour to throw cheese down to a rat. A legendary rat.
But why? Read on....
The Rat of
Halford
The legend of the Rat of
Halford dates back to 888 AD. The Saxon village of Halford, which
lies on the Fosse Way, is said to have suffered terribly from rats
attacking its crops around harvest time. In order to try and stop
the destruction, it's said villagers decided to offer the rats
alternative foods to quell their hunger. So they began to throw
cheese to appease the vermin and stop them from coming out to eat
the crops.
Whether this worked or not
is unclear but in recent years the villagers have resurrected the
tradition, held annually at the same time and date in honour of the
year the legend first began. Each year more and more people come
along to the cheese throwing ceremony and people from as far away
as the US travel to Halford to process across the bridge by
torchlight and throw their cheesy offerings to the
rat.
Those who throw their
dairy products to the rat don't just satisfy his mythical hunger.
The throwers are also said to be blessed with eternal life...well,
eternal until the next year's ceremony anyway!
