Pratts Backside Village Fete – Saturday seventeenth Could, 2008. I’ve to confess that till shortly earlier than I went there I’d by no means heard of Pratt’s Backside, a kind of many amusing British place names. Locals appear now to want it with out the apostrophe, (and Fete with out its circumflex) though Wikipedia largely sticks to its use.
This historic Kent village was as soon as house to members of the Pratt household who owned massive areas of Kent in addition to bits of Wales, Sussex and London. Wikipedia tells me that Sir John Pratt was Lord Chief Justice of England from 1718 to 1725. Considered one of his sons was raised to the peerage in 1765 and sensibly took the identify of Baron Camden quite than Pratt (and later added Viscount Bayham and Earl Camden to his titles.)
The identify change was lucky for residents of that space of North London we all know as Camden City, who in any other case is perhaps residing in Pratt City within the London Borough of Pratt. Although South Londoners would possibly discover that amusingly apt.
The Backside within the identify is just indicating that this was a valley. The group website says that till the 1830s it was on the toll highway from London to Hastings and was the hang-out of smugglers and highwaymen together with Dick Turpin, a person who actually bought round to pubs in addition to York.
Now it appears fairly distant, and its laborious to see why it was hijacked into the London Borough of Bromley in 1965, significantly when extremely built-up areas comparable to Staines and Stanwell within the west had been evicted – and are nonetheless exterior Transport for London’s Zone 6.
I’d beforehand photographed a variety of the Could Queen festivals in London, significantly these at Orpington, simply a few miles to the north-west, the place the organisers there had instructed me that I ought to go to the Pratts Backside Village Fete – and so I made a decision to go there in 2008, every week after I had photographed the 96th London Could Queen being topped at Hayes.
Right here’s what I wrote about my go to to Pratt’s Backside in 2008:
I’d by no means been to Pratts Backside earlier than regardless of the engaging identify, so the normal English Village Fete appeared price attending, significantly because it features a procession with a number of Could Queens, together with these from Orpington, Inexperienced St Inexperienced and Petts Wooden, together with Pratts Backside’s personal Could Queen.
Pratts Backside, regardless of being within the London borough of Bromley appears very a lot out within the nation, past the leafy suburbs. Sadly, due to a confusion over instances (and solely an hourly prepare service) I arrived simply because the procession reached the village inexperienced. And sadly for all of us it was raining.
In addition to the Could queens, and a childrens’ fancy costume contest, there have been a full vary of stalls alongside the village inexperienced and another actions within the village corridor, to not point out the Bulls Head, the place I used to be not shocked to search out the Morris males.
I waited to see the Morris dancing, then rushed off down the hill to catch a prepare house. A positive however regular rain was nonetheless falling, and the heavy damp air was full of the fragrance of hawthorn and cow parsley. It appears odd that this space is included in London whereas extremely built-up areas comparable to Spelthorne are excluded.
Many extra photos at Pratts Backside Village Fete.
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Tags: Baron Camden, Bromley, Camden City, fancy costume, Knockholt, LB Bromley, London, Could Queens, Morris Dancers, Orpington, Pratts Backside, umbrellas, Village Fete
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