Burning barrels at Ottery St. Mary

‘So tell me again, you hoist a barrel with flames pouring out of it, onto your shoulders and you run through the streets of the town…’ Hard to believe, I know – but for residents of one east Devon town this is a loved tradition.

Every year on November 5th flaming tar barrels are carried through the streets of Ottery St Mary to the delight of thousands of townsfolk and visitors. Ottery St. Mary is internationally renowned for its Tar Barrel tradition which is hundreds of years old. The exact origins of the tradition are unknown but probably started after the gunpowder plot of 1605. Various alternative reasons suggested for burning barrels have included fumigation of cottages and as a warning of the approach of the Spanish Armada.

Each of Ottery’s central pubs sponsors a single barrel. In the weeks prior to event the barrels are soaked with tar. On the day the barrels are lit outside each of the pubs in turn and once the flames begin to pour out, they are hoisted up onto local people’s backs and shoulders and carried through the streets of the town. The streets and alleys around the pubs are packed with people. Seventeen barrels in total are lit over the course of the evening. In the afternoon and early evening there are women’s and boy’s barrels, but as the evening progresses the barrels get larger and by midnight they weigh at least 30 kilos. In most cases, generations of the same family carry the barrels and take great pride in doing so.

It is an incredible night to remember and if you are in the area you simply have to see it to believe it. One of the biggest bonfires in the South West is ignited on the banks of the beautiful River Otter providing an impressive background to the whole occasion.

The following holiday cottages are near to Ottery St. Mary:
The Old Chapel (FB101) – sleeps 2
Bantam Cottage (OM201) – sleeps 4
Ixworth Cottage (OM202) – sleeps 4