An offering of a stag was at one time annually made on St. Cuthbert’s Day at the shrine of the saint in Durham in a custom which has considerable pagan undertones. The custom was established by the nearby Nevilles of Raby. Thistleton-Dwyer in his 1911 British Popular Customs Present and Past states that:
“On one occasion, however, Lord Neville claimed that himself, and as many as he might bring with him, should be feasted by the Prior upon the occasion. To this the Prior demurred, as a thing that had never been before claimed as of right, and as being a most expensive and onerous burden, for the trains of the great nobility of that day were numerous in the extreme. The result was that the Prior declined to accept the stag when laid before the shrine, by which they of the Nevilles were so grievously offended that from words they got to blows, and began to cuff the monks who were ministering at the altar.”
The author notes that:
“The latter, upon this occasion, were not contented to offer a mere passive resistance, for they made such good use of the large wax candles which they carried in belabouring their opponents as to compel them to retreat. The retainers of the Nevilles did not, however, condescend to take back again the stag which, as they deemed, had been so uncourteously refused. The stag was an oblation by the Nevilles of great antiquity, and appears to have been brought into the church, and presented with winding of horns.”
When the custom died out is unclear but its association with the September celebration of the saint suggests at the Reformation as the Anglican St Cuthbert’s Day is in March.
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