October 20
Colchester Oyster Ceremonies
Since 1196, when Richard I bestowed rights for the Colne Fishery near Colchester, business has been booming. Generations later, the same corporation still maintains control over the Fishery. Every September, the mayor and councillors open oyster-dredging season with great fanfare. A proclamation of 1256, declaring that “from time beyond which memory runneth not to the contrary” the rights have belonged to Colchester. The company then drinks a toast of gin and eats gingerbread, upon which the mayor lowers the first oyster-dredge, thus opening the season.
On October 20, the famous Oyster Feast in Colchester is held at Moot Hall. The festival was a well established custom by the 17th century, coinciding with the St. Dennis Fair dating from 1319. More than 400 people, often including the royal family, attend the feast, at which it has been reported more than 12,000 oysters have been consumed. This event is still held today in Colchester, Essex.
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