NEWTON CHURCH

THE PATRONAGE FESTIVAL OF GWYL MABSANT.

The Mabsant maintained the religious observance of the anniversary, or birthday of the Church, which day celebrated some special episode in the life of the Patron Saint of the Parish. Special psalms were sung and lessons were appointed to be read. The period of the Mabsant was recognised as the time for games and amusements after the service ; usually lasting a week, the social merriment acted as a magnet, attracting back within the parish confines, those who had quitted it for other spheres ; men and women from other parishes were welcomed, and the villagers kept open house. The members of Newcastle Church (Bridgend) would be conforming to custom if they brought their church organ with them to Newton, should there be need. The growing popularity of the annual feast would tax the resources of the village, and stalls for the sale of necessities inevitably appeared, so that, gradually, a sort of fair or fete would be established by custom. The Mabsant became a whole-hearted holiday even if shorn of some religious significance. Churches in the various parishes had their own particular day for the feasts, with the result that a succession of mabsants would lure the same revellers, thus interfering with the cultivation of the soil and with the harvests. Consequently an order was issued in 1536, two years after Henry VIII become Head of the Church in England directing that all such festivals were to be observed on the first Sunday in October.

The ecclesiasticism of Henry VIII and of Edward VI gave way to the Roman Catholicism of Queen Mary who restored all the Pre-Reformation customs, including Mabsants and games, Queen Elizabeth re-introduced the High Church doctrine of Henry VIII, but eventually Calvinistic Puritanism, which decided Church policy, showed contempt for ceremonials ; its strict sabbatarianism limited the amusements of the people; Sunday games, in fact, fell into disrepute from 1595. It was considered foolish to speak of saints with reverence, and their names were subject to contempt and ridicule. During the reigns of James I and Charles I, the High Church party again became ascendant ; in the time of the latter, the clergy were obliged, under penalty of removal, to read from the pulpit a declaration that the people were to indulge in games and pastimes after the church service. The Puritans of the Cromwellian period opposed Sunday games. Samuel Butler in Hudebras said of them :

"They compounded for sins they were inclined to,
By damning those they had no mind to."

As is reflected in the contemporary literature, the restoration of Charles II gave an impetus to much drunkenness and licence ; all traces of the original significance and spirit of the Mabsant were obliterated ; the Newton Mabsant became a week of revelry around the shrine of Bacchus, and continued as such an annual celebration for over 200 years.

In 1715 "The Charitable Society of Ancient Britons" was founded, with Newton as one of the centres. The Club met at the Old Red House on Newton Beach, appearing later at the Jolly Sailor Inn as the lineal descendant of the Mabsant, shorn of its piety, and tinctured with much hilarity and buffoonery. Its members congregated on the Saturday nearest to the 10th of September which, after 1752, was the new date of the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist. All interest in the Patron Saint had ceased, but the Mabsant continued in its new guise. Surviving members of the Club of the Ancient Britons talk with pride of the procession with banners and flags unfurled, each member proudly wearing the red shoulder sash with its characteristic rosette, and carrying at the top of a long staff, the emblem of a trade, in this case a peculiarly shaped bilwg (bill hook), many of which are stall treasured as family heirlooms. Headed by a band, the club would march from Newton to Nottage - and in later years, continued on to the gradually emerging Porthcawl - and return to Newton Church, when the Rector would conduct a service and deliver an appropriate sermon. Such was the custom in pre-Reformation days, when, for hundreds of years, some episode in the life of St. John the Baptist had been the subject of a homily or an exhortation to righteousness. The Preacher at the Patronal Festival usually recalled particulars of the active life of the Saint, how he kept the Faith through all the vicissitudes of this world, and transmitted it to others. The memory of the Holy Day had no place in the services of the last three hundred and fifty Mabsants. From church, the men, within living memory, proceeded to the loft of the Jolly Sailor Inn, where they would partake of the annual dinner, after which, freely imbibing, and joined by their women folk, they would dance to the accompaniment of the harp and fiddle, and so would celebrate during a whole week what to them was the Mabsant, but that, indeed, robbed of every vestige of the spiritual associations of the Feast of St. John the Baptist, which gave it birth. A subscription qualified for membership of the Club, which provided for the care and assistance of the sick and infirm, while the aged received a pension of eighteen pence per week. With an increase in the proportion of pensioners, the young men became indifferent, and the Club of the Ancient Britons in Newton ceased to function in 1896, when the last of the so-called Mabsants was held. A raid on the church tower was attempted annually, and the bells are said to have been cracked on such occasions.

The women of the parish held their Feast on Whit-Tuesday, and this again was the Annual meeting of their club which was based upon a contributary scheme to provide for the welfare of the less fortunate members. The procession, led by the Lady of the Manor who was an honorary member of the Club, and by the wife of the resident Rector, wended its way to the Church for a service, and returned to the Crown Inn, and later to the Welcome-to-town Inn, which, near Hope Chapel, survives as two cottages. Harp and violin provided the music, to which the women, with their invited male partners, would dance, and carouse throughout the evening. The origin of this Feast, is not known : It might have been a survival of a pre-Reformation Catholic custom; even today a procession, as a preliminary to a Whitsuntide tea party, is not unknown.

A revival of this ancient custom, associated with some phase of modern life worthy of the spiritual significance of the true Mabsant, should be welcomed. A procession from Newton to Porthcawl, via Nottage, and a return to a religious service at the famous church would restore a ceremonial that would please and elevate. Not that the extravagances and abuses would be tolerated, but the holy attributes of the feast would be emphasised and endeared to the people who stall cherish a longing for that which is noble and dignified. The belief that Newton Church was founded and originally built by the Knights Hospitallers has been expressed. The worthy descendant of this ancient, pious, and charitable body is The Venerable Order of the Hospital of St-John of Jerusalem. Wales has its Priory which is represented in Porthcawl by a respected body of men who have served well the interests of this Parish. A one-day annual celebration, as a revival of the Mabsant, would give added interest to the work of the St. John's Ambulance Association, the local members of which, by sacrificial service, have proved themselves worthy of the high ideals of its founder, St. John, the Patriarch.

Laus Deo

[Last Updated : 11 Nov 2002 by Gareth Hicks]