The Stamford bull run was a bull-running and bull-baiting event in the English town of Stamford, Lincolnshire. It was held on St Brice's Day (13 November), for perhaps more than 600 years, until 1839.[1] A 1996 Journal of Popular Culture paper refers to the bull run as a festival, in "the broader context of the medieval if not aboriginal festival calendar",[2] though works written during and shortly after the activity's later years variously describe it as a "riotous custom", a "hunt", an "old-fashioned, manly, English sport", an "ancient amusement", and – towards its end – an "illegal and disgraceful ... proceeding".[1][3]
Attempts to suppress the Stamford bull run began in 1788, the year the Tutbury bull run was brought to an end.[3] Other bull-running events had earlier been held in Axbridge, Canterbury, Wokingham and Wisbech.
- ^ a b Chambers, Robert (1864). "November 13. The Stamford Bull-running". Chambers Book of Days. The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in connection with the Calendar. Vol. II. W. & R. Chambers Ltd. p. 575. Retrieved 21 July 2018 – via Google Books.
- ^ Walsh 1996
- ^ a b Strutt, Joseph (1903) [1801]. "Performing Animals". In Cox, J. Charles (ed.). The Sports and Pastimes of the People of England: From the Earliest Period, Including the Rural and Domestic Recreations, May Games, Mummeries, Pageants, Processions and Pompous Spectacles (Enlarged and Corrected ed.). p. 209. Retrieved 21 July 2018 – via Google Books.