2 October! That can only mean one thing! YES, THAT’S RIGHT! In a village in Hertfordshire, they’re marking Old Man’s Day, because it’s the 452nd anniversary of Mathew Wall almost being buried alive.
He was, apparently, a young farmer in Braughing, who had carked it in an untimely manner. Luckily for him, the lane his coffin had to be carried down was tree-lined, and one of the pall-bearers — this being autumn — slipped on some leaves.
The coffin fell to the ground with a biff, so they picked it back up, but heard a disconcerting sound emerging from within — a rather desperate banging. Mathew had, it seems, only been in a coma (or a narcoleptic fit, depending on your source).
They got him out, he married his previously grieving fiancée and they all lived happily ever after. Or at least, he lived another 24 years.
He stipulated in his will that the day he didn’t quite die should be remembered, so now the village… er, sweeps the path on 2 October ever year. Nobody seems to know why, given that a clear path prevents other people being resurrected in the same way.
Presumably, the ceremony got distorted over the years — and the current version of it only dates back to the mid-20th century, apparently.
Apparently, the original will said the vicar got “one shilling and eight pence” and local poor children got “a small sum”. Today, the vicar gets £1 from whoever lives in Wall’s old house, and local schoolchildren get paid in sweets to sweep the path.
The BBC wrote it up a few years ago if you want to know more.
But however you choose to mark Old Man’s Day, I think we can all agree that it represents the kind of noble tradition that made this country the envy of the world.
