Surrey.
The following is taken from the Times of March 7th, 1862:
“Shrove Tuesday was observed, as in days of yore, at Dorking,[15] first by a perambulation of the streets by the foot-ball retinue, composed of grotesquely-dressed persons, to the sounds of music, and in the afternoon by the kicking of the ball up and down the principal thoroughfares of the town. The usual number of men and boys joined in the sport, and played, especially towards the end of the game, with a roughness extremely dangerous to the limbs of the competitors. As 6 o’clock drew near the struggle for victory became more vehement; the palm, however, was obtained, for the fifth year, by the players from the west end of the town. The old custom of tolling the ‘pancake bell’ during the morning was, on this occasion, as during the last two or three years, dispensed with.”—West Surrey Times.
[15] This custom prevails at Epsom. N. & Q. 3rd S. vol. i. p. 439. It seems to have been observed also at Twickenham, Bushy, Teddington, Kingston. See Every Day Book, vol. i. p. 245.