Houghton-le-Spring, Rectory Field, ox roasting spit

HER Number:
15906

District:
Sunderland

Site Name:
Houghton-le-Spring, Rectory Field, ox roasting spit

Place:
Houghton-le-Spring

Map Sheet:
NZ34NW

Class:
Food Preparation and Consumption

Site Type: Broad:
Food Preparation Equipment

Site Type: Specific:
Spit

General Period:
Modern

Specific Period:
C20

Form of Evidence:
Structure

Description:
Ox roasting at Houghton began when Rector Bernard Gilpin (1558-1583) fed the parish poor each Sunday between Michaelmas and Easter. A bullock or hog was often roasted. In 1967 Houghton Rotary Club revived the tradition at Houghton Feast. The spit is set up in a breezeblock structure, which is of no architectural merit. But the site is recorded here because the history of ox roasting is of historic interest.

Easting:
3394

Northing:
4975

Grid Reference:
NZ33944975

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Paul Lanagan, Houghton-le-Spring Heritage Society, 2013, Houghton-le-Spring Rectory - A Walk Around the Grounds (www.houghtonlespring.org.uk); Paul Lanagan, 2009, Houghton Feast Ox Roasting 1967-2009 (commemorative booklet); Ox Roasting: A Beef History narrated by Ron Young