St Columb Major Hurling the Silver Ball
Shrove Tuesday sees the entire village of St Columb Major divide into Townsmen and Countrymen for a traditional hurling match through the streets and out across the surrounding fields, played with a solid silver ball and no rules beyond the agreement that the ball must be carried across one of two sets of goals two miles apart.
A solid mid-Cornish market town with a genuinely grand medieval church, good real ale in a pub that dates to 1435, a respected artisan bakery, and the rare spectacle of Cornish hurling on Shrove Tuesday - enough to reward a purposeful stop, though little here demands a full day.
Cottages, B&Bs and hotels near St Columb Major, Cornwall.
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"A classic Cornish market-town carnival parade held each summer in the medieval stannary capital of Lostwithiel."
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Turning the Devil's Stone
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Marshfield Paper Boys Mummers Play
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Stoke Gabriel Wassail
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Carhampton Wassail
✦ Weird and Wonderful