The Bainbridge horn is blown every evening in this North Yorkshire town, at 9 p.m., between 28 September and Shrove Tuesday. Unlike the horn-blowing custom at nearby Ripon, the origin of this custom is obscure. Some have tried to link it with Roman times, but it is more likely to date from when Bainbridge was the administrative centre of the Forest of Wensleydale, and the sound of the horn was designed to guide benighted travellers to safety. This would date it to medieval times, but the first known mention is in 1823.
Bibliography
The full bibliography list is available here.
- Kightly, 1986: 141
- Smith, 1989: 142-5
