The Midsummer Watch Giants

A Brief History by Dave Roberts the Chester Giant Master

The Catalyst for the Return

One day in 1987, when I lived near the canal basin in Chester, I saw some people dismantling a giant in South View Road.  I asked them about it and they told me they were from Huddersfield and that their giant was called Nathandrial.

One of the party, Lee Gilbert had recently completed her dissertation on the subject of "Medieval Dancing Giants".  This included a quote from the Morris History of Chester about the Chester "family of giants" and the other effigies that made up the Chester Midsummer Show or Watch.

Research

I decided to conduct further research into the subject and I discovered that the records show that Henry Hardware, a Puritan Mayor of Chester had everything broken up because the Midsummer Watch was an ungodly gathering that encouraged people to have a good time and behave badly.  His successor as mayor had everything rebuilt and the record of the expenses is all that we have. 

There is no contemporary description of the giants or the original parade but everything that was spent was recorded in detail. There was also a letter to local business people asking them for contributions to "equalise the cost". (Harlean manuscript from the British Museum)  The only reason that we know the sex of the members of the family of giants is because it is recorded that a woman gave three old sheets to make hoods for the wife of the giant and their two daughters.

The city of Salisbury boasts a single giant, it can be seen in the museum there, the head is original but the body has been remade.  Sadly the body has been shortened to fit the space which makes him look squat. The design is different from the giants that continue to be made abroad in that it is a cone shape rather than a tall four-legged structure.

The Chester Pageant in 1910 included "Medieval Revels" and giants and other structures were built for this event, the photographs of the giants appear to show that their bodies were based on a cone shape. Image from the Chester Image Bank (external link)

Re-building and Re-Birth

In 1988 I decided to try to build a giant using the technology that was available during the 17th century.  The need to pass through the archway into the Abbey Green, which was part of the route in the medieval period, determined how high the male giant could be.

The list of materials and payments for work done recorded in the Guild records gave some clues as to how the giants may have been constructed.  A blacksmith was paid to make four hoops and the heads were made of pasteboard and trimmed with buckram.  I decided that it was reasonable to assume that the shoulders could be based on a coracle frame as there were coracles on the river Dee at the time. Further research -Extracts from The Book of Days A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities 1863.

This first giant was taken for a walk through the streets of Chester at midsummer 1989.

A second giant was made at Lache Junior School, a unicorn at Lache Adventure Playground and a Dragon at NACRO New Careers Training in 1990.  The parade at midsummer that year was the first for over 300 years.

The following year another female giant was made at Lache Junior School, this had an Elizabethan shape with a narrow waist, and was included in the parade that year but it proved to be weak in the middle and a new cone shaped body was made in time for the next year.

In 1992 Lache Adventure Playground rebuilt the unicorn which was damaged and Blacon Adventure Playground built an elephant and castle. The first giant appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at this time.

In 1993 a camel was built at Blacon Adventure Playground after a workshop with two schools at Chester Zoo using a real camel as a model.  The Giant was part of an International Festival of Historic Interpretation in Bradford during the year.

The groups that worked on building the giants also joined in the parade each year.  A child beating a drum led the parade and each group carried a placard to identify itself.

In 1994 Adrian Sumner funded improvements to the structures and a new elephant and castle was built at Blacon prior to joining a Christmas event that became the Winter Watch.

In 1995 two new giants were made and one which was damaged beyond repair was scrapped. Leisure Services funded the building of a pike, a ship and a range of costumes.

The original intention was to recreate the Midsummer Watch in its entirety by 1998 to mark the 500th anniversary.  It is now firmly re-established with ongoing support from Chester City Council.

The Midsummer Watch Parade

A family of giants, mythical animals and a ship that travelled through the city streets. These were some of the amazing sights that could be seen on midsummer's eve, during the middle ages.

Pageantry on such a grand scale, for the entertainment of the citizens of the city, was unique in Chester and must have been the most exciting event in people's lives at that time.

The beating of the great drum would announce the coming of the structures, followed by hobby horses, Morris dancers and musicians of every kind.

Each structure was preceded by a child on horseback, dressed in the finest clothes and followed by each of the Guilds in turn, the members walked in the costumes that they would wear in the performance of Mystery Plays written specifically for each Guild and representing in some way the trade or craft practised by the members of the Guild.

Ancient records stored in the British Library, describe how sixteen tenants of the city were bound to watch the city for three nights each year, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and St Stephen's Day because these were the days when festivals were going on and disorder could threaten the peace.

The Midsummer Show and the Watch that was intended to control the revellers became merged as they both became the responsibility and financial burden of the Guilds.

The Guild records show that these duties were taken seriously and every item of spending that contributed to the spectacular pageant was meticulously recorded, every contribution and date was noted, which is why we know that the earliest record of these events was the year 1498 and that the show continued, with occasional disruption, until the 1660's when it seemed Puritanism triumphed.

There were other similar pageant structures elsewhere but there was nothing to compare with the lost spectacular that was the Chester Midsummer Show.

The tradition of building giants abroad has survived into the present day and examples can be found in Spain, Belgium and Mexico.