By the 19th century, the grotesque Dorset Ooser had become part of the county’s folklore, appearing in village revels, Christmas traditions and the notorious custom of ‘skimmity riding’. Its reputation was such that Thomas Hardy drew on the tradition in his 1886 novel The Mayor of Casterbridge. But the origins of the horned figure remain much less certain.
The best-known Ooser was a huge wooden mask with staring eyes, a beard, bullock’s horns and a hinged lower jaw. Folklorist Margaret Murray suggested it was a relic of a pre-Christian fertility cult, worn by pagan priests during rituals. Her theory has since been widely challenged. Victorian folklorist Frederick Thomas Elworthy offered a rather different explanation, arguing that the Ooser represented the Devil and was intended to frighten people into behaving themselves.
Lucetta to Cersei
What we do know is that by the 19th century, the horned mask was a significant feature of village life across Dorset. The mask was still grotesque, with the hinged lower jaw so that it would snap shut with force and a bang. The wearer of the Ooser was an integral character in ‘Skimmity Riding’ or ‘Skimmity’. This was an expression of disapproval of adultery – villagers would march through the streets, leading a horse or donkey with the two adulterers seated back-to-back while the crowd mocked and condemned their supposed adultery or other perceived misconduct. The terrifying Ooser could add considerably to the humiliation.
Hardy used a skimmity ride as a devastating catalyst in The Mayor of Casterbridge, when the relationship between Henchard and Lucetta is cruelly exposed before the whole town. There is an intriguing modern echo in Game of Thrones, when Cersei is subjected to her infamous ‘walk of shame’. While this was a West Country custom, with most villages in Dorset boasting their own Ooser, George R.R. Martin has said his inspiration came not from Dorset folklore but from the real-life penance of Jane Shore, mistress of Edward IV. After the king’s death in 1483, Richard III accused Shore of immorality and she was forced to walk publicly through London in her undergarments.
Shillingstone’s Christmas Bull
The second half of the 19th century saw the Ooser given a new lease of life following a custom first seen in Shillingstone. Here the mask was being used as the ‘Christmas Bull’, and rather than bringing festive charm, the wearer would roam the village demanding refreshments from everyone it met, frightening children and taunting husbands and wives it believed had been unfaithful.
While Ooser masks were once abundant, by the end of the 19th century there was only one mask left. It belonged to the Cave family at Holt Farm, and disappeared amid accusations that a family ‘borrowed’ it and never returned it. Despite subsequent attempts to trace it, the original has never been found.
Today a replica, carved in 1975, is held by Dorset Museum & Art Gallery in Dorchester and still makes occasional appearances at traditional events.
One look at its wild glaring eyes, horns and snapping jaw makes it easy to understand why an unexpected encounter with the Ooser might once have concentrated the mind wonderfully.
by James Brinsford
