The Box is a major cultural and heritage attraction and archive, which opened in Plymouth’s city centre in September 2020. Its collection, formally the South West Film and Television Archive (SWFTA), is the regional film archive for the South West of England, comprising the combined programme libraries of Westward Television and Television South West (TSW). It also includes a significant number of donated film collections dating back to the early 1890s.
This film is part of Free
Carhampton Wassail
Carhampton wassails
In partnership with:
Overview
Carhampton is famous for its wassailing celebration which is started in the 1930s by the Taunton Cider Company. A small event takes place in the community orchard next to the Butchers Arms Pub on 17 January. Villagers form a circle around the largest apple tree and hang pieces of toast soaked in cider in the branches for the robin who represents the good spirits of the tree. Shotguns are fired overhead to ward off evil spirits.
Wassail is traditionally hot mulled spiced cider and drunk during the wassailing ceremony. The word comes from Old Norse ves heil and literally means be you healthy or to your health. The first recorded wassail is in 1585 and linked to Twelfth Night marking the coming of Epiphany and the end of Christmas. The ceremony is to bless the tree thereby encouraging a good crop of apples in the coming season. Apple Tree Man is a folktale in Somerset and he is the spirit of the apple tree and the guardian of the fertility of the apple orchard.
Related
Watch for free
Minehead - 1932 - Osborne Personal Film Minehead - 1932 - Osborne Personal Film
Amateur film 1932 45 mins Silent Location: Minehead
A Somerset holiday with prolific amateur cinematographers the Tigg family
Watch for free
Minehead - 1943 - Osborne Personal Film Minehead - 1943 - Osborne Personal Film
Amateur film 1943 11 mins Silent Location: Minehead
Wartime fun and frolics at the Somerset seaside: sunbathing and seaweed fighting on Minehead's golden sands, and day trips to Dunster and Carhampton.
Watch for free
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande - Q&A
Inside Film 2024 22 mins
The director of a documentary about British funk pioneers Cymande joins the band at BFI Southbank to talk about the film.
Watch for free
The West Case The West Case
Action and Adventure 1923 28 mins Silent Location: Tilbury
Plotting world domination, Devil Doctor Fu-Manchu steals plans for a new aero-torpedo in this earliest surviving thrill-a-minute serial instalment.
Watch for free
Enter the Scala!!! Enter the Scala!!!
Inside Film 2024 16 mins
Filmmakers Jane Giles and Ali Catterall discuss their documentary Scala!!!, revisiting the legendary and inspirational cinema venue and some of the most notorious films that screened there.
Watch for free
Smith Smith
Charity appeal 1939 10 mins
Long thought lost, this Powell-directed promotional short for a veteran’s charity was only rediscovered in 2003.
Watch for free
An Airman's Letter to His Mother An Airman's Letter to His Mother
Documentary 1941 6 mins
A poignant, stirring letter from a recently deceased pilot to his mother is read by John Gielgud.
Watch for free
The NHS75 Celebration The NHS75 Celebration
Short documentary 2023 3 mins
Former Bristol Poet Laureate, Miles Chambers reads a poem specially commissioned for the 75th anniversary of the NHS.