Swearing on the Horns

Swearing on the Horns is a farcical oath that was traditionally given to visitors at various pubs in the north London suburb of Highgate during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries.

Other parts of the oath include pledges to be kind to one's wife, to remember that the man is the head of his household, and to bring new initiates on one's next visit.

[1] The 1785 edition of Grose's Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue held that the oath had been invented by a landlord of one of the public houses, to entertain guests and con newcomers out of some money.

"Young people would make mock pilgrimages from the city to experience the festivities, and by 1826 there were at least 19 different pubs in Highgate performing the ceremony.

Thornbury believes the custom is at least as old as the Reformation and states that the text "was originally intended as a parody on the admission of neophytes into religious guilds and confraternities by the clergy of the Catholic Church".

[3] In 1906, members of the Hampstead Antiquarian and Historical Society held a public re-enactment of the ceremony at what was by then known as the Old Gate House Hotel.

[8] In 2007 The Flask pub conducted the ceremony with a set of 200-year-old ram's horns taken from the Coopers Arms, as part of their beating the bounds festivities.

The London Brewing Company, co-sited with The Bull public house on North Hill N6, donated 18 gallons of a special, commemorative beer.