
Each year on 29th May the Garland King, mounted on horseback and wearing the Garland, leads the traditional Castleton Garland procession around the Village, stopping at St Edmund’s Church, close to where you are standing. This is an important stage of the ceremony when the Garland, a large bell shaped frame covered in flowers and greenery, is removed from the King’s shoulders and hoisted to the top of the Church tower.

This is a photo of Garland King, Thomas Hall, taken sometime before 1913, showing him wearing the first Stuart-style costume, which was adopted in 1897. The King’s blue Stuart jacket can be seen in Castleton Museum, together with an older costume, a red coachman’s jacket worn inside out with ribbons & rosettes attached.
