The Reffley Society
According to tradition, the Reffley Society came into being in the days of the commonwealth. It is said that, during Cromwell's protectorate, a gathering of thirty men or over was an illegal gathering, the law presuming, with patently good reason, that the object of any such meeting was most likely to be conspiracy against the government.
The citizens of King's Lynn and its neighbourhood were strongly Royalist in sympathy. The town had been held for King Charles during the Civil war, and had only surrendered to the attacking Cromwellian forces to prevent the threatened destruction of the lovely church of St. Margaret, the situation of which rendered it particularly vulnerable to bombardment by the enemy artillery drawn up on the opposite bank of the River Ouse.
This surrender was not indicative of any change of heart in the people of King's Lynn; on the contrary, bitterness and resentment were no doubt added to their old antagonism because of the means used by their foes to compel it. Consequently it was but natural that some of the bolder spirits among them should take pleasure in defing the laws which were, as they viewed it, presently designed for their oppression; and some thirty men decided that, law or no law, they would foregather on one day in each year to show their contempt for their rulers, and to enjoy themselves in any way that they might think fit.
Perhaps because discretion tempered, to some extent, their boldness, they chose as their meeting place the secluded Reffley Spring; and their successors the Reffley Bretheren, or 'Sons of Reffley', have continued, for nearly three centuries, to meet annually at the same spot. Always have the Bretheren been thirty in number, except when death or other contingency temporarily depleted their ranks, and thirty in number they still remain at the present day.
I personally see no reason whatever to cast doubt upon the Bretheren's firm belief in the lawless but romantic origin of their society. The absence of any written records of the days of its inception is hardly to be wondered at, for even granted that their scolarship was equal to the task, its founders would see but little point in committing to paper names and facts which might mischance fall into the hands of the authorities and be used againstthem as proof of their delinquencies.
Moreover, it is quite evident that not for many years after its foundation did the members of the Society consider necessary any written accounts of their activities. The earliest manuscript book in the Society's possession, a 'Bett Book' (sic) wherein is recorded a number of quite remarkable bets made by the Bretheren, is dated 1789, the year of the building of the Temple, whereas the Latin inscriptions of the base of the column say that the Spring was dedicated to 'Bacchus and Venus, the gods of this place', on the 24th June 1756, when 'the column rose, more beautiful than before, from it's ruins.' From this it is manifest that the present column was the second to grace the Spring, and by whom could the first have been built if not by the 'Sons of Reffley'? The inscriptions seem to me to establish beyond all question that the Society must have come into existence long before the year 1756.
It is also, I think, a significant fact that the Society has no avowed object save conviviality and good fellowship.
It may interest Dr. Scholes to know that whilst looking through some of the papers I came accross the following paragraph, which appears with some notes procured from Dr. Mann, who, it seems, has or had the original copy of Dr. Arne's Cantata. At it's foot are the words 'Extract from 'Norfolk and Norwich notes and Queries''.
'When in August 1818 Sir Martin Browne Ffolkes, Bart.' He is described as owner of the soil and patron of the Spring, was returned to Parliament, the 'Sons of Reffley' held a sort of a sylvan celebration of the event. A bugler stationed on the confines of the wood heralded the approach of the patron, who was received by a numerous company, and preceded by musicians was conducted to the scene of the feast. The rustic board was presided over by a Mr. Marsh who 'displayed those comvivial talents which he so eminently possessed''; there were toast drinking and singing, and the wood resounded with the sounds of mirth and revelry. We told that 'the utensils for the dinner were supplied by the Mayor of Lynn;, but whether the 'utensils' included any of the corporation plate I am unable to say.'
The mention in this extract of 'musicians' and 'singing' is perhaps noteworthy. Might not these festivities have included a performance of the Cantata or some part of it?
Mr Ellis Middleton
Hon Secretary, The Reffley Society
(This document is undated)