Plaque on 59 Main Road, Washingborough

This was the home of Danny Fitter, an organ builder. Accused of beating his wife, he was supposedly the last person to be Ran Tanned in Lincolnshire in April 1918. The practice varied from village to village but villagers would gather outside the guilty persons house to make a racket by banging pots and pans and singing songs about the offender who would have to promise not to repeat the behaviour. Sometimes it would go on for a couple of hours and sometimes it would go on for 3 nights in a row, as reported in this case, until his effigy was burned in Thackbush Lane. The practice was outlawed in the late 1800’s but was still going on at least until the 1930’s. In the north of the County, "riding the stang", was practised in medieval times. The Rev. G. S. Streatfield, writing in 1884, says that "stang" is derived from the ancient Anglo-Saxon word steng meaning a pole, and the victim of the mob was tied astride a pole and forced to complete a tour of the village accompanied by the villagers, again making a noise with pots and pans. See other images of Ran Tan

  © Copyright Jo Turner and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence .

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