The Lawless Hour

At Kidderminster, in the 18th century and into the 19th century, on the election day of the bailiff, the citizen assembled in the street to throw cabbage stalks at each other in what was called "the lawless hour". A bell starts the fray, once the bailiff is elected, the new bailiff and constables are pelted with apples. The financial accounts from one house show that 40 pots of apples were expended on one such an occasion.