The National Town Criers Championship
The Town Criers pose for the camera.
About the Town Criers Championship
The Hastings National Town Criers Championship is now in its 53rd year and sees Town Criers come from all over the country to compete for the coveted title. The organisers have again chosen the Priory Meadow Shopping Centre as the venue because it brings the competition closer to the people of the town.
This year the performances of the Criers on sunday october 13th will be judged on:
Volume
Diction
Clarity
Inflection
Entrants will also be judged for their fit of costume, bearing, overall appearance and use of historically relevant props.
The first 'cry' will be a 'home cry' about their town or place of origin. The second, in the afternoon, will be a themed tribute which must include the introductory phrase 'Oyez, Oyez, Oyez' and the concluding coda 'God Save the Queen'.
After these opening heats, just 7 criers will progress to a fiercely contested final where they must repeat their home cry to compete for the title!
History of Town Criers
Town Criers were the original 'newsmen', finding their origins in the early Greek Empire as Spartan Runners.
The first criers in Britain can be found in 1066 when news of William of Normandy's invasion was passed from town to town by men employed to remind everybody of Harold's authority. As the literacy of Britain's population remained low well into the late 19th century, people came to rely on criers as a useful way of hearing about proclamations, edicts, laws and news.
Above: The ancient and honourable guild of town criers.
Oyez, Oyez, Oyez ("hark" or "listen") became a familiar call in town squares, markets and public meeting places all over Britain, a summons for the townspeople to gather and listen to news of plague, victories in far off lands, royal births and deaths by execution.
News of the Great Fire of London in 1666 and of Guy Fawke's thwarted Gunpowder Plot against the English Parliament was spread by Town Criers.
Their position became so important that harming a Town Crier was turned into a treasonable offence!
Hastings' Town Crier
Our own Town Crier John Bartholomew!
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