Hoodening: Kent Christmas tradition in which a man under sacking carries a carved wooden horse’s head on a pole, and you can still see the real horses in Deal, Maidstone and St Nicholas at Wade.
The popular version of a Kent Christmas is a cathedral city with a market and carols. All true. The older version arrived at the farm door on Christmas Eve, with a clacking wooden jaw and a man in a sack.
That is the Hooden Horse. It belongs to East Kent; it was written up in 1909, and most people have never heard of it. A handful of the original horses survive; two are still in use, and one of the best places to see an old one is a small museum in Deal.
Quick Facts
Region: East Kent, from Thanet and Canterbury to Deal and Maidstone
Best for: Folklore fans, museum visitors, and anyone who wants a Christmas custom older than the market stalls
Getting there: Deal, Canterbury and Maidstone all have railway stations; St Nicholas at Wade is best reached by car
Time needed: A day for Deal and Canterbury; a weekend if you add Maidstone and Thanet
What is hoodening, Kent Christmas tradition?
Hoodening is a house-calling custom. The Kent Archaeological Society describes a man under sacking, carrying a carved wooden horse’s head on a pole. The jaws work by a cord, and they clack. Groups went from farm to farm, mostly on Christmas Eve, with a concertina and a tambourine.
The cast was fixed. There was the Horse, the Rider, a Waggoner who cracked a whip, and the Mollie, a young man in women’s clothing with a birch broom. Wikipedia describes the Rider role as the Jockey, who tries to mount the horse, and notes that the Waggoner could also be called the Groom or Driver. At Deal, the Mollie was known as a Daisy.
The jaws clacked, the Mollie carried a birch broom, and the whole act took place at the door of a farm.
Where to Stay: The Falstaff, 8 to 10 St Dunstan’s Street, Canterbury, CT2 8AF, occupies a former coaching inn, with the listing dating to 1403. Email stay@thefalstaffincanterbury.com or ring 01227 462138.
Worth Knowing: The Kent Archaeological Society says groups mostly went on Christmas Eve, with a concertina and tambourine playing along.
Where the name comes from
Nobody knows. Wikipedia says the derivation is unknown, and one early theory linked the name to the god Woden. Percy Maylam, who wrote the standard book on the custom, found no sufficient evidence for that.
The most widely accepted view is that hooden refers to the sackcloth covering the man who carries the horse. Treat it as the best guess and not as a settled fact.
The horse belongs to the family of animal disguise customs found across Britain. When Maidstone Museum staged an exhibition on it, they set the Kent horses beside Morris Dancing revival horses, northern skull horses, the Old Tup, the Welsh Mari Lwyd and West Country Obby Osses.
Where to Stay: The Falstaff is a short walk from Canterbury’s Westgate. Its listing gives rooms from £77 a night on the CoolStays page we checked, so confirm the current rate.
Worth Knowing: The Falstaff stood outside the Westgate, the main entrance to Canterbury from London, and in 1783 it was renamed the Falstaff, according to the Canterbury Archaeological Trust.
The earliest records
The earliest detailed description appears in 1807 in the European Magazine, from Ramsgate, according to the history on hoodening.org.uk. Wikipedia agrees that Thanet and Ramsgate give the earliest description. The Rev. Samuel Pegge had already listed the word in his Alphabet of Kenticisms, calling hoodening a country masquerade at Christmas times.
The date of Pegge’s entry depends on the source. The hoodening.org.uk history gives 1735 to 1736, and Wikipedia says the 1750s. Both put it in the 18th century, so that is as far as we go.
A letter of 1891 recalls the custom about 45 years earlier at Hoath, Herne and Chislet, according to the Kent Archaeological Society. By the 1930s it survived mainly as a Christmas shopping spectacle in Deal.
The pattern is clear. Canterbury.co.uk describes it as a custom performed by East Kent farm workers, with records clustering along the east and north coasts.
Where to Stay: The Royal Hotel, Beach Street, Deal, CT14 6JD, is on the seafront. Kent’s heritage record lists the building as Grade II, with a main building dating to the early 19th century.
Worth Knowing: The Royal Hotel’s own site calls it an early 18th-century Georgian hotel, but Kent’s heritage record dates the main building to the early 19th century.
Percy Maylam and Canterbury
Percy Maylam is why we know so much. He practised as a solicitor in Canterbury and published The Hooden Horse in 1909, in an edition of 303 copies, according to Wikipedia. It was reissued in 2009 as The Kent Hooden Horse. The Kent Archaeological Society says he first saw the custom in Thanet in the 1880s.
Maylam looked for records across the county and found none west of Godmersham, which shows how far east the custom extends. The hoodening.org.uk history says he photographed a Walmer group in 1907.
Canterbury also has a horse of its own. The hoodening.org.uk page says a horse called Satan turned up in a Canterbury antique shop in 1976. It was labelled an 18th-century Italian hatsnatcher, but the proprietor later agreed it was English. The page does not say where it is kept now.
Canterbury Festival ran a talk called Kentish Christmas Customs: Hooden Horses, Mumming and Wassailing on 4 December 2025, with the folklorist James Frost, at Church Street, CT1 1NH. Tickets were £20, with mulled wine and mince pies afterwards. A 2026 date has not been announced.
Where to Stay: The Falstaff is in the city centre, so a trip to Church Street is easy.
Worth Knowing: Maylam’s 1909 book ran to 303 copies, and Wikipedia records a reissue in 2009.
Deal and Walmer
Deal is where hoodening lasted longest in public. Wikipedia records a horse that entered a hotel tearoom in Walmer on Christmas Eve 1906. The Walmer horse was rediscovered in 1955, according to hoodening.org.uk.
Deal Maritime and Local History Museum, 22 St George’s Road, CT14 6BA, says it displays the original late nineteenth-century Deal Hooden Horse, which roamed the town on Christmas Eve, delighting local children. The hoodening.org.uk page tells a different story. It says the original Deal horse was thrown away in the 1950s, and that Deal Museum holds the Walmer horse and a later colt made by Jack Laming in 1956.
The two accounts do not match, so ring the museum before you go and ask which horse is on view. It also holds Hengist, a modern horse made from driftwood, created around 1974.
Museum admission is £3 for adults, £2 for concessions and children, and £9 for a family. The opening times on the site cover only April to October, with Tuesday to Friday afternoons in spring and autumn. Winter opening is not listed, so ring before a December trip.
Where to Stay: The Royal Hotel on Beach Street has a bar terrace and a seafood restaurant, according to the White Cliffs Country listing. It does not state a dog policy.
Worth Knowing: The Walmer horse was used in 1906 and rediscovered in 1955.
St Nicholas at Wade
The village of St Nicholas at Wade, in Thanet, keeps the custom alive. The St Nicholas Hoodeners carry a horse called Dobbin, which, according to the hoodening.org.uk page, was used until about 1921 and revived in 1966. A repair to its pole suggests it might be around 200 years old.
The Kent Archaeological Society says the group revived the custom in the 1960s after about 40 years. The Trice brothers’ performances at St Nicholas and Sarre ended around 1921, according to the same history. The page says two of the original pre-First World War horses are with the St Nicholas Hoodeners and are still in use.
It is the best place to see a horse in action, but the group’s 2026 appearances are not published on the pages we checked. Look for their winter dates locally.
Where to Stay: The Royal Hotel in Deal is the nearest verified stay we found. Check the distance for yourself, since the village is in Thanet.
Worth Knowing: The page says Dobbin might be around 200 years old, judging by a repair to its pole.
The Wingham horses at Maidstone Museum
Maidstone Museum holds two old horses from Wingham. The hoodening.org.uk page dates them tentatively to around 1870 to 1900. They are not normally on display. One appeared briefly at Tenterden Museum in 2012, and both were in the 2023 exhibition, Animal Guising and the Kentish Hooden Horse, which ran from 8 February to 17 June 2023.
Wye College donated the horses, but their earlier history is unknown. The 2023 exhibition was free and included talks and a family day.
Because the horses are not normally on display, ask the museum before you travel. The museum’s page did not list opening hours or confirm any current displays.
Where to Stay: The Falstaff in Canterbury is a base for the museum towns of East Kent. We did not find a verified stay in Maidstone.
Worth Knowing: The two Wingham horses are dated to approximately 1870-1900 and are not normally on show.
Seeing a horse in 2026
Hoodening groups still go out. Wikipedia lists East Kent Morris Men, founded in 1953, and Tonbridge Mummers and Hoodeners, who have used a horse since 1981. It also lists the Ancient Order of Hoodeners, based in Whitstable, and Ravensbourne Morris Men at Keston, who adopted the horse in 1947.
None of these pages gave 2026 dates. If you want to see a horse in action, search for each group’s own winter listing, or look for the Broadstairs Folk Festival, whose symbol is the horse, according to the Kent Archaeological Society.
Revivals have a long history. By the 1930s, the custom was mainly a shopping-time spectacle in Deal, and the St Nicholas group brought it back in 1966.
Where to Stay: The Royal Hotel offers festive dining in Deal, with traditional Christmas favourites and seasonal dishes on its menus.
Worth Knowing: Wikipedia says Tonbridge Mummers and Hoodeners have used a horse since 1981.
Practical Tips
- Ring Deal Museum before you go. Its opening times on the site cover April to October, and its horse counts differ from those of other sources.
- Ask Maidstone Museum whether the Wingham horses are on display. They are not normally shown.
- Use the AllTrails app to plan a coastal walk between Deal and Walmer.
- Check the Canterbury Festival box office for a 2026 folklore talk. In 2025 it was £20.
- Dress for a cold Kent evening if you meet a group outdoors.
- Search local listings in November for hoodening groups in Whitstable, Tonbridge and St Nicholas at Wade.
Responsible Visiting
If a hooden horse approaches, let it come. Give the performers space, do not touch the horse or the costume, and donate if there is a collecting bucket. Treat the museums as they are, quiet and small, and follow their photography rules.
Reader Q&A
What is hoodening?
A Kent Christmas custom in which a man carries a carved wooden horse’s head on a pole, covered with sacking.
What does hooden mean?
Nobody knows. The most widely accepted view is that it refers to the sackcloth covering the carrier.
Where can I see a hooden horse?
Deal Maritime and Local History Museum displays one, and Maidstone Museum holds two from Wingham that are not normally on show.
When did hoodening happen?
Mostly on Christmas Eve, going from farm to farm.
Who wrote the book on it?
Percy Maylam, in 1909. It was reissued in 2009 as The Kent Hooden Horse.
Is there a hoodening event in 2026?
Not confirmed. Canterbury Festival ran a talk on 4 December 2025, and we found no 2026 date.
How old are the horses?
The Maidstone horses are dated around 1870 to 1900. The St Nicholas horse, Dobbin, might be around 200 years old.
Where to Stay
The Falstaff, Canterbury. A former coaching inn at 8 to 10 St Dunstan’s Street, which the listing dates to 1403.
The Royal Hotel, Deal. A seafront hotel on Beach Street with a bar terrace and seafood restaurant.
For more Kent and South East days out, read our guide to the Kent vineyards and wine country. For more folk customs, see the Robertsbridge Bonfire Night and the Tenbury Wells mistletoe auction.
Somewhere in East Kent, a carved horse’s head on a pole is waiting for the next Christmas Eve.
