Admiralty Court
Rochester, Kent
First or second Saturday in July

The Mayor of Rochester has, since the l5th century, also been known as the Admiral of Medway, and in this capacity he presides over the Admiralty Court of the City of Rochester. The colourful ceremony, with the dignitaries dressed in their official regalia, takes place on a decorated barge moored in the River Medway. The Court was set up by Act of Parliament in 1729 'for regulating, well-ordering, Governing and Improving the Oyster Fishery in the River Medway and waters thereof'. The Court consists of the aldermen of the City and a jury made up of freemen of the river, and its purpose is to swear in new water bailiffs and ordain the Medway's oyster fishery for the following year.

Tynwald Ceremony
St Johns, Isle of Man
5 July (or nearest Monday, if 5 July is a Saturday Sunday)

Although the Tynwald Ceremony is a state occasion, it is one that has a direct link with Norse assemblies ten centuries earlier On or about what is Old Midsummer's Day, there is a short service in St John's Chapel; the Lieutenant-Governor, preceded
by his Swordbearer, then leads the civic and religious dignitary to Tynwald Hill, their pathway strewn with rushes. He takes his place on the seat of the Norse Kings beside the 8ishop of Sodor and Man. He is surrounded by the two Deemsters, or judges; the representatives of the Manx Parliament, the House of Keys (from Manx kiare-as feed, meaning four and twenty); and the vicars of the island's parishes. Before the ceremony begins, the assembly is 'fenced' by the Chief Coroner: that is, he orders that those present should not 'quarrel, brawl, or make disturbance' while the Tynwald is in session, 'on pain of death'. Then a summary of the laws passed in the last year is read out, in Manx and English. After this, the whole gathering has to give its verbal approval, which it does with three rousing cheers for Queen.

The Tynwald, roughly meaning place of assembly, takes place on Tynwald Hill, constructed on the summit of an ancient burial mound and thought to have been a gathering place even before the Vikings came. The earliest recorded ceremony here was in 1417, but the Vikings ruled the island from about 900 onwards, and it was their meeting place when Manx laws were orally declaimed rather than written down in books.