Name: This town throws pennies at people. They hurt.
Uploaded: 2025-05-23T07:34:15.000Z
Duration: 5 min 30 s
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Adverbs of degree

Sometimes I'm able to do a lot of research before going to a place, and sometimes I have to just wing it.

Every year, this town, Honiton, in southwest England, has a tradition where they throw hot pennies off balconies down onto waiting crowds who try to catch them.

Apparently, this started more than 700 years ago as part of a local fair.

Back then, the pennies would be scalding hot, and part of the entertainment, at least for the people throwing, was watching poor people burn themselves as they scrambled to pick up the pennies.

Back then, pennies were worth a lot more.

Very roughly, it'd be the equivalent of throwing £1 coins off the balcony, so perhaps worth minor burns if you're desperate.

Seven centuries later, they do still throw pennies, but I'm assured they're not scalding, just merely warm.

But I'm hoping I can find out more from the folks who run it, and also not get injured by flying pennies.

This is my first hot pennies as the Mayor of Honiton.

I've been coming to hot pennies all my life.

It's led predominantly by the Town Crier.

It's his event, if you like, and I'm gate crushing it.

I'm the Town Crier and Mace Bearer of Honiton.

I've held this position for 27 years, and today the hot pennies ceremony will be my 28th.

We toss pennies from balconies, windows, and if you're brave enough to scramble for them, pick them off the floor, they're all yours to take home.

People are pretty much sorting themselves out by height.

So the kids are going to the front, the adults are coming to the back.

I've been on the committee, believe it or not, for 46 years, and this is my 47th Honiton hot pennies.

When Honiton was granted a rural charter, they held a fair.

And of course, they wanted people to come into the town to make it a success.

But quite a lot of those people hadn't paid their landlords their rent.

So it was decided that they would give an amnesty during fair week.

And whilst the glove was hoisted, no man will be arrested.

I've only just thought to bring something to catch the pennies.

Like, there's people with upside down umbrellas, there's kids with buckets, and I, uh, wish me luck.

Honiton is famous as one of the staging points on the exit at the London Road.

And there were more pubs on Honiton High Street than most towns up.

There were wealthy people who lived in the town and who stayed in the inns.

And they used to take delight in throwing out hot pennies and watching the, um, the surf, I suppose, burn their fingers.

Oh, I took my eye off the pennies for a moment.

There would have been a few breaks over the years for World War whatever.

Because all the pennies are collected in jars in the pubs.

And we do throw out hundreds and hundreds of pounds worth of pennies.

All the pubs would have a large bottle or a can or a tray and people would put their loose change in it.

Nowadays, you have to order the pennies two weeks in advance from the banks to even have them.

It's one penny, but I'm really proud of the penny.

They were literally heated in the ovens of the pubs.

There was a stream running down one of the sides of the high street.

So there's photographs of kids in the drains pulling pennies out, but also cooling them because they've got burns on their hands.

And I believe that the lady in Hunterton Hoo to this day carries a scar from being burnt by a penny in the mid-60s.

And if you caught them on your arm, I do have a friend from school and he claims that he still has a scar and he's really proud of his hot penny scar, but they'd be scattering on the floor and it would hurt to pick them up.

We used to wear gloves, hobnail boots, old clothes.

And then when we got back in school, we'd be given 100 yards for skiving off.

It seems crazy now that we used to get tossed boiling hot coins, especially when we were little young children.

I did not fight hard enough to be in the crowd with the umbrellas.

I'm the cup of losses with two pennies and one slightly injured camera operator.

Nowadays, we have to be a little bit more careful.

So the pennies are scattered rather than thrown.

They're warmed in the sun at best or at worst, depending where you look at it.

We're about making certain that these wonderful old quaint customs continue.