Pig Face Day at Avening

A queen, a lord who refused her, a church built in penance and a pig's head on a platter. Avening's feast has a wonderful story. Here is how much of it is on record.

8 November 2026 · 4 minute read

A stone church with a battlemented central tower above a sloping churchyard — Photo: Hugh Llewelyn from Keynsham, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Avening is a village between Minchinhampton and Tetbury. Every other year, in September, its people carry a pig's head in procession into the church, dress up in costume for a pageant, and feast. It is called Pig Face Day.

The legend

As the parish tells it (opens in a new tab), Matilda, the wife of William the Conqueror, fell in love with Brictric, the Saxon lord of Avening, who rejected her. Brictric was imprisoned and died, and Matilda, in repentance, gave the village its church, which the parish dates to 1080.

The record

The Victoria County History (opens in a new tab) supports only part of this. A Saxon thegn named Brictric did hold an estate at Avening; by 1086 it belonged to the Crown, and by 1135 it had been granted to the convent of Holy Trinity at Caen, which was Matilda's own foundation. The oldest parts of the church of the Holy Cross may date from the late eleventh century (opens in a new tab). The romance, the imprisonment and Matilda as founder are not in the record.

Two round Norman arches in a whitewashed church, a stone font and rows of chairs below — Inside Holy Cross, Avening Photo: Hugh Llewelyn from Keynsham, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The feast itself is old. The VCH notes that George Bull, rector from 1685, tried to suppress the abuses that went with Pig's Face Day.

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The day now

The parish council says the feast, formally the Avening Feast and Queen Matilda’s Pageant, usually takes place on the first Sunday after 14 September and is now held every other year. A pig's head is carried into the church in procession and set on the top table, villagers dress in costumes of the period to play out the pageant, and spectators are given a pig roast. It was last held on Sunday 14 September 2025, when the procession went on from the church to the Memorial Hall for pulled pork baps. The next date had not been announced when we checked in October 2026, so look for the village's notices in the summer. Our guide to the Cotswolds in September has the rest of the month.

Near Avening

The Long Stone, Minchinhampton

Sight · Hill fort or barrow · Minchinhampton

The Long Stone is a prehistoric standing stone in farmland south-east of Minchinhampton: a slab of oolite 2.1m high, pierced by holes that give it its local name, the Holey Stone. Tradition says children were passed through them as a cure for rickets. A scheduled monument.
Minchinhampton Common

Sight · Common or park · Minchinhampton

Minchinhampton Common is a wide sweep of limestone grassland above Stroud and Nailsworth, in the care of the National Trust since 1913, where commoners' cattle graze and an Iron Age bank, a long barrow, pillow mounds and wartime trenches lie in the turf. Free to wander.
Beverston Castle

Sight · Castle or ruin · Tetbury

The ruin of a thirteenth-century castle at Beverston, west of Tetbury, built by Maurice de Gaunt and enlarged by the Berkeleys, twice besieged in 1644 and now part of a private house, its gatehouse, towers and moat seen from the lane and churchyard.

Places to stay near Minchinhampton

Where to stay in Minchinhampton

Wild View

Self-catering · Minchinhampton

A two-bedroom lodge for four in three acres of meadow at the end of a lane below Minchinhampton, with an outdoor bath, a fire pit and dogs welcome.

Dog-friendly · Family-friendly · Walker-friendly

Verified Oct 2026
Burleigh Court

Hotel · Minchinhampton

A Grade II listed country house hotel below Minchinhampton Common, above the Golden Valley, with 18 rooms, a two-rosette restaurant and a garden spa with a sauna, hot tub and plunge pool.

Dog-friendly · EV charging · Wedding venues

Verified Oct 2026
The Old Lodge

Inn · Nailsworth

An inn with six rooms on Minchinhampton Common, about two miles by road from Nailsworth, breakfast included and food all day.

Walker-friendly

Verified Nov 2026

Questions

When is Pig Face Day at Avening?

Every other year in September, usually on the first Sunday after 14 September. It was last held on 14 September 2025; the next date is to be confirmed.

Did Queen Matilda build Avening church?

That is the legend. The record shows that Brictric held Avening, that the Crown held it in 1086, and that Matilda's convent at Caen held it by 1135.

Why is it called Pig Face Day?

Because a pig's head is carried into the church in the procession and set on the top table.

Where is Avening?

Avening is a village between Minchinhampton and Tetbury, in the south Cotswolds. Its church of the Holy Cross may date in part from the late eleventh century.