Pig Face Day

Pig Face Day is Avening's celebration of the founding of its church, held in mid-September and now every other year. The last was on Sunday 14 September 2025, so the next is due in September 2027. The date has not been announced: the parish council gives the rule as the first Sunday after 14 September, which would make it Sunday 19 September 2027, but treat that as unconfirmed until the church and the parish magazine, The Villager, publish the day and the programme a few weeks before.

What happens

In 2025 the day began at 11am with the patronal festival service in the Church of the Holy Cross, followed by fizz and cake. At 12.20pm a procession, in vaguely medieval fancy dress if you like, went from the church to the Memorial Hall, where the Avening Singers sang, the Avening Silver Band played and the village school put on its play about Queen Matilda. The parish council describes a pig's head carried in procession and set on the top table, which gives the day its name. Avening WI served pulled pork and apple sauce baps in the hall for £2.50, with a vegetarian option, and the Bell Inn opened from midday. Outside there were traditional games, a sweet stall and an ice cream van, and the programme asked visitors to bring cash. Everyone is welcome, and costume is optional.

Getting there

Avening is in a valley on the B4014 between Nailsworth and Tetbury. The procession walks from the Church of the Holy Cross to the Memorial Hall, so you can follow it on foot; the 2025 programme named no event car park, so park considerately in the village and share a car if you can.

Where the custom comes from

The record is short. Domesday shows that an estate at Avening belonging to the Saxon thegn Brictric was held by the Crown in 1086, and by 1135 it had passed to the convent of Holy Trinity at Caen, founded by William the Conqueror's queen, Matilda. The oldest parts of the church may be late eleventh century. George Bull, rector from 1685, tried to suppress abuses connected with the annual feast, already called Pig's Face Day. The rest is legend: that Matilda loved Brictric, had him imprisoned when he refused her, and gave the village its church in repentance. The fuller story, record against legend, is in our Pig Face Day article.