Joe
Pettet
Smith

Every Winter, in a small town in South West England, hundreds of people gather in the streets of Ottery Saint Mary for the annual Tar Barrels procession. Men, women and children from the town take it in turns to lift barrels of tar onto their backs, light them on fire, and run through the packed crowd, manically changing direction. Once the fire goes out it is lowered to the ground, more fuel is added, it is re-lit and proceedings continue until there is no barrel left. In order to take part, participants need to have been born in the town. Each of the portraits were taken moments after they handed the flaming barrel onto the next person, sweat and ash down their faces as they paused amongst the surging crowd.

No one really knows how the tradition started. It is thought to have begun after the failed gunpowder plot of 1605. But alternate origins suggest it could have started as a warning of the approach of the Spanish Armada in 1588, or the fumigation of nearby cottages, or that it is linked to pagan rituals to banish evil spirits from the town. The tradition is hundreds of years old and has been cancelled only twice in its long history; during the height of the Second World War, and in 2020 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. With restrictions lifted in 2021, the Tar Barrels returned. Each of the portraits were taken moments after one of the participants handed over the flaming barrel.