The Hut is the unassuming name given to a building on St. Leonard’s Farm, near Hawick Moor, in which Common Riding celebrations occur during the event’s final week. Whilst quiet celebrations at the Hut take place following a series of earlier, smaller Chases, it is at the Thursday morning, evening, and Friday morning ‘Huts’ of the final week (each following Chases led by the Cornet and Flag) that the greatest revelry takes place, with tickets to the Friday ‘Hut’ being particularly highly sought after. On each occasion, there is sang a series of songs, many toasts are made, and attendees drink plenty of the traditional drink: rum and milk. At the Friday ‘Hut’, there is the Curds and Cream repast, during which the Cornet and others indulge in produce ordered from a local farmhouse the week before. After the Hut, ‘Teribus’ is traditionally sang in front of St. Leonard’s farmhouse, before the Cornet and his riders make for the Moor. Currently, the Hut is open only to men.
‘It sits here for fifty-yin weeks neglected and sorry for itsel. Then, it embarks on its yince a year week o glorious pulsatin’ life, when it hez come ti encapsulate a’ Hawick’s hopes and dreams, for it becomes the verra pulse o Hawick patriotism, the soul o Hawick song and story, the hub o Hawick’s history and heritage…’
- Ian W. Landles, from a speech delivered in the Hut,
Common Riding Friday, 2004