OTTERY ST MARY TAR BARRELS, DEVON — 2025
Photographs of the Ottery St Mary Tar Barrels, a long-standing annual tradition in Devon, England. The event takes place each November and centres on the carrying and running of flaming tar barrels through the town’s streets.
The origins of the tradition are uncertain, with links suggested to early modern celebrations, local guild customs, and pre-industrial fire festivals. What remains consistent is its form: selected local families carry the barrels on their backs, running through dense crowds as the fire burns.
The event is tightly bound to place and community. Participation is inherited, regulated, and local; the town closes in on itself for the night, and the ritual follows a structure that has changed little over time. Spectators line the streets, but the event remains rooted in those who carry it forward each year.
I photographed the tar barrels after studying in Cornwall, drawn to local traditions and the ways communities maintain identity.
This project sits within my wider interest in celebration and community, and in the endurance of local ritual in contemporary life.