#deptford

Jack-in-the-Green is a traditional May Day folk custom found across parts of England, particularly in London and the South East. Historically associated with chimney sweeps and other working people, the Jack was a towering framework covered in fresh greenery and flowers, carried through the streets to welcome the coming of summer. Over time the figure became linked with older ideas of the “Green Man” — a spirit of renewal, wild nature, and seasonal rebirth.

The Deptford Jack-in-the-Green traces its modern revival to 1983, when Mo Johnson built a new Jack in the back garden of the Dog & Bell pub in Deptford. Inspired by a photograph of the original Fowler’s Troop Jack from around 1900, the revived Jack became the centrepiece of the newly reformed Fowler’s Troop, accompanied by musicians, morris dancers, and a strange procession of costumed folk figures.

Standing around eleven feet tall, the Deptford Jack has roamed the streets of South East London every May Day for decades, sometimes meeting other Jacks from the City of London and Hastings. In 2015 the original frame was replaced with a specially made metal structure funded through a legacy left by Fowler’s Troop musician Doug Adams. To this day the Jack is traditionally dressed with fresh foliage on April 30th at the Dog & Bell before emerging once more to herald the arrival of summer.- Deptford, London UK

Day 2550, 17 June 2025 

Deptford Town Hall clock tower, New Cross, London.