Liverymen from the Worshipful Company of Butchers (WCB) were led by Master Gwyn Howells in the Boar’s Head Ceremony procession from Butchers’ Hall to Mansion House on Wednesday 18th March, as crowds of onlookers gathered to watch.
The ceremony dates back to 1343, when the annual presentation of a boar’s head was agreed in payment for a parcel of land acquired by the Butchers Company. It takes place each year, shortly after the new Lord Mayor – or in this case, Lady Mayor – has taken up their year of office.
This year’s presentation was led by Master Gwyn Howells, who was elected to the role in September 2025.
The tradition was started in the 14th century when the monks at Greyfriars Monastery complained to the City Authorities that butchers were throwing away offal and ordure in the public street. In 1343, the City Authorities gave the butchers a piece of land next to the Fleet (Flete) river to clean their livestock’s entrails and granted them permission to dispose of the offal in the ‘Fleet Ditch’.
In return, the butchers were required, in perpetuity, to repair and maintain a wharf and render a boar’s head each year to the Lord Mayor of London at their own cost.
Now, the paraded head presented is a reproduction, but the Master of the Butchers still presents a real boar’s head to the Lord Mayor in Mansion House in a private ceremony as payment for a piece of land the Livery no longer uses or rents!
This year, attendees enjoyed a lunch of British pork sausages and mash, with the sausages supplied by D. Parker & Son Butchers, made with pork supplied by Cherryfield (Croydon) Ltd. Following the procession, attendees arrived at the Mansion House at 3pm, where they witnessed the paying of the rent as the boar’s head was presented to the Lady Mayor by the Master.
