The West Country Carnival Circuits are an annual celebration featuring a parade of illuminated floats (also referred to as carts), in the English West Country. The celebration dates back to the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. The purpose is to raise money for local charities.

The series of parades in each town now form a major regional festival. Some carts cost in excess of £40,000 to build and are the result of thousands of hours work throughout the year.

History

The timing of the West Country Carnival close to the British celebration of Bonfire night on 5 November is no coincidence, as the roots of the original carnival in Bridgwater date back to 1605.

Guy Fawkes is the character most associated with the plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament, however the instigator was Jesuit priest Robert Parsons from Nether Stowey, a short distance from Bridgwater. Parsons and his colleagues Edmund Campion and Ralph Emerson were Catholics, who wanted to put an end to the Protestant monarchy and parliament of the day, in order to put an end to Catholic persecution. In 1580, they were discovered attempting to garner favour with northern-English based nobility in the English Mission, and were then associated with the failed Spanish Armada of 1588, both plots to replace Protestant Elizabeth I of England with catholic Mary Queen of Scots. After the deaths of Campion and Emerson, Parsons continued to plot to restore Catholic power in England, and hence his last ill-fated attempt against parliament and King James VI on 5 November 1605. After the failure of the Gunpowder Plot, Parsons was key in corresponding with Thomas Morton over the authority of use of St Paul in the creation and implementation of the Jacobean Oath of Allegiance.

The West Country is a loosely defined area of south western England, often regarded as encompassing the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, and the City and County of Bristol, while the counties of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, and the Isles of Scilly, are also often included. Some usages of the term include wider areas, while others are more specific, though with little consistency of definition.

Geography

The West Country is mostly rural, with only a few sizeable towns and cities. Tourism and agriculture, especially dairy farming, play a significant role in the economy. The landscape is principally granite moorland in the west, and chalk and limestone downland and clay vales in the east. Historically, tin mining and the fishery were sources of income and employment in the west of the area, but less so today, although the latter still contributes to the economy. The region is traditionally famous for its production of cider, clotted cream, and pasties, and in modern times has also become well-known for the Glastonbury Festival and other attractions.