The Tradition of Coronation Bonfires

Codnor's 1911 bonfire on Forty Horse pit hill.
Built by the Butterley Company workers.

Anyone planning a bonfire for King Charles's coronation on May 6th?

If so, you'd be upholding a long-established tradition where towns around the country compete to build the tallest firewood beacon to mark the coronation of a new monarch. It's then set alight amid great partying, no doubt aided by the pubs remaining open until the special time of 2:30 a.m.

The "height" of popularity for coronation bonfires was in 1902 and 1911 for the coronations of Edward VII and George V. On Coronation Day in 1911 2,249 huge bonfires were built around the country, 81 in Derbyshire, a measly 16 in Nottinghamshire and a whopping 276 in Devonshire.

The highest one was 103 feet tall in Whitehaven, Cumbria. From Swinscoe Hill in Staffordshire 73 other bonfires could be seen.

We don't know how many were visible from Watnall Hall's eminent hilltop but there were fires lit at clearly visible locations on Monument Hill above Codnor, Mapperley brick works, Long Eaton, Crich cliff and plenty more along the distant Derbyshire horizon.

The 1902 Codnor bonfire had an internal staircase of 72 steps winding to the top. It was built with 173 tons of timber including 2,600 old railway sleepers and doused with 420 gallons of tar, oil and paraffin.

The tradition of biggest bonfire building persists in Northern Ireland. Protestants celebrate the Battle of the Boyne of July 12th by building enormous bonfires usually made from wooden palettes. The tallest in 2022 was 202 feet high at Craigyhill, Larne.

The official guidance for the coronation of King Charles III is that beacons are not to be lit. The reason given for this is that the “Coronation will take place less than a year after The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Beacons were lit, and are therefore anxious to ensure that the events planned for May 2023 have a markedly different look to those of June 2022.” Instead, the centrepiece of the Coronation Concert, ‘Lighting up the Nation’, will see the country join together in celebration as iconic locations across the United Kingdom are lit up using projections, lasers, drone displays and illuminations.