Custom · Toddington
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Press your ear to the hill and listen for the frying pan.
Check opening times
The mound is on private land linked to the village school, so view it from the edge and check before you go. The listening happens just before noon on Shrove Tuesday in term-time.
Coming up is Conger Hill in Toddington, where on Shrove Tuesday children lie on the grass listening for a witch frying pancakes inside.
Conger Hill in Toddington is the grassy mound of a medieval motte-and-bailey castle. For generations, when the church's pancake bell rang on Shrove Tuesday, village children ran to the hill, pressed their ears to the ground and listened for an old woman, later called a witch, frying pancakes deep inside. Local historians suggest the sizzling was simply the bell's vibration travelling through the ground. The custom lapsed in the early 1970s and was revived in 2012: Year 4 pupils from St George's school now walk to the hill just before noon to lie on the grass and listen. In 2026 it was skipped because Shrove Tuesday fell in half-term.