LONDON, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- People dressed in medieval costumes took up their historic entitlement to drive their sheep over London Bridge Sunday in a bid to promote British wool and the countryside.
British television gardener Alan Titchmarsh kicked off the annual sheep drive event as the first shepherd for the day. Woolmen from across the country took turns to drive the sheep over the bridge which was once London's only river crossing and sole trading route to the City of London.
The ancient sheep drive tradition aims to raise tens of thousands of pounds for charities. It is organized and hosted by the Worshipful Company of Woolmen which traces its own roots back to 1180.
Bill Clark from the Worshipful Company of Woolmen said: "Re-energising this old tradition provides a fun day out for Londoners but it is also a reminder of the City of London's important trading history. Wool may have been replaced by stocks and shares but London is still the world's centre of commerce."
Thirty sheep are provided for the event by a Bedfordshire farmer, with just ten at a time driven across the bridge by successive groups of Freemen.
Freemen are people who enjoy civil or political liberty. Among their entitlements in the Middle Ages was the right to drive sheep across London Bridge without being charged a toll.
