Feckenham’s Declaration of Independence

Status: Hoax
image Earlier this spring, while digging up an oak tree, residents of Feckenham (a small British village) discovered an 800-year-old scroll written by King Henry III. The scroll stated that the village should remain independent forever. This prompted the villagers to declare their independence from Britain, set up border-patrol checkpoints around the town, and lower the taxes on beer. The Ottawa Citizen reports:
The scroll, of course, is a joke. The story started earlier this spring as a way to involve locals in a town festival, which wraps up tonight with a dance in the local hall. Villagers followed through with the tongue-in-cheek idea and created their own national flag, t-shirts, and moved to get rid of the government's infamously high alcohol tax. But now villagers feel the line between reality and fiction is starting to blur.
Not everyone realized it was a joke. One businessman reportedly contacted the village to inquire about the possibility of opening an import/export operation to take advantage of the town's tax status.

Places

Posted on Mon Jul 24, 2006



Comments

Sound like
'Passport to Pimlico'
Posted by Sharruma  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  11:50 AM
I've always dreamed of declaring independance, and then annexing my neighbours. Ya know, like... that'd be fun. For a while. Unfortunately the ADF would probably invade me and yeah...

...but still. Think of the applications!
Posted by Soldant  on  Mon Jul 24, 2006  at  05:59 PM
I would love to live in a town called Feckenham!
Posted by Nettie  on  Tue Jul 25, 2006  at  04:19 AM
A previous poster has beaten me to pointing out the obvious similarity with the 1949 film "Passport to Pimlico", but here a few details about that film from the IMDB website:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0041737/

"Residents of a part of London declare independence, when they discover an old treaty. This leads to the need for a 'Passport to Pimlico'

When an unexploded WWII bomb is accidentally detonated in Pimlico, an area of London, it reveals a treasure trove and documents proving that the region is, in fact part of Burgundy, France and thus foreign territory. The British Government attempt to regain control by setting up border controls and cutting off services to the area. The 'Burgundians' fight back..."
Posted by Michael Jones  on  Fri Jul 28, 2006  at  08:04 AM
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