Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones - Wesselbobs - digital booklet

BRYONY GRIFFITH & ALICE JONES –––– Wesselbobs ––––

Bryony Griffith – vocals and fiddle

Alice Jones – vocals, harmonium, tenor guitar made by Colin Kendall, body percussion

All tracks arranged by Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones

All tracks traditional except:

Track 3 Original lyrics and tune by Harry Wright

Track 6 Lyrics rewritten by Arthur Wood

Track 9 Lyrics by John Wesley

Track 11 Lyrics by George W. Moxon, tune by Bryony Griffith

Recorded, mixed and produced by Joe Rusby at The Arch Recording Studio, Southport, June/July 2023

Mastered by Nick Cooke at Nick Cooke Mastering

Design by Tom Pitts at Hand Drawn Pixels

Photography by Joanne Crawford

Hair and make-up by Rosie Butler-Hall

“Dec. 29, 1874, a wessel bob was brought here for exhibition. It consisted of two hoops covered and ornamented with coloured cut paper; a little fir-tree in the middle, ornamented with an apple, an orange, a doll (like a man), and a wax cherry.”

Rev. Alfred Easther – A Glossary of the dialect of Almondbury and Huddersfield (1883)

‘Wesselbobs’ is a collection of old winter songs and tunes associated with Yorkshire.

Wessel-bobs, Wassail-bobs or Wesley-bobs were a kind of decorated, evergreen bough built around a spherical frame, carried by Wassailers or carol singers, mostly in West Yorkshire, which is where we are from. The term also refers to hand-made fabric baubles pinned round with ribbons, and delicate glass baubles that were sold in the mid-1900s.

“Bob - a bunch, cluster, ball”…”Wassailing - the singing of 'wassail', according to old custom, by children who still go round to people's houses in the local villages on New Year's Eve which is 'Wessil-Nit'. The singers often carry a 'wessil-bob’, a big cluster of paper-flowers, evergreens and other things stuck on a framework.”

Walter E. Haigh - A New Glossary of the Dialect of the Huddersfield District (1928)

First heard as ‘Haley Paley’ on Dave Hillery and Harry Boardman’s 1971 album ‘Trans Pennine’. Dave learnt it from his mother, Lillian Hillery of Ripon, where it was still being sung from door to door by children in the 1940s at Christmas and New Year in the hope of financial or edible reward.

It is related to ‘The Soldier’s Boy’, a broadside which can be found on the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads website. The closest versions are those published in the mid-1800s by Wm. Ford of York Street, Sheffield, and J. Pitts of Seven Dials, London. While The Soldier’s Boy is about an orphan seeking charity, this version sees a sailor lad returning from sea, so he might be the lady’s long-lost lover, or an adopted child, but either way, typically, she doesn’t recognise him.

We have added a chorus and, because it has a better ring to it, we have used the phrase ‘Early Pearly’ from the singing of Steve Gardham’s mother, Margaret Gardham on the Yorkshire Garland website. Her version has been sung in their family as a lullaby for at least four generations.

Early Pearly snow on the ground, The wind blows bitter and raw.

A poor young sailor lad dressed up in rags, Came to a lady's door.

Chorus:

Early Pearly snow on the ground, The wind blows bitter and cold.

Early Pearly snow on the ground, The wind blows bitter and cold.

The lady sat up in a window so high, She cast her eye upon him.

"Go 'way, go 'way, you tarry sailor, So dirty, so ragged and thin."

"But, madam, I'm hungry and, madam, I'm cold,"

The sailor lad cried from the door.

"If you've got a penny to give me," he cried, "I never shall want any more."

The lady still sat in her window so high, Still casting her eye upon him.

"Go 'way, go 'way, you tarry sailor, So dirty, so ragged and thin."

"My father, my father he drowned in the sea, My mother she cried and she cried.

Did you ever see a smile on her face, Of a broken heart she died."

She threw a penny all down in the snow, She threw down a penny or two.

"Oh, I am your William that's come from the sea, Your William and you never knew."

"Come in, come in, you good hearted lad, You never shall want any more. As long as I live, I'll charity give, To a poor young sailor boy."

THE ’OLLINS AND THE IVIN (Bryony lead)

This tune was sent to folk song collector Francis Collinson by Mrs L. H. Haworth (née Mander) of Edgerton, Huddersfield in the 1940s. We found it in the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library online archive and saw the original on a visit to the library. It was hand-written as a 4-part piano arrangement with the note ‘Tune to The Holly Bears a Berry (traditional in Mander Family), as played by my brother’. There were no lyrics, but it fits to the traditional The Holly and The Ivy words, rather than The Sans Day Carol/The Holly Bears a Berry. We have taken the liberty of using the Yorkshire dialect words ‘ollins and ivin as it’s easier to sing holly without an ‘h’!

With help from social media, we discovered that Lilian Holroyd Haworth (1872-1955) was a piano teacher born in Staffordshire, but her mother, Catherine Holroyd, was from Halifax. Lilian married Thomas Haworth, the vicar of Linthwaite, in 1907 and remained in Huddersfield for the rest of her life. The tune could be from the Midlands, but it does follow a very similar shape to the more commonly known Yorkshire version sung locally.

The ‘ollins and the ivin, When they are both full grown, Of all the trees that are in the wood, The ‘ollins bears the crown.

Chorus: O the rising of the sun, And the running of the deer, The playing of the merry organ, Sweet singing in the choir.

The ‘ollins bears a blossom, As white as any flower, And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ, To be our sweet Saviour.

The ‘ollins bears a berry, As red as any blood, And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ, To do poor sinners good.

The ‘ollins bears a prickle, As sharp as any thorn, And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ, On Christmas day in the morn.

The ‘ollins bears a bark, As bitter as any gall, And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ, For to redeem us all.

The ‘ollins and the ivin, When they are both full grown, Of all the trees that are in the wood, The ‘ollins bears the crown.

John Malham-Dembleby – from The Ballad of Kirkstall Abbey in Original Tales and Ballads in the Yorkshire Dialect (1912)

“An t’ollins shak’d ther wessel bobs.”

“Wassails were traditionally sung in the Calder Valley on New Year’s Day by children’…’They would knock at the door, sing the song, and be given food or sweets. Wesley bobs were sometimes carried around instead of holly bushes. These were made of two beer barrel hoops linked to form a sphere, then decorated with holly, often with a stable lantern hung inside.”

Angela B. A. Skipper – Traditional Songs of the Calder Valley

(1987)

I TRACED HER LITTLE FOOTMARKS IN THE SNOW (Alice lead)

There are three different broadside versions of this in the Frank Kidson collection. Upon researching its background, Alice found it was in fact an immensely popular music hall song published in 1875, written by Harry Wright for his wife the singer, actress and dancer Nellie Gannon. It was a huge success and, in the face of stringent piracy laws surrounding copyright and performance rights, printers all over the country began to illicitly print broadside copies of the lyrics. They changed words here and there in an attempt to legitimise their illegal printing of the song and it soon became a bestseller under the title "I Traced Her Little Footprints in the Snow". Quickly entering the oral tradition, it later featured in many a source singer's repertoire including Yorkshire's own Frank Hinchliffe who learnt it from his father. He was only able to remember part of the tune by the time Ian Russell recorded him as part of his PhD dissertation in 1970. This version is based on recordings of Walter Pardon, George Belton and Frank Hinchliffe.

Some lovers like the summertime when they can stroll about, Spooning in the meadow may be fine without a doubt, But give to me the wintertime for the girl I have made mine, Was captured when the snow lay on the ground.

Chorus: I traced her little footmarks in the snow, I traced her little footmarks in the snow, I bless that winter's day when Nellie lost her way, I traced her little footmarks in the snow.

I called to see the girl I loved, one winter's a ernoon, That she had gone out walking, they informed me very soon, They said she'd strolled away but where they could not say, So I started o to find her in the snow.

I saw her little footmark just outside the cottage door, I traced it down a country lane, I traced it to the moor, I found she'd lost her way, there stood in blank dismay, Not knowing where to steer for in the snow.

I called to her, she saw me and as we were walking home, She promised me that never more without me she would roam, I'm happy now for life, for her I've made my wife, Whose footmarks I traced plainly in the snow.

HAGMAN-HEIGH

Tonight it is the New Year’s night, Tomorrow is the day, and, We are come for our right and our ray,* As we used to in King Henry’s day. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

The very first thing which we do crave, A bonny white candle we must have. Bless the good wife and the man, Dish and table, pot and pan. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

May all your flock be well and lamb, And every one have a yow or ram. May all your geese be well to thrive, And every one have three times five. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

Go to the cupboard if you please, And bring from there a yow-milk cheese, And then bring here a sharpening stone, We’ll sharp our whittles every one. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

May all your swine thrive in the sty, With many to sell and none to buy. May all your hens run in a reel, And every hen twirl at her heel. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

If you go to the bacon-flick, Cut me o a good bit, Cut, cut and low beware of your maw, Cut, cut and round, beware of your thumb. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

If you go to the butter ark, Bring me a ten mark, Ten mark, ten pound, throw it down on the ground, That me and my merry men may have some. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

You know the weather’s snow and sleet, Stir up the fire to warm our feet. Our shoon’s made of the fine mare’s skin, Come open the door and let us in. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

If you go to the wooden pail, Fetch me back a quart of ale. We hope your ale is strong and stout, For us to drink the old year out. Sing fellows, sing Hagman-heigh.

*ray refers to a Portuguese coin

A ‘Fragment of the Hagmena Song’ is found in C. J. Davison Ingledew’s ‘The Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire’ (1860) and Abraham Holroyd’s ‘collection of Yorkshire Ballads’ (1892). It was sung as a house-visiting song by the Corporation Pinder at Richmond, North Yorkshire, on New Year’s Eve. Other versions are found mostly in Scotland and since the fragment includes only verses one, six & seven, we have gratefully borrowed some verses from the ‘New’r Even’s Song’ on The Folk Songs of Britain volume 9, Songs of Ceremony LP (1961), sung by Sidney Scott and company, North Ronaldsay, Orkney, recorded by Peter Kennedy; and Robert Chambers’

‘Popular Rhymes of Scotland’ (1841). There is no known tune with the fragment, so Bryony adapted the tune from the ‘New’r Even’s Sang or Hoggeranonie Sang’ in David Buchan’s ‘Scottish Tradition’ (1984). The origins of the word ‘Hagmena’, or ‘Hogmanay’, are obscure, and while we don’t want to start a fight, its first official mention as ‘hagnonayse’ can be traced back to 1443...in West Yorkshire.

RIPON SWORD DANCE (Bryony lead)

This is the opening song from the Ripon Sword Dancers’ Mumming play. First heard on The Voice of the People Volume 16 ‘You lazy lot of bone-shakers’, recorded by Doc Rowe at The Black Bull Inn, Ripon on Boxing Day 1980. It also appears in Mary and Nigel Hudleston’s ‘Songs of the Ridings’ as ‘Christmas Approaches’, notated from a recording made at their home, Cayton Hall, South Stainley, Harrogate on Boxing Day 1960. Nigel notes that ‘Warrington’ is a distortion of ‘Wellington’ and the ‘Hieland laddie’ may refer to a pub in Ripon once frequented by passing Highland drovers. These lyrics, from Chas Marshall on The Yorkshire Garland website, are from the 1920 version which appeared in an article by Douglas Kennedy for the English Folk Dance Society in 1930. Chas was amongst those who kept the team going in the 1990s when the older members retired. The play is still performed annually on Boxing Day in Ripon, though mysteriously, there is no sword dance. The last two verses are normally spoken dialogue, but they were too good to miss out, so we’ve added them to the song and have used the first verse as a chorus.

Chorus:

Make me a room for I am a-coming, All for to let you understand, That Kersamus* time has long been approaching, Since we le yon foreign land, Since we le yon foreign land.

Oh, the first that comes is General Warrington, Who comes he on yonder plains, He goes a-wandering and gains the victory, On the plains of Waterloo, On the plains of Waterloo.

Oh, the next that comes is the Hieland Laddie, Who's got sheep on yonder hill, A-romping and a-roving among the bonnie lassies, Now he's gone and spent it all, Now he's gone and spent it all.

Oh, the next that comes is Tom the Tinker, Who comes he your kettles for to mend, For lassies if you dare not, Tom will venture, Tom will stand to be your friend, Tom will stand to be your friend.

Oh, the next that comes is Old Beelzebub, Over his shoulder he carries a club, And in his hand a warm frying pan, And he calls himself a jolly old man, He calls himself a jolly old man.

Oh, in comes I that never came yet, With my big head and little wit, Though mi head be big and mi wit be small, I'll do my best to please you all, I'll do my best to please you all.

*Kersamus = Christmas

THE TAILOR'S BRITCHES/NEW YEAR’S DAY (Alice lead)

This is from Mary & Nigel Hudleston’s book ‘Songs of the Ridings’ (published in 2001 in memory of Mary) and is considered to be a traditional song rewritten by Arthur Wood of Littlebeck near Whitby. Arthur believed the song to tell the true story of an incident that took place in Whitby. He first heard the tale as sung by an "old plate-layer on the railway at Goathland" and used that same tune but rewrote the song himself. There are other versions collected in Dorset and Hampshire although this story does not appear to exist in broadside form. The tune is ‘New Year’s Day’ from Volume 2 of the Joshua Jackson Book, published and presented by Robin & Rosalind Shepherd in 2011. Joshua Jackson (1763 – 1839) was a corn miller and fiddler from Burton Leonard, between Ripon and Harrogate. His manuscript, dated 1798, contains over 500 dance tunes.

Come ladies and gentlemen if you'll listen unto me, I'll sing you a song of the north country, In a village near to Whitby town a tailor once did dwell, And women, wine and company he loved them right well.

A dance on New Year's evening, the tailor did attend, I'm sure that he would never have gone, if he could see the end, The poor little tailor, he will never forget that night, For never yet was tailor seen in such a sorry plight.

He danced and he sang, he got whisky many a tot, Your jolly little tailor was the merriest of the lot, To the lady he was dancing with, the tailor he declared, "If you'll lend to me your petticoats I'll dance like a maid."

His britches he put o and her petticoat put on, The maid the tailor's britches she quickly did adorn, The fiddler then did play for them a merry, merry tune, She danced his money, watch and britches clean out the room.

"Bring me my britches back", the tailor loudly called, "Oh, bring me my britches back, my money, watch and all", The company there assembled with laughter they did roar, When the little tailor's petticoats fell down upon the floor.

“Thru th' oppn duer au so t' childer jonsin reend e wessil-bob.” Haigh (1928)

Translation: ‘Through the open door I saw the children dancing round a wessel-bob’

"Lord", said the tailor "wherever thou may be", "Oh Lord", said the tailor, "Have pity on me", What to do the little tailor he really didn't know, For his little shirt was far too short to cover all below.

'Twas then the fiddler played a tune for all that he was worth, The tune he played the tailor was the famed 'Cock of the North', The ladies were delighted and they loudly shouted "No!", When the tailor took his trilby hat to cover Uncle Joe.

When at last the tailor got out into the street, A bevy of fair damsels he chanced for to meet, All the ladies screamed with laughter when the tailor did appear, They wished him "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year".

That poor little tailor those ladies did address, Says he "it is not ladylike to laugh at a man's distress", Says the ladies to the tailor, "give us no more of that, If you call yourself a gentleman, why don't you raise your hat?".

In that village near to Whitby town there's old men living yet, They'll tell you of that famous dance they never will forget, Old ladies too will tell to you the dance they loved the best, Was the dance the little tailor showed his cuckoo's nest.

“Another north country custom, especially at Leeds, was for the children to go from house to house carrying a "Wessel (or Wesley) bob," a kind of bower made of evergreens’…’ At Huddersfield, a "wessel bob" was carried about, gorgeously ornamented with apples, oranges, and ribbons, and when they reached a house door, they sung the following carol…” (Here we come a-wassailing)

John Ashton – A Right Merrie Christmas (1894)

THE YORKSHIRE WASSAILING SONG (Bryony lead)

Another from the Mary and Nigel Hudleston collection, as sung by Mrs. Highstead of Bradford. Thanks to Sheffield University’s Special Collections for providing us with the original recording. Unfortunately, there is no further information about who she was but her singing accent is much posher than ours. Being just a fragment, with the first verse, chorus and the extra little ditty, we have added verses from ‘Holroyd’s collection of Yorkshire Ballads’ (1892), most of which are sung to the more common Yorkshire Wassail tune that appears in many carol collections. Holroyd notes that the children trudged along with their “Wassail Bob” made of Rosemary Tree. The first part of the tune is like a 6/8 version of ‘God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen’ and is related to the Playford tune ‘Chestnut’. Frank Kidson sent a similar Leeds tune to friend and collector Lucy Broadwood, and George Collard’s ‘A Yorkshire Christmas’ (1989) includes a similar Leeds/Bradford tune from the 1850s. (This is the one they would have sung while carrying their Wessel-bobs!)

Here we come a-wassailing, among the leaves so green, Here we come a-wandering, so fair as to be seen.

Chorus:

For it is at Christmas Time, Strangers travel far and near, And we wish you all in good health, And a Happy New Year.

We are not daily beggars that beg from door to door,

We are your neighbours’ children whom you have seen before.

Call up the butler of this house, put on his golden ring, Let him bring us a glass of beer and better shall we sing!

Bring us out a table and spread it with a cloth, Bring us out some mouldy cheese and some of your Christmas loaf.

We have a little purse made of stretching leather skin, We want a little money to line it well within.

God bless the master of this house, likewise the mistress too, God bless its dwellers, one and all, with peace and plenty too.

Good master and good mistress while you’re sitting by the fire. Think of us poor children a-wandering in the mire.

A hole in mi stocking, a hole in mi shoe, Please can you spare a copper or two?

If you haven’t a penny a ha’penny will do, If you haven’t a ha’penny, God bless you!

TIME TO REMEMBER THE POOR (Alice lead)

Alice found this song printed in Frank Kidson's 1891 publication ‘Traditional Tunes’. The song tune and words were noted down by Kidson's long-standing song collecting collaborator Charles Lolley who was from Howden in East Yorkshire. It was a popular parlour song of the Victorian era and it exists in broadside form published by many different printers in the early - mid 1800s.

Cold winter is come with its cold chilling breath, And the leaves are all gone from the trees, And all seems touched by the finger of death,

And the streams are beginning to freeze, When the young wanton lads o'er the river slide,

When flora attends us no more, When in plenty you are sitting by a warm fireside, That's the time to remember the poor.

The cold feathered snow will in plenty descend, And whiten the prospect all around, The keen, cutting wind from the north will attend,

And cover it over the ground, When the hills and the dales are all candied with white,

And the rivers are froze on the shore, When the bright twinkling stars they proclaim the cold night,

That's the time to remember the poor.

The poor timid hare through the woods can be traced, With her footsteps indented in the snow, When our lips and our fingers are dangling with cold, And the sportsman a-shooting doth go, When the poor robin redbreast approaches at your cot, And icicles hang at the door, And when your bowl smokes, reviving and hot,

That's the time to remember the poor.

The thaw shall ensue, and the waters increase,

And the rivers vehemently grow, The fish from oblivion obtains release, And in danger those travellers do go; When your minds are annoyed by the wide swelling flood, And your bridges are useful no more, When in plenty you enjoy everything that is good, Do you grumble to think on the poor?

That's the time to remember the poor.

HARK, HOW ALL THE WELKIN RINGS/THE SPINNING WHEEL

This arrangement was originally created for the song ‘Tarry Wool’ which we recorded for the Kirklees Year of Music 2023 HERD project, celebrating the textile heritage of Kirklees. We found it in Roy Palmer’s book ‘Everyman’s Book of English Country Songs’ (1979) and it was collected from Mr John ‘Pop’ Mason in August 1904 at The Sun Inn in Dent, North Yorkshire by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Apparently, he was called Pop because he was a chimney sweep and his brushes would pop out of the chimney pots. While researching Tarry Wool, we found that the tune is also used for John Wesley’s original version of Hark the Herald, ‘Hark, how all the welkin rings’, written in 1739, which appears as Dent Dale in The English Hymnal, edited by RVW in 1906. Welkin is an archaic word for the sky or heaven. Both Tarry Wool and Hark the Welkin are still sung in Dent by local singers. The fiddle tune is the A part of ‘The Spinning Wheel’, from the Joshua Jackson manuscript.

Chorus:

Hark, how all the welkin rings! ‘Glory to the King of kings. Peace on Earth and mercy mild, God and sinners reconciled!’

Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of the skies. Universal nature say, ‘Christ the Lord is born today!’

Christ, by highest Heav’n adored. Christ, the everlasting Lord.

Late in time behold Him come, O spring of a Virgin’s womb.

Veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.

Hail th’incarnate Deity!

Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel.

Hail the heav’nly Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings, Risen with healing in His wings.

Mild He lays His glory by, Born that man no more may die. Born to raise the sons of Earth, Born to give them second birth.

CHANGE FOR A GUINEA/THE CHRISTMAS TALE (Alice lead)

Alice was originally inspired to learn this song after coming across it in the broadside collection of Frank Kidson whilst researching for a project with the theatre company Northern Broadsides. The story is based on an earlier ballad called ‘The Butcher and The Chambermaid’ which was a popular and widely printed broadside all over England in the early 19th century. This later, arguably much better comedically structured version, sets the story in Manchester and appears to have been less widely printed. Usually referred to as "The Christmas Goose", it has come to be a hugely popular and integral part of the local carolling tradition in the villages and pubs around the Holme Valley in Yorkshire. It is notably associated with the repertoires of two exponents of traditional Yorkshire folk song today: John Greaves and Will Noble. The tune is ‘The Christmas Tale’, again from the Joshua Jackson manuscript. (Other manuscripts are available…it just happens that the best tunes for this album were from Joshua Jackson!).

It was in an inn in Manchester, the Cornstalks was the sign, A famous public where commercials used to sleep and dine; One Christmastime a traveller so long had been his use, Came to spend his holidays and choose his Christmas goose. Chorus: All around the greenwoods so early in the morn, The merry, merry huntsman blows his silver bugle horn. He drank his pint of sherry wine, he smoked a mild cigar, He chatted with the customers and people in the bar; And not a thought of wickedness e’er entered in his head, Until the chambermaid appeared to light him up to bed.

Then he grew so amorous, he squeezed her on the stairs, He kissed her at the chamber door before he said his prayers; And he gave to her a guinea to prevent her being vexed, Then he blew the candle out and you can guess the rest.

Next morning this lothario discharged his little bill, He tipped his boots and tossed the landlord for a parting gill; But where he went to a erwards it’s not for me to say; Su ce he came to choose his goose that very next Christmas Day.

Next Christmastime came round again which filled his heart with glee; He'd wandered round from town to town and strange sights did he see; And he's ended up in Manchester, put up for the night, At the Cornstalks where twelve months before had filled him with delight.

He went into the co ee room as jaunty as could be, Where many a rooster like himself was waiting for his tea. And he's ordered up the very best the landlord could produce, Called the waiter back to say, "Now don’t forget the goose."

Right speedily a tray was brought with eatables galore, By the self-same chambermaid he'd kissed twelve months before; But nothing loth to raise the cloth whereupon a heap was piled; Instead of eatables thereon were a big fat thumping child.

Enraged at seeing others laugh, ‘What is this here?’ cried he. "Come sit you down beside me and I’ll tell you, sir," said she. "Last Christmas you so generous were, pray do not look so strange, You gave to me a guinea and well I’ve brought you back your change."

CHRISTMAS (Bryony lead)

Simply called ‘Christmas’, this nostalgic poem was written by George William Moxon, (1875-1962), at West Bretton, Wakefield (home of The Yorkshire Sculpture Park), just down the road from Flockton where Bryony is from. George grew up in nearby Kexbrough until the family moved to Pot House Farm in West Bretton. From 1891 to 1907 he worked as a clerk but returned to farming for a more ‘out of doors’ life. In 1915 he self-published his book of poems, some of which had already appeared in the press, called ‘White Rose Petals – Sundry Sketches in Verse’.

George was the great-great uncle of our friend John Earnshaw, who generously gave us an original copy. John and his family dance with Wakefield Morris Dancers, so Bryony wrote the melody based on a Yorkshire dance tune, ‘The Tumbler’s Hornpipe’, from the Joshua Burnett Manuscript. Joshua Burnett (1808-1889) was a weaver and fiddler from Worsbrough, Barnsley. He later lived in Gawber and Pogsmoor, a few miles from Kexbrough and Bretton, so it seemed fitting. The whole tune (in Bb, which is not uncommon in Yorkshire hornpipes) can be found on the Village Music Project website.

Hail! Sacred season, when the spirit breaks Its selfish fetters, and when Love awakes; When gen’rous deeds with gen’rous feelings blend; When beameth ev’ry eye as friend to friend.

When ev’ry countenance with pleasure glows, Tho’ Winter heapeth high its glist’ning snows; When gathered families round the Yuletide fire Breathe deeper bliss than summer scenes inspire.

In Bethlehem’s manger, that first Christmas Day, Heaven’s Highest O r’ing in a manger lay; Sweet voices mingling ‘neath night’s starry dome “Peace! Peace on Earth! Immanuel is come!”

For us a spotless robe the Saviour wore; Such boundless pity in His bosom bore, Bade us in others kindly interest feel, Their burdens bear, their sicknesses to heal.

“Love is the Law’s fulfilling.” Let this be Our daily watch-word: thus; perpetually, Shall Christ-like charity among us reign, And Christmas ever in our hearts remain.

KING CHRISTMAS (Alice lead)

This is from the Francis Collinson collection. Composed in Keighley sometime in the late 1800s and remembered by Thomas Place of Keighley 1864/65 - 1952, it was sent to Collinson by Thomas’ son, William Illingworth Place. It was sung widely in Keighley by Thomas' family, neighbours and fellow Keighley residents, recalls William in his letter dated 7th December 1952. The song appears never to have been printed or published in the public domain and the composer's name has sadly been lost over the passage of time.

King Christmas comes but once a year, Let's give it heart and hand! And may all trouble fly away, From this our honoured land, Around our homes of happiness, With friends that we love dear, And may we all be spared to live, And meet another year!

Chorus: Then let us sing our song and chant away, All should be happy on this day, Let's give it hearty cheer, For it comes but once a year, The old King Christmas time!

King Christmas time has come again, Another year's gone round, Old friends will meet, each other greet, And pleasure will be found, May all our homes be happy, And no distress appear, And angels ever guard and guide, Us through another year.

And when Winter has gone away, And Christmas disappears, Let's try to live in harmony, Until another year, And when our time is ended, Our last year we have seen, Let's try to leave a mark behind, Of honour and esteem!

“Wassail-bob, a decorated bough, carried by 'wassailers’. Yks. They usually carry a ' wessel-bob,' or large bunch of evergreens hung with oranges and apples and coloured ribbons.”

Joseph Wright (Yorkshire dialectologist from Bradford)The English Dialect Dictionary (1898)

THANKS TO:

Angela & Duncan Gri th for ribbons, foliage, wardrobe raiding and childcare; Pauline and Steve Jones for endless li s and going doorless for a day; Will for late night wessel-bob soldering (and putting up with Bry); Jonah and Mari for listening to numerous track orders in the car; Grandma Nikki, Grandad David & Grandma Sue for childcare; Esther Ferry-Kennington and Victoria ‘Tig’ Darwin for the spare coats; Yorkshire Fine Cheese for the Barncli e Blue; Charlie for the boat.

Joe Rusby; Nick Cooke; the three Toms at The Arch Recording Studio; Tom Pitts (extra thanks for the Handsworth holly); Joanne Crawford; Rosie Butler-Hall (special thanks for expert door holding); Ross McKinlay at Selwyn Music.

All at Yorkshire Garland; Steve Gardham for his constant help and support, especially with the Hagmena song and Early Pearly; The special collections team at She eld University; the VWML sta ; Chris Partington and John Adams for The Village Music Project, also Chris for Bb tunes research and Johnny for the harmonium loan; Phil Fluke for emergency harmonium repairs; Ruairidh Greig for info on Joshua Burnett and house-visiting; Chas Marshall and Ted Dodsworth for info on Ripon Sword Dancers; Ian Russell, Vic & Tina Smith, EATMT, Jim Carroll & Pat Mackenzie collection, Peter Charlton, The British Music Hall Society and John Baxter for help with Footmarks; Dave Burbidge for info on Welkin/Tarry Wool; John Earnshaw and family; Robin & Rosalind Shepherd; Conrad Jay Bladey; Peter Bearon & Alison Whitaker for help with Shaw Lane (though we didn’t record it in the end); Lucy Whitfield; David Pattern from the Huddersfield Exposed website; contributors to ‘Huddersfield Now and Then’; residents of Shat for letting Bry raid foliage.

Special thanks, as always, to the singers, collectors, and researchers, past and present, whose dedication ensures that we can carry on singing these songs.

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Winter Songs & Tunes from Yorkshire

© Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones 2023

℗ Bryony Griffith & Alice Jones 2023

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