William Harding at The Lamb Inn, Urchfont in 1978 Part 4 of 4

Stained Glass from All Saints in Marden

In 1978 I spent some time travelling around Berkshire and Wiltshire in the company of fellow folklorist Roly Brown. We were primarily looking for people who remembered folksongs, songs that they had learnt from their parents or grandparents. One lunchtime we called at The Lamb Inn in Urchfont, Wiltshire, where we met William Harding, who not only agreed to sing to us, but who also gave us a dialect poem and a reminiscence of a band that had once played in the village of Potterne.  I have always regretted that William’s recordings have remained unpublished in my collection and am happy that they can now be heard by all. 

                                                                                    Mike Yates. October, 2011

The words to While Shepherds Watched were written by Nathan Tate (1652 – 1715), the son of an Irish clergyman who rose to become Poet Laureate during the reign of Queen Ann. The words first appeared in the 1700 supplement to Tate & Brady’s New Versions of the Psalms of David and they are usually sung in church to the tune Winchester Old, which first appeared in Este’s psalter, The Whole Book of Psalmes, (1592). However, a number of other tunes were written for the hymn and many of these entered the folk tradition. Other “folk” versions can be heard on three CDs issued by Musical Traditions (http://www.mustrad.org.uk/). These are sung by Bob Hart of Suffolk (MTCD 301-2), Walter Pardon of Norfolk (MTCD 305-6) and George Dunn of Warwickshire (MTCD 317-8). An American set, with a tune titled Sherburne, can be heard on a Rounder CD The Alan Lomax Collection. Southern Journey – Volume 9. Harp of a Thousand Strings (Rounder CD1709).

             Interestingly, the tune to Walter Pardon’s version appears to be a combination of the tune and the first harmony part, and this, I suppose, could suggest just how tunes become changed over the years by oral transmission.

William Harding at The Lamb Inn, Urchfont in 1978 Part 3 of 4

Stained Glass from St Nicholas in Wilsford

In 1978 I spent some time travelling around Berkshire and Wiltshire in the company of fellow folklorist Roly Brown. We were primarily looking for people who remembered folksongs, songs that they had learnt from their parents or grandparents. One lunchtime we called at The Lamb Inn in Urchfont, Wiltshire, where we met William Harding, who not only agreed to sing to us, but who also gave us a dialect poem and a reminiscence of a band that had once played in the village of Potterne.  I have always regretted that William’s recordings have remained unpublished in my collection and am happy that they can now be heard by all. 

                                                                                    Mike Yates. October, 2011

The Potterne Band

The village of Potterne lies in the centre of Wiltshire, just to the south of Devizes, and has around one and a half thousand inhabitants. In the late 1800’s the village had a Temperance band, though I suspect that this is not the band described by William in this short narration.

William Harding at The Lamb Inn, Urchfont in 1978 Part 2 of 4

Stained Glass from St John the Baptist in Chirton

Dialect Poem

We have been unable to find an author for this humorous poem, which is set in the area around the village of Bromham, a few miles north-west of Devizes.

William Harding at The Lamb Inn, Urchfont in 1978 Part 1 of 4

Stained Glass from All Saints Church in Marden

Come Christians Now Behold the Lamb (Roud 12,616)

Come Christians Now Behold the Lamb, unlike While Shepherds Watched, is something of a rarity and, because of this, we have decided to include this recording of the tune. The only set of words that I can find for the hymn were sent to the English folksong collector Cecil Sharp sometime around 1904-5 by Miss Susan Holden of The Rectory, Aston-on-Trent, near Derby. According to Miss Holden, the “Husher in” carol was sung every Christmas in her village.

These are the words from Susan Holden:

Come Christians now behold the Lamb

That on this day was born.

Come rise and praise his holy name

And husher in the morn.

From Heaven those glorious tiding came

To mortals here on earth.

God sent his only begotten Son

At his stupendeth birth.

Now to the father and the Son

Let praise and glory be given,

Let saints on earth with angels join

The harmony of heaven.

(repeat 3^rd line, also last line, and sing last line thus – and husher in, and husher in the morn and husher in the morn).

The Journals of Bea Menier

Bea Menier called in at Swindon Museum and Art Gallery with some of the journals she has been writing and drawing every day for the past 6 years. Fascinating stuff, Bea is reporting on her world as she sees it now.   There are millions of blogs that have replaced the sort of thing Bea is doing yet they are not yet able to replace the individuality of pen and paper.