Barnstaple Fair - a song (part 1)

Fairground ride - By Iantresman (Own work) [CC-BY-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

[Barnstaple fair is still in existence.  This is what Wikipeedia has to say about current proceedings -

The ceremonial opening of the fair survives from ancient times. The town council meets in the Guildhall, where various toasts are honoured with a spiced ale which, according to tradition, is made from a jealously guarded recipe handed on from generation to generation. Whilst the toasts are being honoured, "fairings", (a form of sweetmeat) are handed around.

On the reading of the Proclamation a large stuffed gloved hand garlanded with flowers is hung from a window of the Guildhall. The gloved hand represents the hand of friendship and the hand of welcome to the thousands that come to the fair. At 12 o'clock, a civic procession forms at the entrance to the Guildhall and the proclamation is read.

The fair begins on the Wednesday before 20 September each year.

Today the fair consists of rides and amusements located in the car park of the leisure centre.

from - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnstaple under this license - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Text_of_Creative_Commons_Attribution-ShareAlike_3.0_Unported_License

Barum is and alternative name for Barnstaple.]

"There are several versions of this song extant. A very charming one was a favourite with the late Dr. Stoneman, of Ilfracombe. Many persons remember how he would "bring the house down" with applause when he sang it in the Concert Room, but although I have advertised and tried to obtain a copy from private sources, I have unfortunately failed to get one. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Lawrence, editor of the North Devon Herald, Barnstaple, for the following very amusing example :..."  [cont...]

Hewett 1900

Devon / Westcountry weather as fortold by plants

White Clover in Devon - if you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog.

"Expect rain if the stalks of clover stand upright ; if the flower of the convolvulus closes ; if the flowers of the sorrel and of the African marigold close ; if the flower of the pitcher-plant turns upside down ; if the flower of the cinquefoil expands.

 Fine weather is preceded by the opening of the flowers of the sorrel or the closing of the cinquefoil, and the standing erect of the flower of the pitcherplant.

A foot deep of rain
Will kill hay again ;
But three feet of snow
Will make it come mo'.

When hemp is ripe and ready to pull,
Then Englishman, beware of thy skull."

Hewett 1900

Devon / Westcountry Weather by season or time of day

Winter at Chagford - "Slippy, Drippy, Nippy" - If you want to use my photo please attribute this blog.

"'Twixt twelve and two,

Will shew what the day will do.

Autumn is wheezy, sneezy, freezy ;

Winter is slippy, drippy, nippy ;

Spring is showery, flowery, bowery ;

Summer is hoppy, croppy, poppy."

Hewett 1900

Devon / Westcountry weather lore #11 - March (part 2)

Wild Daffodils at Steps Bridge in Devon - by Derek Harper [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

"A damp warm March will bring much harm to the farm.

Snow in March is bad for fruit and grape wine.

If it does not freeze on the loth of March, a fertile year may be expected.

When flies swarm in March, sheep come by their death.

March dust and March wind, bleach as well as Summer's sun.

March flowers make no Summer bowers.

March borrows three days of April,
The first brings sleet,
The second brings snow, and
The third is the worst day that ever blew.

In a very old magazine I found the following, which leads one to suppose that the cuckoo arrives in March :

In March the giikii begin'th to sarch.
In Aperal he begin'th to tell,
In May he begin'th to lay

In July away he do fly."

Hewett 1900

 

[Again I am unsure that Hewett collected all her rhymes in Devon - I don't know whether her "Very old magazine" would have specified a Devon origin. This rhyme sounds like quite a widespread one now - my dad, who grew up in Northamptonshire, learned "The cuckoo comes in April / and sings its song in May / June it builds its little nest / July it flies away / August / Go it must"]

The Daisy in Devon

A Devon Daisy -  Bellis perennis- if you wish to use my pictures please attribute this blog!

"The daisy is popularly looked upon as the emblem of modesty. In the days of chivalry in Europe the daisy played an interesting part in many a love affair. When a knight was an accepted lover, his lady allowed him to engrave a daisy on his arms ; when he proposed and she would neither say "Yes" or "No," she wore a crown of field daisies, which meant " I'll think about it." Readers of Faust will remember how Margaret, as she walked in the garden, plucked off the petals of an aster, one after another, saying, half aloud " He loves me, he loves me not, he loves me not he loves me not he loves me !"

This old-world custom is still in vogue among the lasses of sunny Devon."

Hewett 1900

Chagford Pixies

Me in Chagford! - if you wish to use my photos please attribute this blog - thanks!

"As a gentleman, late at night, was driving across the moor to Chagford, a village in mid-Devon, he was startled by the merry tinkle of tiny bells. Lights appeared in the meadows close at hand as of thousands of glow-worms shedding their luminous rays on every leaflet, while an innumerable company of small people tripped joyously to the sportive music. Every movement of this assemblage of fairies was distinctly seen by him. He reined in his horse, and watched for a considerable time their merry antics. He sat motionless, the better to catch the spirit of the sportive scene. The sward was crowded with myriads of sprites, some waving garlands of tiny wild flowers, roses and blue bells, others joining in the dance, while not a few bestrode the slender stalks of tall grasses, which scarcely bent beneath their feathery weight. All went merrily till the shrill crow of chanticleer rang out on the midnight air, when suddenly darkness fell and the gorgeous scene with its fantastically attired crowd vanished from the wayfarer's sight.

The villagers assert that on peaceful nights they often hear the echoes of delightful music and the tripping patter of tiny feet issuing from the meadows and hill sides.

By wells and rills, in meadows green
We nightly dance our heyday guise,
And to our fairy king and queen
We chant our moonlight minstrelsies,
When larks 'gin sing,
Away we fling,
And babes new-born steal as we go ;
And elf in bed,
We leave instead,
And wend us laughing, ho! ho! ho!"

Hewett 1900

Map - Chagford (exact location uncertain)

Holy Thorns

'Holy Thorn' Some rights reserved by davinaware  http://www.flickr.com/photos/davina_ware/3159616793/sizes/z/in/photostream/

"When Joseph of Arimathea came to England he visited Glastonbury, so the legend says, and being wearied with the long climb up the hill, halted and leaned on his stout black-thorn staff. The stick sank into the soft mud on the wayside, took root, grew, and bloomed on Old Christmas Eve. There it stands to this day and always repeats the operation each successive year. There is also a sacred spring at its roots, in which thousands of persons came to bathe on Old Christmas Eve, A.D. 1751.

This marvellous thorn has a rival in the grounds of Clooneaven House, at Lynmouth, N. Devon, where the little bush bursts into vigorous bloom for a few hours at Christmastide. Very soon its flowers fade and the plant assumes its normal condition until the following spring, when it puts on its pretty green dress like the rest of its species."

Hewett 1900

Map - Glastonbury

Map - Lynmouth

Glastonbury Thorn

South Glastonbury from Wearyall Hill - The Glastonbury Thorn Tree in the foreground, and the Tor in the distance.

  © Copyright Ken Grainger and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

"The Glastonbury thorn still blossoms about Christmas; frequently on Christmas Day. It also blossoms again in May. Aubrey, the Wiltshire antiquary, tells us that a Mr. Hinton grafted a bud of the Glastonbury thorn on a ordinary thorn at his farm-house at Wilton, and it also blossomed at Christmas. In Parham Park is a similar tree. This thorn is supposed to have been brought by some pilgrim from the East."

Valentine (undated)

Map - Glastonbury

[Parham Park is in the South East, and I can not find Wilton Farm]

The four leaved Clover - part 2

'...One midsummer's day in the evening, the maid was later than usual milking, as she had been down to Penberth to the games. The stars were beginning to blink when she finished her task. Daisey was the last cow milked, and the bucket was so full she could scarcely lift it to her head. Before rising from the milking-stool, the maid plucked up a handful of grass and clover to put in the head of her hat, that she might carry the bucket the steadier. She had no sooner placed the hat on her head, than she saw hundreds and thousands of Small People. swarming in all directions about the cow, and dipping their hands into the milk, taking it out on the clover blossoms and sucking them. The grass and clover, all in blossom, reached to the cow's belly. Hundreds of the little creatures ran up the long grass and clover stems, with buttercups, lady's smocks, convolvuluses, and foxglove flowers, to catch the milk that Daisey let flow from her four teats, like a shower, among them. Right under the cow's udder the maid saw one much larger than the others lying on his back, with his heels cocked up to the cow's belly. She knew he must be a Piskie, because he was laughing, with his mouth open from ear to ear. The little ones were running up and down his legs, filling their cups, and emptying them into the Piskie's mouth. Hundreds of others were on Daisey's back, scratching her rump, and tickling her round the horns and behind the ears. Others were smoothing down every hair of her shining coat into its place...' [cont.]

Hunt 1903

Fairy Funeral - part 2

'...Richard beheld the bier borne between six--whether men or women be could not tell--but he saw that the face of the corpse was that of a beautiful female, smaller than the smallest child's doll. It was, Richard said, "as if it were a dead seraph,"--so very lovely did it appear to him. The body was covered with white flowers, and its hair, like gold threads, was tangled amongst the blossoms. The body was placed within the altar; and then a large party of men, with picks and spades, began to dig a little hole close by the sacramental table. Their task being completed, others, with great care, removed the body and placed it in the hole. The entire company crowded around, eager to catch a parting glimpse of that beautiful corpse, ere yet it was placed in the earth. As it was lowered into the ground,they began to tear off their flowers and break their branches of myrtle, crying, "Our queen is dead! our queen is dead!" At length one of the men who had dug the grave threw a shovelful of earth upon the body; and the shriek of the fairy host so alarmed Richard, that he involuntarily joined in it. In a moment, all the lights were extinguished, and the fairies were heard flying in great consternation in every direction. Many of them brushed past the terrified man, and, shrieking, pierced him with sharp instruments. He was compelled to save his life by the most rabid flight.'

Hunt 1903

Fairie Distribution

'Between thirty and forty years since, ere yet the influences of our practical education had disturbed the poetical education of the people, every hill and valley, every tree, shrub, and flower was peopled with spiritual creations, deriving their characteristics from the physical peculiarities amidst which they were born. Extending over the whole district which was formerly known as Danmonium, [a] -- embracing not only Cornwall, but Devonshire, to the eastern edge of Dartmoor, -- we find a mythology, which varies but little in its main features. Beyond an imaginary line, drawn in a north-westerly direction from the mouth of the Teign to the rise of the Torridge, the curiously wild and distinguishing superstitions of the "Cornwallers" [b] fade away, and we have those which are common to Somersetshire and the more fertile counties of mid-England.'

Hunt 1903