To carry out a simple search, type the term that you want to find in the Search box next to the Advanced Search tab, and press enter.
For a more refined search of songs or tunes use the Advanced search function. To carry out a search on two or more terms at once, e.g. Collector+Roud Number, select each term as above and then click search.
Be sure to clear previous searches before starting a new one by clicking on the x next to each search term at the top.
Bledington is a village on the border with Oxfordshire. Charles Benfield was the main informant for the tunes, most of which were noted by Cecil Sharp at Benfield’s house at Bould (Oxon), a hamlet in Idbury parish about a mile from Bledington (Glos). William and Nancy was also collected by George Butterworth, who is our only source for Trunkles and Ladies of Pleasure, the latter played by Ted Gibbs.
The Travelling Morris visited Bledington in 1923 and danced, first to John Hitchman and later to Charles Benfield, several of the dances that had been collected from them and published by Cecil Sharp, Herbert Macilwaine and George Butterworth. This visit led to the collection of a number of dances not published in The Morris Book, some of which, marked RKS* in the index below, were published by R Kenworthy Schofield, (1934) Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society Vol 1 (3) pp 147-151, C. Sharp also obtained Old Woman Tossed up from Richard Bond at Icomb.
Hey Away was noted by AL Peck from (George?) Hathaway in 1929. RK Schofield also noted tunes from George Hathaway in 1937. Two notebooks with the tunes can be examined at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library. Unfortunately RKS did not always note the date nor the performer.
The same,, or similar, dances were performed at Idbury and Fifield near Bledington, but in Oxfordshire.
Index of tunes from Bledington
Title | Musi- cian |
Collec- tor |
abc № | Page № |
Balance the Straw | CB | RKS* | 1 | 1 |
Balancy Straw | CB | CJS | 2 | 1 |
Bonnets so Blue | CB | CJS | 3 | 2 |
Gallant Huzzar | CB | CJS | 4 | 2 |
Glorisher | CB | CJS | 5 | 3 |
Hey Away | GH | ALP | 6 | 4 |
Highland Mary | CB | RKS* | 7 | 4 |
Idbury Hill | CB | RKS | ||
Ladies of Pleasure | CB | GB | 8 | 5 |
Lumps of Plum Pudding | TG | GB | 9 | 6 |
Maid of the Mill | CB | CJS | 10 | 6 |
Monk’s March | CB | CJS | 11 | 7 |
Old Woman Tossed up | RB | CJS | 12 | 7 |
Over the Water to Charlie | CB | RKS* | 13 | 8 |
Saturday Night | CB | CJS | 14 | 8 |
Sherborne Jig | CB | CJS | 15 | 9 |
Trunkles | CB | GB | 16 | 9 |
William and Nancy | CB | GB | 17 | 10 |
Willie and Nancy | CB | CJS | 17 | 10 |
Young Collin | CB | CJS | 18 | 11 |
Young Collins | RB/JH | RKS* | 18 | 11 |
AJP Arthur L Peck
CB Charles Benfield
CJS Cecil J Sharp
GB George Butterworth
GH (George?) Hathaway
JH John Hickman
RB Richard Bond
RKS R Kenworthy Schofield
TG Ted Gibbs
Apart from the tunes listed above, a number of others are known, of which I have not been able to consult the sources. The following are mentioned in L. Bacon, Handbook of Morris Dancing:
Billy Boy (Constant Billy)
Idbury Hill
Morning Star
Flowers of Edinburgh
The Cuckoo’s Nest
Princess Royal
Jockie to the Fair
Shepherd’s Hey
There are also further versions of some of the tunes above.
note by Charles Menteith