In this blog post, Cathryn takes a look at two of the North East’s most famous folk songs, ‘Blaydon Races’ and ‘The Lambton Worm.’

Let’s start with the most famous North Eastern folk song, ‘Blaydon Races’. This song was first performed by Geordie Ridley at the Wheatsheaf pub in the Cloth Market on the 5th of June 1862. Ridley had turned to songwriting and performing after a mining accident had left him unable to work in any manual jobs. The horse race meeting the group are travelling to had uncertain origins but at the time of the song being written they had been going on for at least a number of decades. The races were not held for more than 20 years after the building of the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway cut through the original course. In 1860 the event was moved to an island in the Tyne located to the north of Blaydon. The races were held on the island until 1865 before being revived a second time in 1889 when the course was moved to Stella Haughs. This second revival would last until 1916. Although the journey mentioned in the song is fictious, the real-life race day was marred by heavy rain, ‘the rain it poor’d aal the day.’ This meant that the horses were unable to get to the island and only one was in position at the start of the racing. Ridley also used the song to advertise a concert he gave in Blaydon on the 9th of June,

‘To gan an’ see Geordie Ridley’s show at the Mechanics’ Hall at Blaydon.’

The song mentions several prominent figures from the area.  These include Blaydon town crier or bellman John Brown, (‘Jackie Broon’ in the song) whose bell was used to start the racing. The bell can still be seen today in the Discovery Museum. Also mentioned is Dr Charles John Gibb, a prominent Newcastle medic who had played a large part in tackling a cholera outbreak in 1853. At the time of the song’s writing, he was an honorary surgeon at Newcastle Infirmary and lived in Westgate Road. The last figure in the song we’ll focus on is Coffee (or ‘Coffy’) Johnny. Coffee Johnny, or John Oliver to give his real name, was a blacksmith and bare-knuckle boxer from Winlaton. He also played the trumpet in Winlaton’s brass band and was something of a local celebrity. He was known for being a fan of horse racing and stood out by wearing a white top hat on race days and other special occasions. No one is sure where his nickname comes from, but the most popular explanation is that it referred to him having a cup of coffee every morning from the time that he was a child.

Next, we will take a look at the song, ‘The Lambton Worm.’ Written by Clarence M. Leumane, the song was first performed in 1867 as part of a pantomime of the same name at the Tyne Theatre. The story of the Lambton Worm had first appeared in print in 1785, although there was a long oral tradition surrounding the story for centuries before this. Stories of dragons such as the Lambton Worm (worms or wyrms are a type of legless, wingless dragon) were popular in Medieval Europe. The North East has at least 20 of these dragon stories, others include the Sockburn Worm and the Laidly Worm of Spindleston Heugh. Having a member of the Lambton family as the story’s central figure may have helped to give the family a heroic history by having one of its’ ancestors protect the local community from a terrifying monster. So, the story may have acted as a form of public relations campaign for the Lambtons. The song makes two significant changes to the story. Firstly, the hill the worm wraps itself around moves from Worm Hill in Fatfield to Penshaw Hill, and secondly it removes the Lambton curse. In earlier versions of the story John Lambton is told to kill the first living thing he sees after killing the worm. Although John and his father arrange to release a dog to be killed once a signal is given, it is the elder Lambton who is the first living thing John sees after killing the worm. Unable to kill his father, John kills the dog as planned but this results in nine generations of the family being cursed to die violently. This ending shows a marked difference between the story of the Lambton Worm and other similar dragon stories. In other stories of this type, the hero is typically rewarded with treasure or marriage to the daughter of the local ruler or noble family. In this story the motive for killing the worm is the more practical one of protecting the local area and its’ people, and instead of being rewarded the Lambton family is cursed at the story’s end.

Why does the song move the hill the worm wraps itself around from Fatfield to Penshaw? This is likely due to the building of Penshaw Monument, the monument was built as a memorial to John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham in the mid-1840s. Lambton had served as an MP from 1812 to 1828, he was a member of the Whig party and gained the nickname ‘Radical Jack’ as a result of his political leanings. It is likely that the song used Penshaw Monument as a connection between the John Lambton it is dedicated to and the John Lambton of the song.

So, there you have it, the history of two of the region’s most famous folk songs.