Hunting Songs

In this work written by Peter Youdale in 1969 and taken with permission from the late Ron Black’s “Hunting Songs” we hear a tale of Johnny Richardson of the Blencathra. The hunt takes the name of the fell that looms over the A66 east of Keswick. The boundary of Blencathra country extends from Caldbeck in...

‘Twas a fine hunting day, in black berrying time, So John Logan’s lads got up early as the stars they did shine, They went to Red Screes intending to louse, But the rain came on heavy and forced them to house. Chorus: Tally-ho! Tally-ho! Tally-ho! Hark for’ard good hounds Tally-ho. But after a bit it...

Come, all gallant sportsmen, and join in this song In praise of Diana the fair, For there’s naught like the cheer of the horn and the hound To banish distraction and care. Chorus. Then here’s to the health of fox-hunting, my boys ; Come, drink it, and drink it again ; For it stands at...

This song was written by a Mr Warburton to mark one hundred years of the Tarporley Hunt Club in 1862.  It was apparently sung after dinner on the Wednesday of that year’s Tarporley Week, and was reproduced in the December 1862 issue of Baily’s Magazine of Sports and Pastimes.   When a Swan takes to...

We all enjoy hunting songs and  I am sure you will recognise the following song. However,  there have been several versions of this song, having been handed down orally for many generations. This original ballad was the only record of sport of the second Duke of Buckingham (George Villiers) when he spent a good deal...

While flicking through back issues of Bailys Magazine of Sports and Pastimes in a very rare few spare minutes, I found the following in the April 1860 issue which I thought might be fun to share.  If you know a tune called “The Cruiskeen Lawn”, this uses that same music – if you don’t know it,...

Composed expressly for the Hunt Dinner, November 18th 1836, and sung by the Author, “A Country Squire” this uses as a melody an air referred to as “Dash away! splash away! heigh, dash away!”.   First published in Bailys Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, March 1861) It may take a bit of digging to track this...

The steep-sided Pennine valleys and the moorland to the south and west of Huddersfield have long been recognised as the home of some of the finest traditional singing to be found anywhere in England today. A combination of rugged independence and social custom (humorously parodied in televisions Last of the Summer Wine) have produced just...