• Skip to content
  • Websites in the network
  • Herts Memories
  • Herts Past Policing
  • Our Dacorum
  • Our Hatfield
  • Our Hertford and Ware
  • Our Oxhey
  • Our Stevenage
  • Our Welwyn Garden City
  • Out of Sight, Out of Mind
  • Herts Memories
  • Herts Past Policing
  • Our Dacorum
  • Our Hatfield
  • Our Hertford and Ware
  • Our Oxhey
  • Our Stevenage
  • Our Welwyn Garden City
  • Out of Sight, Out of Mind
 
  • Log in
  • Contact us
Herts Memories
Herts Memories
Gateway to Hertfordshire's community archive network
  • Home
  • About us
  • Herts history
  • Advice and Resources
  • Noticeboard
  • Blog
  • Get involved
  • Follow us on Twitter
You are here: Home>Herts history>Topics>Hertfordshire Folk Songs

Hertfordshire Folk Songs

An important but sometimes ignored part of our local heritage is the traditional folk music from our area. All folk songs were collected somewhere and, while Hertfordshire doesn’t compare with counties like Sussex, a number of songs have been collected in the county. I set out to find out more about both these songs and the singers who learnt them from old tradition and passed them on to learned collectors.

I already had one clue: a song called The Bramble Briar was included in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, the seminal work by Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd published in 1959, which provided the 60s folk revival with so much of its repertoire. The book described this song as collected by Lucy Broadwood (one of the stalwart collectors) from a Mrs Joiner in Chiswell Green, Herts.

The website of the English Folk Dance and Song Society keeps a huge archive of collected songs, with an extensive online catalogue of what they hold, searchable by a number of fields, including county of origin. This yielded sixty-two songs (including some duplicates) provided by a number of source singers, but four stood out: besides Mrs Joiner (whose elusive first name proved to be Emily) there was Thomas Gray, Frederick Page and Clara Wilson.

I’ve pursued these people through the censuses and other records, especially Emily Joiner (née East). As for the songs themselves, until recently this would have meant a trip to Cecil Sharp House the headquarters of the EFDSS. Now, however, the “Full English” project has seen the records made available online. If you want to check out any of the songs mentioned, just type the title and singer into the search field — but note that Emily and Clara are listed as Mrs Joiner and Mrs Wilson.

I’m starting the section with articles about these four singers, but hopefully it will expand to include other singers, and maybe actual examples of the songs. If you have anything, please add to what’s already here.

  • Clara Wilson
    Clara Wilson
    Hertfordshire folk singer
  • Emily Joiner
    Emily Joiner
    Hertfordshire folk singer
  • Frederick Page
    Frederick Page
    Hertfordshire folk singer
  • May Day Celebrations in Hertfordshire
    May Day Celebrations in Hertfordshire
    Hertfordshire has a long tradition of celebrating May Day – 1 May – the greatest secular festival of the year, ...
  • Thomas Gray
    Thomas Gray
    Hertfordshire folk singer
Topics
  • A County Remembers
  • Archaeology
  • Architecture
  • Archives
  • Art and Artists
  • Black History Month
  • Childhood
  • Conservation
  • Crime
  • Cultural Connections Exhibition
  • Education
  • Emmigration
  • Events and ceremonies
  • Films and Film Makers
  • Folk Remedies
  • Hertfordshire and the Slave Trade
  • Hertfordshire Fire Services
  • Hertfordshire Folk Songs
  • Herts Past
  • Herts Year of Culture 2020
  • Holidays
  • Homelessness
  • Jubilees and Coronations
  • Life under Lockdown
  • Literary Hertfordshire
  • Local History Resources
  • Magna Carta
  • Natural World
  • Olympics and Paralympics
  • Politics
  • Privateering
  • Quakers in Hertfordshire
  • Religion
  • Resources for the elderly
  • School Projects
  • South Asian Heritage Month
  • Supernatural and unexplained phenomena
  • The Civil War
  • The Poor of Hertfordshire
  • The Word is Hertfordshire!
  • Traditional Hertfordshire Project 2017
  • Transport
  • Turn Back Time on Your High Street
  • Witchcraft
  • World War One
  • World War Two
What's new
  • Queen Elizabeth II and her visits to Hertfordshire
    Queen Elizabeth II has often come to visit Hertfordshire. Learn more about some of these visits.
  • Past Jubilees in Hertfordshire
    Read about how Hertfordshire celebrated the Queen's Silver, Gold and Diamond Jubilees.
More new pages
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy and cookies
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright
Designed and built by Community Sites

Copyright Hertfordshire County Council. All rights reserved.

Heritage Lottery Fund (opens in new window) Hertfordshire County Council (opens in new window)