Folklore of Essex

by Sylvia Kent

  The Mayflower Morrismen of Billericay, formed in 1973, is the only side to wear black and white tabards, with the Mayflower ship on their back. Five of the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed to America in 1620, came from Billericay, including the ship’s governor. Contrasting with their sober kit, their hats are wonderfully decorated.

  Mumming and Molly

  Along with the morris, mummers’ plays seem to have been popular from earliest records. They were performed in various places in the South East, such as Tendring, Pilgrims’ Hatch and nearby South Weald, in 1903. In other parts of England, mummers were known as soulers and guisers. The Thameside Mummers have now collected thirty plays from all over the country and perform both locally and nationally.

  The Mayflower Morris men in their mumming play St George and the Dragon.

  A mumming play with the Bold Slasher and St George.

  Traditionally, mummers had no need of props or scenery, as the idea was to move from one place to another over their planned route, performing just where they stood. Some mummers invariably wore jackets covered with long strips of coloured paper or material with their faces blackened. Disguise seemed to be more important than theatrical costume and many of the players blacked up with burnt cork. There were several themes around which the plays were enacted. The story of Robin Hood was often used as a theme for mummers’ plays, but St George and the Dragon is probably the best known in Essex. It was performed at seasonal times such as Christmas and Boxing Day, as well as Plough Monday.

  One of the reasons why mumming plays became less popular at the end of the nineteenth century was that they were purely an oral tradition. The themes were well known and the plays were acted out by local people and passed down the generations simply by learning the lines by heart, in the best tradition of folklore.

  During the last decade, there has been a revival of the mumming play in Essex. In the town of Billericay, the Mayflower Morrismen performed their St George’s Day mummers’ play on 23 April, 2005 at several locations in the High Street. The script was a mixture of doggerel verse and prose and the subject was appropriately topical for that day, covering the combat between St George and the Turkish Knight. St George kills the knight, who is restored to life by the skills of a comic quack doctor. A feature of a number of mumming plays is the ‘female’ character, called Molly, Bessy or Mary. In this play, written by Julian Whybra, the female character was Sabra, the King of Egypt’s daughter, played by Ross Holland. The accompanying music was played on the pipe and tabor by Mike Oxenham and on the accordion by Paddy Beadle.

  Molly dancing, also performed by men, is the name by which morris was known in the east of England. It was known in East Anglia up until the Second World War. It appears that molly dancing, although similar, was not as complex as morris or sword dancing and has received much less attention. Molly dancers wore ordinary working clothes decorated with ribbons and rosettes and blackened their faces. The fullest reports of molly dancing come from the north-western parts at Great Chesterford and Helion Bumpstead.

  The mollies danced vigorously in the village street, usually wearing their hobnailed working boots, and collected money from passers-by. Part of the custom was for the dancers to take a plough around the local village and if payment was not forthcoming they would cut a furrow across the householder’s front lawn. There has been renewed interest in molly dancing over the last few years and the Good Easter Molly Gang are well known in Chelmsford and surrounding towns and villages.

  Country Dance

  In 1651, John Playford’s English Dancing Master book, in which he collected and noted many of the early English folk dances, was published. It is not clear whether he made up the dances or simply published them from other sources. The book was published in eighteen further editions until 1728. More than most cultural forms, country dancing has moved up and down the social scale and has gone in and out of fashion, undergoing revivals at different times.

  To combat the disappearing country dances from the village repertoire, the English Folk Dance and Song Society produced dedicated enthusiasts and dance teachers for whom country dancing at clubs, festivals and garden parties became normal hobby pursuits. It was Cecil Sharp who also succeeded in having country dance accepted on to the school curriculum and many schoolchildren who attended Essex schools in the years following the Second World War will today remember their weekly country dance lessons, in which the fascinating Sword Dance was performed to English country dance tunes.

  Cecil Sharp began collecting English folk songs in 1903. Two years later, he had started composing an arrangement of folk dances when Mary Neal, a dance teacher, asked him if he knew of any she could teach to her students. His interest in folk dances led to the foundation of the Folk Dance Society in 1911. He interpreted the dances and helped English folk dance to become popular. Sharp’s interest in folk songs took him to the Appalachian Mountains, where he studied American folk songs with English origins. Sharp was the foremost morris dance collector.

  Throughout the 1930s and after the Second World War, many young people took up cycling and would meet at youth hostels around the county, where country dancing often became a highlight of the weekend’s entertainment. Although country dance remained a favourite pastime of many enthusiasts, it had no appreciable effect on the mass popular culture, which took its various dance crazes from America. It was when Princess Margaret returned from a US trip in 1950 enthusiastically endorsing American square dance that the craze really took off in Essex. The dances were traditional, including squares, longways and circles, as were most of the tunes – jigs, reels, hornpipes and waltzes. These took place, with great enthusiasm, in the barns and village halls in just about every part of Essex.

  Along with morris, molly and sword dancing, numerous other kinds of dancing clubs sprang up in Essex, including Scottish and Irish ceilidhs, Appalachian, ladies’ clog dancing, jive and, of course, the current line dancing, borrowed from America a decade ago.

  The ceilidh, originally a Gaelic social gathering including song, music, storytelling and dance, both social and display, is popular throughout Essex, with the Grand Ceilidh Club holding their weekly meeting in Southend.

  There was once a lack of dance material but Essex can feel particularly proud of its connection with many distinguished song and dance collectors, musicians and composers who lived and worked in the county during past centuries.

  Music Makers

  From way back in the sixteenth century, Essex has played a significant part in the musical heritage of Britain. At the time of the Dissolution of the monasteries in 1540, the composer and organist Thomas Tallis was organist at Waltham Abbey and had the honour of being appointed one of the Gentlemen of the Chapel Royal. Known as the Father of English church music, some of his hymn tunes, including ‘Glory to Thee, my God’, are still in general use today.

  For thirty years, Stondon Massey was the home of William Byrd (1543-1623), the remarkable composer often referred to as Stondon’s Master of Music. Byrd’s compositions covered the whole range of contemporary music – madrigals, solo songs, canons, rounds, instrumental music for virginals and strings, and, above all, church music. His association and affection for Tallis, with whom he shared duties as organist at the Chapel Royal, was shown in his comment that he had been ‘bred up to music under Thomas Tallis’.

  Thaxted was the village chosen by Gustav Theodore Holst (1874-1934) when he came to live in Essex in 1917. He resided at Monk Street, Town Street and in 1925 moved to a large Elizabethan house at Brook End. Holst studied composition under Stanford at the Royal College of Music. At first, he was influenced by the music of Grieg, then by Bach and Wagner, and in later life by English folk song and Tudor composers. In 1903, he gave up his career as a trombone player to write music and became director of music at St Paul’s School, which for some years remained a welcome refuge for a diffident man who shunned fame and popularity. It was while living at Monk Street, Thaxted that he wrote that most evocative of twentieth-ce
ntury classics, The Planets, a suite for orchestra. Holst’s daughter Imogen, who inherited much of her father’s musical talent, was a great companion to her father during the last years of his life.

  One-time resident and rector of the East Mersea parish for ten years was the prolific composer, hymn writer and author the Revd Sabine Baring-Gould (1834-1924), who famously composed ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ in 1864. In collaboration with Cecil Sharp, Baring-Gould published English Folk Songs for Schools in 1906 and contributed greatly to the world of folk-song and music.

  Number 1 High Street, Harlow was the birthplace of Sarah Fuller in 1805. She wrote the hymn ‘Nearer My God to Thee’ and ‘Darkness Shrouded Calvary’. Her sister, who was two years older, set the words to music.

  Jane Taylor of Chipping Ongar (1783-1824) came from an extraordinarily gifted family, who produced artists, engravers, inventors and authors. Jane was a precocious child, writing from the age of eight, alone or with her sister Ann. Together with their father, they produced the very popular Original Poems for Infant Minds in 1805, which includes ‘My Mother’ by Ann, who later wrote ‘Meddlesome Matty’. More poems followed, notably ‘Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star’ by Jane. Her verse was admired by Scott, her prose by Browning.

  John Ireland (1879-1962), one of England’s greatest twentieth-century composers, stayed at Little Sampford in 1941 and occupied a wing of the rectory until 1945.

  Arthur Henry Brown (1830-1926) was one of England’s most accomplished composers of hymns and church music. Born in Crown Street, Brentwood, he showed incredible musical ability by being appointed organist at St Thomas’ church at the age of ten. During his long life, he composed more than 1,000 hymn tunes, many of which gained worldwide popularity, including ‘Saffron Walden’, the tune he wrote for ‘Just As I Am’. The famous ‘O Love Divine’ was written one Sunday morning in fifteen minutes, just before the service. His main compositions are to be found in most of the principal hymnals of today.

  ELEVEN

  LEGENDARY FOLK

  Perhaps, of all the counties of England, the one which is least known by English people generally is the county of Essex.

  Frances C. Burmester, John Lott’s Alice, 1902

  Much regional folklore is clustered around real people and the historical events in which those people were involved during their lifetimes. Fact and fable are entwined in the stories of some of our celebrated – and notorious – Essex characters.

  Roman Generals

  During the late Iron Age, the people of southern Britain were divided into separate tribes or kingdoms. Each kingdom had its own ruler and in the area which was to become Essex, the Trinovantes tribe was established in what we now know as modern Colchester. The area then covered was about 12 square miles (32 square kilometres).

  In 55 BC, Julius Caesar, having conquered most of Gaul (France), turned his attention to Britain and invaded with five legions and cavalry in a fleet of more than 800 vessels. He stayed but a short time, returning the following year after penetrating through Essex and onward into the area now known as Hertfordshire.

  Cunobelin was the ruler of both the Trinovantes and the neighbouring Catuvellauni and reigned from around 5 BC to AD 40, the year of his death. The Roman historian Suetonius observed that Cunobelin was held in high regard by the Romans, not as a simple tribal leader but as Rex Britannorum, King of the Britons, the inspiration for many folk stories. The extent of his power spread even further, as is seen through his gold coins which have been found all over south-east Britain. Shakespeare was inspired to use this character in his great play Cymbeline.

  A map showing the pre-Roman tribes.

  A Roman soldier on duty at the Colchester Castle Museum, 2004.

  By AD 41, Claudius had become Emperor of Rome and within two years had sent an army to Britain, led by General Aulus Plautius. The 50,000-strong army landed in Kent; their objective was the capture of Colchester (known as Camulodunum). During their march northwards, they fought many Britons, including Cunobelin’s two sons, Caratacus and Togodumnus; the latter was killed in battle.

  Before the coming of the Romans, when a large part of the country was dense forest, there were no roads in Britain in the accepted sense, nor were there towns. Along the route from London to Colchester, Roman stations were established. One, named Durolitum, was between Romford and Brentwood, possibly at Gidea Park; another, Caesaromagus, was at Chelmsford and a third, named Canonium, is believed to have been at either Kelvedon or Rivenhall. As the Roman army approached Colchester, Claudius arrived from Italy to take charge of the attack on this important British stronghold. They captured the Iron Age capital accompanied by elephants – which the Britons would not have seen before. That invasion began a 400-year occupation of Britain and is a significant part of our history.

  Boudica

  We can thank the Roman historian Tacitus for his chronicles, which include an account of the relatively short time that Queen Boudica and her husband King Prasutagus ruled their tribe of native Britons, the Iceni, in the area of modern Norfolk and north Suffolk. King Prasutagus had been a willing link with the Romans but on his death in AD 60, the land belonging to the Iceni was violently annexed by the Roman leaders. Despite promises that had been made to Prasutagus, Boudica was assaulted and her two daughters violated.

  Boudica statue at Westminster Bridge.

  So great was her anger that in AD 61 she raised the whole of south-east England in revolt and before the main Roman armies could return from campaigning in Wales, she burned Londinium (London), Verulamium (St Albans) and Camulodunm (Colchester). The present Colchester Castle is built on the site of the Temple of Claudius, where there are still charred remains left as a reminder. In all, about 70,000 people were killed before the Roman governor Suetonius Paulinus was able to defeat the Britons and crush the rising.

  The Iceni were virtually annihilated and Boudica met her end. Exactly how this happened, we will probably never know. Some historians have theorised that she poisoned herself and her daughters shortly before the glowing embers of Colchester had died down. However, there are also claims that she died elsewhere in Essex.

  King Coel

  Geoffrey of Monmouth, writing in the twelfth century, tells us about King Coel (of nursery rhyme fame), who lived and ruled over Colchester, England’s oldest recorded town. Supposedly, his daughter Helena was the mother of the Roman emperor Constantine (AD 306-337). It is said that Colchester Castle was built upon King Coel’s palace, the site of the Temple of Claudius which had been destroyed by Boudica centuries earlier. According to legend, King Coel led a revolt against the Romans and made himself ruler of Essex. Constantius was sent to suppress the rising but while laying siege to Colchester he met Helena and was so affected by her beauty that he made peace with Coel, her father, in order to marry her.

  Helena was said to have adopted Christianity when Constantine Augustus made it the official religion of the Roman Empire by the Edict of Milan. She went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, where, according to the legend, she discovered the cross of Christ. This is commemorated in the arms of Colchester, and the earliest seal of the bailiffs bears her image. Although without foundation, Helena is regarded as the patron saint of Colchester.

  Holy Folk

  For all the early efforts of the Romans, Britain was still chiefly a land of thick forest, marsh and fen, and by AD 410 the Roman Eagle, which had arrived so proudly to Essex’s shores and which had stood firmly as a symbol of authority, was gone. For over 100 years, Britain was prey to invasions from many different foreign tribes, but by AD 527 the pagan Saxons were well established and the land of the East Saxons – which gave the county its name – has endured for nearly 1,500 years. Around twenty-six kings reigned in Essex between AD 580 and AD 840. Exact dates are hard to establish but by the time Essex emerged as a kingdom, both London and Colchester had been resettled and both lay within its borders.

  In AD 596, Pope Gregory sent monks to Britain to convert the people to Christianity
. Within a year, Augustine – who later became a saint – had converted the pagan king of Kent, Ethelbert, to Christianity and valuable land at Canterbury was granted to Augustine. Canterbury was to play a vital part in the life of Essex pilgrims in following centuries and many miracles were believed to be attributable to these early monks.

  In around AD 600, England was divided into a septarchy – seven kingdoms. The names and descent of the East Saxon kings are known but very little else. In AD 666, the monk Erkenwald built an abbey at Barking at the request of his sister Ethelburga, who became its first abbess. Barking Abbey was probably the first nunnery established in England for women and was to become one of the richest and most important. Erkenwald was the grandson of the King of the East Angles and was the first bishop to preach in St Paul’s, London.

  St Cedd, a monk of Lindisfarne in Northumbria, came as missionary bishop to Essex. He founded a monastery at Tilbury but lived at Bradwell-juxta-Mare, where he built the church of St Peter-on-the-Wall, on the inner wall of the ruined fortress of Othona. The Jarrow monk Bede, the first notable English historian, described how Cedd’s missionary work spread and gathered ‘much Church, great Church, to the Lord’. St Peter-on-the-Wall was the first of many churches to be built in Saxon Essex.

  St Peter-on-the-Wall at Bradwell.

  St Osyth

  Osyth was a Saxon saint whose name is perpetuated in this lovely village by the sea. The legend tells us that she was the daughter of Redwald, the first Christian King of the East Angles, and his wife, Wilburga. Many tales of Osyth’s goodness are recorded. One tells of the time she fell into a river and was drowned, but was restored to life by the prayers of St Modwen, her tutor.