Retford, Gainsborough & Worksop Times (1901)
Source:
[Anon.] (Auth.)
WORKSOP COMMENTS [Christmas Plays]
Retford, Gainsborough & Worksop Times,
4th Jan.1901, No.1601, p.2a
"At this season of the year there is always a good deal of
'noting' about old Christmas customs, and of these things there
is more said about the 'mumming' than anything else. In this
district the lads go about with 'St. George,' which has also
other names. There are a many readings, or rather should I say
playings, of this piece, and it is impossible to get a version
which anyone can call the correct one. Of the dozen or so which
I have noted, there does not appear to be a complete one, and
most of them are mixed up with other matter. But it is an
interesting subject all the same, and I should like to see a
printed copy a hundred years old. Then the lads have 'T'Owd Tup'
which is a much garnished version of 'The Derby Tup' or 'Ram',
for in the county either name holds good. The tup as given by
the lads here is a very broad rendering of the Darby ditty, and
even the good 'fowk o' Darby' do not know which rendering is
the right one. It is the same with 'T'Owd Hoss' and though I
have tried scores of times I cannot get a clear version of it.
I have a quantity of mangled remains of 'T'Owd Hoss' out of which
it is impossible to make a whole animal. These are the Christmassy
things among the curious items known in connection with this
season of the year."
Index Terms:
| Locations: |
Worksop, Notts. (SK5879)
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| Years: |
Publ. 1901
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| Subjects: |
Plays; Mumming; Christmas; "St. George"; T'Owd Tup; T'Owd Hoss; "The Derby Tup"; "The Derby Ram"
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| Archives: |
TDRG Archive, Ref. TD00229
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Last Updated Apr 2005 by Dave Crowther.
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