Kirklington (SK6757), Nottinghamshire
I.T.Jones Collection (1955, L.F.Milner - a)
Miss L. F. Milner (Auth.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Hand written transcript of scrap-book by Miss L.F.Milner in Mr Brooke's possession
I.T.Jones Collection,
Transcribed 28th Jan.1981
Hand-written transcript taken down on 28th January 1981, of parts of a
scrapbook written by Miss Lillie Frost Milner in 1955, in the possession
of Mr Ralph Brooke. Typed version in K3-4 (TD00618)
I.T.Jones Collection (1955, L.F.Milner - b)
Miss L. F. Milner (Auth.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Typed transcript of the scrap-book by Miss L.F.Milner [including text of Plough Monday play]
I.T.Jones Collection,
1981
Typed version of the transcript (Ref.K3-3, TD00617) taken down by hand
on 28th January 1981 of parts of a scrapbook in the possession of Mr Ralph
Brooke, Greetbourne, Southwell Road, Kirklington. The scrapbook is entitled
'Kirklington Scrapbook'. It was written by Miss Lillie Frost Milner in
1955 and appears to be the same as mentioned in Nottinghamshire Countryside,
Winter 1958-59, No.4, pp.18-19. It is a hardback volume of about 30 A4
pages containing handwrittten descriptions of the village and local stories
and customs. On the inside front cover is a note that the book was presented
to St Swithin Church, Kirklington by Mrs Winifred Baugh and Mr David Hutchinson,
the niece and nephew of Miss Milner, after her death in 1971.
The following information is given about Plough Monday:
" – the second Monday in January. The farm men of the village went the round of the village
and acted a play in every house where they were invited in. They were
given mince pies and ale, or else money. We, as children, were allowed
to sit up that one night of the year in order to see the Plough Boys."
A text is given under the heading "Plough Monday Play as performed by
Kirklington farm men up to the First World War." The text has 140 lines
and has the following characters: Introducer, Tom Fool, Prince George,
Recruiting Sergeant, Farmer's Man, Lady, Eezum Squeezum, Beelzebub, and Doctor.
L.F.Milner (1958/59)
Miss L. F. Milner (Auth.)
Kirklington in the Past: A SMALL SLICE OF VILLAGE HISTORY [Plough Monday Play]
Nottinghamshire Countryside,
1958/1959, Vol.19, No.14, p.18-19
A description of several customs from Kirklington, Notts. These are;
Kirklington Feast, Lane Letting, Blackberry Day, Plough Monday, and Christmas
Beef. The words of the final song of the Plough Monday plough boys play are
given.
I.T.Jones Collection (1965, L.F.Milner & A.Helm - a)
Miss L. F. Milner (Inf.); Mr. Alex Helm (Col.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter Alex Helm to Miss Milner 17/3/65
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 17th Mar.1965, Ref.K3-12
Copy of letter from Alex Helm to Miss Milner dated 17th March 1965, enclosed
in letter from Mrs Baugh (TD00625). He thanks her for the copy of the
Kirklington Plough Play received through the librarian of Cecil Sharp
House and asks if she can provide more information about the performance
of the play.
I.T.Jones Collection (1965, L.F.Milner & A.Helm - b)
Miss L. F. Milner (Inf.); Mr. Alex Helm (Col.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter Miss Milner to Alex Helm 20/3/65 - ex Helm Collection
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 20th Mar.1965, Ref.K3-16
Copy of a letter from Miss Milner to Alex Helm dated 20th March 1965 obtained
from the Helm Collection. It describes how she collected the Kirklington
play and gives details of costumes.
English Folk Dance & Song Society Collection (1965, L.F.Milner)
*Lillie F. Milner (Col.)
*Kirklington, Notts., Plough Monday Play
*English Folk Dance & Song Society Collection,
Col. 15th Mar.1965
*Full text of a Plough Monday play from Kirklington, Notts.,
extant about 1914.
I.T.Jones (1981b)
I. T. Jones (Auth.)
The Owd Oss Mummers: PLOUGH MONDAY
The Bramley,
Apr.1981, No.68, p.6e-f
Follow up letter regarding an appeal for information on Plough Monday in the
Jan.1981 issue (I.T.Jones, 1981a). Mr. Steemson provided words of a play
performed in Oxton until the 1890s. Mr. Ralph Brooke had the scrap book
compiled by Miss L.F.Milner containing the play performed in Kirklington up to
the First War. Mrs. Olifent and Mr. Robinson provided the play performed
between the wars in Farnsfield, and recently revived at annual Plough Monday
suppers. Mr. Jack Smith (via his daughter Mrs. Marshall) gave details of the
Plough Bullocking play that he and others had revived in 1980 in
Blidworth. This had been performed right up to the Second World War. Mr.
Ernest Parkin remembered his father's Plough Bullocking in Edingley about
1891. Further locations mentioned where Plough Monday had been celebrated,
but for not detailed information was available were Averham, Kneesall, Norwell
and Southwell. The author had also obtained a copy of a Caunton text performed
until about 1945.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, R.Brooke - a)
Mr. Ralph Brooke (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Notes on phone call fron Mr Ralph Brooke 26/1/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Col. 26th Jan.1981, Ref.K3-1
Phone call from Mr. Ralph Brooke, Greetbourne, Southwell Road, Kirklington.
He is the keeper of the Parochial Church Council Scrapbook which contains
the text of a Plough Monday play.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, R.Brooke - b)
Mr. Ralph Brooke (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Notes on visit to Mr Brooke 28/1/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Col. 28th Jan.1981, Ref.K3-2
Visited Mr Ralph Brooke, Greetbourne, Southwell Road, Kirklington. He
keeps various items belonging to Kirklington Church including a scrapbook
written by Miss L.F.Milner. Transcripts of parts of the scrapbook are
recorded in Ref.K3-3 (TD00617) and Ref.K3-4 (TD00618). He knew nothing
more about Plough Monday in the village. While I was there he phoned his
friend Mr Ernest Parkin in Edingley and having found he'd heard of Plough
Bullocking, sent me round.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, P.Smith - a)
Mr. Paul Smith (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter to Paul Smith 5/2/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 5th Feb.1981, Ref.K3-7
Transcript of letter to Paul Smith, CECTAL, Sheffield, giving details of
Mrs Milner's scrapbook concerning Kirklington and asking if he had a copy
of the Kirklington text in the Vaughan Williams Collection referenced
in Cawte, Helm and Peacock,
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, R.Brooke - c)
Mr. Ralph Brooke (Intermediary)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter to Mr Brooke 5/2/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 5th Feb.1981, Ref.K3-8
Transcript of letter thanking Mr Brooke for his help.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, P.Smith - b)
Mr. Paul Smith (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter from Paul Smith 7/3/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 7th Mar.1981, Ref.K3-9
Letter relating that the Kirklington reference in Cawte, Helm and Peacock
is to files compiled by Alex Helm from correspondence to the Folk Lore
Society.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, W.M.Baugh - a)
Mrs. Winifred M. Baugh (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter to Mrs Winifred Baugh, Wellow 9/2/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 9th Feb.1981, Ref.K3-10
Transcript of letter to Mrs Baugh, niece of Miss L.F.Milner, asking if
she knew what sources Miss Milner could have used for the Plough Monday
section of her scrapbook.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, W.M.Baugh - b)
Mrs. Winifred M. Baugh (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter from Mrs Baugh 13/2/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 13th Feb.1981, Ref.K3-11
Letter from Mrs Baugh, Park Farm, Wellow niece of Miss L.F.Milner. She
enclosed a letter dated 17th March 1965 from Alex Helm to Miss Milner
(TD00626). She suggested writing to Canon Rupert Stevens who was vicar
of Kirklington when Miss Milner wrote her diary.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, W.M.Baugh - c)
Mrs. Winifred M. Baugh (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter to Mrs Baugh 25/2/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 25th Feb.1981, Ref.K3-13
Transcript of letter to Mrs Baugh thanking her for her correspondence.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, R. Stevens - a)
Canon R. Stevens (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter to Canon R. Stevens, South Collingham 11/3/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Col. 11th Mar.1981, Ref.K3-14
Letter to Canon Stevens asking if he had any information about how Miss
Milner collected the Kirklington play.
I.T.Jones Collection (1981, R.Stevens - b)
Canon R. Stevens (Inf.)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Notes on phone call from Canon Stevens 18/3/81
I.T.Jones Collection,
Col. 18th Mar.1981, Ref.K3-15
Canon Stevens, South Collingham, rang. He was vicar of Kirklington 1947
to 1956. He remembers having a conversation with Miss Milner in about
1948 after having heard reference to Plough Monday on the radio. Miss
Milner remembered seeing a play on Plough Monday and decided to find out
what else she could about the play.
I.T.Jones Collection (1982, R.Brooke)
Mr. Ralph Brooke (Intermediary)
Kirklington, Notts & Edingley, Notts: Letter from Ralph Brooke 7/6/82
I.T.Jones Collection,
Com. 7th Jun.1982, Ref.K3-17
Letter from Mr Brooke relating that he has now severed his connections
with the Kirklington Church and that Miss Milner's scrapbook and my correspondence
has been passed to the vicar. He also relates that Mr Parkin, whom I visited
in Edingley, has died.
Nottinghamshire Federation of Women's Institutes (1989)
Nottinghamshire Federation of Women's Institutes (Comp.)
The Nottinghamshire Village Book: Compiled by the Nottinghamshire Federation of Women's Institutes from notes and illustrations sent by Institutes in the County [Includes notes on Plough Monday, Bullguysers and other customs]
Newbury: Countryside Books, & Newark, NFWI, 1989, 1-85306-057-7, 191pp.
This book is compilation of short pieces on about 148 Notts., villages giving
descriptions, histories and reminiscences. There are numerous mentions of
customs, legends and ghosts. The following are of particular interest.
Caunton (p.41) quotes S.R.Hole's (1901) description of the Rang-Tang.
From Kirklington (pp.98-99) we have;
"Plough Monday was always kept on the second Monday in January when the
farmworkers of the village went the rounds of the village and acted a play in
every house where they were invited. They were given mince pies and ale or
money. The exit lines of the play were:
'We are the country plough lads
That go from door to door
Good Master and Good Mistress
As you sit by your fire
Remember us good plough lads
That work through mud and mire
So bring us out a good pork pie
And a jug of your best beer
We wish you all good night
And another Happy Year'"
At Laxton (p.106) it states; "On the first Monday in January, Plough Monday,
ancient Mummer plays were enacted, a tradition which has sadly disappeared."
A frontispiece signed D.A.Shaw (p.8) illustrates "Plough Sunday at Tithby", and
the text says;
"Despite attuning to the needs of the present day, old customs and rites are not
forgotten and are practised. One farmer breeds and works Suffolk Punches,
another farmer maintains a herd of Highland cattle, and on Plough Sunday the
plough is still brought into Holy Trinity Church to be blessed." (p.163)
There is a good description from Underwood with Bagthorpe (p.167);
"Mummer's plays were a feature of life in the area until the Second World War.
Dressed in bizarre costumes and with blackened faces, local youths with a
pretended show of force, would gatecrash Christmas gatherings in houses and pubs
to re-enact the age-old story of the triumph of life over death in Nature, the
origins of which go back beyond pre-Christian times. Over the centuries the
performances had become pure knock-about farce. However, there existed an
instinctive respect for their antiquity and no door was ever barred against the
Bullguysers. Unfortunately, to safeguard the blackout in the war years, the
police had to insist that the Mummers should play no more and another age-old
custom was lost."
From Woodborough (pp.86-87), several speeches are quoted from a Plough Monday
play, seeming to comprise a complete but brief text (18 lines). Characters
mentioned are Easom Squeesom, Big Belly Ben, a Soldier and Doctor.
* indicates data that not yet been validated against the original source and/or has yet to be completely indexed.
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