Nottinghamshire Local History Council Collection (1960, T.Johnson)


Source:

Thomas Johnson (Auth.)
MEMORIES OF A VILLAGER: BALDERTON [Plough Monday]
Nottinghamshire Local History Council Collection, Written 2nd Feb.1960, Ref.DD/121/1/6, 11pp. [sheets numbered 130-141]

Entry to an essay competition on old village life at Balderton, Notts. It gives details of local customs, including Harvest Home and Dole Day. Pages 138-139 give the following;

"Plough Monday Plays

I have seen a Plough Monday Play only once.

A friend of mine described the play as an Elizabethan travesty. Locally the boys kept up their custom until about the end of the last century.

The version I saw was as follows:-

Each character wore adornments to suit his particular role. A player entered the house and recited his piece and the others followed with additions to the story. I only remember Beelzebub and the Doctor. Beelzebub's lines started with

'In comes I old Beelzebub.
In my hand I carry a club' (perhaps to slay the dragon)

The doctor came in his turn with his bottle of Paregoric. The performance ended with the whole company chanting some doggeral."

Main variant

Scans/Images

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Index Terms:

Locations: Balderton, Notts. (SK8151)
Years: Col. 1960; Perf. c. 1900
Subjects: Essay; Plough Monday; Plays; Beelzebub; Doctor; Text Fragment; Dole Day; Harvest Home
People: Nottinghamshire Local History Council (Col.)
Archives: TDRG Archive, Ref. TD00402

Last Updated Mar 1992 by Peter Millington.