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Description: | Song about town improvements made in Newcastle.Between 1824 and 1860 Richard Grainger embarked on an extensive scheme of town planning, which involved the destruction or relocation of many of Newcastle's oldest districts. This song refers to a number of these alterations and improvements, in particular, the construction of the High Level Bridge (1846-49), the filling of Pandon Dene and the movement of Ballast Hills. A number of songs were issued about Grainger's improvements many, such as this, expressed regret at the loss of the old town.Similar to the cheap press of today these poorly printed books and broadsides catered for popular tastes, being sold by chapmen in the country and booksellers in the town. Usually sold for no more than a penny, the production of these little books and broadsides were extremely profitable for most printers. Sold in bulk the material required little proof-reading, was widely plagiarised, and badly printed.Newcastle was the second largest producer of chapbooks in the country at the time of this book's publication. 'Songs of the Tyne' were a short series of chapbooks originally printed by, J. Ross of the Royal Arcade. This book forms no.2 of the 'Songs of the Tyne' series and was reprinted by William Walker sometime between 1857 and 1866. Most of the songs in the book were first printed in the 1830s and 1840s although some, such as 'Jemmy Joneson's whurry', did infact appear as early as 1823.The book contains some of the region's best known traditional songs. From 'The new keel row' to 'Harry Clasper', the book has offerings from well known Tyneside composers such as Thomas Thompson and would have been extremely popular among the local population. ; Popular Tyneside songs published in chapbook form. | Publisher: | J. Walker Royal Arcade, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear | Rights holder: | rights holder : Newcastle University | Subjects: | demolition & protest & bridges urban growth & protest | Temporal: | start=1841;end=1860; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:N1400702 | Go to resource |
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