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Description: | This is perhaps one of the region's best known songs. The song was written in 1720 by local clerk Edward Chicken and paints an idyllic picture of pit life in Elswick and Benwell at the beginning of the 18th century. The song's narrative is written in standard English with main characters, Tommy and Jenny, written in dialect - this is thought to be one of the earliest records of the 'Geordie' dialect.This song forms part of a fascinating selection of material relating to pitmen and keelmen of the North East. The collection was compiled by Thomas Bell, the less well known brother of the collector of Northumbrian traditional song, John Bell. Little is known of Thomas other than his work as a surveyor, but his interest in the collection of local song seems more than evident from his painstaking inlaying and mounting of some 140 pages of material. The collection comprises largely of songs taken from broadsides, chapbooks and manuscripts, but also includes some rare cuttings, descriptions and illustrations of the subject matter. This is a unique collection and perhaps one of the earliest examples of a collecter of traditional song devoting his energies solely to one aspect of regional life. ; Songs and ephemera relating to the keelmen and pitmen of Tyneside collected by Thomas Bell | Publisher: | T. Saint Newcastle upon Tyne | Rights holder: | rights holder : Society of Antiquaries | Subjects: | industry and occupation & love marriage and courtship mining & miners & marriage & courtship | Temporal: | start=1761;end=1800; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:R0903301 | Go to resource |
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