Claim OwnershipThe Parson & the Songmen
Subscribed: 4Played: 28
Subscribe
© 2026 The Parson & the Songmen
Description
The Reverend Sabine Baring Gould was an exceptional parson and squire from Devonshire, England.
He is probably best remembered as the composer of the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.
Born in Exeter in 1834, he died at his estate, Lewtrenchard Manor in West Devon, in 1924.
As 2024 is the centenary of his death it gives me the opportunity to spotlight what he considered to be the most important achievement of his life, that of collecting the old folk songs of Devonshire, and later Cornwall, as he termed it, 'from the mouths of the people'.
Join me as I tell stories about, and sing songs from, this far from ordinary Victorian country parson as he travelled by pony and trap across his native Devonshire seeking out songs that now form a major part of the English folk song tradition.
62 Episodes
Reverse
Send us a text Welcome to this first episode in the fourth series of The Parson and the Songmen! We kick the series off in fine style by meeting Cornwall-based singer/songwriter Chris Hytch and hearing some of the songs from his band Annown's CD 'A Half A Face'. Chris has a passion for Cornish folklore and history and has the uncanny knack of being able to take an old, old story, give it some extra twists and turns, maybe add a bit of humour, and end up with a fresh-sounding, clever, modern s...
1Send us a text A Happy New Year to you and welcome to this third compilation of songs (and tunes) from the shows! We have a varied selection for you, some reminding you of spring, the festive season and, as always, a fair dollop of the Reverend Sabine Baring Gould. Here is the track listing, or click on CHAPTERS (above) if you want to go to an individual track. 1. The Jolly Wagoner - Mike Bosworth 2. Black Joke (tune) - Colin Thomsett 3. Jim the Carter Lad - Sophie Legg &nbs...
Send us a text Season's Greetings One And All! Welcome to the festive sixtieth edition of The Parson and the Songmen! In this episode we tell the story of a special carol service that takes place every year in the Stratton/Bude area of North Cornwall to keep alive a very special set of carols peculiar to the area. Mike and Jon recorded this year's service so expect some carols that you will most likely be very unfamiliar to you, and to that end here are the words for the carols included in th...
Send us a text If you do celebrate, you may well have noticed that Yuletide is nearly upon us... But, if you did need reminding, then this episode of The Parson and the Songmen will do just that for you! There are plenty of Christmas and Winter Solstice customs and traditions out there, but this edition will hopefully open your eyes and ears to some that are (almost) peculiar to Devon and Cornwall, and may even help to explain the origins of some traditions that we take for granted today. S...
Send us a text Welcome to Series Three, Episode Twelve. All we will say about this episode is that it involves some early Twentieth Century song collecting, a very enigmatic song collector and two wheeled transport. Listen on... (By the way, and still trying to be all secretive, if this episode does tickle your taste- buds and you want to find out more then please visit https://bobandgillberry.com) Support the show PLEASE VISIT mikebosworth.uk FOR ALL LINKS TO INTERVIEWEES ETC Mike's website...
Send us a text At this time in November we remember the sacrifice that hundreds of thousands of British soldiers made with their lives as they fought in the First World War (and remember that millions died overall). Many songs are associated with this war, but are there songs connected to earlier battles? The simple answer is "Yes" and in this episode Mike collects together some of those found in the Baring Gould Song Collection. Support the show PLEASE VISIT mikebosworth.uk FOR ALL LINKS TO ...
Send us a text In this episode of The Parson and the Songmen we join Mike at Ashwater Church, in the far west of Devon, for a day of 'ringing and singing'. One Day In October are the first four words of a very special song that the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould collected, telling of a bell ringing competition that took place at Ashwater church some two hundred years ago. For the last two years this event has been remembered in the form of a day centred around bell ringing, organised by J...
Send us a text The poet John Keats called Autumn the 'season of mists and mellow fruitfulness'. A time for reflection and also a time when 'all is safely gathered in' before the onset of winter. Those words, of course, come from the harvest hymn We Plough The Fields And Scatter, and in this episode of The Parson And The Songmen we discover the origins of what we know as The Harvest Festival church service and find out more about the man behind its creation - Robert Stephen Hawker, the Vicar o...
Send us a text 'Catch Me If You Can' is the title of a cassette tape, (originally released in 1978 and please search the interweb if you're too young to know what a cassette tape is) released by Pete Coe who spent a week in the company of a Cornish travelling family, recording songs and stories about their way of life in the early 1900s. Mike has known Pete since the 1960s in Birmingham where they both sang at The Black Diamond Folk Club, held in the Drovers Arms. Pete went on to become, as d...
Send us a text Hello and welcome back after our summer break! In this episode we focus on William Andrews, a shy farmer from Sheepstor, in a remote part of Dartmoor, Devon. Andrews was not only a farmer though, he was a skilled fiddle player, and was visited by The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould in order to note down some of his tunes that would become known in time as The William Andrews Collection. Support the show PLEASE VISIT mikebosworth.uk FOR ALL LINKS TO INTERVIEWEES ETC Mike's website...
Send us a text Join Mike for a very special 'Parson and the Songmen' this time around! It's not every day that you happen to get to the chance to have a chat with one of the world's leading mandolinists, composers and all round wit, but this is just what Mike did recently when he met up with Simon Mayor. Taken from Simon Mayor's biog on his website mandolin.co.uk Please visit for info on all of his work, gigs, workshops, projects, CDs etc 'As well as being an incredible mandolin player, Simon...
Send us a text In this fifth episode of the third series of The Parson and the Songmen, Mike explores Sabine's second autobiography 'Further Reminiscences'. In the book he discovers a song that seems to have , astonishingly, escaped Baring-Gould's keen censorship in order to make his song collection, as he put it, 'fit for Christian ears to hear!' If the song had been through 'the cleansing process', then did the Reverend Gentleman think it was a fair reflection of society, or was it, i...
Send us a text Firstly, Many Happy Returns to The Parson And The Songmen as it celebrates its Second Birthday with its Fiftieth Episode! In this special episode Mike tells the story of how a song collected by The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould made it into the British pop charts and peaked at No.3 no less!! What the Reverend Gentleman would have thought of Elvis (No.1), The Drifters (No.2) and Cliff Richard (No.4) who surrounded him at the top of the chart we will never know, but I bet he would...
Send us a text The songs published in Songs From The West by the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould were wholly collected, or particular to, Devon and Cornwall. But what to do with the songs sent to him from other parts of England and beyond? Sabine never discarded these songs, but put them to one side as they were of interest and too good to be lost and these resulted in a new publication Join Mike now as he tells the story of how this book came into being, which The Reverend Gentleman titled 'A G...
Send us a text The publication of folk songs collected by The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould in Devon and Cornwall made them accessible to the general public, but left Sabine wondering just how he could reach an even wider audience? His answer was to get on the road for a series of 'gigs' that were were probably the first ever traditional folk song tour of England! Phew! Rock and Roll.... Support the show PLEASE VISIT mikebosworth.uk FOR ALL LINKS TO INTERVIEWEES ETC Mike's website: mikeboswor...
Send us a text Hardly seems a year since the last compilation of music from the first series. But yer us be! Season Two is now complete and we'll finish off in viddy style with the now customary(!) selection of songs from the shows. Geddon Boy! Here is the track listing, or click on CHAPTERS (above) if you want to go to an individual track. The HighwaymanGlory Of The WestThe Village ShopTristan's LamentCome My LadsThe MerrymaidMedhel An GwinsI Rode My Little HorseBold Gambling BoyThe Legend O...
Send us a text Well, we've missed All Fool's Day by a day, but let's celebrate this custom anyway. In this podcast Mike takes a look into its origins and tells some stories about one of Cornwall's great historical pranksters, as recorded by The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould. Support the show PLEASE VISIT mikebosworth.uk FOR ALL LINKS TO INTERVIEWEES ETC Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/ Mike's YouTube page: htt...
Send us a text Recently, Mike went to visit the force of nature that is Moe Keast at her home in Bodmin, Cornwall. Moe is a traditional singer and storyteller and has been a regular at Bodmin Folk Club, with a short break for bringing up children, almost since the first evening in 1968! Moe has been a Cornish Bard for 25 years under the name of 'Myrgh Cana Hengovek', translating as, 'Daughter of Traditional Singing', and is very proud of her Cornish Heritage. She has played ...
Send us a text In this episode of The Parson and the Songmen, Mike investigates the possibility of missing Cornish folk songs. Is there a religious connection and will he solve the case? Support the show PLEASE VISIT mikebosworth.uk FOR ALL LINKS TO INTERVIEWEES ETC Mike's website: mikebosworth.uk https://www.facebook.com/people/The-Parson-and-the-Songmen/100093220748945/ Mike's YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=thimblerigg+videos Sabine Baring-Gould Centenary Ce...
Send us a text Recently, Mike went to visit Barbara Griggs for a chat about the place of the harp in Cornish music. What you are about to listen to is a fascinating podcast, brought to life by the engaging, informative, and witty explanations from Barbara. "After many years playing Early Music on recorders and viols, I took up the harp when moving to Cornwall. This led naturally to an interest in the early music of Cornwall and historic harps. Playing the folk music of Cornwall introduced me ...
Comments
Download from Google Play
Download from App Store
United States