A chance meeting in a meadow, a false young man and a philosophical ending… it’s that folk favourite the Banks of the Sweet Primroses, beloved of collectors and Broadside publishers alike. In fact it’s part of the history of so many folk song collectors that we’ve taken the opportunity to follow one of them on their collecting expedition.

But what really happened in that meadow and why did the young man get such a dressing down? We’ve got all the theories and a few of our own, and even a potential Civil War origin for the song itself. And while we’re out walking in the morning fields there’s a perfect opportunity for some gratuitous medieval weirdness.

Oh yes, we’re back!

Music

The Banks of the Sweet Primroses (instrumental) was collected from W. Buckland of Buckinghamshire in 1943 by Francis Collinson and is found in the New Penguin Book of English Folk Song.

The Banks of the Sweet Primeroses (sung, first verse only) was collected and arranged by Cecil Sharp. It appears in Cyril Winn, A Selection of Some Less Known Folk-Songs vol.2 pp.64-65

Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy was sung for me by Phil Beer at Shrewsbury Folk Festival 2022.

Maids Looke Well About You can be found here. The tune used is Cold and Raw

Medicines To Cure The Deadly Sins can be found here. The tune used is The Agincourt Carol.

The extract of Peggy Gordon sung by Isobel Anderson has been used with her permission. You can find her albums on bandcamp and they’re highly recommended https://isobelanderson.bandcamp.com/ 

References

The Hammond Brothers:
https://www.williambarnessociety.org.uk/the-hammond-brothers/


https://www.efdss.org/learning/resources/beginners-guides/35-english-folk-collectors/2441-efdss-henry-and-robert-hammond 

Folk Songs from Dorset: https://archive.org/details/folksongsfromdor00hamm 

Purslow, Frank (1968) The Hammond Brothers’ Folk Song Collection. Folk Music Journal 1(4) 236-266

Marina Russell on Tradfolk: https://tradfolk.co/tradfolk-101/female-source-singers/ 

Vaughan Williams' collection of the song:

http://blackmorehistory.blogspot.com/2008/08/vaughan-williams-and-essex.html 

http://www.patrickcomerford.com/2015/03/through-lent-with-vaughan-williams-32.html 

https://carolinedavison.substack.com/p/vaughan-williamss-journey-into-folk-9de

An early broadside version of the Sweet Primroses from the Bodleian Library: http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/static/images/sheets/10000/06733.gif

The definition of a broken token ballad was written by Chat GTP after some training, and read by Steven Shaw.