The Smuggler's Bride (traditional, Kent) Chaucer Fielder

Kent has an incredibly rich local history, and I often think it’s a shame that the English folk song collectors of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries didn’t pay it much attention. A good deal of this history must have been narrated in folk songs now long gone? If only as much energy had been focussed on Kent as neighbouring Sussex, which was famously very well served by these enthusiasts!
One response is to look for any appealing old texts that can be found through other routes now, and retrofit a tune to them! That’s what I’ve tried to do here from quite an obscure source. In the nineteenth century, collections of material relating to English counties seem to have been assembled by the great and the good, published, and presented as “Garlands”. I found the words for “The Smuggler’s Bride” in “The Kentish Garland” published in 1881. The editors had found it in the British Museum, but it’s origins are unclear, as it is presented in the book without any helpful commentary. However, an online search revealed that it now features, including digitalised images, in two online ballad repositories. First, the Bodleian Libraries' "Broadside Ballads online", where it has the unique Roud identifier number V6811 revealing it to have been printed twice in London and once in Edinburgh. Second, in the “English Ballads” holdings of the National Library of Scotland, confirming the latter.
I have taken the liberty of cutting out a verse or two and altering some phrases to make it more singable. This is what late 1960s folk group The Halliard often did, and I believe their advice on broadside ballads is excellent and has stood the test of time. For the tune, the core melody for most verses is loosely based on Peter Bellamy’s version of “The Turkish Lady” on the double Fellside LP “Fair England’s shore: English Traditional Songs”. In the sleeve notes, Bellamy comments that “the tune will be recognised as a close variant of the old wedding ceremonial song ‘Come write me down, ye powers above’. “ I didn't recognise it, but just liked the tune and found it fitted well if the final line of each verse is repeated. I’ve varied the melody further for some verses.
The picture-in-picture images in the left hand corner come from the aforementioned “The Kentish Garland”, but also from some books I happen to have about local smuggling. I have an interest here as I grew on in the village of Hawkhurst, whose notorious “Hawkhurst gang” were amongst the most infamous of violent smugglers on the coastline of Southern England! I am guessing that smugglers would often have been romanticised in traditional ballads, in the same way that highwaymen were often represented as “heroes” despite the way many terrorised local communities? For sure, being “valiant” is/was not a characteristic often attributed to members of the Hawkhurst gang!
Bibliography
Bodleian Libraries Broadside Ballads online: Smuggling theme, ballads.bodleia..., last visited 19 September 2023.
De Vaynes, J. (editor) (1881) The Kentish Garland, Volume 1 the County in General, Stephen Austin & sons, Hertford, reprinted by Nabu public domain reprints.
Dixon, C. (2021) The Owlers: The story of the infamous Hawkhurst gang who made the south of England their own, printed by Amazon.
Jones, N. and Moran, D. (2005) Singing Broadside songs, in N. Jones, D. Moran and N. Paterson (eds) The Halliard Broadside Songs, Mollie Music, York.
Lely, B. (1990) Smuggling in Kent, Jarrod publishing, Norwich.
National Library of Scotland, English Ballads: Courtship & marriage: The Smuggler’s Bride/Dash my Vig, digital.nls.uk..., last visited 17 september 2023.
Waugh, M. (1985) Smuggling in Kent & Sussex 1700 - 1849, Countryside books, Newbury.

[@haomingong]

Great to keep these old Kent songs and histories alive

[@chaucerfielder2455]

thanks and agreed!

[@hollycook8438]

Nice!

[@chaucerfielder2455]

Thanks! I really put a lot into this one, so appreciate the feedback!!