Cecil Sharp noted down two songs from Charles Barling, then 81 years old, at Ruckinge, on the 23rd September 1908. Mr Barling had been baptised on 20th January 1828 at St Mary Magdalene, Ruckinge. His parents were William, listed as “Labourer”, and Mary Ann, née Clemens, originally from Stanford, on Stone Street. They had married the previous April, at the church of St Peter & St Paul, Newchurch.
By the time of the 1841 census Charles, just 10 years old, was already out at work, as a servant for William Chittenden, landlord of the Blue Anchor at Ruckinge. Ten years later, he was living in the family home at Gorse Green Farm, Ruckinge. Charles, his father, and his brothers James and William (i.e. all of the male members of the household) are listed as agricultural labourers.
He was married in November 1851 to Lydia Knowlden, of Ivychurch. They had 10 children, and lived the rest of their lives at a variety of addresses in Ruckinge. When Sharp encountered him, Charles, Lydia and two of their children, Percy and Lily, were living at The Corner, right in the centre of the village, close to the Blue Anchor. The 1901 census gives Charles’ occupation as “Ordinary labourer”, but also notes that he was “Nearly Blind”.
Charles lived to be 89. He was buried in the same church where he’d been baptised, on 22nd January 1917.
Harry Barling, from whom Francis Collinson collected a couple of songs in the 1940s, was Charles Barling’s cousin: Harry’s father Frank was a younger brother of Charles’ father William.
The neatly written out copy in Francis Collinson’s collection does not appear to be in Collinson’s handwriting, and was quite possibly written out by Eyton Boulding in preparation for the recording of the BBC radio programme Country Magazine which was broadcast on 28th June 1942. It is headed “Chas Boulding’s song” – referring to Eyton’s “Uncle Cholly”, Charles Boulding.
It is unclear why, in that copy, the song is titled ‘Where de Lambs Dey Skip Wid Pleasure’. This kind of substitution of ‘d’ for ‘th’ was often associated with blackface minstrelsy. But in this case it seems more likely that it is an attempt to reproduce the old Kentish dialect, where the same substitution of letters took place – see A dictionary of the Kentish dialect and provincialisms in use in the County of Kent (1888) page vi.
No singer or location is given for this song in the VWML archive catalogue. However the sheet in Collinson’s MS is headed “Pinn Farm, Bonnington, Nr. Ashford”, which was the residence of Eyton Boulding. And it is dated 17th June 1942, which is the same date given in the catalogue for ‘Where de Lambs Dey Skip Wid Pleasure’ (COL/2/16).
A version of the song was included in the Kent-themed episode 5 of BBC Home Service programme Country Magazine, broadcast at 13:15 on Sunday 28th June 1942. The song was sung by baritone Frederick Woodhouse, with music arranged by Francis Collinson, who may have been responsible for the rewritten words.
At the foot of yonder mountain where the river runs so clear I have orchards, fair green meadows, and good hops for Kentish beer There’s fine arching, fine poaching and there’s music everywhere At the foot of yonder mountain, where the river runs so clear.
If little Mary had been constant then she might have been my bride. But her mind it was more fickle than the rain upon the tide, So I took me another for to wed and give me cheer, At the foot of yonder mountain, where the river runs so clear.
As I walk about my meadows, as I labour in my fields, When I view the bounteous increase that our toil and patience yields, I do know I’ve been faithful to the land I hold so dear At the foot of yonder mountain. where the river runs so clear.
A similar version of the song – although in 4/4 rather than 6/8 – was noted by Francis Collinson from Clark Lonkhurst’s cousin Harry Barling. See The Thresher Man.
Known to family and friends as ‘Timmy’, Francis Jekyll (pronounced “Jee-call”) was the nephew of Gertrude Jekyll, the garden designer. After attending Eton and Oxford, in 1906 he took a job at the British Museum as Assistant in the Printed Books Department, working in the Printed Music Section. Between 1905 and 1911 he collected folk songs in Sussex, Herefordshire, Kent and Norfolk, and a number of Irish dance tunes from a fiddle-player at Kilmarnock in Scotland. The material he collected appears in the collections of Ella Leather, Lucy Broadwood, and his close friend George Butterworth – all available to view via the VWML Archive Catalogue.
He noted two songs from a Mrs Powell at Minster in Sheppey, in August 1910. She appears to have been a resident of the Sheppey Workhouse, where George Butterworth collected a further 3 songs in September of the same year.
Jekyll resigned his post at the British Museum in 1914. In a letter to Lewis Jones dated 3rd June 1999, Francis Jekyll’s great niece Mrs. Primrose Arnander wrote:
I am sure that there was an initial nervous breakdown which must have led to recurring clinical depression, an illness well understood, accepted and treated nowadays but little understood then…
In 1932 Gertrude Jekylll died and left Munstead Wood [her home in Surrey] and its contents to her sister-in-law, Agnes Jekyll, Francis Jekyll’s mother. In 1937 Agnes Jekyll died and Munstead Wood passed in toto to Francis Jekyll. He did not live there for very long, but tried to keep her nursery garden going and was still fulfilling orders up to the war time. Around 1939 Francis Jekyll moved into the Hut, a smaller house in the grounds, and Munstead Wood was let and finally sold. There was a sale of all the contents in 1948; this included books and chattels from Munstead House that had been left to Francis and also, in that sale, he must have sold all his music and books for the contents of the sale included books, scores and periodicals which showed an interest in music that would have been far beyond Gertrude Jekyll. Timmy lived on in the Hut with a housekeeper until his death in 1965. He was a sad and rather lonely figure at the end and was never really able to shake free of his debilitating depression. He attended concerts and festivals of music, but never returned to an active role in the field.1
He died in 1965, aged 82
quoted in Lewis Jones, Francis Jekyll (1882-1965) Forgotten Hero of the First Folk Song Revival, English Dance and Song, June 2000 ↩︎
Eyton Boulden. Photo used by permission of Mr. David Boulding.
The following appeared in the Kentish Express, 16th February 1973:
Church organist and farmer dies
ONE of Bonnington’s best known farmers, Mr. Eyton Boulden, died on Tuesday in Ashford Hospital. He was 80.
Mr. Boulden was organist at Bonnington Church for more than 20 years. Before that he was organist at Aldington Church for 25 years.
He lived at Pinn Farm, Bonnington where he built an organ in a barn so that he could play whenever he wanted to.
Mr. Boulden was one of those rare people who had the same home all his life. He took over the farm from his father and never left Bonnington.
A month later, on 16th March 1973, the same newspaper printed this obituary:
E. M. BOULDEN
AN APPRECIATION
BY THE recent death of Mr. Eyton Miles Boulden at the age of 80, of Pinn Farm, Bonnington, the village has lost not only its Lord of the Manor but a revered figure.
He was the youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. David Boulden and came of a family which had farmed in the area since the ISOOs. His only surviving brother George, now 89. still lives at Ruffins Hill, Aldington. his brother Bertie farmed at Paddlesworth and his sister Olive was a school teacher and headmistress at Newchurch.
Partly retiring in 1958, it was not until five or six years ago that he rented his farm to his nephews, but he still cared for a few sheep.
Beside farming his other great love was music. He played the organ at Aldington church for 25 years and at Bonnington for 20 years.
Another great delight was the Newchurch Musical Society.
He wrote many stories of the Marsh and researched into its history and into the history of nearby villages and into the history of the smugglers.
He was in great demand as a speaker and broadcast on radio on country matters.
Last year his documentary on the Cinque Ports was put to music and received great local acclaim.
A great reader and a great plant grower, he also painted still life pictures of charm.
Beside being Lord of the Manor he was also a Lord of the Level of Romney. It was owing to him that the village school was purchased for a village hall.
Eyton Miles Boulden was born on 30th Aug 1892, and baptised at St Rumbold’s, Bonnington, on 16th October. He was the son of David, a farmer, and Olive Grace née Foord. As stated in the newspaper report, he lived his entire life at Pinn Farm, Bonnington. He was actually the youngest in the family, having two older brothers and a sister.
In 1911 he was listed in the census as “Farmer’s son working on farm”, in 1921 as “Shepherd & Stock Man”. He married Edith Annie Hogben at St Rumbold’s on 18th May 1923; they had no children.
Francis Collinson obtained a single song from him on 17th June 1942. This was ‘Where the lambs they skip with pleasure’, a version of ‘The Streams of lovely Nancy’, and headed “Chas Boulding’s song”. The neatly written out sheet music does not seem to be in Collinson’s handwriting. It may in fact have been written out by Eyton Boulden in preparation for the upcoming Kent-themed episode of the BBC’s Country Magazine. The fact that in this copy the song is titled ‘Where de Lambs Dey Skip Wid Pleasure’ is probably an attempt to reproduce the old Kentish dialect where, according to A dictionary of the Kentish dialect and provincialisms in use in the County of Kent (1888)
The voiced th [dh] is invariably pronounced d; so that, this, then, though become dat, dis, den, dough [dat, dis, den, doa]
From an article in the Maidstone Telegraph for 24th July 1942 we learn that this song featured in the Kent-themed episode 5 of Country Magazine broadcast at 13:15 on Sunday 28th June 1942, on the BBC Home Service:
Uncle Charlie’s Song
In response to requests from many readers we publish below “Uncle Charlie’s Song”—”At the Foot of Yonder Mountain,” which was so beautifully rendered in the recent Kent Country programme by the B.B.C.
The song, which is at least 150 years old, was sung by Frederick Woodhouse, and the music was arranged by Francis Collinson.
The “Uncle Charlie” in question was almost certainly Charles Boulding (1836-1926), a farmer at Bonnington, referred to in his obituary as “Bonnington’s grand old man”. He and Eyton were first cousins once removed, and also related by marriage – his mother’s sister Agnes Foord married Charles’ brother Jesse. David Boulding of the Boulding Study website tells me that the family certainly associate the song with him, referring to it as “Uncle Cholly’s song”. He also relates that almost everyone in Bonnington seemed to be related – either a Boulding/Boulden or a Foord. Apparently Eyton used to say that if you were walking in the dark and someone passed you, and you could not see who it was, “Goodnight Aunty” or “Goodnight Uncle” would almost certainly be a suitable greeting.
We know from a report in the Kent Messenger, 3rd July 1942, that Eyton Boulden was one of the contributors to the Country Magazine broadcast on 28th June. A few years later a report on a Bilsington Womens’ Institute meeting in the Kentish Express, 23rd February 1945, mentions that “A talk by Eyton Boulden on his experiences at the B.B.C. when broadcasting for “Country Magazine” was much appreciated”. In fact he was to make another appearance on the programme, in April 1949 – the Kentish Express for 22nd April listed “Mr. Eyton Boulden, Bonnington farmer” as one of the participants in the previous week’s programme, which covered Romney Marsh.
The Bouldings were clearly a musical family. After the war Eyton bought a church organ and re-built it in a barn on his farm. The Kentish Express 17th February 1950 reported on this:
FARMER ACHIEVES LIFE AMBITION
Builds Church Organ In Barn
WHEN Mr. Eyton Boulden, a Bonnington farmer, was a boy he longed for a keyboard instrument.
As a makeshift he experimented by placing the blades of ivory-handled knives between the leaves of a very thick book, thus making them resemble the keyboard of a piano. Any necessary sounds were provided by young Eyton.
Years passed and a small American organ appeared in his home; later, he watched his sister playing a pipe organ in the village church. Eyton Boulden made up his mind that he, too, would one day play a pipe organ.
PRACTICES UNDER DIFFICULTIES
He had his first organ lesson at the age of 17 in Westwell Church, leaving home after finishing his farm work at 6 p.m., walking a mile and a half to Aldington and then going on a borrowed bicycle another eleven miles. He did not return until nearly 11 p.m. and had to be up again by four o’clock the next morning. In the summer farming left little time for organ lessons.
But practice made perfect, and for nine years he was organist at Bonnington Church, transferring to Aldington Church, from which he resigned as organist last year after over a quarter of a century.
Some years ago he was able to acquire a small practice organ which he kept at his home, Pinn Farm – the former Manor House.
IN AUCTIONEERS’ ANNOUNCEMENT
He continued to read all he could about organ building, realising that if he ever possessed his own instrument it would have to be largely home-built.
Four years ago in an auctioneer’s announcement he saw advertised, ” Three church organs.”
To-day, in a barn adjoining the house at Bonnington, there stands a fine church organ built by Mr. Boulden and a friend. After purchasing the organ, Mr. Boulden spent three days dismantling it and took it to his home in lorry-loads. The components, stored in various places throughout the farm included nearly 800 pipes of all sizes.
The organ which has a beautiful tone, is 100 years old.
Eyton Boulden died on 13th February 1973. He left the organ to his nephew Clive, who moved it to a barn about 400 yards away from its previous home.
