DESCRIPTION:
http://www.stuartforester.com Swarthfell Rocks performed by Stuart Forester. Traditional English folk song from the Westmorland/Cumbria area about fox hunting. This is an accompanied take on the version by fellow Hull-ites The Watersons. Like many traditional folk songs this has a long history and has been sung in various parts of Britain since the 1600's under different names.


It were early one morning when I rose from me bed
I've heard hark, hark away me boys so clearly
So I drew me a little nearer, for to see who was there
That were going out fox hunting so early

There were nine gentlemen and the Duke of Buckingham
And they each of them set out upon thier trial
To see the hounds run in the north, where they have great fame and worth
And the most of them set out with no denial

It were at Swarthfell Rocks, where we laid on our hounds
Not thinking a fox there being likely
Now an huntsman long I've been but the likes I've never seen
We unkenneled bold Reynard so early

Henry Wilkinson cried "Hark, hark away me boys"
Joe Clark, our foot-sportsman, soon heard him
Richard Mountsy cried "Oddzounds, you mun' couple up your hounds
For this day you never will come near him"

They come through Howtown moor, being late in the hour
It were sometimes one hound and sometimes t'other
It were hard to be expressed which of them ran him the best
For they each ran abreast close together

There were Tippler and Towler and Fair Maid and Drolider
There were Countess and Blossom and Fury
There were several other hounds ran close within his bounds
But these were the hounds that ran near him

They come through Hallin Hag, their course being strong
I'm sure there was little ease in it
But our hounds they ran him well and they turned him in again
And he took Sharrow Woods for his cover

Then Reynard being weary and seeking for shelter
His way was to take the straight over
But our hounds they ran amain and they laid him in again
And there they destroyed him for ever

Oh Lilter followed him, and never more was seen
Which caused our great sportsmen to murmer
That a finer little hound never ran above the ground
He was the bonniest little hound in the number

So now to conclude, and to finish me song
This gallant fox hunt it is all over
It's the forty-second fox that's been slain on Swarthfell Rocks
So that puts an end to me story