Preston Markets Monday 01 May 2023 to Saturday 15 July 2023

Here at Preston Markets we are displaying 16 reproductions of ballad sheets printed in Preston by John Harkness. The display contains 30 songs which are rare survivors as they were printed on fragile paper, and give us a fascinating glimpse into street culture in Preston more than 150 years ago. Harkness began printing the ballads in around 1842 and carried on until at least 1896. He was based in a number of premises in Preston including 8 Water Street (now Manchester Road) and 121 Church Street. The Ballads were published in Preston but also sent for sale in places like Carlisle, Liverpool and London.

The whole Harkness collection is made up of more than 1000 Victorian street ballads, all printed in Preston. At the time, these poems and songs were a cheap way to spread information and provide amusement to the people of Preston and further afield. They cover a wide range of subjects including comic tales, love stories, tragedies, brief histories and songs about Preston. The ballads mention some Preston places such as the gaol, Preston Guild and Preston Races. This exhibition that returns the songs to the streets has been curated by second year UCLan students doing a Community History module.

There will also be a Preston Street Songs Performance by Jennifer Reid on 10 June at Preston Markets from 2pm.


According to Dave Moran on the goldilox website; http://www.goldilox.co.uk/engfolk/frames/nicjones4.htm

"Nic [Jones] and I and mandolin/guitar player Nigel Patterson made up the Halliard. We were looking to develop some new music and we took the advice of song-writer Leslie Shepard. We decided to add tunes to Broadsides that we discovered, uncovered or collected – we checked out the Harkness Collection at Preston and the collections in Manchester etc.

We also used Ashton's Street Ballads and Victorian Street Ballads (Henderson) and on a couple of occasions we dipped into Thomas D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy; that is where we found Mad Maudlin (Tom of Bedlam or the Boys of Bedlam).

Nic and I wrote all the tunes together, usually sitting in the front of the Mini and singing and working out tunes as we drove – as the mandolin was the smallest instrument and Nigel [Patterson] was in the back, he always played the tunes. 'Jones and Moran' wrote a heap of songs like this including Lancashire Lads, Going for a Soldier Jenny, Miles Weatherhill, Calico Printer's Clerk etc.

Songs found by The Halliard in the Harkness Collection include The Calico Printer's Clerk and The Warlike Lads of Russia.