How glad I am to find some of this information on the forum! My father's mother died when he was a baby, and we had little information about her, except that her maiden name was Mossom, she was from England, and she was possibly an indentured servant before she married my grandfather. We had her mother's name, Mary Westall, and finally my brother tracked down the birth certificate in Yorkshire, Jane Mossom born at Normanby. Mossom does not seem to be a very common name, and I was intrigued by this song title when I found it on the folktrax website, part of a collection of English songs. The track is recorded by Shirley Collins, with the same notes that Susanne posted: "THE BANKS OF THE MOSSOM SHIRLEY COLLINS (rec. London 1974) This charming, albeit a little confused, song comes from Shirley's native Sussex. Jim Swain of Angmering learnt it from a shepherd near Felpham. From the late 1950' s Shirley has been in the full flow of the folk song movement and her records are much sought after. Sadly she is no longer singing regularly. "

I have not heard the song. Can anyone give us an audio file link? I'll repeat Wolfgang's question about where the Mossom is located. Anyone have an online map they can link to? I am intrigued.

Alice