Tune Req: Pyecombe Crook

Subject: Tune Req: Pyecombe Crook
From: GUEST,Xithi
Date: 24 Sep 18 - 12:12 PM

Hi all,

According to the Wikipedia article for the Pycombe Crook (a type of shepherd's crook), the crook itself is immortalised in song, with the following lyrics:

Hefty of arm he hammered it out,
in clangour of forge and flame of fire;
Red it rolled on the anvil's bosom,
Bent and bowed to the smith's desire;
He laughed as he lifted it, laughed and sang
The song that is older than ink or pen:

"O well I know,
Who knows no book,
Where'er you go
Is never a crook,
Can better the crooks of the Pyecombe forge,
The crooks of the Pyecombe men."

Does anybody know the tune?
Can't find it anywhere.
Thanks

Max

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pyecombe Crook
From: Vic Smith
Date: 25 Sep 18 - 09:02 AM

A friend of mine, the late Sean Black was the last man to work the Pyecombe forge. It closed down after his death around 1980.
Are you sure that it is a song? Those words read more like a poem than song lyrics.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pyecombe Crook
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 25 Sep 18 - 04:22 PM

Here's the Wiki
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyecombe_hook 

And here's the rest from the newspaper\magazine.
https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0001920/19250725/258/0023

Worthing Herald
Saturday 25th July 1925 p3

THE PYECOMBE CROOK - C. S. Holder

Hefty of arm he hammered it out,
in clangour of forge and flame of fire;
Red it rolled on the anvil's bosom,
Bent and bowed to the smith's desire;
He laughed as he lifted it, laughed and sang
The song that is older than ink or pen:--

"O well I know,
Who knows no book,
Where'er you go
Is never a crook,
Can better the crooks of the Pyecombe forge,
The crooks of the Pyecombe men."


Lone on the hill the old shepherd stands,
In mist of the sea and rising morn;
Feeds his flock on the thymy Downland;
Bears his crook as a sceptre born.
He laughs as he handles it, laughs and sings,
The song that is older than ink or pen : --

"O well I chose,
When this I took,
The world all knows,
There's never a crook
Can better the crooks of the Pyecombe forge,
The crooks of the Pyecombe men."


White from the weald, the Downlands rise,
In wave upon wave by combe and dean,
White the flocks on the hills all feeding,
Follow the crook to pastures green.
Then laugh as you tell of it, laugh and sing,
The song that is older than ink or pen :--

"The folds all know
That seaward look
Where'er you go
There's never a crook
Can better the crooks of the Pyecombe forge,
The crooks of the Pyecombe men."

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Pyecombe Crook
From: GUEST,Xithi
Date: 26 Sep 18 - 10:13 AM

Vic, that's fascinating - do you think his family might know the tune? If there is a tune, I mean.