Byker Hill and Walker Shore by David Black

Byker Hill and Walker Shore
Music and video by David Black
The song dates from the late 18th century. The music for this video was recorded in 2010, and released on Go Canny records.
The footage of the Sword-Dancers of Winlaton, County Durham is from a Pathe newsreel of 1926. The pitmen were carrying on a centuries old folk tradition, going back to beginnings of coal-mining in the area in the 15th century.
The pitmen veteran featured in the film would have been born in the 1850s and ‘60s. Their grandparents would have been around when the Winlaton iron foundaries were still working and the Chartists were active:
‘Winlaton was a hotbed of insurrectionary plotting and secret manufacture of weapons such as pikes, knives, caltrops (spikey metal contraptions for disabling horses’ hooves), and even cannon and grenades. Winlaton also had a lively branch of Female Chartists.’
( ‘1839: The Chartist Insurrection’ , Black and Ford, Unkant:2012).
90 years on, in 1926, with the General Strike looming, the iron works were long gone and Winlaton had become a coal-mining township. Now, 90 years later, Winlaton is a commuter village.

[@susandrydenhenderson6234]

That footage is fantastic. I could watch for hours.

[@deborahberger5816]

I have so much respect and admiration for these men! I only wish they had shown the whole dance, which gets quite physical, and exciting later on.

[@kjburkable]

this is a mighty song and video.Respect for these men.

[@99dowdy]

“The dancers wear white shirts, sparsely decorated back and front with ribbons, dark trousers and belt, and have nothing on their heads. Each man carries a rapper of the usual type... The blade from hilt to tip is nineteen inches in length... The Betty, a man-woman, wears a bonnet and a dress of coloured stuff, and carries a rapper. Holding her sword horizontally above her head, harlequin-fashion, she dances up and down down outside the dancers, throughout the performance, encouraging them from time to time with wild and uncouth cries.” (Cecil Sharp, The Sword Dances of Northern England, London: Novello, 1913; volume 3).

[@histevispanic]

What a precious video of rapper sword dancing!

[@ASLEFshrugged]

My mate DR, our band and me used to do a punk version of this in the late 70s

[@1220b]

The fella at the end dress as a women tells us a great deal about our English culture Times past

[@Wotsitorlabart]

It tells us what, exactly?

[@1220b]

@Wotsitorlabart Cross dressing for different reasons has always be a cultural tradition in the Britain. For centuries the European mainland have acknowledged this as a British thing.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

​@@1220b But not unique to Britain. EC Cawte in his book 'Ritual Animal Disguise' notes that across Europe various types of hobby-horses and similar 'animals' are accompanied by a 'shemale' - 'from Iceland to Spain and from Ireland to Romania'. And he quotes an early church homily from about 400AD in which both animal disguise and 'men turned into women' are condemned.

[@1220b]

@Wotsitorlabart not unique to britain, but definitely a strong hold of this tradition. Norse, Anglo-Saxon it held strong religious connections of shape shifting. Either to animal or female form. It's interesting to see it in Shakespeare and Later panto. The French called it the British kink ! It's most definitely a British cultural tradition in the sense many of our comedy stars would cross dress and appeal to a wide audience. My local rugby team quite often head out on a pub crawl dressed to the Nines. I can imagine Vikings in york doing similar. The power of the female form when worn by a 6.3 man age old..

[@atometer1718]

Excellent work Dave

[@stevejpreston]

Great Dave, I really enjoyed it.

[@benwatson8244]

Heavy

[@kincel]

Cushty