Gordon Brown & Gillian Duffy - Lo! The Bird is Fallen

THE SCOTS IN LANCASHIRE

Gordon Brown's demise at hands of a lovable Lancashire Lass pensioner stirs memories of similarly unfortunate clashes with the Scots.

In the 1715 and 1745 Jacobite Rebellions, Lancashire was split between the 'Blacks' (the Liberal Whigs) and the 'Jacks' (the white emblem Tories - who were allied with the Scots).

As late as 1747, there was still a bit of bother going on now and again in Rochdale between rival gangs of lads under the Blacks and Jacks banners.

It all tended to end badly.

Following the Battle of Preston in 1715, the Lancashire Lads who had sided with the Jacobites were given an especially hard time in terms of executions and transportation to the West Indies - reflecting the probability that a special deal had been cut with the Scots to persuade the Highlanders to surrender.

In the main though, Lancashire stood firm with the rest of England. And the exploits of local sharp-shooter Edward Jolly in the Battle of Preston were commemorated in a local doggerel ballad that I have refashioned for the current occasion.

LO! THE BIRD IS FALLEN

Three cheers for Gillian Duffy
Who fought a doughty fight
When the rabble from Whitehall
She drove in headlong flight.

Going for bread and milk
She stumbled on a Scot
Who jacked her up
With smarming on the spot

He’d come with party brigands
To loot with dirk and kilt
Fattening his expenses
With England’s largesse spilt

She asked about the debt
And schools, and immigration’s ills
From east, and north the Border -
With Scottish votes on English bills

Spying on this one-eyed Jack
Haughty, angry, distant
The media eavesdropped
On him and his assistant.

He turned and told his henchman
‘She thinks! - She isn’t one of mine
This grandma is a bigot
Find me Jacks who toe the line’.

He said it was heat of moment
He was sort of caught off guard
Pressure of the campaign
And being humble is so hard

With pride she kept peace
Against whose cannonade
No microphone, no rebel
Might raise a barricade.

In honour of this noble deed
Her name through all the county
Was seen a heroine’s name
Deserving Rochdale’s bounty.

Three cheers for Gillian Duffy
Who fought a doughty fight
When the rabble from Whitehall
She drove in headlong flight.

Two salvoes true and mighty
Rang with this grandma’s fun
And lo! “The bird is fallen”
Raised cheers from everyone.

And so it was that famous day
That Gillian was called brave
For many a English voter’s life
Her gallantry did save.

Internet search on the Kenyon Family rings some bells

BOARSHAW FARM

I am constantly intrigued and amazed at the power of the Internet.

After writing about my Kenyon family, I decided to see whether there was anything online about Boarshaw Farm – which was being farmed by my great, great, great grandfather George Kenyon in 1841.

Amazingly, I came up with a picture of some pack-horse bells that may well have belonged to George and his family. George’s son Oliver (my ancestor) was a Provisioner or Wholesale Trader (and later Grocer and Innkeeper), so he probably ran the packhorse side of the family business.

The pack-horse bells pictured above are on display in the Museum’s permanent exhibition at Touchstones Rochdale. The bells came from Boarshaw farm in Middleton, where they were used as sled bells.

Originally they would have been worn by the leading pack-horse and would have been in use between 1812 and 1890. According to the curator of the Bell Foundry Museum, these types of bells were known as ‘rumbler bells.’

I can't find a photograph of the farm at present on the Internet though I can see it in Satellite View on GoogleEarth. The farm hosts the 'Kenyon Farm Riding Centre' ("yard not the tidiest but a good range of horses").

There is a picture available though of a local sheep (see above).

BACKGROUND

The Arts & Heritage Service Museum Team manages the award-winning Museum at Touchstones Rochdale in addition to a number of outreach displays around the Borough of Rochdale.

As well as managing the permanent museum display at Touchstones Rochdale, the Museum Team also produces regular exhibitions in the Heritage Gallery at the Centre.

In addition there are local ‘Community Curate’ centres like the one in Middleton (Link4Life, Middleton Curators, Heritage Lottery Fund, Renaissance North West):

The Community Curators at Middleton is a two-year arts and heritage project funded by Link4Life, The Heritage Lottery Fund and Renaissance North West. The project will enable six Middleton community organisations to curate and display an exhibition of their choosing from the Borough’s arts and heritage collections in a purpose-built museum display case installed within the new Middleton Arena.

There are currently around 30-40 paintings in the arts and heritage collection that relate directly to the township of Middleton; either paintings by Middleton artists or of scenes of the local area. These include works by Frederick William Jackson, James William Booth and Edgar Wood. These works will form the centre point and inspiration for the project.

Community groups will be enabled to explore the themes of the paintings, their social context, subject matter, scenes and meanings with the support and assistance of specialist gallery, museum, local studies and education staff/ workshop facilitators. Through training and introduction sessions, participants will access objects and archives in the collections to be used in their exhibition.

This first display has been curated by the community group ‘Hollin Link’ which comprises of older residents from the Hollin Estate, Middleton.

Arts & Heritage Service staff are working with the people of Middleton encouraging them to explore, celebrate and learn about their rich and fascinating heritage.