Saturday 25 February 2012

Ralph Beddoes' Ground

Poaching was once a life or death matter in the English countryside - without taking game from the big estates, be it pheasant, deer, trout or anything else they could lay their hands on, agricultural labourers and their families could go very hungry during the winter months. But if you got caught in the act you could hang for your crime. Poaching still goes on, sometimes with highly organised and ruthless gangs, but more often it's just a local making use of his knowledge of his home area.


The following song, written long ago, was loosely based on a conversation with such an individual in a pub. I've no idea where I got the name Ralph Beddoes from, but it immediately felt right. I'm sure I remember that it wasn't chosen just to rhyme with "meadows". The expression "ran like longdogs" came from my Irish aunt, Sugie, and sparked the song into life.


Ralph Beddoes' Ground

As we went out one night
When the moon was shining bright
There was frost all on the branches and a stillness in the air,
We searched Ralph Beddoes' ground
The woods and fields all round
For to see what game there might be found where only poachers dare.
So here's to old Ralph Beddoes
Let his health go round
The woods and ditches, fields and meadows
On Ralph Beddoes ground.

'Twas out near Highfield Wood
And the getting it was good
When here comes Beddoes' keeper a-comin' 'cross the hill
We did not intend to stay
For to pass the time of day
But instead we ran like longdogs coming homewards with the kill.
So here's to old Ralph Beddoes
Let his health go round
The woods and ditches, fields and meadows
On Ralph Beddoes ground.

While we've got traps and snares
We'll have rabbits, we'll have hares
And while we've got guns and cartridges there's pheasants and there's partridges,
Though Beddoes makes a fuss
And the keeper likes to cuss
Still the local bobby* sleeps quite soundly he'll not bother us.
So here's to old Ralph Beddoes
Let his health go round
The woods and ditches, fields and meadows
On Ralph Beddoes ground.

Here's a rabbit for a stew
And partridge or two,
Here's a hare that I shall give to a policeman friend of mine,
And some pheasant I can sell
To the Golden Lion hotel
Where Ralph Beddoes takes his wife to lunch and thinks it very fine!
So here's to old Ralph Beddoes
Let his health go round
The woods and ditches, fields and meadows
On Ralph Beddoes ground.

* bobby - a policeman, named from the politician Robert Peel
who founded the modern police force.



Take care.

12 comments:

  1. I've been away this week so I'm just catching up with your posts - what a delight. Your photos are wonderful, your writing so evocative and informative. A real treat, thanks.

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  2. My, if they would hang you for poaching what's left for a murder?

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  3. Such a mystical, enchanting scene silhouetted with the moon high; what time would you have taken that photo I wonder?

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  4. John, hurrah! Great folk song and well-matched photographs.

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  5. Interesting one John as coming from Lincolnshire the only song I know is in face 'The Lincolnshire poacher'. One of my mother's brothers was a well-known poacher in the fens. When he died, all the local landowners came to his funeral! Not sure why.

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  6. A great piece of writing :)

    Glad you enjoed your 'visit' to Ramshaw Rocks too

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  7. In the early days of settlement in Quebec, the land was divided up into Seigneuries, large estates worked by poor labourers for the Seigneurs. However, the poor were always able to hunt and fish, I suppose because there was such an abundance of wildlife. It must have been very hard for the poor in England to have to choose between hungry children and the threat of hanging.

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  8. During the 1930 Depression years in rural British Columbia hunting and fishing were an essential part of survival. You had to have a licence, but thank goodness there was no chance of being hung... lovely photos.

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  9. Wonderful words and rhyme John........as children we would often venture onto other nearby farming properties to pick mushrooms or garden peas ...we never thought ant thing about it....... Imagine being hung for such a crime ! Or was it mainly the taking of livestock that warranted the title of poacher?

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  10. Great image of a dark wood to accompany your song, John. Thanks for glossing "bobby" for us Americans; I certainly knew the term as a "policeman," but didn't know the origin.

    Poaching goes on in my preserve all the time. My staff frequently comes across deer that have been shot from the road. Usually, the does are just left in place, but antlered bucks are often "capped" for their racks--like rhinos in Africa killed solely for their horns.

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  11. Fantastic imagery to go along with your post John!

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  12. Thanks for all your comments. The landowners were of the opinion that everything on their land was theirs, including wild animals, a state of affairs which was backed up by the law. Since the landowners were often the local magistrates as well, they could do as they liked.

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