Annotation:Vandalls of Hammerwich (1)

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VANDALLS OF HAMMERWICH [1]. English, Morris Dance Tune (2/4 time). G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). ABBCC [Raven]: ABB (x4), AABB [Bacon, Mallinson]. The melody is used for a stick dance, collected from the village of Lichfield, Staffordshire, in England's Cotswolds. Hammerwich, is a nearby village, situated on a hill about three miles south-west of Lichfield once served by both canal and railway. The name ‘Hammerwich’ means a place by a hill from the Anglo-Saxon words ‘wic’ meaning ‘place’ and hammer meaning ‘hill’ [1] In the Domesday Book of 1086 it was called Humeruuich.

Local lore gives that the dance refers to an incident in the early middle Ages when some of the Hammerwich inhabitants set fire to woods in Cannock Forest, an event mentioned i the Staffordshire Pleas of the Forest (14th, Jan., 1262): "...a certain heath was burnt by the vills of Hamerwich, to the injury of the King's game..." From this, a kind of morris “legend” has been created [2].

Source for notated version: "Collected form Mr. L. Parkes, leader of the British Legion Band, Lichfield; a member of the city band for 30 years" [Raven].

Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 234. Mallinson (Mally’s Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, vol. 2; No. 4, p. 4. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 90.

Recorded sources: Carthage CGLP 4406, Hutchings et al - "Morris On" (1983/1972).



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