Cock In Britches / The Weedin’ Paddle

Played at the Admiral Benbow Cornish Session

 

See Cornish Session Tunes Project

The Dance:

 

The Song

Notes

Learned from Mrs Alberta Rowse, Treesmill near Par in 1983.

The contact for Mrs Rowse was actually found thanks to Daphne Du Maurier. Her then nurse Terry Jones danced in the early days of ‘Cam Kernewek’. Terry mention the danc- ing to Mrs Du Maurier, who explained that an acquaintance of hers, Alberta Rowse, re- membered some dancing from the Treesmill area.

Merv and Alison Davey followed this lead,and met Mrs Rowse in December 1983 when she was 92. Mrs Rowse had lived in the area all of her life. She explained that although the ‘Cock in Britches’ dance was often performed on festive occasions, it was essentially associated with the Goldheys (Harvest Festival) and the ceremony of ‘Crying the Neck’.

‘Crying the Neck’ is a Cornish custom where, when the last crop of corn has been har- vested, the harvester would cry ‘I ave’m, I ave’m, I ave’m’, which would be answered by ‘what ave ee, what ave ee, what ave ee?’, and the harvester would cry ‘a neck, a neck, a neck’. The neck was a corn dolly made from the last of the corn to be har- vested. It was kept until the following year as a fertility symbol to encourage the next year’s crops.

Mrs Rowse explained that the name ‘Cock in Britches’ alludes to the fact that if you do not keep the weeds down they will handicap the corn, much as a winning fighting cock might be handicapped by wearing a special hobble to even the odds.

It is a solo dance for ladies and Mrs Rowse explained that very full skirts were worn to emphasise the movement of the dance. Dancers usually carried a weeding paddle for the dance although Mrs Rowse described various farm implements as being used. Most Cornish dancers now use a broom stick as an alternative.

The dance illustrates the words of the song that describes the sowing and harvesting cycle of corn. The important thing is to remember that three distinct actions are used in the dance one, in each verse:

• The first verse symbolises sowing of the corn using a seed lip, and the raking of the corn.
• The second verse symbolises cutting the corn using a scythe.
• The final verse symbolises threshing the corn with a flail.

Arthur Biddick, who taught Cornish dance group “Cam Kernewek” tunes and dances from the North Cornwall area also remembered this dance.

( Jowdy Davey, “Catch Up Your Heels”,  An Daras Folk Arts Project 2005)

 

See Cornish Session Tunes Project

For more about Cornish Session Tunes

Racca: Cornish Tunes for Cornish Sessions Project 1995-97

Fooch 1 & 2 Favourite Cornish Session and Dance Tunes – Neil Davey

Prys Ton: Cornish Session Tunes – An Daras Folk Arts Project

Kesson -Kyt’s Tunery

Cornish Trad -Discovering Cornish Traditional Music