Open downloadable pdf file:Tom_Bawcocks_Eve
Dialect Terms:
Morgy – Dog Fish
Braa (braav) – very / a lot of
Lances – Sand Eels
Scad – Horse Mackerel
Star Gazey Pie – Fish Pie with heads thrusting out through the pastry.
Fermaads – a pilchard, sometimes but not always smoked or cured.
Oozle – throat
Clunk – to swallow
Tom Bawcock’s Eve is held in Moushole on 23rd December. Robert Morton Nance learned a number of different stories about the origins Tom Bawcock’s eve from the fisherfolk of the village in the early 20th Century. In some stories “Tom Bawcock” rescued the village from starvation by going out fishing in a dangerous storm, in others he broke with convention by fishing on this traditional feast day and received his due deserts with a poor catch of a motley fish. Morton Nance was inspired to write a few verses about Tom Bawcock and in The Cornish Song Book (1929) Ralph Dunstan set this to a traditional Cornish Tea Treat wedding march. It has since become an established tradition to sing this as Star Gazey Pie is served in Mousehole on 23rd Dec and was brought to a wide audience in the recordings of poplar Cornish singer, Brenda Wootton. The version given here is from the 2003 An Daras Cornish Folk Arts Project “Sengen Fiddee”.