Canny Wylam

Wylam road sign. Photo by A Curtis (2009).

Contacts made through the website are always appreciated, often informing me of things I don't know, or setting me off on a new train of thought. A lady called Lynne Petrie contacted me recently through a mutual friend in Wylam regarding the blog I'd written about Isaac Jackson, made after the talk by Jim Rees for this year's Puffing Billy Festival.

She asked if I knew the Geordie folk song, 'Canny Wylam', which mentions Jackson and other notable, and not so notable, worthies from our neighboring village. After a mention of George Stephenson, the verse about Jackson goes:

Now there's Jackson, his owld mate, was another up te date,
And for that man , aa'll try te fix a line,
Well aall admit he's clever, made a clock te gan for ever,
Built in a wall at Wylam, Canny Wylam on the Tyne.

As told in the previous blog, Isaac Jackson was a pitman from Wylam who had a talent for model making, invention and, in particular, making clocks. He famously made a long-case clock for Robert Stephenson's locomotive works in Newcastle. It still keeps time in the National Railway Museum in York. Does the verse about the clock which goes for ever built in a wall in Wylam, refer to this clock or another? Is the wall inside or on the outside of a building?

Apart from the one on the church, the only outside clock I can think of locally is one on the south gable wall of the former stables building of Holeyn Hall, situated just north of Wylam village, just east of the road that descends the steep hill to the village. Could this clock have been created by Jackson?

Old parkland south of Holeyn Hall, Wylam. Photo by A Curtis (2009).

Holeyn Hall, Wylam. Photo by A Curtis (2009).

Is it just coincidence that the very next verse in the song is about Charles Parsons, the Tyneside engineer best known for his invention of the steam turbine? Parsons had Holeyn Hall built in 1850. Isaac Jackson died in 1861 so he could easily have made a clock for Parsons' new building.

I can find no photos of the clock online and although the hall and its out-buildings to the west are listed buildings, there is no description of the clock. The former stables was converted some years since into private homes. Indeed, one is named, 'Clock House'.

The song, 'Canny Wylam' was unknown to me but I tracked it down easily enough on Amazon on an album of the same name by The Northumbria Anthology, released in 2002. The artists are Johnny Handle of High Level Ranters fame, and Brian Watson.

'Canny Wylam' Around Blaydon & Prudhoe - The Northumbria Anthology

Of great surprise to me was finding on the same album the song, 'Heddon on the Wall' which I had recently 'discovered' and put on the blog here. The tune is thankfully not Blaydon Races as we had speculated, and is sung by Bill Robinson who has a much finer voice than me. Although cut down to just the first three verses, it makes a fine anthem for the village. I now have evidence that it actually has at least one more verse than the four on the page that the Cornell University librarian originally sent me.

If I'm not too careful there will be more about folk songs on this blog than other elements of our history. Late Christmas present anyone?

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Update - 28th March 2014
Song lyrics and background information kindly sent by Lynne Petrie, compiled with the help of her Wylam friends: Philip, Denis, David, Ron, and Marilyn.

Song lyrics

CANNY WYLAM

Aall sing te ye a line, aboot Wylam on the Tyne,
Just te take yer memories back, by the days of old lang syne,
Well there's George Stephenson for inst'
Well the world's run on wheels since,
And he hailed from Wylam, Canny Wylam on the Tyne.

Now there's Jackson, his owld mate,was another up te date,
And for that man, aa'll try te fix a line,
Well aall admit he's clever, made a clock te gan for ever,
Built in a wall at Wylam, Canny Wylam on the Tyne.

Now there's Parson at the Haal, he's a clivvor lad an' aall,
They reckon he invented the turbine,
He built a ship aall reet, it would sail both day and neet,
And he hailed from Wylam, Canny Wylam on the Tyne.

Now there's Harry Wilkinson, he hewed many a ton,
They say that he's the best in Stansley mine,
But the size of Harry's picks, it would take nigh five or six,
To carry them from Wylam, Canny Wylam on the Tyne.

There's a fellow like a lord, called old Buck Rutherford,
Many's the time I've seen him cross the line,
He'll gan intae the Bull, and cram himsel' chock full,
And drink aal the beer in Wylam, Canny Wylam on the Tyne.

Now Aave sung te ye this line aboot Wylam on the Tyne,
And of the folks that lived there in the days of owld lang syne,
Many years have passed since then,
Yet we still sing of these great men,
Who hailed from Canny Wylam, Canny Wylam on the Tyne.

Background to CANNY WYLAM

Sung to the tune ’Nelly Gray’ used for 'Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinny'.  Claims to have been written by Benjamin Hanby (1883-1867) in Ohio, America in 1856, but also used for Liverpudlian 'Maggie May', originating in 1830.  

Lyric by Prudhoe born Albert Gibbons (1891-1937).  In the trenches in WW1 Gibbons wrote poems like 'The Place where the Prudhoe Lad was Born', and 'A Canny Lad from Prudhoe' which were printed on to cards and sold for one old penny each to buy cigarettes and other necessities for comforts for the local lads.  The exact date of Canny Wylam is unknown.

George Stephenson (1781-1848), railway pioneer and engineer, born High Street House, Wylam.

Isaac Jackson (1796-1862) left school at 7, but became self taught and highly skilled engineer, known particularly for clock making - one of his clocks is in the National Railway Museum in York. Buried in Ovingham churchyard.  Nothing known at the moment about ’the clock te gan forever, built in a wall at Wylam’, but still looking.

(Sir) Charles Parsons (1854-1931), engineer who designed the high speed turbine (and tried out the model on the pond at his home, Holeyn Hall).

Harry [Henry] Wilkinson (1868-1947), on 1901 census coal miner/hewer, living in Ingham Row, Wylam.  By 1911, he was the landlord of The Fox and Hounds. Stansley  mine was part of West Wylam Pit, the biggest colliery in the area, maintaining over 900 employees until the beginning of WW2.  It closed in 1960 and was to the west of the road from Hagg Bank to West Wylam.

Buck Rutherford (1873-1967). Probably Abel Rutherford, who in the 1901 census lived at Bogg Cottages, New Wylam in Prudhoe Castle (a neighbouring parish) so would have to ‘cross the line’ to get to The Bull. On the 1911 census, he was a coal mine (hewer), living at 2 Burgoyne Terrace, Wylam - much more convenient for The Bull!