The Waggoner, traditional Tyneside song

The Waggoner is a a traditional Tyneside ballad of the Great Northern Coalfield from the days of horse-drawn waggonways which carried coal from the colliery to staiths on the River Tyne. Songs like these were originally passed down by oral repetition and are thus subject to many changes over the course of time.

The version set down by in 1812 by John Bell, a Gateshead land surveyor, in his Rhymes of Northern Bards is shown below:

Rhymes of Northern Bards by John Bell (1812).

The original version in the Bell/White song manuscript collection held at the Newcastle University is quite different and can be seen on the Folk Archive Resource of the North East (FARNE). This website describes it as a dandling song or lullaby; one sung while holding a baby/toddler and gently bouncing them up and down to amuse them.

It was later also included in Thomas Allan's collection, Tyneside Songs, published in 1862 and following editions.

The song has been notably recorded by former miner, Johnny Handle, the singer and songwriter called "Missionary of the Geordie speaking peoples" by Mike Harding. The track is included on the album Along The Coaly Tyne of his folk group, The High Level Ranters.

There is an arrangement by the Whisky Priests here.

An unpublished tune book compiled by John Bell apparently identifies the melody of The Waggoner (there called Down the Waggon Way) as The wind that blew the barley down.

Later versions may have been somewhat extended for example with the addition of verses:

My lad's a canny lad
He works down the pit.
He never comes to see me
Unless he wants a bit.

With his silver in his hand
And with love in his e'e
I see my canny lad
A-coming to me.

Unless he wants a bit, of course, presumably refers to a cheese butty!

sair pock brocken (marked by small-pox or chicken-pox, having a scarred or pitted skin) also seemed to have been changed into the more romantic sounding sair frowsy freckled (but that's only because I didn't know that frowsy means unkempt or untidy).

For those of us not native Geordie speakers there are a few useful aids for translation online. The use of the word canny in the song is discussed here.

Detail of the waggoner from The Coal Waggon (c1870). Northumberland Archives Ref. ZMD 78/14.

One of the (unproven) explanations for the term Geordie itself, also has a railway connection, from the use by local miners of Geordie safety lamps, designed by George Stephenson.

The horse was the most expensive item on the early waggonways. It was expensive to buy, and cost more in feed than the wages of the waggoner. Presumably the poke full of hay referred to in the song would be for the horse. Many of the waggonways were designed to allow the full waggons to descend under gravity and the waggoner would control the speed by sitting on a brake lever which operated on one of the rear wheels, the convoy.

Illustration from the Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg Memorial Website collection.

The horse would often be tied behind as an additional safety measure, for use on flat sections of the line, and to pull the empty waggons back uphill to the colliery. Injuries were probably common and makes you wonder if the waggoner's eye in the song had been damaged in some kind of runaway accident.

The waggoners did appear to be snappy dressers in their uniform waistcoats and buckled boots even if black from coal. Perhaps they copied the keelmen that they would meet at the river staiths.

Les Turnbull in Railways before George Stephenson (2012) provides more information about the waggoners.

There were two categories: those that provided their own horse and those that used the company's horses. They would often be tenants from neighbouring estates, using the job seasonally to supplement their income.

A Wylam Colliery bond describes how Christopher Blackett employed his drivers in 1804. Between March and October the men were paid 6d for leading a chaldron waggon (53cwt) to Lemington and unloading the coal at the staiths. In the winter months, an additional 1d was paid. The waggonway was 5 miles long and men were expected to make 3 return trips a day (30 miles) within a 12 hour shift.

They would not normally be paid for the return journey unless carrying a cargo (such as wood) for which they were paid 3d.

In total they could expect to earn about £20 a year which was a reasonable wage at the time. Heavy fines were imposed for riding on the full waggons and for hauling empty waggons on the Main Way when a separate Bye Way was provided specifically for that purpose. The latter would often be maintained at a lower specification (e.g. wood instead of iron plate rails) as wear would be less.

Horses were a considerable expense, both to buy and keep (£50 per year was recorded in 1820). Oxen were cheaper and slower, but were used at Wylam.