BACKGROUND INFORMATION Informant
Cornish Guardian, January 8th 1953
Mrs Elsie Millis, Crantock, summer 1972, May 1978
Mr Claude Parkin, Grampound, June 1 Mrs Elsie Millis remembers this dance from her Grandmother, Granny Clemens and Father, Edward Veale, all from the Newquay /Crantock area. Edward Veale was recalled as having done this dance in the Kitchen of their home at Pentire, Newquay, in the 1930s when he was aged 50.He commenced the dance from an upright position stepping around the shoe and remained vertical even when kicking his legs out from the crouching position. He described this as being like a Russian dance but it was not clear to the family that he actually thought it was. Elsie described him as being able to jump over a handkerchief held in both hands whilst doing the dance. The Cornish Guardian, January 8th 1953 carries an article in which Edward Veale (then aged 73) recounts a Troyl in the old Unity Cellars when he was 4. The musicians who had promised to play had not turned up and his mother (Granny Clemens) had been asked to bring along her concertina, young Edward had accompanied her to his first Troyl: "…There was a good supply of two gallon clome jars (2d a pint then) and were beginning to get a little merry by this time and one of the most laughable dances was the Lat a pouch an old Russian dance in which they used to fling out their feet in front of them and sing as they danced…" "…It was more a competition in endurance than a dance and they were continually falling over on their backs. And so the merry making went on until the early hours of the morning when the final test was returning from the loft across the narrow rickety gang plank to the plat." Claude Parkin of Grampound communicated fragments of a similar if not identical dance to us which he called the 'monkeys hornpipe'. He described men crouching on their haunches and kicking their legs out and banging their heels on the floor, much as per Edward Veale's dance. He went on to say that it was done on a barrel or table top and that the men supported themselves with their hands when down on their haunches and commenced sitting down (unlike Edward Veale`s dance). He last recalled seeing it in the thirties when an odd jobbing carpenter and mason called Joe Jago danced on the Kitchen table. Claude was unclear as to whether it was danced by two people but commented that the speed of the music varied by way of challenge to the dancer. Claude was 68 when we talked to him in 1977. Munro Guy, whom we met in Gorran Haven in May 1978 (he was aged 63), agreed that he knew of such a dance as that described above being done when he was a young lad. He was not able to add much except that it was done on a table or on a slate floor and that men would try doing it whilst eating a pasty, drinking a pint or chewing baccy at the same time! Both Claude Parkin and Munro Guy were quite clear about the footwear, however. Dancers would wear working hobnail boots or clogs. The clogs had leather uppers and inch thick wooden soles with a metal band nailed into the sole like a horseshoe. These were the type of clogs used by men working in the dryers of the clay industry. The Dialect Society's Glossary of Words used in Cornwall (1880) refers to Letterpouch as an old Cornish Dance and Lutterpouch or litterpouch as a slovenly person. Jago's Glossary of Cornish dialect refers to 'Letterpuch' a dirty untidy person, also a short hornpipe dance, but more with the heels than toes. The Old Cornwall Society Magazine Vol I has some notes on Letterpuch describing it as used in Cornish Dialect for a lazy slovenly person and coming from an old dance of the same name. Letter pouch was apparently known as leather te patch and lederdy spatch in the North of England. The note goes on to say that a feature of this dance was a rattling of heels on the floor and links it to Clapper de pouch or clutter de pouch and an old 'Cornish manuscript' reference to a clattering dance. Another reference in the Old Cornwall Society Magazine, this time in the 1931 36 compilation, mentions Lattapouch under the heading Crying the neck, "The neck was taken to the farm, plaited with ribbons and hung up in the kitchen…all had supper and fun with singing, fiddling and dancing. I heard some talk of dancing lilliputch, what style this was I never understood". A K Hamilton also mentions Lattapuch in 'Cornwall and its People' (1932/34), this time in connection with Geese dancing and the performance of mummers plays at Christmas, but gives no description. Lattapuch may well have Russian origins but there is no suggestion of this anywhere except in the way that Edward Veale described the step. Despite fairly exhaustive research we can find no reference to a Northcountry Dance called lattapuch by any spelling, which is surprising as this an area where folk dancing is well researched and documented. It may be that the Old Cornwall Society author in the 1920s had experience of leather patches or something similar as a dialect expression that is now difficult to trace. The authors must confess a special attachment to Lattapuch as researching it made us realise that there was more to traditional dancing in Cornwall than the Helston Furry. More than this it makes me feel part of living tradition as Elsie Millis, Edward Veale and Granny Clements are my aunt, grandfather and great grandmother respectively! DANCE NOTATIONS Formation
Dance for two people (originally men), each dancing around a shoe, old hat, beer glass (full) or similar object Steps
Shuffle forward and back with each foot and then stamp on same foot alternately using the ball of the foot to make a clattering sound. The rhythm thus being 'step right shuffle left step left shuffle right step right shuffle left' e.t.c. Bars (A)
1 4 First man dances around shoe 5 8 Second man copies this but around the hat (B)
9 12
First man goes down on his haunches and kicks his feet out alternately as if doing a Cossack dance. This is in effect the challenge which the second man must copy. 13 16
Second man accepts the challenge and copies The dance is repeated with the first man improvising new 'challenges' for bars 9 12. A collected, these included rotating on the spot whilst kicking feet out and also jumping over a handkerchief held in both hands but their are clearly other gymnastic feats that could be included such as dancing with a glass of beer or pasty in the hand. TUNE/SONG The suggested for this dance is Porthlystry, as it was the tune which was collected with the informant for the dance. The song as collected from Edward Veale is displayed below, and reflects the competitive nature of the dance itself: Lat a pouch, lat a pouch in an old hat
I can dance lat a pouch better than that
Lat a pouch, lat a pouch in an old shoe
I can dance lat a pouch better than you
