Bodmin Riding / St Ives Well Procession
Words English REFERENCES
Old Cornwall Society Magazine Oct 1927 p 35
As remembered by WJP Burton
Inglis Gundry
Canow Kernow Soundpost Publications, 1966 (see Bibliography) p 11
Quiller Couch
Box Miscelaenous music MSS RIC Courtney Library
Contributed by `Q` for RIC Journal 1864
Racca 2, Calstock, 1997 (see Bibliography) 2, Calstock, P 1, NOTES
Collected at Christmas 1976 by Merv Davey from St Ives Geese Dancers, Dancing in Truro.
Words by J Barber
.
Come let us sing this merry little lay
As we lightly sprightly dance on the way
May we all rejoice, with heart and voice
So great this maiden from afar
Her steadfast faith an ever guiding star
To light our path whereever we are
Truth light and love, ever shining from above
The Message of St Eia.
The Geese dancers firmly associated the tune with the St Ives Well procession and called it such. Apparently Took Place on the Sunday nearest to St Thomas`s Day (July 7th).
Interviewed in Oct 1987 Inglis Gundry commented that the repeated rhythmic structure of this tune hinted at early 19th Century origins say 1810. This was not to say that it could not have been based on something older. Inglis said that this rhythm could easily have been influenced by Elgar.
There is also a manuscript apparently contributed by Thomas Quiller Couch for the Royal Institute of Cornwall Journal in l864. It is a tune that is still in living tradition however and is also known in the west as the `St Ives Well Procession` and the North as `Bodmin Riding` In 1999 it continued to be used for the St Ives Feast Dance , Bodmin Riding and Mazey day in Penzance. (Merv Davey)
