Swalcliffe May Day Carol
Oxford Ramble track 20
Swalcliffe (pronounced sway-cliff) is a village near Banbury in North Oxfordshire. The words of this carol were noted by Miss Annie Norris around 1840 from the singing of a group of children in the village. The words were passed onto the collector - and Adderbury resident - Janet Blunt in 1908, and she finally collected a tune for the song from Mrs Woolgrove of Swalcliffe, and Mrs Lynes of Sibford, at Sibford fete, July 1921.
This was our big production number to finish the album. The arrangement features Mandy Townsend on hammer dulcimer, Heather Bower on clarinet, with female vocals on the last two verses provided by Heather, Joanne Acty, Isobel Dams and Carol Turner.
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