International Bagpipe Day

Yesterday was International Bagpipe Day and we pilgrims led the charge in our area.  Tom had spent the week leading up to it in a different Cheshire church each day working with local school pupils in total to explore the musical heritage of the county.  There was music, dance, pilgrims' processionals, storytelling and modelling clay versions of the medieval carvings of bagpipers in those churches.  In total we worked with 239 children to introduce them to the instrument in its many forms and got a good feature in the local press too.  Not wishing to miss an opportunity to promote the bagpipes, Tom also gave a presentation to the Friends of Weaver Hall Museum, exploring the role of the piper through history and folklore.

Then as International Bagpipe Day dawned Tom was at Stretton Watermill, meeting with friends to welcome in the day of piping with some medieval melodies to mark the many connections between millers and bagpipes, not least Chaucer's bagpiping miller in the Canterbury Tales. 

After a few tunes it was off to Chester's Grosvenor Museum to lead a workshop for visitors to discover the bagpipes.  We met with Chris Coe, a maker of uilleann pipes from Chester who was demonstrating reed making as well as displaying the making of a chanter in all its stages from timber to finished article.  We added some tunes and folk tales and the chance to have a try.  The workshop brought several local pipers and would-be pipers out of the woodwork and we're looking forward to meeting them again soon.

Then we headed to the south of the county to the beautiful market town of Nantwich where the church of St Mary's has a wonderful collection of 14th century carvings of angelic musicians in its quire.  Angelic, except for the bagpipers who have been depicted instead as devils.  We repeated the workshop in the very friendly Nantwich Museum to a large, and very appreciative audience, and I suspect may have inspired a few people to take up piping - there were certainly lots of detailed questions being asked about how to go about ordering sets of bagpipes.  Sometimes I wonder whether this is inspiring people, or rather corrupting their minds as most people who start piping soon get hooked to the point of obsession.

After Nantwich we returned to Chester to set up for a sell out evening concert 'Bagpipolorum!' at St Peter's church, right next to the Cross in the heart of the city.   This was a wonderful experience, entering the concert with all the musicians in procession playing one of the Cantigas de Santa Maria, 13th century pilgrim tunes from Spain.  It was a delight to play medieval tunes and share folk tales in this ancient church and to listen to wonderfully talented pipers and musicians including the Time Bandits, Halfe Pannikin and Jon Turton.

To draw the day to a close us bagpipers headed off to the cosy Albion for a session with some English and Welsh bagpipe tunes and to be dazzled by Jon, Chris and Ian playing some Irish tunes with blurred fingers on their uilleann pipes.

We can't wait for next year's International Bagpipe Day, so we're very pleased that it's not too long to the Minstrels' Court in Chester, on Saturday 16th June at St John's Church.  Hope to see you there!

Pilgrims and Bagpipes

You'll usually find bagpipes making an appearance in our workshops and presentations.  There is a close connection between pilgrimage and bagpipes.  It seems likely that the instrument itself reached England as a result of people returning from travels to the holy land where it was more commonly played.


Amongst the medieval stone carvings of musicians in churches across the land, bagpipers are perhaps the most commonly found.




Bagpiper carving in St Mary's Church, Astbury, Cheshire



Then we have Chaucer's description of the miller in his Canterbury Tales,



"A baggepipe wel koude he blowe and sowne,

and therwithal he broghte us out of towne"

A bagpipe is the perfect instrument to lead a group of pilgrims.  To begin with, by using the bag rather than blowing directly down a shawm or other pipe it is possible to play for a long time without tiring.  If a tune is played over and over again with followers in procession then the effect can almost put the followers in a trance, helping establish a contemplative state for prayer.  Then, more practically, it is at least easy to stay as a group moving through the crowds of a city if there is a loud noise and a drone sticking up above the throng for you to follow.


Whilst pilgrims enjoyed what the sound of the bagpipes added to their experience of their journey, at the height of the pilgrim season around midsummer we might imagine residents living near a shrine becoming somewhat irritated by the noise made by these passing pilgrims.  Then, there were those who complained of the attitudes of the pilgrims in enjoying themselves perhaps too much rather than concentrating on their more pious objectives.  In 1407 the Lollard priest William Thorpe was on trial for heresy and being examined by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Arundel;


Thorpe:   “Also, Sir, I know well, that when divers men and women will go thus after their own wills, and finding out one pilgrimage, they will ordain with them before[hand] to have with them both men and women that can well sing wanton songs; and some other pilgrims will have with them bagpipes: so that every town that they come through, what with the noise of their singing, and with the sound of their piping, and with the jangling of their Canterbury bells, and with the barking out of dogs after them, they make more noise than if the King came there away, with all his clarions and many other minstrels. And if these men and women be a month out in their pilgrimage, many of them shall be, a half year after, great janglers, tale−tellers, and liars.”  

Arundel:  “Lewd losell! thou seest not far enough in this matter! for thou considerest not the great travail of pilgrims; therefore thou blamest that thing that is praisable! I say to thee, that it is right well done; that pilgrims have with them both singers and also pipers: that when one of them that goeth barefoot striketh his toe upon a stone and hurteth him sore and maketh him to bleed; it is well done, that he or his fellow, begin then a song or else take out of his bosom a bagpipe for to drive away with such mirth, the hurt of his fellow.

So, it seems that bagpipers had the support of the Archbishop of Canterbury! 


We certainly find that the sound makes an impact when people hear it for the first time, being wonderfully evocative of the medieval era as well as being colourful and cheery.  That's why we include music as part of our historical interpretation.  Come and meet us to hear more!

Piping at a pilgrimage themed event at Hailes Abbey church, Gloucestershire

Wassail and Mari Lwyd

We discovered a wonderful wassail event, the last of the winter as far as we know, organised by the Widders Morris down in Chepstow and were delighted to join them.  We travelled down through the middle marches, which is always a lovely drive in the winter with beautiful balls of mistletoe hanging high in the trees as we passed through Herefordshire and Gloucestershire.  We made a stop in Monmouth to visit the fortified medieval bridge and charming church of St Thomas the Martyr alongside, then on to the spectacular Raglan Castle before reaching Chepstow as evening arrived.  After unpacking and having a wander through the streets we headed to the Chepstow Castle pub and a friendlier welcome we could not have wished for.  The landlord gave us a brief history of that part of town, the music events that happen there and what to expect in the Wassail the following day.

In the morning we explored the castle, which we had visited before, but it really is one of the best, having everything a castle should have.  Cadw had done a great job with their recent recreating of a medieval room in all of its vivid colours.

Then we explored the local museum, which has a wonderful collection of social and industrial history which would be the envy of many much larger establishments, then a bit more meandering before it was time to put on the medieval kit and head down to the lower part of the town again where we returned to the Castle pub and met up with the many morris sides and other groups attending the wassail.

We wassailed the old apple tree and watched dance and folk plays. 

Then it was off just a short way along the road for more dancing and more plays. 

All of the dancers were quite a spectacle to watch, but Heb Enw Morris were particularly striking in having such a lively group, including some very young members and it was great to hear morris tunes being played on bagpipes.

Then it was time to bring out "Young Ball" who we had brought down for the event.  This is the skeletal horse from Jones' Ale Soul Cakers, a group of mummers from Chester who we've been part of for the past 17 years.  The wassail included a Mari Lwyd gathering, which are horse skulls mounted on poles and carried round houses and pubs in a Welsh winter tradition, accompanied by singing in the hope of receiving beer or money.  Our Cheshire soulcaking is a related tradition, though that happens around All Souls Day on 2nd November. 

Then came the meeting of the English and Welsh at the border, the mid-point of the old bridge over the Wye.  Partly through confusion and partly because we had our own Mari, we ended up amongst the Welsh contingent, but so much the better as the music was much livelier to join in with on bagpipes.  We danced across the bridge, led by the High Druid of Wales - a charming chap even if he did wear a flat cap rather than a leafy crown.  

The Mari Lwyd singing took place on the museum steps and all the skeletal horses were welcomed in, which musicians and dancers enjoyed mulled cider outside, chatting to new found friends and making the decision that we would be back again next year.

A Lindisfarne Pilgrimage

Last year, a good friend invited us to join him for a stay on the holy island of Lindisfarne to celebrate a special birthday.  Part of the stay was to follow in the steps of pilgrims through many centuries to the place where St Cuthbert had spent time in prayer.  The idea was to cross the pilgrims' route across the sands, which are covered twice a day by the incoming tide.

Our merry band of pilgrims were about 20 in number and we were all staying on the island, so in order that our pilgrimage ended at Lindisfarne Priory, we had to first set off from the island, performing a reverse pilgrimage, across the sands so that we could return and end at our intended destination.  We gathered early in the morning on the first of May so that we had time to make our crossings in between tides.  There was a real feeling of excitement and anticipation as we set off.

The pilgrim's way across the sands is not without its dangers.  Sinking sands and swift currents could trap the unwary traveller.  A series of posts show a safe route, and for the modern pilgrim there are also two towers to take refuge in if caught by a rising tide.

The journey across the sands brought people together who had only just met and gave rise to fascinating conversations and a sense of companionship, which I'm sure medieval pilgrims would also have enjoyed.

We also learnt quickly how to make the best way along a tricky path, to wade across tides and along the flowing streams to avoid walking on slippery seaweed, or sharp shells. 

Our arrival on the island brought much attention from the residents and tourists, perhaps new pilgrims gave just as much interest in medieval times.  We made our way to the priory gates where we ended our journey with a real sense of achievement, then it was off for a hearty meal and for some to rest.  We then returned to the grounds of the ruined priory to explore and to sit and enjoy the peace of the place.