Copshawholme Fair

Traditional
(Steeleye Span)

On a fine even fair in the month of Avril
O'er the hill came the man with the blithe sunny smile
And the folks they were throngin' the roads everywhere
Makin' haste to be in at Copshawholme Fair.

I've seen 'em a'comin' in from the mountains and glens
Those rosy-faced lasses and strappin' young men
With a joy in their heart and unburdened o' care
A'meetin' old friends at Copshawholme Fair.

There are lads for the lasses, there's toys for the bairns
There are jugglers and tumblers, folks with no arms
There's a ballad-singer here and a fiddler there
There are nut-men and spice-men at Copshawholme Fair.

There are peddlers and potters and gingerbread stands
There are peepshows and poppin-darts and the green caravans
There's fruit from all nations exhibited there
With kale plants from Orange at Copshawholme Fair.

When the hirin's o'er, off they all sprang
Into the ballroom for to join in the throng
And "I Never Will Lie With My Mammy Nae Mair"
The fiddles play briskly at Copshawholme Fair.


Geoff Wood, a song collector from Leeds, found this hidden away
in the Cumberland County Library in Carlisle a few years ago.  It
had been recorded directly onto a 78 rpm record sometime during
the 1930s and then filed away for posterity.  The song tells of
the annual hiring or 'mop' fair that was held at the small
village of Copshawholme in Cumberland until quite recently.


On "Hark!  The Village Wait" album from Steeleye Span, 1970