> Folk > Songs > Rothwell Debtors’ Prison
Rothwell Debtors’ Prison
[ Roud - ; TYG 105 ; trad.]
Bill Price sang the Rothwell Debtors Prison Song on their 2025 EP The Fine Old Yorkshire Gentleman. Wendy Price noted:
The debtors prison was established in Rothwell, a village south of Leeds, in the 17th Century, and was later converted into a workhouse. When prisoners were first taken to the Debtors Prison, the ‘Society of Debtors’ demanded that each newcomer pay a ‘garnish’ or fine, of 2/6d, or forfeit his coat (the latter usually being the case). This song was noted by Captain Armitage in The Annals of Wakefield House of Correction.
Lonan sang Rothwell Debtors’ Prison on their 2025 EP Oddy Locks. They noted:
This West Yorkshire song remembers Rothwell’s debtors’ prison, and gives voice to the hardship and bitterness experienced by those who were locked away for poverty alone. The second verse references the fact that the prisoners had to pay a fee, or ‘garnish’, of half a crown, or give up the coat from their back—unsurprisingly, the latter was most often the case. The words of the song were noted by Captain Armitage in his Annals of Wakefield House of Correction, which Robin first came across on the Yorkshire Garland Group website. Fragments of Les Beaux Jours, an evocative French schottische by fiddler Gabriel Lenoir, are threaded through the song—almost like a distant echo of ‘the beautiful days’ remembered by the prisoners before falling on hard times.
Lyrics
Logan sing Rothwell Debtors’ Prison
We bid you welcome, brother debtor, to this poor but nary place
Where no bailiff, bum or satyr dare to show his frightful face
Now, kind sir, as you’re a stranger down your garnish you must lay
Or your coat will be in danger, you must either strip or pay
Ne’er repine at your confinement, from your children and your wife
For wisdom lies in true resignment, to the varied scenes of life
What was it made great Alexander weep at his unhappy fate
It was because he could not wander through this wide, strong prison gates
Every island is a prison strongly guarded by the sea
Kings and princes for that reason prisoners are as well as we
Prisoners are as well as we, Prisoners are as well as we