> June Tabor > Songs > The Fair Maid of Wallington
Fair Mary of Wallington / The Fair Maid of Wallington / Bonny Earl of Livingston
[
Roud 59
; Child 91
; Ballad Index C091
; trad.]
June Tabor sang the Child Ballad The Fair Maid of Wallington unaccompanied in 1974 on the fundraiser album The First Folk Review Record. The album’s sleeve notes commented:
The tune was learned from Maddy Prior, and the words collated by June Tabor from various versions in Child.
This track was also included in 2005 on her 4 CD Topic anthology Always. The album’s booklet notes that this song gave the name to June and Maddy’s duo album Silly Sisters, even though June couldn’t remember if they ever sang it together. The Fair Maid of Wallington was also included as a bonus track on the 2019 CD reissue of June’s 1976 Topic album Airs and Graces.
Graham and Eileen Pratt sang Bonny Earl of Livingston on their 1980 album To Friend and Foe. This track was also included on their 1999 compilation CD Early Birds. They noted:
This searing ballad, to Graham’s tune, describes the bane of seven sisters, destined to die in childbirth while their mother relentlessly arranges their marriages.
James Findlay sang Fair Maid of Wallington in 2011 on his Fellside CD Sport and Play. He noted:
This is the most miserable song about death during childbirth on the album, telling the story of seven sisters and a gynaecological nightmare! This localised Northumberland ballad appears in text from 1775.
Corinne Male sang Maisrie of Livingstone on her 2015 CD To Tell the Story Truly. She noted:
This is a variant of Fair Mary of Wallington which Child’s source manuscript called The Bonny Earl of Livingstone. It isn’t about him, it’s about his wife, her mother, her six sisters and especially the youngest of them. It’s probably a very female thing but I find the ending of this the most chilling in any ballad I’ve ever heard.
Cath and Phil Tyler sang Wallington in 2018 on their CD The Ox and the Ax. They also play this song with the group Dark Northumbrian.
Frankie Archer sang Fair Mabel of Wallington Hall on her 2024 EP Pressure and Persuasion. She noted:
Fair Mabel of Wallington Hall is one of the most bleak ‘I told you so’s out there, in the form of an old Northumbrian trad song. Mabel’s five older sisters are married off and die in childbirth, so Mabel says “I’ll never take a man / if ever I lie in a man’s bed, the same way I’ll gan.” Mabel’s intention is overpowered by her mother and the patriarchal system which wants her married off to a powerful man. Then guess what, he makes her pregnant and nine months later she’s on her deathbed. The song ends with Mabel saying the harrowing lines “My duty’s done and as you wished, here’s Wallington’s new heir / But though the cradle is full up, the bridebed is left bare.”
This is a definite ‘fuck the patriarchy’ song, and at the same time shows the desperation and helplessness of women living in a society that pushes them down and puts them through awful shit for the sake of keeping things the way they are. Maintaining the power imbalance. The story might seem outdated but the core of it—women being harmed and their opinions dismissed, upheld by society and our power structures—is happening now.
Lyrics
June Tabor sings The Fair Maid of Wallington
When we were silly sisters, seven sisters were so mild,
Five went to bride bed and five are dead with child.
Then it’s up spoke young Mary and it’s single she would bide,
For if ever she was in man’s bed, the same death she would die.
“O it’s take no vows, Mary, for fear they broken be,
For there is a knight in Wallington asking good will of thee.”
“O if there is a knight, mother, asking good will of me,
Then it’s in three quarters of a year you may bury me.”
Well, she had not been in Wallington three quarters and a day
Till she was as big with baby as any lady.
“O is there not a boy in this town that would win up hosen and shoen?”
Then it’s up spoke a page-boy, “Your errand I will run!”
“Give respects to my mother as she sits in her chair of stone;
Ask her how she likes the news of seven to have but one.”
When her mother she heard the news in anger cried she
And she’s kicked the table with her foot and kicked it with her knee.
Then she’s called for her waiting-maid and also her stable-groom:
“Come fetch me my cloak and go saddle up the brown.”
But when they came to Wallington and into Wallington Hall
There was four and twenty ladies that let the tears down fall.
And her daughter, she had a scope into her cheek and into her chin,
All for to keep her sweet life till her mother she come in.
Now she’s taken a razor that was both sharp and fine
And from out of her left side she’s took the heir to Wallington.
“O there is a race in Wallington, and that I rue full sore
Though the cradle it be well spread up, the bride-bed is left bare.”
And when we were silly sisters, seven sisters were so mild,
Five went to bride bed and five are dead with child.
Then it’s up spoke young Mary and it’s single she would bide,
For if ever she was in man’s bed, the same death she would die.
Graham and Eileen Pratt sing Bonny Earl of Livingston
O we were sisters seven; now five are dead with child;
There are none but you and I, love—and we’ll stay maidens mild.
But scarcely had she spoken, and turned her round about,
Than the Bonny Earl of Livingston was calling Maisry out.
There was a milk-white stallion, that drank from out the Tay,
They sent for Lady Maisry to carry her away.
Well, she had not been at Livingston but twelve-month and a day,
When she’s as big with baby as any girl can be.
And she’s called upon her foot-page, saying: “Run you now with speed,
And bid my mother come here, for of her I’ll soon have need.”
But before she got to Livingston as fast as she could ride,
They’d put the gags on Maisry and the sharp shears in her side.
Her good Lord stood a-weeping: the tears came flowing down.
“Let halls and bowers tumble, now my bonny love is gone.”
And out and spake her only sister, never hear to speak so free:
“I pray there’s no man living, such a death will force on me.”
“Well, hold your tongue my only daughter, and let your folly be:
Your wedding is tomorrow, though the same death you may see.”
Frankie Archer sings Fair Mabel of Wallington Hall
When we were silly sisters seven we were so fair
Five of us were brave knights’ wives and died in childbed there
Up then spoke fair Mabel, I’ll never take a man
If ever I lay in a man’s bed, the same way I’ll gan
Make no vows fair Mabel for fear they broken be
Here’s been the knight of Wallington asking good will of thee
Here’s been the knight of Wallington asking good will of me
Within three quarters of a year you may come bury me
When she came to Wallington and into Wallington Hall
There she spied her mother dear walking upon the wall
You’re welcome, dear daughter, to your castle and your room
I thank you kindly, Mother, but they will be yours soon
She had not been in Wallington three quarters and a day
Til all the spirit left her, her lips were ashen grey
She had not been in Wallington three quarters and a night
Til all the power left her, her face was pale and white
Is there a lad in this town, a lad who fast can run
Who’ll run to Seaton Yetts and bid my mother come
Who’ll tell my sister Betty my life’s taken by a man
And bid her keep her maidenhead or the same way she’ll gan
Who’ll ask my mother dear, sat in her chair of stone
Why out of seven daughters fair, the last is left alone
Who’ll tell my mother dear, sat in her chair of slate
To bid goodbye to Mabel before it’s too late
Her mother kicked the chair of stone and trembled where she stood
And called upon her waiting maid to bring her riding hood
Go saddle me the swiftest steed that to Wallington will ride
I’m going to my daughter dear to be by her bedside
When she came to Wallington she saw Lord Fenwick there
Where is my daughter Mabel who I left in your care
Lord Fenwick’s eyes filled up with tears, twenty ladies cried the same
To see fair Mabel hold on to life until her mother came
Come take the rings off my finger, the skin it is so white
And give them to my mother dear who cries for me this night
Come take the rings off my finger, the veins they are so red
And give them to Sir Fenwick, I’m sure his heart has bled
My duty’s done and as you wished, here’s Wallington’s young heir
But though the cradle is full up the bridebed is left bare