> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > The Cockfight
> The Watersons > Songs > Holbeck Moor Cockfight
> Louis Killen > Songs > The Cockfight
> Martyn Wyndham-Read > Songs > The Charcoal Black and the Bonny Grey

The Cockfight / Holbeck Moor Cockfight / The Bonny Grey

[ Roud 211 ; Master title: The Cockfight ; TYG 81 ; Ballad Index VWL027 ; Bodleian Roud 211 ; Mudcat 17086 ; trad.]

Karl Dallas: One Hundred Songs of Toil Mike Harding: Folk Songs of Lancashire Frank Kidson: Traditional Tunes Folk-Songs of the North-Countrie A.L. Lloyd: Come All Ye Bold Miners Roy Palmer: veryman’s Book of English Country Song Roy Palmer: A Touch on the Times Roy Palmer Roy Palmer, Jon Raven: The Rigs of the Fair Ralph Vaughan Williams, A.L. Lloyd: Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.

A.L. Lloyd sang The Cockfight from his book Come All Ye Bold Miners in 1956 on his Riverside LP English Street Songs. He was accompanied by Alf Edwards on concertina. This track was also included in 2008 on his Fellside compilation Ten Thousand Miles Away. He noted:

Street singers like to sing of sporting events as well as murders, and ballads about prize-fights, horse racing and cockfighting were long in favour. No sporting ballad was as well liked in the North of England as that of the gay little Lancashire game-cock with the silver breast and silver wing. Cockfighting is illegal now, but the song is still sung in the northern coalfields, and some say you can still hear the clash of beak on beak thereabouts, of a Sunday afternoon, if you know where to listen.

A.L. Lloyd recorded The Cock Fight for a second time accompanied by Steve Benbow on guitar. This recording was included on his and Ewan MacColl’s Topic LP Bold Sportsmen All (1958) and EP Gamblers and Sporting Blades (1962). and on their Riverside LP Champions and Sporting Blades.

The Ian Campbell Folk Group sang The Cockfight in 1964 on their album Across the Hills. The album sleeve notes commented:

The frustrations of the miner’s life were reflected in the brutal pastimes with which he exercised himself in his spare time. Nowadays they content themselves with keeping pigeons and racing whippets, but a hundred years ago they went in for dog fighting, clog boxing, rat worrying, and that gentleman’s sport, the cockfight. We learnt two tunes for this song from A.L. Lloyd, neither with a chorus; we combined the two, using one for the tune and the other for a chorus.

The Cock-Fight is also printed in Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd’s Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. The Watersons sang a version similar to this text, titled The Holbeck Moor Cockfight in an EFDSS concert at the Royal Festival Hall on 4 June 1965. This recording was included in the same year on the EFDSS EP The Folksound of Britain: Northumbria / West Country and reissued in 2004 on the Watersons’ 4CD anthology Mighty River of Song.

Harry Boardman sang The Cockfight (The Bonny Grey) in 1971 on his and Dave Hillery’s Topic LP of popular song and verse from Lancashire and Yorkshire, Trans Pennine. He noted:

In The Manchester Racing Calendar (1760-1800), rules were quoted for ‘Matching and Fighting of Cocks’ which were said to date from the reign of Charles II. Obviously a well established national sport. The ‘original’ of this ballad seems to have celebrated a well known match in the time of the 12^th Earl of Derby (died 1834), who supported the Prescott lads as opposed to the Liverpool lads. A version of this is printed from a broadside in Harland and Wilkinson’s Ballads and Songs of Lancashire (1865), and another version, from Casterton, just north of the Lancashire-Westmoreland border, is in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. The set of words we use was supplied to A.L. Lloyd by James Hamilton of Hunslet (1951) and is printed in Come All Ye Bold Miners (Lawrence and Wishart 1952).

Barry Skinner sang The Cockfight in 1971 on his Argo album Bed, Battle & Booze. He noted:

The gory sport of cockfighting has long been illegal—but still in certain rural areas of England it can still unfortunately be found—as it can in France. This song, from Lancashire, tells the whole story from the first bet to the kill.

Some years ago I spoke of cocking to the grandfather of a friend of mine who showed me some spurs he’d made as an apprentice circa 1910.

Louis Killen sang The Cockfight on his and Sally Killen’s 1975 album Bright Shining Morning. He also sang it in 2008 at the Bridge Folk Club’s fiftieth birthday party, which was released on their CD 50 Years of Folk Music in Newcastle. He noted on his album:

I can’t remember if I have this song from the singing of A.L. Lloyd or Ewan MacColl. I’ve had it so many years, but it can be found in Lloyd’s Come All Ye Bold Miners (Lawrence & Wishart, London, 1952). Cockfighting has long been illegal in Britain but I love this song for the way it expresses the miners’ ebullience.

Paul and Linda Adams sang Walney Cockfight in 1976 on their Sweet Folk and Country album of songs of Cumbria and the Border, Country Hirings. They noted:

Although illegal since 1847 cockfighting still goes on. This particular song is yet another version of a very common song popular around Lancashire and the Midlands. The location of this song is firmly established as Furness area around Barrow in the south of the county, by the mention of Tumber’s Hill and of the lads from the village of Biggar. Incidentally, most versions have one Lord Derby who has a habit of ‘swaggering down’, but this, more down to earth Cumbrian version, has one Miley Heslom who comes ‘a-swearing down’.

The song is substantially the one sung by Mr. John Collinson, a blacksmith at the Kendal singing competition in 1905.

Martyn Wyndham-Read sang The Charcoal Black and the Bonny Grey in 1977 on the Broadside album English Sporting Ballads. Jon Raven noted:

Cock-fighting, like bull-baiting, was also an ancient ‘sport’ and was probably introduced to Britain by the Romans. The fighting cocks were specially bred, highly trained and fed on special diets. When the combatants entered the ring they generally sported metal spurs varying between 1½ and 2½ inches in length and a competion usually ended with the death of one of the birds. Their activities is in the ring were controlled by a variety of rules. Although it was common to match by weights catch-weight contests between unequal birds were frequently fought and variations on the main—a series of fights between equally matched birds—included the Battle Royal where a number of birds were placed in the pit and left to fight it out and the Welsh main in which sixteen birds would be paired and the winners paired again until the final pairing produced a supreme champion. Tummerel Hill [is] apparently a local pronunciation for Tumbrel Hill.

This is sometimes known as the Walney Cockfighting Song. The places named are all on Walney Island, which lies off Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. Various versions of this song have been found in the belt lying between Shropshire and Cumbria. Source: Text, Barrow-in-Furness Library Z2496, a manuscript copy dating from 1895; Tune, sung, under the title of The Cocks Were Heeled, by Franklin Birkett of Elterwater, Langdale, Cumbria; collected by Ann and Stephen Sedley. 1967, Mr. Birkett is a foreman slate quarry worker; he was a shepherd when a boy.

Cathy Lesurf sang Wa’ney Island Cockfight in 1978 on Fiddler’s Dram’s Dingle’s album To See the play. They noted:

Collected in 1905 by Mr. J. Collinson of Casterton and published in the Folk Song Society Journal. Walney Island is off Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire.

Greg Russell sang The Cockfight in 2014 on his and Ciaran Algar’s Fellside album The Call. This track was also included on the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2015 compilation. He noted:

I’m unsure about singing songs about Cockfighting, just as I am about singing hunting and whaling songs, for instance. But the songs tell a thought-provoking and important part of our heritage and history. The track is heavily influenced by a version I learnt from my dad, the words of which he’d taken from the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs and tune he’s learned, from band Abbey Folk, in Liverpool. Most collected versions seem to come from Cumbria or Yorkshire and often have specific locations: The Wa’ney Cockfightin‘ Song (Walney Island, Barrow in Furness), Holbeck Moor Cockfight (Leeds).

Laura Smyth sang The Charcoal Black and the Bonny Grey in 2014 as the title track of her and Ted Kemp’s EP The Charcoal Black and the Bonny Grey. They noted on their website:

Cockfighting is considered to be one of the oldest spectator sports, and in England was particularly popular amongst the working classes. Being a blood sport the activity was banned in England in 1835, although it is suspected that cockfighting still continues. Broadsides for this song were being published in the mid 19^th century and featured the “Liverpool lads” and Lord Derby. The version we perform was that sent by James Hamilton of Hunslet, Yorkshire, to A.L. Lloyd in 1951 for inclusion in his book Come All Ye Bold Miners. This version features “the Oldham Lads” and seems to have a more contemporary feel. We’ve coupled this to the tune sung by John Collinson from Casterton at the Kendal Folk Song Competition in 1905 as noted by Cecil Sharp, and adapted it to create longer verses with more melodic variation.

Pete Wood sang The Cock-Fight on his 2014 CD Young Edwin. He noted:

A Lancashire song I first got from the Penguin book early in my folk song career. Made famous by Harry Boardman amongst others.

Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones sang The Hunslet and Holbeck Moor Cockfight in 2022 on their album of Yorkshire songs, A Year Too Late and a Month Too Soon. They noted:

Printed in Frank Kidson’s Traditional Tunes from 1891 and Folk-Songs of the North-Countrie in 1927. Frank also had several broadside versions. Hunslet and Holbeck are just outside Leeds City Centre and were apparently known for their “Ardent cockfighters”! The tune was well known in Leeds for other songs such as the Bailiff’s Daughter of Islington, and the cockfight verses seem to have been adapted to fit the tune.

The Bath Hornpipe is a traditional Yorkshire Hornpipe that appears in Lawrence Leadley, the Fiddler of Helperby and was also collected by Frank Kidson. Bryony learnt it from the brilliant Yorkshire fiddle player Mary Barber.

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings The Cockfight

Come, all ye colliers far and near,
I’ll tell of a cock-fight, when and where,
Out on the moors I heard them say,
Between a black and the bonny grey.

It’s into the pub to take a sup,
The cock-fight it was soon made up:
For twenty pound these cocks will play,
The charcoal-black and the bonny grey.

The first come in was the Oldham lads;
And they come with all the money they had;
The reason why, they all of them did say,
“The black’s too big for the bonny grey.”

The Oldham lads stood shouting round:
“I’ll lay you a quid to half a crown.
If our black cock he gets fair play,
He’ll make mincemeat of the bonny grey!”

So the cocks they at it, and the grey was tossed,
And the Oldham lads said, “Bah, you’ve lost!”
Us collier lads we went right pale
And wished we’d fought for a barrel of ale.

And the cocks they at it, one, two, three,
And the charcoal-black got struck in the eye.
And they picked him up, but the devil wouldn’t play,
And the cock-fight went to our bonny grey.

With the silver breast and the silver wing
He’s fit to fight in front of the king.
So hip hooray, hooray, hooray!
Away we carried our bonny grey.

The Watersons sing Holbeck Moor Cockfight

Come all of you cockers far and near,
I’ll tell you of a cock-fight, the when and where,
On Holbeck Moor, as I’ve heard say,
Between a black and a bonny grey.

Twelve men from Hunslet town they came,
Along with them that brought their game;
This game it was, as I’ve heard say,
Of a black to fight with a bonny grey

The first to come in were the Oldham lads,
They come with all the money they had;
The reason why, I heard them say,
“The black’s too big for the bonny grey.”

Lord Derby he come swaggering down:
“I’ll lay two guineas to half a crown,
Why, if the black he gets fair play
He’ll have the wings off the bonny grey!”

And when the clock struck one, two, three,
The charcoal black got pecked on the thigh;
They picked him up to see fair play
But the black wouldn’t fight with the bonny grey.

Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones sing The Hunslet and Holbeck Moor Cockfight

Come all you cockers far and near,
I’ll tell you of a cock fight, the when and where,
On Holbeck Moor as I’ve heard say,
Between the black and the bonny grey.

Twelve men from Hunslet town they came,
Along with them that brought their game.
This game it was, as I heard say,
The black to fight with the bonny grey.

And the people came from miles around,
To see this gallant fight on the Holbeck ground.
Some thought the black would win the day,
But some still cheered for the bonny grey.

And when this fight it did begin,
A many of them thought that the black would win.
His backers they did shout, “Hooray!”
But some still cheered for the bonny grey.

Then the grey cock fought with such intent,
That all of them could see that the black was spent.
They held him up to see fair play,
But the black he were afraid of the bonny grey.

And when the clock struck one, two, three,
The grey struck the black upon the knee.
They picked him up to see fair play,
But the black wouldn’t fight with the bonny grey.

When the fight was o’er and the day was done,
A many golden pounds had the grey cock won.
His backers they did shout, “Hooray!
Come lads, three cheers for the bonny grey!”

Acknowledgements

The Watersons’ version of Holbeck Moor Cockfight was transcribed by Bob Hudson.