5. Newcastle

Matthew Bannister is allowed a very rare glimpse of Henry Atkinson’s tune book from 1695. He’s with Steph Carter and Kirsten Gibson from Newcastle University. The book is kept at the Northumberland Archives at the Woodhorn Museum on the site of an old coal mine in Ashington.

Henry Atkinson was a hostman, a member of a cartel of businessmen in Newcastle who controlled the buying and selling of coal. He was also a musician and collected his favourite fiddle tunes handwritten in a small book. Although considered very precious now Steph and Kirsten tell Matthew that books like Henry Atkinson’s were quite common. Music making was a sociable activity and many more people were musically active far away from the big cultural centres of London and the University towns than has been previously understood.

Music from the book has been arranged by Nancy Kerr and is performed by The Melrose Quartet: Nancy Kerr, James Fagan, and Jess and Richard Arrowsmith.

Matthew Bannister has been the host of Folk on Foot, a podcast which explores folk music and its connection with landscape in the UK, since 2018 and has often wondered about where “folk music” comes from. When he heard about Nancy Kerr’s involvement in a new project, Music Heritage, Place he wanted to know more.

Royal Holloway University and Newcastle University have been collaborating on an AHRC funded project sending out researchers, the “song detectorists”, to sift through the archives held in County Record Offices across England. They’ve returned with musical gems that Nancy Kerr has arranged and the discoveries are offering new insights into the way that music was shared and enjoyed in the past.

Presenter: Matthew Bannister
Producer: Natalie Steed
A Rhubarb Rhubarb Production for BBC Radio 3