{"id":66,"date":"2014-09-25T20:46:00","date_gmt":"2014-09-25T19:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wyrefarmed.artsrainbow.com\/2014\/09\/25\/dennis-crowther-clee-hill-poet-and-folk-musician\/"},"modified":"2014-09-25T20:46:00","modified_gmt":"2014-09-25T19:46:00","slug":"dennis-crowther-clee-hill-poet-and-folk-musician","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/2014\/09\/25\/dennis-crowther-clee-hill-poet-and-folk-musician\/","title":{"rendered":"Dennis Crowther – Clee Hill Poet and Folk Musician"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“CLEE HILL<\/b>. AKA – “Dennis Crowther’s No. 1<\/b><\/a>.” English, March (4\/4 or 2\/4 time). D Major. Standard
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Clee Hill<\/span><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n


\ntuning (fiddle). One part. Clee Hill refers to both the height of Titterstone Clee, one of the highest hills in south Shropshire, or the village of Cleehill, Shropshire, which lies on the slopes. Titterstone Clee is in the range of hills called collectively the Clee Hills, and has been heavily quarried over the years. Writer J.R.R. Tolkien used to visit the area and some believe he modelled “The Shire<\/i>” in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings after the area. Some have speculated – (“Clee Village being an inspiration for Bree in its character\/location, and Clee Hill being an inspiration for Weathertop (you can see Clee hill from South Birmingham, and from Clee Hill you can see Snowdonia).”) The late Dennis Crowther (d. 2007) was a poet, singer, mouth organ player from the area. Part of the melodic material from “Clee Hill” appears in the tune “Oh, Joe! The boat is going over,” a melody used by morris\/molly dancers from the Clee Hill area. Accordion master John Kirkpatrick recorded this tune (along with “Dennis Crowther’s No. 2”) at the Sidmouth Folk Festival, 1999.<\/p>\n

Source for notated version: Shropshire harmonica player and entertainer Dennis Crowther [Callaghan].
\nPrinted sources: Callaghan (Hardcore English), 2007; p. 32.”
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\nThe above is from http:\/\/tunearch.org\/wiki\/Annotation:Clee_Hill<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
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\nDennis Crowther – From this site http:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/history\/ww2peopleswar\/stories\/82\/a8413382.shtml<\/a><\/b>
\nI have lived at Clee Hill all my life and was a runner for the Home Guard and was 14 at the end of the war. I used to go between the Clee Hill, Corley and Bitterley platoons. One of my lasting memories of VE day was being able to have lights on and a party in the Mission Room at the Knowle.<\/p>\n

The Battle of Titterstone Clee<\/b>
\nWhen Hitler declared war on this country
\nA messenger boy I would be
\nI was up on Clee Hill where I joined the Home Guard
\nWhere armed to the teeth we would be
\nThe lads in our mob were from all walks of life
\nAll ready if Hitler did raid
\nAnd up by the Radar was Corporal Brown
\nGuarding his sheep with a spade
\nChorus
\nThere was pitchforks and pikes and hammers galore
\nTo use against Hitler during the war
\nThen the Captain inspected our motley platoon
\nAnd announced that today, we\u2019d be armed
\nWith hammer handles direct from the Quarry
\nWe lined up with grace and with charm
\nThen the Captain he asked Private Beddoe
\nOf his actions if under attack
\nHe looked down at the shaft of his hammer
\n\u2018I\u2019d put the head on,\u2019 he answered back
\nChorus
\nThen with broomsticks we pinched from the Council
\nWe took the Brookrow first light
\nWe mounted a Guard round Reynold\u2019s Marrow
\nIn case it got bombed in the night
\nThen the Baker took twelve of his bravest of men
\nAnd without the slightest of noise
\nThey crept round the back of Will\u2019s mothers
\nAnd took Silvington Tump by surprise
\nChorus
\nThe ode Hitler decided to poison the water
\nWhich flows from the slopes of the Clee
\nThey put old Billy Adams to guard the park spout
\nStood there with his dung fork was he
\nHe shouted out HALT! In the dead of the night
\nAnd when nobody answered him then
\nHe charged the Park Spout with his dung fork
\nAnd captured five pubs before ten
\nChorus
\nWe did manoeuvres with the Hamers from Coreley
\nThe first foot and mouth Calvary
\nThey charged us with nuthucks and bicycle pumps
\nAnd ready for Hitler we\u2019d be
\nWe bought in our armoured division
\nA shipcratch from Cumberley Lane
\nAnd we routed them farmers from Coreley
\nAnd put \u2018em back pickin\u2019 taters again.
\nChorus
\nThe enemy came twenty miles from our shore
\nHerr Loiknant he said to his crew
\n\u2018Out there on that islands some queer goings on
\nVe had better turn back that is true
\nFor the British haf weapons I\u2019ve ne\u2019er seen before
\nWell advanced they all seem to be
\nThey might blow us straight out of the water
\nAnd the end of the war it would be.
\nChorus
\nSo lets give three cheers for the lads of Clee Hill
\nWho put old Hitler to shame
\nLet us give thanks for a Broaduck and a Pike
\nAnd a sheepcratch from Cumberley Lane
\nFor it was unconditional surrender
\nOnce again all the church bells will chime
\nAnd we\u2019ll put up our tack fore\u2019er we hope
\nAnd bring peace and goodwill to man kind
\nChorus
\n……………………………
\nLester Bailey playing Dennis Crowther<\/span><\/div>\n

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From the video – The World Famous Ashdown Mummers perform The Stomp from Clee Hill in Much Wenlock on our 2014 Earthly Paradise Revisited tour of Shropshire. The dance is courtesy of local historian, the late Dennis Crowther, who gave us the details in 1991, which he\u2019d collected many years previously.
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\n Captain Swing , tune Dennis Crowther May morning at Laxton Castle Notts
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Dennis Crowther had a book of poems out 1996- now out of print Reminiscences of Titterstone Clee<\/span>
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‘The poems contained in this book have been composed by Dennis to capture a bygone era of work and characters.’ The poems are: The Haymaker\/ Tom Coxen’s Last Move\/ Old Habits Never Die\/ The Storm\/ A Day with the Hops\/ Blackberry Boots\/ Rusty of Clee\/ Titterstone Clee\/ Arthur Ore\/ The Clee Hill Minstrel Band\/ Burwarton Bill\/ I Conna Find Ashford for Fog\/ The Parsons Annual Ball\/ The Last Load.<\/p>\n

Dave Bradley of Worcester News wrote <\/b>
“Dennis Crowther was without doubt one of the funniest men I\u2019ve ever met. He was a natural comic. If you have never or heard of him, his poems of the countryside were superb. They were about people he knew and met and adventures he had. His poems about Bill the sheepdog and the hop pickers were two of my favourites.
Dennis was also a fine musician. I met him many years ago, and became reacquainted on the Sunday morning show when I used to play some of his poems and on odd occasions he would call in.”<\/span>
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\nhttp:\/\/m.worcesternews.co.uk\/news\/3168229.FRIDAY_FEELING\/<\/a><\/span>
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“CLEE HILL. AKA – “Dennis Crowther’s No. 1.” English, March (4\/4 or 2\/4 time). D Major. Standard Clee Hill tuning (fiddle). One part. Clee Hill refers to both the height of Titterstone Clee, one of the highest hills in south … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,16,4,2,17,3,12,5,15,18,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsrainbow.com\/wyrefarmed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}