Rufford Park Poachers
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A traditional song that details events from 1851, although the exact origin of the song is unknown; its first evidence is a recorded version dating to 1908, as sung by Joseph Taylor.[1] Taylor's version contained only three verses; the others were composed by Patrick O'Shaughnessy based on other known details about the event.[2]
The song has been sung by numerous folk singers, and though it appears on none of their albums, the Longest Johns version is somewhat of a festival favourite due in part to JD's "surprise bass." The Longest Johns arrangement appears to be closely based on the Coope, Boyes, and Simpson version.
Following the release of the official video for the song on the Longest Johns YouTube channel, it was chosen as the song of the day for FolkRadio.co.uk.
Factoids
The song tells the true story of a skirmish between a group of poachers and gamekeepers in 1851. The poachers were a group of local men facing starvation as the local industry waned and changes to the law had made hunting on private land illegal. A group of gamekeepers had been hired by the Earl of Scarborough, the local landowner, to enforce the new rules.
Historically, the size of a poaching gang averaged between five and fifteen members. However, a particularly savage encounter with the gamekeepers that left one of the poachers dead prompted the poachers to form a larger group for the next hunt, totaling over 30 men. The gamekeepers ambushed the poachers, and the ensuing skirmish resulted in several injuries and the head gamekeeper's death.
Most of the men ultimately went free due to lack of evidence, but six poachers stood trial and four were found guilty and sentenced to transportation.[3]
D.J.V. Jones explores this case, and other themes of this song, in the article "The Poacher: A Study in Victorian Crime and Protest" (1979).
Gorse is a yellow-flowered shrub common to western Europe.
A flail is a threshing tool consisting of a wooden staff with a short heavy stick swinging from it.
Lyrics
These lyrics are based on the version performed by the Longest Johns in their livestreams. the original lyrics can be found here.
A buck or doe, believe it so
A pheasant or a hare
Were set on earth for every one
Quite equally to share
{Chorus}
So poacher bold, as I unfold
Keep up your gallant heart
And think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park
They say that forty gallant poachers
They were in distress
They'd often been attackéd when
Their number it was less
{Chorus}
Among the gorse, to settle scores
These forty gathered stones
To make a fight for poor men's rights
And break the keepers' bones
{Chorus}
The keepers went with flails against
The poachers and their cause
So no men there again would dare
Defy the rich man's laws
{Chorus}
All on the ground with mortal wound
Head-keeper Roberts lay
He never will rise up until
The final Judgment Day
Of all that band who made a stand
To set a net or snare
The four men brought before the court
Were tried for murder there
{Chorus}
The judge he said, "For Roberts' death
Transported you must be
To serve a term of fourteen years
In convict slavery."
{Chorus}
A buck or doe, believe it so
A pheasant or a hare
Were set on earth for everyone
Quite equally to share
So poacher bold, your tale is told
Keep up your gallant heart
And think about those poachers bold
That night in Rufford Park
Recordings
YouTube Videos
Gig Videos
- Falmouth International Sea Shanty Festival 2015
- Bie Daip - Appingedam (24 Aug 2019)
- The Three Tuns - Bristol (29 Nov 2018)
- Great Yarmouth Maritime Festival, 2018
- Shrewsbury Folk Festival (28 Aug 2021)
- Shrewsbury Folk Festival (28 Aug 2021) (Same performance as the prior link, from a different angle)
Full Band Streams
- The Longest Johns Impromptu Singing Stream! (17 Nov 2018)
- Christmas Party with The Longest Johns!!! (19 Dec 2018)
- The Longest Johns and Friends, April. w/Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith (30 Apr 2019)
- The Longest Johns Early Octobermas (2 Oct 2019)
- TLJ & Friends! | Natalie Holmes (27 Nov 2019)
- It's hot! Stream was a bad choice... Or was it? (24 Jun 2020) (note: audio cuts out right as The Note begins; they pick up again at the next-to-last verse)
- I Stream, You Stream, We all Scream for Live Stream (20 Jan 2021)
- All Aboard the Stream Locomotive (2 Jun 2021)
- Ex-Stream Sports (15 Feb 2022)
- Strème de Menthe (27 Jul 2022)
- Hark the Herald Angels Stream (21 Dec 2022)
- Ghost in the Mastream (30 Aug 2023)
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Stream (18 Dec 2024)
- Streaming John Malkovich (11 Feb 2026)