"Widecombe Fair" (A Poem)

From the headless horseman of Sleepy Hollow to the fifteenth-century soldier of Prestbury, folklore and literature are filled with spectral horses and their riders. Music, too, contains its own roster of equine phantoms, including the grey mare of Tom Pearce that returns on moonlit nights after dying while taking travelers to Widecombe Fair. With the earliest publications appearing in 1889 within Songs and Ballads of the West, the song, based on a Devon folktale which may have been inspired by real-life events at the beginning of the nineteenth century, has seen many renditions but its basic premise remains the same: Tom Pearce (sometimes called Tam Peirce) lends his horse to take a group of people to the country fair in Widecombe only to have the animal die during the trek and return as a ghost.[1]

Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your grey mare.
All along, down along, out along lea.
For I want for to go to Widecombe Fair,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

And when shall I see again my grey mare?
All along, down along, out along lea.
By Friday soon, or Saturday noon,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

So they harnessed and bridled the old grey mare.
All along, down along, out along lea.
And off they drove to Widecombe fair,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

Then Friday came, and Saturday noon.
All along, down along, out along lea.
But Tom Pearce’s old mare hath not trotted home,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

So Tom Pearce, he got up to the top o’ the hill.
All along, down along, out along lea.
And he seed his old mare down a-making her will,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

So Tom Pearce’s old mare, her took sick and died.
All along, down along, out along lea.
And Tom he sat down on a stone, and he cried
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

But this isn’t the end o’ this shocking affair.
All along, down along, out along lea.
Nor, though they be dead, of the horrid career
Of Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

When the wind whistles cold on the moor of the night.
All along, down along, out along lea.
Tom Pearce’s old mare doth appear ghastly white,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.

And all the long night be heard skirling and groans.
All along, down along, out along lea.
From Tom Pearce’s old mare in her rattling bones,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney,
Peter Davy, Dan’l Whiddon, Harry Hawke,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.[2]

Works Referenced

“Uncle Tom Cobley and All…” BBC, 27 June 2008, https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2008/05/22/widecombe_fair_song_feature.shtml

“Widdecombe Fair.” Songs of the West: Folk Sings of Devon and Cornwall Collected from the Mouths of the People. 7th ed. Eds. S. Baring-Gould, H. Fleetwood Sheppard, and F.W. Bussell. London: Methuen and Company, 1928. 33.
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[1]”Uncle Tom Colbey and All…”
[2] “Widdecombe Fair,” 33.