The Parson & the Songmen
The Reverend Sabine Baring Gould was an exceptional parson and squire from Devonshire, England.
He is probably best remembered as the composer of the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.
Born in Exeter in 1834, he died at his estate, Lewtrenchard Manor in West Devon, in 1924.
As 2024 is the centenary of his death it gives me the opportunity to spotlight what he considered to be the most important achievement of his life, that of collecting the old folk songs of Devonshire, and later Cornwall, as he termed it, 'from the mouths of the people'.
Join me as I tell stories about, and sing songs from, this far from ordinary Victorian country parson as he travelled by pony and trap across his native Devonshire seeking out songs that now form a major part of the English folk song tradition.
The Parson & the Songmen
Latest Episodes
S4 6 'An Intriguing Creation'
Hello and welcome to the 67th (yes, you read correctly...) episode of The Parson and The Songmen!In this episode we thought it was high time that we visited the home of Sabine Baring-Gould - Lewtrenchard Manor - on the western edge of Da...
S4 5 Its Flora Day Again!
Hi Folks,We thought it would be fitting to continue to celebrate this very special time of year by revisiting Series 2, Episode 2 of The Parson and the Songmen series. Like Series 2, Episode 1, which we uploaded for you last week, this p...
S4 4 Oss Oss Wee Oss! For Summer Is A-Coming Today!
Hi Folks, and a Merry May Day to One And All!In a fit of May Day frivolity, we thought it would be fitting to revisit S2 1, released on May 1st 2024, which took us to the Padstow May Day celebration, tells winter that enough is eno...
S4 3 A Foolish Man Builds His House On Sand
...Or does he?Visit The Castle in Bude, on the North Cornish coast, and you will see a substantial building that has been resting happily on sand dunes for nearly 200 years!Mike has been a volunteer at The Castle Museum and Herita...
S4 2 Ghoulies and Ghosties and Long Leggedy Beasties...
Well here we are, it's been a while, but here is the second episode in the fourth series of The Parson and the Songmen!One of the themes for this series will be to explore Sabine Baring-Gould's other interests, apart from folk song colle...
