The hunting songs and singing tradition of the Cumbrian Lakeland Fell Packs

Sometimes referred to as ‘The anthem of Cumbria,’ ‘John Peel’ is a folk song known the world over. Following its inclusion in The National Song Book of 1906 (and subsequent volumes in 1938 and 1958), ‘John Peel’ was sung in schools and homes across England and became, in particular, the most famous Lakeland Hunting Song. Yet there appears never to have been any academic enquiry conducted into this singing tradition, attached in specific to the Lakeland Fell Packs. This thesis, therefore, seeks to address this gap in folk music and ethnomusicological scholarship by revealing the sociocultural importance of this tradition through a study of Lakeland Hunting Songs: their history, texts, and tunes.
Lakeland Hunting remains a very much ‘living tradition,’ and over the course of around six years I have compiled 313 Lakeland Hunting Songs from a variety of sources, including multiple live recordings made at so-called ‘sing-songs.’ The songs themselves, though they are cited and sometimes quoted, do not make up the body of this thesis, however. Part 1 begins by outlining my role, attending specifically to my status as a partial insider, as well as summarising the methodology and techniques used in the course of this study. Part 2 charts an initial history of the Lakeland Hunting Song tradition: how it started; how it has changed over time; and how it might continue. Part 3 looks at the texts by way of comparisons first with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century hunting songs and then with Bothy Ballads, before considering the tunes of the songs in my collection; it aspires to understand what might be meant by the term ‘Lakeland Hunting Song.’
Overall, it is my hope that this study will act as a catalyst for further research into this regional singing tradition—one which is seemingly of great sociocultural importance for the people still inhabiting these Lakeland communities today.