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The Halsway Carol

[Nigel Eaton, Ian Frisk]

Haddo (Will and Nicky Pound) played The Halsway Carol on their 2014 CD Borderlands.

Siobhán Kennedy sang The Halsway Carol, accompanied by herself on flute and fiddle and by Jens Kommnick on piano, on her 2014 CD Séid. She noted:

It was via Jens that I first came across this lovely melody composed by hurdy gurdy player Nigel Eaton. Falling in love with it immediately, I was really delighted to find out that Iain Frisk had written lyrics to it! Thank you both for letting me record your lovely work.

Jens Kommnick played the Halsway Schottische on his 2015 album Redwood. He noted:

The great Six Bars Jail guitar club in Italy’s Florence was the location of my first Italian solo gig in 2011. After the concert, a member of the audience and fellow guitarist Silvano Ceranto brought my attention to a wonderful melody that I’d never heard before. That melody was the Halsway Schottische composed by the English hurdy-gurdy-player Nigel Eaton. On meeting Nigel some time later he told me how he’d composed the piece quite spontaneously whilst teaching a workshop at the idyllic Halsway Manor in Somerset, England. He was climbing a staircase with a bouree in 2/4 going around in his head, however, he felt it was lacking a few notes, so he mentally changed it into 2/2 timing and thus the Halsway Schottische was born. My thanks to Nigel, not only for sharing this lovely story, but also for his encouragement to create and record my own version of his work.

Jackie Oates sang The Halsway Carol in 2015 on her ECC album The Spyglass & the Herringbone. and in 2025 on her and John Spier’s album A Midwinter’s Night. She noted on the first album:

A beautiful schottische composed by Nigel Eaton, with words written by lain Frisk.

Johnny Coppin sang Halsway Carol on his 2016 album All on a Winter’s Night. He noted:

A midwinter carol named after Halsway Manor, The National Centre for Folk Arts.

The Furrow Collective recorded Halsway Carol in December 2021 at Halsway Manor, Crowcombe, Somerset for their December 2022 download EP, The Longest Night.

Lyrics

Siobhan Kennedy sings The Halsway Carol

Lo for the tiding of the long night moon
Let the sunrise call about the morning soon
Short is the biding of the fading light
Sing for the coming of the longest night

North wind tell us what we need to know
When the stars are shining on the midnight snow
All of the branches will be turned to white
Sing of the coming of the longest night

Chorus:
A winter day, the summer grass turned hay
Frost in the field ’til the dawn of May
A summer’s light never shone as great or as bright
So dance in the shadows of a winter’s night

Lo for the tiding of the long night moon
May the harvest last until the springtime bloom
Home is our comfort at the winter’s height
Sing for the coming of the longest night

All of the colours of the sunrise sky
Shine a light upon us, as the day goes by
Sun setting shadows fading out of sight
Sing for the coming of the longest night

Chorus (×3)