INSTALLATION OF CIVIL WAR CANNONBALL AT MARRIOTT'S WAREHOUSE TRUST SAT. JUNE 3 10.30am.

(Part of Local History Day)

 The cannonball in all its glory, now on permanent public display at Marriott's Warehouse

The Ballad of the Backwoods Cavalier  (lyrics at end of this blogpost)

 The Ballad of Freeborn John (lyrics at end of this blogpost)

"'I spilled my blood so I need a voice,'/ Said Freeborn John at Putney..."

Dr Paul Richards, who gave an excellent talk about the Siege, with the other Marriott's Warehouse Trustees, along with performers on the day Andy (hidden) and Gareth

The cannonball as presented to Gareth by Veronica Lane

This 17^th century cannonball dates from the Civil War and was found in a field near King’s Lynn. It was given to Gareth Calway by Veronica Lane whilst he was touring with his Oliver Cromwell show. Gareth then presented the cannonball to Marriott’s Warehouse Trust in 2016. During the Civil War the town suffered a three-week siege from 28^th August to 15^th September 1643 following a Royalist coup. Parliamentarian forces blockaded the town to the east and by sea, while cannons were fired across the River Ouse from West Lynn. On 3^rd September 1643 one cannonball went through St. Margaret’s Church’s west window.

The Siege of Lynn was very important in terms of the Civil War and also because of its impact on the population of Lynn.  To mark the occasion, Gareth will join with Andy Wall director of Ely Folk Festival to perform "The Ballad of Freeborn John" their song about the issues at stake in the Civil War and declaim his comic ballad "The Ballad of The Backwoods Cavalier" which tells the story of the Siege as PG Wodehouse might have told it! Dr Paul Richards will deliver a short talk about the impact of the Siege on Lynn's population.

                The Ballad of The Backwoods Cavalier 

My father leapt upon his high horse

And galloped it hard into Lynn,

“I seize this Parliamentary town,

Declare it for the King!”

“You have no mandate!” cried Mayor and MPs

Laughed Dad, “Arrest those knaves!

Cavalier bravado has come to town

Which you from yourselves I’ll save.”

Though Cromwell’s preachies at the Gate

Of Lynn as at Heaven knock,

Our stained glass windows shoot all to hell,

Our royal passage block,

We are the laughing cavaliers

And we need a royal 'we'

Now it's weeing down with cannonballs

And the last laugh is on me.

 Say I “Great king, your royal East

And loyal Lynn, I’ll re-seize ’em,

They’re rebels for Your Majesty

And I’m the man to lead ’em!”

The king he writes a broad letter

And thrusts it into my hand,

“Roger L’Estrange shall rule in Lynn

With phantoms I command.”

We live and die a chevalier’s life,

And we spend a royal p.

On a black marble floor for our horse's hooves

And a falconer and a fool for me.

We are the laughing cavaliers

And we need a royal 'we'

Now it's weeing down with cannonballs

And the last laugh is on me.

.

From Oxford Town to Norfolk woods

The four winds see me ride

And show my fine letter to a Jack

His poor coat to turn or bribe.

‘Captain Leaman’ is that seaman,

Cries he, ‘Er, we’ll talk anon,

I must now to Lynn awhile but will

Return here to Appleton.”

He rides to Colonel Walton and brings

Six redcoats in disguise,

“Show us His Royal Traitor’s hand!’

They pinch me as a spy.

We are the laughing cavaliers

And we need a royal 'we'

Now it's weeing down with cannonballs

And the last laugh is on ...we.

© Gareth Calway 2015

                The Ballad of Freeborn John

The bloodiest war in our history

And one in four of us died

For a castled king on a stagnant throne

In a revolutionary tide.

‘I spilt my blood so I need a voice!’

Cries Freeborn John at Putney,

‘Who dies for England is England’s king,

We are no grandee’s army.

‘The poorest man in England has

The right to live as the greatest,

Our God’s the All in all, our king’s

The Christ in every breast.’

The bloodiest war in our history

And one in four of us died

For a castled king on a stagnant throne

And a revolutionary tide.

We’re the voice of the Freeborn Englishman

That was raised at Magna Carta,

The Dissenting flag of the Good Old Cause, 

The common or garden martyr.

I rose with Tyler, Straw and Ball 

When peasants shook the kingdom, 

I was sold down that river of blood by a king

Who hawked the soul of England.

We need no manor house and land

To fix our permanent interest,

We fight for England, our rights and ourselves:

No mercenary business.

The bloodiest war in our history

And one in four of us died

For a castled king on a stagnant throne

And a revolutionary tide.

I will rise at Kett’s Hill and Tolpuddle,

I will fall at Peterloo,

March to Chartist hell and a Newport hotel 

To win this Britain for you,

Die a million deaths in two world wars

Though the portion’s not so many

As died for Charles, that Man of Blood, 

And in our redcoat Army.

A new model England truly advanced,

Through rank and royal sin

In a cavalry charge to a Future Now

Whose God Not Man Is King.*

The bloodiest war in our history

And one in four of us died

For a castled king on a stagnant throne

And a revolutionary tide.

© Gareth Calway 2015

*the epitaph on Cromwell’s tomb

Bad King John? (Done different)

THAT'S A RAP JOHN - the unveiling, speeches and the rap.

Bronze Statue of King John to be placed in the town centre
KLFM blogpost and video of the event (scroll down to Oct 12 on Si's blog)
THE BALLAD OF BADASS KING JOHN video

Hear the studio version of The Ballad of Badass King John 

The poem is published in Doin Different )

BBC TV LOOK EAST NEWS FEATURE  (including a clip of the live rap and interview wth yours truly) 12 minutes in

Hear the Hunstanton Millennium Anthem (Calway-Sims, 2000, live at the Town hall) my previous essay in civic service

Does he have a special relationship with Lynn? Lynn News interview with Dr Paul Richards
King John's part in the history of Lynn from its beginnings until Stuart times is depicted below by schoolchildren taking part in 'The Murals in the Town' project in 2004. The 2004 King John Charter celebration was managed by the '800th Anniversary Committee' (Cllrs + Aldermen + reps from KLF and other town cultural bodies) set up by the Council and chaired by Sir Jeremy Bagge. The QEH was involved also and the murals now adorn a corridor there.

Before 1204

 King John's charter (pictured to his left) after which we were Bishop's Lynn (Lynn Episcopi)

 The King who put the King in King's Lynn- shifting his allegiance from the church (which he stripped of wealth and its social role in the town) to the Protestant merchants

Stuart Lynn, with witch burnings and a thriving trade well worth securing for the Parliamentarian side in the Civil War.


Some extra facts from Dr Richards I didn't have room to include in the published Lynn News features:
Bishop Losinga (of Norwich), was the original ruler and founder of Lynn and bishops of Norwich controlled Lynn as part of its diocese - all of Norfolk and Suffolk in those days. Norwich had 100 Benedictine monks and St Margaret's priory, Lynn,  was where they sent the troublesome ones!

The King John Cup (which like the Sword you can see in the Town hall) was made in Flanders in the C14 and its beautiful workmanship has deservedly been toured all over Europe.

The King John sword dates from Henry VIII's reign and like the Cup surfaced in ceremonials relating to the Charter. The names of both link the object with the king the Great Guild probably saw as their (1204) founder.  

These are symbolic links - John did not carry the sword or drink from the cup as is often believed - but nevertheless a powerful one.

The man who really put the 'King' into King's Lynn was Henry VIII who deprived the church of wealth and a social role in the port-town in 1537, 'to have an end to our Lord of Norwich.' This was partly grist to the dissolution and Reformation mill, partly Henry's personal hatred for the Norwich bishop of the time, Bishop Nix. After the fall of Katherine of Aragon, Henry threw in his lot with a great and lucrative rival to the church's power, the Protestant merchants and the rule of Lynn was given to them.

The association of the King in King's Lynn with it being a royalist town during the Civil War is nonsense - it was called King's Lynn from 1537 (Henry VIII) and anyway, the town had elected Parliamentarians as its two MPs and mayor and the royalist coup d'etat staged by Hamon Lestrange and his backwoods cavaliers was very short-lived (August-September 1643).

King John was buried (as a monk) at Worcester Cathedral - he was still intact until they crowbarred off the lid off his tomb in the last century upon which exposure to the air he disintegrated. He was buried there at his own request because St Wulfstan, to which Worcester Cathedral is dedicated, was his favourite saint.

Paul used my Ballad of Badass King John to introduce his True's Yard talk 'Is there a special relationship between King John and Lynn' (Sep 29, 2016) 

Lynn News Review of that talk here.

The Angevins were Very Bad,

And Worst of All was John:

As foul as hell is, it’s defiled

By Eleanor’s Little One.

Usurped his Lionhearted Bro,

The One Good Angevin;

Jugged Merry Freeborn English (yay!)

Forest-flying Robin.

Villain of the Good/Bad History

School and book and song,

‘Inadequate with some Capone’

John. King John. …Bad King John.

In 1216 at all time low,

His ‘soft sword’ half advanced,

His shrunk-crown empire Richard-pawned,

Normandy lost to France, (pah!)

Despised by all those Magna barons

Carting him to heel

Flinging him to French invaders

And Abdullah’s deal:

England given to Mohammed!

A rock moored off Morocco,

Hapless John at bay and 4 years

Excommunicado.

Villain of the Good/Bad History

School and book and song,

‘Inadequate with some Capone’

John. King John. …Bad King John.

From Lynn, he armied up to Lincoln

As the Wellstream rose,

Despised by Emperor, peasant, guild;

His Rome-rule churches closed;

3000 men, wheels coming off,

Up creek without a guide;

The royal dosh lost in the Wash -

He never lost our pride.

Three wheels on my wagon

And I'm still rolling along,

I'm wicked, selfish, lecherous, cruel,

You learned about me in your school,

Now I'm under the cosh, lost my dosh in the Wash

But I'm singing a happy song.

For out in Norfolk we do different,

And his haven, it was Lynn,

Their domain he made our borough

Gallant little Linnet king.

Victim of the Good/Bad History

School and book and song,

His Brother’s Bad Book Good Book Keeper

John. King John. …Good King John.

pic (and Trespass pic above) by Pat Jones