Poetry
The Village of Northorpe
(1)
The village of Northorpe is a very nice place
(??????) therein to carry on a disgrace
From the top of the street to the bottom I’ll go
And I will tell you of every house I know.
(2)
The first house in Northorpe there lives Mr. Gray
How nice he can sing, his wife she can play
But sometimes when he sings he gets very high
The people can’t reach it to sing if they try.
(3)
But the next house I think I may venture to say
There lives an old lady, tea and sugar does weigh
For it was a farmhouse years ago I can tell
But now tea & sugar and tobacco does sell.
(4)
But the next house that on the opposite side
By(??) farmer(??) & Grocer’s now occupied
Sometimes you may see the young Grocer about
With his watch in his pocket and his charm hanging out.
(5)
But the next house you see stands on a hill
There lives Mr. Hare, Edis and Bill
But the man that lives next the people will knows
Poor Michael begins to stoop as he goes.
(6)
But the next house you see is not very small
The people therein are not very tall
Sometimes you may hear an organ sound sweet
As you turn round the corner to go down the street.
(7)
Now the two little tenements just over the way
Are two very nice homes, I think I may say
I mean the two houses just facing the green
That is now occupied by Bullimore & Bean.
(8)
But the next house I get to, I think I am sure
I see boot & shoe maker over the door
For the railings in front are now painted white
And the vine on the wall looks a beautiful sight.
(9)
And the next house stands on the way side
I think I may say is not occupied
For it is now a long time since a tenant lived there
So I think the old house must be out of repair.
(10)
But the next two tiled(??) houses as you go down the street
There lives Mr Knipe, Charlie, and Brown
But the next you see not far from the wall
There lives a young farmer he is not very tall.
(11)
By the house you may see there is a garret
And the name of the owner is Mr Larratt
The people in the next that lives I know very well
For is now Uncle William and Aunt Charlotte Pell.
(12)
Now the people that lives stands very gain
Lives Mrs Cutting, Mark, Arthur and Jane
As you go round the corner the house near the well
There lives Mr Knipe next door to John Pell.
(13)
If you call in the next house and find everyone
There lives Margaret, Inman, Annie and John
They have pulled down the old and built up the new
For they were a disgrace to stand in view.
(14)
But the next house you may see the steps so white
There lives a young farmer and his name is Caleb Knipe
He was a draper at London I know years ago
But he came down to Northorpe to reap and sow.
(15)
In the next on the opposite side
You find a School master with his book open wide
For he was a coal dealer till he found it a bother
And he lives in the house that is next door to Roger.
(16)
In the next house you see just over the way
You may find a handorgan how nice it will play
You have nothing to do only twiddle it round
And sweetly and charming the music will sound.
(17)
The Vickers lives next in the house next door
But about Mr Vickers I shall now say no more
It is no use of me telling you what I don’t know
So a little way further down the street I must go.
(18)
In the next house lives Mr Fields and John T. Snart (?)
In the yard you may find a nice Donkey Cart
But the lady that lives in the next I don’t know
But imprisons her servants one after one as they go.
(19)
But the man that lives I often have seen
Some one in the night burnt down his machine
So I think he must be a most unlucky man
So his living he now has to earn if as he can.
(20)
At the next house to get to again the gate theres a tree
There lives Uncle Cooper and Uncle Tom you may see
One night Uncle Tom got very tight
And lay all his length on the bank late at night.
(21)
A tradesman lives next, a preacher as well
A good tale on a platform sometimes he will tell
He has land and no horse but sometimes keeps a pig
When he goes out preaching he rides in a gig.
(22)
Now the next fine brick houses are all on one estate
You may find Mr Knipe as you go in the gate
But the people that lives next I really don’t know
But Thorpe(??), Kemp and Stevenson lives in a row.
(23)
The Needham lives next near the gate
He is steward of all that lives on the estate
But the next row of houses you see near the well
What sociable neighbours I really can’t tell.
(24)
Now the man that lives next in the big house near the street
In a brass band of music sometimes you may meet
In the next house lives Holmes I often have seen
Goes round to the farmers thrashing by steam.
(25)
I must now go a little way back up the street
For I have missed that fine house where lives Mr Sneath
Mr Sneath is a farmer a young married man
He’s a good local preacher and his name’s on the plan.
(26)
Then Goodacre lives next a farmer you know
Very nice nights upon wheels about the streets he can go
A Machineman lives next a farmer as well
For he often has corn and potatoes to sell.
(27)
In the next house you see there lives Mr Peck(??)
When he worked at the Crown he soon got the sack
For he was the head foreman to manage the farm
The corn its misplant it gave an alarm.
(28)
Then Cooper lives next what he is I don’t know
For he was a keeper over game years ago
But what he is not I really can’t say
But next lives young Needham just over the way.
(29)
Young Needham I mean by the name I call Bill
Then Bryan the farmer that lives on the hill
But the next house you see with the wall washed white
There lives a Machineman his name Samuel Knipe.
(30)
But the next house you see where the walls are so red
There lives Mr Fields next door Mr Head
As you go down to get to the well
The next house belongs to the mill you can tell.
Composed by Isiah Holiday
It must be assumed that the original, beautifully handwritten version, from which this was typed,
was prepared for him by someone else as both his Christian name and surname at the bottom are
mis-spelt!
This typed version is entirely as the original with no attempt to correct punctuation or capitalisation.
The bracketed numbers are verse numbers, not house numbers.
The original has some age-related damage down the left-hand side of its first page.
Question marks have been added where we are unable to read or are unsure of certain words.
Isaiah Holliday (correct spellings) was born in 1849 and died in 1917.
Therefore, this poem must have been composed before, or at the very latest during, the Great War.
Our guess is that it was composed earlier as there is no mention of any young men of the village
being away fighting for their country as would have been likely had it been contemporary.
JWK/SK 05/09/2023
Thurlby Village together with Northorpe 