Hanging Heaton Anthem

I was first told about a song called "The Hanging Heaton Anthem" in 1968 when I first moved to Batley. Seven years later in 1975 I was talking to one of the locals, ‘Little Leonard’ Baraclough in the New Inn, Purwell Lane and he happened to mention that he used to sing it years ago. He sang me all that he could remember, but said he had all the words written down at home. He promised to sort out the words for me, which he subsequently did. Leonard told me he had learned it from a comedian named Teddy Worth, who performed it for several years running, in pantomime, at the Theatre Royal, Dewsbury in the mid-1920s.

Theatre Royal Dewsbury Bill Poster from 1901

Theatre Royal Dewsbury Bill
Dawson & Son Printers 1901

Hanging Heaton Anthem

Now I took her for a walk rahnd Hanging Heaton
Then I brought her down Commonside
I said if tha'll be good
As'll tak thi up Caulms Wood
But she said she'd rather go on't Watter Side.
Soa we got on a tram as far as West Town
Past Boat Sam's, and Watergate and then
She said I lived at Ossett, I said I lived at Dewsbury
So tha'll go up Wakefield Cutting by thisen.

Now I took her for a walk as far as Batley
I took her down Well Lane and then
I says if tha wants
Ah'll tak thi to thi Aunts
But she said she'd rather goa ta a dance.
Soa I took her to Galleon Ballroom
And we danced, and danced, and danced
And danced till then,
She said I lived at Batley
Soa I said I lived at Dewsbury
Soa tha'll go up Bradford Road bi thi sen.

Ahm bahn t' wed a lass that comes from Staincliffe
And we'll build our house up Crow Nest way
If I'm lucky in mi search
We'll be wed at Boothroyd Church
And J & B's will give the bride away.
We'll go and spend our honeymoon at Chickenley
Then I'll get a job at Ellis's then I'll try
And when Dewsbury's made a city
I'll be on the watch committee
And I might be Mayor of Gawthorpe when I die.

Wooded area in distance, town in foreground

Caulms Wood from Dewsbury

This song recounts the tale of a young couple’s courtship and perambulations around Hanging Heaton and the local neighbourhood. Hanging Heaton is a village on a steep hillside partly above both the towns of Batley and Dewsbury, Commonside is one of the main thoroughfares in the village, and Caulms Wood is a woodland area close by. West Town is the part of Dewsbury in which the Irish workers who came to the town to build the roads, railways and canals settled.

Bridge over a canal with building beside it

Boat Sam’s, on the River Calder.

Waterside, a popular place in the 1920s for a constitutional walk along the bank of the River Calder in Dewsbury.
Boat Sam’s, local name for the business on the riverbank where rowing boats could be hired.
Watergate, a road leading down to the Riverside and home of Crown Sports, a company that manufactured hand made cricket bats.

Old photo showing a tram and a cart coming down a steep road

Wakefield Cutting, Wakefield Road, Dewsbury

Dewsbury, a historic market, minster, and mill town in West Yorkshire.
Ossett, a market town about halfway between Dewsbury and Wakefield, approximately three miles. Ossett cum Gawthorpe was once a township in the ancient parish of Dewsbury.
Wakefield Cutting, made in 1813 on the Wakefield Road, a cutting through a steep hill, to help reduce the steepness of descent into Dewsbury.

Old photo of market place and street with town hall

Batley Market Place and Town Hall

Batley, famous for the invention of the man-made fibres, Mungo and Shoddy.
Well Lane is a short road, in Batley linking Bradford Road to Commercial Street and the town centre.
The Galleon Ballroom was a ballroom in Dewsbury at the junction of Halifax Road and Wellington Road. Originally built in 1895 as the Trinity Congregational Chapel, it was converted into a ballroom with a cinema above it in 1920. For a short while it was called ‘The Palais de Danse’, but changed its name to the Galleon Ballroom with the Rex Cinema above.
Bradford Road, the main road from Dewsbury to Bradford that passes through Batley.
Staincliffe, a district on top of a hill between Dewsbury, Batley and Heckmondwike.

Boothroyd Church

Crow Nest Park, a park in the Boothroyd/Dewsbury Moor region of the town, opened to the public in 1893.

Boothroyd Church, the Church of St John the Evangelist situated in Boothroyd, an area to the west of Dewsbury.

Old photo of large victorian building department store

J & B’s Department Store

J & B's was a department store on the corner of Corporation street in Dewsbury. It was founded by Mr. J. Johnson with a partner named Mr. N. Balmford, hence J & B’s.
The four-storey building with twelve departments opened in 1904 with the slogan, "If you need it, J & B’s can supply it!"

Joshua Ellis & Co Woolen Manufacturers

Chickenley, a small village halfway between Dewsbury and Ossett.

Ellis's, Joshua Ellis & Co Woolen Manufactures Batley Carr Mills, established in 1767 and over 250 years later still producing the finest cashmere and woolen fabrics to the world’s leading fashion houses.

Gawthorpe Maypole

Gawthorpe is a village roughly midway between Wakefield and Dewsbury, famous for its Maypole Celebrations. The first recorded permanent maypole there was established in 1850, and ever since the Mayday Celebrations have taken place on the first Saturday in May each year.

Since 1963 Gawthorpe, every Easter Monday hosts the World Coal Carrying Championships, where contestants race with a sack of coal on their shoulders, starting at the Royal Oak on Owl Lane, and finishing at the maypole in the village.

About Mick

Mick Haywood is a traditional folk singer & folk song collector who has run and organised folk clubs and festivals for many years. He now lives in Whitby, North Yorkshire.

Mick Haywood's Song Wordbook

Batley Years

Hanging Heaton Anthem

Hanging Heaton Anthem

About Mick

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