The Weardale Miners managed to scrape a living in the lead mines around Stanhope - that is until the Duke of wellington won at Waterloo, and the lead industry declined...
lyrics
From the ground to the foundry,
To the barrel of the gun,
It was Weardale Lead that had them on the run.
Now the fighting’s done, and old Boney’s gone,
So the Weardale mines are gone, gone,
The Weardale mines are gone.
We broke the rock ‘til our fingers bled
To feed the old Brown Bess with lead
We moulded, shaped, tiled and cast
Fine musket balls, strong so fast.
Of finest Weardale Lead
There was work for us all, good times at last,
Work for the war, for Weardale ore,
Break and wash, sift and sort
How could we know it was all for naught?
Our finest Weardale Lead
‘C’mon boys!’ Came the clarion call,
‘Make shot for the lads, make the enemy fall’.
But when the battle’s done, and the work gone too,
Tell me, what’s a man to do?
Now the Army says they don’t need us any more
So how does a man bring food to the door?
The mines close down, the miners out
on their ear in the cold, cast out to shout
Buy our finest Weardale Lead
They rail and roar, for justice call
While the rich get richer and the miners fall
For the mines are done and work’s gone too,
Tell me what’s a man to do?
So my dear lad, tell me if you can
How to feed our bairns, or farm the land
You’ll have to go out on the moors by night
And find the bonny moorhen, by pale moonlight
Instead of finest Weardale Lead
The bishop will curse and the lord may rail
But we need food, and ther’es none to say
That we didn’t pay our part, never gave our due
Tell me what’s a man to do?
Fool's Gold is Carol and Steve Robson. They're based in the North East of the UK, and present multimedia performances all over the UK. Live shows are just that: no tapes or backing. The recordings take that a bit further...
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