My Podcasts

The Reverend Sabine Baring Gould was an exceptional parson and squire from Devonshire, England. He is probably best remembered as the composer of the hymn 'Onward Christian Soldiers'.

Born in Exeter in 1834, he died at his estate, Lewtrenchard Manor in West Devon, in 1924.

As 2024 is the centenary of his death it gives me the opportunity to spotlight what he considered to be the most important achievement of his life, that of collecting the old folk songs of Devonshire, and later Cornwall, as he termed it, 'from the mouths of the people'.

Join me as I tell stories about, and sing songs from, this far from ordinary Victorian country parson as he travelled by pony and trap across his native Devonshire seeking out songs that now form a major part of the English folk song tradition.

Podcast Series One

I have often been asked if I ever plan to write a book about the Rev Sabine -Gould (BG) and his song collecting? My stock answer is No. As in the last 80 years the Rev Gentleman has been the subject of a collection of articles and books written about him. At least eight biographies that I know of four of which have been by parsons. But, how was I to tell my story of BG and his song collecting if not in a book? I questioned what else was there for me to use to tell my story to a new audience?....

Podcast Series Two

Welcome to the second episode of the second series of The Parson and the Songmen. In this series we follow the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould on further folk song collecting trips, not this time in Devon, but in neighbouring Cornwall. In this episode....

Podcast Series Three

In this episode we join Sabine on a further song collecting trip into Cornwall, this time to St Mawgan, situated a few miles south of Padstow on the North Coast of the County. Here he visited a pub with a reputation for hosting singers, The Fal....

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