Weirdo Website Exclusive Captain Swing
In the days before Weirdo…
In Cathi Unsworth's novel Weirdo investigator Sean Ward travels down to the seaside resort of Ernemouth in Norfolk entering a landscape haunted by witchcraft, civil war and social upheaval.
Cathi writes:
During the English Civil War of 1642-1651, Norfolk was a staunchly Parliamentarian county, and while Oliver Cromwell and his New Model Army pitched up here, a figure of nightmare travelled in their wake. Matthew Hopkins, the Witchfinder General, was responsible for the torture, persecution and death of 300 women in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex between 1644 and 1646. In the Tolhouse Prison of Gt Yarmouth, the model for my fictional Ernemouth Tollhouse, he held court over witch trials that resulted in many public hangings. Sean will find the echoes of those days continue to ripple through his investigation in 2003.
A figure appeared who would inspire them
Two centuries later, this landscape saw another uprising. After the implementation of the Enclosures Act, six million acres of common land had been taken away from the rural poor by 1830. In the two years prior to this date, the combination of the introduction of the Threshing Machine with two ruined harvests in a row had left hundreds and thousands of land workers starving, destitute and in fear of the approaching winter.
Then a figure appeared who would inspire them and unite them. His name was Captain Swing.
Sean first sees his name on the sign hanging over the pub where all Ernemouth’s weirdos, past and present, convene. He determines to find out more.
Under the Captain’s banner, the rural poor rose. Attacking the new machinery, setting fire to crops and circling the churches where the landowners met, they would appear under cover of darkness and melt away once their work was done, leaving the Captain’s letters behind them. The movement spread rapidly throughout 16 counties, inspiring a very real fear that the Terrors inflicted on the French aristocracy were re-igniting in the English countryside.
Then a figure appeared who would inspire them and unite them. His name was Captain Swing.
Sean first sees his name on the sign hanging over the pub where all Ernemouth’s weirdos, past and present, convene. He determines to find out more.
Under the Captain’s banner, the rural poor rose. Attacking the new machinery, setting fire to crops and circling the churches where the landowners met, they would appear under cover of darkness and melt away once their work was done, leaving the Captain’s letters behind them. The movement spread rapidly throughout 16 counties, inspiring a very real fear that the Terrors inflicted on the French aristocracy were re-igniting in the English countryside.
Captain Swing could not be caught
Because Captain Swing could not be caught: he was everyone and no one. You could say that his modern equivalent is the hacker group Anonymous. I would like to think that whenever people unite in the face of oppression, The Captain reappears.
The Captain Swing Quartet was originally intended as one of four Prologues for each of the quarters of Weirdo, that explained a little of The Captain’s story in this part of Norfolk, including the trial and subsequent execution of Richard Nockolds, whose crime had been to try and teach the weavers of St Augustine's in Norwich how to read. It has now morphed into a collaboration between myself and the composer and musician Paul A Murphy, who has vividly brought alive this haunted landscape with an eerie musical score fashioned by his Orchaostra, featuring Michael Meekin on acoustic Flying V and the stunning vocal talents of Rosie Howell.
The piece has been beautifully set into its sonic surrounds by producer Pete Woodhead, my seasoned collaborator responsible for the previous Transmissions from Bad Penny Blues. The accompanying, evocative visuals have been hand crafted by the multi-talented artist Sal Pittman, also of the Parish of Ernemouth/Yarmouth.
Captain Swing was inspired by the book Unquiet County: Voices of the Rural Poor by Robert Lee (Windgatherer Press). It is from there that I took the true story of the procession of townsfolk with their effigy, and relocated it to the marshland of Brydon Water, where in Weirdo, Sean finds some unusual allies. Unquiet Country also includes an account of the trail of Richard Nockolds and his three 'accomplices', including the traitor Josiah Davison.
We hope you will enjoy them.
The Captain Swing Quartet was originally intended as one of four Prologues for each of the quarters of Weirdo, that explained a little of The Captain’s story in this part of Norfolk, including the trial and subsequent execution of Richard Nockolds, whose crime had been to try and teach the weavers of St Augustine's in Norwich how to read. It has now morphed into a collaboration between myself and the composer and musician Paul A Murphy, who has vividly brought alive this haunted landscape with an eerie musical score fashioned by his Orchaostra, featuring Michael Meekin on acoustic Flying V and the stunning vocal talents of Rosie Howell.
The piece has been beautifully set into its sonic surrounds by producer Pete Woodhead, my seasoned collaborator responsible for the previous Transmissions from Bad Penny Blues. The accompanying, evocative visuals have been hand crafted by the multi-talented artist Sal Pittman, also of the Parish of Ernemouth/Yarmouth.
Captain Swing was inspired by the book Unquiet County: Voices of the Rural Poor by Robert Lee (Windgatherer Press). It is from there that I took the true story of the procession of townsfolk with their effigy, and relocated it to the marshland of Brydon Water, where in Weirdo, Sean finds some unusual allies. Unquiet Country also includes an account of the trail of Richard Nockolds and his three 'accomplices', including the traitor Josiah Davison.
We hope you will enjoy them.
| Captain Swing Part One |
File Info: 9.7 MB mp3 file encoded at 320 kbs
| Captain Swing Part Two |
File Info: 8.4 MB mp3 file encoded at 320 kbs
| Captain Swing Part Three |
File Info: 8.3 MB mp3 file encoded at 320 kbs
| Captain Swing Part Four |
File Info: 15. 2 MB mp3 file encoded at 320 kbs