The Song Detectorists
The Song Detectorists follows the work of the Music, Heritage, Project team as we work with local historians and archivists to excavate the musical treasures in England’s county record offices. The episodes visit Norfolk, West Yorkshire, Cornwall, Hampshire and Northumberland, and tunes from each archive are re-imagined in performances by Nancy Kerr and the Melrose Quartet.
The Song Detectorists is presented by Matthew Bannister and produced by Natalie Steed of Rhubarb Rhubarb. It was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on 12 to 16 May 2025.
Follow the links below to hear the episodes on BBC Sounds and to watch the full tracks by the Melrose Quartet.
Episode 1: Norfolk
Matthew Bannister is in Norwich to visit the Norfolk County Record Office where researchers have found some remarkable manuscripts including an 18th century music book from a village band in Mileham and a ballad written by a woman ousted from her home in the 17th century. Nancy Kerr has made new musical arrangements for her band The Melrose Quartet. As dusk falls, Matthew visits the remains of the magnificent Hales Hall deep in the Norfolk countryside.
We hear from Stephen Rose of Royal Holloway, Bridget Yates, a local researcher, and music performed by the Melrose Quartet: Nancy Kerr, James Fagan, and Jess and Richard Arrowsmith.
Episode 2: West Yorkshire
Matthew Bannister visits Nostell Priory, a grand Palladian house just outside Wakefield, which was the home of Louisa Winn from about 1819. Louisa was an accomplished musician and transcriber who collected some of her favourite tunes in a book - including piano arrangements of Rossini operas and an intriguing French Canadian song that hints at global connections.
In the grand saloon, Matthew meets Simon McCormack the house’s curator who shows him Louisa Winn’s piano and allows him to pluck a harp string. Andrew Frampton, a pianist and researcher at Newcastle University takes Matthew to the West Yorkshire Archive Service in Wakefield, to see Louisa’s music book and some of her sketches of Mont Blanc.
Episode 3: Cornwall
Matthew Bannister is in a pub near Redruth with the singer and Cornish music researcher Hilary Coleman. She tells him about the tradition of carol singing, especially amongst tin miners, which survives in Cornwall today.
She and Matthew visit Kresen Kernow, to look at “Eleanor Morgan’s book”,one of the sources used by the Cornish carol collector Davies Gilbert for his carol collection which was published in 1822.
The identity of Eleanor Morgan remains a tantalising mystery. Caro Lesemann-Elliot from Royal Holloway talks about Davies Gilbert’s failure to credit the people whose music he collected.
Episode 4: Hampshire
Matthew Bannister visits the village of Nether Wallop in Hampshire which was the home of Richard Pyle, a wool trader who collected music into a tune book that is kept at the Hampshire Archives in Winchester. He meets Sarah Lewin the archivist there who is also a musician with a group that reenacts historical music.
Stephen Rose from Royal Holloway University explains why the tune book is so important demonstrating that a small English country village was musically connected to places far beyond its county borders.
Episode 5: Northumberland
Matthew Bannister is allowed a very rare glimpse of Henry Atkinson’s tune book from 1695. He’s with Steph Carter and Kirsten Gibson from Newcastle University. The book is kept at the Northumberland Archives at the Woodhorn Museum on the site of an old coal mine in Ashington.
Henry Atkinson was a hostman, a member of a cartel of businessmen in Newcastle who controlled the buying and selling of coal. He was also a musician and collected his favourite fiddle tunes handwritten in a small book. Although considered very precious now Steph and Kirsten tell Matthew that books like Henry Atkinson’s were quite common. Music making was a sociable activity and many more people were musically active far away from the big cultural centres of London and the University towns than has been previously understood.