In 1975 I was a student at Bishop Grosseteste College (now Bishop Grosseteste University) in Lincoln, studying for a PGCE qualification. It was customary for PGCE students to present a play at the Lincolnshire Show at the end of the summer term, and it fell to me to devise and direct that year. To be honest, I was stumped until I happened to catch a performance in Sleaford by a Mummers troupe of the tale of Byard’s Leap.

I was something of an amateur songwriter and had a number of songs which could be adapted to tell a tale in musical verse form to accompany the action – a sort of Greek chorus. However, I was stuck for a story until the Head of Drama pointed me towards some research being undertaken by a history tutor into the tragic tale of Tom Otter.

The songs were adapted, roles assigned, and the play performed. It was videotaped at the time, but no extant record remains apart from two songs, The Ballad of Tom Otter and Poor Tom’s Lament, reproduced here.

Poor Tom’s Lament

Tie my bootlaces slowly
Don’t let the sun get my eyes Mary
Wrap me in sheets cold and lonely tonight

You know I was hoping you’d find me
Clean, in love
Hoping to meet you in heaven
Instead of here
My head in my hands

Once we were dancing quite slowly
Danced then
Our bodies were lighter
Face to face
We sank to the floor

Given the chance to explain it
Given the time to rehearse it
Still the words
Would stick in my throat

The Ballad of Tom Otter

See Tom Otter from Lincoln town
Of whom Tale’s been told sir
For following a well-shaped leg one night,
To hell he shall go sir
To hell he shall go

He is a drunk from hereabouts
Of whom the tale’s been told
For selling his wife for a glass of stout
To hell he shall go

This is the wife of our hero
And his deed she’ll repay
She will make him moan and sigh
For his night spent in the hay
His night spent in the hay

This is the hero of our piece
Of this he is assured
There’re three new souls on which to feast
In his ovens down below
His ovens down below

Words by KEITH CHANTRY

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The Lincolnshire Folk Tales Project is grateful to Keith Chantry for sharing this story of his student days and the musical recordings that come with it.

Keith was born in Grantham in 1953 and lived there until he was 18. At this point he found his choice to be a simple one; either follow his father and work in a factory or take advantage of government funded higher education. He chose the latter, spending a year at Loughborough College of Art before attending Leeds University to pursue a degree in English and Fine Art. There, he made himself two promises; that he would never return to Lincolnshire or teach. Within a year he had broken both of those promises. Initially, he taught primary Special Needs in Sleaford before moving to Bishop Grosseteste College (now university) to teach students how to reach the hard to teach. Throughout his career he has continued to engage in creative pursuits, especially painting and songwriting, reflecting a life lived in Lincolnshire. Both Keith’s children are currently engaged in research relating to folk tale and myth.