In the second of our ‘In tune’ series on music and labour history, ballad singer Jennifer Reid introduces a song about a travelling loom engineer – and a young woman in need of his services – that is guaranteed to make you smile.

The Bury New Loom
Jennifer Reid (traditional)

I once sang The Bury New Loom for an event at Manchester International Festival in collaboration with Jeremy Deller. He named the piece ‘Sex Machine, Funky Drummer’, where a drummer played a piece once written by James Brown and I provided the ‘Sex Machine’ portion – a performance of the Manchester broadside ballad The Bury New Loom.

This song has been a staple during my career, both for its use of mechanical dialect to convey an accomplished Lothario in pursuit of his spoils, and for the smiles brought to the faces in the crowd of even the most brow-beaten special collections librarian. Andrew, who used to run the North West Sound Archive out of Clitheroe Castle, would often request that I sing this song when I mentioned to him I had a radio performance scheduled whilst researching in the archive. I still keep to this tradition, because I am silly at heart.

The Bury New Loom, or – The New Bury Loom as it is sometimes called – describes a travelling loom engineer who meets with a young woman whilst on the road who is in need of his professional services. Men such as he would often travel between towns and assist handloom weavers in their homes, where their handlooms were situated until the Industrial Revolution displaced them for good, for work in the factories and mills. A young man acting as a freelance tackler could see his fair share of situations, akin to George Formby’s character in When I’m Cleaning Windows, and the song is in a similar vein.

I first heard this song sung by Failsworth legend Harry Boardman (on record, not in person sadly) and after coming across it in the Manchester ballad collections in storage at Chetham’s Library in the mid-2010s I fell in love with it. A quick read through the lyrics will help you understand why. You can hear me perform it on The Old Songs Podcast.

Jennifer Reid is a performer of nineteenth century Lancashire dialect and Victorian broadside ballads.