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| Somerset Recorded Folklore Project | |
|---|---|
| Name | Somerset Recorded Folklore Project |
| Established | 20th century |
| Location | Somerset |
| Type | Oral history |
| Director | various |
Somerset Recorded Folklore Project The Somerset Recorded Folklore Project was a regional initiative to gather oral traditions, vernacular songs, and local legends across Somerset, linking fieldwork with institutional archives and community networks. It engaged county institutions, parish councils, university departments, and civic societies to document material ranging from ballads to customs associated with landmarks and families. The project influenced archival practice through partnerships with county record offices, museums, and broadcasting bodies.
The project emerged from interactions among activists and institutions including the English Folk Dance and Song Society, University of Bristol, Somerset County Council, Exeter University, British Library, Vera Lynn-era collectors, Alan Lomax, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Cecil Sharp, and local antiquarians. Influences included initiatives such as the Folklore Society, BBC, Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Somerset, Taunton Museum, Yeovil civic groups, Bridgwater societies, and parish recorders. Patronage and funding drew on bodies like the Arts Council of England, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, Paul Hamlyn Foundation, and local trusts. Academic contexts involved departments at University College London, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Bath Spa University, and University of Exeter.
Fieldworkers blended approaches promoted by Alan Lomax and collectors associated with Cecil Sharp and the English Folk Dance and Song Society, deploying audio recording equipment akin to devices used by the British Library Sound Archive and techniques endorsed by the Folklore Society. Participants ranged from county archivists at Somerset Heritage Centre to community historians in Bridgwater, singers from Glastonbury festivals, miners' descendants in Wellington, maritime informants from Watchet, shepherds from the Quantock Hills, and agricultural workers near Mendip Hills. Volunteers included members of the Women's Institute, representatives from Somerset Rural Life Museum, students from University of Bath, scholars linked with the Folklore Society, and broadcasters from the BBC Local Radio network. Training was provided in collaboration with institutions such as Imperial War Museums oral history teams, technical advisers from the British Library, and conservators from the National Archives.
Collected material encompassed ballads and songs associated with performers in Glastonbury Festival contexts, narratives tied to landmarks like Wells Cathedral, Glastonbury Tor, Cheddar Gorge, Porlock Vale, Dunster Castle, and Dunster customs; sea lore from Minehead and Watchet; mining traditions from Radstock and Mendip Hills; craft songs, laments, and seasonal rites observed in parishes such as Martock and Crewkerne. Thematic threads intersected with folk beliefs recorded by scholars at University of Oxford and materials paralleled collections held by the British Museum, Victoria and Albert Museum, Cecil Sharp House, and the EFDSS Library. Genres included vernacular songs, supernatural accounts referencing King Arthur-linked sites, weather lore associated with Stoke-sub-Hamdon, saint veneration tied to Glastonbury Abbey, occupational songs from markets in Yeovil and Bridgwater, and place-based narratives involving families from Taunton boroughs.
The project negotiated deposit and access with repositories such as the Somerset Heritage Centre, British Library, National Archives, Victoria and Albert Museum, EFDSS, and university special collections at University of Bristol and Bath Spa University. Digitization followed workflows similar to those adopted by initiatives at the British Library Sound Archive and the Alan Lomax Archive, balancing digital preservation standards promoted by International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives and cataloguing practices used by the National Archives. Public interfaces drew on models from the Europeana portal and collaborations with BBC Archives for curated broadcasts. Ethical frameworks referenced guidance used by the Folklore Society and oral history protocols from the Oral History Society.
Outputs influenced exhibitions at the Museum of Somerset, programming for BBC Somerset, educational resources for schools in Taunton Deane and Somerset West and Taunton, and research citations in theses at University of Bristol, University of Exeter, and University of Oxford. Responses ranged from acclaim in local press such as the Western Morning News to academic discussion in journals affiliated with the Folklore Society and media features on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Two. The project's materials informed cultural events at venues including Wells Cathedral festivals, Glastonbury Festival heritage segments, and community heritage days organized by Somerset County Council.
Collaborations linked the project to the English Folk Dance and Song Society archives at Cecil Sharp House, the British Library Sound Archive, the Alan Lomax Archive, university repositories at University of Bristol and University of Exeter, regional museums such as the Somerset Rural Life Museum and Museum of Somerset, and national schemes including Europeana Collections and Sound Archive Network initiatives. Comparative projects included county-level surveys in Devon, Dorset, Cornwall, and collaborative networks promoted by the Folklore Society and the Oral History Society.
Category:Folklore projects in England