Local Carols: links
In this section, we give links to other sites with connections to local carols.
- Village Carols
- Ian Russell completed his PhD on the Sheffield Carol tradition, and has published many journal articles on the subject. He has also published a number of song books and recordings. While many of these are now out of print, his recent “The Sheffield Book of Village Carols” (2008) and “The Derbyshire Book of Village Carols” (2012) and are available, and recommended. He also organises the biennial Festival of Village Carols, a festival inaugurated in 1994, which exists to promote local carol traditions.
- Village Carols Facebook group
- Neil Cardwell's Facebook companion site to this one.
- Worrall Male Voice Choir
- Worrall Male Voice Choir, sadly no longer in existence, publish The Joy of Christmas, also known as the Blue Book, one of the two most common song books to be found at Sheffield pub sings. The book is still available from the WMVC website.
- The Yorkshire Garland Group
- A set of music and recordings of Yorkshire songs, a couple of which have made their way into the pub carol singing tradition.
- Sheffield Pub Guide
- For more information on the locations of the pub sings, the Sheffield Pub Guide can be very useful.
- Loxley Silver Band, Stannington Brass Band, Oughtibridge Brass Band
- Local bands involved in concerts with local carols each winter.
The Sheffield tradition of carols is not quite alone in the UK. There are other pockets where traditions have survived, notably North Cornwall.
- The Cornish Songbook (Dunstan, 1929)
- There are many web sites containing information about the very rich tradition of carolling in Cornwall, but the site previously linked to seems to no longer exist. This link, to Dunstan's 1929 collection, is a nearly as good.
- Gloucestershire Christmas
- Gwilym Davies’s site devoted to Gloucestershire Christmas traditions (not only carolling, but also mummers plays and wassailing), with a list of carols (with music).
- Odcombe Carols
- Odcombe is a small Somerset village, where the carol traditions have survived. The carollers from Odcombe sang at the 2004 Festival of Village Carols and again in 2016.
- Village Carols in Bradford on Avon
- A fairly recent addition, combining some carols from the Sheffield tradition with others from the West Country (there is an excellent book of West Country carols edited by Glyn Court; the links page of the site gives details of how to get a copy).
- Traditional Carols in London
- Another recent addition, with quite a few carols from the Sheffield tradition with others.
- Carols at the Cross, Ryton, Tyne and Wear
- A celebration of traditional carol singing held on Ryton Village Green each year on the last Tuesday before Christmas Eve, including some Sheffield carols!
- Sings in the Lake District
- A register of sings in the Lake District and beyond, including the long-running Dent Folk Carols weekend.
- Glen Rock Carolers
- Carol singers from Glen Rock, York County, Pennsylvania, founded in 1848 by emigrants from Derbyshire and Yorkshire, and whose tradition and songs have similarity with those of the Sheffield area. They made a great impression at the 2002 Festival of Village Carols and returned in 2012.
Other links: visitors to the area might be interested in staying at Wortley Cottage, a B&B in Wortley, run by a couple of keen carollers.