"Cranbrook", also known as "Northampton", is a hymn tune composed in the 1790s or early 1800s by
Thomas Clark (1775–1859), a
cobbler
Cobbler(s) may refer to:
*A person who repairs shoes
* Cobbler (food), a type of pie
Places
* The Cobbler, a mountain located near the head of Loch Long in Scotland
* Mount Cobbler, Australia
Art, entertainment and media
* ''The Cobbler' ...
from
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...
, and is best known as the tune to the
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...
"national anthem" "
On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at
"On Ilkla Mooar Baht 'at" (Standard English: ''On Ilkley Moor without a hat'') is a folk song from Yorkshire, England. It is sung in the Yorkshire dialect, and is considered the official anthem of Yorkshire. It is sung to the hymn tune " Cranb ...
".
The tune was originally published in ''A Sett of Psalm & Hymn Tunes with some Select Pieces and an Anthem'' in 1805 as a setting for "Grace 'tis a charming sound" by
Philip Doddridge
Philip Doddridge D.D. (26 June 1702 – 26 October 1751) was an English Nonconformist (specifically, Congregationalist) minister, educator, and hymnwriter.
Early life
Philip Doddridge was born in London, the last of the twenty children ...
, but soon became more widely known as a tune for "
While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" by
Nahum Tate
Nahum Tate ( ; 1652 – 30 July 1715) was an Anglo-Irish poet, hymnist, and lyricist, who became Poet Laureate in 1692. Tate is best known for '' The History of King Lear'', his 1681 adaptation of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', and for his libr ...
. The tune is 86.88.666 but is commonly used with lyrics in
common metre
Common metre or common measure—abbreviated as C. M. or CM—is a poetic metre consisting of four lines that alternate between iambic tetrameter (four metrical feet per line) and iambic trimeter (three metrical feet per line), with each foot co ...
(86.86). In order to fit, the third line is sung twice and the fourth three times as in "Grace 'tis a charming sound", "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" and "On Ilkla Moor baht 'at".
Thomas Clark was a regular visitor to
Cranbrook, Kent
Cranbrook is a town in the civil parish of Cranbrook and Sissinghurst, in the Weald of Kent in South East England. It lies roughly half-way between Maidstone and Hastings, about southeast of central London.
The smaller settlements of Sissin ...
in the 1790s, and may have composed the tune there, possibly with the help of a local schoolmaster, John Francis. Clark later became a choirmaster and composed many other tunes for churches and Sunday Schools.
Music
External links
*
CRANBROOK Hymnary.org (tune usage in various hymnals)
*
*{{cite web , title=While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night (arr. Trepte) , url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TM_m8LJrD2c , language=en - to this tune, sung by
Ely Cathedral Choir
Ely Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Ely, is an Anglican cathedral in the city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, England.
The cathedral can trace its origin to the abbey founded in Ely in 672 by St Æthelthr ...
These sites about the author of the tune may also be useful:
* https://web.archive.org/web/20120731094423/http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/c/l/a/clark_t.htm
* http://www.wgma.org.uk/Articles/Clark/article.htm
Hymn tunes