An old Devonshire folk song, the title is also spelled 'Widdecombe Fair', although this particular variation is given in the 'New National and Folk Song Book, Part 1', edited by Desmond MacMahon. A jaunty tune, best sung in a strong Devonshire or Somerset accent!
Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your grey mare,
All along, down along, out a-long lee;
For I want to go to Widdicombe Fair,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davey,
Dan'l Whiddon, 'Arry 'Awk,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all.
And when shall I see again my grey mare -
All along, down along, out a-long lee?
By Friday soon, or Saturday noon,
With Bill Brewer, &c.
Then Friday came, and Saturday noon,
All along, down along, out a-long lee.
But Tom Pearce's old mare had not trotted home,
With Bill Brewer, &c.
So Tom Pearce he got up to the top o' the hill,
All along, down along, out a-long lee.
And he seed his old mare down a-making her will,
With Bill Brewer, &c.
So Tom Pearce's old mare, her took sick and she died,
All along, down along, out a-long lee.
And Tom he sat down on a stone and he cried
With Bill Brewer, &c.
But this isn't the end o' this shocking affair,
All along, down along, out a-long lee!
Nor, tho' they be dead, of the horrid career
Of Bill Brewer, &c.
When the wind whistles cold on the moor of a night,
All along, down along, out a-long lee;
Tom Pearce's old mare doth appear, ghastly white
With Bill Brewer, &c.
And all the night long he heard skirling and groans
All along, down along, out a-long lee,
From Tom Pearce's old mare in her rattling bones,
With Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davey,
Dan'l Whiddon, 'Arry 'Awk,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all,
Old Uncle Tom Cobley and all!
The Uncle Tom Cobley mentioned, along with his comrades, are quite notorious in local history. He is on record as having lived in the tiny village of Spreyton, Devon, and is also said to have fathered all redheaded children within a thirty mile radius although he was never married. An entry in Spreyton church records shows that one Uncle Tom was 96 when he died in March 1794, but this is believed to be the son and not the famous uncle.
An inscription outside the Tom Cobley tavern in Spreyton reads 'From this village of Spreyton on a day in September 1802, the following left for Widdicombe Fair - Bill Brewer, Jan Stewer, Peter Gurney, Peter Davy, Daniel Whiddon, Harry Hawk, and Uncle Tom Cobley and all'. The fair itself has been held at the village of Widecombe-in-the-Moor, c.20 miles' travel away from Spreyton across Dartmoor, since at least 1850.