1) Oranges and Lemons
*Oranges and lemons *
*Say the bells of St Clemens, *
You owe me five farthings
* Say the bells of St Martins, *
*When will you pay me? *
*Say the bells of Old Bailey, *
*When I grow rich *
*Say the bells of Shoreditch, *
*When will that be? *
*Say the bells of Stepney, *
*I do not know *
Says the great bell of Bow,
*Here comes a candle to light you to bed *
And here comes a chopper
* To chop off your head! *
Chip, chop, chip, chop
* The last one is dead!*
It sounds so sweet… until you get to the chopper bit, that is.
The bells of the first verse belong to famous churches in London - the very same churches that a condemned man would pass by on his way to the executioner’s block.
St Clemens, the first church, is thought to be based in Eastcheap, near the docks where cargo was delivered from the Mediterranean (including oranges and lemons).
But it wasn’t just fruit that was unloaded at Eastcheap; it was also the dock at which condemned men would disembark, to begin their final journey.
- Ring Around The Rosie
Ring around the rosie
Pocket full of posies
Ashes, ashes,
We all fall down
Many people think that Ring Around The Rosie refers to the 1665 Great Plague of London.
“The rosie” is the red rash that covered plague victims , and many carried “a pocket full of posies” to prevent breathing in the smell (and germs) of the afflicted.
And the last line is pretty self-explanatory when you factor in the fact that the plague killed almost 15% of the country’s population. Gulp.
- Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary
Mary, Mary, quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?
With silver bells and cockle shells
And pretty maids all in a row.
It sounds like it’s about a disagreeable little girl and her pretty garden, but this nursery rhyme has a far darker story behind it than that.
According to historians, it’s all about Queen Mary I - better known as Bloody Mary - and her deadly religious campaign.
The garden refers to her growing cemeteries, as she filled them with the bodies of executed Protestants. Silver bells and cockle shells were instruments of torture, and the maiden was a device used to behead people.
Eep.
- Goosey, goosey, gander
Goosey, goosey, gander,
Whither dost thou wander?
Upstairs and downstairs
And in my lady's chamber.
There I met an old man
Who wouldn't say his prayers;
I took him by the left leg,
And threw him down the stairs
How can anything with the phrase ‘goosey, goosey, gander’ be anything but adorable?
Well, it’s actually another tale of religious persecution.
In the 16th century, Catholic priests went into hiding, saying their Latin prayers in hidden rooms. There was a reward for anyone who executed one - and the method of execution was often tying the poor man by the legs and throwing him down a flight of stairs.
We doubt we'll ever look at a goose the same way again...
- Ladybird, Ladybird, Fly Away Home
Ladybird, ladybird fly away home,
Your house is on fire,
Your children will burn.
Except for the little one whose name is Ann,
Who hid away in a frying pan
According to Rhymes.org, the word ’ladybird’ is a derivative of the Catholic term “Our Lady” - and it just gets darker from there.
They explain: “The tradition of calling this rhyme was believed to have been used as a seemingly innocent warning cry to Catholic (recusants) who refused to attend Protestant services as required by the Act of Uniformity (1559 & 1662).
“This law forbade priests to say Mass and forbade communicants to attend it. Consequently Mass was held secretly in the open fields. Laymen were subject to jail and heavy fines and priests to execution.
“Many priests were executed by the terrible death of being burnt alive at the stake or, even worse, being hung, drawn and quartered.”
- Three Blind Mice
Three blind mice. Three blind mice.
See how they run. See how they run.
They all ran after the farmer's wife,
Who cut off their tails with a carving knife,
Did you ever see such a sight in your life,
As three blind mice
Yup, you guessed it; this one’s all about murderous Bloody Mary again!
The three mice of the rhyme are said to refer to a group of Protestant bishops — Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Radley, and The Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer - who sought to overthrow the queen in favour of her sister, Elizabeth I.
They were tortured, dismembered and burned at the stake for their heresy.
- London Bridge Is Falling Down
London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady…
Set a man to watch all night,
Watch all night, watch all night,
Set a man to watch all night,
My fair lady.
We all thought it was about a bridge falling down but, according to Alice Bertha Gomme’s The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland, it’s actually about blood magic and sacrifice.
Yes, really.
Legend states that, in the olden days, people believed that a bridge would collapse unless the body of a human sacrifice were buried in its foundations.
The watchman mentioned, therefore, isn’t just a guy they’ve paid to sit and keep any eye on things; he’s the unfortunate victim they’ll be killing, so that his spirit will then watch over the bridge.
Thankfully there is no archaeological evidence for any human remains in the foundations of London Bridge, suggesting this one was just morbid fascination on the author’s behalf.
- Humpty Dumpty
*Humpty Dumpty sat on the wall, *
*Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. *
*All the King’s horses and all the King’s men, *
*Couldn’t put Humpty together again! *
First things first, where in the rhyme does it ever state that Humpty is an egg?
Exactly.
Humpty Dumpty wasn’t a frail egg, he was actually a big old cannon which sat upon a church tower in Colchester.
Well, he sat there until a barrage of cannonballs destroyed the tower and sent Humpty into the marshland below.
Plenty of people died as a result - and, when the cannon was finally recovered, they were never able to fix him back up to his former glory.
- Jack And Jill
Jack and Jill went up the hill
To fetch a pail of water.
Jack fell down and broke his crown,
And Jill came tumbling after.
Who doesn’t love a dash of adultery and death with their childish rhymes, eh?
While plenty of folk reckon this is about the execution of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the small English town of Kilmersdon claims that this is about a couple in 1697 who used to sneak up a hill for some time away from their spouses.
You guessed it; their sordid affair led to Jill getting pregnant, Jack dying from falling on a rock and caving his skull in.
Poor old Jill allegedly went on to die from childbirth. Sigh.
- Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush
Here we go ’round the mulberry bush,
The mulberry bush, the mulberry bush.
Here we go ’round the mulberry bush,
So early in the morning.
It sounds like a cut rhyme for skipping to, but it’s actually about the horrors of prison life.
Oh yes.
Local historian R.S Duncan says that the song originated from female prisoners at HMP Wakefield, some couple of hundred years ago.
A sprig was taken from Hatfield Hall in Stanley, Wakefield, which grew into a fully mature mulberry tree around which prisoners were forced to exercise around at the crack of dawn - regardless of the weather.
Which nursery rhyme's true story shocked YOU the most?
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