Northamptonshire.
At one time it was customary, at Peterborough, till the introduction of the new poor laws, for the female children belonging to the workhouse, attended by the master, to go in procession round the city on St. Catherine’s Day. They were all attired in white, and decorated with various coloured ribbons, principally scarlet; the tallest girl was selected to represent the Queen, and was adorned with a crown and sceptre. The procession stopped at the houses of the principal inhabitants, and they sang the following rude ballad, begging for money at every house as they passed along:
“Here comes Queen Catherine, as fine as any queen,
With a coach and six horses a coming to be seen.
And a spinning we will go, will go, will go,
And a spinning we will go.
Some say she is alive, and some say she is dead,
And now she does appear with a crown upon her head.
And a spinning we will go, &c.
Old Madam Marshall she takes up her pen,
And then she sits and calls for all her royal men.
And a spinning we will go, &c.
All you that want employment, though spinning is but small,
Come list, and don’t stand still, but go and work for all.
And a spinning we will go, &c.
If we set a spinning, we will either work or play,
But if we set a spinning we can earn a crown a day.
And a spinning we will go, &c.
And if there be some young men, as I suppose there’s some,
We’ll hardly let them stand alone upon the cold stone.
And a spinning we will go, &c.”
St. Catherine being the patron of the spinners, as well as of spinsters, and spinning being formerly the employment of the females at the workhouse, it naturally followed that they should be selected to commemorate the anniversary of this Saint; and that this commemoration is of great antiquity appears from the early entries in the Dean and Chapter’s accounts of payments on St. Catherine’s Day for wheels and reels for the children of the workhouse.—Baker, Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases, 1854, vol. ii. p. 436.
A correspondent of N. & Q. (4th S. vol. ii. p. 332), alluding to the above custom, says that it was not confined to Peterborough, but was observed throughout the whole of the Northamptonshire lace-making districts, as well as in those of Bedfordshire. According to popular tradition the custom is derived from one of the Queens Catherine in the time of Henry VIII.—probably from Catherine Parr, who was a Northamptonshire woman. By some this day is called “Candle Day,” from its forming the commencement of the season for working at lace-making by candle-light.