Hoylandswaine Nails

Lyrics

1
For two hundred years in Hoylandswaine
Iron nails were made by the people plain
Audin, Chappell, Senior, Gill
At Haigh Head, Greenside and Mustard Hill

Chorus 
Twelve times I strike a blow, a single nail to make
Seven on the stiddy to make the point
One on the hardy to cut the joint
A twist and four for the head in the bore
A thousand more to make

2
In cottages of stone they’d live
One up one down, and maybe ten kids
They’d rent their forge for a pound a year
And making nails was a family affair

3
With tongs they plunged their rods of iron 
Into the fiery coals
And pulled them from the red hot heat
Under the hammer, their points to beat

4
Brads and Horsenails, Rose and Clout
Nails like these were all turned out
A thousand spar-rables an hour
Was eight hours work, to buy a stone of flour

5
Paid by the pound of nails they made
By the nail master who owned their trade
Hours were long and life was hard
But they had to work or else they’d starve 

This is a contemporary song about Yorkshire.

Provenance

This song was produced as part of a schools-based industrial heritage project - for more information see industrial-heritage.epip.org.uk/