Here is the church heres the steeple meaning

Can you still remember your parents and grandparents and your uncles and aunts singing nursery rhymes to you when you were small? Weren’t they magical in the days when none of us had a telly and few had cars?

We didn’t know then how dark many of them are, but then all small children love fairy stories and tales with twists and dark deeds, which have been a part of European culture for hundreds of years, long before Disney “stole” them and Americanised them. And we still have a rich culture of nursery rhymes across England.

I still remember my dad singing the Grand Old Duke of York to me when I was about 4, and bouncing me up and down on his knee as the soldiers went up and down the hill.

Oh, the grand old Duke of York
He had ten thousand men;
He marched them up to the top of the hill,
And he marched them down again.

When they were up, they were up,
And when they were down, they were down,
And when they were only halfway up,
They were neither up nor down.

It’s not clear which Duke it refers to as there are several versions with different Dukes of York, and the rhyme has been around since 1642 or even earlier. My Dad always thought it was about King Charles II’s brother the Duke of York and that the hill was Hampstead Heath. Like many of his stories, including the one he used to tell about the Chinese Mounted Foot, it was a fable.

The fun thing is that it can be performed by groups with movements – like showing all ten fingers for ten thousand, and groups of children standing up and sitting down as the soldiers move up and down. It was like a live panto for us small children at primary school in the 1950s and helped us all to learn to act in groups. We just thought it was fun; and even Peppa Pig has a version today, so it’s still being sung by children of whatever age.

The joy of nursery rhymes for all children is being able to take part in all the movements as well as joining in and singing the words. We didn’t realise it back then but were learning by rote and like bedtime stories or Listen with Mother, it was fun.

Two classic ones for this are Here’s the Church and Oranges and Lemons

Here’s the church and here’s the steeple

Open the door and see all the people

Here’s the parson going upstairs

And here he is saying his prayers

Children love the “Here’s the church” rhyme as it combines words with actions expressed by using their hands. This gives them the chance to improve their manual dexterity and coordination and encourages them to use their imaginations. A favourite finger rhyme starting with the hands clasped together (Here’s the church) and ending with the hands joined together as if in Christian prayer!

The architecture of British churches and steeples dominated the skyline of all our major towns and cities in the past, hence these two special nursery rhymes which have many movements associated with them. Lincoln Cathedral was the tallest building in the UK from around 1300 till 1890.

The nursery rhyme London Bells, which is the original version of Oranges and Lemons, details many London Churches together with the people who lived in the area including Lord Mayors, torturers, executioners, and money lenders.

Oranges and Lemons follows a condemned man on his route to his execution at Tyburn Gallows, which is now Marble Arch in London. He goes past many famous London churches: St Clemens, St Martins, Old Bailey, Bow, Stepney, and Shoreditch. There is also a saying about “on the wagon” which refers to this journey….crowds of up to 100.000 lined the route and watched the executions at Tyburn.

The exact date of its origin is unknown, but there is a square dance going back to 1665.

“Here comes a chopper, To chop off your head!” is a much-remembered couplet – and the tune mimics the sound of the ringing of church bells.

They are chanted by children playing the game which culminates in a child or two children being caught between the joined arms of two others, emulating the act of chopping off their heads!

Oranges and lemons,
Say the bells of St. Clement’s.

You owe me five farthings,
Say the bells of St. Martin’s.

When will you pay me?
Say the bells at Old Bailey.

When I grow rich,
Say the bells at Shoreditch.

When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney.

I do not know,
Says the great bell at 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 man is dead

And of course Ring a Ring o Roses is supposedly about the plague, there are rumours that it referred to Eyam, in Derbyshire where the plague was stopped in the 1660s after the village went into isolation. It didn’t reach Manchester on that occasion.

Ring a Ring o Roses, or Ring Around the Rosie, maybe about the 1665 Great Plague of London: the “rosie” being the malodorous rash that developed on the skin of bubonic plague sufferers, the stench of which then needed concealing with a “pocket full of posies”. The bubonic plague killed 15% of Britain’s population, hence “atishoo, atishoo, we all fall down (dead).” When I was at secondary school and about 12 or 13 one of the other pupils told me that his mother had studied the origins of nursery rhymes and that this one was all about the plague.

It made sense to me 60 years ago and it still does. Nursery rhymes have a fascinating history…Baa Baa Black Sheep and Humpty Dumpty are not what you think. They are of course stories about nursery rhymes for another day.

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