Praise to the Ploughboy
The ploughboy plods behind his horseTo keep the ploughshare in its course
Sun and rain draw up the grain
What is buried will rise again
To line the land with furrows straight
The plough team works from dawn till late
Figures crawling 'cross wide fields
Make the bed for summer's yields
The steady pressure of man's hand
Leaves his sign upon the land
In time the fields grow what we need
For bread and ale on which we feed
2000 seasons go to show
We still need fields for food to grow
So praise the lonely tractor boy
Who's iron plough we all employ
Written specially for Plough Monday in Maldon ©
About Plough Monday
| Watch or join in (see below) this traditional reminder of the labour that goes into growing food and the respect for those that work on the land. |
| This regional tradition is still strong in Maldon. Now grown to two progressions, a plough is paraded through the town accompanied by Molly dancers with black faces and hobble-de-hoy peasant costumes. Although the precise nature of the tradition is lost in the mists of time, there is a record in 1522 of the Plough being housed | at Heybridge church. Then it was a reminder that if the agricultural workers starved in the lean winter months there would be nothing to eat in the summer. Today the same message applies: Food doesn't grow in supermarkets and still needs long hours of lonely work in the fields. |
On the night
| The progression starts at 7:30pm working its way through the town to finish at about 9pm at the Blue Boar. Dance a bit then move on a bit and so on ending with a mass dance in Silver Street. | Then there will be ceremonial cutting and consumption of the unique Plough Pie washed down with specially brewed (on the premises) Plougboy Stout. |
| Start 7:30pm on the quay. Then Warwick Arms and up High Street to Blue Boar. |
Molly dancing
| The only time this style of dancing is performed is Plouugh Monday. It is very simple 'barn dancing' which takes about 45 minutes to learn. There are two practice sessions so that anyone who wants to can join in. |
Sun 10th Jan : 4pm - 6pm At the Wareing Rooms (Opposite Heybridge church). |
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