Bobby Shafto

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BOBBY SHAFTO
Bobby Shafto's gone to sea, silver buckles on his knee,
He'll come back and marry me, Bonny Bobby Shafto
Bobby Shafto's tall and slim, he's always dressed so neat and trim
The lasses they aal keek at him! Bonny Bobby Shafto
Bobby Shafto's gone to sea, silver buckles on his knee
He'll come back and marry me, Bonny Bobby Shafto

Bobby Shafto's gettin' a bairn, for to dangle in his airm
In his airm and on his knee, Bonny Bobby Shafto
Bobby Shafto's gone to sea, silver buckles on his knee,
He'll come back and marry me, Bonny Bobby Shafto
Bobby Shafto's been to sea, Silver Buckles on his knee;
He's come home and married me, Bonny Bobby Shafto!

Spennymoor is a town with industrial origins, but the countryside nearby has an unexpected romantic connection. The connection is with Whitworth Hall, not far from the River Wear to the north of the town. Here once lived none other than a certain Mr Robert Shafto, whose name is immortalised in the well known North Country Ballad;

Bobby Shafto was in fact a County Durham M.P, who was elected in 1761, when the song was used as an election jingle. A sweetheart of Bobby Shafto, to whom the ballad is often attributed is believed to have lived at Brancepeth Castle across the River Wear, three miles north of Whitworth, near the outskirts of Durham City. She died of a broken heart !.

"Bobby Shafto's gone to sea,
Silver buckles on his knee,
He'll come back and marry me,
Bonny Bobby Shafto.
Bobby Shafto's bright and fair,
Combing down his yellow hair;
He's my ain for evermair
Bonny Bobby Shafto.
Bobby Shafto went to court
All in gold and silver wrought
Like a grandee as he ought
Bonny Bobby Shafto.

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