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suzard
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This message was updated on 6/14/2007 5:56:21 PM by suzard

Sparrow Row
replied on: 6/14/2007 5:54:31 PM

Is this why Sparrow Row was so called?

R&H Dec 7 1906
To the Chairman and members of Heanor U.D.C.
Gentlemen,
Most of you on the Council know
The old thatched cot at Sparrow Row
Is very shabby in the roof,
And far from being waterproof.
Sorry you have no cash to spare
To put the cottage in repair.
The reason now I write to you
Is just to tell you what I'll do.
Seeing that nothing has been done,
If you'll supply me with a gun,
I'll shoot the sparrows, every one.
I care not be they hen or cock
I'll pop them off like one o' clock,
About their ears the shots shall whiz,
Because it seems their constant biz
To make the roof worse than it is.
Kindly excuse me when I say
I'd like the gun without delay,
For ammunition I will pay,
And at the sparrows blase away.
No other way to me is known
To make them leave the roof alone,
But if the sparrows are all killed,
They will not peck nor scratch nor build.

Your humble tenant
J.CRIPPS
Sparrow Row, Milnhay, Langley Mill

J.(John ) Cripps is an ancestor of mine (the Cripps married into the Eyre family)
and the funeral report of Thomas Cripps (who was the son of John) reads " Thomas Cripps was well known during his day as a local poet of ability, the deceased to some extent inherited his father's gift in this respect and wrote numerous verses on current subjects"

If anyone comes across verses written by John or Thomas Cripps I would appreciate being notified.

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