Beyond the Notes | 01

A composer of Elizabethan high renaissance music, a man who epitomises the English country idyll, a Daleswoman, and ultimately, a winter too many.

In the first of this new series, I share some of the pieces of music which have meant the most to me in my life, and the stories behind why they resonate so strongly within a life lived slowly and simply.

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If you’ve followed me online for a while, you might know that one of my greatest inspirations is Hannah Hauxwell. A Daleswoman born and bred, she first came to the public’s attention when an article appeared about her in the Yorkshire Post in 1970. At that time, aged 44, she lived alone and worked her family farm, Low Birk Hatt, in remote Baldersdale, then in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Without electricity or running water, she farmed the land alone, surviving on less than £300 a year.

Looking down Baldersdale whilst on holiday there in 2008.

In 1972, her story was picked up by Yorkshire Television, and the first, short programme, Too Long a Winter, aired the same year. In 1989, the cameras returned for a second programme, A Winter Too Many, which followed Hannah’s heartache as she made the agonising decision to sell the farm and move to a cottage in nearby Cotherstone.

Many of the pieces of music which have been central to my life, have come about through their poignant associations. The first programme, Too Long a Winter, is underscored with Ralph Vaughan Williams’ 1910 composition, Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis. The theme is by Elizabethan high renaissance composer, Thomas Tallis and the piece was first performed in Gloucester Cathedral for the Three Choirs Festival the same year.

Until I first watched Hannah’s beautiful story, it wasn’t a piece of music I’d come across. Yet, its vastness was cast so brilliantly as the background to the aerial film of those remote Yorkshire Dales, swathed in relentless snow. Baldersdale is the place where winter comes early, and leaves late. As I was writing this post, I came across this poem which I wrote nearly 20 years ago when I was studying a creative writing course as part of my degree with The Open University, and I’d love to share it with you here:

Hannah B.J.H.

Emerging
from a forgotten time
we thought had passed
into the depths of history.

Existing.
Living a forgotten life
in a world frozen in time
we thought was lost.

Determined.
Wrestling against nature,
trying to survive.
Stubborn as the harshest winter.

Warm,
despite the cold reality.
Her presence provides
a touch of welcome hospitality.

Innocent.
Unaware of what’s beyond
the way of life
she has only ever known.

Unchangeable,
but weak.
What next?
Where next?
How much longer?

Hannah lived life simply, perhaps by necessity, but through her struggle to survive, her zeal and zest for a life well-lived remained undiminished. Music was part of her life too, and she still played the moth-ridden harmonium which had been brought to the farm by her family decades before.

If you’ve not seen either of the two original documentaries, I do encourage you to look them up, because I’m sure you will enjoy and find them as poignant as I did.

Hannah died in 2018 at the age of 91, almost three decades after she made that heart wrenching decision to part with her beloved Low Birk Hatt. I wrote this piece, Remember, a setting of a text by Christina Rossetti, in her memory:

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