| Where: | Handsworth, Sheffield and other locations |
| When: | 26th December Boxing Day and around Christmas time |
| Time: | 12 noon |
The Derby Tup is also known as Old Tup or the Derby Ram and is a mumming play associated with house visiting customs around Christmas time in the Sheffield area. The Tup is similar to the Hooden Horse in construction – a head on a pole with snapping jaws and rams horns, held by an operator covered by a cloth to represent the body. The play is accompanied by the singing of the widespread old folk song “The Derby Ram” and is the story of how the ram is butchered and made into useful and desirable items for the local people to use. Other characters include his keeper and Beelzebub and Little Devil Doubt who solicit for donations with menaces!
Helpful Hints
The play is enacted by more than one group – we saw the Handsworth Traditional Sword Dancers perform it at their Boxing Day dance so those are the details included in the table. It was a spirited performance which terrorised small children and we loved it!! They usually put on a mumming play with the sword dancing – if you’re partcularly keen to see this one, double check with them first (link below). In 2014 they performed the Tup on 3rd December at Thurlstone and the Sword Play on Boxing Day before the Sword Dance.
Some aspects of the play are very similar to Poor Old Hoss in Richmond (see separate article for details) including the tune of the song – so if you like one, you’ll enjoy the other.
The Derby Ram song is used all year ’round but the play is usually performed only around Christmas time. Not long ago (early this century) it was considered to be almost extinct so its survival is to be celebrated!
Click here for the Handsworth Traditional Sword Dancers website: http://www.handsworthsworddancers.org.uk/
Click here to find other mumming groups who may perform the play : http://www.mastermummers.org/
My mother, now 95, remembers this custom from her childhood in Hall Road, Handsworth. The mummers would come around the backyards and perform – mostly young lads, horsing about, and would sweep the whitened steps black if the occupant didn’t give them a copper or two!
Thank you for this delightful video, and for the pleasure it has given us to see that the custom is still alive. My Uncle Jack Smith was a member of the Sword Dancing group in the 1930’s.
Dear Catherine,
Glad you and your family enjoyed the video – we certainly enjoyed seeing the performance on the day! It must have brought lots of memories back for your mother. It’s good to see customs kept alive, and to see that they’re still appreciated today (the Poor Old Hoss at Richmond s the most similar we’ve seen – there’s a video on the webiste from last year). Long may it last and thanks for getting in touch!
Kind Regards,
Averil
I vaguely remember performing this with my grandparents, as part of a letting the new year in tradition, when i was about 5. I hope this is an annual event as i would love to see it. Well done, great stuff!
Hi Jon!
Thanks for your kind comments! The dancing definitely takes place every year and a play – I’m not absolutely certain if it’s always the same play as I went for the first time this year.It might be an idea to follow the link to the Handsworth Traditional Sword Dancers website (from my Derby Tup article)to double check nearer the time-there’s an email contact on their homepage and I’m sure they’ll be happy to let you know when and where they’ll be doing the Tup play in the next season. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
Kind Regards
Averil
I am 81 and I still remember the Mummers coming into the house at New Year to enact their play about the Derby Tup. We lived in Derbyshire near the market town of Bolsover. I remember them arriving at the house and being allowed in as this was considered very lucky. One of the men wore a sheepskin and carried a set of horns.They didn’t speak except for the humming and chanting which seemed to rise in volume until one of the men produced a knife and pretended to slay the “tup” who fell to the floor presumably dead. I was completely terrified as I clung to my mother’s skirts. The tup then rose again, miraculously restored, the men got paid and moved on. I expect this practice has died out now but the Derby tup still appears on the shield of Derby County football team who are nicknamed “The Rams”.
What interesting memories – thanks for sharing! I don’t think they visit the houses like that any more but there are still some public performances of the play around Derbyshire and the Sheffield area near Christmas time- we managed to catch the Handsworth Sword Dancers version a few years ago and you can watch the video my husband made on the website. That was on Boxing Day and we thoroughly enjoyed it!
Averil