SOUND EFFECTS SUCH AS GREENSLEEVES MUSIC TO SET THE
SCENE. HEDGEROW HOLDERS ARE IN PLACE IN TWO PARALLEL LINES OF 3 AND THREE. THEY ARE LEANING OVER WITH THEIR BRANCHES. FARMER TWO CROUCHES
NEAR THE FRONT OF THE HEDGEROW
N1: Green lanes - any colour lanes, roads, why were they made at all?
N2: Man wouldn’t just gp zog-zagging anywhere over the land would he? even animals don’t do that.
N1: Animals, they’re the ones that started it all. Large prehistoric animals such as the wild deer which were called elks.
CHILD WITH ELK MASK/HORNS MOVES THROUGH LANE
N2: Great bears.
CHILD WITH MASK OF BEAR MOVES THROUGH LANE
N1: They deepened the tracks which led to the animals watering places
N2: Small animals followed these tracks too. Mice.
CHILD WITH MOUSE MASK MOVES THROUGH LANE
ALERT HUNTERS
N1: Hedgehogs the oldest. they’ve been here for 15 million years.
CHILD WITH HEDGEHOG MASK MOVES DOWN LANE
N2: Badgers
CHILD WITH BADGER MASK MOVES THROUGH LANE
N1: Mice
CHILD WITH MOUSE MASK MOVES THROUGH LANE
And behind the bigger animals came the hunters.
2. THE HUNTERS
N2: Man the hunter looking for his prey in the rivers, woodlands and
sometimes in the ditches by a green lane.
N1: Sometimes he is lucky.
THE HUNTERS COME AND MIME A SCENE OF CATCHING
THE RABBIT AND STUNNING IT AND ONE SAYS TO THE OTHER:
H1: Look what I’ve caught.
H2: That looks juicy.
H1: Do you want to come back to the hut and share it with me?
H2: Yes please, that’d be great.
3. THE HEDGE
N1: Man learnt how to tame animals and grow crops - he settled in one place and instead of hunting farmed for his living.
N2: Farmers needed to be able to move their goods easily from place
to place. They used a vehicle which they dragged along and which
was called a truckamuck.
ENTER CHILDREN WITH TRUCKAMUCK * (OR SLEDGE)
THEY EXCHANGE GOODS NARRATORS PROMPT WITH:
F1: Good day to you what have you got for me today?
F2: I’ve got some potatoes.
F1: Oh good, I need some, would you like some onions?
N1: Why didn’t they use a farm cart which would hold more?
N2: Carts hadn’t been invented yet.
N1: The hedges began to grow up high enriched with the fertiliser from
the animals which passed up and down.
HEDGE HOLDERS MOVE APART
N1: Sometimes we can tell how old a hedge is by counting the different
kind of hard wood trees along one of its sides.
N2: So, how many in this one?
CHILDREN IN HEDGE MOVE FROM ONE SIDE TO ANOTHER
TO FORM A CONTINUOUS LINE
N2: So, we’ve got............(children state their species of tree)
N1: ................different kinds of tree, that means our lane is...........years old.
HEDGE BECOMES TWO SIDED AGAIN
PROMPT TRUCKAMUCK TO MOVE AT END OF THIS SCENE
*Basically this can be made from rough timber nailed together to form a sledge. It is pulled along by the two farmers using rope (not binder twine).
4. THE CHURCHGOERS
N1: But what’s this coming on our truckamuck?
It’s not wood - it’s not vegetables.
N2: It’s stones.
TRUCKAMUCK MOVES THROUGH LANE
ALERT PROCESSIONERS BEGIN APPROPRIATE MUSIC
N2: They say it’s the last lot for the new Church they’ve just built
over there.
POINT TO FAR RIGHT OF HALL
N1: And here come all the locals for the service in the new Church.
N2: The Lord and Lady of the Manor (and Princes and Princesses
if extras are needed to be cast)
PROCESS
N1: The farmers and their wives.
PROCESS
N2: The Dairymaids.
PROCESS
N1: A pedlar.
Scripted part
Pedlar: Who’ll buy my ribbons, pins, finery for the fair?
(Repeat 3 times).
N2: And a poor beggar.
N1: Hobbles down the lane with a stick.
N2: All on their way to the Church.
N1: All except one.
Scripted part
Thief: I shall sit and wait here. Wait until they return forgetful
of their purses. Oh yes I will
ELICIT BOOS AND JEERS FROM AUDIENCE
5.SAILORS AND PACKHORSES
PROMPT PACKHORSE TRAIN BEFORE SCENE STARTS
N1: Here come two more churchgoers. No, I don’t think so.
N2: Not by the way they’re walking. They’re sailors going to the
Port over there.
Thief: Ah, drunken sailors, they’re bound to have more money than
the churchgoers. I’ll spring on them and take their purses -
they won’t even notice.
HE TAKES MONEY FROM THEM AN D THEN TRIES TO GET BACK UP THE LANE BUT THE PACKHORSES BLOCK HIM
N2: He won’t get past the packhorses, here they come carrying the flour
for the ship’s biscuits.
N1: Cider for the sailors.
N2: What will they take back in return?
N1: Spices - pepper - nutmeg.
N2: Silk for fine ladies clothes.
N1: Off they go. what will the thief do now?
ALERT THE PEDLAR
Thief: Not much in these bags and purses. I’ll wait and see who comes next. (CROUCHES DOWN BY HEDGE).
Who’s this idiot coming with a purse by his side?
Pedlar: Who’ll buy my ribbons, pins, finery for the fair.
Thief: Hello pedlar. Sold anything yet?
Pedlar: Not a lot. No, but you won’t catch me I’ve still got my hat
pins left.
CHASES PEDLAR OFF DOWN LANE
6. WAGGONER’S DAYS *
N1: Our hedge is growing wider now.
N2: They’ve improved the green lane a little. the people of the Parish
have dug drains on either side of the lane and sometimes they have
even mended the holes in the middle.
N1: The truckamuck isn’t used so much now. It’s the waggons that
cause all the damage.
N2: Trundling from side to side as they go.
N1: The waggon wheels break down the sides because for years waggons
had very wide wheels like tractor tyres and caused a lot of damage
in the lanes.
N2: It seems as if they’re stuck again on their way to market.
SONG - GAP IS FOR LOCAL FAIR NAME (STRAWBERRY FAIR
MELODY)
As I was going to.............Fair Pedlar appears
Singing, singing, buttercups and daises
I met a pedlar going there foldidee
And he was carrying buttons and bows and rings
and rings for the .................ladies’ toes.
Riffle riffle foldeediddle ido
Riffle riffle foldeediddle dee.
As I was going to...................... Fair Little boy appears
Singing, singing, buttercups and daises
I met a little boy going there foldidee
And he was wandering along and singing
Throwing in the air a bright silver shilling
Riffle riffle foldeediddle ido
Riffle riffle foldeediddle dee.
As I was going to.....................Fair Farmers appear
I met two farmers going there foldidee
And they were driving some sheep with a dog
The other had a stick to push along his hog
Riffle etc.
As I was going to....................Fair Sailors come through
I met two sailors going there foldidee
And they were swaying from side to side
and finding the lane was far too wide.
Riffle etc.
*A cardboard cut out of a waggon supported b y children dressed as waggoners looks good in this scene.
7. THE HIGHWAYMAN
N1: One day when you were coming back from market you might
be in danger from a different kind of thief - a highwayman.
CLOAKED FIGURE APPEARS BY A HEDGEROW
Dairymaid: (with 2 buckets) Good evening sir, are you lost?
H/man: Of course not. Stand and deliver.
D/maid: You’ve got something to deliver did you say?
I’m not expecting a present, it’s not my birthday.
N2: Our dairymaid is very b rave and has already heard
about the highwaymen in these parts so she is prepared.
H/man: No, I’m not going to deliver anything to you.
You deliver your money to me.
D/maid: Oh don’t go on so. Here you are.
SHE LOOKS INTO THE BOTTOM OF BUCKET AND THE H/MAN
PEERS IN TOO. SHE LEAVES HIM LOOKING AND COMES UP
BEHIND HIM WITH THE EMPTY BUCKET WHICH SHE PUTS
OVER HIS HEAD.
N1: The dairymaid knows how to bring the highwayman low and it’s
off to the Constable he must go.
N2: This highwayman seems to have made a bit of a mistake or he got
to the crossroads too late because usually he only robs ladies and
gentlemen who are travelling in stage coaches and going along the
new Turnpike roads.
8. THE TURNPIKE AGE
N2: Here come the surveyors from Mr Macadam’s Turnpike Company.
SURVEYORS ENTER AND MEASURE UP LANE
N1: Turnspikes, turnspikes, spikes turning in the road.
N2: No, not turnspikes but Turnpikes. Turnpike gates and toll houses
where you had to pay money before you could travel along the road.
N1: What? I’ll have to pay money to go along this old road?
N2: No, not this one. We’re going to give it a brand new surface.
It’s not the waggon and coach wheels that are causing the damage
the surfaces are so bad we are going to renew them.
N1: And so they left our lane to one side.
N2: They built a new Turnpike Road alongside it. No one bothered
about our lane.
HEDGE HOLDERS GO DOWN ON THEIR KNEES AND BLOCK
THE LANE
Nobody could get through it anymore.
N2: Some children who had always remembered it as a short cut
complained about the poor old lost lane.
N1: They wrote to their local council about it.
N2: But nobody did anything. The Council were spending all their
money on mending motorways.
N1: But one day a small group of children came along and cleared the lane.
TWO OR THREE CHILDREN WALK THROUGH AND HEDGES BECOME UPRIGHT AGAIN. THEY LOOK AT A LOCAL MAP.
N2: They put it back on the map so that everybody could use it again and learn a little about its history just as you have done today.
9. CONCLUSION
N1: No one can ever really know what happened in a Green Lane.
But we can imagine what it was used for.
N2: For animals to make their way to watering places.
ANIMALS FROM SCENE ONE PROCESS THROUGH
N2: ..where they might have been caught by Prehistoric man, the hunter.
HUNTERS COME THROUGH
N2: For farmers to drag their goods through on a truckamuck.
FARMERS PULL TRUCKAMUCK THROUGH
N1: For waggons to get stuck in as the surface of the lane was so bad.
TWO CHILDREN CARRYING WAGGON CUT OUT
N1: And they were places of adventure too.
APPROPRIATE FINALE MUSIC TO START HERE
N2: You might get robbed on your way to see your Granny...
N1: ..or fall down a hole on your way back...
N2: ...and be rescued by Roundheads...
N1: ...or Cavaliers.
N2: ..pirates...sailors
N2: highwaymen on foot...
N1: packhorses..
N2: ..dairymaids..Lords and Ladies
N1: ...surveyors..walkers the beast of Bodmin. You can imagine anything you like about a green lane - go on try.
© Valerie Belsey 1985. If you do decide to use this play please email me as I would like to know where it is performed. To date it has appeared in about 300 primary schools.
