Four Loom Weaver

Four Loom Weaver (Roud 1460), probably derived from "The Poor Cotton Weaver" is a 19th-century English lament on starvation. One source also names it Jone o Grinfilt^[1] though this title usually refers to different lyrics and score, which is about the naiveté of country folk. Actually, it is very similar to Jone o'Grinfilt Junior which can be found in John Harland's Ballads and Songs of Lancashire (1875 pp. 169–171). Jone o Grinfilt is believed to have been written by Joseph Lees of Glodwick, near Oldham in the 1790s.^[2]

The earlier version, the Poor Cotton Weaver, was probably written before 1800, after the Napoleonic wars it was revived or re-written, due to economic hard times, when weavers were reduced to eating nettles. This could refer to the war itself any of the periodic economic downturns in the cotton industry. It was featured in Mary Barton published in 1848, then later referred to the Lancashire Cotton Famine of 1862. It is found on broadsides in Manchester up to the 1880s, it did not survive into the 20th century. In the folk revival it reappeared. The version by Ewan MacColl probably influenced the version by Silly Sisters and by Unto Ashes. Jez Lowe wrote his song "Nearer to Nettles", after an old woman approached his band's vocalist, who'd just sung The "Four-Loom Weaver", remarking she'd never been nearer to eating nettles at that time (late 80s/early 90s) than during any other period of her life.