Christmas Carols and Their Stories
Puzzle 68 · Carol Services, Choirs and Bells · Page 96 in print
The Christmas Waits
A list of town waits’ badges records Norwich’s from about 1550: ornate silver-gilt shields on a chain of 28 castle and leopard links.
Jump to a word
The words
Badges
Badges of office worn by town waits.
Blue Gowns
The uniform of the London waits.
Cornett
The curved wooden wind instrument of the waits.
Guildhall
Norwich waits played concerts from its roof.
Hautboy
The old name for the oboe played by the waits.
Irving
Washington Irving, who described village waits at Christmas.
Irving, The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon (opens a new tab)
Livery
The uniform given to a wait.
Lord Mayor
The London official whom the waits served.
Michaelmas
Start of the season when the wait piped the watch.
Minstrels
Musicians with whom the royal wait dined.
Norwich
City whose waits are well recorded.
Guild of Town Pipers (opens a new tab) · Guild of Town Pipers (2) (opens a new tab)
Sackbut
The early trombone played by the waits.
Shawm
The loud reed instrument of the town waits.
Silver Collar
The collar or chain worn by London’s waits.
Watchmen
The earliest waits were night watchmen.
Sources
- Guild of Town Pipers (registered charity), Waites’ Cognizances (compiled by James Merryweather)townwaits.org.uk
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th edition (1911), vol. 28, ‘Waits’, via Wikisource transcriptionWikisource
- Guild of Town Pipers (registered charity), Historical Records: Norwich Waits (citing G. A. Stephen 1933 and Norwich records)townwaits.org.uk
- Washington Irving, The Sketch-Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Project Gutenberg eBook #2048Project Gutenberg
- William Chappell, Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. 1 (London: Cramer, Beale & Chappell, [1859]), archive.org full textInternet Archive