Where Waits?
1: A list of towns and cities in the British Isles known to have employed their own Waits or Town Pipers
Aberdeen
Abyndon (Abingdon?)
Alnwick
Anstruther
Appleby
Arbroath
Ashbourne
Ashby de la Zouch
Askrigg
Ayr
Banff
Barnard Castle
Barnstaple
Barton-upon-Humber
Barwick-in-Elmet
Bath
Belford (Northumberland)
Bellingham
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Beverley
Bewdley
Bewley
Biggar
Blyth
Bodmin
Boston
Bradford
Brechin
Bridgeton
Bridgnorth
Bristol
Bungay
Bury St Edmund
Burton-on-Trent
Calais
Cambridge
Canterbury
Carlisle
Castlebar
Chester
Chesterfield
Cockermouth
Colchester
Cork
Coventry
Crail
Dalkeith
Darlington
Darneton
Dartford
Daventry
Derby
Doncaster
Dover
Dublin
Dumfries
Dumbarton
Dundee
Dunfermline
Dunstable
Durham
Dysart
Eaglesham
Easingwold
Edinburgh
Elland
Ellerton
Exeter
Fakenham
Falkirk
Faversham
Galashiels
Girvan
Glasgow
Glenluce
Gloucester
Grantham
Gravesend
Grimsby
Haddington
Hadleigh
Halifax
Haverfordwest
Hawick
Hereford
Hertford
Hexham
Honiton
Hull
Huntingdon
Inverness
Ipswich
Irvine
Islington
Jedburgh
Keith
Kelso
Kendal
Keswick
Kilbarchan
Kilkenny
King’s Lynn
Kingston-upon-Hull
Kirkby Lonsdale
Kirkby Steven
Kirkby Thore
Kirkudbright
Kirkwall
Knaresborough
Lanark
Lancaster
Lauder
Leeds
Leek
Leicester
Lichfield
Lincoln
Linlithgow
Liverpool
London:
City of London
Blackfriars
Finsbury
Hackney
Islington
Southwark
St. George’s
St Giles
St. Pancras
Tower Hamlets
Westminster
More on London
Loughborough
Louth
Ludlow
Lydd
Maidenhead
Maidstone
Malton
Manchester
Marlborough
Marshfield
Maxfield
Melton Mowbray
Midlam/Middleham
Millom
Montrose
Morpeth
Musselburgh
New Romney
Newark
Newcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Newmarket
North Berwick
North Shields
Northampton
Norwich
Nottingham
Orton
Oxford
Peebles
Penrith
Perth
Plymouth
Pocklington
Pontefract
Preston
Reading
Retford
Richmond
Ripley
Ripon
Rochester
Rotherham
Ruthin
St Eedes (St Ives?)
Salford
Salisbury
Sandwich
Scarborough
Selkirk
Sheffield
Shrewsbury
Skipton
Southam
Southampton
St Albans
St Andrews
Stamford
Stirling
Stockton
Stone
Stony Stratford
Sudbrooke (Lincolnshire)
Sunderland
Swaffham
Thetford
Thirsk
Towcester
Towton
Uttoxeter
Wakefield
Walberswick
Walsingham
Warrington
Welby
Wells
Westchester
Whickham
Whitehaven
Wigan
Wigton
Winchester
Worcester
Workington
Worksop
Wymondham
Yarmouth
York
City of York
Skeldergate
2: Waites in Mainland Europe and Further Afield
Source: Barbara Haggh’s article in Early Music (August 1989)
Austria
Graz
Belgium
Bymusikanter
Antwerp
Brussels
Leuven
Czech Republic
Prague
France
Amiens
Avignon
Douai
Lille
Montpellier
St. Omer
Toulouse
Germany (Stadtpfeifer)
Aachen
Aalen
Amberg
Andernach
Aslen
Augsburg
Bamberg
Bocholt
Borken
Braunschweig
Bremen
Breslau
Büren
Butzbach
Calbe an der Saale
Coesveld
Colmar
Cologne
Danzig
Dinkelsbuhl
Dönauworth
Dortmund
Duisburg
Dülmen
Eger
Eisenach
Erfurt
Essen
Frankfurt am Main
Freiburg im Breigau
Görlitz
Goslar
Gottingen
Halle
Hamburg
Hamm
Hannover
Heilbronn
Herford
Hildesheim
Ingolstad
Kempten
Konstanz
Landsberg
Landshut
Leipzig
Lippstadt
Lübeck
Lüneburg
Magdeburg
Memmingen
Metz
Muhldorf
Mühlhausen
Munich
Münster
Neumarkt
Neuss
Nördlingen
Nuremburg
Oberwesel
Osnabruck
Passau
Plauen
Ravensburg
Regensburg
Reutlingen
Riedlingen
Rostock
Rothenberg
Rottweil
Salzburg
Schaffhausen
Soest
Speyer
Stade
Stadthagen
Strasbourg
Straubing
Überlingen
Ulm
Villingen
Wesel
Wimpfen
Windsheim
Wismar
Worms
Zofingen
Zwickau
Italy (Piffaro)
Arezzo
Bergamo
Bologna
Brescia
Cremona
Ferrara
Florence
Genoa
Lodi
Lucca
Mantua
Milan
Naples
Padua
Parma
Perugia
Pesaro
Pisa
Rome
San Gimignano
Siena
Udine
Verona
Netherlands (Stadspijper)
Amersfoort
Amsterdam
Deventer
Groningen
Kampen
Maastricht
Nijmegen
Roermond
‘s-Hertogenbosch
Utrecht
Zutphen
Zwolle
Spain
Gandia
Mallorca
Valladolid
Switzerland
Basel
Bern
Biel
Burgdorf
Freiburg im Uechtland
Luzern
Winterthur
Zurich
Turkey
See Jack Campin’s comments here
Notes
3 December 2009
In Mark Brayshay’s 2005 tome on “Waits, musicians, bearwards and players”, he finds us four new sets of waits:
The Waits of Belford (Northumberland?), Sudbrooke (Lincs.) and Melton Mowbray are documented as playing in Nottingham. The Waits of Marshfield (his map shows the one near Chippenham, but I suspect it’s more likely to be the one near Solihull) played at Coventry. So how many does that make now?
Regards,
Alan Radford, Leeds.
15 July 2010
A couple of new London groups are identified on the www.worldmilitarybands.com website, from their surviving badges (circa 1800) bringing to nine the number of identified groups in London:
St. George’s
St. Pancras
The former parish is in the City of London, just west of the Tower, where the Parish Church (now demolished) stood on Botolph Lane. St Pancras needs no explanation.
Alan Radford, Leeds.