Description
The Devil and the Draper is an art song from the Cracked Voices song cycle, for soprano, baritone and piano written by Graham Palmer and Jenni Pinnock.
Programme note
Church Hill, the highest on Royston Heath, is supposed to be the same height as the Church, hence its name. At the base may be seen the perfectly formed beds called the devil’s Hopscotch. Tradition says by hopping round them nine times without stopping his Satanic Majesty will appear.
Hertford and Bedford Reformer, 31 July 1841
…an excavation was made on top of Church Hill. About 2 1/2 ft from the top was a deep cleft to the N.W. side, filled with clay. At the same depth was found ashes and charcoal, with fragments of a British urn baked outside, and a skeleton of a man supposed to be near 6 ft. high; the skull was protected by a large flint. A flint arrow head was afterwards discovered.
Royston Crow, 2 October 1865
The town has not yet recovered from the painful shock which it received on Tuesday morning when it became known that Mr Sidney Powell, only son of Mr and Mrs C Powell, of ‘Westry’, had been found dead on the Heath under tragic circumstances.
Herts and Cambs Reporter, 23 August 1912
