Monk's Gate is a hamlet in the civil parish of Nuthurst, in the

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby to ...

District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the A281 road southeast from

Hymn tune

Although it is a tiny settlement, its name is well known around the world as a popular

hymn tune A hymn tune is the melody of a musical composition to which a hymn text is sung. Musically speaking, a hymn is generally understood to have four-part (or more) harmony, a fast harmonic rhythm (chords change frequently), with or without refrain ...

in 65 65 66 65 meter to the hymn '' To be a pilgrim''. When

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

was commissioned at the start of the 20th century to edit a new hymnal as an alternative to Hymns Ancient and Modern, he set John Bunyan's hymn, in an adaptation by

Percy Dearmer Percival Dearmer (1867–1936) was an English priest and liturgist best known as the author of ''The Parson's Handbook'', a liturgical manual for Anglican clergy, and as editor of ''The English Hymnal''. A lifelong socialist, he was an early ad ...

, to his own adaptation of the tune of an English

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...

''Valiant'' or ''Welcome Sailor'' which he had collected from Mrs Harriet Verrall of Monk's Gate. Mrs Verrall was also the source of a widely used tune for the carol "On Christmas night all Christians sing", with her version thereafter being called the '' Sussex Carol''.On Christmas Night
www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com

References

External links

*

{{authority control Villages in West Sussex Horsham District Ralph Vaughan Williams