CHAPTER 4: Dulcimers in the British Isles since 1800 > Dulcimers in East Anglia

People - 2 of 13

Not so very far away, at Chatteris, there was an old player, who used to be known as "Dulcimore Johnnie", and Mrs. Martin's uncle in the same village used to make dulcimers; now, Dennis Cox, the Methodist minister, is carrying on where they left off.

Russell Wortley also quotes Billy Cooper's memory of a pair of entertainers called Crotchett and Dartnell, who toured Norfolk with their marionette show, Crotchett playing the dulcimer while Dartnell was the puppeteer (27).
dulcimers and puppets:
Samuel Pepys, 17thC.

 

Of the father of Billy Cooper not a great deal is recorded; he went from Hingham to London, and returned to Hingham when Billy was one; he was a dulcimer-player, playing only with sticks, but also played the Euphonium in the local band.

Apart from the sojourn in London, so much is also true of the Mr. Moore of Whatton, whose son produced the bon mot about the dulcimer, "That's what I calls a striking sound ..."