Lyrics by Eleanor Levin

His Majesty’s Gaol the Castle of Lancaster
18 hundred and 6
An awful silence prevailed they say
An awful silence prevailed

Isaac Hitchen was the keeper of an infamous house
In Great Sankey
And men at their leisure for the purposes of pleasure
Frequented Isaac Hitchen’s house

Thomas Rix, an artisan by trade
He hailed from Salford
He knew the code, he met his men at Manchester’s Corn Exchange
And frequented Isaac Hitchen’s house

And rumour and gossip and speculating
Abound and show no signs of abating
Saying men of all ranks and men of all classes
Frequented Isaac Hitchen’s house

Joseph Holland was a pawnbroker, a wealthy man
John Powell an innkeeper
Of Samuel Stockton not much is known, his age was 50
When he frequented Isaac Hitchen’s house

(knock knock)
24 men from Warrington and Manchester
3 men from Liverpool and 3 men more
Arrested at Isaac Hitchen’s house
For a capital crime under the law

15 men charged, 9 men tried
5 men to the gallows, 5 men sent to die
For frequenting Isaac Hitchen’s house

And rumour and gossip and speculating
Abound and show no signs of abating
Saying the highest ranks and the highest classes
Frequented Isaac Hitchen’s house

(Knock knock)
Then the scandal and furore, came to knock at the gentries’ door
The master of the hounds, a Whig MP, members of the nobility
All linked with sin and impropriety

2 magistrates most zealous in their investigations
To clear their friends they said
Of disgraceful imputations
Regarding Isaac Hitchen’s house

The Home Office and the judge agreed
When it came to the nobility
Stability’s the first priority
And silence the safest stratey

Caught in the sights of their own moralising
Singed by a fire of their own devising
Don’t mention Isaac Hitchen’s House

Isaac Hitchen was the keeper of an infamous house
In Great Sankey
And men at their leisure for the purposes of pleasure
Frequented Isaac Hitchen’s house