Charing’s Vamp Horn

This strange object appeared in the last issue and we asked if anyone could make an identification. Mrs. Pat Winzar wrote to say that it is the rare vamp-horn from Charing Church and that it is best described by the late Allen Grove FSA in an article on page 3 of the Journal of Kent History no. 12, March 1981.

"Kent still retains a rare instrument which I hesitate to call musical. It is the vamp-horn in Charing Church. There are some half-dozen other vamp-horns in England – at Willoughton in Lincolnshire; East Leake and Brybrooke in Nottinghamshire; Harrington in Northamptonshire; Ashurst in Sussex. Apparently, these instruments were used to amplify the sounds of the voices or to supply a missing part of the church band. According to Canon MacDermott, an old Sussex parish clerk who used the Ashurst vamp-horn stated that he merely sang or shouted down the instrument to make more sound for the singing."