I can remember playing ‘Oranges and Lemons’ in our school playground at recess and lunchtime. Looking back it seems a little strange, perhaps, that antipodean children should have been singing about London church bells. I had never heard a church bell, and I had no idea where the churches were whose names we chanted.

10 girls playing ‘Oranges & Lemons’ in a government school playground, Melbourne, Victoria, 1954. Retrieved from Museums Victoria.
‘Oranges and Lemons’ starts with two players holding hands to make an arch with their arms. The others pass through in single file. The arch is abruptly lowered at the end of the song, catching one of the children filing through. In the version pictured above the captured children join a team behind one of the two who form the arch. When everybody has been caught there is a tug of war. Another version has a pair of children being caught at the end. They make another arch. The song is repeated, and it becomes harder for the remaining children to escape being caught. This repeats until all participating children have been “beheaded”.
The rhyme goes:
Oranges and lemons
Say the bells of St Clements
You owe me five farthings
Say the bells of St Martins
When will you pay me?
Say the bells of Old Bailey
When I grow rich
Say the bells of Shoreditch
When will that be?
Say the bells of Stepney
I’m sure I don’t know
Says the great bell at Bow
Here comes a candle to light you to bed
Here comes a chopper to chop off your head
Chop chop chop chop the last man’s head!
There is a video of the game being played at
and of the song being sung at
Many of my Australian and English friends on Facebook remember playing ‘Oranges and Lemons’ but my much younger cousin who went to primary school in Canberra in the 1980s cannot remember playing it herself. Her experience is confirmed by a cousin who began her career as a primary school teacher in Melbourne in the 1980s. She told me that, ‘I don’t remember ever hearing kids sing or play it during my 36 years of teaching’.
The churches are not definitely identified, but the following have been suggested by the English folklorists Iona and Peter Opie :
- St. Clement’s may be St Clement Danes or St Clement Eastcheap both of which are near the wharves where merchantmen landed citrus fruits.
- St. Martin’s is probably St Martin Orgar in the City but may be St Martin-in-the-Fields near Trafalgar Square.
- St Sepulchre-without-Newgate (opposite the Old Bailey) is near the Fleet Prison where debtors were held
- St Leonard’s, Shoreditch is just outside the old City walls.
- St Dunstan’s, Stepney is also outside the City walls
- Bow is St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside. According to tradition a true Cockney must be born within earshot of the sound of Bow Bells. The sound of the bells of St Mary’s features in the story of Dick Whittington and His Cat, in which the bells are credited with having persuaded him to turn back from Highgate and remain in London to become Lord Mayor.

The London churches associated with the ‘Oranges and Lemons‘ nursery rhyme, map created in Google Maps

St Mary-le-Bow cc-by-sa/2.0 – © Len Williams – geograph.org.uk/p/3756403
Source
- I. Opie and P. Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (Oxford University Press, 1951, reprinted with corrections 1952), pp. 337–9.
It reminds me of a game we must have played to London bridge is falling down, but no tug of war.
I remember the song Oranges and lemons being sung in a horrible murder movie I saw on television when I was pretty young. Just thinking about it is giving me the jitters!
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An American cousin of mine mentioned London Bridge too. We sang the London Bridge nursery rhyme too but I don’t remember playing a game with it. Gets a guernsey at L 😉 ‘Oranges and Lemons’ is a theme in George Orwell’s 1984 also. The ending is a bit gruesome but we didn’t think of that when children. Thanks for visiting.
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We played that as London Bridges Falling Down in Canada also.
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I’ve never heard of this children’s game – parents today probably wouldn’t let their kids play – sounds scary.
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Oh, not really more scary than catch I don’t think, less dangerous than skipping, no more politically incorrect than shooting the bad guys with imaginary guns 😉 My US cousins played a similar game to the nursery rhyme London Bridge is falling down
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Yes I’ve heard of the London Bridge game. I think it was the beheading which made it sound scary.
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The games I remember most playing in the school yard are double Dutch skipping, and Plainsies Clapsies, a game with a few versions played with a red, white and blue rubber ball bounced against the wall while singing the ditty.
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We skipped with a big rope held by two girls, clapped and bounced balls too when we were older. We also played elastics – needed at least 3 girls and some long hat elastic, ditties which I can no longer remember and a pattern of jumping that started at ankles, moved up to knees and thighs.
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I first heard of that rhyme in George Orwell’s 1984. It stayed with me all these years. I wish more kids these days would play simple games like that instead of being dependent on electronics for entertainment.
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We played this game in the school yard. Thanks for the location of the bells. Clapping games were also popular, along with All over Red Rover.
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Oh and now I remember there were also creeping up games, eg Big A, little a, bouncing b, cats in the cupboard and can’t see me … all run away and one gets caught.
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I’m showing my age with vivid memories of Oranges and Lemons played at school and parties.
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When you played did the game end with tug of war or with increasing numbers of arches with the last child running the gauntlet to avoid having their head chopped off?
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Not tugs of war – just a mad chase.
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I remember a mad chase too – in fact during one such chase which involved the slippery dip I fell from the slippery dip and broke my nose – badly it required an operation.
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I too remember playing Oranges and Lemons at school and at parties in the early 1950s. I don’t think we gave much thought to the ghoulish words at the end – it was just fun if you were caught or saw others being caught.
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I must ask my daughters if they played Oranges and Lemons…I certainly did..back in the dark ages 🙂
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In and out the dusty windows; Orange and lemons; Whats the time Mr Wolf?. Always skipping – and double skipping; Dutch elastic skipping. Balls (2 or 3) up against the wall, sang to Ebucadneezer, the king of the Jews, bought his wife a pair of shoes…. Handstands up against the wall, with your skirts tucked in your knickers! Fab times in the 50s…. and all team games!
Avril
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