There Is A Green Hill Far Away

Mrs Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) was only twenty years old when she composed the beautiful words of the hymn There is a green hill, a work of exquisite purity and tenderness of youth. Her inspiration is said to have come from a large grass-covered mound just outside her home town of Londonderry which put her in mind of the hill in the Holy Land, beyond Jerusalem's gates, 'where our dear Lord was crucified'. During her lifetime, Mrs Alexander wrote over four hundred hymns including Once in Royal David's City and All things bright and beautiful, two hymns which have remained extremely popular with adults and children alike.
The tune 'Horsley' was named after its composer, William Horsley (1774-1858), a London-born organist and composer who was one of the founders of the Philharmonic Society in London (1813). The flowing melody and simple harmonies of his hymn tune complement perfectly the fresh simplicity of Mrs Alexander's poetry.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• There
• Is
• Green
• Hill
• Far
• Away
• Inspirational
• Hymns
• yorkshire
• england
• qvt
• productions
• god
• howden
• minster
• choir

[tickertyboo43]

this brings back my school day memories of the assemblies,children do not sing and pray in our schools now and that is really sad,because this country (uk) is a christian country and I think taking the gospel out of schools has lost some of our hertigage .May God Bless our country and restore it to the christian nation it once was.AMEN

[JesusOurSalvation]

Jesus is alive forever. He reigns over all.

One day every knee will bow to Him.

Jesus alone saves People.

[OperationAnime262]

Michael Rosen brought me here.

[Mervo44]

We aleo used to sing the Christmas song "Oh little town of Bethlehem" but it was sung to a tune which was different from the normal one. I will attempt to play it on my electronic organ, record it and post it on Youtube.

[laurian27453]

I remember singing this at 5 yrs old in a school assembly - ah the days.

Thanks for the hymn and the lovely video. Just one comment though the image at the very end of the male with his hand up showing 2 fingers up and 2 down is NOT Jesus! Look at images on google of Baphomet and see what his hands are doing!! No wonder people put 2 fingers up in cursing! Blessings.

[fishashley]

I'm an atheist but I do love this so very much.

[setunle]

A friend told me how confused he was when he heard this at school, because at that time he was unaware of the other meaning of the word "without". "Why should a green hill have a city wall?" he thought puzzledly

[TheMeribah]

I remember school in 1965 when we sang hymns like these during school assembly!

[honeybee7700]

Beautiful song it reminds me of my grandmother who passed away march 4th,2011 now she is with the Lord. She used to sing it to my mother and my mother sang it to me.

[catherinerg1]

i dnt believe in god or nething like that but ill alwas remember this song my gnanda requested it b sug at his funeral bfore he died and thats y itll

nearly lways bring a tear to my eye :) it kinda reminds me of my granda cus he was in pain in hosp shortly bfore he died and words in this song remid me of it

[catherinerg1]

i dnt believe in god or nething like that but ill alwas remember this song my gnanda requested it b sug at his funeral bfore he died and thats y itll

nearly lways bring a tear to my eye :)

[Cool2BCeltic]

@tickertyboo43 I remember this from primary school as well, in fact I was first introduced to it at school. My primary school, Castlehill Primary in Bearsden, inflicted religion on kids using methods similar to the indoctrination used in fascist states. The teachers also used it as a way of imposing their own literal minded religious beliefs on children. There should be no religious indoctrination in schools. Teach kids about religion, yes, but give them the freedom to make up their own minds.