During the afternoon of Saturday 7th January 1905 Ralph Vaughan Williams travelled across the Marshland to visit the nearby village of Tilney St Lawrence, furthering his quest for new folk tunes. Here he met with fiddle player, Stephen Poll, a local musician who played for dances at local feasts and fairs. 69 year old Mr Poll was a farm labourer by day and had learnt his skills as a dance musician through playing and dancing at Kings Lynn Mart, the annual fair in the nearby town.
 
Stephen Poll was born in 1836 in Tilney All Saints and moved to nearby Tilney St Lawrence in his mid 30s. He had 6 children with his wife Frances, whose father, John Sutterby, owned a 42 acre farm in Tilney St Lawrence. In 1891 the family lived at Antioch Field on the road between Tilney St Lawrence and Tilney All Saints, not far from where the A47 dual carriageway passes under the road today. A decade later Poll was a widower and was living at Moreditch, which is somewhere near the location of the Buck Inn in Tilney St Lawrence. He died in the summer of 1910, some 5 years after playing tunes for Ralph Vaughan Williams. To date we have been unable to locate his grave.
 
Stephen Poll played 1 song and 4 tunes for Vaughan Williams; Foxhunt; Trip To The Cottage; Gipsies In The Wood; Low Back Car and Ladies’ Triumph.