Annotation:Turriff Hunt (The)

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X:6 T:Turriff Hunt C:Robert Petrie S:Petrie's Collection of Strathspey Reels and Country Dances &c. (c. 1790, p. 4) Z:Steve Wyrick <sjwyrick'at'astound'dot'net>, 3/5/04 N:Petrie's First Collection, page 4 L:1/8 M:C R:Strathspey K:Gm G<Gd>c A<cd>g | f=e/f/ d<f c<fA>F | G<GTd>c A>cd<g | f<df>A BGG2 :| GgTg>f d>f Tg2 | d>fc>f B>fA<F | GgTg>f d>fg>a | f<df>A B<GG>A | GgTg>f df Tg2 | d>fc>f B>fA<F | G<GTd>c A>cd<g | f<df>A B<G G2 |]

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TURRIFF HUNT, THE. Scottish, Strathspey (whole time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AAB.The ancient town of Turriff is in Aberdeenshire, an area associated with the titles of many of fiddler-composer biography:Robert Petrie’s tunes. Turriff was the scene in 1639 of the first serious bloodshed of the English Civil War, when Covenanters and Royalist forces clashed in an encounter known as theTrot of Turriff.

The Turriff Hunt was originated by Lord Banff (the last, save one, to hold the extinct title) and consisted of about one hundred members. An account of the hunt records:

More than four-score years ago [Ed. c. 1780] the pleasantly situated village of Turriff, in the north of Aberdeenshire, was the scene of as fine an annual gathering of noblemen and gentlemen, to enjoy the pleasures of the chase, as could be found taking hte field in any part of the whole land. They went by the name of the "Turriff Hunt", and had an excellent establishment for the purpose of their meetings. For the horses and hounds they had extensive stabling and kennels, and kept a huntsman and a pack of hare-hounds throughout the year. For their own uses (pardon, kind reader, the precedence given to the "stud and pack"), they had two large buildings, consisting of, besides the other requisite apartments, a large dining-room for the gentlemen and a "ladies hall," as it was named. The scene at times, but not oft, of the evening's festivity where the flower of the fair-ones of the north, with not unfrequently the gay and fascinating Duchess of Gordon, the "Merriest Ladie," aye, and the wittiest, and one of the fairest, too, of the Court of George III, at their head, waited their liege lords after the day's sport, to spend the evening with music and dancing.

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