Annotation:Roxburgh Castle Hornpipe

Back to Roxburgh Castle Hornpipe

X:1 T:Roxburgh Castle M:C L:1/8 R:reel Z:Philip Whittaker B:Calvert Collection, p. 6 K:A cB| AEAc ecec | d2 df ecBA | d2 fd c2 ec | B2 B2 B2 cB| AEAc ecec | dfdf ecBA | fgaf edcB | A2 A2 A2|| ef/2g/2 | aece Aece | aece Aece | dfdf cece | B2 B2 B2 cB| AEAc ecec | dfdf ecBA | fgaf edcB | A2 A2 A2||

ROXBOROUGH CASTLE. AKA and see "Blanchard's Hornpipe (1)," “Broken Hornpipe (The),” "Chester Castle (2)," “McCarthy's Hornpipe," "Mr. Marton.” AKA - "Roxburgh Castle." Scottish, Irish, English; Hornpipe and Reel. A Major (most versions): G Major (Miller). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Hunter): AABB (Miller, Raven, Sweet): AABB' (Brody). This popular hornpipe exists under several titles, including “Blanchard's Hornpipe (1),” “McCarthy's Hornpipe,” “Broken Hornpipe (The),” and “Chester Castle (2) Hornpipe,” as well as the alternate spelling “Roxburgh Hornpipe.” Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883) gives the “Blanchard” title, while “McCarthy’s” is from O’Niell’s Music of Ireland (1903).

Early printings appear in a printed collection dated 1799 by Thomas Calvert, a musician from Kelso, Scotland, and the John Fife music manuscript book of 1780 (Perthshire). A note with the collection states that Calvert also supplied “a variety of music and instruments, instruments lent out, tun’d and repaired.” In addition, Roxburgh Castle is also the name of a not-particularly-common Scottish country dance. Ascribing a Borders provenance to the tune would seem appropriate, although there is nothing particularly Scottish about the character of the melody and it has long been popular in England, particularly Northumberland. “Roxborough Castle Hornpipe” is occasionally employed by morris dance musicians as a vehicle for steps in various regions of England. For example, it is one of four tunes (along with “Drops of Brandy,” “Wonder Hornpipe” and “Smash the Windows”) traditionally played for the Grenoside Sword Dance, performed in the village of Grenoside, near Sheffield, on Boxing Day. The second strain melodic material forms the second part of the American minstrel tune "Jordan is (am) a Hard Road to Travel," while Missouri fiddler Gene Goforth’s “Devil's Hornpipe” (on his “Emminence Breakdown” album) is a related tune.

Although Roxborough Castle is the name of a manor in Moy, County Tyrone, northern Ireland, dating from 1738 (since vanished) it is likely this tune refers to Roxborough Castle in the Borders area of Scotland. Shakespeare employed the fortress as a setting in his play Edward III.

Additional notes

Source for notated version: - Graham Townsend (Canada) [Brody].

Printed sources : - Brody (Fiddler’s Fakebook), 1983; pp. 237-238. Hunter (Fiddle Music of Scotland), 1988; No. 316 (appears as "Roxburgh Castle"). Karpeles (A Selection of 100 English Folk Dance Airs), 1951; p. 7 (appears as "Roxburgh Castle"). Kennedy (Fiddlers Tune Book, vol. 1), 1951; No. 22, p. 11 (appears as "Roxburgh Castle"). Miller (Fiddler’s Throne), 2004; No. 308, p. 182. Milne (Middleton’s Selection of Strathspeys, Reels &c. for the Violin), 1870; p. 43. Raven (English Country Dance Tunes), 1984; p. 188. Sweet (Fifer’s Delight), 1965/1981; p. 59.

Recorded sources: - Front Hall 08, Alister Anderson - "Traditional Tunes" (1976. Appears as "Roxburgh Castle"). Mawson & Wareham Music MWM 1033, Willie Taylor & Kathryn Tickell – “From Sewingshields to Glendale” (1986). Park Records PRKCD 42, Kathryn Tickell – “Northumberland Collection.” Rounder 7002, Graham Townsend - "Le Violin/ The Fiddle."

See also listings at:
Alan Snyder’s Cape Breton Fiddle Recording Index [1]
Jane Keefer’s Folk Music Index: An Index to Recorded Sources [2]
Alan Ng’s Irishtune.info [3]