Annotation:St. Botolph Hornpipe
X:1 T:St. Botolph Hornpipe M:C| L:1/8 R:Hornpipe S:Ryan’s Mammoth Collection (1883) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:A (3EFG | A>cB>A A>ce>c | d>ef>g a>fe>c | A2 (c>B) A>ce>c | B>cB>A G>EG>B | A2 (c>B) A>ce>c | d>ef>g (3aga e>c | f>ed>f e>cA>c | B>AG>B A2 :| K:E |:(GA) | (cB)B>B B2 (cd) | e>de>f g2 (fg) | a>gf>a g>fe>g | f>ed>c B>AG>A | (cB)B>B B2 (cd) | e>de>f g2 (fg) | a>gf>a g>fe>g | f>ed>f e2 :|
ST. BOTOLPH HORNPIPE. AKA and see "Chicoutimi Reel (2)," "Hill Lilly," "Western Gem." American, Hornpipe. A Major ('A' part) & E Major ('B' part). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. The name 'Boston' is derived from the contraction over time of the place-name ‘St. Botolph's stone’, located in Lincolnshire (in the year 1130 this name appeared as Botulvestan). St. Botolph is mentioned in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in the year 654 as beginning to build a minster in an unidentified place, while another source describes him as “a man of remarkable life and learning.” Nothing else is known of him (or of his stone, or why it was important), though there are several medieval churches dedicated to him, including one in London (Matthews, 1972).
It “Can be used as a Clog,” notes Ryan. It may be that the title as it appears Ryan’s Mammoth Collection is simply another way of saying the ‘Boston Hornpipe’. William Bradbury Ryan was an employee of the Elias Howe publishing company of Boston, and his 1883 volume includes many of the tunes collected by and amassed by Howe himself. A few years earlier Howe had printed nearly the exact tune, but called it "Hill Lilly." The tune, set as a reel, appears a second time in Ryan's Mammoth Collection, as "Western Gem." The first strain is shared with "New York Hornpipe (1)" and, more distantly, in Ryan's "Witch of the Wave," but the second parts differ.
A French-Canadian version can be found as "Chicoutimi Reel (2)."
