Annotation: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," "Marton's Hornpipe," "Mr. Marton’s Hornpipe," "Queen's Hornpipe (4) (The)," "Wellington's Hornpipe (4).” AKA - "Roxburgh Castle." Scottish, Irish, English; Hornpipe and Reel. England, Northumberland. A Major (most versions): G Major (Miller, Rook). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Hunter, Rook): 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).
One of the earliest appearances of the hornpipe appears in a printed collection dated 1799 by Thomas Calvert, a musician from Kelso, Scotland, and in army fifer John Buttery's music manuscript book from approximately the same era. A note with the collection states that Calvert also supplied “a variety of music and instruments, instruments lent out, tun’d and repaired.” David Baptie (Musical Scotland, 1894, p. 65) attributed the tune to Kelso musician Alexander Given (1752-1803), "an excellent violinist and composer" who published a Collection of Reels, etc. (see also Given's "Teviot Bridge"). "Roxburgh Castle"[1] was was issued in a small folio accompanied with several of Givan's other compositions by the Edinburgh publishing concern of Gow & Shepherd c. 1810.
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. Northumbrian piper Jack Armstrong (who in 1948 he became official piper to the Duke of Northumberland) played the tune as "Marton's Hornpipe," a title that was printed as "Mr. Marton’s Hornpipe" in Köhlers’ Violin Repository Part 3 (c. 1885). “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 at the confluence of the rivers Teviot and Tweed, near Kelso. Shakespeare employed the fortress as a setting in his play Edward III. See also the cognate "Queen's Hornpipe (4) (The)" from south Ulster curate and fiddler biography:Rev. Luke Donnellan's c. 1909 music manuscript book. Roxburgh Castle is also the name of a not-particularly-common Scottish country dance.
