Annotation:Bouzer Castle
X: 1 T:Bouzer Castle. (p)1679.PLFD.221 M:6/4 L:1/4 Q:3/4=80 S:Playford, Dancing Master,6th Ed.,1679 O:England H:1679. Z:Chris Partington. K:C C|E2G(GE)G|A2BcAc|E2G(GE)C|D3G,3| E2GGEG|A2B(cA)c|(ec)e(dB)G|c3C2:| |:C|e2fgfg|B2cdBG|E2GGEG|D3G,3| E2G(GE)G|A2BcAc|ecedBG|c3C2:|
BOUZER CASTLE. English, Jig (6/4 time). D Major (Barnes): C Major (Barlow). Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. The melody with directions for a country dance appears in London publisher John Playford's Dancing Master, in the supplement to the 6th Edition (1679), and in all later editions of the series through to the end of the long-running series, with the 18th edition of 1728. It also appears in John Walsh's Compleat Country Dancing Master of 1718 and later editions of 1731 and 1754, and his Compleat County Dancing Master, Volume the Fourth (1740).
There is no record of a 'Bouzer Castle', although it may be that the title refers to a castle of the family De Braose, who were granted lands in Sussex immediately after the Norman Conquest. Their estates passed to the Howards after several generations.