Annotation:Dalston Forge
DALSTON FORGE. English, Hornpipe (cut time). B Flat Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AABA. The hornpipe appears in the mid-19th music manuscript collection of Lake District musician William Irwin, attributed to William Irwin. Irwin attributes other compositions in his manuscript to both William and J(ohn?) Adams, brothers or perhaps father and son. Dalston is a small town near Carlisle, Cumberland. A gazetteer published around the time Irwin compiled his manuscript gives:
Buckhowbank, (East and West) a township and populous suburb of Dalston village, is situated on the east side of the Caldew, where there are two corn mills, a large flax mill, an iron forge, a saw mill, and three extensive cotton mills; two of which containing about 12,000 spindles, are worked under the firm of Jacob Cowen and Sons, and, together with the forge and one corn mill, are the property of George Cowen, Esq. The other cotton mill, the property of col. Sowerby, is worked by Carrick, Blenkinsop & Co. and gives employment to several persons. At the iron works here, called Dalston Forge, are made all kinds of agricultural implements; large quantities of cotton and thread are manufactured at the Flax-mill, by Lowthian and Parker, who have also an establishment at Carlisle.
