Annotation:Flaxley Green Dance
X:1 T:Flaxley Green Dance M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig S:William Robinson (c. 1790-c. 1860), Abbott's Bromley, Staffordshire N:Sharp presented the tune as an alternate air for the N:Swalwell, Earsdon and Beadnell sword dances. B:Cecil Sharp - Sword Dances of Northern England, Book II (1912, p. 14) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:Amin ABc d2c|BAG A2G|FGA GAB|A3 A2A| Bcd e2d|cBA B2c|dfe dcB|1 A3 A3:|2 A3 A2|| |:B|cea g2f|edc d2c|Bdg f2e|dcB c2B| Acf Bdg|cea dfb|efe dcB|1 A3 A2:|2 A3 A3||
FLAXLEY GREEN DANCE. English, Country Dance Tune (6/8 time). A Minor (Aeolian). Standard tuning (fiddle). AABB. From the Robert Buckley music manuscripts (c. 1857-58), Staffordshire, who noted the tunes in the mid-19th century from the playing of Abbots Bromley fiddler and wheelwright William (or Henry) Robinson (c. 1790-c. 1860). See "Abbot's Bromley Horn Dance" for another of Robinson's tunes. Collector Cecil Sharp, responding to requests (he writes), suggested this tune (which Buckley had sent him) as a suitable tune for the "rapper" sword dances of Swalwell, Earsdon and Beadnell, mining villages near Newcastle, situated on the Durham bank of the Tyne. Sharp collected the dances in 1911 and was told by the dancers that "any jig would do, so long as it is played at the proper speed (160 bpm)."
The village of Flaxley Green, Staffordshire, near Rugeley, is set amidst a coal mining area, active until the end of the 20th century. Flaxley Green was also the location of a POW camp, whose foundations can still be seen today.
