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Cumbria Records Office, Carlisle, Grainger Deposition 1967
Transcribed into ABC Music Notation from a barely legible photocopy, for the Village Music Project, by Cherri Graebe, assisted by Gina LeFaux, 2001.
The following notes by Chris Partington, 2001. Revised 2007
Notes on bagpipe aspect by Paul Roberts, 2001
Additional notes (indicated in the text) by Sue Allan, March 2007
Go to ABC file
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file of the transcription
It has been possible with some of the tunes to make a reasonably
sure attempt at editing into playing condition. Where this is done
in the tune itself, the changes have been indicated above the
printed note/s(eg cr or qu indicates that the note was originally
a crotchet or quaver in the MS, etc) or in the “Notes” Blue Box.
Sometimes it has been such a big job that the tune has been
repeated as the edited version. Sometimes due to uncertainties the
changes would have amounted to a full scale rewrite with
insufficient evidence to back it up, in which cases, and there are
more than a few, we’ve preferred to leave it to you.
The Joseph Barn’s MS is in the Cumbria Record Office,
Carlisle.Ref.DX 74/2.Description.-The Violin Tutor c1786-95. We
have worked on photocopies made from Microfilm No. JAC:866. It is
part of the Grainger family papers, of “Holm Cultram”,
Abbeytown,on the north coast of Cumbria and a little to the
west of Carlisle. Holm Cultram Abbey was dissolved by HenryVIII.
The book is 9″ tall by 7″ wide, with hard covers of a material not
evident from our photocopy. It appears to have hand stitched
leaves, not all quite the same size. Where there is a page of
music there are eight hand-drawn staves to the page. Inside the
front cover there is a drawing of a floral pattern such as would
have been used for an embroidered waistcoat of the 18thC “Tailor
of Gloucester” type.
Throughout the book, the symbol “y” appears as a written
abbreviation for “th”, as in ye = the, yt= that, ym = them, yr =
their. This is pronounced as “th”(I presume), but I have retained
it in the tune titles. Welcome to Ye Olde Musicke Shoppe.
The first 9 pages in the entirely hand-written book is occupied by
what calls itself “The Complete Tutor For The Violin”. You will
find this transcribed as “The Carlisle Fiddle Tutor”. It is
elementary but curious. For the rest, the right hand of each pair
of open pages is mainly tunes except six pages between “The
Pilgrim”,tune77 and “Harmony”,tune78 which is taken up by
copperplate copying of historical and improving texts. At the
bottom of the first of these pages is written “1763
Scolar(sic)Scholar J.Barns” in a Gothic script. Occasionally
throughout the book the left hand of each open pair of pages
contains veterinary, horticultural, or medicinal remedies, as
follows:
P.13(of our photocopy) “March 28th 1791-A Receipt to make
a drink for a cow that is like to be rotten(?)”
P.15 “…for destroying caterpillars….”
P.17 “…for Red water in a cow”..”A cure for Cholick..”
P.19 “…for ye jaundice..”
P.25 “…a diet drink by Mr Elliot..April 1795”
P.34 “August 1776..an experianced receipt for a cough, from Mr
Lawson of Bowness”(bottom half of page.)
P.36 “…for a strain in a horse” “A Cow drink after she calves –
May 1786”
P.38 “…for the haze in a cow by Jn. Hetherington”
There is also in the top half of page 34, in what I take to be
J.Barn’s hand, a fair copy of some, what he calls, “German Text”
ie-Gothic script/font.
The rest consists of 89 dance tunes and song airs, some with words
appended,ie Hearts of Oak,#14, Scotch Song#74, True Blue#79, Fond
Shepherd#86, and also one song text not associated with a tune.
Above tune#06 is the date “1769”, vertically and not apparently
associated with it.
Amongst “Dumfries Bowling Green”,tune#11 are the words
“……….(?)Mr.Barne’s piping (?)… (?) etc”. However this is quite
hard to decipher and “piping” is only my best guess.
Below “Boniest Las in ye World”#13 are the dates
“1768,176..,1769”,not apparently associated with it.
Below “Weel Take Her Away..”#53 is the date “December 30th 1762”
At bottom of page with “Guinea Corn”#63 is the fragment of a tune
called “The second Part Of The Above March, J.Barnes”(with an E)
Underneath “Jack of ye Green”#67 it says “Jack of ye Green,
December 28th 1762”.
After “Untitled”#82 it says “November 20 1769”
The last two tunes in the book, Paddy Wack,#88,Haste to the
Wedding,aka,#89, are in a totally different script and are
obviously much later insertions.
Inside the back cover it says (with doodles) “Donkin Grey, Black
Joak, Parson in ye Suds, Lads of Air, and Wild Wards Baire(?)”
then on separate lines “Joseph Barn’s own Book 1762” “Joseph
Barn’s own Book 1762″(again),and “John Allinson of Oughterside”
A full three-quarters of the tunes in the book have either or both
of the key or time signatures missing or incorrect, (i.e. 6/8 for
4/4, etc). Many have errors that suggest an attempt to notate by
ear rather than by copying (i.e. bar lines erratic or missing,
wrong number of notes in bar etc). Where tunes also appear
elsewhere (e.g. Vickers MS) the setting is always different,
sometimes greatly so. One or two disjointed fragments suggest a
page or two may have gone astray (here joined as Frags#37).
Is the music handwriting consistent with being all the work of one
person?(apart from #88.89).
The handwriting of the music script shows considerable superficial
variation.
The music script is sometimes flamboyant, sometimes less so,
always confident but not always legible. There are at least 6 ways
in which the treble clef is done, but each of the different clefs
can be associated with more than one style of script e.g. “Heart
of Oak” & “Peace and Plenty” both have similar awkward script
that might suggest a different hand to the main body, yet each has
a different style of clef that is repeated recognisably elsewhere
in the MS amongst both the more normal and the more flamboyant
script. The most excessive style is exemplified in Maggie
Lowther#10 and Black Joak#26 and yet there are gradations through
the styles that, to me at any rate, make it impossible to say with
certainty that This or That script is definitely a different hand
to That or This. In short it looks to me like all the work of one
person.
The violin tutor on the first nine pages is undated. It would have
been archaic by 1762 and our guess is that it was copied by, say,
Joseph Barns from an already old book. Copied rather than written
because the succeeding tunes don’t display enough familiarity with
notation to have been the work of someone confident enough to
write an instruction book. Also some of the symbols in the tutor
(e.g. “+”) never appear in the actual tunes.
The Staves, exclusively on the right hand page, commence only
after the Tutor, and so are subsequent to it. They are interrupted
after tune#77 for six pages of Scholar’s copywork clearly dated on
the first page as “1763”. They resume again, and tune #82 is dated
1769.
Here and there at the head or foot of the pages, but not clearly
attached to tunes, are dates 1768/9.
The receipts (archaic for “recipes”) are dated between 1776 –
1795.
Joseph Barns/Barnes (he spelt the name both ways) is clearly the
main name, dated 1762/3.
(See below)
A quick look on the Mormon Genealogy site turned up Joseph Barnes, christened at Sebergham Nr Carlisle, Cumbria on 24th Jan 1748, one of eight children of Thomas Barnes and Jane Hodgson. Also Joseph Barn, born 9th Feb 1741, Crosthwaite, between Windermere and Kendal. No further details so far available. I favour the Sebergham version as he would be 14/15 at the beginning, a much more likely age for a “scolar” than 21 to be practising handwriting etc. I have no details of his occupation.
John Allinson of Oughterside I did not find, but John Allison,
weaver, b1777- Brigham,nr Cockermouth.d1845 is a possibility. As a
smallholding weaver he would still require Cows remedies. I do not
know what the connection was between them all yet. Maybe the two
Josephs were
cousins.
Crosthwaite is near Bowness on Lake Windermere, Sebergham is near
Oughterside, and there is another Bowness on the coast west of
Abbeytown, not far north of Oughterside, and there is an
Oughterside Rant near the beginning of the book, so J.Barnes had
some connection with it, at least.
* That was the state of my knowledge of Joseph Barnes when I wrote
these notes in 2001. However, in March 2007 Sue Allan kindly added
what she knew from her own researches into the Manuscript. In what
follows she refers to an inscription in the MS regarding Joseph
Barn’s address and the date 1765. I have re-examined our photocopy
and cannot find this inscription, but I only have the rather poor
photocopy that was provided by the records office, and I presume
Sue Allan has had the advantage of inspecting the original
Manuscript.
On one of early pages of the MS it gives his name, the date
January 1st 1765, and where he lived: Wolsty Close, Abbey Holm,
Cumberland. Other date inscriptions give eg 1763 (Scolar J.Barns)
and latest date, on a veterinary ‘receipt’ is 1795. Working from
parish registers etc around those dates we can find additional
information.
Abbey Holm is another name for Holm Cultram, predating the use of
its current name of Abbeytown. Wolsty (variously spelt as
Woolstie and Woolsty) is a hamlet nearby. Parish registers
indicate a Joseph Barnes of Wolsty Close was buried in 1825, aged
81. That’s 60 years after the date on the MS, making him 21 in
1765 – so I would have thought it’s a reasonable supposition that
it was his book. However … according to the parish registers he
was baptised in March 1743. Now, even supposing he was just born
that year (and it’s conceivable it could have been the previous
year), then that would make him 82 in the year of his burial. But
who’s quibbling over a year or two.
Registers also give births of children in 1780 and 1782, Richard
and Thomas. Richard is described as a ‘yeoman’ in 1847. As a
family of yeoman farmers, the many veterinary ‘receipts’ on pages
of the Barnes MS, alternating with tunes, would have been a
necessary part of looking after one’s stock on the farm.
BARNES Richd yeoman Wolsty Close (1847)
Baptisms 1743: 8 March Joseph, son of Joseph Barnes of
Woolstyclose
Baptism 1746: 18 June Robert, son of John
Barnes of Woolstie Close
Burials 1825: 403 20 Joseph Barnes of
Wolsty Close, 81
Declaration by Robert Collinson, Incumbent Curate. Churchwardens:
John Drape, John Pape
Baptisms 1780: 28 June – Richd of Joseph & Mary
Barnes, Wolstye-close,
Baptisms 1782: 26 December – Thomas son of Joseph
Barnes born Nov 24th, Wolstey-Close
The Barnes ms forms part of the Grainger deposition at Cumbria
Record Office in Carlisle, which also includes Francis Grainger’s
psalm tune book of 1739 from the abbey. The psalm tune book is of
interest as a number of tunes have local names, and some of these
seem to be original to this area.
The Graingers were a very important local yeoman farming family:
churchwardens, local magistrates etc. Francis Grainger also had
antiquarian interests and published a number of articles in local
history journals. It’s a reasonable supposition that the Grainger
family knew the Barnes family well, and it was Francis’s
antiquarian interests which led him to obtain the tunebook for his
collection (much as the Browne family of Troutbeck did with their
tunebooks).
Sue Allan, March 2007 ”
That is the end of Sue Allan’s remarks. We are grateful for her
above contribution.
Many of the tunes seem to have a
bagpipey feel to them so we asked Paul Roberts (PR), who plays
both Fiddle and Border Pipes, to have a look at the collection and
give me his thoughts. Some of his comments are a bit lengthy to
entrust to the Blue Boxes of the abc file, so here they are
instead.
Dumphries Bowling Green (1). JBa.11
It definitely has a strong pipe flavour in terms of both the
structure and the decorative runs. Moreover, all three parts are
playable on a nine-note pipe scale, parts 1+3 without amendment.
What makes it a fiddle set is part 2 because in pipe terms it’s in
the wrong key. If you transpose the second part (marked “3”) into
what is known as the ‘top hand’ key this would be playable on the
8 or 9 note Smallpipes or the Border Pipes – could this be the
reason for the possible reference to Mr Barns’ piping here – e.g.
a reminder to transpose when playing with Mr Barnes?? In my
opinion the edited version, though suitable for the fiddle,
somewhat diminishes the bagpipe flavour, the original version
being immediately comprehensible to me as a bagpiper.
O????? ?????? Wedding. JBa.16
This too has a very bagpipy character – it’s written in the
compass except for the high B in the second part (which is however
obtainable on ‘Half Longs’ by overblowing). The staccato bits in
part 6 look like they might represent some form of piping
decoration, probably involving a conventional finger movement.
Finally the 7/8 rhythm sounds fine to me and very reminiscent of
older pipe flavoured timings of 3/2 & 6/4, however I suspect
this is more likely to be a badly notated attempt at a ‘crooked
tune in 4/4/ or 2/4.
Fox Hunter. JBa.20
This is within the bagpipe compass and structurally very typical
of a simple pipe jig – I would class this as a pipe rather than a
fiddle setting.
Donkin Gray. JBa.21
This is clearly not a pipe setting but elements of the variations
are typically bagpipish in form. It sounds like the work of a
fiddler very familiar with ‘Border Bagpipe’ conventions. CGP adds
that Duncan Gray was of course one of the many tunes subjected to
variations by ‘legitimate’ composers as well as ‘traditional’
anonimous’s.
Black Joak. JBa.26
The obvious comparisons are with the setting in Leadley and the
setting by Charles Mclean in Johnson’s Scots Fiddle Music of the
18thC. It does contain elements in common with both but ultimately
it seems more different than similar. I suspect both this and the
Leadley may share a common source in Mclean but if so both reflect
a thorough going ‘folk process’ and stand on their own as new
settings. Having said that I didn’t do a really detailed
comparison – if you’ve seen Mclean’s set you’d understand what a
major operation that would be!
Goodnight and…. JBa.27
Is this not our old friend Buttered Peas/Stumpie? Granted a
distinct variant to be classed separately. At least this is
bagpipe compatible and likely of Bagpipe origin.
Horrocks’ Rant. JBa.29
Bagpipe compatible and possibly origin.
Duke’s Reel. JBa.34
Bagpipe compatible and possibly origin – within the compass etc.
Quaker’s Hornpipe. JBa.36
This isn’t like a normal 3/2 though it works in itself. It’s much
more like 9/4 and seems to work best as a 9/8. He may have been
getting his triple times confused. I’m sure I recognise this as a
tune now played in 9/8, but can’t quite place it.
Jack Lattin. JBa.41
Within pipe compass. This is of course particularly well known in
pipe versions. A rather simpler setting than others known to us,
with nothing unique.
More for Beauty…. JBa.45
Fairly definitely a pipe tune and setting, almost archetypal.
‘Gear’ is archaic for chattels, portable goods, etc, ie dowry.
Drops of Brandy. JBa.47
Almost a pipe version – could be played in this key but the 6th
note in the last bar would need to be up one,(most likely), or the
whole thing could be transposed up a tone, in which case 3rd note
in last bar becomes problematic – but could be overblown by a
skilled Border Piper..
Ye Major. JBa.48
There is a nice setting of this in Geoghan’s Pipe Tutor. Very
Typical Bagpipe jig, not only within the compass, but certain
structural features are Bagpipy. The 4th note in Bar 1 Pt 3, for
example, or the alternating notes in Bar 1 Pt4 are better on pipes
than fiddle.
Oughterside Rant. JBa.52
This might be reconsidered as a badly written 3/4 with conscious
crookedness.
Weel Take Her Away…. JBa.53
In Peacock’s Tunes For Smallpipes,Newcastle c1805 as ‘I’ll have
her in spite of her Minnie’. I’ve seen it elsewhere too and think
of it as a Pipe tune, and in fact this setting is in pipe compass
and idiom, except that 1st bar 5th note would need to be a G on
Border pipes, This alteration is typical of the way a fiddler
would ‘correct’ a pipe tune.
Stir The Girls. JBa.54
Sounds like it may have once been a pipe tune but this is clearly
a fiddle setting with a wide compass.
I Will Have A Wife……JBa.57
This is of course a particularly well-known pipe tune, but the 3rd
part is definitely a fiddler’s piece, going much too low for
pipes.
Guinea Corn. JBa.63
The title and the bones of the melody seem familiar.
Britan. JBa.64
Pipes compatible.
Untitled. JBa.65
Pipes compatible except 5th note Bar 4, for which low G is easily
substituted or A repeated.
Brandy Bottle JBa.66
This is structured very like a pipe tune and is pipe compatible if
you transpose Part 3. In fact it reminds me of a pipe tune that I
can’t quite pin down. Bobby Shafto?
End of Paul’s Comments.
Thus it seems evident from the high number of tunes in the
collection with bagpipe tendencies that a bagpipe tradition was
not far away in time or place, especially with the possible
reference to “Mr Barnes piping”. Paul being a Bellows man would of
course favour bellows over mouth power.
Paul Roberts
Chris Partington, vmp, 2001. Revised 2007/2016
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