The Maid Of Holywell reel

From the playing of Harry Bradley at Miltown Malbay 2 years ago. I got the name of the tune from the CD by Christy Barry, Cyril O’Donohughe and Conor McCarthy.

I love this title, but I can’t stop laughing long enough to try the tune….
😀

good tune.

Sorry about this, Will. I’ve just noticed that the name of this reel is “The Maid Of HolyWELL” ( or Hollywell). Must have been one of them thar Freudian slips! At least you got a laugh out of it.

I’m currently setting out Josephine Keegan’s “lifetime collection”, “A Drop In The Ocean” in abc … which I can read much faster than dots … and she has a setting which differs somewhat from the one posted here. Those that are interested in such matters might like to make comparisons.

X:1
T:Maid Of Holywell, The
M:4/4
R:Reel
K:D
|:dB|(3ABA FA B2dB|A2FA BEEB|A2FA BdAd|BdAG FDDB|
ADFA BdcB|A2FA BEEF|G3A Bdeg|1fdec d2:|2fdec d3||
e|:d2fd edBd|egfe dBAB|d2fd egfe|dBAG FDDA|
d2fd edBd|egfe dBAB|defg a3g|1f2eg fdd2:|2f2eg fd||

This is the last tune in the Tomin O’Dea set on Buttons & Bows “Grace Notes”.

According to Denis Mac Mahon this is a Clare reel

Denis Mac Mahon and Connie Connell plays a great version of this tune in a setavailable on YouTube (B-flat setting)

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IWXzVNzOuzM

play video

X:1
T:The Maids of Hollywell
S:Connie O’Connell & Denis Mac Mahon (fiddles, Cork/Kerry)
M:4/4
L:1/8
R:Reel
K:
A3 A ~B3 d | A2 FA BE ~E2 | ADFA (B/c/d) Ad | (B/c/d) AG FDDE |
D2 FA d2 cB | A2 GF GEEF | ~G3 A Bdeg | fedc d3 A ||
d3 f edBd | egfe dBAB | d3 d egfe | dBAG FD D2 |
d2 ~d2 edBd | egfe dBAB | defg ~a3 g | f2 eg fedB ||

I’d always thought that this tune was a Clare tune, but I have my doubts.

It seems to be based on a tune called “Lady Johnstone’s Ree”, (Reel, possibly?) which appeared in “Alexander’s Fifty New Scotch and Irish Reels and Hornpipes arranged for the Violin or Flute by an Eminent Professor” and published circa 1825.

Here is a link to transcripts of the book in abc and pdf formats:

https://www.village-music-project.org.uk/?page_id=803

The tune is no. 12 in the short collection, or Alex50.12.

Here is a link to just the tune:

http://abcnotation.com/tunePage?a=www.village-music-project.org.uk/%3Fpage_id=807.no-ext/0012

The order of the parts is reversed in this book.

https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Maid_of_Holywell_(The))
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Earl_of_Dalhousie%27s_Reel_(2))