The Turnpike Gate reel

I learned this old-fashioned, nameless tune several months ago here in Yorkshire. My flute/whistle tutor also gave me another nameless tune to play after it (https://thesession.org/tunes/1498#comment76768) but he doesn’t recall where he got them.

It sounds nice and is fun to play on flute, but I guess this tune originally comes from the repertoire of box/melodeon players. Yeah, it would sound best on melodeon.

I forgot to note I learned this tune to practice G roles, especially in the second part.

This is on Cathal Hayden’s recording “Handed Down”, and contributer “zed” was asking about it recently. Hayden calls it “The Killavell Fancy”, but “zed” thinks - and I agree - that that is the name of the 2nd tune. It is on an LP by Roger Sherlock as “Killanan’s Fancy”, which is quite close to “Killavell”. I’m sure “Stockton’s Wing”, and possibly the Kilfenora Ceili Band recorded it as “Austin Tierney’s”, although he does have another reel named after him. Because there are already “Austin Tierney’s” and a “Killavil Fancy” in the tune list, I’ll tentatively title it “Killanan’s Fancy”, and go with Roger.

It’s listed elsewhere as “The Turnpike Gate” and “The Moving Bogs” if that helps you with recordings, but again there are otehr reels that go by those names.

Good man, Dow - I’d forgotten about that title.I think “Bulmer & Sharpley” have it as that. I should have said before that this tune has also been recorded by Frankie Gavin & Alec Finn, who also followed it with the “Killavil Fancy”.

Thanks, Kenny and Dow. Now, I list the tune as “The Turnpike Gate.” Yes, this version is very similar to Norbeck’s transcription of the tune.

When “Memories of Sligo” was first released, an acquaintance of the owner of the Inchecronin label told me that Roger Sherlock had no hand in listing the titles of the tracks. Instead, she claimed that the owner of the Inchecronin label (his name escapes me and my lps are in storage) did it from memory, leading to several mistakes, including the “Killanin’s Fancy” error, which has since been repeated by several recording artists!

Interesting, zorg. By coincidence, I posted the Roger Sherlock LP yesterday, and I did change some of the titles.

Watch and listen to Pat O’Connor and Claire Keville play this tune: http://www.custysmusic.com/mall/CustysTraditionalMusicShop/brogans.htm

I picked this one up from my local session. It hardly takes any effort to learn if you already know the Galway Rambler, which has a very similar B-part. This is the setting I got from my local session. It’s different in the 2nd to last bar:

X: 1
T: The Turnpike Gate
M: 4/4
L: 1/8
R: reel
K: Gmaj
GEDE ~G3B|AD (3FED AD (3FED|GEDE GABd|1 eBdB A2BA:|2 eBdB G2Bd||
~g3b ~a3b|gabg agef|~g3b ~a3b|gedB A2Bd|
~g3b ~a3b|gabg aged|Beed edBd|gedB A2BA||

During my very short stay in Dublin last week, I had the great pleasure to meet Catherine McEvoy and friends. They had the second part of the tune somewhat different, and this is what I reconstructed from my memory:

~g3b agab|gabg agef|~g3b agab|gabg ~a3z|
~g3b agab|gabg agfd|~e3d edBd|gedB A2BA||

The Killavil Fancy came after the tune as expected.

My transcription of Frankie Gavin’s version on his album with Alec Finn

this is more or less the version of our local session - a bit easier for banjo etc.