The Gloucester Hornpipe
Hornpipes are supposed to have a maritime association, but Gloucester is not on the coast ….
Gloucester is a small city in south-west England. It is situated near the east bank of the River Severn, and was once a thriving commercial port. Today, the docks are mostly only used by pleasure craft.
Although Gloucester lies close to the Severn, this river has the second highest tidal range in the world, and was thus deemed too dangerous for navigation. To get around this, an artificial 16-mile waterway was constructed called "The Gloucester and Sharpness Canal" which links Gloucester docks to downstream Sharpness, where the tide is less severe. The canal also shortens the distance considerably, as it bypasses several meanders of the river.
You can of course use the river if you prefer, but expect to meet something like this:
There is a variant of this tune, The Men of Wrexham’s Hornpipe (Pibddawns Gwyr Wrecsam), in the Welsh triple harp repertoire.
Also variously known as The March of the Men of Wrexham and Pibddawns Heol Y Felin (The Mill Street Hornpipe - although this could be a wrongly attributed name, as there’s another Welsh hornpipe by this name).
T: The Men of Wrexham’s Hornpipe
|: Bc | d2 g2 gdBG | c2 e2 e2 ge | dBdB edcB | ABcB AGFD |
d2 g2 gdBG | c2 e2 e2 ge | dBdB cAFA |G2 B2 G2 :|
|: Bc | dBdB d2 g2 | ecec e2 g2 | dBdB edcB | ABcB AGFD |
dBdB d2 g2 | ecec e2 g2 | dBdB cAFA |G2 B2 G2 :|
"Hornpipes are supposed to have a maritime association, but Gloucester is not on the coast"
Neither is Wrexham…. or Sheffield or Tuamgraney or Tullycrine…
Ha! But I only said "supposed to be". And many are.
Wrexham and Sheffield are both on rivers, which lead to the sea …. And Sheffield has a canal, as well.
And Tuamgraney and Tullycrine are not too far from the Shannon ;-)
Thanks for the cross-ref to "Men of Wrexham", by the way..
This is one tune by this name but there is another tune also called the Gloucester Hornpipe in "The Coleford Jig - Traditional Tunes from Gloucestershire" by Charles Menteith & Paul Burgess. However that tune is also called The Swansea Hornpipe and The Man from Newry". Confusion reigns
Thanks for th info, ph.
Swansea and Gloucester are both on the same maritime trading route, so - who knows - the tune could easily have been "exported" from one place to the other.
“Pibddawns Gwŷr Wrecsam” / “The Men Of Wrexham’s Hornpipe”
Key signature: G Major
Submitted on February 28th 2009 by Mix O’Lydian.
Hornpipes were popular in 3/2 and later in 4/4 massively so on stage in the late 1700s when they became associated with sailors on stage and so spread through the populataion. Name seems only to serve as a help to rememeber where it was heard or from whom. As today not necessarliy the origin but a useful tag.
This is on O’Neil’s as "The Man from Newry".