Blackheath

X:1 T:Black Heath M:C| L:1/8 S:Playford - Dancing Master (11th edition, 1701) K:Gmin G2|B2d2d2g2|dcde d2G2|B2d2d2g2|agab a2d2|g2a2b2f2| gfed c2f2|d2B2c2A2|B6 G2|B2d2d2g2|dcde d2G2| B2d2d2g2|agab a2d2|g2a2b2f2|gfed c2f2|d2B2c2A2|1 B6:|2 B8|| d2 A2A2 dc|=BcBA G2d2|g2d2d2 gf|=efed c2e2|f4 g4| agab a2 gf|=e2f2f2e2|f6 f2|b2d2d2 ef|gfed c2 de| f2B2B2cd|edcB A2 Bc|d4 =e4|^f2B2 g2 ab|a2g2a2^f2|1 g8:|2 g6||

 BLACKHEATH. AKA - "Black Heath." English, Country Dance Tune (cut time). G Minor. Standard tuning (fiddle). AA'BC. The melody was new to the 11th edition of Henry Playford's Dancing Master (London, 1701). It also appeared in John Young's editions of The Dancing Master (London, 1709, 1713) and in Walsh's Compleat Country Dancing Master (London, 1718). The name probably refers to the Blackheath area, now in London, straddling the boundary of Lewisham and Greenwich. In Playford's day it was a desolate place, with poor soil and thus not cultivated. It was a favourite haunt of highwaymen in the 17th century, who preyed upon coaches traelling from the city on the Dover Road to north Kent and the Channel ports. Printed sources: Barlow (The Complete Country Dance Tunes from Playford's Dancing Master), 1986; p. Barnes (English Country Dance Tunes, vol. 2), 2005; p. 11. __NORICHEDITOR__