Annotation:Bonnie House of Airly (The)
X:1 T:Bonnie House of Airly, The M:C L:1/8 R:Strathspey N:"Old" N:"The first eight bars are supposed the original." B:Gow - Sixth Collection of Strathspey Reels (1822) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G G2 AB c2 d>c|(B<G) AB c3c|(B2d2) g3=f|e2c2 z2 (c2|B2)d2 g3e| (=fd) (ec) f2 (eg)|d2 B>G c2 d>B|A2G2 z4||g2 AB c2 c>B|A>G AB G2 d>B| G2 AB c2 cd|e2d2z2c2|TB>A(Bc) d2 d>d|(efg).B A2 d>B|~G2 AB (c<e) d>B|TA4 G4||
BONNIE HOUSE OF AIRLY, THE. AKA - "Bonny House of Airly (The)." Scottish, Strathspey. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB (Gow): AAB (McLahlan). "Old," states Nathaniel Gow, who also says "The first eight bars are supposed the original." He refers to a ballad called "The Bonnie House of Airly" (see George Ritchie Kinloch, Ancient Scottish Ballads, 1827, pg. 100) which tells of the Earl of Airly and his son, clan Ogilvie, who sided with the Royalist forces of Charles I in the English Civil War. Arily's estates were plundered in 1639 or 1640 by the Earl of Argyle as consequence. Francis James Child finds the ballad earliest in Finlay's Scottish Ballads.