Annotation:Milley's Bequest
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MILLEY'S BEQUEST. English, Morris Dance Tune (4/4 time). D Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. A tune for a morris two-stick dance, collected in the village of Lichfield, Staffordshire, in England's Cotswolds. The title is a reference to a bequest made in the fifteenth century by Cannon Thomas Milley. Lichfield had, since 1424, a women's almshouse near Lichfield Catherdral for the care of the poor and infirm. In 1504 Milley re-endowed it "with tenements and lands producing, together with subsequent benefactions, an income of about ₤370, for the maintenance of fifteen aged women, who receive each a weekly allowance of seventeen shillings and sixpence...a dispensary, supported by subscription, was established in 1829" [Samuel Lewis, A Topographical Dictionary of England, 1833]. The building is locally known as Dr. Milley's Hospital, and is still employed (albeit much renovated) as a charity for needy women.
Source for notated version:
Printed sources: Bacon (The Morris Ring), 1974; p. 235. Mallinson (Mally's Cotswold Morris Book), 1988, vol. 2; No. 42, p. 21.
Recorded sources: