Annotation:Woods of Bargenny (The)

Find traditional instrumental music

X:1 T:Woods of Bargenny, The M:6/8 L:1/8 R:Jig C:John Riddell of Ayr (1718-1795) B:John Riddell of Ayr – Collection of Scots Reels, Minuets &c. B:for the Violin (1782, p. 31) Z:AK/Fiddler’s Companion K:F (fgf) cAc|f2c (AB)c|(fgf) cAc|Tg2f (ef)g| (fgf) edc|def (cd/c/B/A/)|(GAG) B2 (c/d/):| |:F2c (A/B/c)A|f2c (A/B/c)A|F2c (A/B/c)A|{a}g2f (efg)| F2c (A/B/c)A|fcA fcA|def (cd/c/B/A/)|GAG B2 (c/d/):|]



WOODS OF BARGENNY. Scottish, Jig (6/8 time). F Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). John Glen (1891) finds the earliest appearance of the tune in print in Ayrshire fiddler-composer biography:John Riddell's (1718-1795) of Ayr’s 1766 first collection (p. 31), published in Edinburgh. It was also included in his expanded second collection of 1782, issued in Glasgow by James Aird. Bargenny is a town some twenty miles southeast of Ayr, while Bargenny House is a late 17th century mansion on the banks of the River Girvan, Ayrshire. Henry Boswell wrote of the area in 1795:

The chief rivers of this district are the Stineher and the Girvin, which abound with salmon and other fish. Here are also many lakes and woods...The principal town in the earldom of Carrick is Bargenny, which has a market, and gives the title of Lord to a branch of the family of Hamilton. [1]

See also Riddell's "Bargenny's/Balgeny's Bowling Green."

Additional notes

Source for notated version: -

Printed sources : - Riddell (A Collection of Scots Reels, Minuets &c.), 1782; p. 31.

Recorded sources: -



Back to Woods of Bargenny (The)


  1. Henry Boswell, The Antiquities of England and Wales Displayed , 1795.