Edinburgh Castle ~ Pat Shaw #1
Albion's Queen ~ Playford+Shaw #1
Edinborough Castle ~ Shaw #1
Edinburgh Castle ~ Pat Shaw #1 or Albion's Queen ~ Playford+Shaw #1 is an English Country Dance. It was published by Henry Playford (website) in about 1698 in The Second Part of the Dancing Master, 2nd ed.. It was interpreted by Pat Shaw (website) in 1964 and published in Another Look at Playford. It is a proper Duple Minor dance. The minor set lasts 16 bars.
There are at least two Playford dances named "Edinburgh Castle", one also named "Scotch Cap" the other also named "Albion's Queen".
Playford writes:
The 1. man cast off below the 2. man, and go the Hey with the 2. man and 2. wo. till the 1. man comes into the 2. man's place The 1. wo. cast off below the 2. wo. and do the like First cu. being in the 2. cu. place, the two men lead to the wall, and the two we. do the same at the same time, then the 1. cu. lead up and the 2. cu. lead down at the same time, then right-hands a-cross all four half round, and then left-hands and back again, till the 1. cu. comes into the 2. cu. place The rest do the like
In 1710, John Young published the same choreography to the tune of "Albion's Queen"
John Young writes:
The first Man cast off below the 2d Man, and go the Hey with the 2d Man and 2d Woman, till the first Man comes into the 2d Man's Place Then the first Womon cast off below the 2d Woman and do the like The first Couple being in the second Couples Place, the two Men lead to the Wall, and the two Women do the some at the same Time; then the first Couple lead up, and the 2d Couple lead down at the same Time, then Right-hands a-cross all Four half round, and Left-hands back again, till the first Couple comes into the second Couples Place The rest do the like
Pat provides two different versions of B, this is the one he recommends.
The animation plays at 120 counts per minute normally, but the first time through the set the dance will often be slowed down so people can learn the moves more readily. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color, however the border of each dancer indicates what role they currently play so the border color may change each time through the minor set.
The dance contains the following figures: cast, lead, hands across, hey, hey for three (and probably others).
If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.
If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=EdinburghCastle-PShaw
The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is copyright © 1964 by Pat Shaw. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2022 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
This website is copyright © 2021-2025 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.