The Sunday Class
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Taught/practised on: 2014 September 7 th
NEWBURGH JIG  (J8x32) Allana Creighton  RSCDS Book 48   1- 8 1s+2s+3s circle 6H round and back     9-12 1s set & cast off one place as 2s step up  13-16 1s turn LH to face 1 st  corners     17-20 1s set to 1 st  corners & dance around each other RSh (Gypsy turn) to face 2 nd  corners   21-24 1s set to 2 nd  corners & dance around each other RSh (Gypsy turn) to face own sides for … 25-28 2s+1L, 1M+3s dance LH across finishing on the sidelines, 1s in 2 nd   place opposite sides     29-32 2s+1s+3s set, 1s cross RH
Devised by Allana Creighton, Perth & Perthshire Branch, for Netta Berry, who teaches the Newburgh Church Scottish Country Dance Class, on her 70 th  birthday.  Newburgh is a royal burgh of Fife and has grown little since 1901 when the population numbered 1904 - in 2004 the estimate was 2040. It is situated on the Firth of Tay, 7 mikes north-west of Ladybank Junction on the Edinburgh to Aberdeen railway line, though Newburgh railway station closed in 1955 and has never reopened in spite of local campaigns for its reinstatement. Within a mile of the town are four sites of historic interest: The multi-walled Pictish hill-fort of Clatchard Craig once stood to the south of the town. Archeological excavations have shown that the fort was occupied between the 6 th  and 8 th  centuries AD, as a site of high status. The fort was destroyed by quarrying during the late twentieth century. Lindores Abbey is situated near the Tay, on the East side of the town and is famous as the birthplace of Scotch Whisky owing to its links to Friar John Cor and the Exchequer Rolls of 1494. There are only fragmentary remains of the Tironensian (reformed Benedictine) abbey, founded about 1190 by David, Earl of Huntingdon, brother of William the Lion, although the ground plan of the whole structure can still be traced. Best preserved are the south-west gateway through the precinct wall, various discontinuous fragments of the wall itself, and part of the east cloister range, including the still vaulted slype (passage from the cloister to the east end of the church), all built of local red sandstone. The monastic church itself had a single aisle on the north side, with aisled north and south transepts, a central tower (presumably) and a detached western tower or campanile, as at Cambuskenneth Abbey. The monks were noted agriculturists and their orchards famous. Many of the houses in Newburgh's High Street have orchards with trees descended from the original plantings, although many plots have now been sold and developed for housing. On high ground, about a mile south-west of Newburgh, stand the pedestal remains of Macduff's Cross, which (in legend) marks the spot where the clan Macduff, in return for its chief's services against Macbeth, was granted rights of sanctuary and composition for murder done in hot blood. Denmylne Castle (c.15 th C), about a mile south-east of Newburgh on the Cupar road, was the home for more than 250 years of the Balfour of Denmylne family, of which the two brothers, James (1600–1657), the annalist and Lyon King, and Andrew (1630–1694), founder of the Botanic Garden in Edinburgh, were the most distinguished members. The Castle was abandoned in 1772 when the estate was sold, the Castle's subsidiary buildings were demolished in the 19 th  century when a steading was constructed, and the roofless remains are in a dangerous state of disrepair. A lintel dated 1620 has been re-used in one of the steading's building. Three natural areas of interest nearby are Lochmill Loch which has been dammed to provide the town with a water supply and fishing; Blackearnside, an alder forest, where Wallace defeated Aymer de Valence, 2 nd  Earl of Pembroke in 1298; and Mugdrum Island, opposite the large estate from which it takes its name, divides the Firth of Tay into North Deep and South Deep channels, and for many years cattle were ferried over to the island for summer grazing. Originally the town’s industries chiefly consisted of the making of linen and floorcloth, malting and quarrying, and there were fisheries, especially of salmon, but most of these industries have now gone. A linoleum factory, owned by Courtaulds, which had been the town's principal employer, closed in May 1980 after a large fire destroyed much of the building. After many years of lying derelict, the factory has since been completely demolished and cleared and its site is now a recreational waterfront. Local services and a few shops provide limited employment, but most residents now commute to larger towns.
The original of this fine watercolour - Early Snowfall, Newburgh - by Fife artist, Bill Horlock, is now in the ownership of Dan & Muriel Brand, and is just one of many artworks currently hanging in 'Abbotshill House'.