The Ken Sheffield Collection - Country Dance & Song Society

CDSS is pleased to host two collections of the late Ken Sheffield: all ten volumes of From Two Barns and now, The Century Collection.

The Century Collection is available as a complete 129-page pdf download.

You may download each entire volume of From Two Barns as one PDF (look for the bold “Complete Edition” under each number) or as individual dances.

All dances are © Ken Sheffield and are published here with his permission. The dances and tunes may be printed for your own use, under Creative Commons license (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA). This means:

you must credit Ken Sheffield and the CDSS Online Library;
you may print and redistribute the dances, and build upon Ken’s work;
all new work must carry the same license, so any derivatives must also be non-commercial in nature.

Collections history

In 1982 Ken Sheffield published the first volume of From Two Barns. The plan was to produce a book of ten dances each year for ten years; other activities got in the way, as they tend to do, but ten books were eventually published, the last one in 2005.

Volume 10 includes a short history titled “Why From Two Barns,” which explains the title of the series, and how and why they happened.

Ken began work on The Century Collection before the publication of From Two Barns Vol. 10, in 2005. He passed away in 2017 before the book was completed, but all the dances and notes he planned to include remained. Since that time, they have been thoroughly researched and edited by Frances White and Diana Triplow in order to present the complete collection at last. During the intervening years some of the dances have been researched and published by others, and many of these are now well-known and popular. However, the collection is presented in its entirety here, as Ken had intended.

Ken Sheffield Biography

How Did I Get Mixed Up with Folk Dancing?

Apart from the “Music and Movement” programme on the Schools Broadcast, pre-war when I was seven or eight, I was not involved in any sort of dance activity. However at a choir supper, just after the Queen had been square dancing in Canada, the entertainment was a session square dancing run by a gentleman who organized a club in Aylesbury. From then on I used to spend Thursday evenings at this club.

A few weeks later I started off on my old motorbike to go roller skating at Princes Risborough and was obliged to take to a layby by a car on the wrong side of the road. The layby was about two inches deep in white mud which had run down off the Chiltern Hills. Both the bike and I changed colour! Even my black helmet was white!

Returning home to change I found my friend Bob, who had arranged to take his girlfriend, Betty, to a dance at Long Crendon, waiting for me. Unfortunately her mother would not let her go unless her elder sister went as well. He had arranged for me to partner the elder sister. The girls went off on the bus from Quainton to Long Crendon and we took off on the bike.

To Bob’s chagrin it was a folk dance, to 78 rpm records, played on a wind-up gramophone. Shortly after this escapade Bob and Betty split up leaving me with two new activities, which have endured for over sixty years, English folk dancing and, shortly afterwards, a wife.

Ken Sheffield
February, 2011

The Century Collection by Ken Sheffield, edited by Frances White and Diana Triplow

The Century Collection

From Two Barns: Ten Country Dances (mainly from Thompson, Wright and Wilson), compiled by Ken Sheffield

Volume 1

Document	Volume	Page #
Another Sweet Richard	Vol 1	11
Bath Medley	Vol 1	4
From Two Barns—Vol. 1—Complete Edition	Vol 1	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 1—Cover Page	Vol 1	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 1—Foreword	Vol 1	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 1—Index	Vol 1	index
From Two Barns—Vol. 1—Inside Cover Page	Vol 1	inside front
New Princess Royal	Vol 1	10
Rural Felicity	Vol 1	7
Sicilian Dance	Vol 1	5
Sun Assembly	Vol 1	9
Trusty Dick	Vol 1	3
Tunbridge Frisk	Vol 1	1
Wright Butter’d Peas	Vol 1	8
Youngs Wisdom	Vol 1	2

Volume 2

Document	Volume	Page #
Better Day Better Deed	Vol 2	10
Blue Primrose	Vol 2	5
Dapper Harry	Vol 2	11
From Two Barns—Vol. 2—Complete Edition	Vol 2	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 2—Cover Page	Vol 2	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 2—Foreword	Vol 2	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 2—Index	Vol 2	index
Guardian Angels	Vol 2	3
Neals Maggot	Vol 2	12
The Old Jubilee	Vol 2	7
The Rainbow	Vol 2	2
The Ton	Vol 2	1
A Trip to Wimbledon	Vol 2	9
True Joak	Vol 2	8

Volume 3

Document	Volume	Page #
Bloomsbury Market	Vol 3	9
Bob in the Bed	Vol 3	2
The Disbanded Officer	Vol 3	4
From Two Barns—Vol. 3—Complete Edition	Vol 3	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 3—Cover Page	Vol 3	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 3—Foreword	Vol 3	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 3—Illustration	Vol 3	illustration
From Two Barns—Vol. 3—Index	Vol 3	index
Just a Going	Vol 3	1
Painted Chamber	Vol 3	1
The Recruiting Officer	Vol 3	8
Sawney was Tall	Vol 3	11
Suggar Candie	Vol 3	3
Thomas and Sally	Vol 3	6
The Weezle	Vol 3	5

Volume 4

Document	Volume	Page #
Clifton Springs	Vol 4	1
Constant Nymph	Vol 4	10
From Two Barns—Vol. 4—Complete Edition	Vol 4	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 4—Cover	Vol 4	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 4—Foreword	Vol 4	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 4—Frontispiece	Vol 4	frontis
From Two Barns—Vol. 4—Index	Vol 4	index
Half Century	Vol 4	11
The London Assembly	Vol 4	7
The Mayor and the Corporation	Vol 4	9
Neck or Nothing	Vol 4	2
Newbury Fair	Vol 4	5
Newmarket	Vol 4	3
North Country Lass	Vol 4	8
Princess Augusta’s Tamborine	Vol 4	13

Volume 5

Document	Volume	Page #
The Corner House	Vol 5	10
Count Tallard	Vol 5	1
East Indian	Vol 5	2
From Two Barns—Vol. 5—Complete Edition	Vol 5	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 5—Cover	Vol 5	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 5—Foreword	Vol 5	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 5—Frontispiece	Vol 5	frontis
From Two Barns—Vol. 5—Index	Vol 5	index
Huzza My Boys	Vol 5	3
Lord Kilmurray’s Delight	Vol 5	4
Miss Margaret’s Delight	Vol 5	5
Miss Sandie’s Delight	Vol 5	7
The Temple of Health	Vol 5	9
The White Joak	Vol 5	10
Willy’s Rare and Willy’s Fair	Vol 5	11

Volume 6

Document	Volume	Page #
The Black Boy	Vol 6	5
The Brickmakers	Vol 6	2
Edgworth Bumpkins	Vol 6	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 6—Complete Edition	Vol 6	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 6—Cover	Vol 6	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 6—Foreword	Vol 6	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 6—Frontispiece	Vol 6	frontis
From Two Barns—Vol. 6—Illustration	Vol 6	illustration
From Two Barns—Vol. 6—Index	Vol 6	index
Mermaid	Vol 6	3
Milk Maids Bob	Vol 6	6
Miss Longs For It	Vol 6	10
More Alterations	Vol 6	9
The Revellee	Vol 6	11
The Scating Dutchman	Vol 6	7
The Steel Hoop	Vol 6	8

Volume 7

Document	Volume	Page #
Barbarini’s Tambourine	Vol 7	4
Corelli’s Gavot	Vol 7	1
The Faithful Swain	Vol 7	9
From Two Barns—Vol. 7—Complete Edition	Vol 7	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 7—Cover	Vol 7	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 7—Foreword	Vol 7	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 7—Frontispiece	Vol 7	frontis
From Two Barns—Vol. 7—Illustration	Vol 7	illustration
From Two Barns—Vol. 7—Index	Vol 7	index
Jack of Both Sides	Vol 7	3
Kind and Easey	Vol 7	6
The Man From Canterbury	Vol 7	8
The Romp	Vol 7	5
Smith’s Boree	Vol 7	2
Vaughn’s Ramble	Vol 7	11
Whirle It About	Vol 7	7

Volume 8

Document	Volume	Page #
Avos Bay	Vol 8	9
The British Toper	Vol 8	5
Buskin II	Vol 8	7
Colonel John Irwin	Vol 8 Supplement
Fanny Power	Vol 8 Supplement
From Two Barns—Vol. 8—Complete Edition	Vol 8	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 8—Cover	Vol 8	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 8—Foreword	Vol 8	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 8—Frontispiece	Vol 8	frontis
From Two Barns—Vol. 8—Illustration	Vol 8	illustrations
From Two Barns—Vol. 8—Index	Vol 8	index
From Two Barns—Vol. 8 Supplement—Complete Edition	Vol 8 Supplement	complete supplement
From Two Barns—Vol. 8 Supplement Cover	Vol 8 Supplement	cover supplement
Lawson’s Frisk	Vol 8	8
The Maid of Bath	Vol 8	2
Morgan Magan	Vol 8 Supplement
The New Allemand	Vol 8	6
The Russian Dance	Vol 8	1
The Scrutiny	Vol 8	11

Volume 9

Document	Volume	Page #
Blenheim Place—Illustration	Vol 9	illustration
From Two Barns—Vol. 9—Complete Edition	Vol 9	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 9—Cover	Vol 9	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 9—Foreword	Vol 9	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 9—Frontispiece	Vol 9	frontis
From Two Barns—Vol. 9—Index	Vol 9	index
From Two Barns—Vol. 9—Supplement—Complete Edition	Vol 9 Supplement	complete supplement
From Two Barns—Vol. 9—Supplement—Frontispiece	Vol 9 Supplement	supplement frontis
Heathcot’s Horse Race	Vol 9	3
Longborough 2	Vol 9 Supplement
Lord What’s Come to my Mother	Vol 9	4
Measure For Measure	Vol 9	5
Off With the Mask	Vol 9	6
Paddlers Coff	Vol 9 Supplement
Queen Anne’s Statue—Illustration	Vol 9
Queen’s Square	Vol 9	10
The Red Ribbon	Vol 9	9
St. James’s Park	Vol 9	8
A Trip to Blenheim	Vol 9	1
A Trip to Kilburn	Vol 9	2
A Trip to Plymouth	Vol 9 Supplement
Tumble Down Dick	Vol 9	7

Volume 10

Document	Volume	Page #
Britain’s Glory	Vol 10	4
Drapers Gardens	Vol 10	8
From Two Barns—Volume 10—Complete Edition	Vol 10	complete
From Two Barns—Vol. 10—Cover	Vol 10	cover
From Two Barns—Vol. 10—Foreword	Vol 10	foreword
From Two Barns—Vol. 10—Index	Vol 10	index
From Two Barns—Vol. 10—Photo Illustrations	Vol 10	illustration
Hewlett	Vol 10	9
I Wonder at it	Vol 10	2
Man Tiger	Vol 10	10
Open All Hours	Vol 10	5
Quarter Day	Vol 10	11
Shepherds Round	Vol 10	3
Soft and Sweet	Vol 10	1
Valiant Jockey	Vol 10	7
Why From Two Barns?—Essay	Vol 10	essay