The Ken Sheffield Collection - Country Dance & Song Society

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.

The original dances and tunes are presented here as individual PDF files. Dances originally published on two pages are in one PDF file. You may also download an entire volume as one PDF; search for the word Complete along with the volume number under Title.

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.

Ken Sheffield Biography

How Did I Get Mixed Up with Folk Dancing?

Ken Sheffield

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

Since completing the From Two Barns series in 2005, Ken has not been idle; indeed, far from it. While organizing holiday weeks at Halsway Manor over a 20-year period, he and his musician friends, Peter and Susan Swann, worked through some of the approximately 400 tunes Ken found while working his way through original English dance sources. The result is a new publication, still under construction, called The Century Collection, of 107 tunes with associated dances, rarely seen in the last 100 years. When ready for publication, The Century Collection will be published by CDSS.

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