playford

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====== Dartford Camp ======

Longways Country Dance, triple minor\\
24 Country Dances for the Year 1781, by Thomas Skillern\\
<code>
Introduction
Honour presence and partner (4 bars)

A1 8 C1 cast to middle and circle left with C3
A2 8 C1 cast up and circle right with the C2
B1 8 All three couples promenade around the set
B2 8 C1 lead down the middle and back, and cast off into 2nd place
</code>

When England felt the threat of an invasion by French and Spanish 
forces in 1779-1780, they mobilized troops and camped them in the 
south of England to be ready to repel invaders.

On July 20th, 1780, some 5,000 soldiers decamped from Dartford Heath 
and marched to Gravesend in a military exercise that tested the 
transportation scheme. When the entire force was shiped from Gravesend 
to Tilbury and back, it was declared a resounding success.

Dartford Heath was home to some 8,000 soldiers at its peak. The presence 
of the men was both boon and bane to the nearby communities, which certainly 
made money from the encampments, but which also suffered numerous incidents. 
Local belle Miss Ethelinda Margaretta Thorpe, later Mrs. Potts, was inspired to verse:



From yonder Heath the lark no longer soars
The grasshopper ceases while the cannon roars--
Where sportive flocks one Whiten'd o'er the ground
Now bleaching huts are fixed our view to bound;
Where the furze phalanx could sweet herbage ward,
From prowling herds--now mounts the Captain's guard,
Or veterans wait till ovens here disgorge--
Or Sutler scores,--and hereto glows the forge.

Video: https://www.regencydances.org/index.php?wL=518\\
Recording: {{ ::music:dartford_camp_i-09-khb-001.mp3.zip |}}
playford

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