Irish Traditional Music Tune Index
Tune ID# 1188 (Maid of Hollywell)

RhythmBars8-bar phrase structureMode
Reel16ABD Major
Transcription of first 2 bars of Maid of Hollywell
 about these two bars

These two bars are the start of my transcription of how this tune was played – the first time through – on the recording BBow 3 (details in the Discography below).

Where do you get the tune titles?
Titles given to this tune in the sources listed below (plus notes of mine about this tune):
Maid of Hollywell, The / Maids of Hollywell / The Maid of Holywell / The Maid of Holyhead (3rd in The Tomín O'Dea Set on BBow 3; 1st in set The New Hall on KCB 6)
What do the "track#tune" codes mean?

cd Discography

Here are all recordings of this tune considering only the indexed recordings. I have discovered by careful listening that these sources are in fact musically the same tune, regardless of the tune titles they use, key changes, retuning, etc. They are listed in order of when they were recorded.

Year
Recorded
Track
#Tune
[Album code] Artist. Title. Primary musicians (instruments). Album details
and contents
~19583#3[KCB 1] The Kilfenora Ceili Band. The Fabulous Kilfenora Ceili Band. P.J. Lynch (fiddle), Gus Tierney (fiddle), Jim McCormack (flute), Gerry Lynch (accordion), P. Mullins, T. Eustace, P. Madigan, Kitty Linnane (piano), G. O'Loughlin (drums).View album details
19917#3[BBow 3] Buttons and Bows. Grace Notes - Nótaí Maise. Jackie Daly (accordion, concertina), Séamus McGuire (fiddle, viola), Manus McGuire (fiddle), Garry O'Briain (guitar, mandocello, piano).View album details
19931#4[MOK] Máire O'Keeffe. Cóisir. House Party. Máire O'Keeffe (fiddle).View album details
~20025#2[LitN] Christy Barry, Conor McCarthy, Cyril O'Donoghue. Late . . . in the Night. Christy Barry (flute, whistle, spoons), Conor McCarthy (accordion), Cyril O'Donoghue (bouzouki, guitar).View album details
~20022#1[KCB 6] The Kilfenora Céilí Band. Live in Lisdoonvarna. Anne Rynne (fiddle), Conor McCarthy (accordion), Garry Shannon (flute), Tim Collins (concertina), Sheila Garry (fiddle), Fintan McMahon (piano), Anne Marie McCormack (fiddle), John Lynch (banjo), Sean Griffin (drums), Anthony Quigney (flute).View album details

Bibliography

Here are all transcriptions of this tune under any title whatsoever – considering only the indexed books – listed in chronological order. I have discovered by careful comparison that these are very similar to this tune as played on the recordings listed above.

As reel #209 in [MM] Martin Mulvihill. First Collection of Traditional Irish Music.
As reel #37 in [JKg 3] Josephine Keegan. A Drop in the Ocean. Traditional Irish Tunes Collected by Josephine Keegan. [available]

If you are considering using the above transcriptions to help you learn this tune, I invite you to check these practical Tips for Learning Irish Traditional Music. See also: So why do you bother indexing books and abc?

Year of the oldest source for this tune, considering the recordings and transcriptions listed above (note that I concentrate on sources after 1900): 1958