Hunsdon House

Hunsdon House is an English Country Dance. It was published by John Playford (website) in 1657 in The Dancing Master, 3rd ed., London. It was interpreted by Cecil Sharp (website) in 1912 and published in The Country Dance Book (Part 3). Found in The Playford Ball. It is a Square dance. There is no progression in this dance. It is a multipart dance. The dance lasts 120 bars. It is in the key: C major.

Playford writes:

First and 3. cu. meet and taking the cu. wo. fall back into the 2. and 4. place, whilst the 2. and 4. fall back each from their own, and meet the co. wo. in the 1. and 3. place As much again First and 3. cu. meet and turn S. Men cross over, then we. cross over The other four doing as much Then all this back again to your places ·:

This as before First and 3. cu. meet turning back to back, and hands inward and go half round The other four as much All this again, to your places ·:

This as before Meet and honour to your own, right hand to the co. and left to your own The other four as much All this again, honouring to the co. wo.

Early example (probably the earliest) of the grand square, well, half the modern grand square. Playford doesn't use the term "grand square", he says:

Firſt and 3. Cu. meet, and taking the co. wo. fall back into the 2. and 4. place, whilſt the 2. and 4. fall back each from his own, and meet the co. wo. in the firſt and third place. As much again.

The tune was published by Playford with the dance. It was performed by Bare Necessities (Earl Gaddis, Mary Lea, Peter Barnes, and Jacqueline Schwab) on the album At Home. The music is used with permission from the Country Dance Society, Boston Centre, Inc.

The animation plays at 85 counts per minute. Men are drawn as rectangles, women as ellipses. Each couple is drawn in its own color.

I.A1	1-2	Sides face, half a Grand Square Heads lead up, face partner while sides face, back up, face opposite
	3-4	Heads fall back to side positions, face opposite as sides approach opposite, face partner
I.A2	1-2	Heads back up, face partner as sides approach partner, face opposite
	3-4	Heads approach partner and original positions, sides fall back with partner to original positions
I.B1	1-4	Heads forward a double to meet, turn single right, back to place
	5-6	Head men chnage places
	7-8	Head women chnage places
	9-12	Sides (the same) forward a double to meet, turn single right, back to place
	13-14	Side men chnage places
	15-16	Side women chnage places
I.B2	1-4	That again, heads forward a double to meet, turn single right, back to place
	5-6	Head men chnage places
	7-8	Head women chnage places
	9-12	Sides (the same) forward a double to meet, turn single right, back to place
	13-14	Side men chnage places
	15-16	Side women chnage places
II.A	1-8	Sides face, half a Grand Square
II.B1	1-4	Heads meet, turn half right to stand back to back, take hands
	5-6	Circle four right half (clockwise, facing out)
	7-8	Heads lead out to opposite side
	9-16	Sides, the same
II.B2	1-4	Heads meet, turn half right to stand back to back, take hands
	5-6	Circle four right half (clockwise, facing out)
	7-8	Heads lead out to opposite side
	9-16	Sides, the same
III.A	1-8	Sides face, half a Grand Square
III.B1	1-2	Heads forward a double to meet, face partner
	3-4	Heads set right and honour
	5-8	Heads face opposite, two changes of rights and lefts beginning with opposite ending on opposite side
	9-16	Sides, the same
III.B2	1-2	Heads forward a double to meet, keep facing opposite
	3-4	Heads set right and honour
	5-8	Heads face partner, two changes of rights and lefts beginning with partner ending home
	9-16	Sides, the same

If you find what you believe to be a mistake in this animation, please leave a comment on youtube explaining what you believe to be wrong. If I agree with you I shall do my best to fix it.

If you wish to link to this animation please see my comments on the perils of youtube. You may freely link to this page, of course, and that should have no problems, but use one of my redirects when linking to the youtube video itself:
https://www.upadouble.info/redirect.php?id=HunsdonHouse

The dance itself is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. The interpretation is out of copyright, and is in the public domain. My visualization of this dance is copyright © 2019 by George W. Williams V and is released under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

This website is copyright © 2021,2022,2023,2024 by George W. Williams V
My work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Most of the dances have more restrictive licensing, see my notes on copyright, the individual dance pages should mention when some rights are waived.

First and 3. cu. meet and taking the cu. wo. fall back into the 2. and 4. place, whilst the 2. and 4. fall back each from their own, and meet the co. wo. in the 1. and 3. place As much again	First and 3. cu. meet and turn S. Men cross over, then we. cross over The other four doing as much Then all this back again to your places ·:

This as before	First and 3. cu. meet turning back to back, and hands inward and go half round The other four as much All this again, to your places ·:

This as before	Meet and honour to your own, right hand to the co. and left to your own The other four as much All this again, honouring to the co. wo.