Description

Young Blenheim

Young Jamy / Blenheim Castle

‘Young Jamy’ is another melody used for many Jacobite songs. Originally, however, the James in question was James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, who led an unsuccessful rebellion against James II in 1685. This version comes from a seventeenth century manuscript by Henry Atkinson, another Northumbrian fiddler. ‘Blenheim Castle’ refers to the grandiose palace designed by Sir John Vanbrugh for the Churchill family. Lord Churchill (later the Duke of Marlborough) had been the second-in-command of the Crown’s forces at the battle of Sedgemoor where James Duke of Monmouth was defeated.