The St Just Cock Dance was communicated to a Mr Bolitho by a St Just miner circa 1890. Mr Bolitho later gave the music to Ralph Dunstan for inclusion in his collection “Lyver Canow Kernewek – The Cornish Song book” published in 1929. Dunstan arranged the tune as a Tea Treat march. Tea Treats were a popular entertainment in Cornwall during the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth. As well as traditional Cornish fare such as saffron buns and splits with jam and cream there were games and dances, but the key feature was the music played throughout by the local band. Dunstan’s Cornish Songook was part of a wider Celtic revival in Cornwall and served to keep these tunes within Cornish instrumental Tradition. They were captured by the Racca Project in 1995/97 and continue their musical trajectory dance and instrumental music today.
St Just Cock Dance as arranged by by Ralph Dunstan:
The St Just Cock Dance as captured for the Racca Project 1995-97:
Racca print version 1.pdf
Dunstan, Ralph, ed. The Cornish Song Book, Lyver Canow Kernewek. (London: Reid Bros Ltd 1929) p77