WELCOME TO AN ENTERTAINMENT SITE FOR SCOTTISH COUNTRY DANCERS!
Enjoy this curated selection of theme-related dances for celebrations and holidays, or find a dance associated with a special calendar day, or EVEN your own birthday!
Joseph Mallard William Turner, Bell Rock Lighthouse, 1819, Scottish National Gallery
Aug 7
Lighthouse Day
Bell Rock Reel
Other Scottish Country Dances for this Day
Today's Musings, History & Folklore
"My father was the keeper of the Bell Rock Light
And he married a mermaid one dark night
And from this union there came three
A codling and a kipper and the other was me!"
~Alistair McDonald, The Mermaid's Tale, 1998
This tribute reel devised by James Crowe contains stormy swirls and enough lighthouse-like turns to warn sailors of rocky danger in a gale!
Created for the 200th anniversary of the completion of the Bell Rock Lighthouse in 2011, this 40 bar reel for 3 couples in a 4 couple set was performed at sea! A band of intrepid dancers took the celebration to sea, filming the dance aboard the Ultimate Predator at the lighthouse itself, some 12 miles off the coast of Arbroath — accompanied, naturally, by a suitably seaworthy accordionist!
The Bell Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Angus, Scotland, is the world’s oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse. Civil engineer Robert Stevenson (1772–1850) proposed building a lighthouse on the notoriously dangerous Bell Rock, also known as Inchcape, but the Northern Lighthouse Board initially rejected the scheme as too dangerous and too expensive.
After HMS York was wrecked on the reef in 1804 with the loss of hundreds of lives, the need became impossible to ignore. The lighthouse was constructed between 1807 and 1810, with Stevenson and engineer John Rennie associated with its design and construction, and first lit in 1811.
Its masonry was built so extraordinarily well that the rock foundations have endured for more than two centuries without needing to be replaced or fundamentally altered — an extraordinary testament to its engineering.
So hold on to your partner, watch out for the rocks, and feel that sea spray while you reel!🕺 💃 💙 💙 💙 🚢 ⚓ 💡 🌊 🧜♀️
Bell Rock Reel
The Bell Rock Lighthouse, off the coast of Angus, Scotland, is the world's oldest surviving sea-washed lighthouse, built between 1807 and 1810 by Robert Stevenson on the Bell Rock (also known as Inchcape) in the North Sea, 11 miles east of the Firth of Tay.
Standing 115 ft tall, its light is visible from 35 statute miles inland.
The masonry work on which the lighthouse rests was constructed to such a high standard that it has not been replaced or adapted in 200 years.
The challenges faced in the building of the lighthouse have led to it being described as one of the Seven Wonders of the Industrial World.
According to legend, the rock is called Bell Rock because of a 14th-century attempt by the Abbot of Arbroath to install a warning bell on it. The bell lasted only one year before it was stolen by a Dutch pirate.
This story is immortalised in "The Inchcape Rock", a poem by 19th-century poet Robert Southey. The rock was the scene of many shipwrecks as it lies just below the surface of the sea for all but a few hours at low tide.
Civil Engineer Robert Stevenson (grandfather to Robert Louis Stevenson) drew the inspiration for his lighthouse design from the Eddystone Lighthouse off the coast of Cornwall. His design was initially rejected by the Northern Lighthouse Board, but then reexamined after the HMS York was ripped apart on the rocks in 1804.
On 17 August 1807, John Rennie, with Stevenson as chief assistant and some 35 workers set sail for the rock.
They could only work during the calm summer months, and even then their work was limited to around two hours each low tide. In between they waited, living on a ship moored just over a mile away - and all of them, with the exception of Stevenson, were almost constantly seasick.
For more on the fascinating story behind the creation of this lighthouse, click the Bell Rock Lighthouse as it stands today.
And, see the gallant dancers who danced this reel on deck near the lighthouse itself here!
Click the dance cribs or description below to link to a printable version of the dance!
