Jack O'Newbury Jig

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

1- 8 1s turn RH and cast (2s step up); 2s+1s+3s dance ½ mirror reels of 3 on sides (1s in/down, 2s out/down, 3s out/up). 2s and 3s face out
9-16 1L+2s (at bottom) also 1M+3s (at top) dance RSh reels of 3 across (1M RSh to 3L, 1L RSh to 2M)
17-24 3s+1s+2s dance Set and rotate for 3:
 Set and Rotate singly, chase 1 place clockwise to lines across, all change places up/down RH with partner and chase clockwise to opposite sides. 213
25-32 All circle 6H round and back

(MINICRIB. Dance crib compiled by Charles Upton, Deeside Caledonian Society, and his successors)

1- 4 1's turn right hand and cast to 2nd place
5- 8 Half a reel of three on the side; 1's start in and down; 2's and 3's dance out. 2's and 3's stay facing out ready for...
9-16 Right Shoulder reels of three across, 1st Lady with the 2's (at the bottom) 1st Man with the 3's (at the top)
17-24 Set and Rotate for three couples;
 All set and pulling back right shoulder turn on the spot, chase clockwise into lines across facing partner, all change places RH with partner and chase clockwise to own sides. 213
25-32 Circle to the left and back

(Dance crib compiled by the deviser, Valerie Gardner, 2025)

Dance Information

The recommended music is Welcome to Dufftown.

(Dance information by the deviser, Valerie Gardner, 23 May 2025)

Winchcombe became one of the most prominent cloth producers of his time during a period when English woollen cloth formed a major part of national exports. He is described as producing kersey cloth on a very large scale for export, with accounts giving figures of more than 6,000 cloths per year during the 1540s. Kerseys of this period are described as being about a yard wide and roughly 17 to 18 yards long.

The scale of his business required extensive supply and processing arrangements. Accounts of his operations refer to large dye purchases, including very substantial quantities of woad. Production involved many workers at multiple stages, including spinning and weaving, with fulling carried out at local mills. Finished cloth was exported through London, notably to Antwerp, where it was regarded highly in the 1530s and 1540s.

He is also described as having played a role in the regulation and politics of the cloth trade. In the 1530s and 1540s he is reported as leading a large group of clothiers in efforts to persuade Henry VIII to alter laws governing woollen cloth production, which is said to have succeeded.

His wealth and influence raised his social position, and he entered the Berkshire gentry while continuing to work as a clothier. He served as a Justice of the Peace and sat as a Member of Parliament, representing Great Bedwyn in 1545 and Cricklade in 1547, with suggestions that he may have served earlier though surviving parliamentary records are incomplete.

As a prominent county figure, he was involved in royal military requirements placed upon local leaders. In 1536 he was among those approached for support in response to the northern uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace. He was later recorded as being required to supply men for Henry VIII's forces in Flanders in 1543 and for the Boulogne campaign in 1544. Accounts describe him leading 150 named men from Newbury, equipped with new coats, and his will of 1557 includes references to armour and equipment.

He owned and leased extensive property, mainly in and around Newbury, with surviving documentary references to grants and transactions involving manors and other estates. His house in Newbury stood off the east side of Northbrook Street and is described as having a large street frontage with extensive buildings arranged around courtyards, including service rooms and numerous chambers.

Winchcombe died in 1557 and was buried at St Nicolas' Church in Newbury, with the burial date given as 8 December. The church had been rebuilt earlier in the 16th century, and his merchant's mark is described as appearing among roof bosses in the nave. No memorial to him is reported to survive there, though a brass to his father does.

He is described as having married at least three times and being survived by children named John, Thomas, Henry and Anne. His eldest son, also named John Winchcombe, later served as a Member of Parliament in the 1550s and 1570s.

His later fame was greatly increased by popular prose fiction based loosely on his life. In 1597 Thomas Deloney, a silk-weaver and ballad writer, published a book titled The Pleasant Historie of Iohn Winchcombe, in his younger yeares called Iack of Newberie, the famous and worthy Clothier of England. Modern accounts describe the work as heavily fictionalised and not reliable as straightforward history, but credit it with establishing the name "Jack of Newbury" in print and helping make Winchcombe widely known in later tradition. The form "Jack O'Newbury" is described as a later alteration of the name.

Jack O'Newbury - John Winchcombe, An Elder Of Newbury, Berkshire, UK

Back to the top of this Scottish Country Dancing Instructions 'Jack O'Newbury Jig' page