Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary

The Water Mill

Scottish Country Dance Instruction

The Water Mill A forty-eight bar Reel for six couples in a longwise set. On the second chord second, fourth and sixth couples cross to the opposite sides of the set. Devised by John W Mitchell, Published in Whetherly Book 14.

1- 4 First and second couples dance half rights and lefts; third and fourth couples likewise, as do fifth and sixth.
5- 8 First and second couples dance half a ladies' chain; third and fourth couples likewise, as do fifth and sixth. All finish facing away from partner, with first, third and fifth couples on the ladies side and second, fourth and sixth couples on the men's side, all men left of their partner.
9-16 Half a grand chain for six couples.
17-24 Set and turn corner (person facing) with right hand, set to and turn partner with the left hand three quarters round; the men all join right hands across in a wheel of six; the ladies retain partners' left hands and then join right hands with the left hands of the couple behind their partner so as to form a circle.
25-32 Mill Wheel: the ladies dance round in a circle half way with slip steps, turning the men's wheel, who set with pas de basque as their wheel is turned. On the last two bars the men dance out between their partner and the lady on her left, all releasing hands to finish back in two lines in the same positions as at the end of bar 8.
33-36 First and second couples dance half a men's chain; third and fourth couples do the same, as do fifth and sixth.
37-40 All set and cross over, giving right hand in passing; first couple finish facing out.
41-48 First couple cast below second couple, cross below third couple, cast below fourth couple, cross below fifth couple and cast behind sixth couple into sixth place; the other five couples join hands on the sides and step up on bars 47 & 48.

Repeat with a new top couple. Recommended tune: Cave Hill

(Dance crib reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)

Dance Notes

The dancers use the men's chain on bars 33-36 to return to the longwise set, setting in straight lines on bars 37-38 prior to crossing over.

Editor's note to the 2025 edition The Scottish Country Dance Database lists the Mill Wheel as a figure also appearing in other dances, however the actual formation is entirely different to that described above.
Following the Mill Wheel figure in bars 25-32, it is challenging to return to the longwise formation within bars 31-32. The original note likely acknowledges this, and suggests that the men's chain is used to return to straight lines, rather than attempting to achieve this beforehand.

(Dance notes reproduced from The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell)

Published in The Whetherly Book Of Scottish Country Dances Number 14, by John W Mitchell, revised and republished by Alison Mitchell. Instructions reproduced under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Licence (CC BY-ND 4.0).

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