The Plains of Boyle

Hornpipe, D, Traditional Irish
TrailJams Tune of the Week: January 22, 2023; August 3, 2025

A sweet Irish hornpipe with some savory notes that add a bit of surprise to the melody.

Boyle is a town in County Roscommon, Ireland. To the east of Boyle, The Plains of Boyle is a flat limestone grassland.

Recordings

• Audio – Traonach: The Plains of Boyle​/​Miss Dunphy’s (hornpipes) – from the album The First Round (Ithaca, New York)
• Audio – Matt Molloy & John Carty with Arty McGlynn: The Plains of Boyle / The Belharbour (Hornpipes) – from the album Pathway to the Well
• Audio – Ian McKenna, Joe De Georgeo and Brian Miller: The Plains of Boyle / The Faithful Friend – from the album Star of the North (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Sheet Music

As always for traditional tunes, the musical notation and chords do not indicate the “right” way to play the tune, but are a useful reference. The sheet music here shows triplets in several places — triplets are part of the traditional ornamentation of hornpipes, as is varying where the triplets are placed each time the tune is played.

Sets

Examples of sets that include this tune.

• Tailor’s Twist Hornpipe Set: The Plains of Boyle (D) / The Tailor’s Twist (D)
• Dunphy’s Plains Hornpipe Set: Dunphy’s Hornpipe (G) / The Plains of Boyle (D)
• Plains of Boyle ​/ ​Poll Ha’ Penny
• The Stacks Of Barley / The Plains Of Boyle
• The Plains of Boyle / The Friendly Visit
• The Plains of Boyle / Off to California / The Derry Hornpipe
• Kitty’s Wedding / The Plains of Boyle

References and Resources

For those who want to dig deeper, here are some other resources.

• More Recordings
  • Audio – John Weed and Stuart Mason: The Plains of Boyle – fiddle with guitar, played very slowly. From the album Slow & Easy Volume 2 (San Luis Obispo, California)
  • Video – Concertinette: The Plains of Boyle (hornpipe) – solo concertina
  • Video- Comhaltas: Plains of Boyle – played by session musicians. From the album Foinn Seisiún Volume 2
  • Video – Gilles Poutoux: kitty’s wedding et the plains of boyle hornpipe – Kitty’s Wedding and The Plains of Boyle played on button accordion and tenor banjo.
• Books
  • Book – Shannon Heaton: The First 50 – PDF book; sheet music for 50 tunes with audio tracks for each tune.
  • Book & Audio – John Weed and Stuart Mason: Slow & Easy: 50 Irish Tunes – Sheet music with chords for 50 popular Irish tunes. The book purchase includes digital downloads of all 50 tunes tunes played slowly and clearly on fiddle with DADGAD guitar.
  • Book – Foinn Seisiún, Volume 2 — Published by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann. 
  • Book – Stephen Ducke: Irish Music 400 Traditional Tunes
  • Book – Grey Larsen: 150 Gems of Irish Music for Tin Whistle – with audio tracks of the tunes played on tin whistle
  • Book – Gary Coover: 75 Irish Session Tunes for Anglo Concertina (Rollston Press). One of a series of Anglo concertina tune books by this author. Available as a printed book a e-book.
• Lessons
  • Lessons – Online Academy of Irish Music: The Plains of Boyle – lessons on tin whistle and DADGAD guitar (accompaniment); play-along virtual session. (Requires subscription to OAIM.)
  • Lesson – Mossie Martin: The Plains of Boyle (Hornpipe) – video, demonstration of the tune played slowly on fiddle
  • Lesson – Chris Haigh (The Fiddle Channel) – Plains of Boyle (fiddle lesson) – video lesson with on-screen sheet music and explanation of technique. Sheet music is downloadable through The Fiddle Channel on Patreon.
  • Lesson – Sean Cunningham (whistletutor): Irish Flute Lesson – The Plains of Boyle – video lesson with part-by-part breakdown and suggestions for ornamentation. (Tabs and sheet music on Patreon / whistletutor.)
  • Lesson – Shannon Heaton: Plains of Boyle [Hornpipe] – Tune of the Month with Shannon Heaton – video lesson on flute, with tips on using a metronome for practice.
• Additional Resources
  • Web page – The Session: The Plains Of Boyle (Hornpipe) – crowdsourced sheet music, comments, and more
  • Article – Wikipedia: Boyle, County Roscommon – a brief article about the town of Boyle
  • Web page – The Traditional Tune Archive: Plains of Boyle (The) – archival information about the tune