Thurston Manuscript
The manuscript is dedicated “To John Thurston Gent in Kington near Thornbury Gloucestershire 1736”. Below this, in a different hand, is the name “Mary Thurston”. A number of hands have contributed to the book. John & Mary were married in 1736.
Some pages, particularly in the early part of the book, have large parts missing. I have not attempted to transcribe the fragmentary tunes.
A facsimile of the book with an introduction was prepared by Christopher Challen and Thornbury and District Museum and published by Vox Humana Press. Our information is derived from this publication. Our thanks are due to Mr Challen and the Museum for allowing us to use the information.

Many of the tunes were recorded on 26 March 2007 by the following musicians.
Martin Harvey double-bass
Naomi Sargent violin
Ann Summers piano accordian
Steve Witcombe guitar, mandolin
The recordings were issued on a CD, PMM-CD093, with the cooperation of Christopher Challen and Thornbury and District Museum. We are grateful to all concerned for permission to use the recordings.

St Giles’s Pound, on the corner of Tottenham Court Road, Oxford St. and St. Giles’ High St. was the point from which distances to London were measured. The pound itself served to hold livestock until it was removed in 1765.
Bar 16 and the end of bar 15 are missing in the manuscript.
Note by Charles Menteith