Marion,
Hornpipes should definitely be played 'dotted'. I think the important thing to remember is that hornpipes, (and reels, jigs, slides, polkas....) were played and passed on aurally long before they were ever written down using staff notation, so any printed music is at best an approximation of the real thing. Even the dotted rhythm doesn't adequately capture the 'swing' that you talk about. As Jon says, 'a hornpipe feels like this' and that can't be written down, only picked up by playing with others who have got that feel for the music. Playing for dancing helps a lot too; I could tell when I first heard Jon play that he is accustomed to playing for dancing.

A lovely old flute player friend of mine, Peader Finn would sometimes describe someone's playing as 'having a touch of the black dots about it', meaning that they were playing something 'as written' and had not yet got into the feel of the tune.

To get back to the question, I'm with chanteyranger in having different favourites at different times. Rich's mention of the Gravel Walks (aka Granny's Gravel Walks) took me back a good few years to when that was a favourite; hence the formation of the locally renowned group 'Granny's Gravels'………
Anyone know 'Mayor Harrison's Fedora'?

Noreen