“The Fair at Turloughmore”

Description

"Come tell me, dearest mother, What makes my father stay, Or what can be the reason he's been so long away?" She tells how the father went to Turloughmore and was killed in an attack by the Peelers. She hopes "their souls are happy"

Notes

Duffy: "The circumstance on which it is founded took place two years ago, at the fair of Darrynacloughery, held at Turloughmore. A faction fight having occurred at the fair, the arrest of some of the parties led to an attack on the police -- after the attack had abated or ceased, the police fired on the people, wounded several, and killed three men whose names stand at the head of the ballad. They were indicted for murder and pleaded the order of Mr Brew, the stipendary magistrate, which was admitted as a justification. Brew died the day before the day appointed for his trial." - BS

The second stanza of this song, in the Galvin text, begins "Come all you tender Christians, I hope you will draw near," as in "Charles Guiteau" and its relatives. The tunes and the rest of the song, however, appear unrelated. - RBW

Historical references

  • 1843? - Police fire after an attack and kill Callaghan, Greally, and Mullen (see notes)

Cross references

References

  1. PGalvin, pp. 93-94, "The Fair at Turloughmore" (1 text, 1 tune)
  2. OLochlainn 31, "The Sorrowful Lament for Callaghan, Greally and Mullen" (1 text, 1 tune)
  3. DT, FAIRTURL*
  4. ADDITIONAL: Charles Gavan Duffy, editor, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), pp. 196-197, "The Sorrowful Lament for Callaghan, Greally and Mullen"
  5. Roud #3042
  6. BI, PGa093

About

Author: unknown
Earliest date: 1845 (Duffy)
Found in: Ireland