My Irish Harp

In a previous post, I began an account of the life of Caroline Townshend, a remarkable Anglo-Irish lady and a hugely influential, yet unsung, heroine of contemporary Irish harping history.  Where, when or how Carrie became interested in the Irish harp we simply do not know. It may possibly have been a natural consequence of her Gaelic League membership. Some part may have been played by one of her closest friends, another remarkable woman, Dr. Annie Patterson, a native of Armagh, who founded the Feis Ceoi l music competition in Dublin.  Dr Annie Patterson In 1926 the Feis Ceoil syllabus for that year includes The Townshend Cup presented by Miss Carrie Townshend, to be awarded for the singing of two songs in the Irish language, to one’s own harp accompaniment on the Irish harp.  The archives of the Feis Ceoil contain a three page document (sadly undated), enticingly titled 'For the Adjudicator of the Townshend Cup'. I hope to have an opportunity to inspect it at some point and

The harp, the symbol of Ireland. We see it all around us every day, on our passports, on our coins, even on the branding of our famous stout and yet there was a time, not so very long past, when ‘the harp that once through Tara’s Halls’ was seldom heard in this country.  The name Caroline Townshend is known to only a handful of people in Ireland but if any deserves to be a household name, surely it is hers, for it almost entirely due to her efforts that the ancient Irish harping tradition became firmly re-established. Singer with a clàrsach by Cathleen Mann (1896--1959) In ‘Our Musical Heritage’, the late Seán Ó Riada wrote: "At the end of the nineteenth century, attempts were made once more…..to get the true ancient harping tradition going again, but by this time the nature of the tradition had been forgotten. It was not until the early nineteen twenties, when a Miss Townsend (sic) of Castletownsend (sic) in County Cork put her mind to it, that any progress was made." A sign