The Belfast Museum Harp

Also sometimes called The O’Neill Harp

Belfast Museum Harp

Drawing by Robert Bruce Armstrong,
from The Irish and Highland Harps

Feature Detail
Date 18th century
String Count 36
Height 141 cm (55½ inches)
Soundbox Hollowed out from a single block, maximum width is 24 cm. (9½ inches)
Current Location The Ulster Museum, Botanic Gardens, Belfast

Sometimes known as Arthur O’Neill’s Harp, this harp was owned and played by Edward Lindsay. Please visit The Belfast Museum O’Neill Harp page here on WireStrungharp.com for history of this harp, more detailed information and illustrations including recent photographs.

Late in his life, Arthur O’Neill dictated his memoirs to Thomas Hughes. Here is published for the first time a direct and unedited transcript of that manuscript: O’Neill MS4/14.

For Robert Bruce Armstrong’s account of this harp, see The Irish and Highland Harps pages 84 through 88. The drawing reproduced here is on page 85, and this is accompanied by a detailed description and measurements as well as Armstrong’s observations about this harp and its history.