History of the Mulagh Mast Harp^[1]

Most of the firm information relating to the Mulagh Mast Harp comes from the time when it was in Scotland and in the ownership of the Marquis of Breadalbane. A paper label on the back of the harp that says ‘Brought to Taymouth Castle from the Marquis of Breadalbane's apartments at Holyrood Palace, May 10th 1860’ clearly identifies this harp's connection with Scotland. However, there is a degree of confusion right at the start as shown by Russell-Ferguson in the caption to a picture of the harp in her collection now in the Mitchel Library in Glasgow. Although noting the label which refers to the harp being brought from Holyrood Palace to Taymouth Castle, Ferguson's own caption is headed ‘Curragh Marsh Kerry Harp’ and notes the National Museum of Ireland ‘label’ ‘1936-1983^[2] from Curragh Moss. Co. Kerry’.^[3] As the earliest version of the name attached to this harp occurs while it was owned by the Breadalbane family a discussion and resolution of the name problem is best left to the end.

References to the harp first appear in January 1855 in letters from a Laurence Davidson in Edinburgh to Sir Alexander Campbell of Barcaldine, who was one of the factors on the Breadalbane estate. The harp was one of several items that were coming up for sale from the collections of the late Archibald Leckie. On the 20th of January, Davidson wrote; -

My Dear Barcaldine
I enclose a note of our purchases at the Leckie sale today. We bought through an agent never before employed by us and therefore unsuspected. The prices appear to be moderate. The Irish harp was keenly contested. The ... proceeding bidder was Mr Dibden the composer who proposes to give lectures on Harp Music and wished this old antich for illustration. Perhaps his Lordship may think of giving Mr D access to it, if he is really to lecture. Please say if I am to forward the articles to Taymouth.(National Archives of Scotland GD 112/74/797/5/2)

This was followed by a further letter from Davidson, dated Edinburgh January 26. 1855

My Dear Barcaldine
Leckie's Sale.
Please say if we are to forward these purchases to Taymouth. The Irish Harp stands fully 5 feet in height and is in wonderful preservation. On first seeing it, it struck me that his Lordship might like to have loose strings fitted on to it so as to bring out the effect better. I afterwards learnt incidentally that such Mr Dibdens intention also had he been the purchaser. If his Lordship thinks this suggestion worth considering it may be well that the harp be left at Holyrood until he has an opportunity of seeing it.

Enclosed with this last letter is a list headed ‘Note of purchases at the sale of the Library of the late Archibald Leckie Esq. January 26. 1855’ The hand is smaller and neater than that of Laurence Davidson and is probably that of the ‘agent’ since each item seems to have its sale catalogue number listed. Despite the reference to Leckie's library there are no books and consist of a number of broadswords, including an Andrea Ferrara, axe heads, bronze runic brooches, stone hatchets, a small silver brooch and the harp, all coming to a total of £24.7.6, with the harp the most expensive item, the catalogue entry reads 1959. an old Irish Harp found in County Kerry £5.15.6.

This is confirmed by the printed ‘Catalogue of an extensive and valuable collection of books... of the late Archibald Leckie’ by the auctioneer Thomas Nisbet, where it is listed under ‘Miscellaneous Articles, Antiquities, &c’ with that catalogue number.^[4]

The Mr Dibden who had failed to purchase the harp was the Englishman Henry Edward Dibden (1813-66), who settled in Edinburgh in 1833 and was honorary organist at Trinity Chapel there. He played the harp in a number of Edinburgh Concerts and advertised his services as a teacher of harp, organ and piano. He also seems to have taught at a number of the local institutions for educating young ladies where his fees were £3.3sh per school year with two pupils an hour.^[5]

The final letter from Davidson to Sir Alex Campbell dated Edinburgh 29 January 1855 reads; -

My Dear Barcaldine
Leckie Sale
I have your favour of 26th inst,& had the Irish Harp & also the Swords & other articles ready packed in two boxes to wait his Lordships orders. These will now be deposited at Holyrood and as the lids are not screwed down his Lordship can inspect them in the course of the shortest visit to Edinburgh, provided the housekeeper gets due notice that she may be at hand.

Shortly after its purchase it was exhibited in the Museum of The Archaeological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, during their Annual Meeting, held in Edinburgh, in July 1856. A newspaper review of the exhibition published in August 1856 mentions that ‘an ancient Irish harp’ belonging to the Marquis of Breadalbane was exhibited.^[6] In the catalogue of the exhibition, edited by Albert Way (published 1859), it is described as A Collection of Celts or Axe heads...purchased at the sale of the antiquities in possession of the late Mr. Archibald Leckie, of Paisley. Also, an ancient harp, ‘’found in Mulagh Mast, county Kerry," - THE MARQUIS OF BREADALBANE, President of the Soc. of Antiqu. of Scotland."

The Old Irish Harp then seems to have remained in the Marquis of Breadalbane's apartments in Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh until 1860 when it appears as package number 2 on a ‘List of packages forwarded from Holyrood Palace to Taymouth on 15 May 1860’ (GD112/20/5/6 item 103)

John, Second Marquis of Breadalbane died in Lausanne on the 8th November 1862, leaving no children. Several claimants came forward for the title, resulting in the famous Breadalbane Case which was not decided by the Court of Session until five years later when John Campbell of Glenfalloch was declared the rightful heir.

As a result of the uncertainty that resulted from the lack of a clear line of decent, the firm of Christie Manson & Woods were commissioned in 1863 by the executors to compile what its cover grandly describes as an ‘Inventory of the Pictures and other Works of Art, Marbles, Antiquities & Curiosities, The Property of The Most Noble The Marquis of Breadalbane, K.T. Deceased. at Taymouth Castle, N.B. and Park Lane, London’. Listed in the Gun Room at Taymouth is ‘An Ancient Irish Harp found in Mulagh Mast. Co Kerry’ (GD112/22/58/1-3). As far as can be seen from jottings made on copy number three of the inventory, it seems to have been valued at £5.

What is probably this harp makes just one further appearance in a handwritten inventory of the furnishings at Taymouth Castle made in 1870 where it is described as 1 Large Harp with green baize cover (GD112/22/63/135). There are no further references to the harp up to and including the liquidation of the Breadalbane estate in 1922. The sale of the contents of Taymouth Castle was handled by Dowell's the Edinburgh auctioneer and was spread over several days. The auctioneer's records survive and are now in the National Library of Scotland.^[7] From these it is possible to state that the harp was not among the furnishings of the Breadalbane estate in Scotland. During the late 19th to early 20th centuries the Breadalbane family had also maintained homes in London, firstly at 21 Park Lane then from around 1904, when 68 Ennismore Gardens was leased.

Shortly after the sale of Taymouth Castle the Marquis died and on the instructions of the executors the contents of the London home were advertised for sale to held by the auctioneers Puttick and Simpson at 68 Ennismore Gardens. According to a brief notice of the sale published in the Times on the 21 March 1923, ‘The most important lots included the old Scotch furniture from Lord Breadalbane's apartments at Holyrood Palace and Taymouth Castle’.^[8] Although there is no specific mention of the harp, since items from the palace and castle had obviously found their way to the London home it seems likely that so had the harp, especially as it turns up next in London in the hands of the antique collector and dealer Sidney Burney.

It is unclear how long Burney had, as a collector, owned the harp before he sold it to the Irish Antiquities Division on the 25 May 1936 when it was catalogued as 1936-1983. At the time Burney had apparently stated that according to a label on the harp it had come from ‘Curragh Marsh, Co. Kerry’. It was not until the label was examined in 1958 that it was noted that what it said was ‘This harp found in Mulagh Mast, County Kerry’. This explains most of the information given by Ms Russell-Ferguson apart from the change from ‘Marsh’ to ‘Moss’, which if given verbally could be a slip of the tongue as both words could be taken to mean the same. The harp was in 1944 transferred to the National Museum's Art and Industrial Division where it was re-catalogued as 249-1944 and later indexed with an expanded description.

When in 2007, Michael Billinge started visiting and recording the harps in the National Museum of Ireland's collection, one of the questions raised was the name of this harp given that the only ‘Mullaghmast’ known in Ireland is in Co. Kildare. The curator suggested that it might be worthwhile checking through the township registers for County Kerry to see if there were any signs of similar sounding names. The only possibility found was ‘Mulaghmarky’^[9] , a townland near Castleisland. Following further discussion, it was noted that this was not an original observation but that a faint pencil note had been written in the margin of the catalogue which read Mullamarky in Barony of Trughanacmy Co. Kerry. It was thought to have been written by the late John Teahan, former Keeper of the Art and Industry Division, who was known to have been a ‘proud Kerryman’.

In summary, the earliest note of the ‘Mulagh Mast. Co. Kerry’ occurs shortly after the harp was acquired from Archibald Leckie's estate, and the only Mullaghmast is in Co. Kildare. The name, which as the Kerry claim does not seem to have been in doubt, appears to have been a misunderstanding which occurred either when Leckie first acquired it or when after his death it was bought for Breadalbane. Unfortunately, as with the Trinity College Harp which is often still known as the ‘Brian Boru Harp’, this harp will probably remain the Mullaghmast Harp even though a more convincing case suggests it should be the Mulaghmarky Harp.

It is possible to explore the history of this harp further although there remains a gap because it is not clear how or when it was acquired by Archibald Leckie. A businessman in Paisley he operated a dyeworks at a time when the weaving industry there was booming. He was clearly wealthy enough to indulge an antiquarian interest and became a member of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1847. To move further back involves the arguments advanced HERE which suggest that this is the harp shown in a picture being played by Charles Byrne dated to 1810 who probably died not long after it was made (this is certainly the last date he is mentioned). According to a note on the drawing the harp was ‘Made for M Richd Craven 1752’. This brings in another link between the harp and the southwest of Munster as the most likely candidate would be one of a family named Craven who were important citizens of Limerick and frequently used the forename, Richard.

This adds a further possibility, as a case has already been made that the Mulagh harp has many similarities with two other Munster harps, the Hehir and the Bunworth and like those was also made by John Kelly. Admittedly those two harps were signed by their maker while the Mulagh is not, but it also shows evidence of being unfinished (requiring the harp to be brought to a playable state by someone else), and if Kelly hadn't completed the harp himself then there is no reason to presume that he would have signed it.

[1] The National Records of Scotland catalogue numbers are added after each transcription. These are the numbers which were used on the photocopies obtained by KS in 1980. The Breadalbane collection has since undergone a modern re-cataloguing so there may have been some changes. All other references are end-noted.

[2] This was the original accession number and date which was replaced with the current number 249 - 1944, suggesting that her information dated to sometime prior to 1944.

[3] The Mitchell Library seem a little unsure exactly when the Russell Ferguson collection, which is divided into two parts was donated to them, simply noting it was ‘in the 1960's’. It was probably on or a little before 1965 when a page of ‘Personalia’ was published in the Bulletin of the International Folk Music Council No. XXVII (April 1965), which after noting that Miss Russell-Ferguson had recently issued ‘Ceol Clarsaich’ was followed by a sentence ‘The Russell-Ferguson collection of photographs of harps from the earliest times can be seen in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow’.

[4] National Library of Scotland shelfmark. K.R.16.f.4(2).

[5] Edinburgh Courant 15 September 1836

[6] Caledonian Mercury, 4th August 1856

[7] National Library of Scotland. Accession 7603

[8] The Times. 19 February, 12 March and 21 March 1923

[9] Among other spelling variations were Mullaghmarky, Mologhmarky, Molloghmarkey, Mullaghmarka. The Gaelic name hiding behind these mangled versions is Mullach Mairce, meaning the round topped hill of the horse or horseman.