Dundalk – Simon Chadwick

Thomas Branagan

Thomas Branagan was a traditional Irish harper in the mid to late 19th century, who played at events in County Louth. This post is to discuss the references to him, and to start thinking about who he was and what we can say about him.

Header photo: the ruins of Stephenstown House, © Mike Searle CC-BY-SA

Hennesy

We have one single description of Hennesy, a traditional harper in Dundalk, which was printed and reprinted in many English newspapers in 1804. This post is to discuss this report and try to say something useful about Hennesy.

Patrick McGrath

Patrick McGrath learned to play the traditional wire-strung Irish harp in the early 19th century. This post is to gather what scanty information we have about him. Perhaps in future more references will turn up and we can add them to the bottom of this post.

Hugh O’Hagan

Hugh O’Hagan has been known as a harper from the Oriel region for a long time, but there has been very little information about him. I have done some digging over the past few months and this post draws together what I know now.