KIERNAN AND RELATED SOURCES FOR THE ORIGINS OF "ROCKS OF BAWN"

a) RE: Rocks of Bawn - Meaning?
From: GUEST,Kiernan
Date: 11 Mar 06 - 07:42 AM

b) RE: Rocks of Bawn - Meaning?
From: GUEST,kiernan
Date: 16 Dec 06 - 02:41 PM

c) RE: Rocks of Bawn - Meaning?
From: GUEST,Guest Kiernan Update
Date: 04 Dec 09 - 04:51 PM

d) RE: Rocks of Bawn - Meaning?
From: GUEST,Kiernan
Date: 03 Apr 20 - 04:38 PM

e) RE: Rocks of Bawn - Meaning?
From: GUEST,THE LAST MAN TO PLOUGH THE ROCKS OF BAWN
Date: 18 Apr 14 - 02:26 PM

f) RE: Rocks of Bawn - Meaning?
From: GUEST,Maureen (Mary Bridget) Cooke
Date: 07 Aug 20 - 05:05 AM

g) RE: Rocks of Bawn - Meaning?
From: GUEST,John Moulden
Date: 11 Aug 16 - 06:21 AM


THE ROCKS OF BAWN

Song by John Sweeney c1860.
Born in the 1840s in Glan in the parish of Mullahoran, Co Cavan.

Printed in Sam Henry's Songs of the People, H139, p. 42,  1926


"ROCKS OF BAWN"
Version A
Composer John Sweeney
of Glan, Parish of Mullahoran, Co Cavan born 1840s.
Sang by James Dunne of Cloncovit born 1886.
Written down by Tommy Kiernan of Granard, husband of Rosanne Cooke Kiernan of Bawn, Mullahoran (Great granddaughter of the master “The widow Bawn “)

1
Come all ye gallant heroes a warning take from me
Never hire with any master till you know what your work will be
He will rise you in the morning before the break of dawn
I ‘m afraid you will never be able to plough the Rocks of Bawn.

2
Now rise up gallant Sweeney and give your horses hay
And give to them a feed of oats before you go away
Don’t feed them on soft turnips that grow on yonder lawn
Or for it you will surely rue to plough the Rocks of Bawn.

3
Now my sock are getting worn and my coulter is getting thin
My heart is always trembling, afraid I might give in
My heart is nearly broken from the clear daylight till dawn
I’m afraid I won’t be able to plough the Rocks of Bawn.

4
My curse upon ye Sweeney, you have me nearly robbed.
For you’re sitting by the fireside with your dudgeen in your gob
You’re sitting in the fireside from the clear daylight till dawn
I‘m afraid you won’t be able to plough the Rocks of Bawn.

5
Well Sweeney, gallant Sweeney for you I have great moan
For the wind and rain beats upon your face among the rocks and stones
The wind and rain beats on your face from the clear daylight till dawn
I ‘m afraid you won’t be able to plough the Rocks of Bawn

6
Oh I wish the Queen of England would send for me in time
And place me in some regiment in all my youth and prime
I’d fight for Ireland’s glory from the clear daylight till dawn
And I swear I ‘d never return again to plough the Rocks of Bawn


NOTES ON THE SONG

dúidín (dudgeen) = clay pipe with most of the stem broken off. Lots of poorer people would continue to smoke a clay pipe when the stem broke, as long as there was enough of it left to stick in their gob.

Bawn (bán) = a plain or even a small flat piece of land. It's the sort of topographical term that crops up in lots of place names throughout the country.

Stocking and shoe = sock and coulter.
derived from the names for parts of a swing plough.
The 'sock' of a plough is an iron plate about nine inches square, slightly concave and sharpened all round to divide the soil horizontally;
The coulter is the elaborately curved plate placed at its lowest edge, perpendicular to the sock, that forms the furrow by turning the soil.

verse 1
"Come on you loyal heroes..."
Sweeney is referring to the horses used for ploughing.
So the whole verse could be referring to the horses, which Sweeney cares much for.

verse 3
The shoes (coulter) of the plough is well worn, and the stocking (sock) of the plough is thin. Sweeney is worried that the plough will fail, and even hit a rock and bounce up and injure or kill him.

verse 4
The farmer master accuses Sweeney of robbing him because he remains dozing or smoking his pipe by the fire, when he should instead go to the fields to plow.

verse 6
"Queen of England"
Referring to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)


BACKGROUND OF JOHN SWEENEY AND THE SONG "THE ROCKS OF BAWN"

John Sweeney grew up in famine times (1845-1849). At sixteen he was sent to work for neighbouring farmers.
He secured himself a job with a woman called "The Widow Bawn Reilly" from the townland of Bawn also in the parish of Mullahoran. The widow of Bawn outlived three husbands in her day. Two of her husbands were killed ploughing the Rocks of Bawn by the plough springing up forcefully as it hits a rock . Hence as it says in the song -it was more dangerous to plough than to join the British army.
“My heart is always trembling, afraid I might give in”
Sweeney was fearful he would suffer the same fate as the widow’s husband,
Dying of heart trembles ploughing Bawn.

She was renowned as a hard task master and expected poor Sweeney to plough the fields of Bawn renowned for the huge rocks which liberally covered the fields hence the name the Rocks of Bawn .
Those Rocks goes back to the ice age and peppered the fields like icebergs, most of them barely above the surface.
No wonder the poor man made up songs about it.

John Sweeney could neither read nor write but regularly spoke in rhyme. A family called the Seerys of Creevy wrote down the songs for him.

It is said that most of his songs were composed in Boylan's Forge in the townland of Cullaboy also in the parish of Mullahoran.
In those days the forge was the favourite meeting place for local people.

Sweeney composed another famous ballad . "The Creevy Grey Mare".
The townland of Creevy lies in North Longford half a mile from Bawn. This ballad was written in the same style as The Rocks of Bawn and contains several local references. One line refers specifically to Boylan's Forge;

"God bless and protect Peter Boylan
my sock or my coulter he'd mend
for he was a boy that could shoe her
and leave her quite straight on her limbs."

The ballad relates to a mare which Sweeney obviously used to plough in the area. The socks and coulter refer to parts of the plough. He relates how his master brought the mare to the fair in Bunlahy, Granard and she was bought by "Reynolds the odd jobber" for the Queen's Army and its military needs.
Sweeney laments the loss of his mare and reflects on the torture she will suffer in battle.
"But if I was a horseman who rode her
of corn I'd give her her fill
and with my gun and bayonet
it's Ryenolds the auld jobber I'd kill."

He rounds off the ballad on a hopeful note:

"But if she comes back to Ireland
and lands on Erin's green shore
I'll send for my master to buy her
and I'll plough her in Creevy once more."

Sweeney himself joined the British army along with his plough horses. It's uncertain whether he died or deserted. Some rumours said he went to live in America. One doggrel verse popular in the bars of new york many years ago contained a reference to Sweeney:
"There were charming maids from Cavan
as graceful as the fawn
and poor old gallant Sweeney
sang the Rocks of Bawn."


TIME PERIOD OF SONG AND DATE OF COMPOSITION

We can assume that the period of the song is set some time after the famine years, which were between 1845 and 1849, and the song composed at about the same time.
John Sweeney was born in the 1840s and grew up in the famine years. At 16 years he started working on neighboring farms, which would be between 1856 and 1861.

Sweeney himself joined the British army along with his plough horses. It's uncertain whether he died or deserted.
So it appears he never returned to his homeland in the parish of Mullahoran Co Cavan.
He would most likely have joined the army while he was still a young adult, perhaps even before he reached 20 years of age. As he wrote in his song:
"And place me in some regiment all in my youth and prime"

He may have worked on the farms for only two or three years before he left to join the army.
Sweeney was illiterate and a family called the Seerys of Creevy wrote down the songs for him while he was still in the area.
So the song could only have been composed in the time he was still in his homeland. This could be between 1857 and 1864.


FURTHER NOTE

An essay about music and song "Along the Annagh Road"(Which is near Granard in Co. Cavan) by one Mary Tiernan, then a pupil of Cnoc Muire Secondary School in Granard, won first prize in a Competition 'Duchas' (Heritage) run by Comhaltas Ceoiltoirí Eireann in 1975. The essay, with a picture of the purported Rocks of Bawn was printed in the magazine 'Treoir' vol. 7 number 5 for Samhain (Hallowe'en approximately)1975.
It gives a text of The Rocks of Bawn, attributing it to Barney Sweeney and giving the usual five stanzas.

So what relation is Barney Sweeney to John Sweeney? And what was his contribution in composing the song?
Are they the same person?


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