Archives and Special Collections - 17th December

The Wexford Carols

Diarmuid Ó Muirithe (ed) with musical transcription by Seoirse Bodley (Dublin: Dolmen Press, 1982)

& The Christmas Songs of Luke Wadding, Bishop of Ferns 1683-1688 (Dublin: M.H. Gill, 1960), introduced by Thomas Wall.

In the village of Kilmore in county Wexford a tradition exists of the unaccompanied singing of carols at Christmas, the words of which date back to at least the 17^th century. The words of at least two of the carols still sung in Kilmore originate with the friar Luke Wadding, Bishop of Ferns, 1683-1688. In 1684 Wadding published his Pious Garland, containing mostly religious poems and songs. This pamphlet edited by Thomas Wall analyses Wadding’s life and some of his songs and poems. In 1982 the specialist publishers Dolmen Press undertook a more ambitious project recording not only the Wadding carols still sung at Kilmore but also carols associated with other areas of county Wexford, notably the carol known as the Enniscorthy Carol, which has become more widely known was the Wexford Carol.

 

 

For more information about the Kilmore and Wexford carol traditions visit the Reading Room at the Ask about Ireland website www.askaboutireland.ie.