The Bard of Armagh

"The Bard of Armagh" is an Irish ballad. It is often attributed to Patrick Donnelly. He was made Bishop of Dromore in 1697, the same year as the enactment of the 1697 Banishment Act which was intended to clear out all Roman Catholic clergy from Ireland. Donnelly is believed to have taken the pseudonym and disguise of the travelling harper Phelim Brady.^[1] Patrick Donnelly was born in Desertcreat in Tyrone, and a slab in the graveyard there, almost worn away, is inscribed with a mitre and sceptre and what appears to be the name 'Phelim Brady'.^[2] The Irish language version of the song appears to have been lost.

The song in English, like many heroic, rebel outlaw ballads, dates from the mid 19th century, when it was printed as a broadside ballad in Dublin.^[3] The same melody is used in the songs Príosún Chluain Meala - (The Jail of Clonmel), The Sailor Cut Down in his Prime and The Streets of Laredo. Vince Gill recorded a version of three verses of this song followed by three verses of The Streets of Laredo on the album Long Journey Home, a compilation of songs about Irish emigration and the links between Irish and American folk and country music featuring various Irish and British-Irish artists, in 1998.