Dominic Ó Mongáin, or Dominic Mungan, was an Irish harper and poet, born around 1715 in

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retain ...

. The poem and air ''An raibh tú ag an gCarraig?'', translated by Walsh as Have you been at Carrick?, has been attributed to him. He was the father of

Charles Warburton Charles Mongan Warburton (born Terrence Charles Mongan;Most consistently spelled ''Mongan'', but originally rendered in Irish as ''O'Mungan'', and also spelled in English as ''Mungan'' and '' Mangan''. 1754–1826) was a 19th-century Anglican bi ...

, an Anglican

bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ...

who served as both

Bishop of Limerick The Bishop of Limerick is an episcopal title which takes its name after the city of Limerick in the Province of Munster, Ireland. In the Roman Catholic Church it still continues as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been ...

and Bishop of Cloyne.

Life

Relatively little is known of his life. The harper Arthur O'Neill mentioned him in his memoirs, stating that Ó Mongáin (Mungan) lived in Strabane, and had previously taught him several tunes, none of which he could now remember:'MEMOIRS OF ARTHUR O'NEILL' in Fox, C. M., ''Annals of the Irish Harpers'', p. 163

In my travels I became acquainted with a Dominic Mungan, I may say I had known him since I was twelve years old. He was born blind in the County of Tyrone, and a real good harper. He was a Roman Catholic. ..He was a great economist, but would spend money as genteelly as any man occasionally. He had three sons, Mark, John, and Terence, whom he educated in the first style.

A blind harper named Dominic Mungan, almost certainly the same man, was noted by

Edward Bunting Edward Bunting (1773–1843) was an Irish musician and folk music collector. Life Bunting was born in County Armagh, Ireland. At the age of seven he was sent to study music at Drogheda and at eleven he was apprenticed to William Ware, organist ...

to have been born around 1715 in Tyrone, and was said to have been an "admirable performer", particularly skilled in quiet passages, and conversant with the music of Handel and Corelli in addition to the traditional harp repertoire. Bunting, who obtained his information on Mungan from the reminiscences of Henry Joy, uncle of

Henry Joy McCracken Henry Joy McCracken (31 August 1767 – 17 July 1798) was an Irish republican, a leading member of the Society of the United Irishmen and a commander of their forces in the field in the Rebellion of 1798. In pursuit of an independent and democra ...

, also noted that Mungan raised three sons, one of whom was the future bishop Charles Mongan Warburton. O'Neill had mentioned that Mungan's son Terence "was now Bishop of Limerick".Bunting, E. ''The Ancient Music of Ireland'', 2000, p. 78 Ó Mongáin appeared in 1762 in Belfast - the first reference to the harp being played there - where a press notice stated that "Dominick the Harper" thanked those who had "been so kind as to favour him with their company" and gave notice of a further performance at "Tim's Coffee House" on the following Monday.Johnston, R. ''Buntings Messiah'', Ulster Historical Foundation, 2003, p. 39 Ó Doibhlin noted a further record of a "Domini Mungan of Tyrone":

..listed by Echlin O'Kean ..as one of four second rate players on the harp alive in 1797/1798. His surname possibly indicates that he was a native of Termonmongan in the
Castlederg Castlederg (earlier Caslanadergy, ) is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It lies on the River Derg and is near the border with County Donegal, Ireland. It stands in the townlands of Castlesessagh and Churchtown, in the historic baro ...
area of Tyrone. Poetry writing and harp playing seem on occasions to have gone hand in hand in Gaelic Ireland, but O'Mongáin did not appear at the Harp Festival of 1792 in Belfast, and I have found no further references to him.

Ó Mongáin in fact appears to have died in the 1770s, long prior to the Harp Festival. Bunting had not personally heard him play, basing his description of his style on Joy's recollection, but said that "his 'whispering notes' were until lately in the memory of a few surviving auditors".

Poetry and music

The poem ''An raibh tú ag an gCarraig?'', translated by Walsh as Have you been at Carrick?, is ascribed to Ó Mongáin in John O'Daly's ''Poets and Poetry of Munster'' (1849), where it was printed along with Walsh's translation. Ó Mongáin was said to have written ''An raibh tú ag an gCarraig?'' in honour of Eliza Blacker (later Lady Dunkin) of

Carrick Carrick is an Anglicised version of ''creag/carraig'', Gaelic for "rock", and may refer to: People *Carrick (surname) * Donnchadh, Earl of Carrick (died 1250), Scottish Mormaer and first Earl of Carrick * Marjorie of Carrick (1256–1292), ...

in the parish of Seagoe,

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and has ...

.Phoenix, E., O'Cleaireachain, P. and McAuley, E. ''Feis na nGleann: A century of Gaelic culture in the Antrim Glens'', Ulster Historical Foundation, 2005, p. 28 The air printed in Bunting's ''Ancient Music of Ireland'' as ''Sin Sios agus suas liom'', "Down beside me" and stated to be "the original of ''Shepherds, I have lost my Love''", was said by Bunting to have been taken from a transcribed performance by Ó Mongáin.

References

* Diarmaid Ó Doibhlin (2000) ''Tyrone's Gaelic Literary Legacy'' in ''Tyrone: History and Society'', pp. 424–25. {{DEFAULTSORT:OMongáin, Dominic 18th-century Irish male writers 18th-century Irish male musicians 18th-century Irish-language poets Irish male harpists Irish-language singers Irish male poets Musicians from County Tyrone People from Strabane Writers from County Tyrone 18th-century Irish harpists

Life

Poetry and music

See also

References