Wednesday 27 May 2020
Tune of the Day: The Lamentation of Aughrim
Traditional Irish air
The Battle of Aughrim, fought on July 12th 1691 near Ballinasloe, County Galway, pitted the Irish forces against the English. The Irish Commander, General St. Ruth, and some 7000 of his troops were killed, the “flower of their army and nation”. It was a devastating defeat, and the cause of much sorrow in Ireland. In Minstrelsy of Ireland (1897), Alfred Moffat says the air “probably dates from the terrible battle”.
Thomas Moore used the melody for his song “Forget not the Field” in Volume VII of his Irish Melodies (1818).