Steve Roud said:
> If I can add to what Bruce Olson has already said, Georges-Denis
> Zimmermann's Songs of Irish Rebellion states that it was written in 1830
by
> Jeremiah Ryan ('Darby Ryan') satirising the new police force 'introduced
> into Ireland by Sir Robert Peel', and was extremely popular throughout
> Ireland.
> The original text had Bansha as the dwelling place, and there is clearly
no
> connection with Co. Durham in the song's known history. The question
> therefore remains, where did the quoted text come from, because presumably
> someone either mis-heard Bansha, or perhaps deliberately changed it to
> Penshaw to localise the song.
> Steve Roud
>
I think the localisation is quite likely. Perhaps the link is the migration
of Irish people to England, especially as a result of the potato famine.
Tyneside was a particularly popular destination; my own family is "Newcastle
Irish" in origin. Penshaw is a reasonable localisation, since the name
appears in the Lambton Worm, for example.
Simon
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