The Sash

Yesterday’s post ended with an IRA marching song dating from the 1916 Easter Rising. For balance this morning I’d like to include an old melody that was adopted by Loyalists – The Sash.

Here are the lyrics.

So sure l’m an Ulster Orangeman, from Erin’s isle I came,
To see my British brethren all of honour and of fame,
And to tell them of my forefathers who fought in days of yore,
That I might have the right to wear, the sash my father wore!

Chorus:
It is old but it is beautiful, and its colours they are fine
It was worn at Derry, Aughrim, Enniskillen and the Boyne.
My father wore it as a youth in bygone days of yore,
And on the Twelfth I love to wear the sash my father wore.

Chorus

For those brave men who crossed the Boyne have not fought or died in vain
Our Unity, Religion, Laws, and Freedom to maintain,
If the call should come we’ll follow the drum, and cross that river once more
That tomorrow’s Ulsterman may wear the sash my father wore!

Chorus

And when some day, across the sea to Antrim’s shore you come,
We’ll welcome you in royal style, to the sound of flute and drum
And Ulster’s hills shall echo still, from Rathlin to Dromore
As we sing again the loyal strain of the sash my father wore.

The Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is a 1066 date in Irish history but the Battle of Aughrim, the following year, is not much known except to the people of Ireland and historians. Aughrim is a village in Galway and it was where King William sealed his victory over James II and the Jacobites. It was a bloody battle with maybe 7,000 killed – the majority Jacobites – the greatest number killed in any battle in Ireland. My family had fought at the Boyne without significant losses. At Aughrim they were at the heart of the fighting. Bellew’s Regiment was led by John, 1st Lord Bellew, and his son Walter fought alongside him; both died of their wounds. John Bellew died in London and was interred in Westminster Abbey until his remains were taken back to Ireland and buried in Duleek, Co Meath, not far from the site of the Boyne. The inscription on his grave was chosen by his widow, Margaret. It reads in part that he “was shot in the belly in Aughrim fight”. She did not flinch from accuracy and detail.

The parlous state of the Bellew regiment after Aughrim is set out by Diarmuid Murtagh in an article in the Journal of the Louth Archaelogical Journal (1953) of which this is an extract. The year is 1691, after Aughrim was fought on 12th July.

https://youtu.be/8D-2pr2aCXs