The Otway harp

Probably late 16th Century

The harp is now the "reserve harp" at the Long Room of Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, only displayed when the Trinity College harp is not on show.

"Large Low Headed" design;
34 strings, longest 77cm

There is a colour photo of this harp in Early Music, vol.36, no.4, Nov 2008 p.523

The Otway harp is heavily decorated on the neck and pillar with carved and blackened lines, and the panels between the lines are filled in with an alternating chequerboard arrangement of red and blue paint. Much of this original paint survives and demonstrates a suprisingly vivid original colour scheme.

In August 2008, students of Scoil na gCláirseach - Summer School of Early Irish harp discussed the characters incised inside the forepillar. According to R.B. Armstrong, the inscription reads "1410" or perhaps (inverted) "0171", and the name C Kelly, leading some to suppose that the harp was made in 1710 by Cormac O'Keplly, the maker of the Downhill harp. It is not clear whether Armstrong's reading is correct, as the wood is very worm-eaten and difficult to decipher.

In any case, this is a poor quality inscription, and not original to the making of the harp. Joan Rimmer dated the instrument to the 17th century but I don't know on what grounds. I am suggesting the 2nd half of the 16th century as it seems to be intermediate between the 15th century Trinity, QM and Lamont harps and the 17th century O'Fogarty and Cloyne.

In the late 18th and early 19th century this harp was owned and played by Patrick Quin (c.1745 - 1812). Click here to see his picture. By this time the probable original stringing regime using precious metals for the short bass strings was no longer used or known, and Patrick probably had the harp strung with brass in the bass and soft iron in the treble. There are cracks and patches at the treble end of the neck so he probably didn't use all the treble positions.

References

Simon Chadwick

Student copies of this harp are available for sale from the Historical Harp Society of Ireland. Built by David Kortier, based on his measurements from the original to reproduce its idiosyncratic string spacing, angles and overall ergonomics. Laminated construction and simplified outline keep the price affordable without compromising the historical value of this harp. click here for more info.