Annotation:Lady Blayney
X:1 T:Bentighearna Blainidh T:Lady Blany M:C L:1/8 R:Air Q:"Andante" S:John Mulholland -- Ancient Irish Airs (Belfast, 1810, p. 54) Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:D d2|f2a2 ba g2|f2 ef d2 Ac|B2B2G2G2|F2G2A4| d2 ag fgaf|bagf e2 ef|gfed dc d/e/f|F2A2B4| AcBA GBAG|FAGF E2D2|egfe dfed|cedc B2f2| g6 f2|gfed dcBA|BAGF GFED|d4 D2:| |:B2|AGFE D2F2|D2F2A2 GF|BABG E2G2|E2G2 cBAG| FAFA D2D2|GBGB E2E2|cece A2A2|defg a2g2| fga2 bc' d'2|d'c'b2 bag2|gagf e2 ga|bc'd'b e2 ag| fgag d2 gf|efed cdcB|A4 A2 Bc|dAFA dAFA| D2D2D2 A/B/c|BGGB BGGB|E2E2E2 FG|A2A2 d3c| B2B2 g3f|gfed dcBA|BAGF GFED|d4 [D2d2]:|]
LADY BLAYNEY (Bantiaghearna Blanadh). AKA - "Planxty Lady Blaney/Blayney." Irish, Air (2/4 or cut time, "spirited"). C Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). AB. Turlough O'Caroland composed this air, recorded by the Belfast Northern Star of July 15th, 1792, as having been played by one of ten Irish harp masters at the last great convocation of ancient Irish harpers, the Belfast Harp festival, held that week. O'Sullivan's (1983) researches conclude that the Lady Blayney of O'Carolan's composition (for which there are no words extent) was Mary, daughter of William Caulfield (1st Earl of Charlemony) and Sarah Moore (herself the daughter of Charles Moore, Viscount Drogheda). Mary married the 6th Baron of Monaghan, Lord Blayney, in 1686 and outlived him (as well as her second husband, Arthur Dillon of Lismullen, Co. Meath), dying in 1724. She was buried alongside her first husband in the Chapel of Castle Blayney, which they built. Lord Blayney was one of the few Protestants who attended King James's Irish Parliament of 1689, but later fled to England. Upon King William's victory over the Catholic army Blayney's lands were restored, and he later became the Governor of Monaghan and Governor of Sligo, and was a member of the Irish House of Lords from 1692 until his death in 1705. Source for notated version: the Irish collector Edward Bunting noted the tune either from Rose Mooney or Charles Fannin, both harpers and both of whom he cites in either his MS or 1840 collections.
O'Sullivan (1958) notes that the version given in John Mulholland's 1810 collection "is a distinct variant."
