‘Enniscorthy’s Carol’ a short documentary I produced tracing the background story and local connections to ‘The Enniscorthy Christmas Carol’ aka ‘The Wexford Carol’.
This twenty-three minute film features interviews with a granddaughter and grandniece of the two men responsible for collecting the carol near Oylegate, close to Enniscorthy, around the year 1912.
Margaret Franklin, granddaughter of the St Aidan’s Cathedral organist and musical director Dr. William Henry Grattan Flood (from 1895 to 1928), tells the story of the collection of the carol as it was passed down through her family, while I also meet with Nóirín Cummins, grandniece of Fr. Pat Cummins who drove Dr. Gratton Flood to the house to collect the song. The two women whom we are told were responsible for handing down the carol were in fact Nóirín’s great-grandmother Bessie Murphy of Coolamain, and Bessie’s mother Elizabeth Reck, of Crory (mother and grandmother of Fr. Pat Cummins).
The documentary begins with a visit to the cathedral to hear the choir rehearsing for upcoming Christmas services, and to speak with current church organist, Adrian Doyle. Local historian Dan Walsh fills me in further on the work of Dr Grattan Flood. On hearing that it was in fact local school children who first sang the carol after it was collected I shared the song with schoolchildren in Bunscoil Loreto Gorey, and they share their opinions on the songs and its unique air.
While the Cummins' mud walled house which the two men most likely visited to record the song is long since gone, I trace the location of the house, and speak to brother and sister Séan Quirke and Anne Doran, who were the last people to live in the house, in the early 1960s.
A visit to the Wexford Traditional Singers regular monthly session in Mary’s Bar, Wexford Town, captures Gavin Byrne's rendition of the carol in the context of an unaccompanied traditional singing session, while Aileen Kennedy's rendition on the harp beautifully expresses the carol’s unique air. The short film culminates with the playing of the carol by the current organist in St Aidan’s cathedral, Adrian Doyle.
This project was the recipient of an award from Creative Places Enniscorthy supported by Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford County Council and the Arts Council. I’d like to thank them for their support and express my deep gratitude to everyone who contributed to and participated in the documentary.