Following the Light, photography with Mary: Cobh, The Holy Ground

The Holy Ground

Fare thee well, my lovely Dinah, a thousand times adieu.

We’re goin’ away from the Holy Ground and the girls we all love true.

We will sail the salt seas over and we'll return for shore,

To see again the girls we love and the Holy Ground once more.

Fine girl you are!

You're the girl I do adore,

And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more.

Fine girl you are!

And now the storm is raging and we are far from shore;

And the good old ship is tossin’ about and the rigging is all tore.

And the secrets of my mind, my love, you're the girl I do adore,

And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more.

Fine girl you are!

You're the girl I do adore,

And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more.

Fine girl you are!

And now the storm is over and we are safe and well

We will go into a public house and we’ll sit and drink like hell!

We will drink strong ale and porter and we'll make the rafters roar,

And when our money is all spent, we'll go to sea once more.

Fine girl you are!

You're the girl I do adore,

And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more.

Fine girl you are!

The Holy Ground is a part of Cobh traditionally inhabited by fishermen. This song was a sea shanty sung by the sailors while performing various tasks onboard.

I decided to do this blog on Cobh, especially for all of our friends, family and children who have emigrated and eagerly search Google for photographs and news of the town.

I married a Cobh man and came to live in Cobh 33 years ago. We are lucky enough to have a view of the harbour from our house and I never get sick of looking out the window. It's the first thing i see when i open the curtains in the morning and the lights of the ships at rest and the oil refinery are the last things I see before i close the curtains at night. How lucky am I?

It's a far cry from the North side of Cork city where I was reared. I remember as a child looking out my bedroom window with my brother and sister and taking turns with my father's ancient telescope. At the very end of the terrace, across all the back gardens there was a triangle of a gap between 2 roofs. If you held the telescope very steady you could see the distant fields and the cattle grazing there. I bet you thought we were spying on the neighbours!, Never.

The Camber