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Clàrsach na Bànrighe

The logo of this website, as well as the illustration on the front page (repeated to the right here), is a replica of one of the best preserved and best-known of the surviving historic Gaelic harps: the Queen Mary harp preserved in the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh.

The original is over 500 years old, and is too fragile, rare and precious to string and play, so I commissioned Irish sculptor and harp maker Davy Patton to make me an exact replica in 2006. Davy took 10 months studying the original, collecting drawings and photographs, finding timber, and making the harp. Evey last detail of the design, layout, construction and decoration is copied in as much detail as possible.

The new replica has strings of metal wire, following historic Irish and Scottish practice: brass, silver and gold.

You can hear the replica on my CD Clàrsach na Bànrighe. You can read more details about the design and construction of the replica at my personal site and you can find out more about the medieval original here.

Simon Chadwick