‘Fountain’ behind Rose of Tralee lyrics springs true

THE “pure crystal fountain” that inspired the lyrics of the famous song The Rose of Tralee is more than a figment of romantic imagination.

It actually existed, according to Maurice O’Keeffe, a well-known local historian in Tralee who has been researching the subject for several years.

Today, the site is just a nondescript and overgrown patch of soggy ground, cordoned off for safety reasons. But water still comes from the spring at Skehanagh crossroads on the Tralee to Castlemaine road.

The Murcor construction company and local residents now plan to clean up the site and to restore the fountain, which is located near the appropriately named Crystal Fountain holiday homes, to its former pristine glory.

Mr O’Keeffe, who welcomed the initiative, said he is certain it is the fountain mentioned in the song that will reverberate around Tralee during the 50th rose festival, which starts today.

“The fountain was a popular meeting place in the 19th century and lovers also went there. It’s only about 200 yards from the home of William Pembroke Mulchinock who wrote the song in the 1840s,” he added.

Murcor representative Tim Corkery said the site has a lot of potential for some type of well creation with a fountain effect.

“We’re hoping to put something very nice there and are working closely with the residents,” he said.

James Costelloe, of the residents’ group, said they would like to retain the fountain in its natural state and were looking at possible designs.

Mulchinock’s song was all about his love for Mary O’Connor who worked as a kitchen maid in his home. Their story has the classic ingredients of true romance – she a poor girl from a thatched cabin in the town, he from a wealthy merchant family.

Their liaison was ill-fated from the start as their union in marriage could never come about because of rigid class distinctions at the time. Mulchinock went abroad and returned to Tralee in 1849.

The story goes that, as he sat in a pub in Rock Street, the landlord began to draw the curtains as a funeral was about to pass.

On inquiring whose funeral it was, he was told it was a local girl from Brogue Lane – a “lovely and fair” young woman named Mary O’Connor, the Rose of Tralee.

Heartbroken, Mulchi-nock went to America but returned years later to Tralee where he died in 1864, aged 44, still pining for his original rose.