Cobh Shnaty

The Holy Ground is a neighbourhood in the Irish port of Cobh (near Cork), which was the town’s red-light district in the 19th century when the town, then known as Queenstown, was a major stopping point for ships crossing the Atlantic and had a large throughput of seafarers.

 

It is also true that the most prominent prostitution district in New York in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries was the famed Holy Ground - the city’s most expensive “houses of debauchery” were in two blocks along Church, Vesey, and Barclay streets, on land owned by the Episcopal church.  Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang suggests that the “holy ground” was slang for a red light district at least as early as the 19th century.   Brewer’s Britain & Ireland identifies it as 18th century slang for a criminal slum or red-light district.



Cobh Shanty

 

Fare thee well, my lovely Dinah, ten thousand times adieu
For we’re sailin’ away from the Holy Ground and the girls we always knew
Though we sail the seven seas over we'll still return for shore,
And still I live in hopes to see the Holy Ground once more.

 

(Shouted) Fine girl you are!
(Sung) You're the girl I do adore.

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

 

And now the storm is raging and we are far from shore
And the little ship is tossin’ about and the rigging is all tore
But 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.

 

[chorus as per first verse]

 

And now the storm is over lads, and we are safe and well
We will go into a public house and we’ll sit and we’ll drink right well
We will drink strong ale and porter and we'll make those rafters roar,
And when our money is all spent then we'll go to sea once more.

 

(Shouted) Fine girl you are!
(Sung) You're the girl I do adore.

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

(Shouted) Fine girl you are!