This song was written and composed for the Mayo Male Voice Choir by David Loring. It tells the story of migrant workers from North Mayo who journeyed to Scotland to pick potatoes in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These were the Spalpeens and Tattie Hokers.
This was almost exclusively a Mayo and Donegal migration with a few recorded from Galway. Many were from Achill and according to local folklore it had been prophesied that the first and last trains would carry the bodies of dead people. The first train, in 1894 carried those of 32 tattie hokers who drowned in Clew Bay on their way to Scotland when the boat they were in capsized. There is a memorial stone in Kildownet Old Cemetery, Kildavnet, Achill Island, Mayo (opens in a new tab or window) that lists the names of those who were lost. In 1937 the railway, which had shut down, was reopened to carry the bodies of those burned in the Kirkintilloch bothy fire, which focused attention on Peadar O’Donnell’s campaign on behalf of the migrant workers and led to a government inquiry at the time.
Often these men travelled on to England to pick beet. Sometimes their families travelled with them. In other cases their wives and children were left at home. The men returned for a month in the spring to sow what land they had. These journeys were unique to Mayo and the West of Donegal and were also a unique form of migration.
Download a PDF of The Kirkintilloch Tragedy text
Below are the music files for all four choir parts of “The Hills Of Mayo”.
Media Files
All of these files can be found on my Google Drive
PDF Files with piano accompaniment
TTBB Bmaj Full score A C Major version is also available.
Grandfather David 