I was wondering how many Harrington sets with, or without, original chanters are known to have survived?

I've listed the ones I know of below. Are there other sets?:

Geoff Wooff - a Harrington C set

Sean Talty - a Harrington B set - chanter by Geoff Wooff?. Is this the set sent by Al Purcell's father to Leo Rowsome in exchange for a Rowsome concert pitch set?

Ronan Browne - a Harrington B set bought from Leo Rowsome during the 1950's. Was this set sent to Leo by Chris Langan? - chanter by Ronan Browne made in Peter Hunter's workshop.

Ian McKenzie - a Harrington B set with double bass regulator -chanter by Geoff Wooff. This was the set owned by Bill Heffernan and lent to the Irish Society of Sydney and used by Mick McMahon. Bill sold the set in 2011 to Ian McKenzie. Is this correct?

Liam Collins, Cork - A Harrington set https://www.eoinoriabhaigh.com/endorsements

Jack O'Rourke - Harrington stock and drones with Richard O'Mealy chanter and Coyne regulators http://www.seanreidsociety.org/SRSJ3/3. ... 0Pipes.pdf

Morpeth bagpipe museum - Harrington chanter and drones. Is the stock also present?

Horniman museum - had a Harrington set that was stolen together with a Robert Reid set in I think 1976?
Whereabouts unknown

Cliff Castle Museum had a Harrington C set with extra long tenor drone slide that was stolen in 1986?
Whereabouts unknown

The Egan set advertised elsewhere on the forum may have Harrington drones.

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PJ

Geoff Wooff C set ? Complete...

Sean Talty (B or Bb) with chanter by another older maker.

Ronan Browne ... 2 sets complete ?

Ian McKenzie ? The Heffernan B set with extended bass regulator and chanter by Geoff Wooff.

Morpeth Chantry museum ; C# 3/4 set complete .

Horniman museum set stolen but has now been returned apparently.

Cliff Castle museum set... (B?) with chanter by another older maker. Stolen. Still 'at large'.

I had an exchange of emails with the late Peter Hunter in which he refered this set. We were discussing a copy made by Mike Wilkins.

"I believe it to essentially be faithfully based upon a Harrington C body reeded down to go with a Coyne type 17.5" chanter in B"

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PJ

Mick Wilkins made 2 sets, both have been discussed here before.

A set in Boxwood and an ebony set.

Both were offered for sale a few years ago, almost within weeks of each other.
I bought the ebony set.
The chanter was really nice, full of tone.
I had some discussions with Mick over these sets and was sent a copy of the drawings that he and Peter did.
I eventually sold the set, which went to a member here in Denmark.

Update:

That's good that the Horniman Harrington has been returned to the museum. There seem to be nine Harrington sets including the stolen Cliff Castle Harrington set. Four of the sets are complete with their original chanters. If the Horniman Harrington and Cliff Castle Museum sets have their original chanters that would then make six complete original Harrington sets.

I've listed the ones I know of below with updated information from Geoff Wooff regarding the Morpeth Chantry Museum set, the stolen Horniman set, and that Ronan Browne has two Harrington B sets. PJ has added information from Peter Hunter about plans/measurements made of the stolen Cliff Castle Museum set ""I believe it to essentially be faithfully based upon a Harrington C body reeded down to go with a Coyne type 17.5" chanter in B" Mr. Gumby has reminded me of Becky Taylor's Harrington chanter and the provenance of the Talty set:

Geoff Wooff - a Harrington C set

Cian Talty - a Harrington B set - chanter by Geoff Wooff?. Information from Mr. Gumby is that this set came via Brother Gildas to Sean Reid who gave the set to Sean Talty. Cian Talty owns the set now

Kevin Rowsome - a Harrington C# set - not sure if the chanter is original, the set is said to have many, varied repairs
Ref.: http://www.seanreidsociety.org/SRSJ2/australia.pdf

Ronan Browne - Two Harrington B sets. A brass Harrington B set purchased from Leo Rowsome by Ronan's parents during the 1950's. Was this set sent to Leo by Chris Langan? - later restored by Ronan Browne to the original three quarter set configuration, with a new hollow stock by Bill Haneman, and a chanter by Ronan Browne made in Peter Hunter's workshop.
The second set is a silver B Harrington set
Ref.: http://www.ronanbrowne.com/ronanbrowneb ... ments.html

Ian McKenzie - a Harrington B set - chanter by Geoff Wooff. The only original Harrington parts are the three regulators and the three drones. This was the set owned by Frank Heffernan, then Kevin Doyle, and lent to the Irish Society of Sydney and played by Declan Affley 1970-1985, and then by Mick McMahon. Frank sold the set in 2011 to Ian McKenzie.
Ref.: http://www.seanreidsociety.org/SRSJ2/australia.pdf
Ref.: https://theroguesgalleryblog.wordpress. ... an-affley/


Liam Collins, Cork - A Harrington set https://www.eoinoriabhaigh.com/endorsements. Anyone know more about this set?

Becky Taylor - a Harrington chanter

Jack O'Rourke - Harrington stock and drones with Richard O'Mealy chanter and Coyne regulators
Ref.: http://www.seanreidsociety.org/SRSJ3/3. ... 0Pipes.pdf

Morpeth Chantry Museum - a Harrington C# three quarter set

Horniman museum - had a Harrington set that was stolen together with a Robert Reid set in I think 1976?
Ref.: Geoff Wooff -This set has since been returned to the museum

Cliff Castle Museum had a Harrington C set with extra long tenor drone slide that was stolen in 1986.
Whereabouts still unknown

Has anyone found out more about Harrington other than the vague snippets unearthed by Francis O'Neill? It would be interesting to know how and where he learned pipemaking, what other trades he had (if any) and what happened to him in the US, if he did indeed emigrate.

I don't think anybody knows what became of him. Geoff speculated in one early article (in the Piobaire) about the possibility of him going to Oz but I don't think anyone really found out in any detail where he went or even if he went anywhere at all.

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My brain hurts

A bit of Googling reveals a Denis and Timothy Harrington who left Castletownbere for New Brunswick in 1847. But there are 19th century Harringtons in Australia too by the looks of it - seems plausible.

A pity we didn't get a second name or a more specific place of origin. O'Neill's informant was from Glanmire which suggests Harrington might have been from that area if they knew each other in their youth, but it's all very vague. I suppose we are extremely fortunate to have O'Neill's information at all.

But Denis Harrington is documented in Cork well after 1847. He displayed his exhibition set at the Cork exhibition of 1852 and Seán Donnelly described him as disappearing from the record only in the 1860. See the sketch on the 2011 NPU calendar here also. Anyhow, 1847 is not a viable date for his departure.

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My brain hurts

Thanks for finding that. So he may have been self-taught then, assuming that wasn't a bit of marketing talk.

Here's one on an lp cover:



and another one, played by Pat Mitchell (with Seán Reid).



And the same one again, different chanter on it:



And another one, (watched by Joe Crane):

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My brain hurts

In O'Neill's it's said that Denis Harrington was a farmer's son. I've found for example a couple of Denis Harringtons born in 1810 in Co. Cork, one died in Christchurch, New Zealand, and one died in Penobscot, Maine, but perhaps as Mr. Gumby noted, Harrington never left Ireland during the famine years, or perhaps he left only to return to Ireland and take up farming again? Any letters, bills of sale, receipts, such as can turn up regarding Rudall & Rose flutes from the 1820's onward, would give clues, if they exist that is.

I tried to say that, so far, nobody found any solid evidence one way or another. The trail ends in 1860.

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My brain hurts

This photo - https://postimg.cc/PPZ7ZhtB - is of the set in the list mentioned above as "set owned by Bill Heffernan", when in the possession of Declan Affley.
I believe the photo was taken when he visited Ireland in the early 1970's. The chanter is by Kiernan, IIRC.

M