From Scotland to America, via Co. Antrim, Ulster.

If you are seriously interested in the history of the Hammered Dulcimer, and in particular its history in Northern Ireland, as well as Southern Ireland, Scotland & England too, then I would strongly recommend that you visit David Kettlewell's excellent site at:

If you just have a passing interest into how Co. Antrim fits into the history of the Hammered Dulcimer, then you might like to read the brief notes below.

The information for this piece was gleaned from the pages of David Kettlewell's wonderful website. Unfortunately, I was unable to contact David by Email, to ask for permission to use the information below, so if anyone reading this has an Email address for David, please send it to me. If David himself reads this piece, I trust he will forgive me & realise that I only had the best of intentions.

* * * * * * * * *

The Hammered Dulcimer - an early history

The word Dulcimer is apparently Greek for 'Sweet Sound', so how come it's sweet sound isn’t more widely known, and why is it not being played more often, in Co. Antrim, where it seems, it has always been more popular than anywhere else in Ireland? That is something the 'Causeway Dulcimer Festival' will strive to address!

The hammered dulcimer probably originated in the Middle East, around Persia, about 900 A.D. and is related to the psaltery.

It spread from there across Europe & North Africa, and throughout the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance period the dulcimer remained a popular instrument in both eastern and western Europe.

It was known by many different names in different countries: a "tympanon" in France; a "hackbrett" in Germany; and a "cymbalom" in Hungary.

* * * * * * * * *

The Hammered Dulcimer in Co. Antrim

Although this instrument is relatively unknown now in Co. Antrim, some say it has actually been on these shores, in one form or another since, at least, the 18th Century.

In England it was very popular during the late 16th century and it seems likely that the hammered dulcimer was also being played in Scotland in the C16th, for there is mention of it in a Scottish poem of 1543, calling it a ‘dulsacordis’! It then probably travelled to County Antrim with the Scots, at least 4 or 5 generations ago.

Scotland's Bob Smith's Ideal Band. Thanks to Jenny Coxon for the photos of this LP cover & the photos of John Rea's LPs below.

The first player to be mentioned here was a Harry Coudy, who was a well known player in the 20’s. Then there was a John Johnson who only died in 1974. “He made four dulcimers, while Alec Magee of Larne made about a dozen instruments, many of them for young people, who apparently gave up when they found it too difficult; he was a joiner, took the measurements for his instruments from that of John Rea, and used autoharp pins from a music shop.”
Other more recent players included "James & Andrew Davidson of Buckna, Miss Katie Johnson of Owencloughy, William McMullan of Ballyclare, Thomas Taylor of Mullaghmore, Robert Gilbert of Kilwaughter plus others from around Ballyclare including Nat Magee ( Alec's son ), Mrs. Craig, Mrs. Doris Apsey, Jackie Apsey, Mrs. Woodside, William Mundel and Alec Rea of Ballymena."
However the most famous Co. Antrim Hammered Dulcimer player of them all was John Rea of Glenarm. He started out on the Dulcimer at the age of eight, and says his brothers all got fiddles but he was too small, so he got the dulcimer! John worked on the tug-boat in Belfast Lough and lived on board a lot of the time, which I suppose gave him plenty of time to practice. Today people play the dulcimer with little wooden hammers but John Rea used hammers made of thick steel wire, wound with wool, which were his own idea.

John, in his day, was very famous. He performed on the TV, played with ‘The Chieftains’ and recorded two LPs.

In Scotland the players used to play a lot of old song airs, and of songs which were popular between the wars, but John Rea tended to play the old traditional tunes he learned from his dad’s fiddle playing. So Reels, Jigs, Marches and Strathspeys were more his cup of tea and a fine healthy mix of Scottish and Irish tunes he played too.
John Rea, before he died, used to regularly play duets with his brother William Rea, and thankfully Willie is still going strong, as is Nat Magee, so the glens still ring to the sound of these two men playing their Hammered Dulcimers.

John Rea's final resting place, Glenarm Cemetery. Note the Dulcimer on the stone.

[photo R & B Davis ]

Another well known Hammer Dulcimer player was Derek Bell of the Chieftains, although he called his a Timpan, but it was simply a Hammered Dulcimer. Today, the best player in Ireland is still a County Antrim man, one Barry Carroll who has also recorded a CD with Hammered Dulcimer & Uilleann Pipes and more recently was a guest
musician on Sharon Shannon’s last CD.
Interestingly, there was very little interest in Hammered Dulcimers in the south. However "two players from both areas did try to meet up once, but the meeting never happened because both men were waiting at different stations!"
In 2002, a Hammered Dulcimer festival took place in Cork and ran for three years, organised by an American player, Christie Burns. Before the first Fest, a call went out for all Irish Hammered Dulcimer players to attend, or at least make themselves known – only four appeared! However, many Hammered Dulcimer players from all over the world did turn up & beginners classes rekindled an interest in this endangered species.
Christie has gone home to America now, but I am determined to do my best to help save this rare Co. Antrim beastie, and in 2003 I organised a concert in Glenarm Castle which was attended by four Hammered Dulcimers players, including myself.
In 2004, for my Black Nun Fest in Ballycastle I brought over an American player Rick Davis, from North Carolina to
help keep the flame burning. Nat Magee, of Larne has also played at my Black Nun folk club.

If you live in North Antrim and you are curious to find out what a Hammered Dulcimer actually looks like, and you would like to hear it being played, then you might like to know that I play mine every Tuesday night in Kelly’s Bar, on Church St. Ballymoney and also in the Smugglers Inn, Bushmills, on Saturday nights. Nat Magee would also play with us every once in a while at the Smugglers Inn.

So there you have it, its been around for perhaps a thousand years, made and played throughout Co. Antrim for at least the past 4 or 5 generations, and still, every time I take it out in North Antrim folk ask me what it is! Hopefully the Causeway Dulcimer Festival will put this right.

In this Antrim map you will see the area where the Hammered Dulcimer was made, played, & became popular.

It lies roughly in the centre, between four towns ~ Glenarm, Larne, Ballyclare & Ballymena.

* * * * * * * * *

The Hammered Dulcimer in America

The first wave of settlers came to Appalachia by way of the Valley of Virginia, having started in Pennsylvania. Around 1769 the "Wilderness Road" opened up migration through southwestern Virginia, Kentucky and northeastern Tennessee. They were made up of Germans, British, Scot-Irish and the French Huegonots.

Hammered Dulcimer like instruments have been found in Appalachia, Shenandoah Valley (Virginia) and northeast Tennessee along "The Wilderness Road." They were also found along the "Great Wagon Road" from western Maryland to North Carolina, but this was a relatively small number with the majority being found on the Wilderness Road. Early dulcimer- like instruments were also made in the Valley of Virginia.

People often confuse the hammered dulcimer with the three or four stringed "mountain" or "plucked" dulcimer, although the two have nothing in common, except their name.

The earliest reference to it in America is actually of one being played in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1717.

Hammered dulcimers are particularly interesting because, unlike the piano, dulcimers were often built at home, which was certainly the case in Co. Antrim.

This beautiful instrument is now enjoying a revival and for the first time in many years, new dulcimers are being built, and there is an increasing number of new players.

The Causeway Dulcimer Festival will be doing what it can to ensure that this revival takes place in Ulster too.

Hope for the future & the Christie Burns class in Bushmills, Co. Antrim at CDF/05.

[photo R & B Davis ]

* * * * * * * * *
If anyone reading these notes has any information on County Antrim Hammered Dulcimer players or makers, please send it to me at or contact David Kettlewell

If, reading the above has inspired you to learn more, then you might like to check out:

Cork Dulcimer Fest : Where this event was born
Christie's Thesis (PDF) : on Dulcimers & Dulcimer players in Ireland
Ireland 2003 : Rick & Brandy's review of Cork Dulcimer Fest, including photos
Official Gallery : Photographs of Cork Dulcimer Fest
Adrian Scanlan : Adrian' review of 1st C D F for Folkworld
Irish Music Magazine : Dick Glasgow's review of 1st C D F for the Irish Music Magazine
Glenarm Castle Kitchen Concert : Dick Glasgow's review of his 2003 forerunner to the C D F

Black Nun Fest : Dick Glasgow's 2004 forerunner to the C D F which featured Rick Davis on H D

& of course:

David Kettlewell : Brilliant site info on H Ds & players in Ireland, Scotland, England with a wealth of info on the history of the instrument too ~ essential reading!

* * * * * * * * *

European Registration Form

E-mail Dick Glasgow

Back to CDF06

Causeway Music Home Page