The Colleen Bawn - Ellen Hanley

by Tom Cunningham
(Evesham, U.K.)

The Colleen Bawn.

Young Ellen Hanley caught John Scanlon’s eye
He was determined that she’d be his wife
Their marriage was cursed and Ellen would die
On the River Shannon she lost her life.

She was a beauty but of lower class
He belonged to a wealthy family
A few weeks later grew tired of the lass
She was found in Shannon’s estuary.

His servant killed Ellen a girl so young
And from a boat threw her over the side
Both men found guilty and from gallows hung
Her dead body washed ashore with the tide.

In Clare there stands a memorial stone
The Colleen Bawn she is now better known.


Written on 28 January