Music and Lyrics Traditional



O BONNY PORTMORE you shine where you stand

And the more I think on you the more I think long

If I had you now as I had once before

All the Lords in Old England would not purchase

Portmore.



O BONNY PORTMORE I am sorry to see

Such a woeful destruction of your ornament tree

For it stood on your shore for many's the long day

Till the long boats from Antrim came to float it

away.



O BONNY PORTMORE you shine where you stand

And the more I think on you the more I think long

If I had you now as I had once before

All the Lords in Old England would not purchase

Portmore.



All the birds in the forest they bitterly weep

Saying "where will we shelter or where will we sleep?"

For the Oak and the Ash they are all cutten down

And the walls of BONNY PORTMORE are all down to the

ground.



O BONNY PORTMORE you shine where you stand

And the more I think on you the more I think long

If I had you now as I had once before

All the Lords in Old England would not purchase

Portmore.



The destruction of old growth forests has become an

important conservation issue in recent years, but it

is not a new phenomenon. Over the centuries many

of Ireland's old oak forests were leveled for military

and shipbuilding purposes. Only recently has there

been an effort to reestablish these great hardwoods.

The Great Oak of Portmore stood on the property

of Portmore Castle on the shore of Lough Beg. - L.M.