Wrens of the Curragh

Records date back to the 1840s of women living on the Curragh nearby the army camp.

[2] Whilst the women were mainly dependent on the soldiers for money, they also knitted garments which they sold at markets to gain some financial independence.

[6] Still, it was the Army that supplied them with fresh water and allowed them to buy goods at the camp market two to three times a week.

[10] In 1867, the journalist James Greenwood of the Pall Mall Gazette visited the Wrens and recorded their lifestyle.

[11] Before his visit, but in the same year, the situation of the "Wrens" and the soldiers was discussed in the British Medical Journal; in the article, some of the women are portrayed as thieves.

[13] Some of the women were in common-law marriages with soldiers at the camp, but due to army regulations, they could not live with the men.

[2] The Medical Times & Gazette featured a response to Greenwood's article, who focused on the moral debasement of the wrens, as well as discussing the lack of sanitation and the effects on public health.

[18] The lives of the "Wrens of the Curragh" have inspired a range of creative responses: In 1873, they are mentioned in a short story, "The Humby Election", by George Fraser.

[28] In 2019, artist Lisa Freeman created a site-specific performance; Green Skies, A Double Rhythm on this history.