This website wouldn't be complete without paying tribute to the enormous sacrifice that the women of Armagh jail played during the blanket protest and hungerstrikes, and indeed throughout the struggle.Many of these women had young families on the outside, yet the full might of the British government could not break their spirit of resistance.They remained unbowed and unbroken.This song was written by Margaret D'Arcy in tribute to that indominable spirit.
In Black Armagh of the Goddess Macha
Last February in the grey cold jail
The Governor Scott in his savage fury
Came down to break the women's will
Forty jailers my forty jailers
From the hell of Long Kesh came down
And help me break these warrior women
The forty jailers put on their armour
Strapped on their helmets took up their shields
Then they beat the Armagh women they beat them down
They were sure they'd yield
Three days he kept them locked up in darkness
Locked up in filth you would not believe
When he released them he was so conceited
That one and all he thought they would yield
If you have suffered he smilingly said
It never happened it was all just a dream
Come out come out and obey my orders
But the Armagh women they would never yield
They'd never yield to Scott the governor
They'd never yield till they broke him down
He and his jailers were all locked in prison
By the women of Armagh jail
And there they remain those warrior women
Locked up in filth you would not believe
They hold Scott and his warders powerless
They hold them there, they'll never concede
Women of Ireland stand up and declare
Women of Ireland understand your power
Make us see that together we'll do it
We'll tumble down their stone grey tower
In Black Armagh of the Godess Mache
Last February in a cold grey cell....
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