Veda - The Secret Recipe of the Ulster-Scots!

Published in "Belfast in Your Pocket", July 06

There are many world-famous secret recipes – Coca-Cola and Kentucky Fried Chicken are two you’ll already be familiar with. Typically, the Ulster-Scots have one of our own – the recipe for mouthwatering Veda bread!

The real recipe is patented, but Veda is an absolute classic, and the unsung hero of Northern Ireland’s breads. Invented by a brewery in Scotland in 1904, Veda is a small, soft, caramel-coloured malty loaf which is only baked in Ulster.

Veda tends to be overlooked by the usual gastro-tourism restaurants and eateries, yet it’s so easily available that you’ll be able to get a Veda loaf in most corner shops and small supermarkets across Northern Ireland. Whether eaten sliced with butter, or toasted with butter, cheese or jam, it’s delicious.

So during your stay in Northern Ireland, make sure you taste a slice of the perfect Ulster-Scots flavour!

(for further information, see “Our Daily Bread” by James Davison, published by Colourpoint Books, 2004)

Hallowe’en with the Ulster-Scots

Published in "Belfast in Your Pocket", October 06

As the summer ends, there are three main seasons in the Ulster-Scots traditional folk calendar during Autumn and Winter – Harvest, Hallowe’en and Hogmanay. Also known as “Haleve Nicht”, Hallowe’en is of course celebrated worldwide as a night of ghostly goings-on. Interestingly, the other Irish “quarter days” have never been observed by the Presbyterian communites of Scottish descent in Ulster, but Hallowe’en (All Hallows Eve) gave a degree of Christian justification for the Ulster-Scots to enjoy the festivities.

All of the usual traditions apply – bonfires, children visiting houses, rhyming, practical jokes and parties have been enjoyed at Halloween for centuries. Some of the more unusual, lighthearted traditions once included adults putting a small pile of salt on a child’s forehead at bedtime as an attempt to ward off any mischievous fairies! Gates would be removed from their posts and placed on roofs of nearby buildings – this was blamed on the spirits and “broonies” who had come out to play!

And of course bonfires were common in every townland, village and town right across Ulster. People would gather around them to sing, to keep warm, or to cook potatoes in the ashes around the edge of the fire. Some even practiced old Scottish traditions of fortune-telling – for example if two nuts were put together into the bonfire and they jumped apart it was time for you to find a new partner!

The food traditions are important too – all vegetarian – for example steamed apple puddings, fruit spiced duffs and barmbracks, some of which had coins or rings added to them for the lucky eater! A range of indoor games, like ducking for apples, biting apples suspended on a string - illuminated by candles inside carved turnips or large potatoes (American pumpkins are a very recent Halloween import to Ulster). Even the door-to-door antics of the Hallowe’en rhymers have a centuries-long tradition for Ulster-Scots. And of course, the world-famous bard Robert Burns wrote a poem called “Halloween”.

Even in America, the old Hallowe’en cards often had tartan and Scottish themes on them. (See illustrations)

So watch out for the broonies and don’t chip a tooth on the coin in your apple pudding!

(for further information, see “Harvest Halloween and Hogmanay” by Philip Robinson in “Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life” by Jack Santino, published by University of Tennessee Press, 1994)

Robert Burns and Belfast

Published in "Belfast In Your Pocket" in January 2006

Is there anyone reading this article who hasn’t heard of Scotland’s National Bard, Robert Burns? I doubt it! But how many of you are aware of his connections with Ulster?

Burns was born in Ayrshire in 1759, six years after the publication of “The Ulster Miscellany” one of the first Ulster publications in the Scots language. It had been published in Belfast in 1753 and included nine “Scotch Poems”.

So when Burns’ poems were first published in Kilmarnock in 1786, it should be no surprise to learn that the Belfast News Letter was the first newspaper in the British Isles to print extracts of his work. The Edinburgh edition of his poems was published in 1787, and the third printing was – you guessed it – in Belfast, in the same year.

History records that a number of Ulster folk, including Samuel Thomson, one of the most renowned Ulster-Scots poets of the era, travelled to Scotland to visit Burns. And there are at least two legends of Burns having visited Ulster - to County Antrim and also to Donaghadee in County Down - but sadly these can’t be confirmed.

The love of Burns’ poetry was demonstrated in the establishment of scores of “Burns Clubs” across Ulster; it was also said that every Ulster-Scots home had two books – a Bible and an edition of Burns! Burns’ son travelled to Belfast in August 1844 to attend a supper at the Burns Tavern in the city, and that his daughter, Eliza Burns Everitt, eventually came to live in Belfast – she passed her collection of “Burnsiana” to her own daughter who then in turn gave it to the Linenhall Library.

So, why not drop in to one of the hundreds of Burns Suppers you’ll find in hotels, restaurants and pubs across Ulster this January. And as you enjoy your haggis and “wee dram,” remember that Ulster and Scotland have had an “auld acquaintance” for many centuries. It’s an acquaintance which has never been more popular than it is today!


(Footnote: Just over the border, in Dundalk, County Louth, is a memorial to Burns. His sister, Agnes Burns Galt, lived at Stephenstown Pond from 1817 until her death in 1834. She was buried in St Nicholas Presbyterian Church.)

Introducing the Ulster-Scots Language

This article was one of eight from Northern Ireland contributors which were published in the 2007 Smithsonian Folklife Festival official programme. This page contains a) the original article, and b) the published version, which had been dramatically edited by the Washington DC-based editor!

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Original Version:

Background
In May 1606, exactly one year before the Jamestown Settlement in Virginia, east Ulster was the location of the first permanent Scottish settlement in Ireland – the Hamilton & Montgomery Settlement. It wasn’t the first contact between Ulster and Scotland, but it was the beginning of a century of large-scale migration, and of a shared heritage that continues to this day.

Robert Burns and Ulster
Among the traditions, customs and folk culture which the Scots brought to Ulster was their language. The most easily understood example of the Scots language, which would later develop into Ulster-Scots, is “the language of Robert Burns”, the author of world-famous poems and songs like “Auld Lang Syne”. Yet Scots poems were being published in Ulster before Burns was in print. After the publication of Burns’ first volume in July 1786 extracts were published in the Belfast newspaper The Belfast News Letter. Burns’ second edition was published in the Scottish capital, Edinburgh, in 1787. And the third edition? Not Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee or London. It was published in Belfast, Ulster, also in 1787.

James Orr “The Burns of Ulster”
The late 1700s saw a stream of publications of politically radical Ulster-Scots “Rhyming Weaver” poets. The most famous of these was James Orr, often described as the Burns of Ulster. He was a “United Irishman” in the failed Presbyterian Rebellion of 1798, and he fled to America before eventually returning home to Ballycarry in County Antrim.

Ulster-Scots in America
Through transatlantic emigration, the language was carried to America. In western Pennsylvania, David Bruce’s Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Originally Written under the Signature of the Scots-Irishman (1801), and in New Hampshire, Robert Dinsmoor’s Incidental Poems (1828) are the best examples of how the language crossed the Atlantic with emigrant Ulster-Scots communities to the United States.

The close relationship among Scots, Ulster-Scots and English means that many people naturally use Ulster-Scots words or expressions every day, even in the US. The 2006 book From Ulster to America – The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English documents nearly 400 terms which Ulster-Scots has contributed to American English, from “afeard” (frightened) to “young’un” (child).

Official Recognition
For almost 20 years, Ulster-Scots language has been enjoying a revival. Boosted by the tireless work of the grassroots organisation the Ulster-Scots Language Society, Ulster-Scots was officially recognised in the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages in 1992, which was endorsed by the UK Government in 2001. This commitment to support the language has brought a fresh impetus. From centuries of marginalisation and scorn, the situation has now turned full circle; there is an ever increasing confidence and pride in the language.

A Worldwide Impact
Globalisation is often blamed for the demise of regional identity. Yet Ulster-Scots is a regional language with an international impact. A language of the field, the heart and the home which is now officially recognised by the UK Government and the Council of Europe.



Ten years ago, on my honeymoon, I visited the Museum of Appalachia in Norris, Tennessee. To my amazement I discovered an antique cross-stich sampler there with the message “Gang East, Gang West, Hame’s Best”. (Go East, Go West, Home’s Best). Thanks to the global reach of eBay, I’ve since found two of these for my own home collection, one from a farmstead in rural southern Canada and another from east Texas.

The soundtrack of the award-winning 2004 movie Cold Mountain, set in North Carolina, features bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss performing the song My Ain True Love – yet another example of the Scots language and the Scots/Ulster-Scots heritage of Appalachia. And when John Steinbeck used Ulster-Scots words like “scunner” in East of Eden, this is a clear reference to his own Ulster roots (his paternal grandfather was a Samuel Hamilton from County Londonderry).

Scotland, Ulster and America – linguistically, historically and culturally, we share a three-way “auld acquaintance” that should never be “forgot”.

Maybe we’re just starting the rediscovery.

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Published Edited Version:

In May 1606, one year before the British established Jamestown in Virginia, the Hamilton and Montgomery Settlement became the first permanent British settlement in Ireland. The Ulster Plantation was not the first contact between Ulster and Scotland, but it marked the beginning of a century of large-scale Protestant migration that lead to a shared Catholic-Protestant heritage in Northern Ireland.

Among the many traditions that the Scots brought to Ulster was their language, which shared the same ancient Germanic roots as English but developed independently to become the internationally recognized “language of Robert Burns.” Ulster-Scots, the dialect of Scots spoken in Ulster, was rich in song, stories, and sayings. The late 1700s saw a stream of publications in Ulster-Scots by the Weaver Poets, a school of self-educated textile workers whose politically radical verse appeared in Ulster newspapers. The most famous of these men was James Orr (1770-1816), the Bard of Ballycarry, who is often called “the Robert Burns of Ulster.” This “United Irishman” participated in the failed Rebellion of 1798, fled to the young United States, and eventually returned home to County Antrim.

When Ulster-Scots immigrated to America in the eighteenth century, they took their language with them. Publications such as David Bruce’s Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, Originally Written under the Signature of the Scots-Irishman, which appeared in western Pennsylvania in 1801, and Robert Dinsmoor’s Incidental Poems, published in New Hampshire in 1828, are the best examples of the language from the early days of the United States. Michael Montgomery’s study, From Ulster to America: The Scotch-Irish Heritage of American English, documented nearly 400 Ulster-Scots words in contemporary American English, from afeard (frightened) to young’un (child).

Today, Ulster-Scots is enjoying a revival in Northern Ireland. A language of the field, the heart, and the home, Ulster-Scots is a regional tongue with an international impact. Boosted by the tireless work of the Ulster-Scots Language Society, a grassroots organization, Ulster-Scots was officially recognized in 1992 in the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. (Its inclusion in the charter was endorsed by the U.K. government in 2001.) After centuries of marginalization and scorn, the situation has now turned full circle: there is an ever-increasing confidence and pride in the language.

Linguistically, historically, and culturally, Scotland, Ulster, and the United States share a three-way auld acquaintance that should never be forgot.

Ulster-Scots : time to get serious.

This article was printed in the News Letter (22.03.07) in response to
EU Calls for Ulster-Scots Promotion


So the Council of Europe report says that UK authorities should make greater efforts to promote the Ulster-Scots language (see News Letter Friday 16th March). For all of the criticism Europe takes it oftens gets things absolutely right. Like the Waste Water Directive – the legislation about sewage treatment and the threat to fine the government millions of pounds per day until it puts in place proper systems to protect Northern Ireland’s coastline - Europe is absolutely right. UK authorities should indeed be doing more for Ulster-Scots. But do you want them to?

For thousands of people today, Ulster-Scots language is a central part of their identity. And as Ulster-Scots takes hold, thousands more are embracing the language and despite decades of scorn are rightfully reclaiming it as their own. But for Ulster-Scots to truly flourish, these thousands of people need to become tens of thousands, and then hundreds of thousands. You can help us get there.

Do we value our own heritage?
The problem is that some of us in Northern Ireland just don’t value our heritage enough. In fact, we’ve been taught that it’s good to reject it. We flatten our listed buildings and build Spanish-style bungalows in areas of outstanding natural beauty. We cut down ancient trees and woodland in the middle of the night. We all threw out our inherited mahogany antique furniture decades ago and rushed out to buy laminated chipboard substitutes. Heritage out, modern consumerism in.

Official Recognition
Back in 1992, the Council of Europe and the European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages recognised Ulster-Scots as a regional and minority language. Then in 2001, the UK Government signed up to the European Charter for the Ulster-Scots language in Northern Ireland, and for the Scots language in Scotland.

Do you want Ulster-Scots?
But for all of this official recognition, the bigger question is do you, does the Northern Ireland population, does the Ulster-Scots community truly value the Ulster-Scots language and your linguistic heritage? The days when ivery hame was said tae hae twa books - a copy of the Bible and a copy of Burns - micht be lang gone noo. But hoo mony o’ ye read The Broons? Do you say “Aye” mair often than you say “yes”? When you hear someone say they’re away to get their “head showered” do you know that it’s an Anglicised version of an old Scots expression “heid shired”, with “shired” meaning to let a cloudy liquid settle and become clear? That’s a far more accurate definition than “showered”! And after the weather over the last few weeks, I’m sure a brave wheen of you were foundered.

It’s all about Identity.
For years the education system, the media and polite society told us that we spoke “bad English”. In fact it was good Scots, good Ulster-Scots. Today, my appreciation of the language I grew up with at hame, that I heard my parents, neighbours and grandparents speak, helps me understand who I am. It gives me a powerful sense of my own identity.

Not that long ago one of my aunts dug out her antique original copy of “Sons of the Sod”, a brilliant Ulster-Scots novel set in the late 1800s in Carrowdore in the Ards Peninsula (reprinted in 2006 by Books Ulster – get your copy from www.BooksUlster.com). But why had it been lying in a box in her roofspace for my entire lifetime? Why did nobody read it to me when I was growing up? Why did our schools not explain this huge dimension of our linguistic identity to us? We have been taught to not care about our own heritage. Let’s put things right for this generation and the generations to follow.

Signs of Revival
As the tide turns and people begin to reconnect with their own Ulster-Scots history, heritage and culture, I can see signs of interest in the language gaining momentum. But how much the Ulster-Scots language grows is really up to you. No amount of promotion will sell a wonderful product that people don’t want.

My question to you is ‘Dae ye want tae houl on tae yer ain language or no?”.

If ye dinnae, that’s up to you. If ye dae, let’s get tae work.

My Culture, Our Culture

This article was printed in the News Letter (07.02.07)

When I was a wee lad it was King Billy. I always wanted to see King Billy with his wig and his sword and his big horse. Even though we all knew it was just yer man from down the road dressed up for the day, it was still great. Eating sandwiches out of the big tupperware box from the back of the Morris Minor, tea poured from tartan thermos flasks and a big rug for the grass. My granny was always late – she couldn’t stick seeing the bands twice in the one day, so she stayed at home in the morning, fed the hens and did the work about home, and then battled through the midday traffic and crowds to get to the field to see the bands going home in the afternoon. Along with the Sunday School trip, the 12th was probably the only day of the year my da didn’t do any work - except for Sundays of course. He sometimes worked on Christmas Day, but never on the 12th.

When we got home we’d put the kettle on, finish off the warm sandwiches and the melted biscuits, and kick a few hours in trying to twirl our home-made bandsticks in the back garden (tennis ball, bit of a brush shaft and about 6 rolls of red, white and blue insulating tape) until we could all stay up late and see the 12th programmes on tv later that night. That was it when I was wee – that was the sum total of my culture. The 12th Day, and it was brilliant.

But when I got older, I discovered that my culture was far more than one day of the year. Far more than one event in 1690. Far more than the story of a Dutchman who became King and won a battle in Ireland. Far more than King Billy on a gable wall.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticising or belittling that element of Ulster culture. But yet there is more, so much more, to our story.

For me, and for increasing thousands of people, the “more” is Ulster-Scots – history, culture, language and identity. Ulster-Scots is the story we had all nearly forgotten, the part we’d overlooked when it was right under our noses all along. Ulster-Scots is the bit that tells us who we are and where we came from, where we went to and what we’ve contributed to the world.

From King Robert the Bruce on Rathlin in 1307, to the Hamilton & Montgomery Settlement of 1606, right up to the present day with the current World Champion pipe band Field Marshal Montgomery and the forthcoming European Highland Dance Championships in Belfast this April, the Ulster-Scots connection is now taking its rightful place at the heart of cultural life.

Now I know that not everyone in Ulster has Scottish ancestry – my wife is English, and there are thousands of people here whose roots go right back to the English planters of the early 1600s and before. And of course there are people who see themselves as Irish (whether geographically, culturally, politically or linguistically – or maybe all four). French Huguenots, Moravians, the Jewish community, Italian immigrants, Asian people and now Eastern Europeans have all come to Ulster and contributed to our way of life. Yet for me, of all of these nations and peoples, Scotland has had the greatest and most long-lasting impact. Who doesn’t feel at home when we visit Scotland?

And even though I began this article about my own personal childhood and the 12th of July, I firmly believe that Ulster-Scots, properly presented, has the ability to cross our historical divides.

Paisley, Ahern, the Boyne... and the subtle Covenanters reference

It was today's big news event, and I had an invitation but wasnt able to go. (i was however there last time). The new visitor centre at the Battle of the Boyne site is now open to the public, with its interpretation of the battle and the events that led to the Glorious Revolution.

In the midst of the fanfare and symbolic send-off for both men (Ahern retires today, and Paisley in a few weeks' time) here was an interesting subtlety, which I very much doubt that the mainstream media will pick up on.

In an excerpt from his speech reported on the BBC website, Paisley said "The killing times must be ended forever and no tolerance must be given to any who advocate their return."

The Killing Times was of course the brutally murderous crescendo to the "50 Year Struggle" of the Covenanters, which was brought to an end by the Glorious Revolution of 1688, which was finally secured at the Boyne. So Paisley's use of language - linking the Killing Times of the late 1600s with our own more recent "killing times" of terrorism, was very considered... but it's so subtle as to only register with the informed few, some of whom I know are readers of this blog.

However, whilst the Revolution established Presbyterianism as the "state religion" of Scotland, but it didn't acknowledge the Covenants, and led to ongoing divisions within the Presbyterian church.

(I'll try to find the full text of Paisley's speech - it might have more overt Covenanter references than the wee bit that the BBC reported)

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Update - the full speech is available online here, but has no explicit Covenanter references at all. Which is probably a good thing...

I also got a phonecall tonight from someone who was there. Is his view, the interpretation in the visitor centre has a pro-Jacobite undercurrent. I don't feel particularly inclined to drive down to see the centre for myself any time soon (would rather be in Scotland hoking around monuments to be honest), but would be interested to hear the views of any readers who do go.

The Persecutor at Carrickfergus

On 4th April 1644 at Carrickfergus, the Scottish ministers arrived on the instructions of the English Parliament, to administer the Solemn League and Covenant to "...all the officers, soldiers and Protestants of their nation in Ireland..." (J S Reid, p 25).

Among the Scottish officers gathered at Carrickfergus Castle that day was the 29 year old Major Thomas Dalyell. As a portent of what was to come, in the face of about 1400 soldiers and 400 civilians who signed or swore the Covenant that day, Dalyell refused.

22 years on, at the Pentland Rising, also known as the Battle of Rullion Green on 28 November 1666, it was the same Dalyell who led a murderous force of 2000 soldiers and 600 horse, he cut down a band of about 900 Covenanters at Turnhouse Hill, near what is today Flotterstone visitor centre in the Pentland Hills Regional Park.

Which inspires a few "what if" questions - what if his senior, Major General Robert Munro, had disciplined him for his refusal, court martialled him, or even executed him? What if he HAD taken the Covenant? What if he had never led the charge against the Covenanters at Rullion Green, and what if they had succeeded?

It's interesting to think of how history might have been different, if that spring day in Carrickfergus had worked out differently.

Lad's Nights

When Jacob was about 6 (he'll be 10 in July), he and I dreamed up an idea we called the "Lad's Night".

It's very simple - every now again, usually about once a month, I'll spontaneously arrive home with a 2 litre bottle of some fizzy stuff (loaded with sugar, artificial colouring and E numbers - Smak Cloudy Lime hits the spot on all 3 counts), a few bags of crisps and usually some Jaffa Cakes, and we spend the night in front of the tv until he conks out. We used to watch DVDs like Shrek, but now (thankfully) he's into football, so tonight our Lad's Night was Rangers v Fiorentina in the UEFA Cup semi-final, which went to penalties. And Rangers won!

[ aside - when I was getting into football, back in the days before the internet and digital tv, we used to be able to pick up BBC Scotland on our aeriel. The picture was snowy but the sound was ok, and watching Davie Cooper rip teams to pieces every Saturday night was brilliant ]

Anyway, Jacob's nearly 10 and Charlie's 5, so he joined us - Charlie and Jake in their wee Rangers replica shirts, Jake's mate Andy Adair came round too, and we spent the night yelling at the tv and spilling green fizzy drink on the floor in our front room (which is just painted floorboards, so dead easy to clean up). We kept Hilary well out of the way, but Maggie Jane (she was 3 last Saturday) ran in and out pretty regularly to steal crisps and mini Jaffa cakes. The E numbers really did their job - the weans were bouncing off the furniture!

So they'll be tired in the morning and probably a bit queezy too, but "Lad's Nights" have now taken on epic proportions in the wee minds of Jake and Charlie, and we've had some really great ones. I hope that when they grow up they'll remember these wee things we did together.

Having 3 weans is a real challenge, and privilege, a nightmare and a joy. They grow up too fast - so a "Lad's Night" once a month is something to treasure with them while they're wee.

Blog template, Rangers and the Irish Times

My blog template's gone a bit mad and is playing havoc with some of the graphics. Not sure what Blogger have done, so must try to fix it over the weekend.

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Am currently recovering from the immense shock - and delight - of Chelsea reaching the Champions League final in Moscow last night, and Rangers reaching the UEFA Cup final in Manchester tonight! Two amazing games!

And... there's a thread on one of the Rangers fans forums tonight entitled "The Scots Covenanter Presbyterian Army is on its way to Manchester" - which clearly indicates how the Rangers fans view themselves! Of course, this is a daft trivialisation of what the Covenanters stood for, but it shows that if you scratch the surface even in modern materialistic Scotland, there's an awareness there. Hopefully it can be tapped into and developed.

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Was interviewed this afternoon by the Irish Times for a big feature they're doing next week on Ulster-Scots. We'll see what the journalist and editor do with what I said to them - hopefully I'll get a fair hearing. Otherwise it'll be a hatchet job, but I hope not (and I don't think it will be)

"The Covenanters Tryst" by Alexander Anderson

Alexander Anderson (1845 - 1909 / shown right) was a poet from the south west of Scotland, and was widely published during his lifetime. Hope you can understand this - my favourite portion is the bold bit in verse 14.

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I am auld an' frail, an' I scarce can gang,
Though whiles when I tak' a turn,
It's only when the sun blinks oot
On the braes by the Vennel Burn.
Then I tak' a look at the Kirkland Heichts,
An' up at Glen Aylmer Hill,
Then a kinder look at the auld kirkyaird
Where the dead sleep soun' an' still.

It's a dear kirkyaird at the fit o' the hills,
For it hauds the dust o' ane
Wha was true as the steel o' his ain gude sword,
An' stood by his kith an' kin.
He tak's his rest, wi' nae stane at his heid,
But I ken that Ane in the skies
Could come this nicht to the auld kirkyaird
An' point oot where he lies.

O, sleep ye soun', bauld Patrick Laing,
As ye ha'e been sleepin' for years;
I am frail and feckless, but still in my heart
Your name is saft wi' my tears.
The sands o' my life are unco few,
An' I ha'ena an hour to tyne,
But I ken fu' weel in the auld kirkyaird
Your dust will welcome mine.

An' there we twa will sleep fu' soun'
Wi' the green grass owre oor head,
Till the years bring roun' the richt to a'
For which Scottish bluid ran red.
Then the Lord will come doon in the licht o' the sun,
When the last sweet day shall dawn;
An' we'll rise frae oor graves, an' He'll meet us there,
An' tak' us baith by the han'.

The Cairn Hills lie on the other side
Wi' the sweet Nith rowin' atween,
An' there sleep twa leal frien's o' mine—
Aul' frien's o' the days that ha'e been.
They are waitin' for me as I for them,
An' it canna langer be,
For I ken that baith ha'e a tryst wi' the Lord,
An' He has a tryst wi' me.

I ken fu' weel that they wait an' wait
Till they hear the trumpet ca',
Then Hair an' Corson will rise an' cry—
"The time has come for us a'."
An' I mysel', a frail, auld man
That unco weel can be spared,
Will meet them baith at the fit o' the hill,
At the tree in the auld kirkyaird.

They dee'd as only men should dee,
For their faither's faith an' hame,
An' they lie wi' their face to the open sky,
Wi' nae touch on their cheek o' shame.
It will a' come richt, when the Lord in his micht,
Comes doon frae heaven to see,
For I ha'e a tryst in the auld kirkyaird,
An' the Lord has a tryst wi' me.

I ha'e heard bauld Cameron preach the Word
On the side o' a Sanquhar brae,
While I sat wi' the sword atween my knees,
As ane wha should watch an' pray;
An' I had my plaid drawn owre my heid,
An' open upon my knee
The Word o' Ane that I brawly kenned
Wad keep min' o' His tryst wi' me.

I ha'e lain in hags when the winter nicht
Was bitter an' lang an' cauld,
I ha'e shared my plaid wi' Renwick, too,
When the winds were snell an' bauld;
An' Peden, worn wi' the fire o' the Word,
An' thinly cled for the storm—
I ha'e lain a' nicht wi' my back to the win'
To keep puir Sandy warm.

I ha'e seen dark Clavers turn his back,
On his lips the snarl o' a dog,
An' strike spurs deep in his deein' steed
As he fled frae wild Drumclog;
But I saw him again at Bothwell Brig,
An' the hilt an' point o' his sword
Were red with the blood o' the saints that day
That fell with their trust in the Lord.

I am stiff wi' the midnicht rains that fell
As I lay in Blagannoch Moss;
But little I care for a rickle o' banes—
I gi'ed them a' for the Cross.
I ha'e focht the fecht, I ha'e set my faith
Where I trust though I canna see—
It wad be a ferly, atweel, if the Lord
Should fail in His tryst wi' me.

A' the leal, true hearts that were ance wi' me
They are free frae their care an' pain,
An' I am the last that is left to tell
O' the things that are sunk an' gane.
There is peace ance mair, an' I sleep in a bed
As soun' as soun' can be;
But this nicht I fin' that I canna lie doon,
For the Lord has a tryst wi' me.

Could my wife but lay her han' in mine,
As she used to do langsyne;
But Marion Dryfe is years in her grave,
An' a lanely hearth is mine.
But her dochter's weans are unco guid,
An' do a' they can for me;
I hear her speak an' I hear her fit
As they hing about my knee.

Hark! voices are comin' doon in the win',
I ha'e heard them mony a day—
Peden, Renwick, Corson, an' Hair,
An' Cameron shout for the fray.
But higher an' sweeter abune them a'
A Voice keeps cryin' to me -
"John Harkness, hast thou min' o' our tryst
That I set langsyne wi' thee?"

Pit the weans to their bed—gang a' to your bed,
I canna langer be spared;
I hear a Voice that nane o' ye hear,
An' it comes frae the auld kirkyaird.
It's growin' dark—pit some peats on the fire,
An' lay the Book on my knee;
For I ha'e a tryst wi' the Lord this nicht,
An' the Lord has a tryst wi' me.

........

(And if you have any weans, you'll enjoy this yin, also written by Anderson. You can read more about him, and his work, here.

No Surrender!

US Presidential candidate John McCain has revealed his new campaign slogan - the famous battle cry of the Siege of Derry - "No Surrender!" One American commentator thinks this will alienate the Irish American vote, but maybe it will mobilise the Scotch-Irish vote in a similar way to Senator James Webb's 2006 election on the back of his 2004 book "Born Fighting - How the Scots Irish Shaped America". Like Webb, McCain is of Ulster-Scots descent. And then of course there was the famous McCain versus Gerry Adams incident on St Patrick's Day 2005.

I doubt very much that 99.9% of Americans will automatically link "No Surrender" with Ulster, or Ulster-Scots, anyway - the awareness is nowhere near high enough for it to register. So this is probably a storm in a teacup. But if the choice of slogan creates a media-driven furore in the USA, that's great! Anything that positively raises the popular awareness of Ulster-Scots identity and history to the US public is in my view a good thing.

Anyway, to the (more) important stuff - here's the musical notation for an old American hymn of the same name. (click to enlarge).

The Solemn League and Covenant in Holywood, County Down, 7th - 9th April 1644

Thanks to Jack Greenald yet again for pointing me in the right direction on this one!

Just discovered in the collection of the Ulster Museum is a copy of the Solemn League and Covenant:

At Holliwood the 8th Apryll, 1644, and upon
ye nynth herof lykweyes after sermon
delyvered by Mr William Adair upon both
these days the Covenant of religion was
explained and theirafter sworne, subscribed,
and seald w't marks by a number of ye
inhabitants of ye Kingdom of Irland

With 67 signatures, including:

Mr William Adair (the minister who preached)
Master Charles Hall (probably the parish minister at the time)
John Wright
Thomas Reid
Thomas Bailie
Alexander Waddell
John M'Cormick
John Waugh
John Scott
John M'Bride
James Fairlie
Thomas Russel
John Pentland
Alexander Gillespie
John Martin
James Webster
John M'Clelland (probably of Newtownards, the principal of Sir Hugh Montgomery's "great school" and part-time minister, and who was on "Eagle Wing")

I was sent a scan of a newspaper clipping from 1912 (specific date and specific newspaper unknown, but sometime a few weeks before the Ulster Covenant), entitled Solemn League and Covenant - Original Copy in Belfast - The Signing in Ulster - Historical Sketch". It is subtitled A brave day in Ireland on the last Lord's Day (April 7 1644) at the swearing of the Covenant in Belfast by our army and sundry others .

Make no mistake, this is of MASSIVE historical significance and is cultural gold dust!

Ballyfrenis Presbyterian Church

Oh boy. It really should be no surprise - it's been in my blood all along... here's my latest Covenanters discovery!

This church (now closed and turned into a house) is where my mother's side of the family (Wilsons) worshipped at the townland of Ballyfrenis in the middle of the "Low Country", halfway between Carrowdore and Millisle, for many generations up until the 1950s. The church published a small booklet entitled "The Story of a Century" by Rev John Forbes in 1946. I have a photocopy of it.

It was established in 1843, as an offshoot of the "Associate Presbytery of Ireland" which had been formed in 1810 by a Rev James Bryce of Killaig, County Antrim. The booklet says of the new Ballyfrenis congregation that "many of the Covenanting faith of that day joined the new church and took a leading part in its life and work...". Perhaps some of you who understand the politics of Presbyterian history in Ulster can fill me in on the background.

The other member churches of the Associate Presbytery were in County Antrim - Cullybackey, Loanends, Killaig - and for three years the people of Ballyfrenis had no church building to worship in. So "the congregation held their religious services in the open air... there were thirteen communicants at the first celebration of the Lord's Supper, which was held in the "Green". This form of worship was commonly practised by the Covenanters during the persecutions in Scotland, and this may be the reason why the Ballyfrenis people were known as 'Covenanters' at this time..."

The booklet even specifies where the outdoor meetings (and in inclement weather, the farms and barns where the indoor meetings) were held, in the townlands of Ballyfrenis, Drumawhey, Ballybuttle and Islandhill (where the Wilson family home, where my mother and her 8 siblings were reared, still stands - a single storey cottage with a corrugated iron roof)

In 1846, Rev John Ewing was ordained by the Associate Presbytery of Ireland as the first Minister of Ballyfrenis. In 1858 the Associate Presbytery of Ireland was admitted into the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland.

The 1859 Revival hit Ballyfrenis too, "a most promising revival of religion in the neighbourhood, and our little church has occupied the most prominent part in it. The attendance has very greatly increased, being in the forenoon more than double that of what it used to be; in the evening three of four times as great as formerly..."

In 1900, the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland and the Free Churches of Scotland merged to form the United Free Church of Scotland. Ballyfrenis remained with the United Free Church up until 1922, when they joined the Presbyterian Church in Ireland. In 1932, the then Minister Rev Hugh F Kirker, retired having been the minister at Ballyfrenis since 1886 - 46 years! The Wilson family has a deep affection for the memory of Mr Kirker. He even co-ordinated the local signings of the Ulster Covenant in 1912, and signed it himself - see the evidence here.

In 1932 the congregation merged with Carrowdore, where my uncle Vincent is to this day a member of the Kirk Session.

So, a potted history of my mother's folk. And surprise surprise, they were 19th century Covenanters!!

Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones and the Ulster Scots

Yes, it's hard to believe, but I've just come across an excerpt from the renowned theologian Dr Martyn Lloyd Jones' book Preaching and Preachers where he refers to John Livingstone, the Killinchy minister who had preached with such power at the Kirk O Shotts revival in Scotland in 1630:

"...A revival, by definition, is the mighty act of God and it is a sovereign act of God It is as independent as that. Man can do nothing. God, and God alone, does it … A revival is something which, when it happens, leads people to say, as the townspeople said in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, ‘What is this? What is it?’ It is something that comes like a tornado. It is almost like an overflowing tide, it is like a flood. Astounding things happen, and of such a magnitude that men are left amazed, astonished...

Miraculous things happen, things that are beyond the explanation and the wit of men. And indeed, if you consult the men whom God has used on such occasions, they will all tell you the same thing.

They suddenly, like John Livingstone, became conscious of a power coming upon them.

Not themselves. Taken up, taken out of themselves. Given liberty. Given authority. Given fearlessness. Speaking as men of God with the boldness of the original apostles. They knew when the power came, they knew when the power went. You will read it in the journals of Whitefield and of Wesley and all the rest. This is the hand of the Lord. This is the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. It was because he knew so much about this that the Apostle Paul says ‘For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ’ (2 Corinthians 10:4–5). That is it ..."

First Derry Presbyterian Church

William Roulston and I visited this church a few weeks ago, it's right on the famous walls of the city. Here's a pic of a huge memorial in the entrance hall. It reads:

"... from 1605AD onward, many Scotsmen settled in Londonderry and the neighbourhood, so many that in 1644, when the Solemn League and Covenant was publicly signed in the Diamond, they formed the bulk of the population..."

Once again, the Covenanters are everywhere!

Michael Bruce

Michael Bruce was minister of Killinchy from 1656 - he was their next minister after John Livingstone. He was a great-grandson of Rev Robert Bruce of Edinburgh, and was a mighty field preacher of his day, both in Ulster and Scotland. I've just downloaded a copy of Howie's "Sermons Delivered in Times of Persecution in Scotland", where it says of Bruce:

"...The fire of persecution for non-conformity in Scotland soon extended to the North of Ireland. The king and his courtiers
well knew that there were many valiant men in Ulster who would never bend before the blast, however furious it might blow.

Bruce was ejected from the church and living of Killinchy, and, orders being given for his apprehension, he was compelled to betake himself for safety to the houses of private friends and other places of refuge. But he did not cease to proclaim the Gospel. In kilns, barns, or woods, and even in the night, he and many of his flock met and held sweet fellowship together in partaking, in doctrine and sacrament, of the bread of life..."

Covenanters in Ulster on GoogleMaps

Spent Saturday with William Roulston and John Turner, visiting some Covenanter sites in County Antrim. Two of them (The Vow and Laymore) were tricky to find, so I've started an online heritage trail on GoogleMaps to make it easier to find them again, and for other folk to find them too. Click the link on the left under "My Other Websites" to see them - let me know what you think.

Blair Necessities

How important was Robert Blair? Am I exaggerating all of this?

"...it is an undoubted fact that the labours of Blair and his brethren had a most blessed effect on the tumultuous colony of Ulster, and served to make that Province what it has ever been since..." (p. 111)

"...the awakening which followed was the chief means of putting on Ulster the stamp which it has ever since retained..." (p. 110)

"...it was this spiritual awakening that laid the foundation of the prosperity of Ulster..." (p119)

from The Preachers of Scotland by William Blaikie, 1888.

Covenanter Street Names in Belfast

(Thanks to Jack Greenald for the tip-off on this one.) Jack mentioned this to me a while back, so I dug out the Belfast Streetfinder, and lo and behold down in Orangefield, close to Grosvenor Grammar School, there are three streets named after David Houston, and one after Richard Cameron / the Cameronians.

At the side of Sandy Row Orange Hall is Renwick Street, and just off the Shankill is Cargill Street.

Cameron, Cargill and Renwick were all killed for their stand, and all three had their heads displayed at the Netherbow in Edinburgh as a deterrent to others who might follow them. Houston died in Ulster and was buried near Connor in County Antrim. Somebody in the old Belfast Corporation obviously knew his Ulster-Scots history for him to propose these names!

(sorry for the messy layout, but Blogger's not a very refined publishing tool)

Robert Blair of Bangor

Robert Blair is probably the most important of all of the early Ulster Presbyterian ministers. He arrived in Ulster, somewhat reluctantly, after a career in both teaching and ministering in Scotland. That's his signature above, taken from his autobiography. There's a ropey digitised version of it available here on Google Books to download free as a PDF.

The Presbyterian Historical Society will be reprinting it later in the year, and next week they're launching a reprint of "Adair's Narrative". It'll be on sale for £20, but they've only printed 250 copies with Tentmaker Publications, so my advice is to get one quick. It's a magnificent source of information about the early Scots settlement in Ulster, and has a lot of details about the early ministers, Eagle Wing, the Sixmilewater Revival and the later persecutions. Absolutely essential reading.

Here's a bit about Blair. He was obviously getting on well in Scotland, and was considering going to France to preach among the Huguenots. However, much like Abraham and Jonah, he felt the call of God. The Lord said to Blair - "as if one standing by had audibly said" -

"Thou fool art taking the disposal of thyself, not submitting to me. Thou must either preach the Gospel in Ireland or nowhere at all" Being thus rebuked, he found himself bound in spirit to set his face towards Ireland; and yet, for all this, was not persuaded to settle there, loathing that country, and hankering still after France. Yet, the Sovereign Lord thrust him over into Ireland wholly against his inclination.

So, coming over, and landing at Glenarm, he goes towards Carrickfergus; and, having come within a mile of the town, upon the top of the hill Bangor in these parts appeared to him; at sight of which the Lord did unexpectedly fill his heart with such a sweet peace and extraordinary joy that he could scarcely contain himself, but was forced to lie down upon the grass to rejoice in the Lord, who was the same in Ireland that he was in Scotland..."

Seeing Bangor doesn't usually have that affect on people! Blair had been invited to Bangor by Sir James Hamilton, who I refer to as one of the Founding Fathers of the Ulster Scots. A great booklet of Blair's life is available from the Presbyterian Historical Society for £2.00

I recently bought a reprint copy of “Scottish Martyrs and Covenanters” by Daniel Defoe and Others. Defoe wrote the classic Robinson Crusoe. It has a short chapter entitled “Blair, Rutherford, Dickson and Douglas”, where Blair is described as having a “mild and amiable temper”, and of being “a sweet, majestick-looking man, and he showed me the majesty of God”.

"It's Rangers For Me"

I'll never play at Ibrox, and I've only ever been to the great stadium a handful of times. So to be quoted in a book dedicated to Rangers is quite something for me.

I'm on page 128, right in the top left corner, in Chris Williamson's chapter entitled "Rangers and the Ulster Scots".

I only started following Rangers when I was about 12 - it was 1984 - I couldnt work out why all the boys in my year at school were wearing white Umbro shorts for PE that had a funny monogram on the leg. I'd never seen it before; it was of course the world-famous "RFC" crest.

At that point, Jock Wallace was the manager, the Rangers News was a two colour newssheet, the kit sponsor was CR Smith (a Glasgow double glazing firm) and they weren't winning much. Nevertheless most Saturday nights were spent desperately trying to tune the tv into BBC Scotland so we could watch the Rangers highlights on "Sportscene" rather than the English football on "Match of the Day"!

"Two Shall Be Together" (Notes from a PreMillennial Childhood)

Another wee Sunday School chorus that drifted back into my head tonight:

Say, will you be ready when Jesus comes?
Are you sure you're born again and washed in Jesus' blood?
Are your garments spotless, are they white as snow?
Say will you be ready when Jesus comes?

Two shall be together, grinding at the mill;
Two shall be together, sleeping calm and still;
One shall be taken, the other left behind
Say will you be ready when Jesus comes?"

Graeme and I should record this, and others like it, sometime. Capture them all now while there are still older folks about to sing them to us, and before we forget them ourselves.

(Illustration from There's a New World Coming by Hal Lindsey, 1973)

Today's edition of "The Scotsman"!

I subscribe to the daily free email from The Scotsman newspaper. In today's one it included "Fact of the Day", which was:

Fact of the Day
On this day in 1546, Protestant reformer George Wishart was burnt at the stake by Cardinal Beaton. Wishart's death precipitated a riot as Protestants stormed St Andrews Castle, the Cardinal's refuge. To read more about Scotland's history go to heritage.scotsman.com

Roll on the day when Northern Ireland's mainstream media commemorates events like this!

[Just a few weeks ago I blogged about Wishart's martyrdom here, where I revealed that one of Hilary's ancestors was involved in the retaliatory murder of Cardinal Beaton!]

370 Years Ago

"...On this day, Wednesday, February 28, 1638, the Covenant was first read aloud in the Greyfriars Church of Edinburgh. This was the same church where John Knox had once been taken for trial. It was already dear to the Scots, and now would be more so. Leading individuals signed the covenant on the spot.

The next day, it was taken to Tailors Hall, where the burghers of the city added their names. In subsequent days and weeks, the movement gained force as copies made their way not only throughout Scotland, but into Ireland. Everywhere, people signed..."

(from http://chi.gospelcom.net/DAILYF/2003/02/daily-02-28-2003.shtml)

1640 - Ulster Covenanters causing bother yet again

This is a description of a scene in Scotland in early August 1640, of a Covenanter army of 20,000 men, 4,000 horse and wagon loads of artillery. The army had left Edinburgh on 31st July and was preparing to invade England - headed by Blair from Bangor and Livingstone from Killinchy!

"...along with the colours displaying the motto 'Covenant for Religion Crowne and Country,' marched resolute military chaplains, namely Alexander Henderson, Robert Blair, John Livingstone and other country pastors..."

Henderson is acknowledged as the author of Scotland's National Covenant, so once again this shows just how integral the Ulster ministers were to the whole "50 Years Struggle" from 1638 - 1688.

(quoted from The Covenanters, p349 by J King Hewison, 1908)

Thanks Graeme!

Check this out - my brother Graeme just sent it to me. This is what gospel music should be all about. Simplicity and sincerity - fantastic!

Be Prepared

It's the motto of the Scouts; it's worth bearing in mind that if you intend trying to spend time tracking down Covenanter monuments, you need to have the right boots with you. The monuments are often well off the beaten track, in the middle of fields and moors, which are good fun to squelch and skid through in mid February. Here's the evidence!

A was gutters tae the oxters and had tae change baith ma breeks and ma shuin at the side o tha road yin day! But no tae worry, A got the photos A was efter - ye can see maist o them here

Theodore Roosevelt and the Covenanters

100 years ago, the President of the USA was Theodore Roosevelt. He was made President aged just 42, following the assassination of President William McKinley - yet another President of Ulster descent whose ancestors came from Dervock in County Antrim. Roosevelt's term was from 1901 - 1909, and his mother's ancestors had come from Glenoe in County Antrim and emigrated to what were then the "American Colonies" in May 1729.

In his great epic "The Winning of the West" , Roosevelt wrote:

"It is doubtful if we have realised in the leadership of our country, the part played by that stern and virile people, the Scotch-Irish, whose predecessors taught the creed of Knox and Calvin. These Irish representatives of the Covenanters... formed the kernel of the distinctively and intensely American stock who were the pioneers of our people in their march westward, the vanguard of the army of fighting settlers... they became the vanguard of our civilization...these were the men who first declared for American independence... they were the kinsfolk of the Covenanters, they deemed it a religious duty to interpret their own Bible... for generations their whole ecclesiastical and scholastic systems have been found fundamentally democratic."

Alexander Peden and the 100 Ulster-Scots

(Illustration - Alexander Peden at the grave of Richard Cameron, Airds Moss, between Cumnock and Muirkirk)

The Covenanters in Ulster story is so unresearched (except by the dedicated few) that it's like stumbling through a diamond mine - kick something over and there's another gem right before your eyes. Here's the latest one:

From a book called Historical Notices by Lord Fountainhall, Vol II p 630, dated 27th March 1685:

"News came to the Privy Counsell that about 100 men well armed and appointed had left Ireland, because of a search there for such malcontents, and landed in the West of Scotland and joyned with the wild fanatiques... They had one Mr Peden a minister with them, and one Isaack who commanded them. They had frighted the most part of all the country ministers, so that they durst not stay at their churches, but retired into Edinburgh or garrison tounes; and it was sad to see whole shires destitute of preaching except in brughs. Whenever they came they plundered armes, and particularly at my Lord Dumfries's house" (quoted in History of Old Cumnock, page 169)

So Peden left Ulster, returned to Scotland (probably in 1685 - when the 23 year old Rev James Renwick was emerging as the new leader of the Covenanters), and brought with him a band of 100 well-armed Ulster-Scots. They joined their Scottish Covenanter kinsfolk, and promptly tore their way through the west of Scotland, seizing guns whereever they went.

.......


Peden had heard much about young Renwick (shown here), but was wary of him. When they eventually met, Peden was reassured by Renwick's commitment. He had little to worry about, for when Renwick was seized and hauled to Edinburgh to be martyred, these were his final words:

"...Spectators, I am come here this day to lay down my life for adhering to the truths of Christ, for which I am neither afraid nor ashamed to suffer. Nay, I bless the Lord that ever He counted me worthy, or enabled me to suffer anything for Him; and I desire to praise His grace that He hath not only kept me from the gross pollutions of the time, but also from the many ordinary pollutions of children; and for such as I have been stained with, He hath washed and cleansed me from them in His own blood.

I am this day to lay down my life for these three things:
1. For disowning the usurpation and tyranny of James, Duke of York.
2. For preaching that it was unlawful to pay the cess expressly exacted for bearing down the gospel
3. For teaching that it was lawful for people to carry arms for defending themselves in their meeting for the persecuted gospel ordinances.

I think a testimony for these is worth many lives; and if I had ten thousand, I would think it little enough to lay them all down for the same.

Dear friends, I die a Presbyterian Protestant; I own the word of God as the rule of faith and manners... I leave my testimony approving the preaching in the fields, and defending the same by arms. I adjoin my testimony to all these truths that have been sealed by bloodshed, either on scaffold, field, or seas, for the cause of Christ.



I leave my testimony against Popery, Prelacy, Erastianism, against all profanity, and everything contrary to sound doctrine and the power of godliness; particularly against all usurpations and encroachments made upon Christ’s right, the Prince of the kings of the earth, who alone must bear the glory of ruling in His own kingdom, the church; and in particular against the absolute power affected by this usurper, that belongs to no mortal, but is the incommunicable prerogative of Jehovah, and against his Toleration flowing from this absolute power.”

Renwick was hanged in Edinburgh on February 17, 1688. The illustration here is of his statue in Stirling.

18,000 Martyrs for Jesus

This is a detail from the Covenanters memorial at Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh, taken last Sunday afternoon.

Hilary's Family Tree - part 1

Hilary's dad has a great family tree that one of his ancestors put together donkeys years ago. The family line is "Moneypenny of Pitmilly" in Fife, Scotland. It's about 5 miles away from St Andrews - a town which Wylie describes as the capital city of the kingdom of darkness". (Having said that, our kids like the beach there)

David Moneypenny (1512 - 1579) : the family tree says "having been declared privy to the slaughter of Cardinal Beaton (shown here) in 1546. he and his son received a pardon in 1553 from Mary Queen of Scots".

Moneypenny and Beaton were cousins, but it was Beaton who had overseen the execution of George Wishart, the second Protestant martyr of the Scottish Reformation, who was burned at the stake in St Andrews on 1st March 1546. (A memorial today marks the spot where Wishart was martyred - here are photos of the "plinth" style sign, and the cobble monogram in the road of his initials).



In revenge, on 29th May of the same year, a group of about 16 men broke into the Cardinal's chambers at the Castle of St Andrews, stabbed him twice with a dagger and twice again with a sword. They then hung his body from his window at the front of the castle for all to see. Wylie wrote "...the cardinal's corpse flung upon a dung hill, the conspirators kept possession of his castle..."

Brutal stuff indeed. Then on 4th June 1547, the French navy arrived, stormed the place, and took the castle's occupiers away to slavery. One of them was a certain John Knox.

(The moral of this story is that it might be a good idea to check out your fiancés family tree before you accidentally marry an axe murderer. That my wife is descended from one of Cardinal Beaton's assassins is either a) a great honour or b) a good reason to go to self-defence lessons)

The Five Brothers of Margaret Wilson - "Martyr of the Solway"

This is a famous painting of Margaret Wilson, by John Everett Millais She was drowned in May 1685 in the rising tides of the Solway Firth, near Wigtown in south west Scotland. I've just discovered that her four older brothers - William, Robert, Samuel and John - all fled the "Killing Times" in Scotland and came to Ulster in an open boat in 1684.

- William Wilson (died 1721) married an Elizabeth McIlroy
- Robert Wilson married, and had a daughter called Margaret
- Samuel Wilson married a Martha Kirkpatrick in 1732
- John Wilson (born 1660 or 1666) brought with him an oak chair and chest, and was at Carrickfergus on 14th June 1690 to meet William of Orange (and the 15,000 troops that came with him). John was given lands at Rashee, near Ballyclare.*

* The following information was also sent to me: "..."The Wilsons were an impeccably Protestant family of the middle sort who traced their ancestry back to a John Wilson who was reputed to have arrived at Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim, in the suite of King William III in 1690. Wilson almost certainly arrived in Ireland earlier, and there are lots of Wilsons in the vicinity before 1690, but it was socially more superior to claim an association with William of Orange than for the family to be mere ‘Planters’." - from the biography of Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, CIGS, by Keith Jeffery

....................

Her younger brother, Thomas Wilson, (died 1734 at Penninghame, Wigtown) witnessed her martyrdom, and he left Scotland for Holland where he joined the Williamite army in Flanders. He was later stationed at Edinburgh Castle. (nb - William laid seige to the Castle from 18 March 1689 - 13 June 1689)

News of Margaret's drowning must have reached Holland, possibly via Thomas, for when William of Orange wrote his Declaration to the People of Scotland (dated 10 October 1688) William specifically mentioned barbarities such as the destroying of poor people by 'hanging, shooting, and drowning them without any form of law or respect to age and sex'.

(thanks for the information on this post are due to Willie Drennan, Jack Greenald and Gordon Lucy. See the self-published booklet "Margaret Wilson the Martyr - a Genealogical Account of the Wilson Family of Penninghame Parish" by John G Wilson of Kilwinnet. Published by House of Kilwinnet Publications, Colmonnel, Ayrshire, 1998. Visit http://www.wilsonofkilwinnet.com/

Matthew Scott, Ballyhalbert, 1772

My friend Richard MacMaster (now living in Florida), emailed me this info a while back:

Belfast News Letter, October 13, 1772
"Matthew Scott of Ballyhalbert in the County of Down, intending to remove from thence, will on Tuesday the 23rd Inst., sell by Auction all his Household Furniture, Stock of Cattle, and Farming Utensils, also his Interest in a Lease, during the Life of the Revd. Peter Winder, of 17 acres and a half of Land, contiguous to the Village of Ballyhalbert."

He doesn't actually say he's going to America, but disposing of his household furniture, cattle and farming utensils would suggest he wasn't simply moving to another farm a few miles away. He wasn't going to Ballywalter for the day - he was about to go on a lifetime journey. In 1772 America was gearing up for her War of Independence, and as about 1/3 of George Washington's army were Ulstermen, maybe that's where Matthew Scott was heading too?

There was a Captain Matthew Scott in Washington's army - in the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment - and it had at least one Ulsterman in its ranks, an Alexander McCurdy

...........

(pic above is of a soldier of the 13th Pennsylvania Regiment, Continental Line)

Presidential Elections? 60 years ago...

Even here in wee Northern Ireland, the US Presidential elections are getting pretty heavy news coverage. Obama or Clinton or McCain?*

I'm no expert on US politics (I'm sure John Killian can keep me right), but I've been interested over the past year or so in a former candidate - Henry Wallace (1888 - 1965) - who ran for the "Progressive Party" in 1948. He had been Vice President during WW2. His post-war position was to feed the world, not to destroy it. He wanted to build up the ordinary American farmer by encouraging new agricultural practices and methods that would both rebuild the economy and feed people who needed it.

Wallace's father, or maybe his grandfather (they were BOTH also called Henry Wallace!) was a big hitter in the early days of The Scotch-Irish Society of the USA, and he wrote a lengthy article in their 1892 "Proceedings" called "The Scotch-Irish of Iowa". In it he wrote:

...Wherever you find the (Scotch-Irish) race there you find the Sabbath, and a plain and simple worship that deals with the highest themes, and an industry and thrift that needs no fawning to secure its rewards. These are the racial characteristics that will abide with us as long as we teach our children the Catechism; so long as we preserve the Scotch-Irish Sabbath, and retain our conviction that the great supreme Power that is behind and over all is the rewarder of the righteous and the foe of every form of oppression.

So long as this moral environment is maintained the Scotch-Irishman will be found battling for civil and religious liberty, as he has done in all his past history. He will ever be striving, whether North or South, in America or Europe, to realize an ideal state and an ideal home. He may be masterful and dominating, ill to force, unjust sometimes, but only when the truth and the just cause has not been pleaded at the bar of his conscience.

He is now just beginning to recognize the value of his achievements on this continent... it is only in free America, modeled in its political institutions, on the principles of the Scotch Presbytery, that the Scotch-Irish character can reach its highest development....

Rousing stuff indeed! A while back my late friend Brian Richmond loaned me a CD by a now-defunct band called The Hangdogs. They recorded one of Henry Wallace's campaign songs on their 2003 album "Wallace 48". Some of the lyrics and songs on the cd are what we Ulster folk would call coooooorse, but "Wallace 48" is a real standout, and worth bearing in mind when we look a Presidential elections today. Sounds very familiar...



Brother have you heard the news?
There's another war a-brewin'
With 60 million still warm in the ground...
Republican or Democrat,
The bosses call the shots
Big business, war and empire intertwined...
"No more hunger, fear or A-bombs
Across the world and across the land!"
Cries the uncommon champion
Of the common man...
That quiet Iowa farmer
Henry Wallace is his name...

(the line "Big business, war and empire intertwined..." sounds a lot like what Eisenhower famously called "the military-industrial complex" in his ominous farewell speech of 1961. Watch it on Youtube below)



*ps - what little reading I've done about the current US Presidential election leads me to prefer many of the policies of Ron Paul. But, ultimately, as Henry Wallace wrote, "...the great supreme Power that is behind and over all is the rewarder of the righteous and the foe of every form of oppression..."

The Hymns of Samuel Rutherford?

Rutherford didn't write any hymns of his own, but The Letters of Samuel Rutherford are regarded as some of the finest Christian literature ever written. They have inspired believers across the world for generations. Here's a great example of their impact:

In 1857, an Edinburgh woman called Ann Ross Cousin (1824-1906) was given a book of Rutherford's letters. They had such a deep effect on her that she wrote two mighty hymns - "Oh Christ What Burdens Bowed Thy Head", and "The Sands of Time Are Sinking" (also sometimes called "In Immanuel's Land")

Two brilliant old hymns.

Samuel Rutherford, the Covenant and the "Eagle Wing"

Samuel Rutherford(1600 - 1661) was one of the great "minds" of the Covenanters. I bought a book of his letters yesterday, in the Evangelical Bookshop in Belfast (the wee one beside Church House), in the second hand section at the back. (in my student days that was a weekly forage for me!)

I was delighted to see that Rutherford corresponded with Rev Robert Cunningham of Holywood, and was obviously aware of the plans of Blair, Livingstone, Hamilton and McClelland to sail to America on "Eagle Wing" - they sailed from Groomsport in County Down on 9th September 1636 with 136 other Ulster-Scots Presbyterians in what was the first attempt to emigrate from Ulster to America.

Just a few months after Jenny Geddes hurled a stool at the Dean in St Giles' in Edinburgh, Rutherford was ousted from his ministry at Anwoth by the Bishop of Galloway on 27th July 1636 and was banished to Aberdeen in the north of Scotland. A week later, on 4th August 1636, he wrote (from Aberdeen) to Cunningham in Holywood. Rutherford said:

"...I know not, my dear brother, if our worthy brethren be gone to sea or not. They are on my heart and in my prayers. If they be yet with you, salute my dear friend, John Stuart, my well-beloved brethren in the Lord, Mr Blair, Mr Hamilton, Mr Livingstone and Mr McClelland, and acquaint them with my troubles, and entreat them to pray for the poor afflicted prisoner of Christ. They are dear to my soul. I seek your prayers and theirs for my flock; their remembrance breaketh my heart..."

What is significant is that the Ulster ministers were not some maverick rump doing their own thing - they were deeply interconnected with their fellow ministers in Scotland. For someone of Rutherfords standing to be aware of their plans to sail to America also opens other questions - was "Eagle Wing" the advance party, and had it succeeded how many others would have followed them to the New World?

From the Covenanters to the Carter Family

In 1933 the Carter Family recorded "On the Sea of Galilee". A brilliantly simple wee song, with these lyrics:

Must I be carried to the sky
On flowery beds of ease -
While others fought to win the prize
And sailed through bloody seas?

You don't have to read much about the Covenanters to be humbled by their utter commitment and sacrifice. So these lyrics hold true today like no other generation before. For all our decadent wealth - and our greed for even more - what right do we have to "flowery beds of ease" when our forefathers "sailed through bloody seas" - and many believers around the world are being persecuted at this very moment?

William Cleland's "Bluidy Banner"

William Cleland was just 17 years old during the Covenanters battles of 1679 at Drumclog (where the Covenanters defeated "Bluidy Clavers" - Graham of Claverhouse), where Cleland was an Officer of Foot and was instrumental in the victory. He also fought as a Captain at the Battle of Bothwell Brig where he was a Captain, but where the Covenanters were defeated.

Cleland carried a beautiful banner, made of blue silk. it had three messages:

1. At the top in gold Hebrew script it reads "Jehovah Nissi" which translates as "The Lord is My Banner" - a quote from Exodus 17 v 15, where during a great battle that the Israelites were fighting against the Amalekites, they were assured of the victory as long as Moses held his arms aloft. As he grew tired, his brother Aaron and Caleb's son Hur held his arms up for him. After the victory, Moses built an altar and called it "Jehovah Nissi"

2. In the middle it says "For Christ and His Truths" in large white letters

3. At the bottom in red type it says "No Quarters for Ye Active Enemies of Ye Covenant"

Cleland gave the banner and his sword to his friend Henry Hall of Haughhead at an unknown date, to prevent them falling into the hands of the enemy. The items were passed down the generations to several zealous Covenanters until they reached the hands of the Raeburn Family from East Lothian, and were discovered by a Mr James Drummond around 1850. The banner eventually came into the possession of the regiment at a later date.

The banner can today be seen on display at the Cameronians Regimental Museum in Hamilton, Scotland.

Postscript:William Cleland later joined a Covenanter regiment fighting for King William III, but was killed at the Battle of Dunkeld in August 1689. A book of his poetry was published in 1697, including one entitled "On the clergie when they met to consult about taking the Test in the year 1681" - I've not read it, but must be a comment on the "Test Oath" which was forced upon the clergy in July 1681, to place the King in supremacy over the Church.

Changin...

(Sorry about the recent outage roon here.) I'm going tae be changin a wheen o things on the blog - the name and the address for starters.

So far am thinkin about "1606" as the new name - my favourite year in Ulster history as it was the year that Hamilton & Montgomery brought Scottish people to the Ards Peninsula in large numbers.

Any suggestions will be gratefully received. I'll set up a forwarding thing to redirect readers from this address to the new yin once it's all set up.