Retro cool from Scotland

Most Ulster-branded "stuff" is rubbish. A lot of Scottish-branded stuff is rubbish too. This is how to do it right in 2011.

The Livingstones who made it to America

The portrait shown here is of Edward Livingstone. His great-grandfather was Rev John Livingstone, who had been one of the four Presbyterian ministers to commission the ill-fated emigrant ship Eagle Wing, which famously failed in its attempt to carry 140 Ulster-Scots emigrants to a new life in the New World in September 1636.

Even though John didn't make it, his son Robert Livingstone did, and subsequent generations of the Livingstone family made a massive impact in America. Two examples are:

• John's grandson, Philip Livingstone (1716-1778) signed the American Declaration of Independence. He was Presbyterian and you can bet that the Covenants coursed through his veins - his grandfather had carried a copy of Scotland's National Covenant (1638), non-stop on horseback, from Greyfriars in Edinburgh to London for like-minded Scots to sign it.

• John's great-grandson, Edward Livingstone (1764-1836), shown here, was Andrew Jackson's Secretary of State. Jackson's parents had left Boneybefore, Carrickfergus in 1765. Edward Livingstone was a close friend and ally of Jackson's for over 30 years.

I wonder, through those 30 years of friendship, if Jackson ever gave Livingstone any stick for his great-grandfather failing in the voyage, from Belfast Lough to America, that Jackson's parents later succeeded in?

And then there's the story that Jackson might actually have been born in Carrickfergus just before his parents set sail...

"Take pride in rural Ulster"

Pictured left: Harnen Stand, Ulster Folk & Transport Museum.


"...If rural England, rural Wales and rural Scotland find it very much worth while to devote so much attention to the development of rural craft industries surely it can be argued that a predominantly rural community such as ours would find a similar interest even more profitable? We are convinced that this is a field in which immeasurably valuable work is waiting to be done. What is wanted, apart from some degree of practical assistance from Government, is goodwill and enthusiasm from all who take pride in rural Ulster and its way of life and its wonderful traditions..."


Q: When do you think the above excerpt was written?

a) 1952 in a publicity brochure by a big commercial animal feeds firm
b) 1998 painting a rosy glow after the Belfast Agreement
c) 2002 as part of the DCAL / Ulster-Scots "Futuresearch" process
d) 2010 in a government report on diversification, ecology and the "green economy"

Answer to follow...

UPDATE - the answer is of course (a). The excerpt is from "Ulster's Rural Crafts" published by E.T. Green Farm Stock Foods for the Balmoral Show in 1952. I wonder what the author thought during the following decades as they watched cottages being bulldozed, stone gate pillars being replaced by concrete posts, five bar gates replaced by galvanised versions, all accelerated by government policies and the small print clauses of grant schemes?.

Born Fighting - episode 2

"Born Fighting" on UTV was superb tonight. Senator James Webb (shown here with some other man who I think I've seen before somewhere) is a marvellous ambassador for our story. Despite the many critics, cynics, apathetics and outright opponents who have done their best to silence it, Ulster-Scots awareness is steadily moving back to where it should be - right in the mainstream of life in Northern Ireland, and perhaps as the most dominant and dynamic element within our cultural life.

James Webb hits the nail on the head in News Letter article (Saturday 5 Feb 2011)

"...in Ireland, because of the recent troubles, things just seemed to boil down to between Catholic and Protestant, rather than really examining the cultural differences, so it just sort of got lost..."

The 2-D Irish v British political glasses that most people still wear don't provide the true 3-D English+Irish+Scottish cultural view.

David Johnstone Beattie (1881 - 1964); author, hymnwriter and (Plymouth) Brethren historian from Langholm and Carlisle

The beautiful town of Langholm in the Reiver country of the Scottish Borders is nicknamed 'The Muckle Toun' and is perhaps best known as the birthplace of poet and Scots language activist Hugh MacDiarmid (real name Christopher Murray Grieve). The last time I drove through there were some large entrance signs commemorating this connection. Langholm is also the southernmost point of one of the most beautiful driving routes in the British Isles - the A7 through the Borders to Edinburgh, which has some stretches which are just as spectacular as the famous Skyline Drive in Virginia.

A lesser-known Langholm man, David J Beattie, first came to my attention when I was sent photocopies of a small gospel song book entitled "Songs of the King's Highway", a collection of 77 songs he had written which was published by Pickering and Inglis. It was undated but from the typographic style it looked to be from around the late 1920s or early 1930s - the same era when Pickering & Inglis first published the mighty hymnbook Redemption Songs, and also Duncan McNeill's Hymn Book. Seven of the pieces in Beattie's book were in light Scots rather than standard English, and I have posted them over at Sacred Scotch Solos.

I picked up an original copy of the book a few years ago, and to my surprise inside was a pencil inscription "Author's copy, Beattie lived in Carlisle", along with Beattie's signature. In the introduction Beattie describes the American hymnwriter Charles H Gabriel as his 'intimate friend', to whom Beattie 'owed much for help and encouragement during many years of close friendship'. Gabriel wrote three melodies for the book.

There's an article here entitled 'Langholm's Forgotten Son' which summarises Beattie's life. He and his brother joined the family stonemason/monumental sculptors business in 1898; during and after the two World Wars the firm was responsible for many war memorials in the south of Scotland.

He belonged to the (Plymouth) Brethren and wrote occasionally for the Brethren publication The Believer's Magazine, including articles about Scotland's 1859 Revival. Even though Brethren assemblies/halls had begun in Plymouth and Dublin among (affluent) disaffected Anglicans in the early 1800s, it was post-1859 Revival working-class Scotland and Ulster that was a seedbed in which they really flourished. Beattie's historical account of the growth of the Brethren movement, entitled Brethren - The Story of a Great Recovery (published by Brethren publisher John Ritchie of Kilmarnock in 1939, who also printed some of my grandfather's poetry, is freely available online here), carefully details the intimate connections between the halls of Scotland and Ulster. It tells the stories of men like Jeremiah Meneely, so closely associated with the initial Kells and Connor epicentre of the Ulster 1859 revival and who later led evangelical missions in Ayrshire and Glasgow, where his Antrim voice must have preached the hamely message of his own self-penned hymn "There's a gran' time comin, o brither dear, whun Jesus will tak us hame'.

In between times Beattie wrote six other books which spanned his interests of local history, language, music, the stories of hymnwriters, as well as the history of the "wee halls" - Oor Gate En' (1915), Psalm Singing Among the Scottish Covenanters: A Lecture (pamphlet, 9 pages, Steel Bros. Carlisle 1915), Prince Charlie and the Borderland (1928), Oor Ain Folk (1933), Stories and Sketches of our Hymns and Their Writers (1934; the frontispiece photo of which is Ayrshire hymnwriter Anne Ross Cousin), The Romance of Sacred Song (1935; in the Preface of which he wrote that 'my bookshelves already groaned under the weight of volumes on this engrossing subject') and Lang Syne in Eskdale (1950).

For those of you with an interest in gospel music, his chapter How We Got our Popular Gospel Song is a fascinating read - available here. In it Beattie rhymes off a "Premier League" list of hymnwriters of his time:

"...Among writers who laid the foundation of American Gospel hymnody the following names are familiar: W. B. Bradbury, P. P. Bliss, Philip Phillips, Ira D. Sankey, James McGranahan, W. J. Kirkpatrick, Robert Lowry, George C. Stebbins, H. R. Palmer, D. W. Whittle, T. C. O’Kane, J. R. Sweney, W. H. Doane, Fanny Crosby, E. O. Excell and Charles H. Gabriel. Of this group of sweet singers, whose songs have been carried to the ends of the earth, Mr. Stebbins and Mr. Gabriel alone remain...." - it's significant that of the 16 he listed, a quarter of them (the ones I've marked in bold) all had Ulster connections.

Beattie also contributed a hymn to The Believer's Hymnbook - 'Assembled, Lord, at Thy Behest' (no 367), a book which is still used in the simple Sunday morning 'Breaking of Bread' meetings in Brethren-minded gatherings around the world; Beattie is named in the acknowledgements section at the front of the book.

Beattie died in July 1964 and his funeral service was held in Hebron Hall in Botchergate, Carlisle. The stonemasonry business still operates from the same building, now under different management, but is still called Beattie & Co, shown below.

If you know more about him which could be added to this post, please get in touch.

Sketches of North Carolina by WH Foote (1846)

It's important that we recover almost-lost history, and that the achievements of significant people from years ago are made known once more. Previous generations knew, wrote, and told our story - we need to do the same today to ensure that the scandalous cultural loss of the past is not repeated in the future. Rev William Henry Foote (1794 - 1869) is a man who could perhaps be described as the James Webb of his generation.

EARLY LIFE
He was born in Colchester, Connecticut in 1794. He was of English descent and could trace his roots back to Nathaniel Foote and Elizabeth Deming who arrived in America in 1633. Foote's father, Stephen Foote (1758 - 1843) had been a soldier during the American Revolution of 1776.

WH Foote graduated from Yale University as a Presbyterian minister in 1819 and was installed at a church in Shenandoah County, Virginia. He spent many years on mission outreach in North Carolina, during which time he collected much local history.

MARRIAGE AND ULSTER-SCOTS IN-LAWS
In 1822 Foote married Eliza Wilson Glass (1800 - 1835) from the adjacent Frederick County. She was a minister's daughter of Ulster-Scots descent. Her parents were Rev Joseph Glass (1773 - 1821) and Ann McCallister (1780 - 1831). Rev Glass's father, who was also called Joseph, and his grandparents Samuel Glass and Mary Gamble, had left Banbridge in 1735. They sailed across the Atlantic, eventually settling in Opequon, Virginia in 1736. Their gravestone records their exodus:

To the memory of / Samuel Glass / and his wife / Mary Gamble
Emigrants from Banbridge / County Down, Ireland / A.D. 1735
and / Their Children / John / Eliza / Sarah / David / Robert / Joseph
Were all born in Ireland / And came with them.

In 1824 W H Foote and his wife settled in the old town of Romney in what is today West Virginia. He became minister of Romney Presbyterian Church. However, Eliza died in April 1835 and was buried in the Glass family plot in Opequon Cemetery. Her gravestone records her last words: "Tell them I am not afraid to die, it is easy to die, for a christian to die." There are other Ulster emigrants buried there, such as a James Hamilton whose gravestone states that he was originally from Tyrone. In 1838 Foote married again, this time to Arabella Gilliam of Petersburg, Virginia.

'SKETCHES OF NORTH CAROLINA' (1846)
His writings are full of admiration for the Ulster-Scots who came to America and who made up the Scotch-Irish communities and congregations with whom he shared spiritual conviction and cultural values, and among whom he spent his life. The notes he collected in North Carolina formed the core of his 600 page epic Sketches of North Carolina, Historical and Biographical, Illustrative of the Principles of a Portion of Her Early Settlers which was published in 1846. It's freely available online. The first four chapters are about American history, but chapters 5 - 9 are a detailed retelling of Ulster-Scots history and seem to be largely based on James Seaton Reid's account. Chapter 5 is entitled "Origin of the Scotch-Irish": –

"...Ulster began to send out swarms to America; shipload after shipload of men trained to labor and habits of independence, sought the American shores; year after year the tide rolled on without once ebbing; and many thousands of these descendants of the emigrants from Scotland, disdaining to be called Irish, filled the upper country of Pennsylvania, Virginia and the Carolinas. Ulster, in Ireland, has been an exhaustless hive, a perennial spring..."

There are also some chapters on Scottish history, but most of the rest of the book is made up of detailed accounts of the activities of the Presbyterian Church in different regions across North Carolina.

'SKETCHES OF VIRGINIA' (1850)
Four years later his second epic, the 616 page Sketches of Virginia, Historical and Biographical was published, containing an entire chapter entitled Siege of Londonderry. It includes a story of Mary Gamble Glass, named on the gravestone above, who 'used to speak with tears of that memorable siege, and lament in bitterness "two fair brothers" whose death filled up in part the measure of sufferings at Derry... the names of the "Apprentices" are familiar names in the Valley of the Shenandoah.'

CIVIL WAR
When war broke out in 1861, Foote covered vacant pulpits in south Virginia, worked as a chaplain within the Confederate Army.

DEATH, BURIAL AND 'THE HUGUENOTS' (1870)
Foote was buried in November 1869 at Indian Mound Cemetery in Romney, West Virginia.His 630 page volume entitled The Huguenots, or Reformed French Church was published posthumously in 1870.

If any readers have portraits of him, or photos of his grave, I would appreciate it if you could get in touch with me.

READ HIS BOOKS
- Sketches of North Carolina on GoogleBooks
- Sketches of Virginia on GoogleBooks
- The Huguenots on GoogleBooks

FURTHER READING:
- short biography in "Yale's Confederates"
- short biography from the Presbyterian Heritage Center, Montreat, North Carolina
- Glass gravestone inscriptions in Opequon Cemetery

Born Fighting - programme one - a short review.

Well? I'd be interested in your views. For what it's worth:

Positives:
- I thought James Webb presented it very well.
- I thought the broad narrative was fine, connecting some of the projects I've worked on - the Bruce period, through to the early Hamilton & Montgomery settlements, the Plantation and the Covenanters

Negatives:
- great shame that it skipped from 1641 to 1688. There are hugely important Ulster-Scots events in this period which were ignored.
- I was disappointed at some of the comments by the Scottish academics. Qualifications and understanding are not the same thing. I've Sky-plussed it so will watch again when I get the chance.
- it probably over-emphasised the periods of war and bloodshed at the expense of other themes, as well as peddle the old stereotypes about stealing land from the Irish. In the late 1500s Antrim and Down had been "wasted" and largely depopulated, and the Scots who settled here did so as a result of business transaction or invitation. And the story in the rest of Ulster was far more complex than "landgrabbing".

Let's see what programme two brings.

UPDATE: watch the first programme online here.

Josh Wilson - It is Well with my Soul

The first half of this is great, and then it all gets a bit Snow Patrol-y before going back to normal. Superb.

A cup of tea in Donaghadee?

If you do a Google search for Café Manor in Donaghadee, it gives six alternatives that you could try instead under the title "Related Places". Three of them are in Scotland. Click here and see for yourself.

"True Grit" and "Protestant Hymns"

This interview with the Coen Brothers on Telegraph.co.uk about their acclaimed remake of True Grit has an interesting excerpt:

'...The film is underscored by four different 19th-century Protestant hymns, the most notable of which, Leaning on the Everlasting Arms, builds slowly throughout the movie, rising in prominence as the story hurtles towards its action-packed conclusion, and the main characters learn to depend on each other. “Choosing that hymn was important,” says Ethan, “because that Protestant attitude is such a part of who Mattie is. The music speaks of faith and certitude, and that she has in spades.”...'

The film also includes What A Friend We Have in Jesus (written by Ulsterman Joseph Scriven of Banbridge), Hold On To God's Unchanging Hand and The Gloryland Way. It's good to see that even mega-famous directors have a regard for transatlantic evangelical culture. If you know the hymns already, then the style of the score on this clip will move you. (True Grit opens here in the UK on Feb 11th)

BBC - "We're Fur Hame"

The first two programmes of this new series have already been broadcast on tv, and are currently available on BBC iPlayer. The series tells the story of a group of American tourists who arrive in Ulster with Glen Pratt (President of the Ulster-Scots Society of America) in search of branches of their family trees and the heritage of their emigrant ancestors. It's clearly an emotional experience for many of them, and is definitely worth watching. You'll also spot some well-known local faces.

Along with UTV's "Plantation - the Truth and the Legacy" which was broadcast before Christmas, and next week's simulcast of Senator James Webb's "Born Fighting" on UTV and STV, it is encouraging to see our stories emerging from the shadows, being well told, and reaching a wider audience.

First two episodes are on the BBC iPlayer here.

RIP Charlie Louvin (1927 - 2011)

Charlie Louvin has passed away in Tennessee. He was one of the renowned Louvin Brothers. His brother, mandolin player Ira Louvin, died in the 1960s. Like many traditional country artists of the early 20th century, a large proportion of their repertoire was gospel music. Here are a few rare clips of them in their heyday:

"But now life's evening sun for me is setting, I have reached the ending of my way"...

'Born Fighting" tv documentary on air on UTV and STV on Tues 1st Feb

More information available here and here.

The Red Fox Chasers / Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner

From the Irish News, 1952

This was scanned from a collection of poems which had appeared in the Irish News, spanning a period from 1938 to 1960; the book itself, "Lays of an Ulster Paradise", was published in 1960. The poem is a satire, attacking aspects of policy within the Stormont goverment of the time. However it does show that there was an awareness of Ulster Scots identity back then. Hae a guid Burns nicht.

(I mentioned this poem in a previous blog post here)

A Prayer in the Prospect of Death

We had a series of funerals over the past 12 months. So, to mark Burns Night on this 25th January, here's a gem:

Shock horror - official report recognises influence of Scotland upon life in Ulster

From the same book mentioned below, published in 1952, here's a map which dares to acknowledge that Scotland exists! It's not very clearly drawn, and so it's hard to make out the detail, but what it does show is an understanding on the part of the authors that Scotland has exerted an influence beyond its shores, and that there are similarities on both sides of the narrow sea. In the case of this map, it's a survey of the common architectural styles of castles. But how often do you see vision like this today? For all of the political promises about "East-West" linkages, there are none of any real significance. We are stuck in a two-tribes "Hiberno-centric" society where perspectives are limited to this island - in almost every area you can think of. When is the "Shared Future" going to reach across the North Channel and acknowledge the similarities we still share with Scotland? The policy-makers need to take a far, far wider view.

(Click to enlarge)

Sometimes I feel sorry for the Ulster English...

...because they don't get any recognition. The map below is from a book published in 1952, which shows the locations of the Anglo-Norman castles and motes in Ulster. These were built following the arrival in 1177 of John de Courcy. In 1210, King John (of Magna Carta fame) visited Ireland - 2010, the 800th anniversary of this, came and went and as far as I'm aware nobody commemorated it. Yet in many cases it was the Anglo-Normans who were responsible for the building of castles and churches which the later Scots then extended or refurbished.



Dunluce Castle is a good example of this, originally built in the late 1200s by Richard de Burgh, the Anglo-Norman 2nd Earl of Ulster. But it's often only talked about today as having been a MacDonnell castle, because of the (originally Scottish) Macdonnells who took control of it three centuries later, in the late 1500s. Conversely, at Grey Abbey, the Anglo-Norman origins of the Abbey are well articulated - and yet the role of the later Scots who revitalised the ruins and restored worship there is unfortunately downplayed. There are other similar examples in Antrim and Down, as the map shows. Ulster has a three-way cultural triple blend of Irish, English and Scottish influences. To tell the true story, all three strands must be presented.

(Click the map to enlarge)

Xtranormal.com - traditional meets modern, mandolin style

On Xtranormal.com, it says "if you can type, you can make movies". Here are two examples for any mandolin nerds out there, or for those of you who are amused by people who are constantly trying to prove they're more authentic than everybody else. Somebody could have a field day on Xtranormal with Ulster-Scots...

"Irish music all sounds alike, how can you tell the tunes apart?". "By the titles".

Ballymena Adair Castle, circa 1900

Readers from mid Antrim and the Braid will know more about this castle than I do. But here's a summary from what I do know.

The Adairs Scottish roots go back to 1315, when they were granted large area of land of Kilhilt/Kinhilt on the Mull of Galloway by King Robert the Bruce, as a reward for having fought alongside him. After seven years of battling the English, Scotland (and Bruce) was close to broke - but there was plenty of land and so he granted many of his closest allies large estates.

Move on 300 years to the early 1600s and the entrepreneurial Ayrshireman Sir Hugh Montgomery, already well established in County Down, wanted to control the major Ulster-Scottish sea route between Donaghadee and Portpatrick. So he bought much of the Adairs Galloway estates. They pocketed the money and, like so many of their generation, left south west Scotland for east Ulster - they headed to mid Antrim where they bought some of the old McQuillan estate (the superbly-named Faithful Fortescue also had a holding there). They built a castle in Ballymena, and streets in the town are still called Kinhilt today.

The photo below was taken around 1900, of the second Adair castle which was built around 1850 by Lord Waveney, Robert Adair, on the site of the original one. Folk have told me that the last wheen o' stanes of the castle were removed in the late 1980s to make way for the Seven Towers Leisure Centre and the other retail outlets that surround it. But apparently the stone coat of arms from the castle was salvaged and is now in a dentist's surgery somewhere in the town.

Click to enlarge:


The Adair's home castle on Galloway had been Dunskey Castle, which Montgomery acquired with the estate. It was said to be a haven for strange wee Scottish ghosts...!

(NB - you'll see from this previous post that Robert Adair, even though well established in Ballymena by 1638, was present at the great Glasgow Assembly of that year, representing Kinhilt as an elder within the Presbytery of Stranraer)

Hugh Montgomery's "green" found in Newtownards / the day Newtownards got flooded

It's effectively the first recorded golf course and football pitch in Ireland, beside the "great school" which Hugh Montgomery had built in Newtownards around 1620. In the latest edition of Ulster Folklife (Vol 54), historian Andrew Steven analyses all of the documentary and topographical evidence and concludes that it was in the area now known as Movilla Street and Greenwell Street. The school principal was John McClelland, who was one of the four ministers on board the emigrant ship Eagle Wing in 1636.

PS: As an aside, local folk will remember the day in the early 1980s when Strangford Lough, after centuries of retreat, suddenly reverted to its ancient high water mark and just kept coming in, flooding the flat ground of the whole Portaferry Road area, right up as far as the Old Priory where the Montgomeries had built the school and also their first house. The present-day floodgates were built shortly after this incident - but back in 1744, Walter Harris wrote that "the old house of the Mountgomery family stood pleasantly seated on the edge of the Lake". I'm trying to find the precise date of the flood - any help would be appreciated.

"Rannerin" and "fearty-ba"

Two words from a conversation of last week. I'm not going to give any definitions, look them up for yourself!

The Fish Fight update

Just goes to show the power of television. Thankfully the British public have responded mightily to the issues that Channel 4 and Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall have highlighted during last week's "Fish Fight" special:

• M&S reporting fish sales up 25%
• Sainsbury's reporting pollack sales up 167% last week / mackerel up 60% and mussels up 16% / pole-caught tuna up 17% / organic salmon up 16%
• Tesco sales up between 25% - 40% across its fish range
• Waitrose reporting some species up by 163%
• Full Guardian article here

Over 500,000 people have signed up to support the campaign. If you haven't yet, click here.

Luther

"...I am more afraid of my own heart than of the pope and all his cardinals. I have within me the great pope, Self."

Martin Luther

"The Cross and the Jukebox" - a new podcast

Thanks to Robert Campbell for letting me know about this, a new podcast from Russell D Moore. Hank Williams' I Saw the Light is the subject of this first episode, which he describes as "The National Anthem of the Christ-haunted South". "We need to pay attention to the theologies of John Calvin and John Wesley, yes. But sometimes we also ought to pay a little bit of attention to the theologies of Johnny Cash." Click here. It's an excellent, thoughtful, piece - and I hope future episodes are as good, if not better.

Shell advert, Antrim Coast Road, 1964

Click to enlarge:

Psalms Roadshow events

This event was filmed at High Kirk in Ballymena last Sunday, giving a flavour of the "Psalms Roadshow" events. The next two are at Banbridge 5th Feb / Orangefield 5th March. (I'm not involved in this, but just thought it would be of interest to some of you).

Sir Thomas Smith map detail, 1572

GCSE Latin was 24 years ago, so I won't hazard much of a translation of this - a detail from a beautiful map of Ireland dated 1572, referring to Sir Thomas Smith's attempt to colonise the Ards with Englishmen: "Hanc insule partem Anglis incolendam dedet Elisabetha Anglie regina Coloniaque duceta est Dno Smetho equite aurato 1572"

Hugh's Fish Fight - sign up!

Here's the video:



Here's the website where you can sign up and support the campaign.

Field Recordings of Scotland

A web-based project appeared during 2010, capturing thousands of field recordings from Scotland from the 1930s onward. Tobar an Dualchais / Kist O Riches is a collaboration among the University of Edinburgh, BBC Scotland and the National Trust for Scotland as well as some other funders. You could lose a few days of your life in it.
You can visit the site and browse the recordings here

How to dodge the law

Here's a great Covenanter story sent to me by a man in Ayrshire:

"...A government edict was put out that all would observe the fast days proclaimed by the government. The penalty for anyone caught working on a fast day would be the confiscation of all the oxen and horses belonging to the culprit. One old farmer in Nithsdale, Armstrong by name, who had a troop of redcoats stationed nearby, yoked his ten brawny sons to the plough and worked the full day without the least molestation by the troopers..."

A thought before bedtime

I heard this the other day: "you can either have a tiny empire of control, or a large network of influence." Which would you rather have?

William L Thompson's Grand Central Music Depot catalogue, East Liverpool, Ohio (1890)

I've posted a potted biography of William L Thompson here; the family traced their roots to near Ballymena and then back to Covenanter Scotland. He was a great songwriter and hymnwriter of his generation, who later became a music publisher and instrument retailer.

Born Fighting - coming to a tv near you this year

This year will see the broadcast of a two-part series entitled "Born Fighting". It will be presented by Senator James Webb, author of the book of the same title. Some of the filming took place here in Northern Ireland last August, and Senator Webb spent some time here interviewing a number of people. I provided the producers with a bit of help on sourcing visual material. The series is a three-way collaboration between the Smithsonian Channel, Scottish Television and Ulster Television. More info to be posted here when I get it.

Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy

Great footage, two great musicians. When two voices, an old guitar, and a hand-held video camera can do this with an old Creedence Clearwater Revival song it fair sickens ye!

Rock of Ages - Radio Ulster

One of the things I stumbled on over Christmas was a very interesting programme on Radio Ulster. "Rock of Ages" tells the story of the music and musicians that have emerged from CFC Church in Belfast. The programme summary is: David O'Reilly looks at how a group of young Christians changed the face of popular music in Northern Ireland. Featuring Duke Special, Two Door Cinema Club and Brian Houston. I know some folk who go to CFC, and while it's not quite my cup of tea on a range of fronts, I'm not going to be critical of others just because they do things differently. What is important is that this might be the first time that the media/arts sector has given public recognition of the present-day influence of gospel music in Northern Ireland. The story is far bigger than just CFC, and far bigger than just the present day, so I hope this is just the first step. Well done to all involved.

You can also read about the programme here on Stuart Bailie's blog. Click here to listen to it on BBC iPlayer.

More on James Meikle

It's amazing what a bit of expertise can dig up. Thanks to three such people (who'll remain nameless to protect their identities) a lot of fresh information about James Meikle has come to light since my previous post:

• he was a friend of Robert Pollok (shown left, 1798 - 1827), the Scottish poet and writer who, among his many writings, authored a series of stories during his time as a theology student in Glasgow. These were republished after his death as a book called "Tales of the Covenanters". After Pollok died, aged just 29, Meikle gave Pollok's brother David much material for this biographical memoir. (Pollok's poem The Course of Time is his most acclaimed work)

• in the Memoir, Meikle is referred to as "a young author of whose talents I had heard him [Pollok] speak very favourably". They visited Burns' country together, along with a fellow student who may have been from Ireland called David Marr (graduated 1824, died 17 May 1834, aged 37. Marr went on to become minister of a Presbyterian Secession church on Lothian Road in Edinburgh). During the trip Marr tried to sell some of Meikle's poems to local people, claiming that they "are all in the Scottish dialect, and said to be as good as Burns". They travelled southwards, eventually reaching the hills above Cairnryan with a view "along the far coast of Ireland. This was a scene that your brother [Pollok] esteemed worth all the fatigue of their journey; and they gazed on it till it became shaded in the dimness of approaching night." The Memoir records that Pollok's g-g-grandfather, David Gemmell, had fled for refuge to Ireland for three years during the brutal "Killing Times" of 1660-1688. Perhaps the view across the water to Ulster, and Covenanter stories along the way, made an impression upon young James Meikle?

• he came to Belfast in the early 1800s to take a position as a teacher at Brown Street Daily School. His lectures were "distinguished by originality of thought, great enthusiasm in the cause, and a peculiar manner of illustration, that stamped him at once as an orator and a man of genius".

• his first book, "Our Scottish Forefathers", is a tale of two Ulster Presbyterian ministers who visit Ayrshire. In the story an old man gives them a collection of rare 17th century manuscripts which had belonged to one of the early Scottish settlers in Ulster, which are first-hand accounts of the major events of the early 1600s.

• When Dr John Ritchie of Edinburgh, "the Goliath of Voluntaryism" came on a speaking visit to Belfast in 1837, it was Meikle who publicly debated him. The debate was recorded in the newspapers of the time. Ritchie (also known as "Potterrow John") had been in Belfast in March 1836 to debate the same subject, that time his opponent was the renowned Dr Henry Cooke. For Meikle to be seen as an able deputy for Cooke gives some indication of his ability and the esteem in which he was held.

• when at home in Scotland, Meikle visited the hillside graves of Covenanters - "bending over the graves of the martyred sires of his country, awaken the sleeping echoes of the hills as they mournfully responded to the names of Hamilton and Guthrie" - presumably the famous Scottish martyrs Patrick Hamilton and James Guthrie.

• he left Belfast for the English Lake District where he became a teacher in the village of Aspatria, and worked particularly for the education of blind people.

• he also became Secretary of the Edinburgh Bible Society, in which role he addressed the 1842 Presbyterian General Assembly at May Street Church in Belfast.

• he died on Tuesday 9th August 1842, his final address being 16 Gilmore Place in central Edinburgh.

To be continued...

Killinchy; or, The Days of Livingston: A Tale of the Ulster Presbyterians

This book was published in 1839, written by James Meikle, but has been out of print ever since. A friend of mine who lives near Killinchy has an original edition - some years ago he keyed in the text of the whole book and was kind enough to email it to me. The introduction outlines Killinchy's location on the shores of Strangford Lough, and describes its people as "a peaceful and contented peasantry, industrious, enlightened and patriotic; banishing poverty by their labour, and reaping in the comforts of their homes and the hilarity of their hearts the ample reward of all their toils.” It's a book of historical fiction, set in the period when Hamilton & Montgomery brought tenant farming families to the north and east of County Down:

'...But we pass from what Killinchy is, “and up the stream of time we turn our sail” to days when its desert state, long unfamiliar with the scythe or the plough-share, was invaded by the hand of industry, and fertility spread over wastes unbeautified, but by the hues of the wild-flower and diversified only by the change of the passing seasons.

In the beginning of the seventeenth century, the greater part of the parish of Killinchy was peopled by Scottish settlers, who accompanied Sir James Hamilton, or subsequently emigrated to Ulster. That the motives which induced them were various, cannot be doubted, yet it seems evident that future prospect more than present advantage must have operated on their minds; the soil being barren, and the conveniences for farming almost unknown. But Scotchmen, though proverbially attached to their native

“Land of brown heath and shaggy wood,
Land of the mountain and the flood,”

have ascribed to them a roving propensity and spirit of adventure which climate cannot deter nor difficulties damp; and hence born and nurtured as most of them must have been amidst the storms and sterility of their native clime even the rudest recesses of Ulster may have offered temptations powerful enough to engage them in the pursuit of fortune. Certain it is, that from the desire of acquiring a more comfortable subsistence, if not entire independence many of them

“Sighed their adieu to their father-land.
And left their native hills,”

while others prompted by less honourable motives,

“Looking back on their vanishing mountain homes,
Sing with joy their last farewell.”

Amongst those Scottish emigrants who settled in the parish of Killinchy was William Hamilton. In the spring of 1610, he entered upon the possession of the farm of Ballybreagh. A considerable part of summer was spent in repairing the dwelling-house, which was in a state of almost entire dilapidation, and in erecting the necessary appendages of barn, byre and stable. These operations were so far advanced by the beginning of harvest that he removed his family from Scotland. His children though they had left the home of their infancy with sorrow and regret, were not a little gratified at finding a home ready for their reception in the humble farm-house of Ballybreagh; and, although it was destitute of the pleasing associations of Knowehead; yet it possessed one charm, powerful and heart-stirring – it was their own, the house and home of their father.

William Hamilton devoted himself with energy and skill to the cultivation of his land, but for several years was but scantily remunerated for his exertions. In clearing and breaking up the soil which was overgrown with rubbish, he expended the greater part of his fortune without any certain prospect of a return; yet the treasure he had hid for a season in the earth began to reappear in the verdure of his fields, adding vigour to his efforts, and stimulating to still more laborious industry. Before ten years had rolled away, it began to be remarked that “Ballybreagh was the bienest bawn in the boun’s o’ the parish;” and his success gave rise to a saying common at that time, and still true, that “the eident han’ can blin’ the bleer’t e’e o’ starvin want.”

The story then moves on from the geography of migration, to Hamilton's commercial distractions from spiritual priority:

"...But while William Hamilton increased in outward prosperity, he began to forget the “God of his fathers.” In a short time after the world promised well, he began to neglect those spiritual exercises, which, while the gloom of poverty surrounded him had been his only solace and support. The farm and the market now engrossed more of his attention than the devotional services of the family-altar.

It is true he did not abandon altogether the observance of social praise and prayer, but only occasionally permitted the hour of the morning or the evening sacrifice to be engrossed by the hurry and business of the world. He still endeavoured to keep up in the eyes of men the character of a Christian, and frequently resolved when a more convenient season should arrive, to resume the regular discharge of sacred duty. Yet it so happened that as the delay continued, the desire was weakened, and by degrees languished into the faintest image of a momentary regret. It is a fearful thing to abandon the high ground of christian principle and profession – to descend from the elevated region of practical holiness – to forego the enlivening refreshment of daily communion with God, and by too keen a pursuit of worldly good to allow the pleasures of piety to lose the savour of superlative bliss to the soul.

The occasional intermission of a christian duty may not seem a voluntary abandonment of the way of salvation, but it is one step in the retreat from the path of victory – it is a symptom of declining zeal – of abating watchfulness – of cooling love, and shews that the province of the spiritual affections has been invaded by some neutralising principle, inimical to the upward ascent of the desires, and opposed to the growth of grace in the soul...'

Who was James Meikle?
Very little is known about James Meikle; he is believed to have been born in Scotland. He also authored another book called Our Scottish Forefathers which was published in Belfast in 1836. He is thought to have died in 1842, probably in Scotland.

What is particularly interesting is that Meikle was very well informed about the history of the 17th century Ulster Scots, a good few decades before the most important manuscripts from that century were eventually printed as books by commercial publishers in the mid/late 1800s. That he sought to popularise the history through creative writing is also significant - was he seeking to educate his readers, or was he tapping in to a ready market for a story that people already knew? James Seaton Reid's History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland had been published in 1834 and was a hugely influential telling of the Ulster-Scots story.

Some of this history had trickled into print earlier, in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The Belfast News Letter had printed excerpts of the Montgomery Manuscripts in 1785/1786 (1786 was also the year that Robert Burns' poems were first printed in Kilmarnock - extracts were printed in the Belfast News Letter that same year) and also again in 1822. They then issued a small bound edition in 1830, the Preface of which indicates that its intended audience was "gentlemen" and "those who have studied". However, the publishers were clearly conscious of the need to also pick up sales among the general public; the Preface also says that the publishers hoped that it might "engage the attention of the majority", and there is also a reference to their efforts to issue the book at an affordable price.

The major printings of the early accounts of the County Down settlements took place after Meikle's death: George Hill's exhaustive footnoted edition of the Montgomery MSS appeared in 1869, the Hamilton MSS in 1867, Adair's Narrative in 1866, Robert Blair's Autobiography in 1848, and so on.

James Meikle is an obscure figure, but he may well have been the first to try to "package" the story of the first major Ulster-Scots settlement in a popular novel, centred upon a specific locality.

"Beware the Ulsterman, my son"

‘Beware the Ulsterman, my son -
The jaws that bite at kin and kith;
Beware the Carsonclan, and shun
The frumious Ridersmith.’

Thanks to William Lytle of Edinburgh Books for posting this fascinating excerpt from the 1915 book Malice in Kulturland on his blog. My copy of Robert Blair's autobiography was from William, I've never been to his shop but plan to call in the next time I'm over.

Thanks to my cousin for this one

After twenty years of shaving himself every morning, a man in a small town decided he had had enough. He told his wife that he intended to let the local barber shave him each day. He put on his hat and coat and went to the barber shop, which was owned by Pastor O'Loan of the town's Baptist Church.

The pastor's wife, Grace, was working that day, so she performed the task. Grace shaved him and sprayed him with lilac water, and said, "That will be £40." The man thought the price was a bit high, but he paid the bill and went to work.

The next morning the man looked in the mirror, and his face was as smooth as it had been when he left the barber shop the day before. Not bad, he thought. At least I don't need to get a shave every day. The next morning, the man's face was still smooth. Two weeks later, the man was still unable to find any trace of whiskers on his face.

It was more than he could take, so he returned to the barber shop. "I thought £40 was high for a shave", he told the pastor's wife, "But you must have done a great job. It's been two weeks and my whiskers still haven't started growing back."

Expecting his comment, the expression on her face didn't even change.

She responded, "You were shaved by Grace O'Loan. Once shaved, always shaved."

UTV documentary: "Plantation - the Truth and the Legacy"

I caught this programme last week, and very much enjoyed it. So here it is, embedded from Lesley Black's blog on the UTV website. For me, the success of the programme is that it is skilfully presented by knowledgable contributors, who paint a thorough and engaging picture of the events which began in 1610. Lots of folk have been talking about the programme, and have asked if it was part one of a series - but sadly I understand it's just a one-off.

I was particularly glad that Hamilton & Montgomery got a mention, and that their private settlement scheme of 1606 was rightly presented as being very different from the later Plantation. An important inclusion in the programme is the story of the Antrim MacDonnells, as is the underlying theme of Ulster's unique cultural triple-blend of English, Irish and Scottish.

If the video whets your appetite and you want to read in more detail about the period, I found Cyril Falls' The Birth of Ulster (London, 1936) to be a good general introduction (click here for the GoogleBooks edition), with Philip Robinson's The Plantation of Ulster: British Settlement in an Irish Landscape, 1600-1670 (1984) regarded as the standard work on the subject - it is currently published by the Ulster Historical Foundation and is available online here. TM Healy's The Great Fraud of Ulster (1917) (available here on Archive.org) gives another perspective on the era, and is an enjoyable read.

The Plantation is sometimes exaggerated. It is not the whole story - there were bigger, and arguably more important, Lowland Scottish migrations to Ulster throughout the 1600s. But it's a key moment and needs to be better understood. Well done to all involved in the programme!

A song for the snowbound - "You Ain't Going Nowhere"

"The gate won't close, the railings froze
Get your mind on winter time - you ain't going nowhere"

This is a Bob Dylan song, recorded by The Byrds on their classic 1969 album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, which famously featured Gram Parsons.

Red Mountain Music - "All Things New"

I've mentioned Red Mountain Music from Alabama on previous posts; they've just released their seventh album, available now for download, with CDs available very soon. They are far better musicians than I'll ever be, and their reworking of old hymns is something I very much admire. Listen here for a merging (I think the cool term is "mash-up") of "Alas And Did My Saviour Bleed" with "I'm Not Ashamed to Own My Lord". Absolutely beautiful. Their haunting version of "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord" would be at home on any Wilco or Uncle Tupelo album. "Come All Ye Pining Hungry Poor" is another standout - it's an old hymn written in England by Anne Steele (1717-1778), originally entitled "Lord We Adore Thy Boundless Grace".

Some of the songs have an almost Low Anthem feel - overall this sounds more ethereal than previous Red Mountain Music albums, softer and more reflective, but that's maybe down to the production style rather than the songs. Sadly this seems to be the last album they intend to release, but hopefully someone else will take up the mantle. The whole album is available to listen to here.

> Full discography here
> Full list of recordings, with chords and lyrics, here

It's amazing what a blanket of snow reveals in the garden

Found these this morning, unintentionally left on the plants - chilly chillies!

A gem from Mark Driscoll

This today from his Facebook page: "There are 2 ways to get attention for yourself & your cause online. 1. Do something; 2. Criticize someone who has done something".

And here he is below on fine form dealing with "Marriage and Men - 1 Peter 3 v 7". Get the kettle on, stay inside from the snow, and get your head around this - 75 minutes of first class stuff.

A cracker from Charlie

Tonight at bedtime I said to Charlie (who's 8) - "nae use haein' a dug an barkin' yersel" - the eyebrows went down and he repeated back "nae use hen dung.... what?!!".

The Harvest Fair

As Mark Anderson mentioned on his blog, he and I are at the initial stages of a project about the annual Harvest Fair in Newtownards (on 23 September), which some folk claim goes right back to the 1613 Royal Charter of Incorporation that the town was granted. Here's a rough clip of me playing the tune for the song The Harvest Fair, passed on to me many years ago by the late George Holmes:

"Turas - a story of strangers in a strange land"

A former client of mine who quickly became a friend, Colin Neill, has written his first novel. I designed the cover for it and I expect that, given its subject matter, the book will attract a lot of interest. Already available for pre-order here on Amazon.co.uk.

From the back cover: "How do you live when that which is most precious is taken away from you? How do you respond when foundational aspects of your faith and your identity are knocked down and shaken to their core? What do you do when nothing is certain any more?

It is 2020 and Ireland has been united. During this year of striking change, a group of men meet together in a church cell group to wrestle with uncertainty through the filters of their faith and God’s word. Mingled with profound transition all around them are tales of friendship, tales of love, and tales of coming to terms with what the past has meant.

This is a story of seven Christians and their spiritual journey together into the unknown. It is also a response to living in an often religious but always divided society, which asks a series of challenging questions, and offers direction as to where answers may be found."

Scotland's "Eagle Wing", 1622

(Photo above of the 1956 replica 'Mayflower' at Brixham in Devon - more photos here).

The attempted sailing of "Eagle Wing" from Groomsport to America in autumn 1636 is one of the most celebrated events of the formative Ulster-Scots community. A number of primary sources exist, including the accounts by two of the ministers who commissioned the ship, Robert Blair and John Livingstone. Blair's Autobiography includes an eight page description of the voyage.

Sometimes"Eagle Wing" has been made light of, and even in its own time it was mocked as a madcap plan which could never have succeeded. However a few years ago some documents surfaced which revealed that a similar voyage had been undertaken just 50 miles away, from Kirkcudbright in Scotland in 1622.

The Mayflower had been built along the River Thames in England before her famous voyage to America in 1620. A ship called The Planter had also been built in the same boatyard; the captain of The Planter was Thomas Hopkins, probably a relative of the Hopkins family who had been passengers on the Mayflower. The contract for the voyage of The Planter was for her to sail from Kirkcudbright to America and was signed by Sir William Alexander, whose daughter - "Presbyterian Jean" Alexander - was engaged to marry Hugh Montgomery jr. the next year. They settled at Mount Alexander near Comber - and when Jean died she was buried inside Newtownards Priory. The contract was also signed by John Mason the governor of Newfoundland, and Sir Robert McClelland, who was another hugely significant figure in the early Scots settlements of Ulster, and who married Elizabeth Montgomery, one of Hugh Montgomery's daughters. A relative of Sir Robert was John McClelland - the principal of Montgomery's "great school" in Newtownards, part-time Presbyterian minister and also one of those who commissioned "Eagle Wing". He went back to Kirkcudbright when the ship returned.

So the events of 1636 at Groomsport may well have had their genesis 50 miles away in the events of 1622 at Kirkcudbright. This is yet another example of the global vision and ambition of our ancestors, who were closely linked to the major events of the world they lived in.

• a recreation of the Mayflower is currently underway in England - full story here | project website here
• a replica of the Mayflower was built in the 1950s and sailed across the Atlantic from Brixham in Devon to Plymouth in Massachussetts; there's an exhibition about the project in Brixham Heritage Museum: see BBC Devon video archive clip here
• full article about The Planter is available here at ReportBoston.com
• another article is available here

NB - with thanks to Gail Onesi from Atlanta, Georgia for sending the story of The Planter to me some time ago.

When worlds collide

I took my parents to Belfast this morning. When we'd finished what we'd gone there to do, on the road home we called in at Tesco in Newtownbreda. My da doesn't really do shops and he was impressed both by the scale of the place and that you could get a decent fry for £4 in the café. They bought some stuff and I bought some too, and as we queued at the till my da went first. The checkout girl rang in the total amount and then asked him "Do you have a Clubcard?". Clearly this was an alien world he had entered, with strange customs. So he just looked at her and then silently handed her some money.

I wish he'd said "Naw, but dae you hae a Nuffield or a Fordson Dexta?"

Upper Ards Historical Society: Sir Thomas Smith talk tonight

Just back in the door from giving my talk on the forgotten Sir Thomas Smith colony of 1572 to Upper Ards Historical Society in Portaferry. It went really well, and they've asked me to contribute a few items to the next edition of their Journal. This is an honour, as my grandfather's poems have appeared in previous editions, and I've spent many hours going through back issues in Portaferry Library, discovering gems of local history throughout its pages. Despite frosty car parks and slippy roads a good number of folk were there tonight and none of them fell asleep.

Striddlin', stowch and nap

Three great words came up in conversation with my mother yesterday - striddlin is the half-bent-over, jumping from foot to foot, stance that somebody makes when they're busting for the toilet. When you nap your toe you stub it and lift a bit of skin off it, and stowch (with a hard -ch sound like in German) is the heavy greasy bluish atmosphere that's left behind after frying. All part of a Sunday afternoon conversation among Ards Peninsula folk. Let the experts concern themselves with the significance of etymologies - let the normal folk enjoy the words they grew up with, and pass them on with all their simple glory.

CS Lewis and Narnia

This may be close to heresy in some quarters, but I've never regarded (pictured above) Belfast-born CS Lewis' Narnia Chronicles as the major Christian allegory that other folk talk about with such enthusiasm. Liam Neeson has kicked up a bit of a controversy about them, which you can read here. The broad similarities - a world of perpetual winter living under the curse of an evil force, and a lion King who gives his life, conquers death, and rises victorious - are fair enough, but Lewis' science fiction series The Cosmic Trilogy is far better and has a more obvious theology woven through the storylines. His other writings, like Mere Christianity, are masterful; The Screwtape Letters should be on your Christmas list if you've never read it.

Last night we had a family night in and camped out with duvets and piles of pillows on the front room floor, lit the wood burning stove, made a pile of toast and put on a dvd of the recent movie of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. A nice simple way to spend a coul coul winter's night. I've been told that in one of his books he mentions that his inspiration for Narnia was the snowy view from Craigantlet down towards the Mourne Mountains and the Ards Peninsula. He describes the Ards drumlins as looking like a big basket of potatoes, sprinkled over with soil, on which grass grew and formed the landscape... and said that "Heaven would be like Oxford lifted and placed in the middle of County Down." So he can't be all that bad after all.

(ps - you can read about his Ulster-Scots influences on this previous post)

Not sure what to buy for the (former?) paramilitary terrorist in your life this Christmas?

Well, what about some hand grenade Christmas tree decorations (6 for £12) or a balaclava tea cosy (£25).? Both are available at Suck.uk.com

A Pope joke that hasn't forced the resignation of a high-profile referee

BBC Three has a brilliant Spitting Image style football programme called SpecialOneTV. Presented by José Mourinho, the famously self-declared "Special One", if you're into football this is laugh-out-loud funny stuff. In the episode below, at 2.35, you'll get a very obvious but still very funny Pope joke. Scottish football has got into some trouble because of online humour associated with the Pope's recent visit - a high profile referee felt the need to resign after he was involved in an email joke, and two Aberdeen players' Facebook messages got them into some hot water. The episode also includes an exclusive from Wayne Rooney's ankle treatment in the USA... which turns into an induction into the Church of Scientology by Tom Cruise!

A full list of all of the episodes of SpecialOneTV is here. Be Champions!

Belfast's Royal Charter of Incorporation, 1613

Under the dome of Belfast's City Hall is displayed a 400 year old document - the Royal Charter which was granted on 27 April 1613. It's hidden behind glass and hard to photograph, but well worth a look the next time you're there. 14 charters were granted to towns in NI/Ulster; 5 in RoI/Ulster, and 21 towns across the rest of what is today the Republic of Ireland. Perhaps there is a major piece of historical commemoration to be planned for these?

Hank Williams classic with a tuba

Great clip of The Lower Lights playing the Hank Williams classic "House of Gold":

BBC and the Broadcasting Fund

A few weeks ago I was invited to take part in a BBC panel discussion which was held this morning; we did our best to give them an overview of everything Ulster-Scots from daily vocabulary and historic language literature, to general history and cultural stuff. There were about 40 programme makers in the audience, and they spent much of their time asking us questions - so I asked them a few in return. One of these was "How many of you were reared in rural Ulster - now, reared, not moved out to the country when you made enough money". Only 4 or 5 raised their hands. That lack of natural home-grown cultural understanding within the media, and indeed within the decision makers of Northern Ireland, is a huge part of the future challenge for Ulster-Scots. Projects which are being funded, and managed, by people who don't really "get it" are particularly risky and vulnerable. I threw in a few slightly mischievous comments as well, it'll be interesting to see if these surface elsewhere in coming weeks.

"With so much gone forever, do we not have an ever-more pressing duty to preserve the legacy of older generations?"

(Pic above: High Street, Belfast, late 1800s.) Here's an excerpt from Gail Walker's article in today's Belfast Telegraph (full article here)

"...buildings which should fill us with pride are turning into eyesores. The neo-classical Upper Crescent exhibits serious signs of wear and tear. Garfield Street, off Royal Avenue, once must have been rather beautiful but now looks like something from a cheap zombie flick. Crumlin Road Courthouse — despite big talk of redevelopment and tourism — looks on its last legs. The heart and soul of Belfast has been blown out by the bombers and so “redeveloped” by the developers that you feel you're in the middle of nowhere in particular.

The Grand Central Hotel has been replaced by CastleCourt, which already looks rather weary after a few years. Smithfield is a hollow joke of former glories. North Street Arcade and its muses have been subsumed into Cathedral Quarter. North Street ... well, let's not even go there? No seriously, let's not go there, unless you're a fan of windswept spaces and boarded up shops. Cornmarket, once the imaginative heart of Belfast, is now little better than a waiting room for Victoria Square.

With so much gone forever, do we not have an ever-more pressing duty to preserve the legacy of older generations? I mean the actual bricks, the craftsmanship of our forefathers — their dreams, hopes and aspirations — not just call some area scheduled for demolition a “quarter”. But no. All that's someone else's problem — the Government's, the council's, the private sector's. Nothing to do with us, mate. We're too busy sipping lattes, watching Manchester United in HD in pubs and wondering which shopping centre has the best Christmas parking..."

The article above was a response to this recent "dirty dozen" list issued by the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society, the worst of 500 important buildings being neglected across Northern Ireland (UAHS website here).

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

Detail below from the above pic - I wonder what The Scotch House sold? According to some entries here from 1858/1859 it seems to have been a clothes shop. This website lists some "penny tokens" which were issued by the shop, with a decorative design combining shamrocks and thistles. This article gives a full list of all of the shops along the street in the early 1800s.