Northern vistas
 By
Malcolm Rogers
Question: What does the North of Ireland have in common with
Turkmenistan and Antarctica?
Answer: All are tipped as must-see destinations for 2007. That’s
according to the Lonely Planet Blue List.
According to the guide this is the time to head for the North. “Freed
from the spectre of the gun by ceasefires and political agreement,”
it says somewhat optimistically, “it’s abuzz with life; the
cities are pulsating, the economy is thriving and the people are in good
spirits. Go anywhere in Northern Ireland and you won’t be short
of someone to talk to.
“Whatever the weather — and it will probably be bad —
there’ll always be something or someone in Northern Ireland to put
a smile on your face.”
Well apart from the bit about ‘political agreement’ (wherever
did they get that idea?) that judgment is pretty sound. The North is quiet
— the problems now are political, and no longer military and the
people are extraordinarily friendly. Indeed that has long been one of
the central paradox of the North — how can two communities who are
so hospitable to strangers be so murderous to each other?
The Lonely Planet Blue List doesn’t go into such philosophical discussions
but confines itself to the sights and sounds of the North. The book suggest
that if you’re into history head for Downpatrick (St. Patrick’s
grave), or if hiking is more to your liking head for the Ulster Way and
the Giant’s Causeway stopping by for a drink at Bushmills on the
way.
Most of the other places mentioned are well on the beaten track but here’s
this column’s Blue List: Six places to visit on the road less travelled
which may gave you a handle on this very complex, very attractive and
very beautiful part of Ireland.
Limavady, Co. Derry
Léim an Mahadaidh, or The Dog’s Leap is a small town beautifully
set in the Glenroe Valley and surrounded by mountainous horizons, notably
Binevenagh rising some 1,260 ft above Lough Foyle, while the western skyline
is crowded with the hills of Donegal.
The town is associated with the Thackeray poem Peg of Limavady but it
is the presence of Miss Jane Ross’ house — who is buried in
the Church of Ireland cemetery in the centre of the town — which
makes this an essential visit. Because Miss Ross a piano teacher and a
blind fiddler (whose name is not known for certain) combined together
in a project to preserve one of the best known melodies in the world —
Danny Boy. Go along and pay your respects to both musicians.
Castlewellan
Caisleán Uidhilín, Uidhilin’s Castle, Co. Down is
said to be the home of Ireland’s tallest tree — although it
would be fair to point out that a Douglas fir in Powerscourt also claims
the honour. The Big Doug is reputed to be just shy of 168 feet (at the
time of going to press) so it is just shaded by Castlewellan’s western
hemlock standing 170ft. It is to be found growing quite unassumingly in
the glorious setting of Castlewellan Demesne run by the Forestry Division
in the North. The park is open to the public the whole year round. Consisting
of woodland walks, formal gardens, lough, big house and arboretum these
graceful parklands are also the home of the ubiquitous cypress tree Castlewellan
Gold.
An entrancing day out no matter what the weather.
Downhill
Dún Bó, the Fort of the Cows, is an intriguing little village
in Co. Derry under the shadow of basaltic cliffs to the west of Castlerock.
On the headland overlooking the village and Magilligan Strand stands a
castle which was built in 1780 by John Adams for the Bishop of Derry.
Now even by the standards of the North of Ireland the Bishop was somewhat
eccentric. So devoted was he to the improvement of relations between different
religious groups that — wait for this now — he organised foot
races between clergy of all denominations on Magilligan Strand. What a
splendid idea! And is it not an initiative whose time has come again.
My money would be on Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to trounce Rev Ian Paisley
in the 100 metres while Mr Paisley would, ahem, walk away with the Orange
triumphalist swagger over 200 metres.
Most of the Bishop’s castle today lies in ruins — giving it
a poignant, evocative appearance. The part known as Mussenden Temple —
which commands a view across to the western isles of Scotland —
still stands. The designer Michael Shanahan created the Temple along the
lines of the Temples of Vesta in Tivoli and Rome and the exoticism doesn’t
stop there. A connection exists with a local legend. It’s said that
the only Irishman to be in Jerusalem on the day Christ was crucified,
a wrestler, Conor McCormac was from this neck of the woods. Pop along
and see what you make of it yourself.
Narrow Water Castle,
Co. Down
Narrow Water Castle is what is known as a stone tower house (in other
words a mini castle) which lies a mile north west of Warrenpoint, itself
a town of elegant charm with a couple of cracking pubs and restaurants.
Narrow Water Tower was built in 1560 on the site of a 13th century de
Lacy castle at a logistically important part of Ulster. It sits on the
northerly shore of Newry River overlooking a round tower and guards the
entrance to Carlingford Lough.
For 800 years this lonely valley has seen military action and in 1979
it was the scene of the British army’s worst single loss in the
North when 18 soldiers will killed here. You can look up across the bay
to the Republic and see the point — a clearing in the forest high
up on Fathom Hill — where the double bomb was in all likelihood
detonated from.
To look at this place of tranquillity now it’s hard to fully take
in the mayhem and violence which was wreaked in this land for centuries.
Belcoo (Fermanagh) and Blacklion (Cavan)
It’s worth visiting these two towns purely to remind yourself what
life in a border town must have been like just a short decade ago. Today
there are few manifestations of the frontier between the two jurisdictions
— if you travel from, let’s say, Co. Armagh to Co. Louth you’ll
pick up few clues as to the fact that you’ve left one country and
entered another. There’s more of a border between Wales and England.
Or even between Surrey and Sussex.
But between Belcoo and Blacklion there are far deeper, subtle differences.
Like different currencies (although the red telephone box in the North
does take euros), different speed limits, different armies, different
coloured post offices and different war memorials.
Stand and wonder at this madness in an area with barely enough people
to fill a telephone directory. If you can, pick up a pamphlet from the
Belcoo and District Historical Society.
The last page is called Belcoo Today and Tomorrow, and is worthy of your
attention: “After the Great Famine life slowly got back to normal
in West Fermanagh and as farming recovered from its tragic years, industry
and commerce re-established themselves... another upheaval flowed in 1922
when Ireland was partitioned into two states. Overnight, sleepy Belcoo,
in Fermanagh, and its close neighbour Blacklion in Cavan, found themselves
on opposite sides of the new border between Northern Ireland and the Irish
Free State (later to become the Republic).”
The Ardboe Cross (Tyrone)
In an old graveyard on the shores of Lough Neagh some dozen miles east
of Cookstown stands the best preserved High Cross in the North. The 10th-century
cross is over 15ft tall with 22 sculptured panels many of whose Biblical
subjects are recognizable, from Adam and Eve to the Last Judgment. There
are remnants of two churches a thousand years different in age (6th and
16th century). Ardboe is the scene of the Lammas Fair in August, attended
by country people from all over Tyrone and particularly noted for the
quality of traditional music on offer.
Ardboe, like Narrow Water, was also hit hard during the Troubles being
at the centre of the so-called Murder Triangle of Mid-Ulster. All quiet
now but you’ll regularly come across memorials to those who fell
during the Bother.
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