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Hidden Heritage
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Brian Black embarked on another quest through Ireland to seek out lesser known historical delights.

 

Last week on Hidden Heritage...

Episode 4: Faith, Fact and Fantasy

It’s always a bit sad coming to the end of a series...

So for our final programme we decided to lift the mood by focussing on the spiritual side of our heritage, simply enjoying the mystery of it all as we explored matters of faith, folklore and fantasy.

Bonamargy and the Black Nun

We began at the lovely Franciscan Friary at Bonamargy, near Ballycastle. Easy to find just beside the golf course, this is well worth a visit, and it’s popular with newlyweds looking for a romantic photo location...

I know that only because as we finished filming we met a beautiful bride and her groom there, complete with champagne!

The monastery was founded about 1500 by the ruling McQuillan family, and probably in use up to the mid 17th century. Several Earls of Ulster including the famous Sorley Boy McDonnell – are buried here, and it’s seen a few battles too.

But for me its most intriguing resident was Julia McQuillan, a recluse also known as the Black Nun, who was living here in the early 1600s.

Julia apparently had a gift for telling the future and made several predictions, including one that Ballycastle would be flooded for seven miles around. (So far this hasn’t happened but with global warming, who knows?)

As a mark of her humility, the Black Nun asked to be buried at the entrance to the church, where people would walk over her, and it’s said that the unusual holed cross near the door was her headstone.

But did she die a natural death? Well, at least one story has it that she was murdered, and that her ghost still walks the place where it all happened – attacked from behind as she paused on the steps to look our of the abbey window. Well, she certainly didn’t see that one coming!

For more information, visit www.northantrim.com

Rock Art, Doagh Island

And from one set of mysterious stones to another. Ever since I saw Monaghan’s rock art in the first series of Hidden Heritage I’ve been fascinated to know more, so I was delighted to find that Doagh Island, on Inishowen, has a wealth of it.

Flat stones with sometimes intricate carvings - patterns of straight lines, circles and cups probably dating from the Bronze Age – are to be found at various locations on the island, all of them seemingly facing south, or nearly so. Is this coincidence or is there a deeper meaning?

It’s also interesting that each area has a style of its own, even within a relatively small area such as Inishowen. So what was the purpose of these designs? Were they just to get a message across to the people of the time, or were the ancient stonemasons speaking to future generations?

Well, as archaeologist Rosemarie Doherty told us, it’s hard to believe that our ancestors would have put so much work into a message that they did not intend to stand the test of time and she is sure that they were saying that this was a place of some importance to them but we don’t know why.

Historians tell us that this is an era for which we have no written records. Rosemarie disagrees. The writing is right here, she says, in these stones. The sad thing is that we don’t know how to read it – and probably never will.

For more information, visit www.doaghfaminevillage.com

 

The mysterious tomb

And then, as we were leaving the rock art, we spotted something really unusual...

Right in the middle of the next field, unmarked and with only a few sheep to appreciate it, was another historical gem – a small tomb, probably a neolithic portal tomb, which dates it to around 4000 years ago.

And yet, as Rosemarie pointed out, this one doesn’t quite tick all the boxes – for example, it’s not clear whether the large slab lying in front of the chamber is a fallen capstone, nor why it has a perfectly circular hole penetrating right through it. So, for now, it looks as if that one will hang on to its secrets too.

 

The Mass Rock

Next, and again within this same small area, yet another carved rock only this one was from a much later period and decorated with a bewildering variety of much more elaborate and complex designs, mostly in the shape of a cross of some kind.

And that’s the clue for Rosemarie identified this is a mass rock used in the mid-17th Century, post-Reformation, when Catholic churches had been destroyed and parishes had to hold Mass in open fields.

Some of the crosses are most unusual in shape and it has been suggested that they are similar to crosses carved by medieval pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem. Was there a pilgrimage to the Isle of Doagh? Another mystery.

Layd Church

Next, another sacred place beside the sea - Layd Church, in County Antrim, close to Cushendall. Just like Bonamargy, this is a place that has a tranquil calming atmosphere that’s all its own.

As you walk down into the dip among the scattered headstones all you can hear is a small river babbling over a rocky bed and gentle birdsong in the trees.

If you’re feeling the pressures of modern living, I can thoroughly recommend it as a place to sit quietly, reflect and restore your spirits.

Certainly a lot of people have done so before you because although the church hasn’t been used since 1790 it was established in 1306 on the site of a much older church.

While you’re there have a look at the gravestones, especially the ornate high cross celebrating the life of Doctor James MacDonnell, founder of the Belfast School of Medicine.

Unfortunately it was only after we’d finished filming that I found out about the two young lovers buried just outside the hallowed ground so I couldn’t tell you about it in the programme.

Anyway, the story goes that she, a young girl in service, became pregnant, her employers dismissed her and she hanged herself. He found her, knew he could not live without her and hanged himself from the same bough. And yes, their ghosts are reputed to walk at Layd Church so it seems they are together in the afterlife.

For more information, www.northantrim.com

Loughareema

We didn’t miss the ghost story at our next location though. If you travel the mountain road above Ballycastle do look out for the beautiful Loughareema.

You may have to look quite hard because this, believe it or not, is a vanishing lake...

Yes, basin can be full of water one day and empty the next, leaving only a swirled bed of peat. Some say it’s the work of the fairies, and that’s fine by me.

The scientists however have a different explanation. Apparently the lake is on a soft chalky subsoil, which allows water to leak away but usually this is balanced out by incoming water from a sinkhole connected to an underground stream.

That’s fine until the sinkhole gets plugged by vegetation. Then the lake dries out, but give it a good fall of rain, the water pressure builds, pushes out the plug and whoosh, it all starts again.

In September 1898, it led to tragedy. A coach and horses bearing a local man, Colonel John McNeill, arrived at the old road crossing Loughareema, and found that it was already beginning to flood.

Rushing to meet a train at Ballycastle, the coachman drove the horses on but.. when they reached the mid point of the lake, the animals panicked, the rig overturned and McNeill and his driver were dragged down by their heavy coats and drowned, but they do say that if you listen carefully on a dark autumn night, you can hear the coach returning to try to complete its crossing...

For more informatiom, www.northantrim.com

Templastragh

And speaking of the supernatural brings us to our next site, just above Port Bradden. This is also a place where a vision appeared and it has another unusual feature – there’s one church, but two separate graveyards, which incidentally contain some very interesting headstones.

And that’s probably because there have been at least two churches here. The story is that way back in the 7th century, Saint Gobain – believed to be a local man and renowned for his building skills -- was laying the foundations for a church not far from here, when in the dark of night, he saw a bright light shining at this spot.

He knew that he had received a divine sign that he should build here instead. And so he did, although the ruined church we see here today is much later, probably 16th century. However, there are two proofs that the original building existed.

First, an Early Christian cross, etched out to look like wickerwork, rather like a St Bridgid’s cross, now mounted in the church wall and secondly, of course, the name of the site, Templastragh or the Church of the Flame.

Visit www.northantrim.com

Ossian’s Grave

Now, staying in Antrim but heading inland a little into Glenaan, the next site is one where you need to really stretch your imagination, and that’s Ossian’s Grave...

Who was Ossian and how did he die?

Well, he’s a figure of legend of course – the warrior/poet son of Finn McCoul - and the story goes that he was feeling tired and dispirited after losing in battle when his eye fell on the lovely Niamh.

She returned his love but there was a catch - they had to live beneath the sea in the land of Tir na n’Og. Time passed (some say a hundred years) and Ossian longed to return to the land once more.

This was allowed but on one condition. No part of his body must ever touch the ground because if that happened he would instantly age all those years. Well, you can guess what’s coming...

He went ashore on horseback, stopped to help an old man and his foot slipped in the stirrup, turning him into an old man himself. Some say he died at that point but there is another story that he actually lived long enough to meet St Patrick.

Now, if you want to be picky, you might point out that Ossian was supposed to be around in the 3rd century, and St Patrick lived mainly in the 5th, so meeting him might have been a bit of a problem...

You might also mention that his so-called grave is actually a very fine double horned cairn, dating back to about 2000 B.C. but, hey.. who wants to let facts get in the way of a great story?

For more information, go to www.ukheritage.net

Cloncha Monastery, Culdaff

And so to the last visit of the series, and that was to the monastery of Cloncha at Culdaff, on the northern shores of Donegal.

Cloncha, together with the neighbouring monasteries of Carrowmore and Culdaff itself, once made this area one of the greatest seats of learning in the north of Ireland.

Today the ruins are not even signposted but there’s so much to see here, it’s hard to know where to start.

Certainly one of its most striking features is its ancient high cross, slender, elegant, standing three metres tall and decorated with intriguing Christian Celtic carvings. And although we’re used to seeing these symbols in natural colours, this one bore evidence when discovered that it had once been painted.

And inside the later, 17th century church is another wonderfully carved stone, this time from the 14th century, with a sporting theme!

Surprisingly, among the fleur-de-lis, swords and shields is … a hurley stick! A replica now graces the hallowed doors of Croke Park.

For more information, visit irishantiquities.bravehost.com

Then, the moment I had been waiting for – my chance to see and handle St Bodan’s Bell, a truly amazing artifact recovered at the monastery and more than a thousand years old...

Find out more at www.visitinishowen.com

 

To be continued...

That’s it for now...

We’re already working on the next series of Hidden Heritage, and if you have ideas about places to visit, I’d be delighted to hear from you.

Until the next time, goodbye!

3 Comments So Far

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COMMENT POSTED: 23/12/2008 13:30:26