Ireland Road Ways Two on the Loose TRAVEL HUMANITIES PHOTOS

Mayo. Traces of Famine Past. Michael Viney Writes.

2012-02-26T13:17:00.001-05:00

This references an article of culture, tone, atmosphere, a heartbeat of a part of a country, that should be online and is not. It is Michael Viney, who wrote a "chronicle of country life" -- A Year's Turning, in 1996. This excerpt may be from that, see Natural History Endpaper, April 1999 at p. 104. For the book, see http://www.alibris.com/search/books/qwork/7343621/used/A%20Year%27s%20Turning

Old crop rows show under the grass. The rows are raised beds of earth where potatoes and oats grew, before the Famine. They look like wales of corduroy, says Michael Viiney, columnist with the Irish Times. His article, Long Live the Weeds, appeared in the April 1999 issue of Natural History, but is not online. See http://naturalhistorymag.com/inprint/issues/1999

Church ruin, now in a pasture, Ireland

.
The land with its echoe of the past is a cacophony of textures, smells. Fuschia windbreaks, fleeces of dead nettle, amid vegetables in the sandy soil. Weed and wildflower, why distinguish. Colors, and a lovely ramble through his experience in his garden, with the hoe, not too fiercely managing this and encouraging that. Ruined cabins nearby, stones falling, bumblebees, hoverflies. A summer acre in "flowery continuum.: Many of the weeds we consider American came in on the coattails of the English colonists.
.
This should be online.

Cork. Colman mac Lenine and a Company of Poets

2012-01-17T10:26:00.001-05:00

Early Celtic Poets

These Europe Road Ways travel sites have morphed beyond accounts of unscripted road trips; to a framework for ideas, resources found afterwards. In that vein: the filing cabinet now includes Old Irish, and other poetry, most Celtic, but even that term contains many roots.
.
First millenium literature:

Browse an old book, Nora Chadwick's The Celts, that some found plodding, but I loved the poetry section in particular. Use an old term: enthralled. First published in 1971, it reappared in 1997 with a new introduction, and further editions came later. See http://www.librarything.com/work/97951
.
Time to get off our modern superiority horse, and go back to pre-10th Century: imagine a solitary scholar-writer (he is with his little book, about "science"? and his cat), but the idiom is too English ("derring-do"?) to be quite real in translation; need to find the original, what language, what transliteration. Would it be the Old Irish, Gaelic, see http://www.dias.ie/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4746&Itemid=16&lang=en
.
Fair use quotation of three poems, pages 260-61:
.
I. First, the poet, the work at the book (no religious reference in the poem, so it does not appear to be a contemplative at work), and the cat, Pangur. This predates by over a thousand years, and expresses better, the idea that solitude produces creativity for many of us, far more than the current darling, Groupthink, see Opinion in the New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/15/opinion/sunday/the-rise-of-the-new-groupthink.html?scp=1&sq=groupthink&st=cse

Our Solitary says it this way --

I love to rest -- better than any fame --
With close study at my little book;
White Pangur does not envy me;
He loves his childish play.
.
When in our house we two are all alone --
A tale without tedium!
We have -- sport never ending!
Something to exercise our wit.
.
At times by feats of derring-do
A mouse sticks in his net,
While into my net there drops
A difficult problem of hard meaning.
.
He points his full shining eye
Against the fence of the wall;
I point my clear though feeble eye
Against the keenness of science.
.
He rejoices with quick leaps
When in his sharp claws sticks a mouse.
I too rejoice when I have grasped
A problem difficult and dearly loved.
.
Although we are thus at all times,
Neither hinders the other,
Each of us pleased with his own art
Amuses himself alone.
.
He is a master of the work
Which every day he does;
While I am at my own work
To bring difficulty to clearness.
.
.
II. Fast forward into the 10th Century, a bemoaning of the nature of free thought when the religion required focus only what was told it: But who is the author? We are not told. Is it not known?

This was apparently written when Alfred the Great, 845-901, was just finishing up against the Danes, who did not consider themselves quite finished. This elegance and precision came just a century after the adventures of Cu Chulainn, he the more primitive idol of derring-do of the time, were being recorded.
.

Watch thought itself chastised (To be countered by the Dear Reader's silent cheer for the underdog,

O, admirable thought, never succomb....
Even to those determined to force-tame thee in the false name of ideology
Retain instead thine ebullient spontaneity
So that divine Autonomy may overcome the pricks of shame-filled mold-mould Groupthink.

A path that is not right? Who says?
What is it to fash?
Why see other ways as threat, competition in powers not understood, and so to be downed, deemed wanton and to be cast under red-slippered feet, the fate early set for the Other, see http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/13/opinion/for-priests-wives-a-word-of-caution.html?scp=1&sq=wives%20catholic%20clergy&st=cse.

Here, I would prefer to be the thought, than the disciplined grinch of requirement--
.

"Shame to my thoughts, how they stray from me,

I fear great danger from it on the day of eternal doom.

During the psalms they wander on a path that is not right;

They fash, they fret, they misbehave before the eyes of great God.

Through eager crowds, through companies of wanton women,

Through woods, through cities -- swifter they are than the wind.

Now through paths of loveliness, anon of riotous shame.

Without ferry, or ever missing a step, they go across every sea:

Swiftly they leap in one bound from earth to heaven,

They run a race with folly anear and afar:

After a course of giddiness they return to their home.

Though one should try to bind them or put shackles on their feet,

They are neither constant nor mindful to take a spell of rest.

Neither sword-edge nor crack of whip will keep them down strongly:

As slippery as an eel's tail they glide out of my grasp ...."

.
.
Not to beat a dead mare, but it sounds as though the poet-male is looking with longing and even envy at the freedom of the free-wheeling idea as - even Woman: woman the object of such frenetic measures to pin and control. See the NYT Op-Ed above. Characterize her as institutional western religion's bane, as she is when she is not subject to sword-edge or crack of whip, but instead, glides out of grasp, led by wits, choice and heart; and accountable only to those wits, choices, and heart. Wax and wane.... the law of the universe, denied by those who want to sit atop their manufactured pyramid.
.
.
III. The "catch" on the sword.

This is a pastime bit, perhaps intended only as a diversion; but its author is known for poesy -- Colman mac Lenine, 522-600 AD, The Royal Bard of Munster, see http://www.foscc.com/StColman.html. Now Sainted by the institutionizers.

It is not accurate to call this little rhyme-repeat as a true catch, however, as that construction signifies a round sung in sequential parts, with a hidden (even bawdy) message as the singers go 'round, with increasing enthusiasm probably, and various words get juxtaposed, see Catch form at http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms_C.html; but in the sense of catchy here, it suffices.

Ordinary life appears in this little poem: a bit on a sword, but again some later Englishisms of the translator do not seem authentic. The use of "catch" in the poem itself does look correct in its reference, even if not as a description of this poem form itself. He writes of "catches roared" as well they would be, could be, given the play on words resulting from the "catch"; compared to a sweet song. Need to see the original:

"As clowns to kings, as pennies to a pound,

As kitchen wenches to princesses crowned,

As kings to thee, to sweet songs catches roared,

As dips to candles, all swords to my sword."

This little snippet is brilliant simplicity. It author was highly literary. See bio at St. Colman site. He is referenced by other great poets of the day, including one Cormac mac Cuilennain, or Cormac ua Cuilennain, 836-908 AD, identified as king-bishop of Cashel. That position combined the ruler with the religious role, see http://generation13.net/Kintyremull/pages/Saggart2.html. Cormac is author of a fine glossary, linguistic dictionary, see http://www.focloir.ie/lexi/.

Colman mac Lenine is also mentioned by the identified "chief poetic family of Ireland" -- the O'Dalys.

Meath. Hill of Tara, Navan.

2011-10-26T19:03:00.001-04:00

Tara was the seat of the High Kings of Ireland, dating back to 2000 BC, see http://www.yourirish.com/history/ancient/high-kings/. It is hard to fix where myth ends and historical figures begin, however, but their powers were broad-based and provided for annual gatherings, public works, collection of taxes, providing for defense and emergency, and legal judgments and setting laws.

Hill of Tara, Meath, Ireland, Standing Stone

The Tara complex consists of burial mounds, depressions representing old roadways, structures, aerial views of patterns in the earth, concentric circles, and may be one of the most photographed areas in Ireland. http://www.uni-due.de/DI/Architecture_Art.htm.

But it also is one of the most frustrating because the Christian world coopted on (piggybacked) ancient ways, the Christians tried to Christianize the old religious, royal and civic sites, to the diminution of both ideas. It is hard to get a photo of the main event without also a cross or other Christian thing entering in. On the cut-off side here of our photo of the primary standing stone, this obvious phallus-obelisk form so common in the world (Washington Monument anyone?), is a cross.

Take the cross away. It has no place here, even if you are St. Patrick. This is great Tara. So we did. We cut out the cross entirely. Good. Better. Now, take away the church sitting up there like a fish out of water.

Tara. Tara Hill. Ancient seat of kings, now with a motorway slicing through, is that so? See http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/irelandtarahill.htm

The Five Roads to Tara. In the times of the ancient kings, apparently there were five roads from each of the kingdoms to Tara, one of which was the major east-west route from Galway to Dublin, near Tara. That may be becoming a "monastic route" for tourists, and we hope the other routes also can help organize trips to Ireland, see http://www.tarataratara.net/resources/Tara_roads/Tara_Five_roads.htm

Ireland - Celtic History. Even Scythian. And More Ancient, Perhaps. A Manageable Timeline, Ireland

2011-10-20T12:31:00.008-04:00

Celtic and more Ancient History

A Manageable Timeline, Ireland

Scythians - The Mystery

.
I. Overview
.
The history of the Celts, and other groups in ancient Ireland, such as Milesians, see http://www.danann.org/library/arch/mil.html, is hard to find in one location. Some sites are overwhelming because they put all angles in one configuration: religious, cultural, military, colonization, see http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E800002-001/text001.html.. That comprehensive site is best used as a framework once the basic history is understood better. Start, then, with the more simplistic and changeable, perhaps not reliable as to each point (yet), but a framework: Wiki - http://www.houseofnames.com/wiki/Ireland. This site at least separates out the Milesians and Picts from the later Celts. Is that correct?

Then there are the Scythians, who may have been forebears of the Milesians, see http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/scythian.html. They weaponized nature - spreading plague by boobytraps, toxic projectiles, hurl hornet hives, see Archeology Odyssey, magazine http://www.bib-arch.org/archaeology-odyssey.asp, March-April 2005, article Ancient WMD's by Adrienne Mayor. Greeks, Scythians, a Central Asian nomadic people by that time, who could also tip their arrows with "scythicon" - dung, human blood serum and poisonous viper venom, article at 31. They were a martial force to be feared. Does that explain how they, if they did, migrated intact through Spain to Ireland, and also up the Eastern European Caucasus. A founding father of Troy was known for steeping his arrow tips with poison, one Amycus.

See Research notes at FN 1
.

II. Manageable Timeline

1270 or So BC -- is this at all reliable? Milesians, Queen Scota, http://www.danann.org/library/arch/mil.html ; see also the long narrative at http://www.ensignmessage.com/archives/scythian.html. Scroll to Scota. Odyssey magazine, at 17 (see site above) lists the Egyptian dynasties -- if Scota is an Egyptian princess (?) the 1270 date would put her father as perhaps Rameses II, or perhaps Seti?

1000 BC On the continent, Celts emerged as a loosely-knit "barbaric" (that at the time meant non-Greek, not any aspersion as to a less developed, more lawless culture) nation in the region north of the Alps.
.
8th C BC Southern England becomes populated with farming peoples, in the chalk-lands (Wiltshire?), and in the north with a more fierce group -- warriors with swords, horses, perhaps just bands of adventurers at that time.
.
5th C. BC Migrants continued to come to southern England from northern France and the Low Countries areas, and those seemed to form the bulk of the population through the Roman conquest. Theirs became known as an Iron Age"A" culture and it appears that they were Celts in origin, by structures and culture. (need to go to the book directly for details and vetting)
.
450 BC Herodotus era. Herodotus, historian, 484-425 BC. See http://biography.yourdictionary.com/herodotus The Greeks recognized the Celts as a major foreign people that they called Keltoi, living west and north of the Western Mediterranean.
.
400 BC A tribe of the Celts, that the Romans called Galli, or Gauls, invaded northern Italy.
.
325 BC Pytheas of Massilia (Marseilles), Greek navigator and geographer, see http://www.1911encyclopedia.org/Pytheas, refers to Ireland and Britain as Pretanic Islands.
.
3rd Century BC - Another group of Celts came to southern Britain, known to us now as the Iron Age "B" people.
.
Then (when?) came a third wave of Celts known as the Belgae, also Celtic in organization and language.
.
64 BC - 27 AD -- Geographer and historian, and philosopher: the Greek, Strabo. See http://www.s9.com/Biography/Strabo. Strabo wrote (says Violet), "The whole (Celtic) nation is war-mad, high-spirited and quick for battle" Other writers also noted their bravery in battle, but hospitality at home, and a strict code of etiquette towards visitors. Artifacts show Celtic manual skills and artistic perception.
.
Cultural comments: Physical appearance, as noted frequently by Greek and Latin writers -- fair skin, blue eyes, blond hair, height tall, and muscular. Aristocratic dress: For men, tunic to the knees. For women, tunic to the ankles. Both, gathered at waist, belted. Cloak on top, a square, held by a brooch. Shoes: leather shoes and sandles. Headgear: unimportant. Ornaments: neck-ring, torque, or gold or bronze.
.
55-43 BC Rome invades Britain, see http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/romans_in_britain.htm. Ireland began receiving exiles and refugees from Gaul and Britain, as the Romans proceeded. Did these new people merely augment an existing Celtic broad-based system, or were these the groups that crystalized it? Not sure.
.
Roman conquest meant political oblivion for the Celts, except in Ireland. The Irish continued their raids on Roman Britain, and in the north of England these Irish were called Scotti. The name "Scotia" was given to Ireland. [Ultimately, in the 11th Century, this name "Scotia" was transferred to the northern part of Britain, now Scotland.]
.
5th Century AD - Celts, pushed to the coast, set up the Kingdom of Dalraida (Dal Riata, see http://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/celts.html), there are in Argyll and the neighboring islands, both serving as an offshoot of northeast Ireland. The two countries (Ireland areas and the now Scottish areas) at this point cannot be more than 25 miles apart.

Ballycastle, view of Rathlin Island, Ireland and Kintyre, Scotland is beyond

Find Rathlin at http://adrianmckinty.blogspot.com/2011/03/how-they-decided-rathlin-island-was.html. Settled since 6000 BC, but not by "Scottish" - settled by Celts of that era. The Irish language, Gaelic, was implanted in Scotland, thus the Highlands became Gaelic speaking, while the Lowlands became English speaking, says Violet in her notes of The Celts.

450 AD Ireland's relative isolation also meant it was free not only from Roman intervention, but also the Saxon migrations that began in England when the Roman Empire fell, see http://www.thenagain.info/webchron/westeurope/AngloSaxon.html. Early Christian Ireland continued on its own path with its age of saints and scholars untainted by the mainland Christianity evolving in Rome. Monasteries at Lindisfarne, Iona, drew monks and scholars, and led to their taking their message over parts of Europe and establishing monasteries and colleges.

400-700's They went to areas where for 500 years after Rome fell, the ordinary people were illiterate, as was Charlemagne himself.
7th Century AD Fast forward .
.
It appears to be known, however, that: (here I quote Violet because I know her to be a diligent student of history -- go read the book, I'll take Violet's word as she wrote it April 15, 1977, as a Family Elder, here)
.

"Only in Ireland did there survive a language and literature that sprang directly from the ancient Celts, uncontaminated by Rome. The (Christian early) missionaries found in Ireland a highly organized body of learned men with specialists in customary law, in sacred arts, heroic literature and geneology. When paganism was supplanted, the traditional oral schools contiinued to flourish side by side with the new monasteries."

"By the 7th century A.D. (if not earlier) there existed aristocratic Irish monks who had also been fully educated in the traditional native learning. This led to the first writing of the vernacular literature which because the oldest in Europe after Greek and Latin. (Yet) [t]he systematic study of Old Irish language and literature is a thing of only the past 100 years."

.
1249 AD The last traditional inauguration of a King of the Scots took place, for Alexander III. He was led to the sacred Stone of Scone, received homage of the people, and heard his pedigree recited in Gaelic, says Violet.

1603 AD. Scotland loses its independence. James IV of Scotland became James I of England, after the death of Elizabeth I.

End of Violet's notes, letter April 15, 1977, from The Celts study. Vet Violet? I don't need to, but if you want to, be quick. Other texts she has relied upon through the years:
The Scottish Clans, I believe that is the one that is now an e-book, see http://www.scotclans.com/bletherskite/?p=3137; or is it this one? http://www.amazon.com/Scottish-Clans-Over-Featured-ebook/dp/B005LP01NU

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

FN 1 Research notes

Sites disagree. Are Picts, Angles also Celts? We do not think so. How about the early Scots (Scotti) of Ireland, are they Milesians or Celts, raiding and then settling in what is now Scotland. Were they Celts, or predate? Wiki seems to resolve that. Then go back to the many references to Spain and Iberians in Ireland (even sounds like Hibernia) in ancient times, see, e.g., http://www.libraryireland.com/HistoryIreland/Conn-Hundred-Battles.php. There, the ancient road, the Escir Riada, from Dublin to Galway, divided Conn's northern half from Eoghan's southern, there was a quarrel, and a Spaniard enters.
Oral traditions were recorded, and anybody can probably find an old name close enough to claim a hypothetical lineage. See ancient Milesian lineages (grain of salt?)at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fianna/history/milesian.html ; Is that Milesian ancestry, is anything reliable? Scroll down to CONN CEADCATHACH; ("Conn of the Hundred Fights") -- sure sounds like McConaghy to me! at 11Oth Monarch Slain 157 A.D. at Tara, "Seat of Kings". I hereby claim Conn of the Hundred Fights, CeadCathach as McConaghy. Prove me wrong.
Article pointing to one origin of Milesians, from Spain, see http://www.greatdreams.com/reptlan/Tuatha_de_Danaan.htm. What authority for that site? At least it led us to the etymology of my father's middle name, Carman, he of the Scharfe-Irish who emigrated (Norse origins) in the 1840's from Kilkenny: a goddess! We have to believe Wikipedia. I've looked for that for years. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carman

Try this starting point: at http://www.ibiblio.org/gaelic/celts.html. Find that the Irish and the Scots, the old Scotti, are indeed from the same tribe, where they came from (originally Antrim area), influences, other quotations from contemporaneous sources, customs. Good site. Then move to Celtic Mysteries, The Ancient Religion, by John Sharkey, see http://www.mediaquest.co.uk/jsharkey.html; and How the Irish Saved Civilization, by Thomas Cahill, see http://www.randomhouse.com/features/cahill/irish.html

Find elaborations on how the "Scotti" from Ireland came to be, and who was involved, maybe, at http://irelandroadways.blogspot.com/2010/03/tralee-queen-scotia-and-slieve-mish.html. Irish mists. d

Our family is uniquely situated, perhaps, as to Ireland because we are a tripod: Three ways to confusion. Nonetheless, all branches say with pride, Irish. Pursue, pursue. Identity is an illusion and a matter of choice of emphasis, is that so.
.
a. The Norse, ours through the Scariff line if that is so; Vikings 795 AD or so, see http://www.reisenett.no/norway/facts/history/viking_age.html ; Rathlin Island wasted.
.

b. The Scotti, the Scotic Colony, says http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E800002-001/text001.html, perhaps with even ancient middle eastern roots (Scota?), then through Spain and Milesians 489 BC. Or 200 BC? This is the confusing group: Fast forward to their activity once pressed by Celts into the northeast, to Ulster; raiders and emigrant settlers to Scotland and Campbell-Robertsons (even Robert the Bruce, gasp, like everyone else) and perhaps then a loop. Back through the Plantation through the McConaghy (spelled a hundred ways) line in Ulster-Donegal. Before that: the Firbolg, the Tuatha de Danaan, the Milesians that produce the Scotti, or is that incorrect? see http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/E800002-001/text001.html

c. The Norman conquest line through the Briens, Norman Rule 1120 AD. See http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/?period=07&region=euwb ; http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fianna/surname/dhnames1.html. Is any research using actual names and actual descent reliable? Or just the fun of finding the same name, De Brien in old records, and our Briens of Trillick.

Celts and Scotti, Milesians and Scotti. More familiar is an association between Celts and Scotti, probably because of simultaneous activity against the Romans in Britain. A relative, named Violet, researched the Celts and provided summaries, after close work with The Celts, by T.G.E. Powell, see http://www.amazon.com/Celts-Ancient-Peoples-Places/dp/0500272751. I have put her information in a timeline, and added some comments and other information. Why the interest in old cultures? Our family area is Donegal and Ulster, and Ulster was the last of Ireland to be overcome by the British after the Flight of the Earls left Ulster without leaders. The border areas in particular between what is now Donegal, and Tyrone, and Londonderry were fiercely fought, opposing the Plantation and then at the later Troubles. Is any family clearly one root or another. Probably not. Celtic Ireland, later migrations, invasions, much of a piece.

Ireland's isolation preserved its Celtic past, more than would have been possible if Rome or the Saxons had invaded, as they did and at the same time as in England. As it was, the invasions still came (Normans), but at least at a later time. See the medieval Norman invasion at http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/history/norman_invasion.html (overwhelming), or simplified, http://www.yourirish.com/history/medieval/normans/

Londonderry. Derry. Siege of Londonderry. McConaghey, McConnaghy, MacConnachie. Ulster Records

2011-10-20T10:22:00.009-04:00

Londonderry - the older Derry

County Londonderry -- the older Derry

1911 Census, a Family, and Then a Small Area History and Question

.
The Flight of the Earls in 1607 from the Lough near Londonderry changed the landscape literally in Ulster, that then included Donegal. All the lands owned by these hereditary, historic clan leaders went into escheat, to be redistributed by the English to its own settlers and Lords, see the Battle of Kinsale that fixed the English victory at Cork, see http://irelandroadways.blogspot.com/2006/09/kinsale-dublin-and-cork.html. And so, families like ours have ties on both sides, with questions where there are Scots-English-Irish forebears with the same name, who was where when. Were our Donegal people part of the Plantation, even though Donegal itself never became colonized. Or were they there on their own, Protestants in a sea of Catholics. Who was our first? When? Aunt Edna, once-removed (?) says that McConaghy's appear as far back as 1617 in the Hall of Records kept at Belfast, but that may be just one of many. Or not. FN 1 for Aunt Edna J. McConaghy's family recollection (everybody rather unwise).
.
The family is still there. A window to WWI also remains in Donegal. Londonderry is part of Londonderry County, not Donegal County, but the areas to us on the outside do seem to blend.
.

I. A Census Entry, 1911
.
See census Maurice Edwin McConaghey and Family, Londonderry 1911:

"Residents of a house 8 in Victoria Park

(Londonderry No. 5 Urban, Londonderry)
Show all information

Surname Forename Age Sex Relation to head Religion Birthplace Occupation Literacy Irish

Language Marital Status Specified Illnesses Years Married Children Born Children Living
.

McConaghey Maurice Edwin 33 Male Head of Family Church of England India Soldair Captain ? Royal Sco? Read and write - Married - - - -
McConaghey Cynthia Joan 23 Female Wife Church of England Isle of Wight - Read and write - Married - 5 2 2

.
McConaghey Richard Maurice ? 4 Male Son Church of England India - Cannot read - Single - - - -

McConaghey David Cunninghame 3 Male Son Church of England Dublin City - Cannot read - Single - - - - Estcourt Rosamund 19 Female Sister in Law Church of England Isle of Wight - Read and write - Single - - - - Brown Annie 18 Female Servant Church of Ireland Co Londonderry House Maid Domestic Servant Read and write - Single - - - - Loughray Maria 35 Female Servant Roman Catholic Co Donegal Cook Domestic Servant Read and write - Single - - - - Macdermott Norah Kathleen 22 Female Servant Roman Catholic Co Roscommon Parlour Maid Domestic Servant Read and write - Single - - - - Heslop Dorothy Jane 26 Female Servant Church of England" End of census entry. .......................................................................................... II. Maurice Edwin McConaghey, distant cousin, of Londonderry (added his own "e"), was killed at Arras, France in 1917. We cross three lines of Irish: 1. Indigenous or Plantation McConaghy's (various and creative spellings, including Gaelic); and Hildyards-Hilliards, and whether those all were part of the Plantation or were some pre-existing in the area; and including (see The Scottish Clans), MacDhonnachaidh, Campbell of Inverawe; and Duncan, in Gaelic, Donnchadh, from Donn meaning brown adn cath, a battle. Brown warrior? MacConachie in Gaelic is that MacDhonnchaidh, or son of Duncan. The Clan Donnachie are the Robertsons of Athole, so named from Duncan de Atholia. Robert. In Gaelic, Raibeart, Rob, from anglo-Saxon Robert or bright fame, and so, Robeetsons, Clan Donnachaidh. 2. Norse invader-settlers, the Scariff's-Scharfe's; and 3. Normans, became landed gentry (invaders, after William the Conqueror took England 1066?), the Norman Briens, William de Brien (Brian, Brienne), Knight,[see 1390-1395 petition to the king re inheritance rights, lands of Guy de Briene in England and Wales; and Gerard son of Brien, 1161-1182 at St. Thomas Priory, Stafford; Staffordsire; and Stoke-on-Trent, England. See UK National Archives (a cousin, Dorothy, is researching and may do a book, so all this is just a whetter]; Briens subsequently at historic house (still a house) Glengeen Lodge, 61 Killyfuddy Road, Trillick, Omagh, Co. Tyrone, William Brien 1846-1916, my grandfather (Kilskeery Parish Cemetery, Kilskeery). McConaghy's: Strabane, Derry; St. Johnstone, Donegal Hilliards and Briens: Trillick - Gaelic Fri Leac, for three stones Scariffs - Scharfe's - Kilkenny 1848 emigration of John and Ann; memorial stone with geneology family starting with "Red Scariff" 1525 earliest found, St. Lazerian's, Carlow See Scariff Island,Clare, see http://homepage.eircom.net/~eastclareheritage/tuamscarr.html, Town of Scariff. Norse with roots "cormorant" rocky place, iron-working, or Gaelic originally, An Scairbh, same kinds of meanings, who knows. Ancient area either way. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scariff Status of other MacConachies (as the name was often spelled then for our family)? Some were in the 1688 Siege of Londonderry, Siege of Derry, with 10000 probably Plantation "settlers" and Protestant soldiers defending against Jacobite Catholics besieging, while Protestant William of Orange landed in England to challenge King James II, behind Derry's walls. Jacobites: supporters of King James II; Irish Catholics and French supporters, see http://www.orange-pages.tk/The%20Siege%20Of%20Derry.htm; that McConaghy involvement noted by our family research Elder, Violet, letter February 9, 1977. The MacConachies had been "planted" there as part of King James' Protestant "Plantation" policy, we think, but need documentation. At any rate, they were in the Siege. Violet, where did you find that? Early MacConachies also spelled the name McConnaghy). In a sense, where Irish had moved between Ireland and Scotland for centuries (Irish were original Scotties), is their return, even as part of the Plantation, a coming home in a sense? Makes it all far more complex. Interlopers, forcing colonization, or return. Need to check Defenders of the Plantation of Ulster 1641-1691, for our names (apparently not a book for substance other than that?), see http://www.genealogical.com/products/Defenders%20of%20the%20Plantation%20of%20Ulster%201641%201691/9967.html Further summary of the Siege of Derry: see http://www.cruithni.org.uk/feature/siege.html. Study of the Gaelic-speaking settlers in Ulster, purporting to show a linguistic connection between the planter-settlers and the Irish Catholics, see (start here at least) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidden_Ulster,_Protestants_and_the_Irish_language Most of the family moved to the Convoy - Raphoe Valley. By 1822, a census by a Rev. Wray of his flock, now (I believe) near St. Johnston, Donegal. That is near Strabane, on the Tyrone side. And now, Old Matilda and her son James were (1977) still in Donegal, Ronald is a retired army major living in Yorkshire, England; Chistopher with two sons lives in South Africa, and his brother John and their mother in the then Rhodesia, Paddy is in Belgium, Michael is an army major in England, and others are in Canada. More in Australia, earlier moves there. Typical family tree. III. History of Londonderry

A. Family interest

Any family will straddle several areas later divided, that once were "one." And so with the McConaghy-McConaghey group, over three counties and a long border: Donegal, Londonderry or Derry, and Tyrone.
.
The border separates the Republic of Ireland, Donegal; from Northern Ireland, Derry now included and Tyrone.. Along that border are Londonderry (Londonderry to the British stock, Derry to the Irish), St. Johnstown (Donegal), Strabane (Tyrone), all towns straddling in culture and The Troubles. Find a timeline of the conflicts at Derry-Londonderry 1680-on, at http://timelines.ws/countries/IRELANDN.HTML
.
B. Derry's Long Story
.
The name Derry stems from Daire, a Celtic word for oak grove. See its older history, long predating Christian influence, at http://www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukider01.htm. For a good start on the Celts, see http://tdbcelts.org/node/599, and the book, The Celts by T.G.E. Powell, see http://www.amazon.com/Celts-Ancient-Peoples-Places/dp/0500272751. Notes of a family researcher are at FN 1.
.
A place so rooted does not take easily to forced change. Sacred things happened in oak groves: Rituals, trees, significance that resisted usurpation by later institutional-oriented Christians, the Augustinians. Earlier, more meditative Christians, perhaps even Columcille (521-597 AD) or Columba, and the contemplative groups predating Patrick, fit in more easily and established a monastery there. However, with the Augustinians and especially after until 1100 or so, with the Gregorian reforms reaching Ireland, there was new regimentation and an aggressive taking over of the old sites. Regimentation and rules, the big monastic orders following Rome.
.
And then, the British colonists "planted" in Northern Ireland, the Plantation, necame ensconced for defense behind walls at the city. The Scots and British built defenses around their claim, their Protestant ways and loyalties to England and Scotland an affront to the Irish Catholics whose Ulster lands had been left leaderless after the notorious Flight of the Earls, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/timeline/civilwars_timeline_noflash.shtml, and English takeover.
.
Derry. Derry, or Londonderry as it was known after the Plantation British and Scots took over, became a focal point of troubles. The era more formally known as The Troubles may be difficult for outsiders to grasp, so see http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/troubles/the_troubles_article_01.shtml
.
C. Music and hearts and minds
.

Celtic roots are also poetic, musical. See http://tdbcelts.org/node/1121. See the tradition continue, or if that cannot be really demonstrated with all the intermarriages and invasions, at least appreciate what has emerged:

Londonderry Air, or Danny Boy, is familiar, see and hear at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jgma--0WYU; but less well known is "The Town I Love So Well." This time, skip pictures of more old medieval walls, old places. This is one town to be heard at its heart, hear Phil Coulter who composed and sings about Derry's modern state, and narrates with a video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAqOC5iJ5o8
.
Then visualize again its long history: at http://www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukider01.htm
Its history is beyond us. Londonderry Air is part of us all. Hear at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jgma--0WYU. The walls are there, stop, park, walk. But don't forget to listen.

D. A point to a visit

Any destination and interest beats mere touristing. Pick one and follow it.

The border areas of Ireland may well just be a tourist destination for some, but others of us have people from most all of its evolution. The divisions between unionists, seeking to perpetuate union with the United Kingdom, and nationalists, seeking the independent Republic of Ireland even to include the six counties of the north seeking union, is embodied at Derry.

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

FN 1. A cousin, Dorothy, is preparing a full geneology, so I will only put here what seems most interesting.

In particular, history question. With the Flight of the Earls, where the Ulster holders of escheated land, left for Europe; and left Ulster untended, leaderless, its lands up for grabs -- which the English promptly filled -- how much of the older holdings remained? Any? Did the Earls control it all, or were others also landowners, indigenous protestants as well as indigenous catholics. Many of the names Mc and Mac and O' have Gaelic forms, suggesting the earlier connection. Is that so?

Then, is our McConaghy derived from the Robertsons or the Campbells?

Pro Robertson: Too much for here, will put it at Scotland under Clan Donnachaidh, Children of Duncan. McDonnachaidh, MacConaghie

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

FN 1. Notes, Edna J. McConaghy, daughter of James Torrens McConaghy, 1899-1983, line of common great-grandfather Robert McClure McConaghy 1841-1897: My notes are in brackets, hers from the typed account, are in parens. Original typist of this account: unknown. Some paragraphing added. Now, Edna:

"Tell Jim that the McConaghys came from Straban in Tyrone County, Northern Ireland. His great-grandfather and great-great grandfather were Presbyterian ministers there. Bill McConaghy [my uncle, brother of my mother Marjorie McConaghy] went there when he was in Ireland and the present (or the then present) minister took him all around and showed him the countryside. He went through the Hall of Records in Belfast , and said he noticed the name McConaghy mentioned as far back as 1617. As for papa's father (papa=James Torrens, papa's father = Robert McClure McConaghy), he was the elder of two sons and his father insisted he was to be a minister and as a matter of fact I understand he was graduated frojm the University of Edinburgh as one. However, he never wanted to be a minister and would never take a church.

"As he inherited from his mother's side (whose people were in the linen business) [mother=Sidney Torrens] enough money to lie on, he actually never worked at all. After he died (in New York by the way about 1897) it was found that he had used up all his money and Grandmother McConaghy (Sidney Torrens) was left with nothing. She had always lived with her brother and sister, (Will and Margaret Torrens) who really brought up the six boys in Ballyfatten, the Torrens home. Unle Joe and papa, together with their Uncle Will Torrens, came over here in 1888, and landed in New York during the blizzard of 1888. They had a hard time getting to the boardign house where their father was staying. Uncle Robert and Uncle Harry came over shortly after, and then in 1902 when grandmoter's sister died, Uncle Will went back and brought her over with Uncle Sidney and Uncle Allen (Sidney is the female grandmother b.1850, and also the son Sidney b. 1874, the brother of my grandfather Robert McClure McConaghy b.1876, for you scorekeepers).

"As I recall the tales, Grandfather McConaghy's father insisted he study for the ministry because he was the eldest son. His younger brogher studied medicine and had a practice in London. Grandfather gadded about the globe on money inherited from relatives. (The stories were that he would have inherited additional monies from members of his family if he had not been so contentious and constantly picked arguments with his relatives.) By the time he died in New York he had exhausted the money.

"In the meantime grandmother McConaghy (Sidney) and the boys lived with her family in Ballyfatton. After Grandmoter's siter Margared (Maggie) died, her brogher William Torrens (Uncle Will) decided to bring grandmother and the younger broghers to this ountry. They had enough money to buy the house on Decatur Avenue in the Bronx, New York, and the boys went to work to provide the money to live. While Sidney was not quite normal because he had a brain concussion and high fever as a young boy, papa got him a job in a wallpaper house as a handymman so he could be of some help. Robert (my grandfather) had his own business as a plumber along with papa's business as a carpenter, and Allen worked in a plumbing supply house. Joseph did something or other in a rich man's club where liquor was always available. He drank too much so I guess that was why he had a stroke and fell dead on the street near Fordham University. Uncle Will and papa bought the plot in Mr. Olivet Cemetery in Brooklyn where grandfather was buried, and later on of course grandmother, Uncle Will, Sidney and Allen,a nd of course, mama, papa and sister Elin. (Robert McClure McConaghy and Louise, my grandparents, are buried with other relatives of Louise and some of their children at Woodlawn Cemetery: *
.......................................

* McConaghy at Woodlawn Cemetery, the Bronx NY: SW Plot 13158, sec 206, Astor Plot, sec. 206, deed 18502:

James Hilliard age 16 d. 1913, flu, young brother of Margaret Hilliard, my great-grandmother;
Robert W. McConaghy age 7 d. 1913 flu, son of Louise and Robert, my grandparents, and would have been an uncle to me;
Frances Hilliard age 54 d. 1924, sister of Margaret?
Robert McConaghy age 49, grandfather, 1926 heart?
Margaret Hilliard, my great-grandmother, age 76, d. 1938; and
Louise McConaghy, my grandmother, age 87, d 1963.

.......................................
"Grandmother Sydney McConaghy only lived at 2662 Decatur Avenue in the Bronx, until she went to live with Harry and Dora in Rahway, N.J. I have no ide of the birth dates of the uncles. I have listed them in order of their age.

"All the Joseph McConaghy family are buried in Catholic cemeteries (why?). Grandfather Roert lived in a boarding house on East 33rd Street in New York, and I think it is town down for an apartment house."

Kerry. Ring of Kerry. Staigue Fort, Caherdaniel. Stone Fort

2011-10-13T12:00:00.001-04:00

RING OF KERRY, STONE FORT

Staigue Fort

CAHERDANIEL

.
Caher - round stone fort. Near Caherdaniel: Gaelic Cathair Donall -- Daniel - from the name Donall or Domnhall -- Donall's Stone Fort? Naming sites vary. There is a second stone fort there. See http://www.theringofkerry.com/index.php?Itemid=22
.

This ring fort is near Castlecove and the town of Caherdaniel, see http://www.sneem.net/staiguefort/ No mortar was used for this large undertaking, still standing. Dating perhaps from the first through the sixth century BC, Celtic period, it was a defense site, an observation post, and perhaps other uses -- copper is in the area. See http://irishantiquities.bravehost.com/kerry/caherdaniel/caherdaniel.html.
.

Caherdaniel, Staigue Stone Fort, Kerry, Ireland

.
The history of Irish peoples, those arriving by migration, invasion or happenstance, or already here, is a complex one: dark complexions are not unusual and have a variety of explanations, see the Black Irish at http://www.ireland-information.com/articles/blackirish.htm.
Black Irish may have been merely a differentiation from indigenous of "Gaelic" Irish. Or:

coloring of European mainland Celts
Vikings, where the word for "dark" (dubh) was often used in conjunction with "gall" or foreign, see site discussion of dark also used as to intentions (thus blond Norse as dark)?
Descendants of Spanish traders, populations passing through Spain, such as ancient Milesians, even with origins in Middle East. Legends blend.
More. See site.

Kerry. Dingle Peninsula. Blasket Islands

2011-10-13T11:28:00.001-04:00

SOUTHWEST IRELAND'S PENINSULAS

1. DINGLE (here), County Kerry

2. INVERAGH - RING OF KERRY, County Kerry

3. BEARA, County Kerry and County Cork

The town of Dingle voted in 2006 to reject adoption of an Irish-language version of its name, An Daingean. Instead, residents chose a bilingual name, Dingle Daingean Ui Chuis. The town is in a "Gaeltacht" area, where Irish, the old Gaelic is frequently spoken. These areas receive special grants and government allowanes for residences, educational facilities, clubs and fairs to promote the speaking of Irish. See http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60716FB3D5B0C728EDDA90994DE404482&scp=1&sq=Voters%20in%20an%20Irish%20Town%20Reject%20Edict%20on%20Language%20of%20its%20Name&st=cse. In 2004, some 2300 communities were required to adopt the Irish names. Back in 1824, the English used on its maps Anglicized versions that stuck.

The film, "Ryan's Daughter", took place here, 1970. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs6oiIR0lmA

Blasket as a place name does not sound Gaelic, and some speculate it comes from the Norse for "a dangerous place." Hardship, sacrifice, isolation, rough conditions for farming potatoes, oats, and having perhaps a cow and donkey -- all a part of life there, and the population was further diminished with the famine, see http://www.blasketisland.com/briefhistory.html. Some 150 people lived there in 1840, now it is abandoned except for donkeys that still live there.

.
Blasket Islands, Dingle Peninsula, Kerry, Ireland

The Great Blasket. See http://irish2009.mka.org/?m=200906. For a narrative of the loss of an island culture, some sites recommend this book, :The Blasket Islands: Next Parish, America", by Joan and Ray Stagles, http://www.irishbook.com/history/the-blasket-islands-next-parish-america.html. Is this similar to The Aran Islands, by J. M. Synge? See that online at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4381.

Gaelic literature flowed from the Blaskets, 1920's:

storyteller Peig Sayers, see http://www.rte.ie/laweb/ll/ll_t14_main.html;
Muiris O’Suilleabhain (Book: "Twenty Years A-Growing", see http://www.irishgraves.com/_private/o/new_page_320.htm; and
Tomas o’Criomhthain, see http://www.answers.com/topic/tom-s-criomhthain

Tyrone, Kilskerry. Irish Place Names. Gaelic Components. Ogham Script

2011-10-12T17:33:00.002-04:00

Irish Place Names
Gaelic Place Name Components
Tyrone and Kilskerry

Great-grandfather William Brien of Glengeen Lodge, Trillick, is buried at Kilskerry. What do these words mean, the components of Irish place names. Fast forward to "kiil" or "killy" as church. Go further.

1. Irish place names: Go to http://www.irelandstory.com/geography/placenames.html and find that although there have been centuries of Vikings, Anglicizing, changes. A place name may be completely Norse, for example, like Dublin. Also see a larger list at http://www.fionasplace.net/irishplacenames.html. We have listed the ones we found most useful from both sites below. The best for a download, with full sample place names provided, is the fionasplace site.

2. Merely taking an English spelling and going to a dictionary may not lead to the correct Irish meaning. Irish place names are usually descriptive, with multiple components. If there are two lakes, for example, says the site, the larger lake area may have "-more" appended. The smaller, "-beg".

Gaelic words can sound alike, however, so find an expert in Irish dictionaries. While you are there, look up the old Ogham Script, see http://www.ancientscripts.com/ogham.html, patterned slashes or lines read bottom to top on stones, right to left on manuscripts.
.

Fair use thumbnail from http://www.islandguide.com.uk
.

2. Some of the frequent Gaelic components

Ard - high.

Ath - ford, in a stream or river

Bally, or Ballyna or Bally means Place of. This is not the same as "town of" as the towns came later.

Beg - small.

Carrick - rock. Carrickfergus.

Clon, Cloon, or Con- a dry place. Clonmel, Clonmacnois, Clonfert

Down-dun-don - fortified place. Downpatrick.

Drum - ridge

"Kil" or "Killi" - church.

Knock - hill.

.

Donegal. Heritage. Place Names. Meanings. Matthew McConaghy 1780 on. Are They Still There.

2011-09-20T13:30:00.257-04:00

Places: Descendants of Matthew McConaghy 1780 ff
.
Donegal Place Names
Part I of family heritage Sites.
How can they enrich anyone's history.
.

A Bucket List for Later Visits *
.

Donegal was never quite colonized under the Plantation era: The country underwent invasions by migratory early peoples, Find a useful chronology of Norse, Normans, English, at http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/GaelsHighKings.htm. For overall history, see David Hughes' British Chronicles. Scroll down the contents here to get to Ireland, at http://books.google.com/books/about/The_British_Chronicles.html?id=ZABSepHO1FMC

Milestones of history. Scots "Risings" occurred in 1688, 1715 and 1745 spurred much immigration to Ireland from Scotland unrelated to the Plantation. These took place in Scotland after this McConaghy branch began living in the North of Ireland. Our people apparently did not come to Ireland because of the "Risings". It was earlier, at the Plantation? From there on, it remained business as usual to move back and forth, family ties, Scots universities.

.

I. A Sense of Place. Donegal; for one branch - McConaghy

[Tyrone, for the Norman-British Hilliard-Brien]
.
Events in Donegal, Londonderry, the rest of Ulster, have deep roots, even in prehistory with the first Ui Neill, and ultimately the flight of Hugh O'Neill as part of the 1607 Flight of the Earls. His lands were redistributed to the English and other settlers. We are trying to find if our people were part of the Plantation, or there on their own.
.
At least the history files site affirms that the Scotti or Scoti were indeed Irish, although arrived early from elsewhere (Milesian? Even Scythian??). As raiders pushed into Ulster, the northeast, the Scoti themselves pushed into and raided and settled in Scotland. Surnames are on both sides of the Irish Sea. In Scotland we find our Maconochie clan, Meadowbank, County Edinburgy, originally Campbell of Inverawe, County Argyll, according toys John Burke's Encyclopedia of Heraldry or General Army of England, Scotland and Ireland. Some in the family find Maconochie through Robertson. Why care? The interest is a handle on history. Any topic that presents is a good organizing and self-teaching tool. For the Maconochie of Argyll, descendants of Duncan, see http://scotlandroadways.blogspot.com/2009/10/surname-roots-exodus-campbell-mcconaghy.html
.
2. "Plantation" Donegal.
.
There were English in Donegal, but the area never quite became a Plantation. See http://www.ulsterancestry.com/newsletter-content.php?id=26. Their role was to give some protection to other settlers, but a colony never materialized:
.

"*** Due in part to its wildness and inaccessibility colonists proved reluctant to attempt settlement. In addition, Sir Arthur Chichester described its native population as a "people inclined to blood and trouble". In 1619, Pynnar recorded of estate after estate that nothing was built and that there were no British tenants. [According to] one historian ... : "it was the pluck, skill and tact of hard-bitten, experienced soldiers such as Sir Henry Folliott and Sir Basil Brooke, that held Donegal quiet and so gave protection to the infant colony".

.
Tracking family in Donegal, then is uncertain, as to loyalties of any generation at any time. There is a difference between claiming Scots and English heritage, since the original "Scots" were Irish back in the day; and being part of a Plantation-extension. We are sorting it out.
.
3. Geneology and ladies' names. Matriarchs disparu.
.
Patriarchy carries with it discriminations against others that, if pressed against men, would not be tolerated, and never had to. Men's names carry on with the property inheritance ramifications as that evolved; women disappear with their birthnames. And she did all that work bringing into the world five surviving sons for husband Matthew to take credit for.
.
For example, one Matilda Gray, Matriarch: wife of Matthew McConaghy who was born about 1780 and owned property known as Greenhills in Raphoe - Convoy, Donegal. See http://irelandroadways.blogspot.com/2011/09/donegal-raphoe-bucket-list-greenhills.html
.

Matilda. No birthdate, no death date. She is forgotten. Was it her property, that Greenhills, that passed to Matthew with the marriage? No idea. Matthew lives on because his surname survives the system, and he had five sons carrying it on: David, Robert, Joseph (from whom we spring), John, Alexander, his name attaches easily. The name "Matilda" does recur, however, see St. Johnstone.

.
Matthew is supposed to be buried at Raphoe Churchyard, but no stone is now to be found, although it is noted in son David's will.
.

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

II. Place Names. What can we learn from the Places?

Place names are listed with forbears in much family tree research. The Gaelic is interesting because "Gael" or "Gal" means "foreigner" or stranager. Donegal would be fort of the foreigners. The word comes from pre-Gaelic people who referred to the later Celts as foreigners or "Gaels". See http://www.irelandstory.com/geography/placenames.html. This ties the Gaels in with the Gauls, and is that the same time period as Caesar pushing the Gauls out of Rome's way?

What were these places? With schools not teaching history and geography, start with your own family with your own children.

County Donegal, now the Republic of Ireland, parts earlier included in Ulster [border area at Strabane and Tyrone find at section III]:

In 1841, Donegal was part of Ulster. Our family stems from Raphoe, See the history of Ireland 1598-1620, the establishment of the Plantation, English, Scots and others sent to populate areas of Ireland's north, after the Flight of the Earls left areas open to new control, at http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/history/15981629.html
.
Raphoe History: See also the Library Ireland, Donegal site

.
A. Greenhills, Raphoe

.
1. Matthew McConaghy 1780 or 1785. We see no Celtic or Gaelic in that very English name. So, green hills.

2. Settlement history

Was this part of the earlier effort at Plantation, or other settlement? Apparently so. Part of Donegal also was included in Ulster, see Strabane, the Tyrone town that straddles the border, so English or Scots on both sides of the existing county line would be expected. For the Ulster Plantation itself, see http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/history/15981629.html
fair use, and note the cultural impact:
.

"*** In 1609 the English mapped out 4,000,000 acres of land and started gaving it out in 1610. Counties Down, Monaghan and Antrim were planted privately. Counties Derry and Armagh were planted with English. Counties Tyrone and Donegal were planted with Scots. Counties Fermanagh and Cavan were planted with both Scots and English.

The vast majority of the settlers were Scottish, as it turned out, and they brought with them a new form of Christianity, Presbyterianism, which was different from both Roman Catholicism and the Church of England, although it is classified as Protestant. They also brought new farming methods and a Puritan lifestyle. This made north-east Ireland culturally very different from the rest of the island.***"

.
3. Land designations
.
But see Parliamentary Gazetteer of Ireland Vol 3: p. 112. Raphoe was the name of a County, a Diocesan seat (we understand as to a Presbetery, but was it Episcopal? See also http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/R/Raphoe-Raphoe-Donegal.php,, That the area used to be called "Rathboth" . Raphoe is a barony, an old Gaelic designation, property area designation, see Rootsweb, and http://www.ballybegvillage.com/land_division.html; and a parish, and a post and market town. See again FN 2 here.
.
Greenhills: Greenhills - that turns out to be a house. It is "the last the [sic] residence of W. Fenwick, Esq." and one of three "seats" of a diocese -- of the Presbetery, we understand.
.
4. Ecclesiastsical underpinnings

Raphoe as an ecclesiastical site was founded in the 9th Century by a St. Eunan, a/k/a Adamnan, see http://www.bartleby.com/210/9/077.html, and http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01135c.htm; long before the Roman branch of Christianity asserted its supremacy against the Irish Christians in the 11th-12th centuries. He also was a biographer of St. Columba, Columcille. How to find, out of dogma evolved since then, a real Eunan, or is there no difference.
.

The evolution of Christianity's focus from early contemplative Irish, free-wheeling, individualized; to the Roman regimentation is seen in architecture as well as dogma. Rome focused on "crucifixion" and "cross."
.Older Ireland had, of course, not. Ireland's Christians focused not on dogma and theology but living out The Life. Enter changes to church architecture with the Roman group: *** "rendering it [the church] perfectly cruciform." Cruciform is dogma, the new regime. See http://www.libraryireland.com/topog/R/Raphoe-Raphoe-Donegal.php
Raphoe: After diminution of the Irish Christian contemplative tradition, there was a Roman-type institutional bishop here in 1203.
St. Columba's work earlier was not necessarily to be seen as a monastery, as we think of those institutions; because he was not an institutional Christian. But apparently he founded some ecclesiastical setting. Rome shoved all earlier forms of Christian followers away, with its high centralization and conformity. In came Dominicans and Cistercians and centralized bishoprics took over, accountable to Rome, not the indigenous, local population structures.

.
5. McConaghys at Greenhills, Raphoe. Digging deeper.

Matthew's son, Robert, a farmer of Carrickbrack (carrick means rock in Gaelic, see http://www.irelandstory.com/geography/placenames.com) , Rooskey Upper. He married a Margaret Allen of Greenhills.

What? Greenhills was supposed to have been Matthew's place, where, with one Matilda Gray, he had the five sons including Robert. Robert at the time was to have held 13 acres at Raphoe, and 30 acres at Kiltole.
Our family also ties in to property known as Larkfield, where Rev. John, 1812-1881, another son of Matthew, died 1881 (records) and is buried 1882 (says the stone); Larkfield, Urney, Tyrone; and here we find another Margaret, see Google book, landed gentry of Ireland, Greenhills. Donegal. These odd sites are here by way of a marker for later. John did not marry a Margaret, he married Elizabeth Cunningham 1813-1898 of Ballyfatton Cottage, Strabane,

.
This was the homestead, as we would call it, of the first McConaghy we can document so far in our line -- Matthew born about 1780. Crests may establish the line.

This McConaghy group that for us started at Raphoe - Convoy is not related, as was previously thought, to the Scots McConachie - Robertson group. The name McConaghy is not that common, but here the crests are different. The Scots McConachie is "hand with crown".
This Matthew McConaghy a McConachie, us, (Matilda! Wife of Matthew! speak up!) has a crest that is different: comprised of the top half of a Scots male figure, not just hand with crown; and with a plaid over one shoulder, holding sheaf of arrows pointing down. The motto is, "By these we shine."
This Matthew McConaghy group, if the crest reasoning is correct, is kin to the Campbells from Argyll, west coast of Scotland, extending down a southward peninsula and angling toward the north of Ireland. See Burke's heraldry at http://scotlandroadways.blogspot.com/2009/10/surname-roots-exodus-campbell-mcconaghy.html; and Atholl Highlanders at http://scotlandroadways.blogspot.com/2007/11/atholl-highlanders-blair-castle.html

B. Roosky Upper, 28 acres, Raphoe
.
James, a son of Matthew, owned 28 acres here in 1858. Brother Robert is also listed there
.
C. Tullydonnell Lower, 72 Acres.

David son of Matthew. Tulach means knoll, http://www.pbenyon1.plus.com/Misc/Etymology.html.
There also is Don - Celtic brown, or Dun fort. Donail Daniel. Tullach Donail, Daniel's Hill. Count five such names of Townlands (Townland: see FN 2). One is Tullydonnell Lower in Donegal.

See David McConnaghy, two 'n's for this property and at Ardvarnock Glebe, 40 acres, see 1870 Griffith's Valuation at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/raphoegv.htm

D. Ardvarnock Glebe, 40 acres.

David son of Matthew http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/raphoegv.htm
Glebe: a church "furlong" (measure of an area) or parson's "close", property of the church for the parson's residence, farm. Ard means a high place, Gaelic. This can be physically or in terms of status, importance. Ards peninsula, County Down, Some "Ard" words, however, are abbreviations of Atherdee, and Dee is the river. See Irelandstory site above.
.
E. Kiltole,

David, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~donegal/raphoegv.htm
Kil means a church, Gaelic. See also Kilkenny, Kildare, this from irelandstory site above.
.
F. Carrickbrack
.
Robert son of Matthew
Carrickbrack is near Strabane, that straddles the Donegal Tyrone border, see http://www.i-google-map.com/europe-map/ireland-map/county-donegal-map/carrickbrack-map/
.
Carrick, rock. Irelandstory.com. Brack: in breadmaking, a kind that specked with fruit, often soaked overnight, see http://www.sheridanrogers.com.au/2011/03/15/irish-brack/ Carrick brack. Bread hard like a rock? This site defines brack as the Gaelic for salt, the word now used for bread. Makes more sense. Rock salt?http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/32404/barm-brack-traditional-irish-bread
.
F. Margherahee

My mother was Marjorie McConaghy. What does the name mean?
Robert son of Matthew owned this property that sounds like it [cannot find this property].

In babynames, Marjorie means Pearl, child of light, jewel, from Gaelic and also French, add Hebrew and Latin for good measure, but how reliable is that. No derivations given? See http://www.babynology.com/otherorigins-marjorie-f33.html

Hee is apparently in the Gaelic dictionary from Manx. http://www.onelook.com/?lang=all&w=hee&loc=nophr; and http://www.visitisleofman.com/culture/; but seems to be an archaic form of "he". Marghera is part of Venice, including port, refinery.

.
III. DONEGAL - TYRONE BORDER
STRABANE
.
A. Ballyfatton Cottage, Urney, Tyrone
.
Rev. John, a son of Matthew, married in 1841 the daughter of Robert Torrens of Ballyfatton Cottage, Strabane. She was Elizabeth Cunningham, born 1813, died 1898.

Bally means "place of" from the Gaelic 'Baile na'. See irelandstory site above. It does not mean town. Few towns existed went the names attached.

Fatton. To feed for slaughter, to make fat, see http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/charles-annandale/the-imperial-dictionary-and-encyclopedia-of-knowledge-unabridged-etymological-a-hci/page-133-the-imperial-dictionary-and-encyclopedia-of-knowledge-unabridged-etymological-a-hci.shtml

Ok: Place where animals were fattened. Now Fatton is a common surname. Owner of the feedlot?
.
Rev. John and Elizabeth Cunningham had seven children: Elizabeth, Sarah, Margaret - married William McCrae, lied at "Grange", Willliam [became surgeon general, India, married Mary Birdwood], Martha who married her cousin, Matthew Allen 1861, John IMS India 184901907, buried at Exmouth, and Robert James MD?
.
This also was the home of James Torrens, Urney, father of wife of Robert McClure McConaghy, Glengeen Lodge, Trillick.
.
B. Glengeen Lodge, Trillick, County Tyrone
.
This is a manor house, built as a hunting lodge, and home, since the Flight of the Earls, of the family of William Brien, and father at age 38 of Louise Lucinda Brien. Flight of the Earls: Tyrone and Tyrconnell fled; leaving Ulster open and un-owned as far as the English were concerned, and the Plantation resulted. See http://www.theflightoftheearls.net/; and http://www.irishhistorylinks.net/History_Links/UlsterPlantation.html
.
Louise Lucinda, Louisa Lucinda, Lucinda Louisa. She was daughter of William Brien of Glengeen Lodge, Trillick, and Margaret Hilliard, a the daughter of a tradesman and his wife in Trillick. Margaret, at age 13, was part of the household staff at Glengeen Lodge where Mr. Brien lived and took her. He acknowledged paternity and apparently supported Margaret and my grandmother, born within the year. Margaret gave birth at 14 to Louise Lucinda, my grandmother. There are repercussions in any family. See Briens there at the 1910 Census, http://www.libraryireland.com/UlsterDirectory1910/Trillick.php
.
This doesn't address the 16 McConaghy families from Antrim, see Google book "The Scotch-Irish" (in various places)

..........................................................................................
FN 1.

Questions. Why do we focus on the bloodlines of the male. Where is the bloodline of the female, Matilda Gray, wife of Matthew McConaghy? We, for the detective in us, are setting up obscure posts for the lost women in geneologies.

A. Children of Matthew McConaghy born 1780. All surname McConaghy

1. David b. 1805, m. Ann who died July 8, 1872 (stone); David died Feb 21,1871

No descendants
TULLYDONNELL LOWER, 72 acres
ARDVARNOCK GLEBE, 40 acres

2. Robert _____

Charles b.1845; m. Elizabeth born 1847, in 1872 *

Robert b. 1873; married in 1905 ______;

Charles
Violet

3. Joseph b. 1811; d. Dec 31, 1875 St. Johnston; m. Mary McClure, who died May 6, 1874 (stone, St. Johnston, County Derry. Joseph: Glasgow University 1831; Ordained December 12, 1834, St. Johnston

Matilda E. b. 1843, d. July 26, 1863 (stone, St. Johnston)
James Foster M.D. b. 1845, d. 1887. University of Glasgow 1887; M.A. 1867; M.D. 1875
Robert MClure, Rev. b.______; m. Sidney Torrens, June 6, 1870 in SION MILLS, TYRONE; Sidney is daughter of James Torrens of Urney, BALLYFATTON COTTAGE. Farm.

Joseph William Alexander b. May 30, 1871, at Ballyfatton Cottage, m._____, d._____
James Torrens b. Nov 18, 1872, at Sion Mills, County Tyrone, m.____, d. _____
Robert McClure b. June 9, 1876, in Derry; m. Louise Lucinda Brien b.______ in Trillick, County Tyrone; Aug.4, 1904 in NY (her father was William Brien of GLENGEEN LODGE, Trillick, Tyrone; her mother was Margaret Hilliard of Trillick). Home of Robert and Louise: New York

Next generation omitted here because many still living

4. John b. 1812

* Elizabeth b. 1847. m. Charles b 1845 , son of Robert [married her cousin Charles, son of Robert]

5. Alexander b. 1822 0r 1823?, died March 13, 1889 (stone); married?

Nil. No descendants.

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

FN 2 Land divisions in Ireland -

Provinces, Counties, Baronies, Parishes - Dioceses, Townlands, Poor Law Unions

1. Provinces. There are four: Ulster (North); Leinster (East); Connaught (West); Munster (South). These are named from the ancient kingdoms Uladh, Laiaghean, Connaught, Mumha. There had been a fifth old kingdom, Meath, but that merged with Leinster. Two other old kingdoms, Aileach and Oriel, were integrated with Ulster in the 17th Century.

2. Counties. King John in 1210 started the county system

King John's basic twelve: Dublin; Kildare; Meath; Louth; Carlow; Kilkenny; Wexford; Waterford; Cork; Kerry; Limerick; Tipperary.
Add King's County and Queen's County in the reign of Queen Mary of England;
Add Longford, Clare, Galway, Sligo, May, Roscommon, Leitrim, Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone, Derry, Condgal, Fermanagh and Cavan in the reign of Elizabeth I.
Antrim and Down have uncertain origins
Wicklow was carved out of Dublin County in 1605.
Note that some towns have the same name as the county: Dublin, Limerick, Cork.

3. Baronies -
.
These stem from ancient Gaelic land holdings. There are now some 325 baronies. In the 19th Century, the English turned these into civil divisions for the purpose of land valuations.
.
4. Parishes -
.
These could be ecclesiastical (Dioceses?) or civil or both. In the 19th Century, the civil parish was used for land valuations. The civil parish was generally smaller in size than the ecclesiastical and often had a different name. There are about 2002 civil parishes.
.
5. Townlands -
.
Townlands were small rural divisions of the civil parish were called Townlands. An average size may be some 350 acrea. In 1901, there were some 60,462 such townland areas.
.
6. Poor Law Unions -
.
In 1838, the Poor Law Relief Act was passesd, dividing the country into Unions or Districts where "local rateable" people were to be responsible financially for the care of paupers there. A Union may be a multiple of Townlands, perhaps with a radius of some 10 miles (estimate). One market town would be designated as the Center, and there the Poor House would be located. These are frequently still seen, but used for different purposes.
.

Source of all this?

An obscure family photocopy,

shaggy, with this at the bottom:

(1487)W.33798. 5,000. 2-73. F.P.--G21.

Our lists of land holdings are larger than we anticipated, so this site is now limited to Donegal. Tyrone land holdings or references will be at a Tyrone post.

Non-McConaghy's, those not of the 1780 Raphoe MatthewMConaghy line here, are in FN 1.

For any surname researcher: spellings change: McConaghy, McConnaghy, McConaughy, McConaghey, MacConachie and on. For a discussion of the land divisions in Ireland, see FN 2, above

Louth. Drogheda. Irish Slavery. Malcolm the Irish Thrall, St. Patrick, The Caribbean

2011-09-05T12:22:00.008-04:00

Irish History -- Slaves
The Battle of Drogheda, County Louth
.
Irish slaves:
In the Caribbean, in Iceland - Malcolm the Irish Thrall,
St. Patrick
.

Early named slaves from Ireland include Patrick - as in Saint Patrick. Irish raiders are credited with snatching him from Wales, the College of Theodosius, Llantwit Major, in the territory of Cernyw, see http://www.historyfiles.co.uk/KingListsBritain/GaelsHighKings.htm.

And meet Malcolm - as in Malcolm the Thrall, the Irish slave in pre-Christian Iceland's Burnt Njall Saga. See
http://www.northvegr.org/sagas%20annd%20epics/icelandic%20family%20sagas/njals%20saga/018.html

Enslavement has long been a respected and usual way of asserting supremacy, in a way that helped make ends meet, and disiposed of otherwise rebellious defeated opponents.

Slavery in old Great Britain and Europe, Rome, Vikings. Slavers. Read the stories, many online, and read the letters, the primary documents as available. Find Irish slaves in the Caribbean.

A. Irish Slaves in the Caribbean. Is Forced Indenture the same? Were there both? Could all the "indentured" work their way to freedom?
.
Slavery 1600's to Date, Western Culture - Ireland in particular. Irish Slaves in the Caribbean
.
1. The Battle of Drogheda, near Dublin. Siege of Drogheda. Where did it lead? Cromwell's order.
.
The year is 1648-9. There had been years of fighting, Irish "Parliamentarians" against the Royalists, and now, Cromwell. Resistance to the English was fierce, resulting in Irish massacres of soldiers, clergy; and the resulting response worse. See http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/military/ireland-1649-drogheda.htm English response: enslave. Between 1648 and 1655, some 12,000 political prisoners from Ireland (the Irish were ultimately brutally suppressed at the Battle of Drogheda in 1648-9) were forced into "indenture" in Barbados, for example. Forced indentures: what were the terms, when was the release, if ever? See Irish slavery at http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/1638
.
The traditional stories of Scots slaves in the Caribbean is familiar. Less familiar to non-Irish (but a favored topic for many Irish, see http://www.trisranch.com/id82.html) is Irish slavery. It is also documented, is slavery - including the involuntary indenture - of the Irish. There were extensive abductions - forced transit to the Caribbean.

As to Scotland, see references at Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, http://scotlandroadways.blogspot.com/2006/06/on-skye-dunvegan-castle-flora-madonald.html. For Ireland, start with Whence the Black Slaves of Jamaica, by Joseph Williams, Society of Jesuits, in 1932. Fine detective work: http://openlibrary.org/books/OL6773632M/Whence_the_black_Irish_of_Jamaica

Irish came to Jamaica one way or another, some voluntary, in the 1600's, see Jamaica Gleaner, at http://jamaica-gleaner.com/pages/history/story0058.htm. Each century seemed to bring more impetus to subjugate the Irish, the initial time period being the 1100's; and from that original Anglo-Norman invasion, to its repercussions: brutal perpetuation of English control of Ireland.

2. Why the vehemence, the absolute refusal of the Irish to accept subjucation in their land, fight so strongly against overwhelming odds, as at Drogheda with Cromwell.
.
Most accounts of the Irish subjugation should go back farther then they do: What if the Pope recognized he had no jurisdiction over Ireland. What if Henry II had not bought off Pope Adrian in order to get the Laudabiliter - he needed written permission to invade, under the pretext of doing it for the church and spread its influence as the sole spokes-institution for Christianity? When Ireland was already Christian - since the earliest Centuries; and the original Anglo-Norman invasion stemmed from affairs of the heart. The pope was never told? Who told what? Documents trustworthy? Pretext? See the papal bull in its entirety at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/medieval/bullad.asp
.
Back to Drogheda and its roots:

Follow the historic roots of a global human issue: unjust assertion of power. Has the Irish sense of injustice and anger at their overlords, got a stronger, real historic root, more than most. Where profit-making religion itself is the pretext for injustice, is anger the greater. Should the Irish ask for reparations from the Vatican? Idea, idea. The ancient Milesians first laid claim to Ireland, see the Bard Amergin at http://www.amergin.net/songofamergin.html. And, in time, the Normans and Catholic Gregorian reformers.
.

"For, although authors generally write that the Emperor Constantine, after his baptism, bestowed the islands of western Europe on Pope Sylvester, that did not give the Pope possession of Ireland, since no emperor that was ever in Rome, nor Constantine, had possession of Ireland. How, then, could there be any force in the right which the emperor might give to the Pope, to what was neither in his own possession nor in that of any emperor that succeeded him since?"

Fair use, http://www.exclassics.com/ceitinn/for56.htm

Devorgilla. The role of the lady in the invasion of Ireland by the Normans.

Henry II, those centuries ago, perhaps never mentioned the background of his decision to seek permission to invade Ireland: that the Irish Dermot, to whose aid Henry's man Strongbow ultimately came, with army; had had an affair with Devorgilla, a rival's wife, and that was why he ultimately lost his lands, see http://www.irelandseye.com/aarticles/history/events/dates/norman.shtm; http://www.ireland-information.com/articles/dermotmacmurrough-strongbow.htm
.

Thou hast signified to us, indeed, most beloved son in Christ, that thou dost desire to enter into the island of Ireland, in order to subject the people to the laws and to extirpate the vices that have there taken root, and that thou art willing to pay an annual pension to St. Peter of one penny from every house, and to preserve the rights of the churches in that land inviolate and entire.

We, therefore, seconding with the favour it deserves thy pious and laudable desire, and granting a benignant assent to thy petition, are well pleased that, for the enlargement of the bounds of the church. for the restraint of vice, for the correction of morals and the introduction of virtues, for the advancement of the Christian religion, thou shouldst enter that island, and carry out there the things that look to the honour of God and to its own salvation.

"And may the people of that land receive thee with honour, and venerate thee as their master; provided always that the rights of the churches remain inviolate and entire, and saving to St. Peter and the holy Roman Church the annual pension of one penny from each house.

"If, therefore, thou dost see fit to complete what thou hast conceived in thy mind, strive to imbue that people with good morals, and bring it to pass, as well through thyself as through those whom thou dost know from their faith, doctrine, and course of life to be fit for such a work, that the church may there be adorned, the Christian religion planted and made to grow, and the things which pertain to the honour of God and to salvation be so ordered that thou may'st merit to obtain an abundant and lasting reward from God, and on earth a name glorious throughout the ages. "

.
Christianize this "island of Saints" that was already Christian, after Patrick and other early Christian monks' works? It was already Christian, see http://www.exclassics.com/ceitinn/for57.htm. Just not "Roman" branch.
.
.
3. What was Irish enslavement like.
.
Those who served their indenture then could establish themselves as planters and settlers; with the last shipment of Irish in the 1800's, some 30-80,000 were estimated to have arrived: many in their best clothes, and bringing their habits with them., see the Jamaica Gleaner site. There were also Irish slave owners.

But what was white slavery compared to black? Force may be a matter of semantics; and reflect an ethnic prejudice. We speak of involuntary indentured servitude for whites, but slavery for blacks? Is that so? See http://www.raceandhistory.com/cgi-bin/forum/webbbs_config.pl/noframes/read/1638

4. How was it accomplished.
.
Oliver Cromwell, see http://www.british-civil-wars.co.uk/biog/oliver-cromwell.htm, was Lord Protector of England in 1655 - Article "Green Genes" clipped back in 2000 from a magazine that foolishly does not identify itself on the pages other than JULY/AUGUST 2000 and pages 54-58 (author Mic Moroney - check that - we saved that does not give its title.
.
While we find the source, we are interested that it states that Cromwell demanded this:
.

"a recruite of a thousande men, and a supply of younge Irish girls" and others with no "settled course of industry"

.
to populate the new colonies. Then, two weeks later, he asked his son, then Henry who was Major-General of British forces in Ireland, for 2000 more "young boys and girls" to take the place of 'maroons and negresses' on the slave plantations. Henry, says the article (we are still looking for the original letter) wrote back as to
.

"the younge women, although we must use force in takinge them up, yet it beinge so much for their own goode .. you may have such number as you shall thinke fitt..."

.
I do not see that letter or a response reference at http://www.olivercromwell.org/Letters_and_speeches/letters/Letter_index.htm
.
This objective, however, is supported by a fair use quote from A Concise History of Barbados, by John R. Moore, at http://jonpat.tripod.com/history.html
.

"Barbados had become a destination for military prisoners and Irish natives in the early years of the colony's growth. Oliver Cromwell "barbadosed" any Irish who refused to clear their land, while allowing other Irish to be kidnapped from the streets of Ireland and shipped to Barbados as slaves. Many West Country men were also exiled or "barbadosed" by Judge Jeffreys and were also sold as slaves or indentured servants to British planters, where they lived in slave conditions with no control over the number of years they had to serve.

"The number of "barbadosed" Irish is not exact but estimates vary from as low as 12,000 to as high as 60,000. Persecuted Catholics from Ireland also worked the plantations."
.

Find a bibliography of Irish topics in Latin America at http://www.irlandeses.org/bibliocarib.htm. For surnames, see (Jamaica) http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/jamone.html
.
.

B. St. Patrick - Slave
.
.
Invaders for thousands of years have plucked off slaves from Ireland - Rome included. The Irish and the Norse have a long history in this regard. Norse slaves were booty from raids beginning about the 8th-9th Centuries or so, but also included as a category those debtors who were working off debts, bondsmen, see http://www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/society/text/social_classes.htm/.
.
Saint Patrick himself, born in Britain and Christian, was enslaved at age 16 and sent to Ireland. See http://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/15/opinion/st-patrick-was-a-slave.html. He escaped, went to Europe and ultimately back to his family in Britain (via a pirate ship seven years after?) see http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/03/090316-st-patricks-day-facts.html/ Slavery - a fact of life for millennia.
.
Read the National Geographic article to find how little we know of Patrick, and if he did much of anything at all, and consider the cultural needs of people to embellish, to personify, and the stories grew. Another topic.

.
.
C. Malcolm, the Irish Thrall. Iceland. Slavery in the 900-1100's or so. Icelandic Sagas.
.
.
1. The Icelandic Sagas.

Find an overall database at http://www.sagadb.org. For the Irish connection, look at one Norse saga in particular from Iceland, Burnt Njal's Saga, http://www.sagadb.org/brennu-njals_saga.en. These events transpired at a time that precedes the Norman invasion of Ireland or Strongbow. This is the era of the Viking raiding in Ireland, a tale from Iceland. This is not a story of any raiding, but rather of a community over time in Iceland, occasional trips back to Oslo, but essentially families, fighting, values, persons.
.
Malcolm, a slave or thrall from Ireland, features in the ancient Icelandic Saga, Burnt Njal's Saga.
.
Read The Burnt Njal Saga of Iceland at The Icelandic Saga Database, at http://www.sagadb.org/brennu-njals_saga.en/. Starting at chapter 47, there find Malcolm, a slave or thrall brought from Ireland - remember that the Norse raided and plundered Ireland and other areas for centuries. Here is Malcolm in the list, his part not huge, but memorable in the tale:

Njal was a wise counselor, chief, among other chiefs, legally astute, a pillar who was killed, burned with his family inside their own house, all ruined, by those who had a grudge, insults had accelerated, honor became involved, and revenge, do read it all.
There is another brave but more hotheaded character, Gunnar;
his wife is the conniving Hallgerda; and
Otkell, the rich but greedy man, and
his brother Hallbjorn who owned Malcolm.
and Malcolm, the Irish Thrall
.

The gist:
.
.
2. Malcolm the Irish Thrall did not work well for his master, Hallbjorn. Master may not be the quite-right word, because in those days, the slave worked in a relationship with the owner, and there had to be give and take in the household. These were not plantations.
.
Malcolm and another member of the community, Hallbjorn's brother Otkell, developed a better relationship than Malcolm had with Hallbjorn.
.
So Otkell bought Malcolm from Hallbjorn. Hallbjorn was relieved at that. He scoffed that his brother Otkell was getting no bargain. And sure enough, once bought by Otkell, Malcolm the Thrall started to slack off again.
.
Then it was Otkell who had bought the lemon, who wanted his money's worth. How better than to pass off Malcolm onto someone else. So Otkell targeted and schnockered another member of the community, Gunnar, into buying Malcolm.
.
.
3. Now, Otkell himself was no gem. His behavior shows that Otkell was greedy and tight-fisted, in a culture that required sharing in bad times, for the community to survive, the me-first mentality of Otkell was not respected.
.
Gunnar, on the other hand, had been generous with his stores whenever he had enough for his own household, and some left over to share. He was well respected. He shared with others, he could expect others to share with him if he should need.
.
So when Gunnar, in another season ran out of necessities, he came to Otkell.
.
Otkell himself had plenty. He had enough left over from his own stores, after meeting his own needs, and could well have sold some to Gunnar, and times were hard. Yet he refused to share with Gunnar. A bad play.
.
.
4. Enter Njal, the hero of the overall tale. Njal, community leader by agreement, respected as the good, and the wise, the just. Njal himself then provided hay and meat to Gunnar, earning Gunnar's loyalty; and firming up the disgrace of Otkell.
.
But the story continues with this about Malcolm:
.
.
5. Plot develops.
.
Enter Gunnar's wife, Hallgerda, the wife of the one that Otkell had turned away. She is another fierce figure. She is a saga revenge-seeker.
.
Hallgerda maneuvers Malcolm, now part of hers and Gunnar's household, into going back to Otkell's house and stealing food and burning the storehouse, and threatens him with death if he will not obey. Chapter 48.

6. What is a poor slave to do?
.
Malcolm does as he is directed (he is only a thrall) and steals from Otkell, but he is found out. Here it gets interesting as to consequences. There is much ado about not punishing Malcolm or Hallgerda, but resolving the matter with monetary awards, negotiated. And that is done. No incarceration, no execution. Just pay, and pay.

7. The law appears to be a civil one: make the injured party whole again by taking money from the evil-doer, but don't incarcerate or execute. Not clear, but that is how it looks.
.
Sagas are a window into cultural practices, beliefs. Note that in Njal's Saga, the justice system of the Norse was not an eye for an eye, but a value compensation placed on goods and lives.There was no moralizing about an injustice - just pay out. Is ours any better where we impose religious right and wrong by divine edict on people?
.
This Thrall Malcolm is not the same as the Scots king Malcolm, of the same name, see Chapter 82.

Limerick. LImerick City. Hanratty's Hotel and Che Guevara, Guest

2010-09-15T11:58:00.003-04:00

Limerick

Limerick - with Shannon airport nearby - dates from the old hunter-gatherers 3000 years ago, and began as a town under the Vikings. See http://www.answers.com/topic/history-of-limerick/
.

Hanratty's Hotel, Limerick, Ireland
.

Hanratty's Hotel is on Glentworth Street. Limerick's oldest, and advertising itself as a "commercial" hotel -- business travelers, not tourist-catering. It is so old that the floors are tilty. Hold on. Stairs are deeply hollowed.
.
There is a very dark pub. Excellent. The hotel is on a side street, with its stable areas nearby. Ride right in.
.
In 1965, Che Guevara (1928-1967) and friends were there and, the story is told, they put shamrocks on their heads. See the politician section at http://experts.about.com/e/i/ir/Irish_diaspora.htm for Che Guevara at Hanratty's. See http://limerick.1802.net/che-guevara-at-hanrattys-hotel-limerick-ireland/.

Ernesto Che Guevara - see biography at http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/chebio.htm. A hero to some, despicable to others, his fight against injustice itself bordered on the unjust, but his talents - working in hospital, a photographer, a philosopher, an incendiary, anti-imperialist.

Why do we object to others calling western economic and political influence "imperialism", a pejorative that probably is accurate: when empires are being built to the detriment of the indigenous people. We call out "jihad" when others try to spread their beliefs by force. But many in the west see religious forced conversions as merely the proper spread of the right religion.

Che. We hardly knew ye, and who has a balanced view. See

http://time.com/time/time100/heroes/profile/guevara01.html.
.
Logistics at the hotel: Where to park? Drive around to the big double swing doors leading to an inner stables and courtyard, the old horse and carriage area, through the archway and through the alleyway to the old stables.

Technorati Profile

Limerick. Bunratty Castle, County Limerick

2010-08-16T20:20:00.001-04:00

Limerick's Bunratty Castle

Bunratty: For the indigenous Irish in 1275, a disaster. For the Normans, who displaced them thanks to the Earl of Clare, it was a bonanza. But the O'Briens and the MacNamaras fought back against the Clares, winning the area back and rebuilding Bunratty for themselves. See http://www.travelsinireland.com/castle/bunratty.htm; and http://www.guide-to-castles-of-europe.com/bunratty-castle.html

Plan to fly into Shannon Airport at Limerick early in the morning, so there will be a full day available ahead. Early also means a better choice of the rental cars - even if supposedly reserved in advance. Bunratty is on the route north, just past the airport area.

Bunratty Castle, Limerick, Ireland

It is a perfect first stop, and a breather from driving on the left.

See http://shannonheritage.com/Bunratty_Day.htm/. There had been an older Viking site there.

It is reconstructed and furnished, with guides and an outside village "folk park" area with the cottages and peat fires.
.
There are medieval banquets at Bunratty if you are there at the right time. You can see huge pieces of furniture salvaged from the wrecked Spanish armada, see http://bunrattycollection.com/search.php?r=7". There are elk horns as wide as a small room. See them at http://tourismireland.igougo.com/photogallery/displayFeaturePhoto.asp?ID=200159. See shades of animals gone.

We were there before it opened, and a guide took us through anyway. His comment: Fairst oop, baist draist, meaning, "First up, best dressed". That is an old cottage saying -- the one first up gets first choice of the closet.
First up, best dressed. First come, first served.

Limerick. ADARE. Tree 10; Gravestone 2. History of Ireland

2010-08-15T16:06:00.005-04:00

Adare, Limerick
Monastic Traditions, Before and After Augustinian Reforms

Ruins, ruins. How to place any of them in a chronology that makes sense. We found this site, and in laying out the ecclesiastical and political highlights here, use it, among other sources: Prize for best Irish history --go to New York's Channel 13, broadcasting, timeline at http://www.wnet.org/pressroom/release.php?get=106

1. Ruins -- Ecclesiastical Ireland. Adare's Friary is an example

We were here on our return to Shannon airport, but include it with the rest of Limerick, where we began.

Adare, Ireland, Franciscan Friary, tree eating gravestone, golf course

Time always wins. Humans who pit themselves against Nature and The Trees have a heavy lift.

2. Adare as part of the Roman Christian Gregorian Reforms, the era after 1100 AD or so

Ireland's ecclesiastical ruins may look alike, but their eras, and what they signify, differ: Christianity was not all of one cloth. Irish engaged Christianity their way first, before Rome came along after its split with the Eastern Christians, the Orthodox. Irish Christianity, think St. Patrick, St. Finnian. Their examples led to the monastic, contemplative, individualistic, creative phase to, say, 1100. With Gregorian Reforms on the Continent; and the jurisdiction of Rome being asserted with its administrations and armies and Holy Roman Emperors, enforcements and regimentation became more important. And there was no longer choice. That seems to be broadly true.

The 11th Century Gregorian Reforms turned the face of Christianity from withdrawing from the world, the deeply meditative, the deeply spiritual ascetic; to a new philosophy. Get out there and change the world; or, in the alternative, become a monk and totally live within the monastery, no or little contact with the outside world; and only with strict permissions and limits.

"The Gregorian reform encourages the practice of Christian warfare in the pursuit of providing 'right order in the world' and establishes religious enthusiasm in all of Christendom."

See http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/timeline%20gregorian%20reform.htm, Timeline entry at 1073 AD.

The Reforms were an outgrowth and furtherance of the mindset and regulations of Charlemagne in establishing the Holy Roman Empire on the Continent, in 802 AD, but with authority and jurisdiction more strongly in the Pope, not the Emperor. Is that so? See http://historymedren.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=historymedren&cdn=education&tm=15&gps=209_11_1366_564&f=00&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/bullad.htm

So what? What difference does that make to Ireland, and this friary?

It makes a difference because the Pope's increasing militance and crusades and moneyraising and identity forging on the Continent led directly to the invasion of the Anglo Normans in Ireland, and they never left.

Look back, as you think of the tree of the papacy overcoming over time even the very stones that leaned on it for support.

Pope Adrian IV, in 1155, issued a Bull authorizing King Henry of England to invade Ireland to shape it up according to Roman Church (HRE) standards. Why?

1. Not only did Henry want this power in his pocket, he and the Pope both had money to be made. In exchange for the permission, the Pope got well paid, very well paid. The "Laudibiliter" provided for a king of tax to be paid to him, per capita, see http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/adrianiv.htmlSee http://www.fordham.edu/Halsall/source/geraldwales1.asp

2. But Henry had been himself petitioned by one Dermot, a king in Ireland, for help to get his lands back, from those who deposed him, after his affair with a lovely lady someone else's wife, is that so?

So, invasion authorized, an instigating event was very human indeed, it fit the Pope and the English King to indulge, and so they did. What a change, for Christianity and the world because the new Christianity was a totally different entity, as a centralized, power institution.

Irish Christianity had been decentralized, its monasteries contemplative even if they did compete with each other and engage in raiding in early years. See it and comment at http://historymedren.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=historymedren&cdn=education&tm=15&gps=209_11_1366_564&f=00&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/medieval/bullad.htm.

Henry did so some 16 years later, launching the Anglo-Norman invasion of this nation. In came Roman regimentation, regulations and rules, back in the 1100's. And, of course, Henry paid the Church for the privilege, an ongoing income stream to the Pope's coffers in exchange for the Bull. FN 1

Back to Adare.

So, this old stone, now overwelmed, is on the grounds of a Franciscan Friary, not in the early tradition of contemplation and dedication, but built by the Earl of Kildare 1464-1466, a building that was part of the institutional sweep after the age of isolated monastic activities, see http://www.discoverireland.ie/Arts-Culture-Heritage/adare-franciscan-friary/49921. The date of the stone itself? Have to go back.

Christianity never recovered from this infusion of Rome's ecclesiastical authoritarian religious zeal - enter the crusades, the Northern Crusades against the people of the north of Europe, the Middle East. Certainly no recovery for the side of Christianity that early Irish Christians and others had pursued, then who found themselves righteously invaded by papal armies and the like. 1096-1099 AD, for example.

The First Crusade. It succeeded and Jerusalem was taken and Latin areas were established in the East (which?). And, meanwhile, the Normans (who, the lords in Wales we now find. had been invading Ireland here and there on their own, even before Henry) then followed through in their aid to Dermot and invaded smartly, see http://historymedren.about.com/gi/o.htm?zi=1/XJ&zTi=1&sdn=historymedren&cdn=education&tm=3921&gps=161_9_1366_564&f=00&tt=14&bt=0&bts=0&zu=http%3A//www.britannia.com/history/docs/giraldus.html

Nothing is simple. What causes what? History of the Anglo - Norman Invasion of Ireland.

This step backward from religion into militance authorizing , was introduced earlier as well: permission to kill unbelievers or whoever else without penalty did not start with Adrian.

a. Pope Leo IV, http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/leo4-ind850.aspin 850 granted the indulgence to the Franks, Pope John in 878, a few years after Charlemagne's "crusades" against the northern people of Europe, massacre at Sachsenhain in 872 est.

b. Pope John VIII, see http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/john2-ind878.asp; If you die in these battles, you will have eternal life, your sins forgiven. -

c. Read Pope Urban - "All who die by the way, whether by land or by sea, or in battle against the pagans, shall have immediate remission of sins". See http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/urban2-5vers.asp.

We still live with the 3 conditions that make murder permissible --

So the policy evolved. Killling is fine, indulgences for the killer, dispensation, forgiveness of sins, eternal life --

" * * * the introduction of a new ideology of Christian warfare in which wars undertaken --

1) under the authority of the pope,

2) for the protection or in defense of the Church and Christianity, and

3) under a solemn vow would be regarded by the Church as meritorious acts akin to pilgrimages and earn the participants indulgences (remission of the temporal penalties of sin)."

See http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/timeline%20gregorian%20reform.htm

The Irish Christians had, however, not been totally peacable among themselves; and inter-monastery raiding was not uncommon. Also, the Irish themselves raided the monasteries. See http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/fitzpatrick.htm

It is time to put violence in perspective. The Vikings have been long maligned. They were not the first at all to find the vulnerability of monasteries and churches. And the Roman Christian policy of invasion and murder at home and abroad if the target does not subject himself or herself to the Pope's law, makes the Vikings look like nursery school, is that so?

Does anyone care any more? Irish history, old stuff.
Now all of that, representing the New Ecclesiastical Enforcement Order, is a ruin surrounded by a golf course. There is another "Trinitarian" Monastery from 1293 noted at http://www.myguideireland.com/adare-heritage-centre-and-desmond-castle-tour, the "White Abbey" because monks wore white robes; that may have signified Cistercians, see http://www.sacred-destinations.com/reference/cistercians. It later the was known as the"Black Abbey" when it became Benedictine (Augustinian?) and the monks wore black robes.

Are these at this White-Black friary one and the same or different from this Franciscan Friary? Ireland's ruins have more to say than that. So much of history is lost with such brief references.

.......................
FN 1 When did these large ecclesiastical Orders come to Ireland? It wasn't until 1100 AD.

Christianity was well-established in Ireland without the Roman overlay. Did creativity stop with the overlay? See the chronology:

3. EARLY HISTORY OF ECCLESIASTICAL IRELAND

Pre-700.

432 AD. Christianity comes to Ireland, through Patrick? See the timeline at http://www.wnet.org/pressroom/release.php?get=106. Patrick dies 492, but leaves documentation in form of a letter and other items

550-650 AD. Irish monasticism, a rural, highly varied expression of Christianity, expands and flowers

563 AD - Columcille, known as St. Columba, founds the monastery at Iona, and it becomes a focal point for outreach, Christian missionary work in Scotland and elsewhere in Europe

700 AD - Many monasteries become very large, wealthy and influential; Armagh as the center of Irish Christianity; Ui Niall becomes High King, and Armagh set as center of Irish Christianity and civil culture

794 AD - first Viking raids -- but this does not disrupt Irish Christianity because starting years before, the monasteries were being raided by other Irish, for their wealth, and also raided by other monasteries. http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/fitzpatrick.htm

800 AD - flowering of Irish scholarship, in Ireland and Europe much sought after, even by Charlemagne

820-847 AD - Bishop of Cashel raids other monasteries and attacks other abbots (he is Feidlimid Mac Crimthainn and he is also the King of Munster) in an effort to get Ui Niall off the throne and become High King

841 - Vikings settle in Dublin, make alliances with some Kings; raid and settle at Wexford, Waterford, Limerick.

941 - Brian Boru becomes King, focuses power much as European Kings had earlier

976 - King Brian Boru routs the Vikings from Limerick

1014 - Brian is killed at Clontarf near Dublin, and go on to modern times at http://www.wnet.org/pressroom/release.php?get=106

1054 - Great Schism -- Rome was now on its own, had to build up authority

"Schism between Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox Churches over 1) the Patriarch’s refusal to recognize the primacy of the Pope, and 2) question of the nature of the Trinity (“filioque” controversy). Humbert of Silva Candida excommunicates Patriarch Michael; Michael responds by excommunicating Humbert and Pope Leo IX (who had died three months earlier, which was not then known in Constantinople)" Fair use, from http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/timeline%20gregorian%20reform.htm

4. The "Reform" (read "Dictatorship") of the Irish Church by Rome

So when was it that the early Christians were "reformed" by the Roman Catholics? Read the timeline -- http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/timeline%20gregorian%20reform.htm

Note that the coming of early monks sent by Augustine monks (Augustinians as an Order did not arrive until the 1200's, see http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac70.)

This signaled "reforms" ordered by the Roman Church as to the wayward, individualist and compassionate loose-organization of the early Irish Christians. Monasteries did indeed improve agriculture, provide for scriptoria to preserve and copy books, but they also found "last rites" as a sacrament an ideal way to get property -- How rich did they then become? " In England they owned one fifth of all its cultivable land." Nice. See http://www.metanexus.net/magazine/ArticleDetail/tabid/68/id/10539/Default.aspx

Earlier monasteries had wealth, see the raids by other monasteries and abbots and other Irish as to the earlier structures, http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/fitzpatrick.htm, but nothing like the wealth that was possible for the church now through the "reforms."

5. The power of discipline, conformity

Find the rules of differing Orders:

Read the Rule of St. Benedict at http://www.osb.org/rb/text/toc.html At what cost was that regimentation, how like political dictatorships as to individual thought? Is that so?

The sensory deprivation of living in cells, minimal diet, and sleep deprivation of up to do services on rigid schedules, "rules" - today we would call the process brainwashing.

Compare the Rule of St. Francis at http://www.osb.org/rb/text/toc.html. Somewhat more humana, but still not representing the pre-Augustinian reform Christianity in Ireland. Now, which Order would the Tea Party support?

6. ROMAN CATHOLIC REFORM PERIOD IN IRELAND 1100-DATE

1098 A.D. - Cistercian monastic order founded on the Continent, see http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/timeline%20gregorian%20reform.htm

Cistercian Rule: Strict obedience to the Benedictine Rule (need to clarify);

"separation from secular influence (no peasants serving the monastery;
rather lay brothers--peasants in orders, who served God by manual labor.)
Simplicity--churches and other buildings unadorned and undecorated; crucifixes only of cheap, plain material--no gold and silver ornamentation.
Accepted only uncultivated land.
Refused oblates.
Had to be 16 to become a monk."

See entry 1098 at http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/timeline%20gregorian%20reform.htm

1100 A.D. -- Rome begins a propaganda effort against the Irish Christians. On the continent, Gregory (the Gregorian Reforms ) change the Church into a mold controlled by Rome. All this is summarized from the chronology at http://www.wnet.org/pressroom/release.php?get=106. No more independence to be tolerated as to the Irish Church

1113 A.D. - Cistercian Order acquires vast new properties under Bernard de Clairvaux. Number of houses grew from 5 to 393 at the time of his death in 1153. In 1143, Cistercians come to Ireland.
.

c. 1100 - 1150 A.D. -- The Diocesan model arrives to control Irish Christianity. Irish Christianity had focused on a family-owned system, and that now begins to die out -- and with it, the unique spirituality of the Irish Church. Enter Rules, firm Creeds, regulations, inclusions, exclusions. Control. Jurisdiction by Rome.

1142 A.D. -- Cistercians come to County Meath. Now starts the influx of monastic Orders from the Continent to finish the job: Cistercians at Mellifont, County Meath, are first.

1152 A.D. -- Synod of Kells. A new diocesan form is imposed on the Irish church, with the installation of four archbishops. Hierarchy, hierarchy. And, from here on, women are barred from holding title of "bishop" and there are no more hereditary successions. Celibacy is imposed as well and required for ordination. These measures were already in effect on the Continent.

As an aside "Dermot MacMurrough, King of Leinster, abducts Dervorgilla, the wife of Tiernan Ua Ruairc. Dermot and Dervorgilla are said to be lovers and the whole of Ireland learns of the affair much to Ua Ruairc's embarrassment." See Thirteen site.

1155 A.D. -- Invasion.

Pope Adrian IV is the only Pope to be from England, and he issues a "bull" allowing Henry II the King to invade Ireland to ensure Irish conformity to Roman church rule. Henry does so later, when it is more convenient as to his other wars.

c. 1160s A.D. -- Back to the scandal. Dermot the abductor wants to be High King, but so might his rival Rory O'Connor. Rory wins out. He was allied with the cuckold, Ua Ruairc, and Ua Rairc seeks revenge and manages to get Dermot removed as King in Leinster.

1167 A.D. -- Dermot runs to Henry II for help, and Henry II sends an army to help Dermot get his Kingship back in Leinster. The Anglo-Normans accordingly arrive, and do not go home again. First the invitation, then the invasion. Fine excuse, blessed by the Pope.

1175 A.D. -- King Henry II sets up his son John as Lord of Ireland. The pope, Alexander III (Adrian died when?) agrees. John then ascends to the English throne and incorporates the title of Lord of Ireland into the English monarchy. Ireland comes under the authority of the English crown.

And the centuries-old conflict begins.

........

Thirteen/WNET New York see : www.thirteen.org.

We came on this ruin without use of guidebook. Take back roads rather than the motorways. Find the many ruins, old churches, castles. Free to roam. No guardrails usually, just a sign saying to be careful.

See http://limerickdioceseheritage.org/Adare/textAdare.htm.

It is easy to find Roman Catholic sites on the later holy places, after their dominance was assured, here is one that begins with 1100 AD, http://earlychristianireland.org/index.html. Or http://www.middle-ages.org.uk/medieval-monks.htm.

Our interest, however, is with the "reforms" required by the Romans when they subjugated the existing Christians in Ireland. Celtic Ireland is also easy to find, see http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/pre_norman_history/iron_age.html.

Go to http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac70 There find accounts of the charisma of early founders of the monasteries, most now remembered as saints. Is it so that the Great Saints, those beyond mere founding of monastic orders but in hearts of the faithful, those predating 700 in Ireland. Those great saints predate the Roman reform programs,

St. Finnian in Meath and his monastery, Clonard.
St. Ciaran who founded Clonmacnois, on the Shannon River,
St. Brendan, founding Clonfort (Galway). And
St. Columba, Columcille, who then went to Scotland, in 563, to Iona. Lindisfarne was an offshoot, off Northumberland. And
St. Patrick.

The greatest saints predate the Roman Catholic imposition. Is that so? And the greatest illumination of manuscripts similarly predating the institutional monastic movements, the Book of Kells in 800; the Lindisfarne Gospels in 700, the the Book of Durrow in 650.

Illuminated manuscripts: 7th - 11th century AD

Irish monks of the 7th and 8th century create illuminated manuscripts which are among the greatest treasures of Celtic and early Christian art.

Read more: http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac70#ixzz1XUAZn4m3

Human interest in graveyards: It is reflected in all the words used to find them. See hundreds of words/synonyms for a graveyard, including Poe's 100- at http://www.houseofusher.net/graveyar.html.

Clare. NEAR GALWAY - Thatching

2010-08-14T13:32:00.000-04:00

The Thatched Roof

There are still thatched roofs, big houses, little houses, but we saw more and more regular tile used for roofing. Here is a large home, thatched roof, with the stone structure plastered and whitewashed.

Thatch turned out to be good against weather, but bad against those seeking to evict the inhabitants of the house. Thatch could be used for concealing items of value, leading the overlords and others to set fire to the place. One reason for burning poor renters out of their houses during the clearances in Ireland and Scotland years ago, see http://rootsweb.com/%7Epictou/clearncs.htm, was to access any bits of gold or other valuables. Occasionally as well, perhaps the insects and rodents up there required a redo.

Scots and Irish have been intermingling back and forth since the 5-7th centuries, says the site. Mc and Mac alone did not denote which was which, and the Irish were the more ancient. Read of the race of Dalraida, Irish, at this Scottish site, http://www.heartoscotland.com/Categories/History2.htm

County Clare, Cottage, thatched roof, near Galway, Ireland

Thatching is a live industry. Find thatching techniques and instruction at http://thatch.org/.

Thatching is also available in US for new home construction. See http://thatching.com/faq.html for thatching in North America. It is more popular in the UK, see http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/thatchrf/thatchrf.htm.

Clare, THE BURREN, County Clare

2010-08-14T08:15:00.000-04:00

The Burren

The Burren is a national park, the name deriving from "boireann" or rocky place, see http://www.burrennationalpark.ie/history.html. It is a conservation area, with a farming community, and covers some 200 sq mi (250 sq km). Have a full tank before starting out, and if you find a place to eat at a crossroads, enjoy a little meat pie.

Everybody quotes Cromwell's Officer Ludlow in 1651 who is said to have said, “... [O]of this barony it is said that it is a country where there is not water enough to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury them. This last is so scarce that the inhabitants steal it from one another and yet their cattle are very fat. The grass grows in tufts of earth of two or three foot square which lies between the limestone rocks and is very sweet and nourishing.”

An Irish barony is a county subdivision, perhaps of Norman origin, but no longer part of local government, see http://www.irishtimes.com/ancestor/browse/records/land/barony.htm

The Burren, County Clare, Ireland

From Limerick, going north toward Galway, drive at random off through the Burren, this kind of barren moonscape - there is always a crossroads somewhere and a pub with good food and directions.
The Burren is an unexpected rocky, fantastic in the sense of storied, place. See historical folklore and map at http://clarelibrary.ie/eolas/coclare/places/the_burren/the_burren.htm. This is a stop-often and walk-around place. There are tiny flowers in the limestone rock cracks, a rabbit or two. Stop at the town of Ballyvaughan for old-time views. Find a Burren musical site at http://moytura.com/burren.htm.

It is often lumped with Connemara as to tours, see two cyclists doing it at http://www.dochara.com/places-to-visit/scenic-places/the-burren/

This would be an excellent geo-tourism site because of the geological sites and attractions. See book "Geotourism" by Ross Dowling at http://elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/706060/description#description. It was widely inhabited in the Stone Age, becoming less hospitable to human life as time passed. The limestone dissolves, creating cracks and crevices, where some soil can land, and a plant take hold. See the geological and human history at http://www.dochara.com/places-to-visit/scenic-places/the-burren/

Galway, GORT, Yeats' home, Norman tower, County Galway. Thoor Ballylee

2010-08-13T23:37:00.001-04:00

Thoor Ballylee, Gort.
County Galway

Tower Home of William Butler Yeats

Gort, Thoor Ballylee, Ireland, Yeats' Norman Tower home

Gort is a little town is some 22 miles south of the town of Galway, on the road from Shannon Airport. William Butler Yeats made his home here, in a Norman tower; Coole Park is within a few miles, where Lady Gregory welcomed leaders of the Irish literary revival, see
The Normans arrived in Ireland in 1169, and at first ensconced themselves in the "motte and bailey" fortification, a created hill, with a timber dwelling at top, to house folk while the lower stockade was built for defense. Soon this kind of structure was abandoned, in favor of the stone tower, the tower house. See http://www.ballybegvillage.com/tower_houses.html They are seen all over Ireland, many, like this, still in use or museums. There are several kinds of basic floor plans; and with the lack of a centralized government for so long, these were good defense against both Irish and English -- the Normans frequently slid to the Irish-sympathizer side, becoming the Anglo-Normans "Irish-ified."
.

Yeats lived with his wife and family in this Norman Tower at Gort, between Limerick and Galway. Its formal name is Thoor Ballylee.

There is a little sign on the road. It is furnished and a fine display. One room per floor, up and up. Is the side area part of an original L-shaped plan, or added? Usually there was a celler, a main floor, and two floors of living areas above. In the 12-14th centuries, the scale became larger, not smaller with a reduced risk of attack, and for status reasons. Then, in the 15th and 16th centuries, the stress again was put on defense. See the Detail Tower House site.

More on Yeats at Gort at http://all-ireland.com/attractions/t/thoor-ballylee.htm. See also http://gort.galway-ireland.ie/thoor-ballylee.htm

Galway. ARAN ISLANDS, County Galway

2010-08-13T03:31:00.002-04:00

Aran Islands

Galway
.

Geology, archeology, history, culture.

1. The Aran Islands were formed some 350 million years ago, of a kind of limestone that erodes in patterns, producing a terracing. Once there were forests, and the erosions accelerated as the root systems died. See http://www.historyofcuba.com/history/chebio.htm. The islands have long been a center for fishing cultures; and agriculture in carefully tended stone-walled areas. Take a ferry to get there.
.
Aran Islands, Ireland, horse

2. For a sense of the culture that developed here, read The Aran Islands, by John M. Synge, book first published in 1907.

Synge lived with cottagers on the different islands, a project encouraged by William Butler Yeats who had also visited there. It is a Project Gutenberg book at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4381. Synge had a brief but brilliant literary career, including major works as a playwright, and he died in 1909. See http://www.theatrehistory.com/irish/synge001.html.
.
Film: See the 1934 film, "Man of Aran," from your library or video store for the best traditional overview. See http://www.iol.ie/%7Egalfilm/filmwest/19aran.htm; or http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025456/; or http://www.irishfilm.net/blurbs/MOA.html.
.
Some literature shows a darker side to this west coast, rugged area.
.
Lunar and vast, to the casual visitor. See playwright Martin McDonagh, http://www.angrianan.com/lwauthor.html. Find a life and letters review in New Yorker 3/6/2006a t p. 40 ff. He presents a "savage world" -- plays include trilogies including

"The Cripple of Inishmaan,"
"The Lonesome West," and
"A Skull in Connemara." Compare the amorality and anarchy, miscreants and misfits (terms used in the review) to earlier - and now. Any difference in people anywhere? "The Lieutenant of Inishmore" and its premiere at the Atlantic Theater Company, New Yorker 3/13/2006 at page 92ff.

.
Connemara - when you return, see tourist sides at http://www.connemara.net; and at http://www.moytura.com/connemara.htm"> Connemara photos, history.
.
Of particular interest is the number of stories, ballads, poems, ditties, how the threshing and other survival tasks were done, customs, written down as recalled, the references to the Black Irish (Spanish, even Middle Eastern heritage, an emigration long ago?) and a local of that heritage; the costume of the women, bright red full skirts with petticoats so that the skirt could be pulled over the head for shelter in bad weather.

3. There is reliance on the steamers from the mainland weekly, managing the curaghs (local fishing craft), see one at http://www.artsheaven.com/frank-mckelvey-a-large-curragh-of-the-aran-island-type.html; and references to Spanish or other southern cultures in some architectural elements. We know that off-island mariners came, settled, or were wrecked or were washed up on Western Ireland through the centuries. Now, there are also planes.

4. Practicalities. Where to get soil when the topography is limestone? By hand. Mix sand, seaweed, manure and fish meal. Presto. Soil. Build walls - a natural with all the stone - to mark boundaries and also baffle the wind.

The Irish Aran Islands, off Galway, are different from the large Isle of Arran off Scotland, at the Firth of Clyde. Find Arran Island at http://www.visitarran.net/ Read The Book of Arran, an extensive history and recording of folklore of Arran Island by W. M. MacKenzie from 1914. Find it online, second volume at http://www.archive.org/stream/cu31924091786255/cu31924091786255_djvu.txt/. The Norse ruled here, on Arran, for centuries, until the 1300's when Scotland ascended.

5. Migrations, visitors. Remnants of other visitors: perhaps Norse, although that tradition is stronger on the mainland or islands between Ireland and Scotland, toward Norway.

Skarfaklettar = cormorant cliffs (skarfr, pi. skarfar, gen. pi. skarfa = cormorant. Klettar = cliffs). That name appears on Arran, but perhaps not on Aran.

Cormorant: nests on shaley cliffs.

Gaelic for cormorant is close: Sgarbh. The Danish for cormorant is Skarv. The Swedish and Norwegian (both) is Storskarv. Icelandic: Dilaskarfur. O, Great Cormorant. Appearing in so many languages in recognizable forms. History is always with us. But in Irish, Broigheall. See http://blx1.bto.org/birdfacts/results/bob720.htm. Irish Gaelic: see http://www.omniglot.com/writing/irish.htm

Scariff Island, An Scairbh is much farther south. The author of the comment there is unclear as to the name origin. Cormorants and other roots in Norse, sir, Norse. http://mountainviews.ie/summit/1000/comment/6435/

.Vikings indeed were here on Aran: they raided St. Cierans Monastery in the 9th Century (was the sudden Viking violence in response to Charlemagne's forced conversions and slaughter of Saxons in 782? See http://germanyroadways.blogspot.com/2011/02/sachsenhain-saxons-grove-charlemagnes.html. For the bus offerings inland on Aran, see http://www.dunaonghastours.com/aran_islands_bus_tour/aran_islands_tour.html. See the ruins.

If the Vikings did not stay to settle here, however, it is unlikely that their names survive. There are cormorants here, however, and the viking name for cormorant was skarfr or some variation. See http://www.flickr.com/photos/sheeptravel/4885794424/

6. Language. Linguistically, Gaelic has borrowed both words from the Norsemen. Scarf is used for cormorant in Orkney and Shetland also. But Gaelic is more spoken here than on the mainland, or used to be before the tourism.

"Irish (Gaelic) and English are the two official languages of Ireland. Irish is a Celtic (Indo-European) language, part of the Goidelic branch of insular Celtic (as are Scottish Gaelic and Manx). Irish evolved from the language brought to the island in the Celtic migrations between the sixth and the second century B.C.E.Despite hundreds of years of Norse and Anglo-Norman migration, by the sixteenth century Irish was the vernacular for almost all of the population of Ireland. The subsequent Tudor and Stuart conquests and plantations (1534–1610), the Cromwellian settlement (1654), the Williamite war (1689–1691), and the enactment of the Penal Laws (1695) began the long process of the subversion of the language."

Fair use quote. See http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Ireland.html Read more: Culture of Ireland - history, people, clothing, traditions, women, beliefs, food, customs, family http://www.everyculture.com/Ge-It/Ireland.html#ixzz1XNmY6CsY

7. Sense of the remote. Arrive by ferry, and leave the car behind. See http://www.visitaranislands.com/acc.html for directions, schedules.

We see that there is now a restaurant on a nearby, smaller Aran Island, on Inis Mean, and rooms are available. See article, "Fresh and Wild," by Nicholas Lander, at Financial Times October 22-October 23, 2011 at Life and Arts section p. 7 http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/2ef67046-f9de-11e0-9c26-00144feab49a.html#axzz1faevIbP7,

But -- yet again -- first see the film, Man of Aran, 1934, at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025456/. Also at http://www.irishfilm.net/blurbs/MOA.html

8. Commerce. Aran sweaters: The people there are famous for their patterned sweaters, but whether or not those identified drowned bodies washing ashore is unclear. See http://www.irishcultureandcustoms.com/AEmblem/Sweaters.html, now much copied. Find sample patterns at http://melbel.hubpages.com/hub/Aran-Sweaters.
Best purchase: Connemara socks. Wool. All sorts and mixes and colors. All over and at the airports.

9. Vicissitudes. Our walking was limited by the mad-cow scare (we had to stay on the paths, and could not even go inland) but that left plenty to do on the roads. See http://bamjam.net/Ireland/Aran.html.

Mayo. WESTPORT. COUNTY MAYO. Westport, Croach Patrick, County Mayo

2010-08-11T13:08:00.004-04:00

Westport. County Mayo.
Map of Modern Counties

Ancient History; and Early Irish Ecclesiastical History
Ruins

This old map, 1998, shows the counties of the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland as part of the United Kingdom. Northern Ireland remains a constituent part of the United Kingdom. See the history of Northern Ireland and "the Troubles" at http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/recent/troubles/

.

1. Ancient history in Mayo

The far west of Ireland is away from the fancies of Dublin, across moonlike rock scapes. Mayo is a county with vestiges of Mesolithic prehistory (people arrived in Ireland about 7000 BCE). Hunters. See archeological sites, and an overview at http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/Mayo/History/FullHist.htm/.
Fast forward to 4000 BCE, the Neolithic. A mere 3000 years. An agricultural people. Potters. Weavers. Burying their dead in large tombs. Then the Bronze Age, 200-400 BCE. It still is there.

2. Common sight. Celtic cross on the graves.

There are so many. How do people bury their dead. Go back to the prehistory. Tombs in the Bronze Age came in four forms. Find them pictured and discussed at http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/seanchlocha1.htm#court

court-tombs: standing stones around an uncovered kind of plaza or central area,
passage-tombs: a gallery
portal tombs: a doorway perhaps into a hill area
wedge-tombs --

Those forms eventually, as religions evolved and cultures melded, into a Celtic Cross. A look at the mapping and outlines shows the elements.

"In the literature on archaeology, Irish megalithic tombs are divided in four classes: court-tombs, portal tombs, passage-tomb and wedge-tombs, each style named after its chief diagnostic feature. Each class of tomb probably represents a new major colonisation of the country by different groups of tomb-builders. The remains of some megalithic tombs are so badly damaged that they can not be accurately identified by type and are consequently recorded as unclassified megalithic tombs. Examples of all types decorate the Mayo landscape."

Fair use from a fine site, http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/Mayo/History/FullHist.htm/

Westport, County Mayo, Ireland, church ruins

Around Westport:

On the back roads are many ruins of old churches with Celtic crosses, and rooms, and even artifacts. Celtic design is still used, see http://www.celtarts.com/symbolism.htm.

The earliest Irish Christian Church was independent until the emerging Roman branch asserted supremacy in 664 at the Council of Whitby (the dispute was the "correct" date of Easter, a kind of artificial precision the early Irish Christians could have cared less about). The real incursion of the Roman branch came much later, in the 1100's after the Roman Christian church had split with the Eastern Orthodox in 1054, see http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Great_Schism. This newly on-its-own institution had to firm up its identity, get converts, establish power, get money, etc. It aimed at Ireland after substantial success on the Continent with papal armies, Charlemagne, and starting the motivational crusades.

This site is wrong: http://www.netplaces.com/irish-history/roman-catholic-church-in-ireland/before-the-reformation.htm. All was not uniformly under the jurisdiction of Rome since the start. The Irish Christians were largely independent of Rome until Rome moved in with rules, monastic orders from the continent, established dioceses and archbishops for control, and barred many of the practices of the older Irish churches and monasteries. See, e.g., http://homepage.eircom.net/~cashelemly/acesaint.htm

Saint Patrick's cult blooms, 680 or so. See timelines at http://goireland.about.com/od/historyculture/qt/Irish-History-The-Middle-Ages-From-The-Synod-Of-Whitby-To-Dermot-Mcmurrough.htm.

With Charlemagne's slaughter of the Saxons at Sachsenhain in about 782, and forced conversions with papal armies in tow, the Norse began attacking Christian institutions, monasteries. See timelines for a vast range of history at http://goireland.about.com/od/historyculture/qt/Irish-History-A-Short-Timeline.htm.

The Vikings were not the first to do so, however. Others had long found easy pickings at the monasteries: monasteries had been raiding monasteries, indigenous Irish had been raiding monasteries, warring was not uncommon among abbots, etc. for at least a hundred years before the Vikings, see http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/fitzpatrick.htm

3. Ruins, ruins.

So the causes of specific ruins being ruined is not clear. Vikings, other religious unrest, Cromwell, disinterest, famine years, the uprooting of the peasants, the clearances. Many possibilities. As you wander through, take care. There are no barriers to just going in. And no protections once there. Watch your step, no railings, see your own crumbles before you step.

4. The area thrives on St. Patrick. See the life of this patron saint, and acknowledgement of cultural exaggerations, at http://www.history.com/topics/who-was-saint-patrick. See more on St. Patrick at http://irish.spike-jamie.com/stpatricksday.html. This site also has music.

St. Patrick is said to have climbed the mountain known as Croach Patrick there. It is a place of pilgrimage - St. Patrick in 441 is said to have been there for 40 days. We did not climb up, but it is only two hours. Many do it barefoot. See Mt. Croach at http://www.sacredsites.com/europe/ireland/mt_croach.html/

Mayo. WESTPORT, COUNTY MAYO. Westport: Magic, Sacred or Healing Wells, and springs - hawthorn

2010-08-10T08:12:00.006-04:00

Westport, Mayo

Healing Well

"Rag Tree"

Explaining the inexplicable. The human endeavor.

Sacred well. Westport, County Mayo, Ireland. Healing Well

Magic, and sacred, areas remain from old traditions. There are places where later religions, like the early Irish Christians, or the later Roman Christians taking over the earlier religious places, some being Celtic. Although the new put the imprimatur of a new faith and name on an old sacred place, or new miracles or healings were said to occur there, the old remains are there. See Celtic Mysteries, The Ancient Religion, by John Sharkey 1975 (US). Find there traces of even older spiritual and cultural sources, India for example, linked linquistically and in some religious ways with old Celts, p. 6.

Water as a first principle. The triple goddess reappearing as a trinity, blue as a favored color of the earth mother, adopted by the Marianists, fear of the devouring mother, p. 8 -- does that underlie the prohibition against female priests in a major western religion?

Find the sacred places, and stop. There are niches, places for petitions, steps into blessed waters. Where supplications are granted, or may be. In Mayo is the Well of St. Brigid, with steps descending like this one. Brigid was the mother goddess for the Celts, who could heal, and control fire and water. She was Christianized as St. Brigid, but her patronage as patron saint of hearth, home and sacred wells remains. See Celtic Mysteries, above, at figure 48. See also http://www.druidry.org/obod/deities/brigid.html
.
Look closely at these sacred wells, from Ireland. One, the pool with the descending steps, has a sign nearby that indicates it had been an ancient healing well, that later Christians incorporated into their church beliefs. It is near Westport.

And; and the other, a "rag-tree." A place for hanging "clooties", Sharkey at 83.
.
A clootie is a piece of clothing, or a strip, even a bit of hair, related to a person in need of healing or the deliverance from a burden, see http://www.writingthevision.com/thinplaces/celticspiritualityglossary.htm. For Scots, it has become a dumpling, like a fruity pudding in a little package, see http://www.clooties.co.uk/products.html

Sacred well. Rag tree at healing well, County Mayo, Ireland.

We came across several, on back roads, little springs and wells in the middle of other ruins, or on their own with small pieces of cloth fluttering on the branches around. Those represent, we were told, the prayers, pleas of the people. A prayer tree, a vestige of the old, the old living, but not to the later gods that took over. Look closely for the bits of cloth, the clooties.

The twiggy one we found was also on a back road. It looked like a hawthorne, but we were there in March, too early for spring, before buds were out.

Hard to see here, but look closely. See Ireland's sacred wells at llewellynjournal.com/article/713. About midway down the site, read about leaving little votive offerings, a bit of cloth perhaps. Invoke whatever spirit or healing is needed, tie the bit on, say your words and tiptoe away. Does the disease sigh away with the faded cloth? See the place of wells in the Celtic world at http://geocities.com/Athens/Troy/7080/wellstext.html.

Celtic Ireland has much to say for it. Saint Brigid - who invented whistling and keening, says http://realmagick.com/articles/07/1807.html; and whose fires were kept burning until the institutional church extinguished them, with so much else, in the 13th century.

This topic of healing wells is the linchpin of the 2006 novel by author Maeve Binchy, "Whitethorn Woods," see http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/b/maeve-binchy/whitethorn-woods.htm. Is the bush here a whitethorn? Acacia albida. Hawthorns are said to have healing qualities. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_hawthorn. Save the trees.

Hawthorne: See Ancient Celtic Tree-Wisdom at http://divine-ogham.com/pages/readings/trees Fairies live under them. See http://doon.mayo-ireland.ie/hawthorn.html. Believe and it will be so.

Sligo. LITERATURE. Poet W. B. Yeats, Maude Gonne - Notebook, National Library, Dublin

2010-07-25T17:09:00.004-04:00

William Butler Yeats and Maude Gonne

Sligo: the Town, and the County
.

Yeats, 1865-1939, poet, playwright. teller of tales, philosopher, spent most of his time between Sligo, Dublin, and London. See biography at http://www.online-literature.com/yeats/. He is still at the forefront of events, this time as a lookback at his work and relationships.
.

Yeats' lesser known work, "At the Hawk's Well,", and its evolution into different cultural expressions; and

A sacred well, County Mayo, on way to Sligo, Ireland

a personal relationship.

.
Meet the poet, W. B. Yeats, for William Butler Yeats, and "beautiful, brainy feminist Irish revolutionary and object of Yeats' infatuation across five decades...."
.
He is buried at Sligo.
.
......................................................................
.
a. A lesser known work of Yeats: "At The Hawk's Well", see this 1918 one-act play, a hybrid of Japanese Noh and other forms, including Celtic myth, see http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/40284/At-the-Hawks-Well and the review of its interpretation with dance by Garrett Fisher, at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/22/arts/music/22fisher.html. Cuchulain comes upon a man who spent half a century at a well seeking its immortality, but the waters are guarded by a guardian, a hawklike woman. Find a 1902 Cuchulain by Lady Gregory, also part of Yeats' circle, at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/celt/cuch/
.
This particular event cannot be traced to Cuchulain, see google book, Tumult of Images, Essays on WB Yeats and Politics, p.79, ed. Liebregts and Van De Camp. But there are allusions to other legends, easily crossed over .It may be an initiatory rite.

Dry well, leaves, allude, allude.
.
Pursue the Noh influence on Yeats, Apparently it was Ezra Pound who introduced Yeats to the Noh form. Yeats then portrayed a part of the Cuchulain saga, mythical Irish hero, using the strict stylistic and formal movements of Noh. Cuchulain: Cuh-hool-in, with a gutteral "h", see http://adminstaff.vassar.edu/sttaylor/Cooley/pronunciation.html.
.

The Yeats-Fisher work includes haikus by Basho (find some at http://thegreenleaf.co.uk/hp/basho/00bashohaiku.htm) and Buson (see http://thegreenleaf.co.uk/hp/buson/00buson.htm). In addition to the Noh flautist and drummers 3, Yeats instead used a drum, gong and zither. The Fisher production reviewed at the NYT used a harmonium, flutes, an acoustic bass and percussionist. How did I miss that performance?

.
b. Complex personal life.
.
The relationship Yeats wanted with Maude Gonne of Sligo (she did not reciprocate in the same way, see http://www.answers.com/topic/william-butler-yeats) lives on. Even after Ms. Gonne's husband died, she turned down his proposal, he proposed to her daughter and was also turned down, and then married Miss George Hyde-Less, http://www.notablebiographies.com/We-Z/Yeats-William-Butler.html; or Hyde Lees. Life, complexities, how can you keep from reading.
.
Recent: July 20, 2008.
.
See http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/arts/design/20dwye.html?scp=1&sq=July%2020,%202008%20Yeats&st=cse#. New York Times article, "Yeats Meets the Digital Age, Full of Passionate Intensity."
.
Gonne had given him a particular white notebook in 1908. Yeats kept entries of their mystical-type (apparently not focused on bedding) relationship, interests in the "occult" and each as to the other. The exhibit is a large one, this notebook of Yeats' only a small part. And there are some 38 yards of shelving with notes and papers. Time to go back
.
See also article regarding his uncommon marriage, there listed to Georgie Hyde Lees (this by way of update) see http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/weekend/2011/0319/1224292565841.html. She was 24, he was 52.
.
As to Maud Gonne, read of the visions, reported to the other, desire, letters taped into it as well, it is on display at the National Library in Dublin - a single page displayed, pristine, and the rest digitally reproduced so the viewer can tap through.
.
There was a similar display at the Louvre a few years ago, with Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks - a room of computers around the periphery of the dark room, and people exploring and so quiet. Perhaps the Library in Dublin has set a similar reverential place for the muse.
.
We read that there are intimate spaces for film viewing, tapes of readers aloud.

Yeats - A man of many aspects:

spoke against the ban on divorce,
was a member of Irish Senate, noting that many of Ireland's greatest were Protestant.

Again, back to Maude Gonne - he wrote a play for her to act as lead, "The Countess Kathleen," but Gonne would not take part. There are many twists to her life. It is a pity that her large house at Coole is gone, the plae is now a park.

.

Sligo, Lough Gill, Innisfree, Yeats, County Sligo

2010-07-24T12:39:00.001-04:00

Sligo, Lough Gill, Innisfree, Parke's Castle

Sligo, Ireland, Lough Gill, Parke's Castle

Parke's Castle (1609) on Lough Gill, looks over The Isle of Innisfree. Hear Celtic Woman, Orla, singing about it with her harp: http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2006/072006/07272006/209192.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree is the subject of W.B.Yeats' poem - "I will arise now, and go there...." Read it in its entirety at Bartleby - http://www.bartleby.com/103/44.html. The Lough is partially in County Sligo, and partially in County Leitrim. We understand that the Castle is in County Leitrim.

Parke's Castle as it is seen now dates from the 17th Century, but this area has a long history. This account fails to note the role of the Gregorian Reforms as to the Irish Church in facilitating the invasion of the English (who then never left), but the outline is as follows, related to Lough Gill:

700's -- Clan of Ui Ruairc (later O'Rourke) are descended from a King of Connacht. The Kingdom of Breifne, was located on borders of Connacht, Leinster and Ulster, see map at http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ruairc/ocastle.htm

In 1054, the Roman branch of the Christian Church split from the Eastern Orthodox, over a "filioque" clause in liturgy, and because the Orthodox did not recognize the Pope as Primary, First, etc. Thereafter, the Pope(s) embarked on campaigns theologically and as to property, to establish the new identity of western Christianity as Pope-centered. In the 1100's, areas that had been traditionally Irish Church local, monasteries with close family ties to those in the area, theologically varying, few rules binding all together, were invaded by the large monastic Orders from the Continent, with Rules, and soon came Bishops and Archbishops and Diocesan organization imposed, with Rome taking jurisdiction. It was not an easy transition.  Irish Christianity had been long established, see Timeline at http://usna.edu/Users/history/abels/hh315/timeline%20gregorian%20reform.htm

In the late 1000's came the Gregorian Reforms geared to establish this new Church as a militant one, centralized, including formal justification for Crusades, and setting the stage for the Church to aggressively change the world -- a military, killing. See entry 1096-1099 - killing in the name of the church carries no criminal consequence.   See entry at Timeline for 1073: no more would Christianity withdraw from the world, it would march to establish a rightful order.

Meanwhile, in the 1100's, the King of Breifne, Tiernan O'Rourke, competed with the King of Leinster, Dermot MacMurrough Kavanagh, to be High King.

Meanwhile again, King Tiernan's wife was Devorgilla, and she and King Dermot had a two-year affair, the tale tells, on the shores of this very Lough Gill. Other versions say she was abducted, but willingly. See http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ruairc/ocastle.htm

1166 -- The High Kingship had gone to O'Connor (need to check) and O'Rourke and the "Ostmen" of Dublin (who?) joined forces against Dermot, removing him from the throne.

Dermot fled to Wales (we thought it was England). This tale has him returning at that point with the English Strongbow; to get his lands back, and in exchange he would arrange for Strongbow to marry Dermot's daughter, http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ruairc/ocastle.htm. This was the beginning of the invasion of Ireland by the English.  Dermot died 1171, and the English Strongbow took over the kingship of Leinster, itself contrary to Brehon law.

Left out of this account: Pope Adrian, see http://www.thewildgeese.com/pages/adrianiv.html, had wanted to strengthen his church's hold on Ireland, and issued a Bull whereby Henry II (a Norman) of England had permission to invade Ireland as part of the Gregorian Reform for Christian warfare, and in order to serve these ecclesiastical ends.
Henry, after he was finished with a war in France, met with Dermot, agreed to help(or went on his own to the Pope, see http://www.suite101.com/content/the-life-of-henry-ii-a259431, and authorized Strongbow's invasion, that by derivation had been authorized by the Pope.
But, there was no real basis for the Pope's claim to Ireland at all - a trumped up "Donation of Constantine" did the trick. One of history's most concealed forgeries, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/133843/Donation-of-Constantine in the sense of not being well known, because it de-legitimizes Henry's claim.

Point as to Lough Gill: The romance of the Lough led to this very Helen of Troy tale, warring over a stolen woman, deceits. The seeds of the Anglo - Norman invasion of Ireland, right here.

So, the site has been O'Rourke for centuries, this one built in 1609, and others thereafter added. See http://www.of-ireland.info/castles/parkes.html. Its style is described as a "fortified manor house with stone bawn enclosure." The courtyard and other areas date from a far eaelier date, 1100's. That would be the King of Beifne, Tiernan O'Rourke.

Tyrone. Trillick, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. Brien - Hilliard.

2010-06-24T14:53:00.006-04:00

County Tyrone, Trillick
.

Little, Ancient, Trillick

Trelic Mor -- Three Standing Stones

.
My Grandmother came from Trillick. Louisa Lucinda Hilliard Brien. July 12, 1877-November 2, 1963. Sometimes the name is given as Louise Lucinda, or Lucinda Louise. She is an enigma; an illegitimate daughter of the area wealthy person, but acknowledged. But too proud to bend.
.
She was too proud to develop a lasting relationship with that father, William Brien of Glengeen Lodge, also Trillick. Her mother had worked as part of the household staff at Glengeen. Upstairs Downstairs right in the family. Or is there another explanation for Grandma's rejection of Brien.
.
My great-grandmother, Margaret Hilliard of Main Street, Trillick, was only 13 or 14 and working in Glengeen Lodge when Mr. Brien asserted his "entitlement." Yet, he supported her and her child, and followed them both to New York, visiting several times, seeking a connection.
.
Louise Lucinda Hilliard (Brien) of Trillick, with father, William Brien. Glengeen Lodge, Trillick

Louisa Brien's hand is on Mr. Brien's shoulder here; but her rejection of him as he followed her and her mother is reflected in letters and documents now being organized by a cousin, all of us interested.
.
Grandma: she was proud, had a backbone of iron, and had a childhood of, what, humiliation? Not necessarily. Who knows. He sent her to a fine school in Enniskillen, where she did extremely well. He tried to make good, we think. What did Trillick think? Did anyone care?
.
What was Trillick like for her and her mother, a Hilliard from Main Street; and for the rest of the Hilliards after Maggie had her baby. Cultures. Customs. An era also an enigma.
.
William Brien is listed in 1910 at the Ireland Libraries site for Ulster Towns Directory, at Glengeen, with a John Brien; see http://www.libraryireland.com/UlsterDirectory1910/Trillick.php
.
Glengeen Lodge: fair use overview of its heritage, from the Trillick website at http://www.trillick.org/history.htm.d But first, the flight of the Earls 1607, out of Lough Swilly, Donegal"

The flight of the Earls: see http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/tv/programmes/flightoftheearls/ and http://www.irelandseye.com/aarticles/history/events/dates/earls.shtm. There went Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone; and Rory O'Connell, Earl of Tyrconnell. Ulster's historical hereditary leaders fled to Europe, upon defeats by the English in their takeover of Ireland. That left the Ulster lands open and no longer bound by the old inheritances. Enter, England: and changes to Trillick.

"After the flight of the Earls from Lough Swilly on 4 September, 1607, and the division of their escheated lands, the O'Neill territory here was given the description of the Manor of Stowy and allotted to Sir Mervyn Tuchet in 1611. He passed them to his cousin, Sir Henry Mervyn of Hampshire, who in turn passed them to his son, Captain James Mervyn. He arrived here around 1620, began building a castle which was completed in 1628 and the new town of Trillick was completed in the 1630s. A court was established, a weekly market and a fair on 3 May. The castle was described as one of the best of its kind and was occupied up to the 1800s, being vacant in 1814. It had then passed to General Mervyn Archdale, who built the hunting lodge at Glengeen. The Mervyns were noted parliamentarians, holding the Tyrone seat in Parliament from 1639 to 1747 and Captain Audley Mervyn being Speaker of the Irish Parliament from 1661 to 1666."

.
Name variations: Grandma is listed as Lucinda Louise on the second-class passage ticket to New York (Did Mr. Brien pay?). At her time of the crossing, however, she was only 18. Until her marriage, then, there is a gap of some 8 years. She lists a New York address on her marriage certificate. Next trip to NY, find it.
.
Mr. Brien did well by his obligations, even though he did not have to. Heprovided an income, and stocks, we understand, for Louisa and her mother, Margaret Hilliard.
.
Others living with them in New York were a James Hilliard (died in the flu epidemic, buried in the McConaghy plot, Woodlawn Cemetery, NY, with Grandma and her husband, Robert McClure McConaghy). Would that be a younger brother of Grandma? born about 1897; and died the same year as her own son Robbie, age 6, in the flu epidemic in NY; and a Frances Hilliard also lived with them; born about 1870. Frances with es -- a woman? Sister? Aunt?
.
Louisa married, Robert McClure McConaghy of Donegal but then in NY, and the income and stocks from Mr. Brien were provided, we understand, on an ongoing basis. Louisa-Louise supported herself and her five children after the sudden death of her husband, Robert McConaghy, then in his 40's. Then, then, and then. Then came the Crash 1929.

Soon there was nothing. A cousin, Dorothy, is researching more. Any family has an equal number of forebears - and twists, but learning about them is a window into history and gives goads to travel. Good goads.

Trillick:

Four thousand years of history show in Trillick and its areas. Celts and beyond. See http://www.trillick.org/history.htm. Trillick was home to family, a high end, and a commoner end; the maternal half, the Hilliards, since emigrated or deceased we think. The paternal, the William Brien family of Glengeen Lodge, to us "the big house", are apparently still there. But do they know of us? Probably not.

Main Street, Trillick, Tyrone, Ireland

The Hilliards had lived on Main Street, I understand. Margaret, a daughter, at 13 went to work at the big house, Glengeen Lodge. At 14, she had a baby by William Brien, then 38. With all that, he acknowledged them both, and supported both, even following them to New York maintaining contacts. At her marriage, my grandmother, Louisa Lucinda, here listed as Louise, named the surname as Brien. Was she adopted by then? But Margaret would not marry, and probably he was not in a position to do so anyway, not from Glengeen.

On her steamship ticket, I believe Louisa was Lucinda Louisa Hilliard Brien.

Marriage certificate, Louise Lucinda Brien and Robert McClure McConaghy 1904, New York, New York

Entry sign, Trillick

Back mews, Trillick

Family, Trillick, Ireland.

Thanks to this family, and we do have their name, for a welcome, and afternoon tea at their farm. A wedding was pending: we wish them all happiness.

Donegal. St Johnston. Mc and Mac. Family Roots

2010-06-19T13:14:00.003-04:00

Donegal County

St. Johnstone

St. Johnstone, St Johnston, and Strabane, Donegal. Strabane straddles Donegal and Tyrone, Donegal in the Republic, Tyrone in Northern Ireland. These areas are the roots place of my grandparents, Robert McClure McConaghy, who married Louise (Louisa) Lucinda Hilliard (Brien) once they were both in the United States, and older than many newlyweds - she was 26, he was 28.
.
We found past folk among rainbows in Donegal. There are McConaghy clergy, Protestant, going back to the 1800's there. This vehicle stops for rainbows.
.

St. Johnston, Ireland, County Donegal

.
If you have Irish roots, you are lucky in that Irish tax money was expended to hire people to digitize graveyard and church records.

The towns have record books, and there are computerized records for getting information in advance: births, deaths, marriages, burials, even immigration; at least back to the beginning of the record books. See http://www. irishgenealogy.ie/gravestones/index.cfm .

Or, go into archives for obituaries. Here the the obituary for the Rev. Joseph McConaghy, died 1875, at FN 1

Surnames.
.
All on the net. See http://www.rootsweb.com/%7Eirlkik/ihm/irenames.htm.
.

Mc and Mac.

We tried to find every residence name or place that is mentioned in old family papers. Mc or Mac - they apparently have the same roots. see http://www.irishroots.com/id4608.htm. See also http://www.scottishhistory.com/articles/misc/macvsmc.html
.
The Mc or Mac does not necessarily differentiate between Scots and Irish, or Protestant or Catholic.
.
The oldest Irish were known as "Scotties" - they went across the water and settled in Scotland, rather than the other way around. They went back and forth for thousands of years. Find the Scotti among the oldest groups at http://www.tartanplace.com/tartanlegend/celtictribesireland.html. For details, see the Manageable Timeline here.

.
Robert McClure McConaghy, NJ, 1922 or so, with daughters, Dorothy and Marjorie

Midsummer Night's Dreamlike - with somebody's backyard brownie camera.

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

FN 1 Newspaper clipping, pasted into a Session Book at the Saint Johnston Presbyterian Church 1876

"Death of the Rev. Joseph McConaghy

On the last day of the past year the Rev. Joseph McConaghy died at his residence Dundee, St. Johnston and thus another able and zealous member of the olden band of ministers has passed away. He was born at Greenhills near Raphoe in the year 1811 so that at his death he was in his 65th year. His preliminary education was received at the Raphoe Royal School afterwards studying under Rev. Mr. Fullerton, Rector of Stranorlar. Amongst his school fellows at Raphoe was Isaac Butt, Esq. M.P. On entering the University of Glasgow the celebrated Sir Daniel Sandford became his instructor and in the list of his fellow students was the late Dr. Norman M'Leod, Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen, also editor of "Good Words", and the present Primate of all England, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Tait. Another of his fellow students was the deceased Dr. Edward Dill, author of Ireland's "Curse and Cure", etc.

He entered the Divinity Hall under the famous Dr. Stevenson M'Gill and after completing his Divinity course was licenced by the Irish Presbyterian Church and ordained in the congregation of St Johnston on 16th day of December 1834.

Thus for the long period of 42 years he was a hard-working efficient minister highly beloved and esteemed, not only by the members of his own congregation, but by all classes and creeds who had the pleasure of his acquaintance. Like his friend and brother minister, the late Dr. John Wray of Convoy, he had a wonderful knowledge of most diseases to which the human frame is subject and turning this knowledge to account, he was enabled to alleviate much pain and suffering throughout the entire neighborhood.

It is consequently no hyperbole to affirm that a character so distinguished, obliging and pious can be badly spared amongst us. Nor is it by any means wonderful when as in his case, the golden bowl broke, and the silver cord snapped, many, very many, real mourners were going about the streets."

Rainbow, St. Johnstone, Donegal, Ireland

Here is the same rainbow - just wouldn't fade away- right there in Donegal itself, it is. And pot of gold.

TRALEE, Queen Scotia and Slieve Mish, Scota. Mountain Grave. An Irish Big Dig

2010-03-12T17:57:00.009-05:00

THE IRISH BIG DIG
for Scota.
Queen Scotia
.

The Big Web Dig

for Irish Pre-History Tribal Origins

Scota as ancestor of the Milesians, see http://homepage.eircom.net/~kthomas/history/History3.htm

This is our Web Dig, to find the origins and attributes of Queen Scotia, Scota, Sgota. There is a grave with that identification-indications of name, as she was buried in antiquity and with Egyptian hieroglyphs, they say, as befits the Pharaoh's daughter that she apparently was. This is near Tralee, at the Slieve Mish Mountains, the range in the central area at the beginning of the Dingle Peninsula, western Ireland. Our interest then moves to other sources supporting the idea of this lady and her people peopling Ireland, at Plain Meaning, Origin Stories.

Scholars and regular folk are interested. See this large site, and track the Milesian connection alleged, http://homepage.eircom.net/~kthomas/history.htm, a site also for vetting Scota tales. Scota, Scotia.
.
1. For a quick look at a folk-literature summary of the Scots connection, and information at those sites, see Caledonia, Queen Scotia, and Scotland. Queen Scotia's husband had been killed while fighting Ireland's famed Tuatha de Denaan, and Scotia, a warrior herself, led the troops against the Tuatha-de herself, with her sons, and prevailed. See her as a figurehead on a 19th Century Scots brig that was shipwrecked off Cornwall, The Caledonia. No wild woman, that. Fair use thumbnail from www.panoramio.com.

.
We want to know Scota's origins, her place in prehistory.

She and her husband and their group fought (both were warriors) the old Tuath de Denaan of prehistory; was there a connection between their heritage, and /or the mysterious Tuath-de, that tie into migrations from the ancient Middle East. As an individual Queen: We want to know her accomplishments. There are numerous tales, with variations, and we track some of those. What commonalities.

Was she merely a King's wife, in the same kind of patriarchal system that smothers us, and the mother of six sons who went on to rule Ireland; who was an accomplished horsewoman who died trying to leap a stream-bank while pregnant on her horse and falling off. And so she died. See ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotia%27s_Grave/

If that is all there is, why do we find references to her and her Milesian people, that tie her people from ancient Palestine and the Old Testament (yes!) and a tribe of Hebrews (not "Jews" at that time) who migrated through Egypt (perhaps) to Spain (Iberia - Eber- Hebrew) and from there to Ireland, Hibernia. The "Scotti" of Ireland (roots of Scotia?) went to Scotland, gave it their name, and the groups went back and forth for millennia.

Sources include: "The histories of England, Wales, and Scotland, even Ireland also, were intertwined in ancient times such that the whole British Isles, due to the proximity of the islands, then shared a common British history, with common elements in the population of the islands, until the time of the Roman conquest of a large part of Britain ...." See the account at The British Chronicles Book 1, by David Hughes, 2007 ://www.heritagebooks.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=HBI&Product_Code=H3301&Category_Code/ at page 43. As to Picts: " ...Credne is remembered in Irish tradition as the leader of the migration of the majority of the Irish Picts from Ireland to Scotland (emphasis added) during the Gaelic Conquest of Ireland, whence their name." See page 46. See portions at the google book http://books.google.com/books?id=QnDtohOe8-QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+british+chronicles&source=bl&ots=NSFqWyDkJF&sig=ok0FHDQf_-QgbNiinuc-BUemEGY&hl=en&ei=PeWbS6qbGoP48Aal9v2UDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false/.

So, were Picts in Ireland first (having come from the Orkneys and Hebrides or some such earlier) and did they fight Scota's group as Scota & Co. invaded; and then the pressured Picts headed (some) to Scotland; and then so did the Scotti or Scotii; and who was the Tuatha de Denaan that we understand that Scotia and group fought. The Picts?

What support is there for a migration route from the eastern Mediterranean to Ireland through Spain, and were they one of the Hebrew tribes; or counted instead (or in addition) from descendants of (here goes) Noah. A medieval source, Nennius 8th Century (look up Medieval Sourcebook), ties in groups from Spain to Ireland, and matches the moving groups with Old Testament timing - see FN 1 (open source).

2, For those of us new to this, it is confusing. Who? Which? Either? If the stories are irreconcilable, fine. Look at place names for history. This is ongoing - the Isle of Man, between the Irish Sea and Solway Firth, Scotland, and north England, would be a natural stop-off for people going back and forth and even arriving. There is a small wiry dark group there, with legends about them having Spanish origins, see ://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/pn1925/rn.htm/ Spanish origins, and even Middle Eastern before that, interest us here. Dating of legends is difficult. Was this merely the Spanish Armada shipwrecking in 1588? Scroll down to Kione Spainey, or Spanish Head - Spain was once visible from this spot, so it says.

If nothing is determinable, it is interesting, and we lay out what we have found here. We did find a discussion page with long dissertations on the tribes at ://www.flickr.com/photos/celtico/2924466222/ and a map of Irish Celtic tribes. Is Celtic different from the differing migrations we read about? Is Scotia considered Celtic? How could that be? That site also finds, at a post by a mysteryinternetchatsource (like us) "mikescottnz", two Scotias, each with a different history-connection to Ireland. We read and tried to make sense of it, and came up with four Scotas, each of whom is fine and to be remembered: Hello? Mike Scott in New Zealand, is that you? What did we get wrong?

3. The various Scotas so far.

Scota One: Scythian prince Fenius Farsaid, is her father-in-law. In a "pseudo-Biblical" account, a "Christianized myth" perhaps with Irish monastic glosses (Nennius?) she is an Egyptian princess, daughter of Nectanebus (there was Nectanebus I and Nectanebus II), married Mil. Mil would be the son of Fenius Farsaid. Their son is Goidal Glas and he devises the Irish language from the 72 that arose "from the dispersal of the nations"(?) Goidal Glas' descendants are the Gaels and they wander for centuries (so clearly Scota One never got to Ireland to be buried) and finally settle in Iberia. Further descendant Breogan founds city Brigantia and builds tower. This may be at Coruna, NW Galicia. their sons
Scota Two: From early Irish chronicle, the Lebor Gabala (Book of Invasions, Book of Conqests). Scota is an Egytian princess, daughter of Cingris (name only in legend). Princess Scota. She married Niul, a son of Fenius Farsaid who was a Babylonian who traveled to Scythia after the Tower of Babel collapsed (more Christian glosses?).Niul was a "linguistic scholar" and the Pharaoh invited him and gave him Scota to marry. They had the son, Goidal Glas, who did the Irish language. The Israelites leave Egypt, and so must Goidal. His descendants settle in Iberia, where Mil Espaine was born. Two of his sons, Eber Finn and Eremon settle Ireland.
And Scota Three? The Story of the Irish Race, by Seumas McManus: Scota married Niul, but Niul is the grandson of Goidal Glas.
In the alternative, do we have Scota Four? Scota is the Egyptian princess who married Miled or Miletius. Queen Scota. He died, she went to Ireland with her 8 sons and their fams, big storm and many died, and Scota died fighting the Tuatha de Denaan. And so to Glenn Scoithinn, Vale of the Little Flower, and Scotia, perhaps.

4. For earlier origins back to the Middle East, and then in Spain, see Zaragoza: Zahar of the Red Hand. Look for the Scythians, language links to the Phoenician, Hebrew borrowing from the Phoenician word forms, and so on.

And Zahar himself. This part is not in the usual Chronicles, apparently, and that is understandable because in time it was not desirable to have a Hebrew background, is that so?

5. A Hebrew Speculative Connection, to be Woven In, Perhaps. Eighth Century Chronicler Nennius and the Rest: Prepare to Amend

Zahar was the grandson of Jacob, famed in Genesis by being identified as the firstborn of twins, thus entitled to the birthright, and the midwife tied a red cord around his wrist to identify him; but then he pulled his arm back in (precocious, but unwise for the inheritance) and his brother was fully born first, and got it all. See Genesis. Zahar, left out, left. His own Odyssey.

Is Zahar's line a lost tribe of Israel, and is this their story. Great fun.

5.1 Origins as Gaelic or Scythian. Naming carries clues.

The traditional name for the grave area, a diminutive "Little Flower" is shown by the name of the area of the alleged gravesite, near Tralee, at Glen Scoithin (the Flower part) or Foley's Glen.

To some, the Scoithin argues for her Gaelic origins, Scoithin as a synonym for traditional women's Gaelic names, Flora or Rosa. To others, the Scoithin ties with the Scythian woman, as she is also known. Wikipedia at Scotia's Grave adds that Scoithin information, that we had not had before.
However, there are far more possibilities, even though those do not help the Gaelic pride line, and do show many even more links to Scythian. See page 46 at ://books.google.com/books?id=QnDtohOe8-QC&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+British+Chronicles&source=bl&ots=NSFqVByjJH&sig=LLTKIPeMlIiQUfRPO5OfTanqDCw&hl=en&ei=4r-aS4-mLsP48AaHluSWDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CA8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Identity and lineage.

5.2 The Red Hand took hold in Ireland in various ways, and not necessarily directly connected to Zahar.

There is also the Red Hand of Ulster, that we looked at in American politics -- the use of the red hand in political advertising, to rally political supporters. See Red Hand, "Family", JPMorgan Chase, Code. Scroll down to the Ulster section. A modern exploitation of the red hand, a diminution of a core symbol for Ireland, with its pros and cons, uses in violence. A trivializing of The Red Hand to use it in America.

Ui Niall was a Milesian, as was Scotia. If the Milesians were Hebrew by extraction, then the red hand has a double meaning - Ulster and the Old Testament. And if it became unfashionable as centuries passed, to be known as Hebrews, then the red hand idea could move easily from Story 1, about the birth of Zahar and his descendants wandering; to Story 2, update when Ui Niall hacks his off and hurls it to the beach in time to claim the Ulster coast. But if Ui Niall himself is a descendant of the wandering tribe, we are back at square one, and happily so.

_________________________________________

FN 1 Medieval Sourcebook, Nennis -Historia Brittonum, 8th Century, at :// www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/nennius-full.html/. Note the main introduction, that this early source relies on oral and other traditions. This is not entirely to be discounted, however, see the modern The British Chronicles, Heritage Books, by David Hughes (2007) (incorporation of this and similar source material but with discussion and choices)

Meet Nennius and his account:

11. AEneas reigned over the Latins three years; Ascanius thirty-three years; after whom Silvius reigned twelve yeaars, and Posthumus thirty-nine years: the latter, from whom the kings of Alba are called Silvan, was brother to Brutus, who governed Britain at the time Eli the high-priest judged Israel, and when the Ark of the covenant was taken by a foreign people. But Posthumus his brother reigned among the Latins.
12. After an interval of not less than eight hundred years, came the Picts, and occupied the Orkney Islands: whence they laid waste many regions, and seized those on the left hand side of Britain, where they still remain, keeping possession of a third part of Britain to this day.
13. Long after this, the Scots arrived in Ireland from Spain (emphasis added) The first that came was Partholomus, with a thousand men and women, these increased to four thousand; but a mortality coming suddenly upon them, they all perished in one week. The second was Nimech, the son of …..who, according to report, after having his ships shattered, arrived at a port in Ireland, and continuing there several years, returned at length with his followers to Spain. After these came three sons of a Spanish soldier with thirty ships, each of which contained thirty wives; and having remained there during the space of a year, there appeared to them, in the middle of the sea, a tower of glass, the summit of which seemed covered with men, to whom they often spoke, but received no answer. At length they determined to besiege the tower; and after a year's preparation, advanced towards it, with the whole number of their ships, and all the women, one ship only excepted, which had been wrecked, and in which were thirty men, and as many women; but when all had disembarked on the shore which surrounded the tower, the sea opened and swallowed them up. Ireland, however, was peopled, to the present period, from the family remaining in the vessel which was wrecked. Afterwards, others came from Spain, and possessed themselves of various parts of Britain.

Egyptian Princess become Queen. Milesian King. A group arriving in Spain, and the Queen leading the band after the death of the king from there to Ireland?

Not out of the question after all. Ancient Carthage and ancient Egypt were great empires before Rome, and took over Spain as well as the Mediterranean coastal areas, and tips of other places. Travel was not unusual, and would have been facilitated by the conquests. From Spain to Ireland: short sail. See legends from the time of the Flood, through the Old Testament, at After the Flood: Irish Biblical Roots and Egypt.

Wicklow - Viking Access - The Long Ships, Raids, Settlement

2009-09-16T11:01:00.000-04:00

The shallow draft of the Viking longship enabled it to skim fast inland, whether into otherwise unnavigable estuaries; or to safety in its own Scandinavian fjords, see them at
The Sea Stallion, Viking Longship, Denmark Road Ways. Although the Irish monastic communities raided each other, and the Irish people also raided the Irish monasteries and had for about 100 years before the Vikings:

"Irish monasteries provided important economic and political focal points to the Vikings for provisions, precious goods, livestock, and captives. This was also the reason that monasteries were a favorite raiding spot for Irish leaders both before and after the arrival of the Vikings."

See http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~irlkik/ihm/ire800.htm; see also http://www.deremilitari.org/resources/articles/fitzpatrick.htm

Long boats like the Sea Stallion was documented, we understand, as particularly favoring raids on monasteries like Glendalough, and Clonmacnois. It is some 30 meters in length, or about 98 feet - see http://www.simetric.co.uk/metres_to_feet.php/

Viking ship, at Roskilde, Denmark, reconstructed Sea Stallion, from Glendalough

This replica sailed into Wicklow in 2008, Wicklow a name of a town that itself is Viking in origin, as "Viking's Meadow" or "Viking's Beacon" , see http://www.wicklowsailingclub.com/Misc/sea_stallion_of_glendalough.htm/. See the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4T2f6WG5yg

Viking raiders soon morphed into settlers, see http://www.wesleyjohnston.com/users/ireland/past/pre_norman_history/vikings.html

For us, at our earlier visit, Wicklow was the site of an old gaol, jail, from 1702, with only modest reforms easing the conditions, see it at http://www.wicklowshistoricgaol.com/history.htm/ Many prisoners were transported from there to Australia, or the Americas, and even at a profit to the operators.

Offaly. CLONMACNOIS. Invadability - Clonmacnois, County Offaly, Geography and history - Geographical Determinism

2009-08-15T12:30:00.002-04:00

Clonmacnois Monastery
Flat Terrain, Meandering River
How Easily is a Country Invaded
Geographical Determinism

Clonmacnois was founded by St. Ciaran in the 6th Century. Christianity was in Ireland before St. Patrick. Ciaran studied at Tours and Rome, but chose to live as a hermit in the Irish Midlands. http://www.irelandseye.com/irish/people/saints/ciaran.shtm.
.
Clonmacnois Monastery, County Offaly, Ireland, High Celtic Cross

This was the contemplative period and branch of Christianity. This period of calm service was not to last, however, once the vast Roman institutions took over, and when the effects of Christianizing northern Europe by force resulted in, or were amazingly simultaneous with, the Viking raids that decimated Irish monasteries for centuries. This was a particularly ripe one for the taking: a Cathedral, nine churches (10th-13th C), and two round towers, three high crosses, and early Christian grave slabs. See Heritage Sites of Ireland, Duchas, the Heritags Service, Midlands East 2000.
Much of Ireland is flat land. Imagine the ease of enemy incursion. Where to hide. See Clonmacnois, the monastery founded by Saint Kiernan, see ://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/clonmacnois/clon.shtml

There are long, meandering rivers, like the River Shannon here. Cruise up in your Viking longboat, and make a swift attack. The monks can see you, but where do they hide except in their towers. Not for long. This is Clonmacnois, the old monastery, at the lower part where the river gently sloshes. Vikings regularly glided this way, and became very rich indeed.

Clonmacnois Monastery, Cemetery, County Offaly, River Shannon, Ireland

Here is a virtual tour site - ://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/clonmacnois/clon.shtml/

.

Beaches are stony, and cliff areas are there, but avoidable. So few defenses. Just move on up the coast a bit.

Hit the rocks at the cliff areas in a storm and that is trouble, as the Spanish Armada found when they were blown off their course from attacking England. But a country easy to invade with its many long waterways doing deep.

Galway, Ireland, beach

Geographical Determinism: This is an approach to history that focuses on how the land itself facilitates or discourages various invasions, product development, cultura.

It takes a visual overview, and a mindset that adds observation of natural setting to the more usual archeological artifacts.

It takes a mindset to look at many angles at once:

What a place looks like,
where is it situated,
then go to the history events - issues, timelines, maps, geneologies.

Get a start on the topic at www.rootsweb.com/~irlkik/ihm/iremaps.htm. Is this like Montessori method, in a sense. Look at this example of a multi-disciplinary curriculum in order to really learn, at www.michaelolaf.net/1CW612geography.html.

That site, looking at multidisciplinary approaches to learning, says, in a fair use quote,

"History, geography, and biography—the history of a people cannot be separated from the possibilities of the environment in which it develops, and the leadership of its great men and women."

So: look at Ireland, and other invadable places like Poland, see Poland Road Ways. More geographic determinism. Flat lands, centuries of being overcome. Watch:

Ireland, seascape1) the invasions of the Vikings and where they chose to go, in light of the shallow, wide rivers meandering right into the heartland of a flat country, geocities.com/slaneschool/page10.html;
.
2) the poverty of the west along with its moonscape rock plateaus, and for that, do an Images search for Ireland West Burren;
.
3) the saving graces of the Celtic monks, able to preserve a literary heritage because of a leader with vision, and because they were so far in distance from the bookburnings and excesses of Roman Christianity and as the culture of the old Roman Empire fell. http://www.mccelticdesign.com/scribe.htm

BELTONY, Standing stones, Raphoe, County Donegal, Northern Ireland - Stone Circles and rows

2009-04-19T11:58:00.000-04:00

The stones at Beltony, near Raphoe, Donegal, are 2000 years older than Stonehenge . See the Beltony stones at raphoe.com/raphist/raphoehistory.htm#Southm.

Wander around the vestiges of civilizations long before the Christian era. You can see little signs on the road with arrows pointing - when you get there, and it may be miles, the circle or lone stones may be right in the middle of a pasture.
See Stones of Ireland at stonepages.com/ireland/ireland.html. Some places have a little tin box at the gate where the standing stones or stone circle area is on a farm, for a contribution for upkeep.

Align with stars? show seasons? show movements of moon and sun? Other knowledge?

Antrim. RATHLIN, Island seen from Ballycastle, looking toward Scotland

2009-04-17T11:39:00.002-04:00

The Glens of Antrim, on the coast, have a close connection to the Hebrides and Scotland. See http://www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukiant02.htm. The Island of Rathlin, some 18 miles off the Irish coast, at Ballycastle, is a ferry ride away, some 50 minutes. We chose to look from the Antrim side.

Rathlin Island, from Ballycastle, Ireland

Haunting singer Mary Black was born on Rathlin. Hear and see at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBpuikqf9tA&feature=related
.
In 1307, Robert the Bruce was on Rathlin, planning his return to Scotland, see commemorative festival in 2007 at http://www.brucerathlin1307.com/. Robert the Bruce watched a spider in a cave struggling to reach the top, and, says the yarn, learned to try, try again, see http://www.ballycastle.free-online.co.uk/places/rathlin/rathlin.htm. The name traces back to Robert de Bruis, a baron in the Domesday book (an early census). Bruis' son was a friend of King David I of Scotland who granted him the title of Lord of Annandale. But then the tracking skips: It was the son of David I who founded the Scottish House of Bruce, not the son of Annandale. See http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=Bruce
.
People arrived about 6000-5000 BC and became blue-stone axe exporters, until copper took the trade. See the ballycastle site. In 1500 BC, the Firbolgs arrived, a dark race from Spain, it is said, known as "bag men" for their baggy trousers. But their reign was short: in 400 BC, the Celts moved in, with their iron swords, red-blond hair, tall stature. King Donn ruled in the 1st Century. Niall, in the 400's conducted raids and stole one Patrick (son of a minor Roman official) who became Saint Patrick. Then in 795 or so, after Charlemagne slaughtered thousands of Saxon prisoners who would not convert, Norse began their raids, starting with the monasteries. See http://www.ballycastle.free-online.co.uk/places/rathlin/rathlin.htm. That site is a clear presentation of the sequence of invasions and settlers.
.
Continue there to the "grant" of Ireland by Henry II to deCourcy and etc. Rathlin is in the thick of it.
.
Scotland is a short hop beyond Rathlin. See http://antrim.net/rathlin.
.
You can see Scotland and the Island of Rathlin on a reasonably clear day. The compass markers show all you can see when it is not hazy. Read about Rathlin's long (bloody) history, much fought over. http://www.rathlin.info/.

Antrim. CARRICKFERGUS, County Antrim, Northern Ireland: Strongbow and the Anglo Norman invasions

2009-04-17T10:52:00.002-04:00

Carrickfergus

Norman Invasion - Ireland

.
The background to the Norman invasion of Ireland is a long story, well laid out at http://www.teachnet.ie/mmorrin/norman/why.htm. The history of this area, however, with Drogheda barely a mile away we think, extends back millenia. Read this venerable tourist-writing book, "In Search of Ireland" by H. V. Morton, see review at http://christine-breen-williams.suite101.com/in-search-of-ireland-hvmorton-a178724, from 1930, and later reprintings. Drogheda and Carrickfergus see pages 270ff.
.

The Normans, after their invasion of England in 1066 with William the Conqueror, invaded Ulster (the north of Ireland) with a permission, then did not leave. The Welsh Norman Lord, Richard de Clare, known as Strongbow, acted to help restore the Leinster King to his throne, and in exchange for a marriage to the King's daughter, and other benefits of inheritance as to the throne itself. No wonder he came, with army. He also had permission of the English King Henry II, who had been asked for help by the deposed Leinster king and then turned to Strongbow to do it. A more complex account of Strongbow - worth reading - is at http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp/sId./kbId.129/qx/knowledgebase.htm/. For a quick review, see everyman's starting point for perspectives, at http://www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_de_Clare,_2nd_Earl_of_Pembroke.
.
The town was walled by the 1300's. The fine castle on the water is also called Carrickfergus. The first fortification on the site was apparently 150 years BC, see http://www.libraryireland.com/Belfast-History/Carrickfergus.php. Here is a fair use thumbnail of the site now, from http://www.photos.igougo.com/images/p239247.

Find its history at http://www.culturenorthernireland.org/article.aspx?art_id=931
.
That castle was begun long before, in 1180, as a protection to Belfast Lough.
.
Ireland and Europe show vast educational advantages compared to our isolation from so much history. Schoolchildren here learn history from their backyards. At this castle, for example, there are staging sets, exhibits, classrooms, mannequins, scenes, all showing Carrickfergus in 1180 and to now. See http://www.geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukiant03.htm.
.
Turn the corner around from one of the staircases, and find the king, crown askew, on the loo, drawers crumpled at his feet, chin on hand, and school kids seeing it for the first time, giggling and pointing. Great fun.

Carrickfergus is huge, like the photo of what now know is Caernarfon in Wales,* see note.
..........................................................
.
Update January 2009 - We had originally posted this picture, but later found it is not Carrickfergus,but Caernarfon, that we also visited. See comment. My son and I are sure we a "Carrickfergus" but this was before memory cards.

Caernarfon Castle, Wales - First believed to be Carrickfergus - bad record-keeping

There are similarities between Carrickfergus and Caernarfon, but this one turns out to be Castle Caernarfon in Wales, where the Prince of Wales is customarily crowned. See Ireland Road Ways, Caernarfon Castle and the Prince of Wales.

All information is a matter of pooling and checking. Vet it all. Thanks. The comment that first alerted us includes a picture of Carrickfergus so check it there.

DUNLUCE CASTLE, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

2009-04-17T09:54:00.000-04:00

This castle, named Dunluce, is on the Antrim coast Northern Ireland. Its kitchens fell into the sea in 1639. See geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukiant03.htm. Seven cooks perished, but a cobbler survived. See www.donegaldirect.com/Site_WS_Business_Details.aspx?business_name=Dunluce%20Castle.

Antrim. GIANT'S CAUSEWAY; Northern Ireland

2009-04-17T09:43:00.002-04:00

The Giant's Causeway consists of some 40,000 basaltic lava columns. It started tens of millions of years ago, with hot lava seeping up through limestone cracks, to form a plateau. See http://www.northantrim.com/giantscauseway.htm

As the lava cooled, it contracted into polygonal columns, some 4, 5, 6 sides. Some are 12' thick, some are 40' tall. Beginning at the top, fractures spread down in layers, with the cooling and contractions stressing the material. The hexagonal shape relieves the most stress with least energy. Meet Dr. Alberto G. Rojo and author Eduardo A. Jagla, Argentina. Their interest is in the patterns nature shows, Match an experiment with cornstarch.

No, that is too technical and dull. Try this one.

Dan Widing at the Giant's Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Waiting for Finn.
.
There was once a quarrel between two giants, named Finn Mac Cool and Benandonner.

Benandonner built the causeway as a walkway from Scotland so he could do battle properly against Finn Mac Cool. The story has Finn posing as a baby in a pram, and the mother saying the baby is just Finn's brother - do read it all at ballycastle.free-online.co.uk/places/causeway/causeway. Science may be right, but myth never misses.

So we have another. Finn was besotted with a lovely lady from the Hebrides, another lady giant, and build the causeway in order to bring her to Ireland. Back to http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/02/science/physicists-at-play-help-unlock-the-mysteries-of-lava.html?scp=1&sq=Physicists%20at%20Play%20help%20unlock%20the%20mysteries%20of%20lava&st=cse

.
Giant's Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

These formations are from vast long-ago lava flows, see all the geology and history at northantrim.com/giantscauseway. The white tin on the rock means stop: walk no further. Or that someone tippled.
.
Giant's Causeway, lava rock formations, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

Dan Widing as Finn, Giant's Causeway, County Antrim, Northern Ireland

This is a UNESCO World Heritage site. See whc.unesco.org/en/list/369.

Meet Finn. See allaboutirish.com/library/tales/gcauseway.shtm for the myth.

See also thesalmons.org/lynn/wh-england.html for the Giant's Causeway. This is a fine site with all the World Heritage sites listed. Scroll down to the causeway, and follow the links for history and geology. See also geographia.com/northern-ireland/ukiant01.htm for tourism information.

This would be an excellent geo-tourism site because of the geological sites and attractions. See book "Geotourism" by Ross Dowling at this site: elsevier.com/wps/find/bookdescription.cws_home/706060/description#description.

History. Saga. Normans, Strongbow, and Norse Migrations.

2009-04-16T21:03:00.003-04:00

Pick a Place. Looking for Old Norse.

A. The Norse (Vikings) raided, invaded and captured Irish for slaves; and raided monasteries Note that this was not a first occurrence: as many of the early Christian monasteries also raided each other, and Irish also raided the monasteries. Perhaps with not the same ax-gusto, but raids, deaths, treasure. See http://www.irelandseye.com/irish/people/settlers/vikings2.shtm. There were also tradesmen Vikings, agriculture Vikings, town folk. Many Vikings came as settlers and stayed. Early Ireland was a place of contrasts, and even among clerics, self-interest. Here is a view of life: http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/christ.html

The Viking stories in Iceland offer a picture of a community with its own laws, allegiances, systems. Not "barbaric".

C. Tracking the Norse. See FN 1

1. We are accustomed to thinking of the Norse as Vikings from Norway or Iceland, or Denmark. Norse generally means North.

The Norwegian-Icelandic Norse headed for Scotland (including the Orkneys and the Hebrides) and Ireland (among far-ranging other parts of the world). Ireland was as a target for the Viking-Norse - Ireland first as source of booty, then a settlement destination for the Norse.

Meanwhile, other waves of Norse aimed for the heart of France, up the Seine and any waterway that could be found. They made so much trouble that Paris bought them off so that they would continue up to Burgundy instead; and finally they all bought off the Vikings from their dreadful raids by giving them Normandy - land of the Northmen. Normans.

So the Normans were named from the who raided France and were bought off by giving them Normandy, France. They are the ones who invaded the British Isles. And then, from there, Ireland.

Danes, another group of Norse, headed for England more the Swedish Vikings tended to raid and invade and settle more south and East - into Northeast Europe, and Russia.

So: relationships between groups include those stemming from raids, invasion, exploitation, enslavement in and this applies to Ireland's interaction with the Norse. Where a stand-off results, with neither fully conquering the other, or fending them off, see a cultural tolerance arise. Settlers settle and contribute to the community, the community grudgingly accepts, many cross-pollinate eventually, there is intermarriage.

So the Norse settling in Ireland as well as the rest of the British Isles, became integral parts now of that entire heritage.

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

FN 1. How to get a grasp on history:

Try "The Timechart History of The World: 6000 Years of World History Unfolded," Third Millennium Press 2004. Tall, narrow and skinny, but heavy cardstock foldouts - say 22"x 14"x3/4" or less - need a ruler. Scandinavia and Britannia start about 450AD - read county areas, tribes, great pithy summaries.

1. Norse invasions.

The Norse conquered - obtained Normandy, France, in 906; and the Norse conquered England a century later, in 1066.

In the 10th Century, after some back and forth as to Dublin, these towns were Norse: Dublin, Wexford, Wicklow, Arklow, Waterford, Cork, Limerick. Lands were not necessarily firmly under Viking rule, however, as Irish kingdoms continued to resist, and in some areas, the relationship became one of mutual tolerance, see The Viking World at http://books.google.com/books?id=Bfo_s--CXA4C&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=Norse+towns+Ireland&source=bl&ots=ONrw8fcnkG&sig=TEwFIPvYsmQ36HCrpXpYxfHacwk&hl=en&ei=dLzoSt7ZL5TOlAfe8pSBCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBYQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=Norse%20towns%20Ireland&f=false/

Then the Northmen, by then the "Normans," stemming from Normandy, and then in England, as the Anglo-Normans, invaded Ireland in 1170.

Meet Richard fitz Gilbert de Clare, known as "Strongbow" (this name was also his father's in his time). - from Waterford to Dublin and beyond, see Norman roots at France Road Ways, Normandy, Normans; and the Strongbow and Norman invasion at http://www.castlewales.com/is_clare.html/.

Long histories of castles, defenders, defeats, victors rebuilding, but the tall square Norman keep, strong and a refuge, see

Blarney Castle, County Cork, Muenster Province, Ireland

2. King Henry of England had rejected Strongbow's claims to certain lands, for reasons not entirely clear; but became concerned at the successes of Strongbow and the Anglo-Normans in garnering support - the King had to reassert control, and opportunities arose. Dermot of Ireland had come to Henry II for help in regaining his Leinster lands and throne, and Henry gave Dermot a writing declaring that all who supported Henry were released, if they chose, to support Dermot. And many did, including Strongbow who saw a chance to regain his former glory another way, see http://www.castlewales.com/strngbow.html.
For the tale behind Dermot's plight, see

There was a scandalous event among kings in Ireland, giving rise to rivalries and retributions; and King Henry was open to helping the one who lost his lands (the one who had the affair was duly punished). See Lough Gill entry here, http://irelandroadways.blogspot.com/2006/06/yeats-country-sligo-and-gort-lough.html where the affair apparently was had. And followups as to history at the Adare section here, showing the division between Christianity before 1100 or so, and after, with the imposition of Gregorian Reforms, see http://irelandroadways.blogspot.com/2006/05/ruins-and-headstones-in-golf-courses.html

And the Pope had the key: If the Pope gave permission for invasion, for ecclesiastical ends (this being the era of Gregorian Reforms 1100 and on), and the King paid handsomely for it, then the Pope wins by gaining clerical control over an unruly Christian non-Roman island; and the King Henry wins by getting his people in Ireland.

Enther Strongbow and the Welsh lords invading in earnest, paying the Pope, the King in Ireland who lost his lands (Dermot) got them back, wed his daughter to Strongbow as promised, and maneuvered the throne to Strongbow upon Dermot's death, as promised, and the Pope got an ongoing payment of so much per head. Nice. See http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/geraldwales1.asp The Norman strain apparently was feisty, requiring such controls - the King had to be Somebody.

A trip to Ireland - see the number of Norman towers along the coasts, inland, even Yeats' home at Gort is a Norman tower house. Return and then find out the time sequence, the stresses, the conflicts. So some surnames of Norse derivation may not have arrived with Vikings going a-Viking, or settling thereafter, but could have come from another direction: with William the Conqueror in Normandy invading England, and the Normans then in time invading Ireland with Strongbow and others, Many Normans also settled in Wales.

This is like a paperless filing cabinet, putting in bits that we may want to follow up later.

BELFAST, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Titanic.

2009-04-16T14:25:00.002-04:00

Transportation Museum.

There is a splendid transportation museum at Belfast, with full-size carriages and trains, and a model of the Titanic. Big exhibit. When we drove through the city, there were political symbols, and fists, and bombed out places. Banks transferring big canvas locked bags to armored cars had soldiers with machine guns guarding. We moved along smartly.

The Titanic: the exhibit and models of this ship, constructed here in Belfast, offered to its First Class passengers this last meal, according to the Financial Times, this by way of update June 11-12, 2011: see http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/2/6507080c-9175-11e0-b1ea-00144feab49a.html#axzz1UpRXV9sq
See also http://www.titanicandco.com/menu.html; http://www.food.com/recipe/titanic-1st-class-menu-consomm-olga-191094 (for the Consomme Olga)

There are sites that just give the actual Titanic recipes, but we include later versions also

Course 1: hors d'oeuvres and oysters

Course 2: Consomme Olga; cream of barley

Course 3: Salmon, poached, with sauce mousseline, see http://www.suite101.com/content/mousseline-sauce-thick-and-luscious-a89013; cucumbers

Course 4: Filet Mignon, Lili style, see http://www.cookeryonline.com/RECIPES%20HTML/Meat%20Dishes/Filets%20Mignons%20Lili.html. Think artichoke hearts, madeira, gooseliver paste, truffle

Course 5: Lamb with mint sauce; roast duckling with applesauce, sirloin of beef chateau, see http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/wbkirOH42DOCp1iBi8LFYA?select=75tph-bwvXaKr-kEQFCviQ, green peas and creamed carrots, rice (boiled) potatoes Parmentier http://www.cookitsimply.com/recipe-0010-01540j.html and is that really just boiled with butter and parsley scattered? and boiled new

Course 6: Punch Romaine, http://www.food.com/recipe/titanics-1st-class-menu-punch-romaine-191154 (champagne, wine, orange juice, rum)

Course 7: Roast squab, see http://articles.boston.com/2006-04-19/ae/29242115_1_squab-oven-and-roast-pan and cress (look like sprouts, or is it just watercress? see http://completewellbeing.com/article/garden-cress-packed-with-power/)

Course 8: Cold asparagus with vinaigrette

Course 9: Goose liver paste and celery

Course 10: Waldorf pudding, exact recipe unknown, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waldorf_pudding, but many claimants; peaches in Chartreuse jelly (this is probably like a jell-o shot, see http://www.etailersdigest.com/celebrate/refresh/shooters.htm - Chartreuse is a liqueur, see St. Bruno at http://www.cocktailatlas.com/Chartreuse_Liqueur/Char-truth.htm); chocolate and vanilla eclairs, and French ice cream. French means a custardy base, we think, see http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/french_vanilla_ice_cream/

There.

After Belfast, we went down the peninsula rather than the mainland side toward Dublin, because we saw a ferry marking on the map. Rule: If you see a ferry sign, you have to take it. Ended up at Downpatrick.

Red Hand of Ulster

What is the source of the image, the red hand of Ulster.

Find the Red Hand of Ulster, at http://travelpostersonline.com/.

In Belfast neighborhoods, we saw the Red Hand of Ulster on walls, posters. In 1015 BC, some say 1500 BC, Ui Niall, or Hugh O'Neill was coming to claim Ulster when it appeared that a rival chieftain would get their on his ship first. So Ua Niall hacked off his hand and hurled it to short, being the first to claim the land. See http://www.oneill-family.org/RHOU.html/

Millennia later, protestants claimed the symbol for their claim to a birthright there, the Red Hand of Ulster, as a British land. Here is one: fair use thumbnail from www://cain.ulst.ac.uk

Read legends of Hebrew roots for the Red Hand, at http://www.johnpratt.com/.../ Thumbnails are supposed to be fair use, but we haven't the energy or funds to dispute a site's removal of even that.

Look up the picture of the Zerah Red Hand, Old Testament roots, is from that site. Do an Images search.

DUBLIN. Bram Stoker, Dublin's Claim to Dracula

2009-04-15T19:03:00.001-04:00

DUBLIN

Dublin County

Leinster Province

Daniel the Traveler here, is our famed co-Director of the ad hoc Car-Dan Tour Company, of (click) Europe Road Ways fame. He went to the bookstore, as his custom often. He found out that Bram Stoker, who wrote Dracula, is a Dubliner, born in 1847. We never knew that when we were there, or when we went to Romania, but here is corroboration: at the venerable BBC itself, at ://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A588233/. See our Romania site at Romania Road Ways, Vlad Tepes Sites.
.

Dan learns that Bram Stoker is a Dubliner. Here is Dan, at the Dracula Club, Halloween, Bucharest, Romania

Apparently, Bram Stoker was shaped by horror stories of the cholera epidemic in Ireland in 1832, among other influences.

He went to Trinity College in Dublin, and was athletic and a debater. He was a civil servant at Dublin Castle, and received an M.A. in Mathematics.

After he moved to London, he qualified as a Barrister, but did not practice. "Dracula" - his most famous novel, published in 1897 - earned him zilch. He died in 1912.

The point? That taking a young person to Europe, or other area where they have an affinity from vague roots, can leads to lifetime interests in the interrelationships among countries they have actually seen. Skip the summer camp. One parent, one child, go somewhere. Climb castles or whatever. Eat and sleep on the cheap. Life. Bram Stoker born in Dublin. Who'd 'a' guessed.

DUBLIN. Dublin. - The Thirty-Six Hour Series, New York Times

2009-04-15T17:24:00.000-04:00

DUBLIN.

Resources for clipping and taking, or printing out:

July 13, 2008, page 11, New York Times. Do check the "36 Hours" series, this one on Dublin, for any major city - with luck, there will be a feature.

You will find a handy map of the city, with the usual numbered bullets showing where the places are, and a fine series of paragraphs according to time and location. Start at 9, for example, after breakfast, at this place, and follow through the entire 36 hours - restaurants, culture, sights, night spots.

Down. PORTAFERRY, Downpatrick, County Down

2009-04-15T12:27:00.002-04:00

PORTAFERRY

DOWNPATRICK

From Belfast, take a break from driving and take an alternate route south: Drive the peninsula south to Portaferry, on Strangford Lough. Enjoy the waves across toward Downpatrick. Our rule is this: If you see a ferry, take it. That is the rule. Here, we knew there would be a ferry across toward Downpatrick, so there was no surprise change in route.
.
Its history goes back to mesolithic man, some 7000 BC, see http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.portaferry.info/History.html; with each stage or invasion represented, through religious changes, Norse, Cromwell. Strangford Lough itself is a Norse name -- Strang-fjord, says the site. If you have time to delve, there is a castle, and old church ruins.
.
Portaferry ferry, Strangford Lough toward Downpatrick, Ireland.

Portaferry does not go to Portadown, another place entirely. Portadown is a market town also with a long history, more prosperous since the 17th century, see http://www.portadowntown.com/about/heritage.asp. The "down" comes from old Gaelic for dun, or fortress, or fort. Place of the fort.

DOWNPATRICK

The Cathedral at Downpatrick displays the gravestone allegedly of Saint Patrick, see http://visitdownpatrick.com/, where Saint Patrick is said to be buried.

Down Cathedral, Downpatrick, Ireland

.

There is a large flat slabstone in front, with a depression where he is supposed to have laid his hands.

Saint Bridget, see http://marshallco.net/axtell/stbridget/bridget-life.htm; and Columba or Columcille are also here. See http://www.saintspreserved.com/Colum/St_Colum.htm.
.
Other sites have St. Bridget buried at Kildare. See http://www.ecole.evansville.edu/glossary/bridgeti.html. As to St Brigit, or St Brigid, or Brigid, she apparently is the Christianization of the old Celtic goddess of the same name in whose honor so many sacred wells, healing wells, are named. See discussion at http://irelandroadways.blogspot.com/view/flipcard#!/2006/06/magic-or-healing-wells.html

DUBLIN - And Guinness. County Dublin

2009-04-15T11:22:00.000-04:00

Dublin: We ambled for a day, around St. Patrick's Cathedral and the River Liffey, especially interested in Bloomsday, James Joyce - whom we later met in Pula in Croatia. See Croatia Road Ways. Joyce lived in Croatia, among other places.

Medieval Dublin is hard to extract from wandering the commercial city today. See medieval Dublin information at enfo.ie/leaflets/bs16.htm. Its history is at eiretek.org/chapters/books/Harris/contents.

Fair use thumbnail from ://www.seattlenet.com/.

Aim for the Guinness. This famous stout was first brewed as a "porter" by Arthur Guinness in 1770 at St. James' Gate here, see ://www.guinness-storehouse.com/en/somehistory.aspx/ Now centered in England, you can still enjoy the Guinness Book of World Records, instituted to while away the time while patrons imbibed. See ://spyhunter007.com/spy_guinness_book_history.htm

GLENDALOUGH, County Wicklow, monastery

2009-04-14T11:45:00.003-04:00

GLENDALOUGH

Gleann da Loc
SAINT KEVIN

Glendalough, County Wicklow, Ireland

EARLY CHRISTIANITY, PRE-ROMAN VERSION REFORMS

What if early Christianity as brought to Ireland by the earliest religious, had been able to prevail against the might of the Roman branch -- and its Gregorian Reforms, see http://individual.utoronto.ca/hayes/survey2/03_gregorian.htm. The militant, organizational, creed-driven group out to change the world according to its view overwhelmed the local faithful, the meditative, the merely "doing good". History only tells us what did happen, not what might have changed in our own lives with other outcomes. Saint Kevin. Naom Caoimgin. Sound out the Gaelic.
.
Come to Glendalough, 550-600 AD, Noonan at 12; and many other sites remaining in Ireland, for a glimpse of another Christianity, one seeking conversion of others but never pushing it. If you can find an old guide, like Glendalough, or the Seven Churches of Saint Kevin, by P. J. Noonan (P.O'Nuinain), 1st edition 1936, and the last, the 8th, in 1962, you are rich indeed. See reference to it at The Seven Churches of St. Kevin
.

Saint Kevin, died 617-18, established himself and began a monastery, and signs point that it was here, at these ruins. But written accounts were set down centuries later, these date to before 800 but not as early as 550-600, so where the first structures were, more confined, between the two lochs, or lakes, upper or lower part of the valley, is not clear. Other, older sites with huts, are steeped in other traditions of holiness and burial place of kings, nearby. The round tower here is probably 10th century, the time of the Viking raids.

See the Sea Stallion of Glendalough, Roskilde, DK reconstructed.
Danes and Norse: plundered Dublin, Kildare, Glendalough in 837. Then the indigenous, native Irish plundered Glendalough in 983. And in 984-85, the Danes were back at Glendalough; and again in 1012, 1016. Between 1017-1163, Glendalough was "ravaged seven times", Noonan at 23.
There are also prehistoric tombs in the area around Kevin's hermit cave, or Kevin's Bed. His arrival there could be geared to dispensing with old superstition, including regarding causing the death of a powerful witch named Caineah or Caoineog, who tried to harm a son of a king sent to Kevin for fostering.

Ireland's connections with Spain and Portugal are also known, Noonan at 17, and some legends may stem from those contacts.
There are many old monastery ruins in Ireland This complex at Glendalough, in County Wicklow, is one of the most famous, see a virtual tour at http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/%7Edvess/ids/medieval/glendalough/glendalough.shtml.

Back to theology.

This place represents a golden age for creativity and self-direction in religion - Celtic Christianity, before the rigid institutions, exclusions, and authority of the Roman church took over. Linear thinking cuts like a machete through the gentle tolerances it finds, and abhors. Is that so?

Later History:

By 1157, the Roman church reforms were well begun. Laurence O'Toole introduced those reforms, but continued to make his own pilgrimates to Glendalough, Noonan at 24. Suddenly there was the Pope asserting jurisdiction, there were formal offices to be held, hierarchies, and, most important, priests began attending deaths with last rites -- and perhaps influencing who got what at the end? Read the overview at another religious-political site, Cashel, and its Rock of Cashel at http://homepage.eircom.net/~cashelemly/acesaint.htm

1170 -- These reforms in turn led to the Norman Invasion, through one Diarmuid MacMurrough and tawdry events of reprisal and revenge, and treachery in his bringing the Normans into the country, see Noonan at 25. Again Glendalough was sacked. This time, by the Normans. Henry II followed up with assertions of "grants" and control, Normans again in 1174 sacked Glendalough, and Henry II himself invaded Ireland in 1175. More plunder, and a flood. Politics, Pope finally affirmed the "grant" that had been opposed by the local Thomas O'Toole (back to the original revenge reprisal issue), and competing "grants" by Pope Innocent vs. Prince John. More attacks, English this time.

Glendalough and town walls: Ireland has many walled towns, most of which are layered over previous cultural settlers. Celtic hill round forts, to Vikings and their wooden fences, to Normans with stone walls of massive size, sentry towers, defense crenellations, and beneath many of those, early monastic peaceful towns, "building communities of shared labor and protection within walls." Glendalough was one of these. A secular community also grew there, "that clung to the monastery for protection and profit. See http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/travel/walking-along-norman-walls.html?scp=1&sq=Walking%20Along%20Norman%20Walls&st=cse
A confusion of history, who is entitled to what. The Noonan guide is comprehensive. PP 27 ff. The Normans represented state interference in church appointments, the old times celebrated independence of the clergy, then came the Pope with new interferences in old ways, but through the church branch he represented. Many large Orders were introduced, with Rules. English archbishops were anathema to the Clan O'Toole, and so on.

1398-1497 - Celtic bishops held the See of Glendalough by "usurpation" it was called, and with permission of the Popes, and the local clans, but then the English archbishop system prevailed, the last bishop of the "usurpation," a Friar named Denis White, surrendered in 1497 to Archbishop Fitzsimons.

1591 - Ulster princes fled from Dublin as the English prevailed

1741 - enter the "penal days" -- Catholics gathered at Glendalough, at the Seven Churches of St. Kevin, were dispersed. Rebellion against hte English seemed to failed, but Michael Dwyer escaped as did others into the Wicklow mountains. See http://irish-rebellions.wikispaces.com/2+-+The+United+Irish+Rising+of+1798

So: What if the Gregorian Reforms, see http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/245503/Gregorian-Reform, with the militance of the Roman branch had confined itself to Italy? No way. So down came Ireland, into systemic violence. Is that so?

WEXFORD, Vinegar Hill, Father Murphy, County Wexford; Wexford

2009-04-14T11:39:00.000-04:00

Vinegar Hill, Wexford, Ireland

Vinegar Hill, a sign on the road south east from Glendalough, on way to Wexford. So we went. See Battle of Vinegar Hill at answers.com/topic/battle-of-vinegar-hill; and the BBC on Vinegar Hill at bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/irish_reb_06.shtml. I believe this was the view from the top, as the hill is not very high, but it looked like this. No place to try to defend, but the only one around.

Vinegar Hill turned out to be a significant one-sided battleground - between the Irish lads with picks and farm tools, against the English firearms. You can climb the tall hill. A statue of a lad with a pike stands in Wexford.

At this site, you can print out the words, then click on the music and sing about the heroic Father Murphy, who sided at first with the English, then saw the devastation and became a hero for the Irish and gave his life with the lads. See Father Murphy at musicanet.org/robokopp/eire/atboolav.htm. The issue of loyalty to the British or siding with the Irish shattered families. Sons hung for fighting were ignored by some parents, just as in any deep civil divides.
.

This is an unnamed elder in our family stuff, not Irish, but he looks like the kind of older generation steeped in commitment to the values in which he was raised. And perhaps he did not participate with Father Murphy. Maybe he did.

There is a fine statue of a young man with his hopeless pike to fight against the English, at Wexford.

On a happier note, that tourist website there gives some basics on Irish cooking: Try wexfordtourism.com/recipes.htm.

KILKENNY, Vikings, and Norse Roots. Burnt Njal, Otkell, Son of Skarf. And An Scairbh

2009-04-13T13:32:00.000-04:00

Kilkenny and Carlow

Kilkenny - old capital, seat of a parliament. See long history at rootsweb.com/%7Eirlkik/kilhstry.

One side of our people came from Kilkenny in 1820, but they don't appear on the landowners' map of 1640, see landowners at Kilkenny at rootsweb.com/%7Eirlkik/landomap. so fine indigenous folks with long roots in Kilkenny they were not.

On the other hand, we later learned that Skarf and spellings derived, were in Carlow - starting with "Red" in the 16th Century, first recording.

Next trip: to Carlow. Not far. See ://www.bytown.net/wexlist.htm/.

Perhaps we were Viking invader/settlers. See the fine site on Vikings in Ireland at vikinganswerlady.com/Ireland.shtml. And the map of how far they had come into Ireland even by 800 AD. rootsweb.com/%7Eirlkik/ihm/ire800. And then more on Viking settlements at rootsweb.com/%7Eirlkik/ihm/ire900. Dad's family -with the unlikely Irish name of Scharf - came from Kilkenny. They went to the Ottawa Valley area, Canada, in 1848, and the surname Scharf seems to be from the Old Norse for "cormorant." We claim the Vikings.

This is the Butler Castle, no relation but a prominent, philanthropic family, Kilkenny.

There are many old Irish names with the same Old Norse root - Scariff, On Scairbh. County Clare. See roots of names post at Old Norse roots, Ireland. Places: irelandmidwest.com/clare/towns/Scariff.

There is a Skarfskerry in northern Scotland, near Orkney. See Scotland Road Ways and Orkney Road Ways. There is also Otkell, Son of Skarf in the old Icelandic sagas. Burnt Njal at Otkell Son of Skarf.

See ncte.ie/viking/ for more on Vikings. From that: Vikings have been in Ireland for over a thousand years. They/we settled in at mills and farms, as well as vacationed from the old country plundering it up. We are indeed full Irish. And the odd name, Scharfe - now with an e so the Canadian postmaster in 1900 could differentiate between families - fits. At last. A quasi-identity ersatz heritage.

Look up any odd Irish name - it also may be Old Norse. See post at Old Norse roots, Ireland.
Give out the helmets with horns.

At Orkney Road Ways, and here at Ireland Road Ways, do look in the labels section to see the cross-references. For Viking buffs, see the google book, The Story of Burnt Njal, from 1861, at http://books.google.com/books?id=CzkLAAAAQAAJ&dq=Burnt+Njal%27s+Saga+Skarf&printsec=frontcover&source=bl&ots=fFnfSozHkl&sig=86e9XhcSzHdvSZ3MjCNiYGfBv4U&hl=en&ei=Js6lSaqeN9W5twedpo3VBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPP1,M1/

Scroll up, yes, up, from the title page to see a depiction of an Icelandic long house, the skall or hall, and then up even further to see the shield with the motto,

"BUT A SHORT WHILE IS HAND FAIN OF BLOW

BARE BACK WITHOUT BROTHER BEHIND IT."

Fain: from old Norse, feginn, meaning happy. Then there are old English derivations from foegin, to rejoice, etc. See definition at ://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fain

Foegin. Feginn. The motto on the shield.

Does this mean that Fagan the Pickpocket Gang Leader in Oliver Twist was Old Norse, perhaps in the Norman invasion of England, (the Normans being Norse) or with the English further into Ireland with Strongbow? What's in a name. For recreation, see ://listsearches.rootsweb.com/th/read/IRL-CARLOW/1999-11/0941511106/.

Baby names. Skip the baby sites, at ://www.thinkbabynames.com/meaning/1/Fagan/ They are pablum. Get back to the grit. Vikings, Normans, yes! See Orkney connections at Orkney Road Ways, Finding New Roots.

Cork. KINSALE, County Cork

2009-04-12T19:59:00.001-04:00

Kinsale, Cork

The Flight of the Earls

Kinsale, County Cork, Ireland

Kinsale - A port, southern coast; military stronghold. It also is a center for the arts, history. Kinsale as a culinary center supreme attracts professional and amateur foodies. See http://www.cork-guide.ie/kinsale .

In 1601, the Spanish and English defeated the Irish at the Battle of Kinsale. Hugh O'Neill had made the error of moving his Irish troops into Kinsale to fight, and there was a rout - followed by the Flight of the Earls in 1607 - marking an end of the Irish hopes of independence at the time.

For the sad tale of the Flight of the Earls, see http://www.irelandseye.com/aarticles/history/events/dates/earls.shtm. Find contemporary documents about it at http://www.celt.ucc.ie/index, a "Corpus of Electronic Texts (CELT)".

A section concerning the Earls is found at http://www.ucc.ie/celt/published/T100070/index.

For a view of the realities of the time, what recourse there may or may not have been, whether the Earls believed Spain would return with them to rout the English, did they realize that Spain's fleet had been decimated earlier, what laws were invoked, made, stretched, detailed sites become overwhelming. To start on this kind of complex fact base, go to (yes) Wikipedia as a beginning framework, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_of_the_Earls

What would have been different if they had not fled, on their ship with all those families, out of the Lough in Donegal? Would there have been ever a Plantation, where the Crown planted English, Scottish and Welsh families on escheated lands of the Earls, forfeit? The Earls would have been compelled to live in vastly reduced circumstances after the victory of the English in the rest of Ireland, with their Ulster only remaining, and dominated. But would that have been better for the Irish?

Our probably Plantation Irish, or were they there before but Protestant already, we would like to ask. See http://irelandroadways.blogspot.com/2011/10/londonderry-derry.html

Cork: history at enfo.ie/leaflets/bs31. We enjoyed a day there, but prefer country to cities overall.

PREHISTORY - stone forts

2009-04-10T12:45:00.001-04:00

Prehistoric stone fort, Ireland

Along with the standing stones, there are also burial mounds, chambers and - here - a stone fort built with no mortar.

See prehistoric structures at ://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/seanchlocha7.htm/ There are fine photos and history here.

This one is round, and is still well standing, a large circle of high walls and walkways, and rooms within the walls, space for villages and livestock to find refuge from invaders, coming up from the sea in the distance. See Ireland's archeology at mockingbird.creighton.edu/english/micsun/irishresources/archaeol.htm.

Here is a fine site for the history of Ireland, with maps: rootsweb.com/%7Eirlkik/ihm/index.htm.

Follow the small signs by the road to see what you will see. Stone circles, stone forts, standing stones.

Cork. MIZEN HEAD, peninsula, County Cork

2009-04-10T12:00:00.001-04:00

Mizen Head, Southern Tip, Ireland

This is the most southwesterly point of Ireland, on a peninsula. Find a light signal station and displays here, sea caves, waterspouts,
see http://www.myguideireland.com/mizen-head/

This would have been the last sighting of land for Irish immigrants heading to America. The walk to the observation area passes sites for varied flowers, whale-sightings, dolphins, see http://www.mizenhead.net/

Get to the farthest-out points in a country, as far as you can get - we aim for the extremes: see John O'Groats in Scotland, and Land's End in England. And Gdynia, Poland. Sapanta, Romania.

BLARNEY CASTLE, County Cork: murder hole

2009-04-09T16:30:00.000-04:00

Blarney Castle, Blarney, Ireland

Blarney for most is a delightful experience. Famous castle. See blarneycastle.ie. Such a fine place to come back to the parking lot, and find the luggage gone. Infamous to us.

A little theft to spice the day.

So, let it go, contact the police, do the forms, it all works out. Buy another chapstick. For stolen or lost passports, here are the contacts: travel.state.gov/law/info/info_623. There are ways to expedite. See passportsandvisas.com/passport/lost.asp.

Parking lot protocol. Never, ever, leave a window cracked open even a little. And put away the maps and junk.

You will be identifiable as a tourist from the license plate, but you will be a less stupid one. At least one of you keep cash, a plane ticket and passport in a waistpack. If you do see a red van in the lot, with people eying you out of darkened windows, park instead right at the ticket booth. The lady is in my tan 9 1/2 hiking boots.

And now: The Stone. Blarney is famous for its Blarney stone, and there really is one.

Dan Widing Kissing the Blarney Stone, Blarney Castle, Ireland

Here is a site for the history of the stone, and the gift of gab it bestows: sacredsites.com/europe/ireland/blarney_stone.

Don't even think how many lips have kissed that thing. Just be romantic. We cheered our immune systems on. We worried not a whit about germs in the great outdoors.

But far better for our historical research purposes is the Murder Hole: See castlesontheweb.com/glossary.

Dan Widing approaching the Murder Hole, Blarney Castle, Ireland

This bit of architectural military defense brilliance is just inside the portcullis, the grated big gate that lowers just over the drawbridge.

There is a matching grated gate about 20 feet beyond, before you get into the main courtyard. You are trapped. Then, look up.

There is a hole up there. And people about to pour boiling water and oil and rocks, and sling arrows upon your head.

In some castles, the tale tells of the women in the solarium, the large room on the sun-side of the castle, looking down to the great hall beneath, and with big fireplaces for themselves and children. The women heated the water and hurled the stones as needed.

SKIBBEREEN, County Cork: Famine, depopulation, immigration

2009-04-09T10:52:00.000-04:00

Famine. Greed. A kind of genocide for its day.

See rootsweb.com/%7Eirlkik/ihm/ire1841.htm. The BBC gives information on whether the famine in Ireland was preventable - food available, but deflected by the powers to England or other places, not to the locals bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/famine_07.shtml.

This is Skibbereen. Southeast corner of Ireland. A focal point of the 1840's famine years, and with its extensive memorial. See skibbheritage.com/famine.htm. A personalized view of the famine is at //www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/irishfamine. This site offers first-hand accounts, by people at the time.

Skibbereen, Famine Cemetery, County Cork, Ireland

It is hard to know whether a particular ruin is related to the famine. Perhaps just abandoned with changing property lines. But empty homes and farms haunt fields and towns everywhere.

.
Abandoned farmstead, ruin, Ireland

Kerry. RING OF KERRY, Converted churches, Ireland

2009-04-08T12:22:00.001-04:00

IRELAND'S SOUTH-WESTERN PENINSULAS

DINGLE

INGERAGH (RING OF KERRY)

BEARA

There are several western-reaching peninsulas in south-western Ireland: The Dingle Peninsula, The Inveragh Peninsula with its Ring of Kerry route; and the Beara Peninsula, West Cork. We focus here on Kerry. These areas are touched by the Gulf Stream, with all the varieties of plants, animals, that allows.

1. The Dingle, the northern peninsula, is less traveled, and we think, the loveliest. Start at Tralee, and go all the way out past the town of Dingle, and see views of Great Blasket Island and the Atlantic.

2. Beara Peninsula, the southern one, boasts Mizen Head, the farthest Irish point tip south, out in the Atlantic . We went through Bantry, visited Mizen Head, then back to Skibbereen at its southern access route on the mainland.

3. The Ring of Kerry is a 125 mile route around the Inveragh Peninsula, on a road most use that is now also a well-traveled N70. Start at Killarney, through Killorglin, Glenbeigh, Kells. Caherviceen, with Valentia and Portmagee out a peninsula there at the end; around to another nice diversion to Ballinskelligs castle and views of the Skellig islands; Waterville, Caherdaniel (Daniel? See speculations about Tribe of Dan, Tuatha de Danaan, etc), Castlecove, Sneem, and Kenmare. See videos at http://www.dochara.com/tour/itineraries/ring-of-kerry-tour/

Start early - before 10, if you plan to stop and enjoy. We misjudged the time we would want and got back through a mountainous area at dusk. Not a good idea. If you are late starting, then do the mountain area first, with the flatland at dusk.

RING OF KERRY

On the way there, see signs of changing times. Repurposed churches without congregations but with new uses. These were near the Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, but still on the mainland.

One repurposed church is now a fitness, exercise center.
.
Repurposed church, Ring of Kerry, Ireland. Church as fitness center.

Another, at Templenoe, Kenmare, is a restaurant and bar - a pub called "The Vestry," "Open Daily Till Late." The restaurant advertises at http://propertyireland.net/kerry/the-vestry-templenoe-kenmare-co-kerry-ireland-18th-century-church-run-as-a-fully-licensed-restaurant-with-sea-views/

.

Templenoe, Kenmare, Repurposed church, Ring of Kerry, "The Vestry" pub, Ireland

STONE HOUSES; stone roof,

2009-04-06T12:26:00.000-04:00

Stone house, stone roof, Ireland

People who live in stone houses should never throw glass.

This is an active residence, with stone walls and a fully stone roof. Stone roofs like these are not mere stone tiles. The closest close-up picture I could find for these free-form stone is from Croatia at treklens.com/gallery/Europe/Croatia/photo191489.htm.

I see that even modular homes in US are being made of stone, with interesting construction t echniqes like slipform. See US stone construction at hollowtop.com/cls_html/do-it-yourself/stone_masonry.htm; and at northcoast.com/%7Etms/stone.html. No connection to these people, just interesting to read what they do.

Kerry, RING OF KERRY, Mountains, Caherdaniel, Stone Fort, County Kerry

2009-04-06T11:30:00.001-04:00

Ring of Kerry, mountain view, Ireland
.
The Ring of Kerry is a scenic route around one of the peninsulas south of Limerick. See Ring of Kerry, with music, at http://users.zetnet.co.uk/gsivills/gskerry.html. Here, folks having a good time: http://jessajune.com/photos/2002/ireland/ringkerry.html.

Cahirdaniel:

CARRIGAFOYLE CASTLE, County Kerry:

2009-04-05T12:59:00.000-04:00

Carrigafoyle Castle, County Kerry, Ireland
.
Ruins of castles are all over, gaping as you go by. This one is Carrigafoyle, also 15th century, on the Shannon River west of Ballylongford, and finally defeated by the cannons of Cromwell. See reference.com/browse/wiki/Ballylongford. There also had been other battles. More of its stormy history at irelandseye.com/aarticles/travel/attractions/castles/crgafoyl.shtm

We started with, "See a castle, go in." But that is impossible. Too many. Take care. They are wide open, no guard rails, no nothing.

What caused the destruction: largely Cromwell from England and his cannon. He landed in Ireland in 1649 to quell the Irish revolt that began in 1641. Bloody, ruthless. See ://www.doyle.com.au/cromwell.htm

DRIVING: Sharing roads with animals; passing; driving on the left, and courtesies

2009-04-05T11:30:00.001-04:00

Cows in the road, near Galway, Ireland

Roads are excellent between main towns - many motorways, but most are 2 to 2 1/2 lanes.
.

Sheep in the road, Ring of Kerry, Dingle Peninsula, Ireland

.
Animals are leisurely in the road. Sheep and cattle, some goats. Markings of red or blue are for ownership. They do not move. We saw none hit. Drivers take the necessary care.
.

Mantra for driving on the left: Center line to the right elbow. Center line to the right elbow.
.
Roads: see driving in Ireland at iol.ie/%7Ediscover/driving.htm.
.
Watch your left hubcaps. Easy to hit curbs. See also rules of the road at driving.drive-alive.co.uk/driving-in-ireland.htm.
.

Passing on one lane roads: Watch for the tall flag that means a lay-by. When you see a car coming, the car nearest the lay-by backs up, or pulls over and waits.

Passing on three lane or two lane roads:

Car behind will tailgate. This is not necessarily rude. Tailgating usually signals a desire to pass. The slower car pulls to the side, over halfway on the berm and keeps driving while the faster car whips out and partway over the middle line and passes, then whips back. Passing is done fast with little leeway.

The passing car should not have to go entirely into the oncoming traffic lane at all, as we always do.

Traffic circles. The one in the circle has the right-of-way, so never barge in.

Learn the international traffic signs. Your guidebook should have a page on that. They are not necessarily intuitive.

ROCK OF CASHEL, County Tipperary: Kings of Munster

2009-04-04T16:22:00.001-04:00

Rock of Cashel, County Tipperary, Ireland
.
This Tipperary site was the seat of Kings of Munster as early as the 5th century, when Saint Patrick baptized King Aengus. See Cashel overview at http://sitesatlas.com/Europe/Ireland/RockOfCashel.htm.
.
Then the Rock site was given to the Church in 1101, and it became an Abbey. Cromwell's soldiers and cannons from England came in 1647 and there was a massacre. See http://comhaltas.com/bru/Cashel.htm.

It is restored, much of the medieval section is standing, and the guides help sort out the Romanesque from other architectures. Films, education centers. See photos at http://bamjam.net/Ireland/Cashel.html.

Full history narrative: The Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, written from the institutional perspective, at http://homepage.eircom.net/~cashelemly/acesaint.htm

Illuminated manuscripts: 7th - 11th century AD
Irish monks of the 7th and 8th century create illuminated manuscripts which are among the greatest treasures of Celtic and early Christian art. See http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?historyid=ac70#ixzz1XUAZn4m3

DEPOPULATION. Churches in fields: ruins, depopulation

2009-04-04T16:04:00.000-04:00

Old church ruin, pasture, Ireland

Ruins of past lives. See many ruined homesteads, churches, abandoned settlements.

A church in a field with the flock outside, not inside.

Look at the depopulation figures from 1849-1901, at ://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C05E5D61F38E733A2575AC2A9609C946097D6CF/ From eight million souls to three million in that time, roughly.

PREHISTORY. Standing Stones: Ireland and Symbolism, Setting the Pace

2008-10-12T13:55:00.000-04:00

PREHISTORY

Ancient and Modern Standing Stones
Pillar Stones
Ogam Stones

Here is a millenia-old monument, Ireland. Trying to find exactly where. The one at the Hill of Tara is smoother, see information on the ancient Tara coronation site, at www.megalithicireland.com/Hill%20of%20Tara.htm, so this is not it. Note the Celtic runes. Would also like to translate that. Do a search for Standing Stones, Ireland, and see how many there are.
.
Standing Stone, Ireland

This looks similar to the Long Stone at Kildare, Forenaughts Great, see Irish Pillar Stones and Cross-Pillars, at http://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/pillarstones.htm/.

Modern Standing Stones.

See Pointe du Hoc, Normandy, France, where the Rangers scaled high cliffs on D-Day, with terrible losses.

A modern standing stone, as phallic as all the rest.

Standing Stone, Pointe du Hoc, France

Standing Stone, Washington Monument, Washington DC

See also the Columbus monument, Madrid, Spain; and Lord Nelson up top at Trafalgar Square, London. Tall memorials all, standing for what they stand for. Symbolism.

The shape foisting itself on the ages. See other examples of the shape at Nationmaster, ://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Phallus/

See other Irish standing stones, in formation or alone, at Stonepages.com, at ://www.stonepages.com/ireland/ireland.html/ For more on these, also known as Pillar Stones, or Ogam Stones, see Irish Megaliths at ://www.irishmegaliths.org.uk/pillarstones.htm

THEMES. WC - The Necessaries of the World - Blarney

2008-01-19T17:13:00.002-05:00

THEMES. With travel, come recurrent topics, how people solve common problems, for example. Here, the necessary, the WC.

Blarney Castle, Ireland

Blarney Castle

The name "Blarney" has acquired such a cozy sound, with all the jokes about the Blarney, or acquiring the gift of the gab, the wheeling talk, see definition at://dictionary.reference.com/browse/blarney at Blarney Stone.

Instead, it is a formidable defense structure, and foreboding. See it from a distance at other posts, that discuss parking lot theft issues, the fine Blarney Stone and the murder hole, at Ireland Road Ways, Blarney Castle.

The topic here, however, is the ubiquitous WC. The necessary. The halfway house. What did people in castles do, from London Tower to the Rhine, to anywhere, to relieve their medieval selves.

They sat and out it all went, down the side, into the moat, into the river, hoping the tides will come in enough. Look there on the side - the place for it. Convenient, no need to go outside where the enemies are and the stairs are inconvenient at night.

Go ahead.

Others are at Europe Road Ways, Themes, WC. See also the castles on the Rhine in Germany. Look for the little room overhanging the river. See London Tower - recall that its moat used to come and go with the tides. And look up. There it is - hoping for the tides.

MIGRATIONS. ETHNICITY. The Travelers in Great Britain - Ireland's Gypsies, Roma

2008-01-02T15:46:00.004-05:00

Migrations. Ethnicity. Minority issues. Cross all boundaries. Here, Gypsies, or Roma in Ireland.

Irish Traveler Wagon, Tourist Kitsch substitute for the real thing, now seldom seen. Clip-clop for hire.

How an old culture gets trivialized.

Gypsies or Roma in Ireland are known as "Travellers," according to sites that connect them to groups elsewhere in the British Isles. But they are seen as "gypsies" by those who see them here as indigenous, not the product of migrations from India or elsewhere, and connected to their own Irish history, see below.

Before we get there, see how this proud people's tradition diminishes when there is money to be made, by others, off it. Look at the diminution, the commercializing of this country's population of Travelers or gypsies, the gypsies or Roma in other countries. Here are tourists who pay to sit in a wagon while the horse plods to the next town and the next, to the set place for the night. This romanticizing lets us close our eyes to what really has happened - the hounding, the denigration, the maligning, and in the Holocaust, the slaughter.

Nomadic groups have lived in Ireland for centuries, on the margins, hardly visible, see //www.qub.ac.uk/schools/SchoolofEnglish/imperial/ireland/travellers. Read "Irish Travellers: Culture and Ethnicity, cited at the website,.Eds. McCann et al. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, 1994, 95-109). One of their points is this: that the settling of Travellers (usually by legislation) and forcing them away from their itinerant customs and connections, results in people on state welfare - they are cut off from their trades, the itinerant recycling, repair, recycling, other work they did, among other reasons.

Roots if Irish Gypsies. Their roots may be different from the mainland European Roma, see //www.indymedia.ie/article/68053, in that the Irish groups are probably indigenous rather than stemming from migrations out of India a millennia ago. They could be connected to the time-after-time upheavals, the destruction of monasteries and their populations, the famines leaving people on the roads, the land-use policies pushing people off their traditional farms, warfare, and the like. And the groups in Ireland interact little with each other - divided as Travellers vs. the settled.

Language - the Language of the Irish Traveller also sets them apart from mainland European groups: a form of Gaelic, not with roots apparently from the Indo areas. See ://www.indymedia.ie/article/68053. Still, much in the mists, little demonstrable with much certainty.

Politics/ Migration issues. England's Tories are unhappy with Irish Travelers coming over to England where there may be more loopholes for living, and setting up in England with "illegal pitches" or camping sites. But the BBC points out that there are too few "legal" pitch sites. Where are the people to go? See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4365287.stm. There is a Gypsy and Traveller Law Reform Coalition, with an Andrew Ryder coordinating, trying to help, at least.

Each country has its own stories to tell - too much for each country's site, so please visit our interest in gypsies at Gypsies, Roma, Romani.

Look at the posts for "Travelers," as these groups do not identify closely with any others from mainland Europe, even after migrating to the US and elsewhere. And treat them with respect, and see there is healthcare and sustenance for all of us, whatever our roots.

NORSE SURNAME. MIGRATIONS. Scarf - Scharfe - Scharf - Scariff. Ironworking; Cormorant SkarfR . Norse. forge name connections

2007-11-24T19:01:00.011-05:00

NORSE SURNAME, MIGRATIONS. Scariff. SkarfR. Norse to Ireland

Connections to Cormorants; and where they nested, irony-shaley places.

Scharfe family farm, Ottawa, Canada - Adam and Teressa.

Family occupations in memory. Dairy, and Clydesdales for the farm and the city to pull the trolley. And Norse. Somewhere, back there.

With a name like Scharfe, we have to be odd.

What kind of name is that? Are you related to the Scaifes? No, but their mail sometimes came to us.

Ancestors from Kilkenny -

The family lore said Irish most recently, but the name sounded German - scharfe for sharp. Tracking for recreational reasons, we find John and Anne in 1848, from Kilkenny, arriving in Ottawa, and their descendants took off from there - see Hazeldean Cemetery. The land of the farm is still there but the house burned in the 1940's we think. Just ampty land.

Old Norse.

We also then found Viking roots to the name - not unusual, given the history of that wandering-settling-trading-raiding-group.Norway has a mountain, Skarfjellig; and there are runes to explore -- SKARF in runes with each rune having a meaning, see Norway Road Ways, SKARF.

Many probably raided first, then settled in Ireland - see their mills there, and replicas of their villages.

Recreational lookbacks into names - a diversion for us, looking up an unusual maiden name, Scharfe. Skarf. Scaife evolved. Scarf. Scharf. Six of one.

But the Scaife branch were better financial planners.

Iceland.

Were all of us stems of the root clans in The Burnt Njal Icelandic Saga? There find Otkell, Son of Skarf and more Skarfs - see "The Story of Burnt Njal, or Life in Iceland at the End of the Ninth Century, " by George Webb Dissent in 1861, at a Google Book, with this very long URL, but worth it because of the coat of arms and illustration there - at ://books.google.com/books?id=CzkLAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA181&lpg=PA181&dq=Burn+Njall+skarf&source=web&ots=fFndMpzEdo&sig=05GMmUmY8njiXSk0mc1R84J3cQw&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result/.

Read the story at the Icelandic Saga Database, at ://www.sagadb.org/brennu-njals_saga.en - Skarf at Chapters 47-48.

Scariff, An Scairbh, Ireland

Another distant (not personally known) relative found a memorial near An Scairbh that traced the name back to the 1500's - somebody named Red. Fantasy says we are related to Eric the Red. Everyone needs fantasy. Go to All in a name.

Canada embellished us.

The "e" was added arbitarily in the early 1900's in the Ottawa Valley, Ottawa, Canada. The only reason was to help the poor postal worker who had all the Scharfs to deal with. Adam made us different with a stroke of a directive. Always helpful.

They were good folks, think their progeny's progeny's progeny.

Back to the Old Norse.

Skarfs and Cormorants and Icelandic Saga.

The Old Norse. We earlier found connections with the skarf-scarf-scharf-scharfe group in Orkney - old Norse for cormorant, or the shaley cliff or other rocky places where they nested. See Orkney Road Ways - Scarf / Cormorant. See that site also for the Skarf in an old Norse Icelandic Saga. Meet Burnt Njall, meet Otkell, son of Skarf.

SkarfR - in the Runes, see ://www.vikinganswerlady.com/ONMensNames.shtml#Hedin, and scroll down to SkarfR. Cormorant, or Skari, small sea gull.

Scarfs and the Bowman, The Fletcher, the Longbow Arrow -

The arrow of the longbow - the best ones - were made of both ash and oak: ash at the feather or fletched end, oak at the steel tip or bodkin end. The join between the ash part of the arrow and the oak was called the scarf - and the gluing and varnishing made the scarfed joint. See Agincourt at Studying War: World War 1, World War 2, Other Wars: Sites, History.

Scarfs and Blacksmithing.

Now we find a blacksmith connection: a scarf joint. Here is a description of a blacksmith doing one near Houston TX 2003: the Houston Area Iron Fest at 222.habairon.org/Interviews/

Metalworking: In summary, this is how you rough in a "scarf."

take two half-inch square bars, do an "upset" where the join is to be, at 5/8" inch. The angle of the "upset" and the anvil edge should be 30 degrees, keeping the opposite end away from the anvil's face, far end down. Hammer the overlap, making something called a "shearing" action where the cross section is. Soon it starts to separate, so lower the angle - some 45 degrees until it gets to about 60 degrees.

Now, clean it up, add dimension in the "off" sides. See the scarf bulge in the "plane of the tongue" and forge it back so it looks like a duck head. Both ends to be joined are now forged in "like scarfs" and bury them in a coke forge. Head up. Soak until you have 2800 degrees F.

Then, put tongs on opposite ends from the scarfs (note these are not scarves). Then pull both out at the same time, shake so the scale falls off. Rotate and bring the scarf head down and here we do a fair use quote of a bit:

"...[H]e then pressed the two scarfs into their yen and yang positions, he dropped the tongs us was using to hold the piece to his right, picked up his hammer and gave the joint a series of fast strikes, sending sparks flying. It was now forge welded together. Before more seconds passed he reinserted the bar into the forge and brought it up to forging temperature again, but not up to 2800 F as before. Once the steel could be seen to be molten on the surface while peering into the forge, it was pulled out and more rapid, short stroke blows given, tumbling the piece. This “wash weld” served to erase any remnant of a forge weld line still visible. Essentially, the molecules of the two pieces were now intermingled such that no forge line was visible because it didn’t exist any longer! Voila! Forge weld without flux and without a forge line. It was not necessarily remarkable, but most smiths present had never seen it accomplished before.

Several smiths looked at the piece attempting to discern where the weld was, but in vain. You’d need an electron microscope to see the union point now."