Tag: Mountstewart

Journeys into the past

On By Carol HenshawIn Art & Architecture, Books, bookshops and libraries, Family history, IrelandLeave a comment


My grandmother seemed to decide that I was to be the family archivist in the 1970s. She gave me a large number of photographs, letters from the First World War front that two of my great-great uncles fought in and letters from a relative in the USA to my great grandmother. Her father came from Ireland. A cousin had done some work on part of the family tree and this was passed onto me. Over the years I filled in many of the gaps and with the help of relatives, and the ever-increasing availability of information on the internet, now have got back as far as 1588 with the exception of the Irish relatives. James is from Northern Ireland so on a recent trip to visit his family we decided to delve further into his family tree as we had relatively little information. The major problem with Irish records is that so many public records were destroyed in the 1916 Easter Uprising. Volunteers have been digitising church register information and other information is already online. Our first step was talking to relatives, finding out if there was a family bible which often had names and dates of birth of all family members (there was not one) and then visiting the various graveyards where we were told some ancestors were buried.

In total we visited four and on the next rainy day I will start to plot out the tree and double-check what we have.

Mountstewart is an estate that used to be the home of the Marquess of Londonderry but is now under the care of the National Trust. We had been there previously so had a quick look at the house and devoted the rest of our time to the garden. Our last visit was late summer so this time it was good to see tulips and Tree Peonies blooming.


A range of animal sculptures sit along the top of the garden wall. This pig is one of them.

Across the road there are views across Strangford Lough.

On our last day we decided to pay a visit to Derry, a city neither of us had visited previously. The 400-year-old city walls stand up to eight metres high and are almost one mile around, making them the most complete city walls in Ireland.

The station is across the Foyle river from the walled city but there is a free bus link to the bus station which is near the shopping centre. We began our walk on the walls at New Gate which is near a bastion containing cannons.

Ferryquay Gate is one of the original four gates and led down to a ferry which used to cross the river. The Guildhall is nearby.

St Columbs Cathedral was built in 1633, one of the first after the Reformation and the oldest building in the city.

St. Augustine’s Church is known as ‘The Wee Church’ and was built on the site of an abbey which St Columba constructed around 543AD before sailing over to Iona in 563AD. It has been rebuilt a number of times until the last in 1872.

There are views all around: over to the Bogside

…and to St Eugene’s Cathedral

We spotted a bookshop near the Craft Village.

Foyle Books is run by a retired French teacher. It has a huge selection of Irish books and others. I picked up one on ‘Difficult to Translate Words and Phrases’ and had a chat with him about this. I had noted that French does not have a word for ‘iceberg’ and we agreed that had they remained in Canada for longer, they might have had one. He also told me that Irish Gaelic has no swear words and so use English ones. My other find was a Hungarian phrasebook which I have been looking for for a couple of months in preparation for our trip to Budapest alter this year. So far in both new and second-hand stores I had had no success. However, this shop had three different ones. I also spotted a book produced by another small society; there seem to be so many devoted to what appear to be minor interests. I had previously come across the Pylon Appreciation Society, but this was a book on British Piers published by The Piers Society which I had not heard of before. Along the wall outside the Millennium Forum is an Anthony Gormley sculpture. There were originally three but the others have ended up overseas.

To return to the station we crossed the Peace Bridge which was opened in 2011.

There is then a footpath/cycle route back to the station although some work was being done on part of it. We could have spent much more time here – there are several museums and plenty of culture. That will have to wait for another trip.

Northern Ireland: wandering around County Antrim & County Down

On By Carol HenshawIn Ireland2 Comments

On Wednesday morning, we drove the 12 miles to the Giant’s Causeway. In the last few years the visitors’ centre and entrance has all been re-developed. It was not too busy and we enjoyed a walk along the longer of the two trails looking over the coast. Fulmars were building their nests on the top of some of the columns but the oystercatchers have not yet arrived. The rain had cleared and the Mull of Kintyre was visible in the distance. We would like to walk some of the coastal trail at some point.

Afterwards we continued along the coast to Portrush, had lunch overlooking the bay and then walked along the east strand.

We popped into the secondhand bookshop once he had opened after lunch (many of the other shops were on half-day closing). I did not find anything to buy but spotted a book with limited appeal – a text devoted entirely to knapweeds and their taxonomy. I also heard today of an event which took place last weekend in Scotland and was new to me – the European Rock Stacking Competition in Dunbar. The winner managed to stack 33 rocks on top of each other. I am not sure how long they have to stay up before falling to qualify. A guy from Spain won and can now enter the World Competition in Texas.

Thursday saw us heading south into County Down to visit Mountstewart, a stately home and gardens now under the care of the National Trust. In the morning, you can join a tour (they run every half hour from 11.30) and after 1pm can wander around on your own. I have seen a few 18th century interiors in the last six months but never fail to appreciate them.

The grounds are extensive with a formal garden, a lake and paths among the trees and shrubs. There is a small chapel which is open only rarely and not on this visit. There are red squirrels here but we did not see any.

Out of the grounds and on the shore of Strangford Lough are the remains of the old gas works, the only surviving domestic gas works in Northern Ireland. It was built in 1850 by the Marquis of Londonderry to provide fuel for the estate.

Heading north again we stopped off at Scabro Tower. It sits on a hill now within a country park and was built in 1857 in recognition of the 3rd Marquis’s concern for his tenants during the famine in the mid 19th century.

On a site just below the summit, the remains of huts and a large hill fort have been found indicating people living on the hill around 5,000 years ago. The tower was closed when we visit but when open you can climb 122 steps inside and there is more information and displays about the local history. There is a golf course on the lower slopes and a woodland walk. The views from the summit are over the Lough and the towns with the Mourne Mountains in the distance.

There was a sculpture by the car park.
We drove back into Belfast on the Newtonards Road past some of the Unionist street art in the east of the city, before we joined the motorway and then endured the roadworks before reaching Ballymoney.