The Little Book of County Down

INTRODUCTION

The coat of arms below represents County Down, one of the six counties in the Province of Ulster that are part of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland. The waves, ship and fish represent the county’s rich maritime heritage, the sheaves the rich agricultural land, the flowers belong to the flax plant. County Down was once the centre of a thriving linen industry and linen threads are obtained from flax plants. The hand holding the crozier represents St Patrick, who started his missionary work near Strangford Lough. The stags represent peace and harmony between the Catholic and Protestant communities, while the Latin motto Absque Labore Nihil means ‘Nothing Without Labour’.

Coat of arms representing County Down.

There is one important fact missing from the coat of arms, namely the beauty of County Down. It’s mainly rich farmland, formed by drumlins left over by the Ice Age. It contains two areas officially designated as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the Lagan Valley and Mourne Mountains.

County Down is bordered by County Antrim to the north, County Armagh to the west, County Louth to the south-west and the Irish Sea to the east.

County Down has excellent roads and connections with the rest of the world. It’s sometimes quicker to travel from London to Belfast than from London to the north of England! In addition, it has good internal connections. It’s possible to travel, by ferry, from Portaferry to Strangford, or from Greencastle to Greenore, in the Irish Republic. As a result of these connections and the resulting proximity of the law, inhabitants of County Down don’t have the same opportunity to make and sell poteen (illegal ‘home-made’ alcohol) and smuggle animals and goods across a land border as those living in Fermanagh or Tyrone. The late Pat Cassidy, who lived in Lisnaskea, County Fermanagh, once said to me, ‘In Down it’s too risky to make an honest living making and selling poteen!’ (That’s illegal!)

There used to be a notable trade of smuggled goods by sea. The Brandy Pad through the Mourne Mountains was once used by smugglers to bring brandy, silk, tea, coffee and so on inland. Contraband was brought ashore and hidden in coastal caves before being dispersed.

County Down contains many interesting long-distance walks. There’s a flat walk and cycle track along the Newry Canal. Part of the Ulster Way is beside a railway track that leads from Belfast to Bangor, making it possible to walk from say Holywood to Bangor and get a train back.

The River Lagan marks the boundary between Antrim and Down. Land to the south of the Lagan is in Down, that to the north is in Antrim. Strictly speaking, part of Belfast lies within the precincts of County Down, but it is such a large, interesting place that it was decided not to incorporate it in this book due to lack of space.

Two other glaring omissions, again due to lack of space, are the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum at Cultra and the Somme Museum on the road between Bangor and Newtownards. The Ulster Folk and Transport Museum is an open-air museum in two parts, one part dedicated to transport including a DeLorean car, and carriages from what is claimed to be the world’s first long-distance electric tram; the other part recreates the landscape of 1900 with relocated farmhouses, and a village, Ballycultra, containing, among other exhibits, a silent picturehouse. It’s a place to be savoured, not rushed, and it’s well worth spending a day there.

The Somme Museum is also fascinating, giving, as it does, a glimpse of what it was like to live in a trench during the First World War. There’s a lot of online information about both museums.

In addition, many towns have their own museums and tourist trails. It’s always worth enquiring at local tourist information offices.

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FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT COUNTY DOWN

Linen manufactured in County Down was used to cover the surface of Hurricane planes. Linen had the advantage of being strong and shells simply made a hole in it as they passed through. A strike wasn’t as catastrophic as would have been the case if the plane had had metallic wings. These planes had to be placed under guard in the desert because camels liked licking their surface!

Noel Mitchel, who is in his 90s, remembers flying in Spitfires towards the end of the war. He says, ‘There was something about a Spitfire! It was easily handled, fast – a lovable plane!’

The last spitfires manufactured had a covering of thin aluminium but the tails and rudders continued to be covered in linen.

A ‘Killinchy Muffler’ is a hug during which the arms are placed around the neck. A ‘Killinchy Waistcoat’ is a closer hug during which the arms are placed around the waist. I wish I knew the origin of these old sayings and I’d be grateful to anyone who could enlighten me. Killinchy is a small village situated 2 miles from the southern side of Strangford Lough.

Come on ye girl ye, til I give ye a Killinchy waistcoat.

The St Patrick’s Centre in Downpatrick is the only permanent exhibition centre in the world dedicated to the life of St Patrick. It’s well worth a visit.

Several members of famous pop band Snow Patrol came from Bangor, County Down, and attended Bangor Grammar School.

Captain Moonlight, the notorious Australian bushranger, was born on Castle Hill, Rathfriland, in 1842. His real name was George Andrew Scott.

Charles de Gaulle has ancestors from County Down. They are buried in Lochinisland graveyard.

Dr Janine Paisley, who lives at Annacloy, near Crossgar, described the unfortunate effect of raising the water level of the river near Annacloy. Drinkers from Annacloy who required subsistence on Sundays, when Annacloy pubs were closed, used to run across the stepping stones in the river to drink and socialise in the Woodgrange. Raising the river’s water level made the stepping stones impossible to use, so a quick dash across the river turned into a 5-mile journey by the road!

Catherine O’Hare was born in 1835 in Ballybrick, Annaclone, approximately 3 miles from Rathfriland. She was the mother of the first European baby born west of the Rocky Mountains. She travelled with her husband Augustus Schubert, and 200 other people who were prospecting for gold in a wagon train. They blazed the way for the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The first Norman windows in Ireland are in Inch Cistercian Abbey, which was founded in 1187 by John de Courcy, with monks from Furness Abbey in Lancashire. It is now a ruin in a beautiful setting on the banks of the River Quoile, near the place where it enters Strangford Lough.

Thomas Andrews, the Chief Naval Architect at Harland and Wolff (the company that built the Titanic), was born at Adara House, Comber, on 7 February 1873. He was one of four sons of a wealthy linen merchant and Lord Pirrie’s nephew (the shipyard’s chairman). He was seen as the natural successor to take control of Harland and Wolff when Lord Pirrie retired. He was a popular manager who cared for his workers and referred to them as ‘my pals’.

Thomas married Helen Reilly Barbour in June 1908. She was the daughter of another wealthy Northern Irish linen family. The young couple moved to 12 Windsor Avenue, Belfast, but Thomas’s heart lay in County Down. Every weekend was spent in Comber, where he sailed on Strangford Lough or played cricket. The couple had one daughter, Elba (Elizabeth Law Barbour Andrews).

Thomas was 39 when he was put in charge of the Titanic. It was the first ship for which he was responsible from start to finish. He sailed on Titanic’s ill-fated maiden voyage as head of the Harland and Wolff Guarantee Group (a specially selected group of workers who were on board to fix any snags – none survived). When the ship was sinking, Thomas showed concern for everyone except himself. He encouraged people to put on warm clothing and helped them into lifeboats. The officers say when last seen he was throwing deckchairs and other things to people in the water. His body was never recovered but a hall was built, by public subscription, in Comber, dedicated to his memory and opened in 1915. He is also remembered in his family’s grave by a gravestone bearing the words, ‘Pure, just, generous, affectionate and heroic. He gave his life that others might be saved.’

See you, wee lad! I’m tellin’ ye – the Titanic was all right when she left Belfast!

Professor Theodore Thomson Flynn came to Belfast from Tasmania in 1931 to take the chair of zoology at Queen’s University Belfast, a post he held until his retirement in 1948. Professor Flynn was a respectable, well-regarded biologist and embryologist. His son, Errol Flynn, was a swashbuckling Hollywood idol and womaniser!

Errol helped his father finance a Tasmanian-styled house, called ‘Kurrajong’, at Kilclief, overlooking Strangford Lough. Until then Professor Flynn had lived in rented accommodation. ‘Kurrajong’ was the first house he owned. He lived there during most of the Second World War and after his retirement.

Professor Flynn’s sober-looking house could not be more different from the one Errol shared with his hard-drinking, womanising friend, David Niven, in Malibu. They called it ‘Cirrhosis-by-the Sea’!

John Butler Yeats (1839–1922) was born at Tullylish. His father, William Butler Yeats, was rector of Tullylish Church of Ireland from 1834 until 1862.

John, a well-known artist, was the father of both the author William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) and the artist Jack Butler Yeats (1871–1957).

William Butler Yeats, poet and dramatist, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. His brother Jack, who died in 1957, became a famous artist who received many honours, including the Legion of Honour and honorary degrees from universities such as Trinity College Dublin and the University of Ireland.

‘The Man from God Knows Where’ came from Bangor. His name was Thomas Russell. He was born in Cork and served in the British Army in India until he returned to Ireland and came to live in Bangor. He joined the United Irishmen, was involved in the 1798 Rebellion, and was captured, tried and hung outside Downpatrick Gaol (see Chapter 3).

The 1798 Rebellion was an uprising by Catholics and Presbyterians who didn’t belong to the Established Church (the Anglican Church) and were thus denied education, couldn’t hold a public office, and so on. Rents in Ireland were high and unfair taxes were placed on goods. The Uprising nearly succeeded and would have done if French reinforcements had been able to land. They were prevented because of a storm. More than 300,000 people died during that terrible time.

John Boyd Dunlop, who invented the pneumatic tyre for cars and bicycles, worked for several years as a vet in his brother James’s veterinary practice in Downpatrick.

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HISTORY

County Down was a famous seat of learning that contributed to Ireland’s fame as a ‘land of saints and scholars’.

Bangor’s famous Monastery and School was founded by the missionary, Comgall, in AD 558. It became the parent of numerous educational and monastic establishments on the continent of Europe and in Scotland.

Bangor Abbey and schools prospered for nearly 200 years, with thousands of clerics and students resident at one time. Ireland suffered repeated raids from Norwegians and Danes during the early ninth century, which had a disastrous effect on the old abbey. The inspired leadership of Malachy O’Morgair during the early twelfth century resulted in a revival of its work. Its influence declined when the Irish Church became Anglo-Romanised and it was ended by King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries

John de Courcy, a prominent Anglo-Norman, caused far-reaching change in Ireland, including County Down. He defeated the Irish at Downpatrick in 1177 and gave his followers large estates. As a result, people with the surnames Savage, Martel, Ridal, Copeland, Jordan and