This is me thinking...Everything here leads to another thought. I live on the Ards peninsula. This area has inhabitants going back to the Stone Age, and there are still signs of groups during the Bronze Age. St. Patrick landed on this peninsula in 433 (legend says here in Donaghadee, coming across from Portpatrick) and that special blend of Irish spirituality and Christianity began - a repository of wisdom that eventually returned the Christian faith to places in Europe.
Then the Invasions.... The Vikings in the ninth century destroying many monasteries, the Anglo-Normans building their castle towers and new churches with the O'Neills prominent here, till, threatened by the British colonists Brian O’Neill in the 1570s, to prevent settlement adopted a scorched earth policy and destroyed all the good stone buildings and farmland, leaving the Peninsula a desolate wasteland. , and then...
And then the Scots. I can see Scotland from here. It is only 22 miles away. There is evidence there has been travel back and forth since forever. This next part is from Wikipedia - just for an idea of what happened. "Before the plantation, Ulster had been the most Gaelic province of Ireland, as it was the least anglicized and the most independent of English control.[18] The region was almost wholly rural and had few towns or villages.[19][20] Throughout the 16th century, Ulster was viewed by the English as being "underpopulated" and undeveloped.[21][22] The economy of Gaelic Ulster was overwhelmingly based on agriculture, especially cattle-raising" But through the turmoil of war and politics, Con O'Neill ceded 2/3 of his lands to James I to obtain a pardon, which land was then given to two Scottish Lords, James Hamilton and Hugh Montgomery in 1606. They in turn got rich by settling lowland Scots here. And the largest Plantation of Ireland created the Ard Peninsula of today. Oh - by the way - Plantation is the historical word for Colonization.
The Door Arch is from the parish church. Note that it is rebuilt in 1626. It was rebuilt from Anglo-Norman ruins. There is a strong - very strong- Presbyterian presence here. And Street Names have words like Brae and Knock. The people here speak an Ulster-Scots dialect- and the Ulster-Scots are the Scotch-Irish in America's Appalachia and much of Canada. In the Ards-North Down area, this last wave of settlers has had a lasting and profound influence. Have you heard of Unionists? The Ulster Hand? Orange Parades and the Battle of the Boyne? That's where this history takes me, and next week I'd like to share some of my thinking. On a more immediate note, I had company this week! Marilyn and Svinda stopped by for a couple of nights to my delight - take a look on Places and you can see our life on TV!
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Fantastic
My word my geography is bad! I've never thought of Ireland as being 22 miles from Scotland. I had to open a map to look to see how that could be!
My people are from Cork and when I arrived by ship, my next port of call was Plymouth so in my head, Ireland lined up with Cornwall, although looking at the map right now I see it better lines up with Wales so much further north than I thought.
Another confounding factor is applying our experiences of distance here in Canada to other places in the world. In the UK distances are always much less than I think. (Ken and I missed an exit off the M6 once because it came and went so much more quickly than we expected given we were traveling "to the north" according to our hosts, yet we blew past not long after Birmingham.)
Maps often embarrassingly dispel misconceptions and misperceptions. Other times we cling to the verbiage even when we know it is wrong. For example, although this cottage is technically south of our home in Ottawa, we still say we are 'driving up' here!
Erin…such an adventure you are having. My maternal grandfathers people are Ulster Scot so while the immigration documents say Ireland, DNA tells a different story! Can’t wait to see you in just 3.5 months!
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