Apologies for the delay in responding to recent emails and those who have been in touch via the website’s contact form. It’s been 8 days or so here, without laptop access to the internet. Windows 10 had to be updated. The update took a day and a half. Then things quickly went south. Network adapters refused to work. Arghhhh. Anyways, I am back online this weekend. Yeee-haaa! I...
The Irish are well known for always talking about the weather. This is hardly that surprising given that we have as many as five different competing weather systems, that can give us four seasons in one day. Around rural Ulster the topic of the weather was never more than a sentence away. When a neighbour pulled alongside on his tractor, for a yarn, you’d hear comments like “the rain...
Just a quick mention, before getting started. To keep everyone abreast of the latest developments at One Irish Rover, plus links to lots more comments, I have added a new page to the top menu, to indicate the latest news and happenings. In the introduction to his 1929 book, Ballads and Verses from Tyrone, the Reverend William Marshall is proud of the local rural dialect of his early days. He...
Ken Wells, from Maryland, in the USA, would love to get more information on the Taylor part of his family tree in Cullybackey. The Taylors are buried in the Craigs churchyard just outside the village. Ken can explain it best himself. He says: My 3XG grandparents were Edward (1770-1847) and Elizabeth Taylor. Their gravestone, see the photograph below, is at location 11-A. The transcribed words...
My father, Richard Mulholland, died some years ago. In recent years, two of his siblings have also passed on. There is now only one left. Sammy Mulholland, who lives at the top of Portglenone, with wife Matsy, turned 90 years old at the end of January 2021. He spent his career working as a salesman, for Craigs meal company in Kilrea. I don’t believe that I have ever encountered a...
Early last year, Trudger came upon a very early reference to Cullybackey in an old book, The Life of a Scottish Probationer: Being a Memoir of Thomas Davidson, with His Poems and Extracts from His Letters. The book was compiled by James Brown and published by James Maclehose & Sons, in 1889. Thomas Davidson was born on the 7th July, 1838, at Oxnam Row, a large farm lying along the banks of...
I am still enjoying Henry McAnally’s book of poems from the early 1880s, “Effusions After Toil.” Henry was reared near Portglenone. He left in 1859, to find work in Scotland, ending up as he admits “only a toiler in a Clyde Shipyard, under the heats of summer and the storms of winter.” He never forgot where he grew up and one suspects he never had the chance to...
It’s always nice to get correspondence. I was contacted several months ago by Iben Olsen, a stamp collector from Denmark. He had a fascinating old envelope in his possession, sent by the Reverend Davey, the preacher in Tamlaght Lower, in June 1946, to a man in Poland. Iben says: [su_quote cite=”Iben Olsen”]I am a Danish stamp collector with a special interest in Irish...
In the late 1800s, the life of the farmer was very difficult. Farm landlords could demand any price they wanted and could throw tenants out on a whim. Locals worked long hours on the land and were usually in debt. Land reforms were eventually introduced in the 1880s, to stave off rebellion. Henry McAnally’s poem makes reference to these times. Dear land of my fathers — immortal in story...
A Moment in Time My parents, Richard Mulholland and Eleanor Quinn, got married in the summer of 1961. After the wedding at First Moneymore, the wedding party drove the 34 miles northwards for the wedding reception on the coast. They stopped at the Rose Gardens in Coleraine for photographs. Afterwards they made the short trip to the reception in the Carrig-na-Cule Hotel in Portstewart. It was...
It was a delight to recently discover a very old book of local poetry by Henry McAnally. The book is called ‘Effusions After Toil – a collection of poems and lyrics’ McAnally was reared locally, but eventually left Ireland in 1859 to find work in Scotland. The amateur poet later reflected: [su_quote]I certainly feel delighted at the prospect of my humble verse being thus...
I came across an old photo in mum’s archive. She had written below it, Herbie Stewart. The picture looks like it was taken in the late 1950s, or maybe early 1960s. But most likely, given similar type photos in her archive, late 50s. I am unsure of who Herbie Stewart is – whether he was from Eden, Ballymacpeake, or one of the Stewarts from her side of the family (Quinn). Or...