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IRELANDâ€™S BEAUTIFUL NORTH

Born and raised in Liverpool, DOMINIC KEARNEY is now settled in DerryLondonderry. A writer and broadcaster, he is the author of the highly regarded crime novel Cast-Iron Men, and his shorter fiction has been published in The Honest Ulsterman. He writes for The Irish News and Culture NI, and his work has also featured in The Irish Times and The Modernist Magazine. He is a regular contributor to BBC Radio Ulster’s Arts Show and Your Place and Mine. CARSTEN KRIEGER is a professional photographer based in the west of Ireland. His unique images of the Irish landscape are highly acclaimed and he is the author of numerous books of landscape and wildlife photography, including Ireland: Glorious Landscapes; Beautiful Landscapes of Ireland; Ireland’s Coast; and Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way. His photographs have been published in magazines and calendars, and he also exhibits in Ireland and abroad on a regular basis.

IRELANDâ€™S BEAUTIFUL NORTH Dominic Kearney with photographs by

Carsten Krieger

First published 2017 by The O’Brien Press Ltd. 12 Terenure Road East, Rathgar, Dublin 6, D06 HD27, Ireland. Tel: +353 1 4923333; Fax: +353 1 4922777 E-mail: books@obrien.ie; Website: www.obrien.ie The O’Brien Press is a member of Publishing Ireland. ISBN: 978-1-84717-835-0 Copyright for text © Dominic Kearney 2017 Copyright for majority of photographs © Carsten Krieger 2017 Copyright for map © Fiachra McCarthy 2017 Copyright for typesetting, editing, layout and design © The O’Brien Press Ltd All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilised in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or in any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Page 1: Sunset, Ballyhiernan Bay, County Donegal. Pages 2-3: Loughareema, County Antrim. Pages 4-5: Ards Forest Park, County Donegal. Pages 6-7: Whitepark Bay and Portbradden, County Antrim. Printed and bound in Drukarnia Skleniarz, Poland. The paper in this book is produced using pulp from managed forests.

Published in

Acknowledgements With thanks to Dr Tim Campbell, Director of the Saint Patrick Centre, Downpatrick, for his time, knowledge, and expertise. Thanks also to Fionnuala McCullagh for her suggestions and advice. The Publisher would like to thank Naomi Waite, Director of Marketing at Tourism Northern Ireland, MaryJo McCanny, Director of Visitor Servicing, and Fiona Ure, Communications Executive, at Visit Belfast, and Margaret Oâ€™Reilly, Head of Corporate & Industry Communications of Tourism Ireland.

Photograph credits Copyright for photographs: Fiachra McCarthy, pp8–9 map; Chris Hill @ Scenicireland.com, p30 St George’s Market, p56 Derry-Londonderry fireworks, p90 Clones round tower, & p91 Dromore River; Paul Lindsay @ Scenicireland.com, p29 Belfast City Hall, p30 St Anne’s, p32 Botanic Gardens, & p55 St Columb’s; p83 (top) Image courtesy of Marble Arch Caves Geopark, reproduced with permission. The author and publisher have endeavoured to establish the origin of all images used. If any involuntary infringement of copyright has occurred, sincere apologies are offered and the owners are requested to contact the publishers.

Malin Head

Doagh Island Ballyliffin

Fanad Head

Tory Island

Culdaff

Carndonagh

Inishbeg

Inishdooey

Inishbofin

Mulroy Bay Knockalla Mountain

CLOUGHANEELY

Creeslough Gola Island

Muckish DERRYVEAGH MOUNTAINS

Bunbeg

Ramelton River Lennon

GWEEDORE

Mount Errigal Arranmore

Glenveagh National Park

THE ROSSES

Dungloe

Portnoo Narin Clooney

Fintown Lough Finn

Lough Doon Glenties Ardara

illy

Bridgend Burt • Grianán DERRY-LONDONDERRY of Aileach

River Finn

Newtownstewart Castlederg

Lough Eske Killybegs

River Derg

Donegal

Lough Derg

Belfast

Glens of Antrim and Causeway Coastal Route

Derry-Londonderry and Inishowen

Wild North-west Donegal and South-west Donegal

Tyrone, the Sperrins, the Lakelands, and Monaghan

North Armagh

he Mournes and T the Ring of Gullion

Downpatrick and North Down

Belleek

Lower Lough Erne

Tully Castle

Ulster American Folk Park Killyclogher

A Cre Ce

Omagh

TYRONE

Boa Island

River Erne

Gortin Glen Forest Park

River Strule

Rossnowlagh

ERRIN THE SP TAINS MOUN

River Mourne

Ballybofey

Barnesmore Gap

Bundoran

Fahan Burnfoot

K MOUNTAINS THE BLUE STAC

Glencolmcille

Loug Foy

Strabane Sion Mills

Port

Slieve League

Letterkenny

DONEGAL

Inishfree Upper

g ou

Mov

Desertegney

Rathmullan

Milford

Gr Dung

Ri ve rF oy le

Bloody Foreland

Portsalon Fort Dunree FANAD INISHOWEN PENINSULA Ballymastocker Beach

Monea Castle

Castle Archdale Devenish Island Portora Castle Enniskillen Castle Coole

FERMANAGH CAVAN BURREN Moneygashel Cashel

Marble Arch Caves Global Geopark Belle Isle Castle Florence Balfour Upper Court Lough Erne Cuilcagh Crom Estate Clones Clontibret Drumlane Abbey

Da Fo

CAVAN

Rathlin Island

Culdaff

Giant’s Causeway

Kinnagoe Bay Greencastle Dungaree Point Magilligan Point Lough Foyle

Kinbane Castle Carrick-a-Rede Fair Ballycastle Head

Portrush

Moville

Ballintoy

Bellarena

Castlerock Beach Downhill Demesne

Dunluce Bushmills Castle The Dark Hedges Portstewart Coleraine Mountsandel

Loughareema Cushendun Caves

Binevenagh

River Bann

DERRY

Dungiven

DERRYLONDONDERRY

Slieveanorra

Cushendall

Tievebulliagh

Waterfoot Lurigethan

GLENS OF ANTRIM Carnlough Glenariff Forest Park

ANTRIM

Glenarm

Slemish

Portglenone Forest

Gobbins Cliffs

Bellaghy

RRIN AINS

en rk

Magherafelt Beaghmore An Creagán Centre

Bel

Cave Hill

Lough Neagh

Ardboe Cross

es ibret

River Blackwater

Down Royal Racecourse

River Bann Portadown Ardress House

Banbridge

Ard Macha

DOWN

Armagh City Navan Fort Gosford Forest Park

ARMAGH

Rossmore Forest Park

Lisburn

Hillsborough Castle

Loughgall

Monaghan

t Lo

Dartrey Forest Dromore River Inniskeen

Bangor

Holywood Movilla Abbey Newtownards

Nendrum

Mount Stewart Greyabbey

Mahee ARDS Island PENINSULA Strangford Lough

Portaferry

Inch Abbey

Slieve Patrick Downpatrick Saul Castle Ward Struell Wells

Dundrum Castle

Murlough National Castlewellan Nature Reserve Forest Park Royal Bay um County Down Rathfriland ndr u D Tollymore Newcastle Forest Park

Slieve Donard Newry Ballymacdermot Silent Valley Reservoir Ring of Gullion Warrenpoint NS Annalong TAI Rostrevor Clontygora UN O M Ca E Slieve Gullion rlin URN gfo MO rd Lo ug h Kilkeel

MONAGHAN

• BELFAST

E Castle Caulfield

fas

er L aga n

her

Carrickfergus

Springhill House

Ri v

can

Ardglass

Above and below: A lone surfer tests the Atlantic waves off the Donegal coast, while the rock formations of Whitepark Bay, in County Antrim, intrigue and entice. Ulsterâ€™s treasured coastal rim is full of delights and surprises.

CONTENTS Introduction 1. Belfast

Glens of Antrim and Causeway Coastal Route

Derry-Londonderry and Inishowen

Wild North-west Donegal and South-west Donegal

Tyrone, the Sperrins, the Lakelands, and Monaghan 77

North Armagh

The Mournes and the Ring of Gullion

Downpatrick and North Down

BELFAST

DONEGAL

MOURNES

105

GLENS OF ANTRIM

TYRONE

DERRY-LONDONDERRY

ARMAGH

DOWN

IRELANDâ€™S BEAUTIFUL NORTH

INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Ulster is the most northerly of the four provinces of Ireland. Its coastline reaches round from Bundoran in the west to Warrenpoint in the east, while its southern border reaches down to Leinster. The province is made up of nine counties: Donegal, Cavan, Monaghan, Tyrone, Antrim, Armagh, Fermanagh, Derry-Londonderry, and Down, the latter six constituting Northern Ireland. This book takes a journey from Northern Ireland into the Republic of Ireland and back again, through many of Ulster’s most beautiful and interesting sites. Ulster’s coastal rim shifts between forbidding cliffs, soft beaches, and basalt conundrums, while its interior features mountain ranges, peat beds, rich lowland pastures, and broad rivers. Lough Neagh is the largest lake in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and Strangford Lough the largest sea inlet. At their closest points, no more than 13 miles/20 kilometres separate the north-east coast of Ulster from Britain. West beyond the shores of Donegal, the Atlantic Ocean stretches empty for thousands of miles. It is a land of turbulent geography and turbulent times. Drama and dispute, laughter, loss, and literature – all are here, in every stone, beneath every footstep.

Culture Ulster marches and dances, to fiddles, whistles, pipes, lambegs, and bodhráns. No parade is complete without its bands, and many pubs, especially in Donegal and Derry-Londonderry, feature music sessions, either arranged or impromptu. The province loves language; its poets and writers are revered. Paul Muldoon, a poet who won the Pulitzer Prize, was born in Portadown, County Armagh. Belfast’s John Hewitt’s verse celebrates the legends and landscapes of Antrim’s glens. Belfast was also the birthplace of CS Lewis, creator of The Chronicles of Narnia. The poet and novelist Patrick Kavanagh hailed from Inniskeen, in County Monaghan. The village is home to the Patrick Kavanagh Centre and the Kavanagh Trail, which takes in many of the sites that feature in his work. Perhaps the greatest writer of them all, Seamus Heaney, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, whose work ploughed Ireland’s soil and soul, was born at Mossbawn, near the village of Bellaghy in County Derry-Londonderry. More than 2,000 of the poet’s books and other materials are housed at the exhibition and performance space, The Seamus Heaney HomePlace, in Bellaghy. Another Nobel Prize winner, Dublin-born Samuel Beckett, attended Portora Royal School, in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, as did Oscar Wilde. The novelist and columnist Brian O’Nolan (Flann O’Brien) was born in Strabane, County Tyrone. The playwright Brian Friel, who wrote Philadelphia, Here I Come! among many plays, and was a friend and sometime collaborator of Heaney’s, was born in Killyclogher, County Tyrone, and died in Greencastle, County Donegal.

Opposite top: Strangford Lough. Opposite bottom: Inishowen Lighthouse at Dunagree Point, County Donegal.

INTRODUCTION

IRELANDâ€™S BEAUTIFUL NORTH

Opposite: Poet and playwright Louis MacNeice, contemporary of WH Auden, Stephen Spender, and Cecil Day-Lewis, was born in Belfast and spent his childhood years in Carrickfergus (pictured here), County Antrim. Above: CS Lewis, author of the Narnia stories, found inspiration in the Mournes: ‘I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains … which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge.’ Right: Golfers come from all over the world to play in Ulster, drawn by the great courses such as Royal Portrush, and, pictured here, Ballyliffin Golf Club in County Donegal. The entire region has a reputation for producing great players, including Darren Clarke, Graeme McDowell, and Rory McIlroy.

Sport is hugely important throughout the north. GAA clubs are plentiful, and county colours are proudly displayed. The Olympic Gold Medal-winning pentathlete Mary Peters, although born in Liverpool, in England, is regarded as one of Ulster’s own. Perhaps the most famous sporting son or daughter of Ulster, however, remains George Best, one of the best footballers of all time, who learned his skills on Belfast’s back streets. Other household names include snooker’s Alex Higgins, rugby’s Willie John McBride, horseracing’s AP McCoy, and motorbike racing’s legends, Joey and Robert Dunlop. INTRODUCTION

IRELANDâ€™S BEAUTIFUL NORTH

Opposite and above: The rocks tell stories on the Causeway coast, County Antrim: Elephant Rock at Ballintoy and dark shapes at Ballycastle.

Legends of Ulster Narratives drive Ulster, and deeds and actions continue to be chronicled in story and song to this day. Some of the oldest stories are contained in the Ulster Cycle, which deals with the Ulaid dynasty of north-east Ireland, from which the province derives its name. Cú Chulainn, the Hound of Ulster and the most feared of the Red Branch Knights, is the hero of many tales, most notably the Táin Bó Cúailnge (The Cattle Raid of Cooley), in which he slays the finest soldiers Connacht can muster as they invade Ulster to seize the magnificent Brown Bull. The Mythological Cycle includes The Children of Lir, which sees Fionnuala and her brothers transformed into swans by Aoife, their envious stepmother, and cursed to spend centuries on wild waters, separated from their beloved father. The second of their miserable sojourns was spent on the Sea of Moyle, between Ulster’s Antrim coast and Scotland. And in the Fianna Cycle, Fionn Mac Cumhaill creates the Giant’s Causeway as a route to Scotland for an encounter with the resident Scottish giant. In another feat, he scoops up a handful of earth to fling at his rival, and the missile lands in the Irish Sea, thus creating the Isle of Man. The crater he left in the ground filled with water and is now Lough Neagh.

Game of Thrones Legendary giants, monsters, and brutish armies still stalk the land of Ulster, but today the vicious power struggles are carefully choreographed for a worldwide television audience. The region has a booming cinema and television industry, with acclaimed programmes and films such as The Fall, Line of Duty, and Philomena all being filmed here. However, it is Game of Thrones that has attracted the most attention, and much of it is made in Ulster. The show has garnered an INTRODUCTION

Above: The surreal avenue of The Dark Hedges, County Antrim.

array of awards and millions of viewers, many of whom come to Ulster to see the locations used in the programme. The demand is such that a whole industry has quickly grown to take visitors around Ulster, or Westeros, as many now know it. Sites along the north-east coast feature in many iconic scenes: Downhill Strand, watched over by Mussenden Temple, Carrick-a-Rede, the Cushendun Caves, and further inland, the avenue of the magnificent and eerie Dark Hedges are just some examples. Castle Ward, in County Down, doubles as Winterfell, and visitors can experience a replica of the Winterfell archery range and take a cycle tour of nearby locations. Further to the south-west, where the Mourne Mountains begin to rise, is Tollymore Forest Park, whose cooling glades also feature in the series. An even bigger screen franchise has come to Ulster, however. Scenes from Star Wars: Episode VIII have been filmed at Malin Head, bringing fans flocking for a glimpse of a stormtrooper, or a photograph of the Millennium Falcon.

IRELANDâ€™S BEAUTIFUL NORTH

Worship in Ulster The Spire of Hope strikes the sky from the roof of St Anne’s Cathedral, Belfast, a symbol of the light and promise of Christianity. Centuries before it was placed there in 2007, Ireland was known as the land of saints and scholars. Throughout Ulster, the signs and symbols of Christian worship remain, in age-old, moss-covered stone crosses, in ruined abbeys, in placenames, and shrines. Ireland has three patron saints: Brigid, Patrick, and Colmcille, and tradition places the burial site of all three in the graveyard of Down Cathedral. The stories of Colmcille and Patrick are inextricably linked to Ulster. Colmcille lived his life here before sailing to Iona. St Patrick established his church in Armagh, which remains to this day the ecclesiastical centre of all Ireland, and pilgrims still walk and drive St Patrick’s Trail through Armagh and Down. Pre-Christian worship is also very much in evidence, with people in increasing numbers coming to see portal tombs, stone circles, and burial mounds throughout the province. Armagh was Ulster’s ancient capital, and the Navan Centre there tells of many pagan rituals.

Above: Through the Romanesque archway of an ancient ruin on White Island, Lough Erne, can be seen a series of enigmatic carved figures, dating perhaps to AD800, their Christian symbolism possibly infused with pre-Christian references. Below: Nendrum monastery, Mahee Island, in Strangford Lough.

INTRODUCTION

Above: Ulster’s shores have seen many a desperate departure. Defeated on the battlefield, harried by their enemies, betrayed by informers, in 1607, Hugh O’Neill of Tyrone and Rory O’Donnell of Tyrconnell left Ireland from Rathmullan, on Lough Swilly, in what became known as the Flight of the Earls. Having failed in their search for help from the French and Spanish in their fight against the English, they lived out their days in Rome. Below: Strangford Lough.

IRELAND’S BEAUTIFUL NORTH

History Few countries have peaceful histories, but Ireland’s history is more turbulent than many, and Ulster’s story is arguably the most troubled of all the four provinces, experiencing invasion, settlement, conflict, famine, emigration, yearned-for and uneasy peace. Ireland’s oldest known settlement is at Mountsandel, in Coleraine, dating to around 7000BC. Much later, Celtic peoples crossed to Ulster, followed in turn by Vikings, and then Normans. Gaelic traditions and kingdoms survived until, worried about a threat from the west, and eager to extend their power, the Tudor rulers of England began concerted efforts to bring Ireland to heel, with Henry VIII claiming the island as his own. Centuries of displacement and conflict were well underway. Plantation schemes were enacted, with Scottish and English Protestants and Presbyterians drafted in to farm the land taken from the native Catholic Irish. Although tensions between religions have rarely dipped beneath the surface, the human story is complex and never simply black and white. In the 18th century a number of liberal members of the Protestant Ascendancy organised the United Irishmen with a view to parliamentary reform and the implementation of Catholic rights; they were joined by Catholics in the failed rebellion of 1798. As the 19th century progressed tensions grew throughout Ireland, with demands for and against Home Rule. Many Ulster Protestants were opposed to Home Rule, and armed groups formed to defend their wishes. A War of Independence throughout Ireland followed the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin. In what was thought to be a short-term measure, the island was partitioned, and the new state of Northern Ireland formed in 1921. The new state consisted of six of Ulster’s nine counties. Tyrone, Down, Fermanagh, Derry-Londonderry, Armagh, and Antrim, with a Protestant majority favouring continued union with Britain, were separated politically from Cavan, Donegal, and Monaghan. Catholics in the north saw their rights and opportunities severely restricted. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960s organised demands for the rights of Catholics in the north. Ongoing conflict led to the bloodshed of the Troubles, until the signing of the Good Friday Peace Agreement in 1998, and the establishment of a power-sharing assembly at Stormont.

Ins and Outs, The Ulster-Scots Traffic and trade have flowed between Scotland and Ulster for hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of years. The close ties between the two lands were most firmly cemented in the 1600s, during the Plantation of Ulster, which saw many Scottish farmers arrive to take up land in the nine counties. And so developed a people – the Ulster-Scots – and with them a language which blended Scots and English and which can still be heard today, particularly in the Ards Peninsula, north Down, north County Derry-Londonderry, County Antrim, and east Donegal, and read in the work of the Weaver Poets, such as James Orr. The identity, culture, and traditions of the Ulster-Scots remain strong, not just in Ulster, but in places such as Canada, the United States of America, and New Zealand, to which many emigrated from the early 1700s onwards. The influence of the Ulster-Scots is particularly notable in the United States, with a number playing a key role in the American War of Independence, fighting against the crown. Many famous US figures were of Ulster-Scots ancestry. Davy Crockett’s forbears came from Castlederg, and a number of presidents, among them Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S Grant, and Woodrow Wilson, also traced their ancestry back to Ulster.

INTRODUCTION

Lough Neagh Five of Ulster’s nine counties border Lough Neagh: Derry-Londonderry, Antrim, Down, Armagh, and Tyrone. Every year, thousands of eels make the journey to Lough Neagh from the Sargasso Sea in the Atlantic, making it Europe’s largest source of wild eels. The first product in Northern Ireland to be awarded Protected Geographical Indication status, Lough Neagh eels are considered a real delicacy. Six rivers feed into the lough, with the Lower Bann being the only one to leave it. There are wetlands here of international significance, full of wintering birds, shrubs, and wild flowers. The Lough Neagh Discovery Centre, Peatlands Park, and Oxford Island Nature Reserve are full of fascinating information and offer the chance to see the habitat at close quarters. Boat trips run to Ram’s Island and Coney Island, and the Loughshore Cycling Trail runs around the lake. Ulster holds within it an enthralling array of sights and stories, possibilities and pleasures. Divided into eight broad geographical regions, this book aims to guide you through some of those temptations and to lead you towards others. Beginning with the civic grandeur of Belfast, we travel along the Causeway Coastal Route, past the mighty Glens of Antrim, to Derry-Londonderry and the charms of Inishowen. Beyond, there lie the wilds of Donegal and its coast, lashed by the waves which draw surfers from all over the world. We then head back east through the richness of the Sperrins and the calmness of the Fermanagh Lakes, taking in the unheralded beauty of Cavan and Monaghan on the way to the orchard country of North Armagh and the inspirational Mournes, before ending our journey where St Patrick began his, in Downpatrick and North Down.

IRELAND’S BEAUTIFUL NORTH

Opposite top: Around 19 miles/30 kilometres long, with a maximum depth of just under 30 metres/100 feet, covering an area of 150 square miles/390 square kilometres, Lough Neagh is the largest lake in Britain and Ireland, and one of the biggest in Europe. Above: Gortin Glen, Sperrin Mountains, County Tyrone. Below: Whiterocks, Portrush, County Antrim.

INTRODUCTION