After all the great things we have seen on this trip to Ireland, it is fitting that our last stop on our way back to Dublin was one of the most extraordinary sights of the trip: Newgrange.

The origin of Newgrange is a mystery. It is one of the most important passage tombs in Europe, and dates back to 3200 BC. that makes it 1000 years older than Stonehenge, and 500 years older than the Pyramids.

Apparently Newgrange was built by one of the first farming communities in what is now Ireland. The societies prior to the people of Newgrange were hunters and gathers, but these people were farmers. The accumulation, and storage of extra food, that farmers enjoyed, gave them the time and resources to build structures like Newgrange.

The structure itself is over three hundred feet in diameter. The passage and the tomb is 82 feet from entrance to the back of the tomb, and the passage and tomb are decorated with zigzags, spirals and other geometric art, and what’s most amazing, the capstone that was placed on the top over 5000 years ago has kept the tomb completely dry.

Over 200,000 tons of loose stones were brought in by the people to build the mound and the grave. This was all done by a society that had neither wheels or metal tools. they were a stone age community.

There are many other passage tombs in this area. Three, that have been discovered, and similar size to Newgrange, and there are hundreds more smaller tombs all located through this farming community.

The people left the area suddenly, and no one knows why, so the tomb fell into disrepair, and disappeared from sight. About 2200 BC a bronze age civilization selected the same spot for their temple, and built a stone circle around the top of the hill and apparently did not know the older tomb existed.

The tomb was discovered in 1699, but not excavated until 1960. They used the stones on site to rebuild the tomb as it was 5000 years ago.

The river Boyne that runs near Newgrange

Newgrange tomb

View from the entrance to the tomb, note the small burial mound the field

Entrance to the tomb

Artwork at Newgrange

 It’s hard to imagine how dark it is in the tomb.   Your allowed to go in with a guide, and while there, they turn out the lights.  Now matter how hard you try, you can see nothing.

The tomb is aligned so each year at the start of the winter Solstice, the sun shines in the tomb entrance and floods the chamber with light.    This actually happens the first five days of the Solstice, and they have a drawing each year for 100 people ( 20 each of the five days) to enter the tomb and experience the winter Solstice light.

Sandi and I are signed up, and will go back to Ireland in December if we are lucky enough to have our names drawn.

When it comes to the selecting the most beautiful of the coastlines, at least those I saw, the Antrim coastline, north and west of Belfast, is one of the most beautiful areas in Ireland.

We were lucky ,while in the North, as the weather turned bright, and, according to the natives, it was an unusual stretch of great sunshine, and warm weather, and considering the number of women we saw, in string tops, walking in the sunshine, it must be true. What that means is we saw the Irish sea, between Ireland, and Scotland as blue, not grey.

One of the great sites on the Irish Coast is the Giant’s Causeway. This World Heritage site was created by a giant volcanic eruption 60 million years ago, and the lava formed 40,000, four, five, six, seven, eight, and even nine sided basalt columns, that look today like giant stepping stones.

I like the Irish version of how the Giants Causeway was created better:  Finn McCool was a Giant Ulster Warrior who created the causeway so he could walk to Scotland and claim a female giant. When he got there, he discovered his rival suitor   in Scotland was much larger than he had imagined, and turned around and ran home, with the Scottish giant chasing him.

When Finn McCool got home he asked his mother to hide him, so she dressed him like a baby, and  placed him in a giant crib. The Scottish Giant saw the size of the  Giant  baby, imagined how large his father must be  and ran back home, scared, destroying the stepping stones as he went.

The Giants Causeway

Giant's Causeway looking toward Scotland

Looking South From the Giant's Causeway

As interesting as the Giant’s Causeway is, the Glens of Antrim are more spectacular. These Glens ( Valleys) were created by streams that came down from the uplands. These glens are noted for waterfalls, National Parks, and beautiful farms that are arranged like ladders. The farms climb the valley sides so each farm has a share of the good land near the river, and the upland pasture land which is more rocky with shallow soil.

This area was isolated, and less anglicised, so the local farmers worked out the plan for each farmer to have a share of the good land, and poorer land.

We drove up into one of the glens and had tea at the Glenariff Forest Park. It’s a magnificent drive up the mountain with great views.

View from the road as we drive up the Antrim Coast

There are still artists in Ireland

Glenariff Village

The ladder farms near Glenariff Village

View from the tea room at Glenariff Forest Park

Mt.  Stewart House

Near the Antrim Coast, just inland a few miles, is the National Trust property, Mt. Stewart House. This 19th century house was built by the Londonderry family.

The house is very interesting because one of the family members still lives in the entire house. The family sold the house to the National Trust, but kept a lifelong lease. The Trust doesn’t know what will happen to the items in the house, but they hope the family leaves them with the house when the current resident passes on: Looking through a breathing living house likes this, makes it seem less like a museum, and more like a home.

Highlights of the house are the chairs from the Congress of Vienna. The chairs have the coats of arms of the participants embroidered on the backs.

There is a painting ( Hambletonian by George Stubbs) that is reported to be worth many times the value of the house. It is thought to be the most important painting in Ireland.

The family has been very interested in horses, and the horse in the picture won a race in the 19th century that paid 66 to 1, and it is said the family lived on those winnings for 10 years.

As impressive as the house is, the gardens are the main attraction. They were planted in the 1920′s by the current resident’s mother, and the plants have thrived in this climate.

One of the star features is the Shamrock Garden. It’s a yew hedge topiary in the shape of an Irish Harp. It usually overlooks an outline of a giant hand planted with red flowers, representing the “Bloody hand of Ulster”, but was not yet planted.

The Bloody Hand of Ulster is based on the story of two warriors racing for the shores of Ulster. The first to get there would claim the land as his own. One warrior, who was behind in the race, reportedly, cut off his hand and threw it onto the shore and claimed the land for himself.

Mt. Stewart House and Gardens

One of Twin statues going into a lower garden

More great Sculptures in the garden

The Topiary at the Bloody hand of Ulster

The Antrim Coast, and surrounding areas, make the top five list of things to go back to, only next time, we would not stay in Belfast, but in one of the coast vacation towns along the coast route.

I had traced them as best I could on the Internet, and finally contacted the Donegal
Ancestry society and had them help me get more information.

The Ancestry society is located in Rathmelton, a small town on the Fanad peninsula.   It’s a beautiful little town located on the Lough Swilly (an inland Lake that is affected by the tides).

It’s hasn’t changed much since the 19th century, and, in fact, I bet the Pub was there during the 17th.

The waterfront at RathmeltonThe pub in Rathmelton

We met the most wonderful lady that worked in the center.   She asked me where I was from, and when I said Oregon, she got really excited and told me how much she enjoyed Oregon Pinot Noir.   She had lived in Chicago for a good bit of her life, and was another Irish person that was very excited about Obama as president; in fact, she was visiting Chicago on the night he won the election, and was in the park when he made his speech.

My contact with the Susan, the ancestor researcher, was very productive.    I learned that one of my grandfather’s sisters stayed in Ireland and married a man named James Love, and raised a large family, so I have a group of relatives I didn’t know about.

I also ask her to trace my Grandmothers side of the family.   Her father was a cousin to my Great Grandfather, and now I have a whole new family line that I can trace.    She didn’t know where they might be living, but suspected in the Churchill area of Donegal.

She thought my Great Grandparents might be buried in Milford.  We stopped at the library in Milford, and asked about where the church might be.   They looked up the records for burials in the church, but couldn’t find any grave site.    This doesn’t mean they are not there, it just means no record.The two women in the library were very helpful, and gave me an E-mail address for the library in Letterkenny, and said if I gave the library details of the birth and death, they could tell me where they were buried.

We drove up the peninsula toward Glenvar, where my great grandfather had his farm, and where my Grandfather was born.

The first thing I thought about is how these people could leave such a beautiful place.   The weather was very nice this day, and I’m sure it’s not so great in the middle of the winter in the 19th century, but it was sure great this day.

Since seven of the eight living children left Ireland for other parts of the world, it had to the dismal future for all.  I don’t yet know the size of the farm my Great Grandfather had, but I would be surprised if it was beyond a tenant farm which he would have rented, or at best, a small farm he owned that wouldn’t be of any value split up between the offspring.

Glenvar itself is not really a village; it’s really only a community with a large Catholic church and a few houses.    I’m sure in the 19th century it had a blacksmith shop and a working pub.

Glenvar’s location is better than most.   The land below the village is pretty good soil, and would have produced potatoes, grain, and improved pastures, but the land up the hill from the village is much shallower, and is mostly native pastures for sheep and cattle.  They are close to Lough Swilly, so they would have had access to seaweed for extra food during the winter, and fishing rights if the landlord granted them.

There are still many thatched roofs in this area.    They last a long time; in excess of forty years for a good one.   And they utilized materials on hand, and wheat was a common crop in the area.

One interesting point is that wheat is no longer of use in thatching roofs.   The old varieties of wheat had long straw, and made good thatching material, but the new varieties of wheat, that are bred for short straw so farmers can add more nitrogen, don’t make very good thatching material.   Currently farmers are growing rye grain specifically for thatching.

Thatching a cottage with rye grain straw

In any event, it was a great day, and it peaked my interest in the continuing the search for my Irish roots.   I plan to go back to this area, and spend enough time to trace relatives and information to learn more about my family, and the life they left to come to America.

Scenes from Donegal and Glenvar

Lough Swilly about 2 miles from GlenvarLooking out at the Atlantic from Lough Swilly close to Glenvar

View of Lough Swilly from GlenvarMight have been my Great Grandfathers cottage, ex the TV Antenna

Looking down the Glen from GlenvarLooking up the mountain from Glenvar

There’s no doubt the Celtic Tiger has changed much of Ireland, but it can be avoided. The cities like Waterford, Limerick, and Galway have really suffered the increase in the economy, and the central part of the cities are now surrounded by strip malls, traffic, and congestion; The smaller places around Ireland, on the other hand, and still very much 19th and early 20th century in appearance; and in character.

We visited the Ulster American folk park outside of Omagh. It’s theme park similar to Williamsburg in Virginia. It was established by Thomas Mellon, of the Mellon bank fame. He came to Pennsylvania with his parents in 1819 when he was five years old. The rest is history with his establishment of the Mellon bank, which became one of 10th largest in America.

After his success, he bought the old family farm, and financed a park to show what the immigrants had to go through when they immigrated. Most of the buildings are original and have been moved to the park.
During the visit you can visit a replica of the sailing ship the immigrants might have come over on in the early 19th century. They had to be clean when they got on the ship, because they would have no water to wash with for a minimum of 6 weeks. Four people had to share one bunk, so they slept in shifts, and they were only allowed 4 cubic feet of luggage; it couldn’t’t have been a pleasant journey.

The idea of the park is to visit the Irish homeland, move on through the small port town and the ship where they left for America, arrive in Philadelphia, and experience the log cabin life of the Pennsylvania frontier.
What struck me was the similarity to the recreated port town of 1819, and the small towns you still see today. Some of the businesses are different, but the buildings look the same.

I really think this visit gave me an insight as to how my grandfather and grandmother might have lived before they left for America. Many of the houses and cottages you see in this park are the same as they might have grown up in.

A typical cabin for a worker without land. One room

A cabin like the one above might have been one of the options for my Grandfather.   Without land, he was destined to work for someone else.

A three room cottage that was the home of a man and wife, and 7 kids

This was probably the size of the house that my grandfather lived in before he was married.   He was one of 8 children.

a recreated street in in the Ulster American folk Park.

We’ve been in Northern Ireland for a few days now, there are some differences.  The first you notice is the currency is no longer the Euro, but now Pound sterling.   It makes it difficult because you have to know three exchange rates if you have pounds, Euros and dollars to separate.

The first real difference I noticed is at the museums.    In the South, the enemy is the English.  In the north, the enemy is the Irish. 

In the country side we really don’t notice too much concerning the political differences between the Republic of Ireland, and Northern Ireland, but you do see some things that indicate there are still some problems.    A couple of times as we went across the border from the republic into Northern Ireland, I noticed someone had put up the Irish republic flag on several of the streetlight poles.  

 The city of Londonderry (the English name for the city) was a really big issue when the Irish Republic was divided into the Republic and Northern Ireland.   It had always been part of County Donegal, but it was also the second biggest industrial city in the North with strong economic ties to Belfast.

The Loyalists were successful in separating Londonderry out of Donegal and making it part of Northern Ireland.  Today it common to see the road signs for Londonderry with the London blacked out, as Derry is the Irish name for the city.

Belfast is much different.  There is still evidence of the war of the 1970’s and 80’s:  Murals on both sides depicting the heroes and the dead;  Peace memorials for the Ulster Provisional Militia, and the IRA;  bullet  holes in the walls; and  a still active peace fence between the Protestant working class areas and the Catholic working class areas.    This Peace fence actually closes down streets on the weekends.

There is much progress being made in Belfast to heal these wounds.   There is a movement going on now to tear the peace fence down, and open up the areas for free movement.

The important thing is that the majority of the people don’t seem to have any animosity toward each other at all.   The people from the Republic of Ireland shop in Northern Ireland, and travel north for dental work, and medical procedures;    It’s just cheaper.

Right now the lions are playing Rugby against South Africa.   The Lions players are the best players from England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland;   Sports trumps Politics.

The Mountains are steep, green and have rivers and lakes in the valleys.    The farming changes to domesticated mountain sheep.  These sheep are more rugged looking than the ones you see in America;  long stringy wool, horns, and black faces.    We learn later mountain sheep are different from our traditional ideas of sheep, because they don’t run in flocks.    There isn’t enough food for a flock to graze a mountain side, so you see individual sheep grazing.   They mark them with color coded symbols so they can identify them during the roundup each year

Sheep grazing in the Mountains

The Connemara mountainscancelledOne of the things you read about when you visit the different heritage centers is the difference between the Anglo Irish that owned most of the land in these different areas. There was the "good ones and the bad ones" . One of the defining moments in Irish history was the famine, and the way each lord of the manor reacted defined him as good or bad. Some used the famine as an opportunity to kick their tenants off the land so they could develop larger production fields for raising cattle and grain to ship back to England, and some took their responsibility in hand and took care of their tenants. They fed them, cancled their rents when they couldn't pay, and created work projects so they could hire men out of work. Sounds like Roosevelt and Obama read Irish history restaurants Westport, the town our current B&B is located, was one of those areas with a good guy in charge. After the famine, they hired architects to lay out the town as it should be, and helped the people develop new businesses. The people have respected this during the growth in the 20th century, and don't allow any of the downtown shops to modernize without following code that keeps the town Victorian. Also, no plastic fast food resturants are allowed in the town center. The result is a beautiful resort village with great restuarnts and shops.Our B&B was just outside of town with great views of the Inland lake, and a great family. Karen , owner, is from Dublin, but fell in love with Westport on a visit when she was in college. She traveled the world for awhile, and settled down in Westport to open a shop selling jewelry and women's clothes. childrenShe met her husband, whose family owned a farm in the area, and now she has three childern, Megan, Joseph, and Carrick, who have a dog named Oscar. It's great fun getting to know some of the people that run these B & B's.Seapoint House B&B, Westport

view from our bedroom window at Seapoint house

inheritedWe only had two nights at Seapoint house, and we decided to visit Kylemore Abby, and Gardens.  A doctor from Manchester inherieted a good sum of money in the late 19th century, and he asked his wife what present she would like.   She said she would like a castle built in the area they honeymooned in Ireland, so he built a “Gothic revival fantasy” for her near the Connemara National Park.

Along with the Castle, he built a replica of Norwich Cathedral nearby, reclaimed the mountain side behind the castle by planing thousands of trees as a windbreak, and developed a large walled garden about a mile from the Castle.

originalThe Castle is now a school for girls run by Benedictine nuns from Belgium.   The orginal school was in Belgium and established under a grant from James ll, to educate young Irish  girls that couldn’t get a Catholic education in Ireland at that time.  The Belgium school was destroyed during World War l, and the nuns moved to Ireland, and eventually the Castle was donated to the order.

By this time the gardens were overrun, but through the efforts of one of the sisters, they started to re-establish the grounds and the walled Kitchen garden.   It’s now being rebuilt with funds from the EU.

The wife died on a trip to Egypt with the family, and Mitchel Henry sold the Castle, but not until he had built a tomb for his wife where both now are buried

KylemoreKylmore Abby

KylemoreThe restored gardens at Kyemore Abby

ancestralOur next stop is Northern Ireland.   The B&B is just across the border from Donegal, so we will make our Journey to the Burns ancestorial homeland from there.

We leave the southeast of Ireland and travel north toward County Clare on the way to our next bed and breakfast.  The landscape and the people change as we go north.

Tom Greenaway has been doing a lot of reading about when people actually became the nationalistic character they are currently.     He calculates the English actually became English during the reign of Alfred the Great, Alfred’s son, and his grandson, around 900 to early 1000 AD.   Prior to that, England was comprised of several different kingdoms.

Tom is curious as to when the Irish think they became Irish.   The director of the heritage center in County Waterford thought it was after 1922 when they gained their independence from the UK.   This seems a little too simplistic to me.

Our first stop in county Clare was a 12^th century Norman castle that has been fully restored.  We ask one of the guides in the castle, who seemed very well versed on Irish history, when he thought an Irishman became an Irishman

He thought for a minute, and his voice got very low, as he wanted no one to hear his answer, and said he thought it was in 1798 when Wolf Tone’s United Irishmen movement was put down.  He went on to say this was inspired by the American and French Revolutions.    Interestingly enough this is consistent with the IRA movement, the Wolf Tone part anyway.  It seems like a reasonable answer to me.

It’s difficult for Tom and Alma to be considered the enemy by some of the people in Ireland.  Tom is very pro-Ireland, and really thinks the British made a terrible error in the late 19^th century when they failed to take the Irish Free State movement seriously. 

You do notice this bias toward the British.   On one stop at a stone circle they had flags flying: the EU, Germany, French, Italian, and the US flag, but no British.   The Heritage center in one of the villages in County Clare pointed out the O’Brian’s defeated the Normans when they tried to invade, and it saved them from 200 years of English rule and influence. 

One commentary in the paper said that Ireland was the only EU country occupied by another EU country.  They, of course, refer to Northern Ireland, but I will reserve judgment until I have actually visited Ulster.

A bedroom in the Norman castle as we enter County Clare

We have traveled north west to County Clare. The area southwest of Dublin and the Cork and Kerry area are different, but still very much like Oregon. County Clare is much different, and more like the Ireland you see pictures of; Barren rolling hills with stone fences, and thatch roofed cottages.

The stream running out of the village of Doolin

Doolin is one of those magical places you have to go back to.   In planning the next trip, I would stay here longer.   In fact this is an area we could easily rent a place and explore.

Sandi makes a new friend on way to the pub

It’s poor farming country, shallow soil and rocky.    It’s dominated by an area called the Burren.   It was, at one time, the ocean floor,   It now looks like pavement with flowers growing out of the cracks.   There are few trees because this area has been inhabited for 5000 years, and most of the trees have been cut or burned off. 

Doolin is sparsely populated, They have a few tourist gift shops and many pubs that serve great food, and offer up good traditional Irish music every night. 

176 year old Doolin Pub.

We took a drive through the Burren.   The Scenery is unbelievable, and the ancient history sites are great.    It’s really hard to believe that a landscape so stark can be so beautiful.  

The Burren

Legend has it that giants used these round boulders to play football

We visited an ancient tomb while we drove across the Burren.   It is 5500 years old, and was last used in 1400 BC.   It’s said there are more tombs like this in the Burren than any other place in Europe.

Ancient tomb, 5500 years old

Our next stop was a 1200 ear old stone circle that was and enclosed farm site in the  9th century.  They did not lack for building materials in this country.   All this is dry stone construction.

1300 year old circle around an ancient farm site.

As you can probably tell, I like the Burren, and Doolin.   I will go back to this part of the country again.

We are now headed north to County Mayo.

Village near the bird refuge

Kinsale Village

The stone fort near Kinsale

Wild Rhodies in full bloom at the lake

A stone circle over 2200 years old.

The bird refuge south of Skibereen

With the exception of the Ring of Kerry we took short trips around the area. It really doesn’t matter which direction you go, you see great scenery, and you never know what’s around the corner.

We drove south of Skibereen to find a bird refuge Sandi had read about.It’s a beautiful lake surrounded by steep hills. You have to have to be brave of heart when you meet the cars coming the other way on the curves and hills, but it all seems to work out. I’m really not comfortable driving 80 to 100 kilometers per hour on a one and a half lane country road, so I use the turn outs quite a bit, and let the speed demons go around me. You start to recognize the locals from the tourists easily.

We stopped off in Skibereen on the way back to the B&B because Tom  Greenaway wanted to see the exhibit on the famine. This area was supposed to be the worst area in Ireland, and it’s the 160 year anniversary.
Since I had seen an exhibit at Johnstone Castle, I told him I wanted to see Mr. Guinness at the West Cork Hotel Pub, which was just across the bridge.
Sandi and I staked out a place  in the Pub just before great mobs people started to arrive. It was a Saturday and it was , again, the first communion day. All the families where in the pub celebrating before the dinner.
It’s unusual for us to see an eight or nine year old girl in a white dress come up to the bar and order a drink.  I think they have it right in Ireland.   The families can be together, and I didn’t see any of the kids getting into trouble.

The restaurant in this hotel is very good , so we ate most of our evening meals here. The staff is very accommodating, and as I’ve mentioned before about the Irish, friendly.

I went into the bar after dinner to try and get my computer to work, some of the people that were there at noon, were still there that night. One old gent with rosy cheeks, and twinkle in his eye was standing in the same place, with his half filled glass of beer; I assume he was still alive.

The next day was gorgeous and we drove west through the Killarney National park , Killarney Lakes, and the ring of Kerry. It was a long drive, but well worth it. The park, and Killarney are great, but frankly the Ring of Kerry was a bit disappointing. It wasn’t that much different from the secondary roads we had been on since we left Dublin.

We did stop at the Skellig Experience on Valentia Island on the western tip of the ring. Skellig Michael was established on a small island in the 6 century by 12 monks, and they maintained a settlement there until the 12Th Century; It’s hard to imagine. They couldn’t grow any food on the rock, and had to live off the bird and sea life. It’s possible to take a boat out to the rock, but on the day we were there, the sea was too rough. I don’t think I could climb the 605 stone steps up to the beehive huts, and I’m sure Sandi couldn’t get down if we did make it to the top.

On our last tour from Bunlun, we went east to the little village of Kinsale. It’s a nice little place with many good restaurants and great shops. It’s main historical attraction is a star shaped fort that was abandoned by the British in 1922.

The Bunlun Farm B&B was not the experience of the Castle, but it was OK.   We had a nice long discussion at breakfast with a young couple.   They are both in research; the girl from Cambridge, and the young man from Trinity. 

The next day we met a couple from Switzerland.   They had traveled extensively in the United States; they had been in all fifty states.   One trip was route 66 on a Harley Davidson motorcycle. 

 Most people want to ask about Obama, and most think he’s great, although the  local Irish newspaper printed an article questioning his ability to stand for an issue.   It was really about his speech at Notre Dame and his pro life philosophy.  

We’re still having a great time, and the weather has started to get better the past couple of days.

We’re headed north from Cork to county Clair next.

The first day out from the Castle, we drove to the Rock of Cashel
We planned our trip so we could take as many green roads (Michelin’s designation of scenic drives) as we could. Tom had been to the Gap ( a place overlooking the Tipperary Plain. The drive up to this overlook was fantastic. The Gorse was in full bloom with yellow everywhere, but the most spectacular thing we saw was RodidendrumsSP). These are the wild ones like the ones at the Oregon coast, but the size was unbelievable. They grew more like the blackberry vines in Oregon; fields covered with them and bushes as big as a house. Unfortunately the weather has been so wet and cold, they were not out in full bloom, but some were more pink than green.
The view from the Gap was great. Tom thinks we might have hit it lucky, based on the rainiy weather we have had, and had about 90% visibility. We could see clear across the plain to the next mountain range.
The Rock of Cashel raises right up in the middle of the Tipperary plain. It’s considered the Acropolis of Ireland. It was the seat of the Kings of Munster from AD 370 to 1100 when they turned it over to the Clergy, It’s in ruins now, but they are trying to preserve the frescoes that are left.
Again the ancient cemeteries surround the Church buildings.
One story about the rock that amuses me is when St. Patrick visited it to baptize King Aengus in 432 AD. During the ceremony, Patrick put down his Crosier and Pierced the foot of the king. The King stood and never said a word because he thought it was part of the baptismal ceremony.