Northern Ireland’s post-War housing stock was worse than that of any other part of the United Kingdom, despite having been spared the worst of the German blitz. Most houses had been built before the First World War and they were grossly inadequate in quantity as well as in quality. In England the newly elected Labour Government was determined to make amends to the working class heroes who had saved the country from fascism. It quickly introduced the Welfare State and embarked on an ambitious house-building programme. The Education Acts (1944 in England, 1947 in Northern Ireland) opened up free secondary education to the baby-boom generation.
Year: 2003
Fairy Trees
The Fairy Tree is in folklore, often associated with raths/hill forts of old, the little people of the underworld preferring to commune [sometimes through the souterrains often attending these sites] with the ancient rather than the modern peoples.
Meadow Memories 3
Early Days
Reminiscence of the first generation
Farmer Sandy McNeill was closer to us by dint of geographical location. He befriended some of us, inviting us into his milking shed at the rear of Helen’s Terrace. This was the first time I saw cows being milked. It was still of course done by hand into steel or aluminium pails. I had difficulty reconciling the all-pervading animal stench with food hygiene but things were less fussy in those days.
Mourne Country : E E Evans
STOP PRESS *** STOP PRESS *** STOP PRESS *** STOP PRESS *** STOP PRESS ***Mourne Country by E E Evans has been reprinted for Christmas 2005 market. ***
Despite endless hints, not ONE of my large family saw fit to purchase me a copy for a Christmas present. Would YOU like to make an old man very happy?
“Mourne Country” by E E Evans is possibly the most interesting, erudite, amusing, heart-warming and informative tome I have ever read, on the subject of the Mournes and the South Down region. Although written more than half a century ago, its geographic and geological analyses remain – in a world of swift scientific advance and shifting hypotheses – surprisingly intact.
Evans, one-time professor of geography at Queens University, Belfast, was not native to these shores but acquired honorary Irishman status through dedicating much of his academic career and his huge research and literary talents to Irish studies, including the authorship of books on Irish folklore and customs.
No ivory tower academic, Estyn relaxed in the company of the Mourne people of his day, getting to know the landscape with and through them. In his book he knits them into the land’s magnificent architecture with an apparent ease that belies his huge literary talent.
Choose a page at random (here I chose page 15) and marvel at his relaxed but highly charged descriptive powers:
‘..the fortunate climber, from a noble peak, may chance to see a peregrine falcon keeping watch on the lonely hills..’ :
I could be there with him!
I admit that I keep coming back to this delightful book again and again, and always I acquire another little snippet that I appear to have overlooked before. In fact, it’s much like the Mourne walker himself, who is never disappointed in trekking his earlier pathways. Now honestly, how often can that be said about a holiday destination?
I really should not have reviewed this book for you, because now comes the bad news! It has been out of print for many years! Indeed some long time ago – in my enthusiasm to share its delightful charms – I loaned my copy to a ‘friend’ and, of course, never had it returned.
I regularly call into the Newry Library to browse their single remaining copy, and frequently to photocopy its pages. You might want to do likewise. I promise, you will not be disappointed!
‘..valleys nourished by many high springs .. sluggish streams’:
‘.. to one who reads the map with intelligence and feeling, the contours of the Mournes will sing together sweetly.’
Meadow Memories 5
I was six months old when we set up home here, and I lived in The Meadow till manhood. Other family members still live in The Meadow. Very few of the original inhabitants survive.
At first there were just parts of Orior Road and Slieve Gullion Road completed. The flats (Nos 9-12) of Slieve Gullion Road were completed later, as was Orior Road’s Horseshoe.
Warrenpoint: for Isobel
This Warrenpoint selection has been created, especially on request, for a dear friend Isobel McMahon (nee Tohill, of Warrenpoint). Best regards to your sisters Phyl, Josephine, Antoinette, and especially to Mary, for an early and full recovery of health. The locations of all these slides is known to everyone! [Now, will you let me win, once in a while?]
Meadow Memories 7
Those of us less skilled on the playing field got more than our fair share of time to practice such extra-curricular activities, the most enjoyable of which (apart from ‘coourting’ for the teenagers) centred on the nearby river. I remember in later adult life being ‘introduced’ to the sport of ‘bouldering’. To the uninitiated, this involves pursuing a river towards its source, both along its banks and, more often, using stepping stones or ‘boulders’ to advance one’s progress. In the modern adult version, one is practically obliged to frequently fall in and get soaked.
Slideshow: Aerial 63: Part 2
By 1963 the Livestock market on Patick Street was discontinued, the site serving as a car park. Note the Tech was not yet constructed, and of course, the Sports Centre. Other views are of Monaghan St, Edward St, Chequer Hill, Cecil Street, Pound Road, John Martin Gardens etc.
Slideshow: Aerial 63: Part 3
Apologies for the unwarranted lines on the left of one of these photos. Shown, in addition to the Town Centre, are Meadow/Clanrye estate, Priory Crescent/Chapel Street, Mercy Home and Old Chapel, O’Neill Avenue. Hope you enjoy seeing all of them!