Dromantine History

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Dromantine will be extensively featured on Newry Journal for a short while.  Every Catholic (and we hope, many of other faiths and none) is familiar with Dromantine Sundays, a fun day organised to raise funds for the SMA [Society of African Missions] when the beautiful grounds of this most impressive estate are open to all.  The College now serves mainly as a Retreat House and no finer place for such activity could be imagined.  The well-kept grounds, the extensive lakeside walks, the impressive 19th century country house, the new Conference Centre, the goldfish pond, the drumlin countryside panorama – it is the perfect place to de-stress and reflect on the spiritual and contemplative life, and all within a few miles of Newry centre! 
 
I will shortly feature the work in Africa of one of Newry’s greatest sons, Bishop Carroll of the SMA, who was trained at Dromantine.  Then I intend to summarize the centuries of history of this great area, its people and the estate.  Finally I will refer to the recent renovations and the role of the College today.  First, a short summary of IMPORTANT DATES.
 
The Magennis clan was for centuries the ruling clan in Iveagh, an extensive area covering most of the present day’s west County Down and reaching from Lough Neagh in the north to the Irish Sea in the south.  Some leaders occasionally participated in the resistance to the encroaching powers of the Normans and later, the English.  Most however, took a more pragmatic approach to ensure their survival.  Thus in the seizure and ‘re-grant’ era of the early seventeenth century, Arthur Magennis, in 1611, received 4,200 acres in ten townlands within the precinct of Clanaghan (Glen).   The Magennises continued in ownership for a century and a quarter.
 
1611  Arthur Magennis receives Dromantine in ‘re-grant’.
1737  Dromantine put up for sale.
1741 John Innes of Scotland buys Dromantine.
1808  Building of the present house.
1810  Construction of the lake.
1859  Extensive construction work on House.
1865  Work on House completed.
1922  Dromantine House bought by Samuel McKeever.
1926  The Society of African missions buys Dromantine.
1927  First eleven of 587 priests ordained.
1931  St Patrick’s Wing built.
1935  St Brendan’s Wing built.
1936  Work begins on Chapel.
1959  St Colman’s and Assembly Hall opened.
1974  Dromantine closes as a Seminary.
1975  Dromantine opens as a Retreat Centre.
1998  Major renovation work begins.
2001  Renovation work completed.

Ballymoyer House: National Trust

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The Synnot family soon after arrived in the parish of Ballymoyer and leased eight townlands from the See of Armagh.  In 1778 Sir Walter Synnot [High Sheriff of County Armagh 1783] built the original Ballymoyer House in the townland of Ballintemple.  The family was involved not only in the linen trade but also owned lead mines in the vicinity. 
‘The lands were healthy and barren previous to 1778, when Sir Walter Synnot erected a house and became a resident landlord; scarcely a tree or shrub was to be seen and the agricultural implements were of the rudest kind.  He constructed good roads in the vicinity and planted forest trees [Lewis S. 1837].’

The Ballymoyer House Demesne Was Extensive and Ornate

‘The mansion built by Sir Walter Synnot and the demesne attached to it is laid out and planted in a tasteful style.  Three mountain streams after debouching from the glens of their upper course, unite in the lawn and form a scene both beautiful and romantic.'[Parliamentary Gazetter 1844].
By 1838 the family had bought the eight townlands and continued to improve the estate.  By the latter part of the 1870s they owned 7,321 acres.  In 1901 the demesne had passed through marriage to the Hart-Synnot family who presented it to the National trust in 1937.
Today Ballymoyer (estate and woodland walk) is still a National Trust property and is well worth a visit.  It is located close to Whitecross, nine kilometres from Newry and four kilometres from Newtownhamilton.


Abbey Newry History …

Read moreBallymoyer House: National Trust

Book of Armagh

Only a few early manuscripts from ancient Ireland survive and they are among our most valued antiquaries.  The Book of Kells dating from the eighth to ninth centuries is a Latin copy of the four gospels.  The original Book of Kells is kept at Trinity College Dublin where a different page is displayed each day for the public.  About ten per cent of the original is thought to have been lost over the centuries.  Its association is with the monastery of Colm Cille at Kells, County Meath, founded in 807 A.D. following Viking raids on Iona.  Indeed the Book may have been compiled on the island and brought to Ireland.  It is considered the high point of Celtic monastic art.
 
The Book of Durrow [650 A.D.] is an even earlier illuminated manuscript of the Gospels and is associated with the Columban monastery of Durrow in County Offaly.  Less ornate than the Book of Kells, it too is held by Trinity College Dublin.
 
The Book of Dun Cow [Leabhar na Huidhre] contains an early version of the Cattle Raid of Cooley and several other well-known stories.  Lost for several centuries it turned up unexpectedly in a Dublin bookshop in 1837.  It was bought in 1844 by the Royal Irish Academy.
 
The Book of Armagh 807-808 A.D. is also known as Liber Armachanus [and an Can

… Ballymoyer: National Trust …

Peter McGuigan/Unknown Soldier

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Our picture shows Sean McAteer of Warrenpoint visiting the grave in Northern France of his forebear Peter McGuigan of Cecil Street Newry who was killed in the First World War.  


Like many, Peter pretended to be older than his years – he was just fifteen and not eligible for military service – and the Army was happy to play along with this.  It happened again in WW2, my own uncle being one such boy soldier then.  He was injured and discharged with a decoration.  Young Peter in the First World War, like many others, was not so lucky.

Read morePeter McGuigan/Unknown Soldier

Structure of the Universe

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Imagine standing on Warrenpoint beach looking towards Greenore.  You may dip your toe in the water but from this experience alone you must deduce – without travelling on or over the sea – the nature of water, and of sea-water, of seas and oceans and currents, their total volume and extent, their composition, what plants, animals and inanimate objects are found in the sea, and the nature of the sea-bed. 

Read moreStructure of the Universe

Francis Sheey-Skeffington

In 1913 there was a major strike in Dublin as James Larkin (whose family had come from Killeavy and Burren) tried to assert workers’ rights to be members of trade unions.  Strikers were attacked by police and they reacted by forming the Irish Citizens Army – intended merely to protect strikers from RIC attacks. 


It may have been somewhat na

During 1914 as the Irish Citizens Army became more overtly military, he resigned his position.

Despite this, Francis was to be brutally and summarily executed by the British less than two years later.  Skeffington was a journalist (his father was a doctor in Warrenpoint).  He was also a well-known champion of the poor and oppressed.   He was a tee-totaller, a vegetarian, a champion of womens’ rights, a socialist and above all, a committed pacifist.   James Joyce, the greatest Irish novelist of his time, complimented Skeffington as ‘the most intelligent person I met while studying at University College Dublin.’

On Tuesday evening April 25 1916 in the aftermath of Rising skirmishes, he went into the city to help the wounded of both sides and to dissuade people from looting.   Despite this he was arrested by the British at Portabello Bridge and used as a human shield by a British Army raiding party.   He witnessed the shooting dead of an unarmed youth by the raiding party commander Bowen-Colthurst.

Skeffington was held overnight and taken out the following morning, without trial or court-martial, and along with fellow journalists Thomas Dickons and Patrick McIntyre, shot dead against a wall.  In an attempt to find some justification for what he had done, Bowen-Colthurst himself led a raid of Skeffington’s home in a vain search for incriminating evidence against him.

The case became a cause celebr