Between the divine

I went to the end of Inishowen today.
Beyond Grianan and Bogay Hill, where the southern slope of the latter dips into an ancient river valley and the little, that remains, of the lake at Port Lough. Older maps still have a castle located on what was once an island. More academic sources call it a crannog. However, with Mr. Scott Simon’s kind permission, direction and words of caution I entered what was a lake before and very much a bog now. After much unsuccessful struggling through this wilderness, I found myself unable to cross one of the drainage channels, to reach my destination. But thankfully, I was not alone. Shouting across, I made the much needed acquaintance with Mr. Kyle Basil, who pointed me to a crossing. After having reached the other side and without the loss of my wellies, he walked towards me to make sure, that I safely made it. He also led the way to the crannog and pointed out the location of a possible Iron Age rath, only a field above and past the southern border of Inishowen. He also spoke of a ford, a crossing on a narrow point, running from the old shop to the other side with stepping stones laid out. At the crannog I learned that many stones had been removed for wall building and the remains are to such extent overgrown, that some believed, it has sunken into the bog. But a circular shape and a few small breaks in the vegetation, where its man made masonry fights in a last attempt for sheer survival, just about mark the spot. The diameter of the circle is perhaps 4 but no more than 5 metres, and therefore too small for a crannog, never mind a castle, no matter how many stone were removed. the diameter would remain the same. It is more likely that it was, what could be called, a check point, being within sight of the crossing to the west and having the Iron Age rath to its south, which under the circumstances and from my position, can only be descript, as being in enemy territory, and where I went next. It is more than twice the size of the so called crannog and reminds me much of Dundrean Rath. The fields around it have been smoothened over the last centuries but the entrance at the east was still visible amongst the trees and bushes, approximately 1.80 metres wide. It is difficult to say, if the wall was thicker at this point or if it was only a matter of stone piling. The rest of the circular wall seems to be around 1 metre plus thick.
From there I went west to the Old Shop, were I disturbed the entire and extended Fullerton family. Nevertheless, before I could say much, I found myself on their kitchen table with a life saving bowl of soup and news of a tunnel, running underneath the road. As a young lad Mr. John Fullerton went into the tunnel, being able to hear the cars travelling above him and he descript it as being 3½ to 4 ft. wide and high. A house has now been built where the entrance used to be. Having been welcomed, feed and watered on the other side, I returned to Inishowen, crossing, hopefully for the last time, the bog, which gave me a strange sense of excitement, to the fields of Mr. Scott Simon. On their western edge lay, on what appears to be a natural rock outcrop, many stones in a confusing disarray. Many of the stones are very roughly worked, as if done in a hast, but they are mainly flat, indicating strongly the construction of some sort of building . Going with the positioning of it, these remains might be part of Dowrca’s fortification of Inishowen between 1601 and 1608. But I also fund three very small cupmarks in the shape of a triangle on one of the rocks, indicating, that this site has been in use for a very long time. Mr. Simon also told me about the old houses, destroyed some twenty years ago, with windows like gun slots, placing, at least some of the remains, into the time of the Plantation. As the light was fading, I had to leave without inspecting the possible burial ground nor the extent of the site. Just above Mr. Simon’s farm there also used to be an 18th century road to Derry. – I have to come back. Which will be with the greatest appreciation and gratitude of hospitality and care received. As I made my way back through the last field, passing the stones, in need of revisiting, Mr. Simon’s jeep came up from the farm, stopping, and as I reached him, with my car plate number written on his left hand, to give notice to the Gardai, that I must have been lost for good like cattle before me, it very strongly, and again, made it unmistakably clear, that I rely on something special and now rare, which can not be expected necessarily and given excessively with so much kindness and consideration.

The OPW, three light bulbs and a National monument

One may be forgiven for feeling trenched in utter astonishment after finding a statement concerning the National monument no. 140, Grianán of Aileach, mentioned in a press release responding to accusations made by the Garda Representative Association against the OPW.
The rather generous spending habits of this state body hit the headlines in Donegal after it was revealed that the OPW paid over 1000 Euros to change three light bulbs in a Garda Station.
It is most certainly beyond the capability of my comprehension, why the OPW felt obliged to add Grianán of Aileach to its attempt of justification. Nevertheless, since public money has been spent for nearly a decade on a public project (National monument) by the Office of Public Works, which earned its members in charge of the monument the nickname ‘The hole in the wall gang’, it would be of vital public interest to see the cost of these ‘conservation works’ and the so far futile attempt to ‘improve the structures future stability’. The 2001 ‘detailed archaeological and engineering investigation ‘, which took a year to carry out and led to concreting a dry stone monument and changing its appearance and shape dramatically, would also require closer investigation as how much was paid to whom. The execution of this investigation has left Grianán of Aileach with a frequent occurrence of collapses and visitors with a closed or partially closed National monument.
Last year at least one meeting between the Inishowen representatives of Donegal County Council and the OPW took place in strange secrecy concerning this issue. I sent each of them before hand information about the recent collapses and asked them to approach the OPW over the expense of their ‘work’ carried out at Grianán so far. I suppose it was somehow a response as in January this year a motion was put forward by one councillor “That Donegal County Council immediately lead up a strategic initiative to maximise the tourism potential of Grianan of Aileach in partnership with the OPW and Duchas and to give An Grianan its place in our national heritage.” All members voted in favour of this motion. Not even one of our gallant politicians had any knowledge of the abolition of the state body Duchas in 2003.

PS: The unexpected inclusion of Grianán in a response to the Garda Representative Association is a copy and past exercise. They never could spell lintels (‘lintols‘)

The link to the OPW website may not be there for long. It has a history of disappearing information.

Gardai call for end to ‘disastrous’ OPW
By Tom Brady
Wednesday April 29 2009
Gardai have called for the abolition of the Office of Public Works (OPW), which they describe as an unmitigated disaster.
Rank and file members of the force yesterday accused the OPW of “blundering incompetence”, leaving thousands of gardai in diabolical working conditions, in overcrowded and inappropriate buildings.
The savage attack on the Government body was made at the GRA conference in Killarney yesterday, where GRA president Michael O’Boyce demanded action from Justice Minister Dermot Ahern.
He called on the minister to bring a proposal to abolish the OPW, or at the very least remove it from any involvement in garda accommodation.
Mr O’Boyce said the OPW had failed to future-proof garda stations, with many being too small. And he alleged that the body squandered public money with no concept of value.
He said that a contractor had offered to refurbish the gym in Letterkenny Garda Station at a cost of €5,000 but when the OPW took charge, the cost became €15,000. Mr O’Boyce also claimed that it cost €1,100 to replace three light bulbs.
The allegations were rejected by the OPW, whose spokesman said he was surprised and disappointed.
- Tom Brady

OPW Response to GRA Statements April 28 2009
PRESS RELEASE

OPW RESPONSE TO STATEMENTS BY THE GARDA REPRESENTATIVE ASSOCATION
The OPW is surprised and disappointed to hear the statements made by Mr. Michael O’Boyce, President of the Garda Representative Association (GRA) regarding the work of the OPW. The OPW has always had an excellent working
relationship with the Garda Authorities and the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform.
The GRA in their statement highlighted a small number of specific examples, which they claim is indicative of the work that OPW undertake. These four examples, when put into the context of managing over seven hundred Garda Stations throughout the country and other Garda facilities such as Garda Headquarters, Templemore Garda Training College, Harcourt Terrace etc., would appear relatively trivial. The facts below speak for themselves. OPW is at all times conscious of obtaining maximum value for money for the State
OPW has undertaken a very successful Garda Building Programme in recent years. Since 1995, some €219m has been spent by OPW providing new Garda accommodation including Templemore Garda College and carrying out major extensions and refurbishments to existing Garda Stations. From 2004 to 2008 alone over €136m has been spent on major capital works.
It is alleged by the GRA that OPW has failed to ‘future proof’ new Garda Stations in that many are too small when opened. The design of any Garda Station is based on a brief of requirements provided by An Garda Síochána in the first instance. Occasionally, due to Garda operational requirements, it can be the case that between the award of a construction contract and final completion additional facilities may be required. This is more the exception than the rule.

The facts relating to the examples given by the GRA are:
· Letterkenny Garda Station – Refurbishment of Gym.
The GRA have chosen to extract one item from the overall quotation and are not comparing like for like in their statement. The actual electrical costs alone which were associated with the project, was €10,366.18 excl. VAT. This was a necessary part of the work involved but was not captured in the quotation sourced by the Garda.
· Ballinhassig Garda Station
The statement quoted is inaccurate on two counts:
1. the work involved is for a new shower unit and a new kitchen fit-out, with associated services to provide these facilities
2. the estimate provided was €14,000 excl. VAT (€15,890.00 incl. VAT) for both elements.
This estimate was provided on 21/07/08. We await approval to proceed and the works have not been undertaken.

· Churchill Garda Station
OPW currently have a publicly procured ‘drawdown’ contract for floor coverings, which is at the disposal of all Government Departments and used extensively by An Garda Síochána funded through Garda Procurement Division.
In January 2009, Churchill GS was one of a number of stations in Donegal identified in need of such materials. The cost of €4,050.00 (incl.VAT) included marmoleum, safety floor, stair nosings and sheeting of floors in preparation for floor covering. It should be noted that OPW had no direct involvement at any stage in the processing of this request. This was handled directly between local Garda personnel and the nominated “draw down” contractor.

· Grianan Aileach – National Monument No.140

Pre OPW condition of the site:
A detailed illustrated description of the site can be found in the Ordnance Survey Memoirs of 1837. The remains of the original structure were in a totally collapsed state with the surviving stonework scattered around the hilltop. Between 1874 and 1878, a local expert undertook a rebuilding project on the site of Grianan Aileach. His excavations appear to have revealed the remains of small collapsed sections of the lower level of the outer wall. In the absence of further archaeological evidence for its original appearance, he modelled his rebuild on the relatively intact Staigue Iron Age Fort in County Kerry. (Proceedings of the Royal
Irish Academy Vol1 1879)
History of collapse and the need for a more permanent repair method:
When the site came into State Care approximately thirty years later the restored walls were already in a dilapidated state with extensive collapse of the outer stonework. (76TH annual Report of Commissioners of Public Works 1907/08) Despite OPW efforts to carry out patch repair work to the monument over the next 80 years, OPW files show that the work conducted in
the 1870s was unstable and collapse was reoccurring on a regular basis. In 1989, following another major collapse and short term patch repair work, OPW undertook to monitor the condition of the monument and investigate intervention methods which could stabilise the structure.
Present OPW conservation effort:
In 2001 a detailed archaeological and engineering investigation was undertaken which revealed sections of the line of the disturbed ancient pre-restoration structure and confirmed the shape and outline of work undertaken in the 1870s. Because of the significant amenity value of the restored monument OPW considered that it would not be appropriate or feasible to dismantle and remove the restored stonework and to leave the site in its pre-restoration collapsed state. The engineer recommended that the bulging sections of walling which were liable to collapse should be dismantled and rebuilt. Due to the instability of the underlying surviving stonework, supports were inserted at the base of the rebuilt sections and over the lintols of the internal passageways. All external walling have a central fill which will considerably improve the structures future stability.
The wall tops have been secured in an effort to prevent interference causing stone collapse and the resultant risk to the visitor. The conservation works were completed by January 2008.

The OPW is very proud of the large portfolio of work that it has undertaken on behalf of all our clients, including the Garda Authorities, in the past and continues, despite the current challenging economic climate, to carry out a significant amount of projects in full consultation with our clients’ priorities.

Ends
* For further information contact George Moir, OPW Press Officer, (01) 647 6128 or (087) 231 4537.

Holes above the gate

When the day comes, and one more but decisive part of our past will crumble under the higher, bigger, faster grip of our hand, we will fall with it.
After all, the great universe itself will reach eventually the point, where it can expand no further and will implode into the grain of dust, it grew from. And we, great conquerors and champions in waiting against any inconvenience in our presumptuous lives, seem to be in an astonishing hurry to reach this finishing line.
Unsurprisingly, we remain oblivious to the chain of events leading to downfall, since we parcelled our past into preservation by record and a virtual world of animation.
Over the last week holes appeared on the inside wall above the gate. I counted 1 large and 4 smaller ones. It seems that the loose stones have been moved to the entrance of the northern passage. The gate section was rebuilt in 2006 .
I assume that the OPW will fill them with concrete in the next days.
Photos taken May 09, 2009.

 

 

Detail 1

 

Detail 2

 

Detail 3

 

Entrance northern passage

Swan-song

The beautiful old Swilly Hotel on Buncrana’s shore has received its final stabbing after decades of endurance, which have left a feeble shell, where once grandeur praised the splendour of this spot. It will be flattened and replaced by architectural suicide and environmental disagreeability. Another landmark gone in a town built on the destruction of its entire past. Houses placed on thousands of years old monuments, the last trace of the Ó Dochartaighs will soon fall into dust and no single reminder left of the story of the pier, its herrings fleet, the landing of tall ships, the coal boats and all these vibrant activities, held by a port, where water was a rather difficult matter to spot. Even the oldest house in the history of Buncrana on this side of the river, The Lodge, built around 1770, is awaiting execution.
Opposing this proposal, no doubt, would rally the cries of self-serving intentions, shielded well with the much overstretched, but nevertheless immaculately functioning guard of job creation. It seems of no importance, that such claim would be remarkably short lived, as has been already proven, and does not display any continuance to contribute to the future and more stable welfare and prosperity of Buncrana.

It comes as no surprise, that Harry P. Swan’s books of Inishowen, do not find their way into re-publishing, and the few copies circulating are sold for a very high price to a better off clientele. In his time, seventy, eighty years ago, Buncrana was called the Queen of Donegal, visitor filled and reputed as the best spa for respiratory dispositions, an opportunity, which quickly left the scene with the arrival of multi-nationals, not only tearing hordes of youngsters out of their education and destroying an already existing and self-containing shirt industry, but they also managed to bring asthma to the offspring of the town, as one of the plants with all its waste was placed lovingly between the old pier and the castle, in the middle of a residential area. Empty and abandoned now, the pain inflicted still lingers, and should have served as an example of how not to proceed. But apparently, the comprehensive destruction of everything good, unique and beautiful emerges as the chosen path, reducing the dying of the swan to serve as outlandish but single meal.

Cromla no longer a suspect

I received an email from Seoirse Ó Dochartaigh.

Hi Bettina,
I think I have found the Crom hill. It’s not Greenan! It’s actually very close to where I live. The information about the river sources was important as I found the source of the Bredagh River on the hill. The hill is now called Crockaulin (Cnoc Álainn – Hill of Beauty) and there is some evidence of caves there close to the road as mentioned in that page you gave me. I haven’t explored it yet but I will one day when I’m not busy. I could use The Arch Survey Book!!!
Seoirse

The hill is the highest at 325 meters (1074 feet) of a cluster running from west to east towards Inishowen Head in the middle of a triangle between Moville, Greencastle and Kinnagoe Bay at a latitude of 55.2217 and a longitude of -7.01833.
The little information to be found is below.

Mabel Colhoun, The Heritage of Inishowen:
Rath
(Iron Age or later)
22/6
Td. Ballybrack
1943 (13.5 ins. N. 5 ins. E) Alt. 100ft. About 1 mile N.E. of Moville on road to Greencastle, at S.E. side of road 0.25 mile from the sea. Arable. View restricted. The circular fort is on a loop of land high above the stream which surrounds it on three sides, being closest on the W. It is barely discernible owing to whins and heather, and with little of the surrounding bank left. The bank at the S. appears to be worn away and the edge of the enclosure irregular; the rest of the bank, except at the N.E. is only a few inches high. The enclosure is grass-covered and fairly level.
Measurements:
Interior diameter N.E., – S.W. ……..83 ft.
Interior height of bank at N.E. ………3 ft.
Exterior height of bank at N.E. ……..2 ft.

Standing Stone
(Megalithic)
22/7
Td. Ballybrack
1943 (15.25 ins. N. 5.75 ins. E.) Alt. 190 ft. About 0.25 miles further from Moville than (22/5), the road divides, lower fork on right leading to Greencastle, left or N.E. Fork to Shrove by upper road. Site about 300 yards at left or N.W. Side of road. Arable. Clear view except for higher ground 0.25 miles distant to N.
The standing stone faces N.E.-S.W. And leans at a sharp angle. It is a hard grey stone curiously weathered in horizontal bands, 2 ins wide and 2 ins. Deep, in holes or hollows.

Measurements:
Height………….. 6ft. 6 ins.
Width…………… 3 ft.
Thickness………….. 11 ins.

Settlement(?)
(Miscellaneous))
22/8
Td. Ballybrack
1944 (20.5 ins. N. 4.5 ins. E.) Alt. 630 ft. About 1 mile N.N.W. As crow flies, from (22/7). Just before reaching latter, road branches to N.W. Passing St. Mary’s R.C. Church, through Ballybrack; at topmost field of cultivation level on right or E. of road. Cross field, site in next field. Mountain pasture, heather, boggy. Unrestricted view over lough and sea, rising ground to N.

Site contains:
(a) A well
(b) A circular stone enclosure
(c) Alignments, and cluster of small stones

All are on the S. slopes of Crockaulin (1074 ft.). There is an old road running down the hill outside the E. field boundary.

(a) Well: In the centre of the field is a large well, used by cattle; a wall, now much overgrown, had been built to support the bank which apparently had been dug into in order to find the well.

(b) Circular Enclosure: Near one corner of the field is a heather-covered circular bank on a stone foundation. The enclosure is marshy with, in the centre, a slight height some 13 ft. in diameter which partly covers some stones which might suggest a wrecked cist. There seems to be a S. opening to the enclosure.

Measurements:
(b) Circular enclosure:
Interior diameter N.-S. …….30 ft.
Exterior diameter N.-S. …….47 ft.

(c) Alignments and small stones: All stones appear to be set in the ground in the same direction, those showing being not more than 1.5 ft above ground. There might be three parallel alignments, 6 ft – 8 ft apart, the longest being about 25 ft. From a distance the clusters of stone suggested habitation sites, such as boley huts, but on closer inspection it is difficult to follow any particular pattern. They remind me of sites near the Butterlope in the Sperrin Mountains examined by O. Davies years ago. To make sense of them they would need to be surveyed by an expert. It is reported that there are standing stones about 0.5 miles to the N.E. and at about the same altitude in Ballymacarthur. I found none.

Brian Lacy, Archaeological Survey of County Donegal (1983)
346 Ballybrack
OS 22:5:3 (176 381) 4OD 100-200 C633396
A standing stone 1.93m high x .92m wide x .29m thick. Situated on pasture land.

One curious and poetic entry was made by Maghtochair in his book Inishowen: Its History, Traditions, and Antiquities (1867), not quite located on or around Crockaulin, but close enough to mention.
“One morning early in Autumn, about 1,000 years before the Christian era, a venerable man might have be seen prostate on the beach at the foot of that promontory known as Inishowen Head. He knelt there to worship the sea god – to pour forth the gratitude of his heart to Neptune for the happy termination of a long and perilous voyage. His ship rode at anchor before him. No cloud darkened the deep blue of the heavens, the air was calm, the sky lustrous, the sun had just risen, and burnished with dazzling brightness the gentle ripple which played on the surface of the waters. The stranger was Ith, uncle of Milesius, who had sailed from Braganza, in Spain, in quest of the most western isle of the world, which a soothsayer had declared should be the final resting-place of his nation.”

Tracing the ancient route Part 1

Aileach Mor Hill with Souterrain

Leaving The Three Flowers and an estate behind I turned north-westwards , following the road. In a field to the south-west lay large stones and at closer inspection appeared to be the entrance to a souterrain, which was confirmed by the woman of the house nearby shortly afterwards. She also told me about bodies being found in the field eastwards of the souterrain, still bearing the name “The Graveyard”, and that this field may have contained an ancient burial mound. Her son showed me kindly an old lane, which “would get me a good bit up” towards Grianan and was marked with a large boulder at its beginning.

Entrance to the Souterrain

The lane itself is much overgrown with brambles and gorse but remains of stone walling on both sides are still visible. Its alignment appears to be north-east to south-west. After a short and hard fought for advance I noticed an array of stones in the adjourning field.
The scattered arrangements of all the stones, I found this day, reminded me profoundly of a description given to such a sight in Captain Somerville’s paper to the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland about the Ancient Stone Monuments near Lough Swilly in 1909, calling it “confused heaps of stones,” which, indeed, is a truthful account of the situation, for both, the stones and myself.
The first group was backed against an overgrown old fieldwall and hedging to the south-west and Grianán Hill, and appears to have been circular in shape. Standing inside and with my back turned to Grianán, the souterrain was laying to the north in a field below, Aileach Mor Hill nestled comfortably in the centre of my frame. A cattlegap on its south-western extent lead into the next field, across a very small stream, which, when followed its round and stone cluttered curve, flow out from under the old lane and just below another “confused heap of stones,” being again backed against old walling and hedging, this time on its east. Squeezing into this wild arrangement and the gorse, I faced north north-west, Cashel Hill, Asdevlin Hill and the southern slopes of Scalp Mountain.

First group with Asdevlin Hill

View at Aileach Mor

View from inside at Aileach More

The cattlegap

The stone cluttered small stream

The second heap

A close up

View from inside at Cashel and Asdevlin Hill

The opening of the little stream under the old lane is lined with stones, its water clear and fresh.

The stone lined opening

At the end of the same field, westwards towards Grianán, I found a crossroad, splitting , what must have been formerly one, into four fields. Loose, large stones lay much overgrown and covered by gorse on both sides of the first two fields on my approach. As usual, all stones found, where moved towards the boundaries. The cross created by their walls seems to have roughly the alignment of south-east to north-west and north-east to south-west. The partially parallel field, to the one I came from, is called “Witches Cove.” The field opposite contains a pile of stones and slabs under a lonely tree.

The crossroad

The southern end of the Witches Cove

Its western boundary

Slabs and stones in the field opposite

Many of the stones, cleared from the field, found use in the dry stone walling of the same, except some, which are still lying at the edge of fieldwalls, despite being of reasonable size for this task and do also not appear to have fallen out, but rather purposely left in this spot. Remembering the words of an old stonewaller, that all the stone have to be used, this was an unforeseen discovery.

Witches Cove - Hidden beneath the gorse

Left on the edge of the field

Still keeping the direction to reach Grianán, I passed another small stream, entirely hidden in bushes and gorse and among so many ‘confused’ stones, sunken into a gap in the ground.
Lacking a contemporary map of this area, I am uncertain how far I got at this stage, having followed rather fertile fieldwalls, I finally could see Grianán in the distant from a field harbouring a very large pile of stones, of nearly all sizes, a few meters away from its boundary.

Large pile of stones inside a field

At this point, the battery of my camera had already resigned and hostile clouds of an early evening moved in, I turned to the road, passing the ruin of the large farm in Bunnamayne, towards Bridgend, and then eastwards back to Coshquin. Before I reached the field of the souterrain, I passed a gate of one with a remarkable large pile of stones to each side.
Bridgend is a Grianán blind spot, which means Grianán is not visible from this point. This was also true for my journey so far and only as I reached the large heap of stones inside the field, I was able to glimpse at Grianán again in the distance.

To be continued.

A short note to the Easter Sunday walk

I attempted today to walk from The Three Flowers restaurant, which is located on the Derry/Buncrana road and just below Aileach Mor Hill across this road (400 centuries ago still a bog) towards Grianán, to see if I could find traces of the ancient road connecting the seat of royal power with the spirit at its heart. The entire journey, no doubt, would have been more a day trip then two hours and, very much like myself, travellers of the past would have stopped at the remainders and markings along this path. And there are so many of them.
Needles to say, I did not even made it half way and Grianán , still a considerable distance away, was my last point on the horizon to the west. Holywell Hill appeared closer as I turned back. Looking at the map and taking into account that this is air distance only, that may have been actually the case.
It was the most unusual afternoon; not by sight but by what I heard. Finding suspicious stone piles, where I suspect the ancient road to have run, can be expected. Hearing that this area was and is still hunted by evil spirits, witches, the devil himself, sacrificed children, born to the unmarried, and the effect it has on today’s living is not something, which entered even remotely my mind. And for tonight, and most likely some time to come, I will be left to ponder, realistically with little or no chance of figuring it all out, which now seems to reach deeply into the realm of religion and faith, leaving me truly stranded on unknown soil.
If, and putting the everything is the result of something that went before theory entirely aside, this encounter today was a coincidence, than even by such effectless measurements, experiencing such fight of the faiths on Easter Sunday, would make it a remarkable one indeed.

The adventurers of Betty Bhua – A recipe for Easter

It is said that there is more than one way to skin a very unfortunate cat, which, although true, nevertheless harbours a quite harsh distinction. Doubtless, much adored pet-cats would not meet such dreadful faith and even the sharpest tool would have to restrain itself to grooming.
God bless the strays; concluded Betty, while her steps adopted nervous pacing. Undeterred she strode out towards the promontory at the end of the lough, but whatever the reason, she seemed to be unable to pass beyond the boulder burdened strand at Father Hegarty’s Rock, as if her desired destination strolled into its own voyage instead. She turned to the slopes, navigating around the saffron induced thicket of the fast spreading gorse, following forlorn stones, as she came to a walled outcrop of rock, accommodating one cauldron.
“What are you doing?” inquired Betty.
“I hold the waters of the four skies,” answered the vessel. “I boil and then order them onto the dome you call horizon.”
“It seems crooked today,” was Betty’s concern.
“The eastern sky escaped,” came the reply. “The wheel cannot turn and no new life will flood again until it is mend.”
“So we are stuck for now with what we have?”
“Not really,” stated the cauldron. “The eastern sky must ascend, and when it does, the firmament will be covered with the waves of the rising moon and the blood of the rising sun. With no siblings on its side, the earth will yield beneath its fall.”
“Is there anything that can be done?”
“Perhaps,” came out of the pot. “Taste me.”
“You are empty,” echoed Betty into its belly.”
“What do you expect,” hissed the cauldron. “You didn’t put anything in.”
“Fair enough. What do I need?”, was the rather defiant response.
“What can you give?”, shoot it from the void.
“I have an oversized pot to spare.”
“Make my day,” squeezed the hollow; “and burn the cradle that bears you.”
“Why did the eastern sky leave?” needed Betty to know.
“You ate it. So I pushed its meagre remains over my bar-less rim, that it may carve a row for what is to be. Mend it or be gone.”
Betty rose and as she reached Buncrana, she gathered the shadows over every light, bondage-buttons from the faint, the lushes weeds from count-lost friction, a full set of double-tongued spoons, nails from a suffocating past, the council‘s only door and Cahir the Coat’s eternally filled bottle.
To Buncrana’s past went the shadows to shed light. The rush-like weeds, once cut, work rather wonders and many doors were grown. There was a future for coffin nails in frictions. The spoons found use as two way streets while the council still swims against the tide inside a bottleneck.
As she returned to the cauldron, she found it full.
“ I see, you can hold your waters.“ said Betty.
“For the time being,” mumbled the cauldron; “for the time being.
Meanwhile, Cahir the Coat took rather well to his new buttons and still can been seen, bright and early, parading his streets, each time the horizon announces its journey in the east.

A suspect for the hill

Around two weeks ago I came across an ancient name of a hill in Inishowen situated between Loughs Foyle and Swilly, called Crommal or Cromla. Theoretically all hills on Inishowen, except for those at Malin, lay between the two loughs, but this description is commonly used for the narrow neck which forms the connection between Inishowen and the rest of this island, incorporating two hill-ranges divided by a gorge. The highest point on the Foyle facing range is Cnoc Énna, now Holywell Hill, and on the Swilly side this point would be Greenan.

In 1786 a rather eccentrically ambitious Colonel Charles Vallancey, of the Royal Engineers, published his third volume of the Collectanea de rebus hibernicis. On page 322 I found the following entry:

CROMLA

or Crommal, a mountain or hill between Lough Foyle and Lough Swilly. From the eastern side of this mountain proceeded the river Lubar, called by the Irish Bredagh; and from the western, the Lavath, near the source of which on the declivity of the mountain was the cave of Cluna, where resided Ferad Artho, and the bard Condan, after the murder of Cormac Mc. Art, his nephew. During the middle ages, we find it denominated Cruachan Achuil, or Mount Eagle. It seems to have obtained the name of Mount Cromla or Crommal, that is the mountain of Fate or Destiny, from having an altar or cave, dedicated to Fate or Providence, called by the ancient inhabitants of these islands, Crom; whence Cromla, a place of worship, and Crommal a place of destiny. In the neighbourhood of Cromla, stood the rath or fortress of Tura, called by the Irish writers Ailich Neid, celebrated by all the ancient Irish histories, as the principal residence of the northern kings of Ulster. See Tura, Moilena, Leana Loch and Aileach.†

† O’Connor’s Dissert. p. 96.

There are a few difficulties with his description. Maps of Inishowen from the seventeenth century experienced some considerable problems with our hills. Since the heart of Inishowen, as well as its neck, is made of stone (hills and mountains), this is shown as an array of them without any count of how many hills compose a certain hill range, never mind their names. Mount Cromla seems to be marked on Beaufort’s Map, which may be eighteenth century. The river Bredagh still holds this name and is located at Moville, flowing into Lough Foyle and taking its name from an ancient division, occupying the north/north-east part of Inishowen , called An Bhréadach. The source of the river is on the eastern side of a hill called Crocknageeha. Below its western slope originates a river called now the Long Glen, discharging itself at the mouth of Lough Swilly, into the same small bay, Kinnagoe Bay, where the vessel La Trinidad Valencia sunk. It is possible that there is nearby an undiscovered souterrain, which would have been named a cave at the time. Lavath, as mentioned, is listed on page 374 in his work;

from Labh ath, the swallow water; a river which issues from the western declivity of Mount Crommal, and falls into Lough Swilly.

Aileach Neid (Aileach Mor and Grianán), at the southern end of Inishowen, is some considerable distance away from this location. Even travelling today, the conclusion of being in the neighbourhood of this place, would not be a natural choise by anyone living here. Cruachan Achuil, or Mount Eagle is to my knowledge not identified with any hill or mountain on the peninsula, but the dominating mountain on Inishowen is Sliabh Sneachta, visible from Grianán in the distance. In Maghtochair’s book of Inishowen the discovery of ‘caves at the base of Greinan Hill’ in 1838 by Mr. and Mrs Hall is mentioned, a souterrain, containing of three chambers and high enough to stand upright.

Leana Loch is the name given to Lough Foyle in Vallancey’s book and Moilena is the plain of fea, situated in the district of Inishowen, near Lough Foyle.

Fea was one of the wives of Neid of Aileach (see Sunsets at Grianán).

I could not find Tura at all and I never heard of this name being given to Aileach Neid or any other rath or fortress in Inishowen. There is not even an entry for it in Vallancy’s book. But I have no doubt in my mind that what is standing on top of Greenan Hill is a temple and place of assembly. It has the true Aileach/Aileach Mor within a two hours walk and even an ancient road leading from its gate towards the castle.

Only one relic of worship seems to remain of Crom and it consists of a gold figure surrounded by twelve stone figures. Crom’s worship was abolished by Patrick but he may have been more a fertility god (harvest) than a savage one with human sacrifices. A tumulus was found at Grianan between the second and the third rampart consisting of a centre stone with ten stones placed around it. The tumulus was found empty and unworthy of further recording, subsequently destroyed, even the heap of stones, mentioned by Dr. Brian Lacy in the Archaeological Survey of County Donegal from 1983, has disappeared now. I am aware that I am two stones short and my centre piece is not made of gold. There is also a shortage of the two rivers mentioned and I only can presume that their origin would have been near the foot of the hill, an area which has been drastically drained and reshaped through land reclamation in the last four centuries on both the Swilly and the Foyle side. But for the moment CROMMAL/CROMLA  is my main suspect for the hill.

The past was orange – A note to its discovery

In 1824 Colonel Thomas Frederick Colby, of the Royal Engineers, was put in charge of the general direction of the arrangements of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland. Lieutenant Thomas Drummond, Lieutenant Thomas Aiskew Larcom and Lieutenant Joseph Ellison Portlock were appointed the same year to assist Colonel Colby. In 1829 Portlock became head of the trigonometrical branch of the survey and measured every mountain, hill and hillock in Donegal.

Colby’s ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the Parish of Templemore’ (sometimes called of County Londonderry) were published in 1837, which included a detailed description of the recently discovered remains of the Grianan of Aileach. A Peter M’Laughlin from Newtowncunningham wrote an article, published in the Dublin Penny Journal in 1834 or ‘35, relating to the subject of Grianan, apparently taking the stance that the newly found ruin can not be the palace of the historical nor legendary Aileach (I have not been able to find a copy of this issue, whichever one it may be, and so can only presume that this is the case, based on contemporary references.). Therefore the so-called official discovery of the ruin must have taken place between Portlock’s measuring of Donegal’s hills and M’Laughlin’s article.

But it seems that neither Colby nor Portlock is credited with it. In Maghtochair’s book of Inishowen, first published in 1867, this privilege is ascribed to a “talented Colonel Blacker, who was the first to discover this ancient remains of Greinan”. No date is given, but as it turns out the ‘talented Colonel Blacker’ was no other than Lieutenant-Colonel William Blacker, a founding member of the Orange Order, – and in what seems a sensible enough description – a’ Roaring Meg’ in his duties towards the values of this institution. In the last sentence of his account in Maghtochair’s book he called his finding ‘Greinan’ but in his description of it makes it quite clear, that he perceived this monument as an ‘amphitheatre’ and a place of worship.

It is my suspicion that the hill at this point in time was renamed and I fail utterly to believe that the ’small mountain’ was initially called Greinan- Grianan- or Greenan Hill and this name is solely an invention of the post-discovery period of the ruin, and very possible of Blacker or Colby. The ancient, meaningful and Irish name of the hill seems to be lost, as well as the true name and importance of this monument.

It occurs to me as a very severe case of hard luck, that both name and purpose are forgotten amongst the descendants of its creators. The military component of a occupying force from a more recent past rediscovered this lost treasure and re-designated it, no doubt with much excitement, to suit their ambition of inhabiting the soul as much as the soil, in a very Roman approach to empire-making. After all, and I might be terrible wrong about it, but Grianan of Aileach has been ever since and notoriously styled as the seat of power of the O’Neill’s. But was it not an O’Neill who gave the British such troublesome heartache over the province of Ulster not that long ago. The taking of Ulster and even Ireland, was not throughout as certain as one would like to have hoped.

Those in charge of Irish history and Aileach since independence employ a copy and paste approach without questioning the motive of the conclusions of the then victorious. Grianan’s alleged past is still dominated by a colonel of the Royal Engineers of the British Army and a founding member of the Orange Order. A rather alienating thought.