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Archiver > Scotch-Irish > 2004-03 > 1078300581


From: "Charles.Clark" <>
Subject: Re: [Sc-Ir] Some more from Antrim/Ballymoney/Coleraine
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2004 21:08:55 +1300
References: <200403021238.AA259392124@mail.fea.net>


Ah, what a relief! To see the Linda of old, I mean. I had got the impression that things had gotten a little dull and boring while I was away. Still, if you stir the Scotch-Irish up enough you can always get a reaction!
So if some of mine were farming on Inishowen perhaps Linda thinks that says something about me?
"In 1920 he (George Young) decided to leave Randalstown and retire to his home at Culdaff, letting his eldest son carry on his work, which he himself continued to superintend, though in a less active manner than before. He had hoped to live the remainder of his life in the peaceful seclusion of his old home,
with occasional visits to Co. Antrim when the necessity arose, but fate was to deal him a cruel blow. For some time the Sinn Fein movement, which had culminated in the rebellion of 1916 and the later troubles of 1919-1922, had left Innishowen untouched, as had been the case in previous centuries. True, the house
had been raided for arms in 1920, but no serious disturbances took place in the peninsula, which strangers seldom entered, until after the famous Treaty which created the Irish Free State, and caused the mutilation of Ireland by dividing off six counties from the remainder of the country. The situation was now
entirely changed; no geographical considerations were regarded by the treaty-makers, and Innishowen, the most northerly part of Ireland, cut off to a large extent from the rest of the Free State, and dependant upon the town of Derry for practically everything, was for a time a sort of “no man's land.” The
peninsula was too far off and isolated to receive any protection from the newly-formed and struggling Government in Dublin, and was now a foreign country to the rest of Northern Ireland, where British rule still survived. It became, in consequence, a safe retreat for all who refused to acknowledge either
government, and was invaded by a rabble from the surrounding counties, with the result that in the early months of 1922 complete anarchy prevailed. All law and order and protection of every kind being withdrawn, a body of invaders formed themselves into a little soviet administration in Carndonagh. Owning
allegiance to none, they ruled the country and requisitioned from the inhabitants all that they required.
It was in these circumstances that, on the night of May 26th, 1922, a number of men arrived in motor-cars, and breaking into Culdaff House helped themselves to all that they could carry away, set the place on fire, and left it a heap of smoking ruins. Neither George Young nor any of his family was there at the
time. The burning of Shane's Castle a few days previously had necessitated his going to Randalstown, and Mrs. Young had accompanied him. The house was left in charge of Miss Clarke, a friend of Mrs. Young's who lived with her, and she had gallantly faced the raiders, and persuaded them to let her save some of
the family portraits, some private papers, and a few personal belongings, from the flames,–all that remain of the old place.
The day after receiving the news George Young and his younger son, Guy, set off for Culdaff, and there he saw the complete destruction and the still smoking ruins of his beloved home. Very reluctantly he was persuaded to return to Co. Antrim, being warned that for the present it was dangerous for him to remain
in Innishowen.
What followed proved almost harder to bear than the actual burning, as the demesne for a time became public property, and stock, and whatever was required that could be easily moved, was seized from time to time by the group in command at Carndonagh. Nothing seemed more likely than that Culdaff would have to be
definitely abandoned by the family. At last, however, the Free State Government took action, and after what is known as “the Battle of Carn,” in June, 1922, the Republicans were dispersed and the peninsula made comparatively safe."


Linda Merle wrote:

> As Charles said,
>
> >Strictly speaking, northeastern Donegal would be the Inishowen Peninsula, which
> >was not particularly presbyterian as I understand it.
>
> Nope, last time I was there the phone booth graffi said "Kill the Prods". Not much has changed in that area in a few hundred years! If they were from Inishowen instead of the Lagan valley, you know why they left! Hostile neighbors. It's rather mountainous and I can't imagine farming on it either. Damp, too!
>
> Linda Merle

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