Half-hung McNaughton's hiding place - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/206034

The eighteenth century scandal mainly involved two people. The woman was Miss Ann Knox of Prehen, a townland near Londonderry. Ann was the daughter of Andrew Knox of Prehen House, an influential and well to do gentleman. The man was John McNaughton (MacNaghten), a member of the same social class as Knox. John fell in love with Ann and tried to be near her at all times. Andrew Knox opposed any marriage and both Andrew and Ann were wary of John's constant efforts to maintain contact. McNaughton claimed that they were secretly married. Andrew Knox made great efforts to protect his daughter and eventually, in 1760, set out to transport Ann to Dublin in a coach, protected by armed outriders.McNaughton and several associates concealed themselves in a little road adjoining Burndennett (Bumdenit) Bridge, a short distance from Sandville. They stopped the coach and a short discussion ensued, followed by gunfire. McNaughton fired at the coach occupied by Andrew Knox and his daughter, and Ann died from the bullet. McNaughton fled to the hayloft in Sandville. Armed searchers initially were unable to find him as the local people remained silent. Finally one man pointed to the hiding place and local tradition maintained that he lost that arm in a mill accident.
Another story maintains that McNaughton eventually was captured in Antrim. McNaughton was convicted and sentenced to be publicly hanged in an open field at Strabane. He spoke to the crowd, saying he loved his wife and had been kept from her. The rope broke and the crowd shouted for him to fly, but McNaughton declared that he was not going to be known as "half-hanged McNaughton" and advised the hangman to get on with his work. The rope did not break again but his name did live on in legend as "half-hanged McNaughton." 

Crimean War Tree, Tullyhommon - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2072668

One person threatened to chop it down as he thought that it was dangerous, but a petition was drawn up by the locals on both sides of the border and a couple of thousand signatures were collected and thus this historic tree was given a reprieve. It actually looks quite healthy to me and the man who raised the issue ironically is no longer with us

Mickey Doherty's Cairn, near Glenties - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2087982

In the early 1980’s Vincent Campbell and his brothers, fiddle players from the Glenties area often remarked on how they thought that Mickey Doherty didn’t get enough recognition for his fiddle playing, as John seemed to be the Doherty who everyone talked about. They talked about building some sort of memorial to Mickey and settled on building a monument in memory of Mickey and an incident some few miles from their home place involving ‘the Black and Tans’. This was a British military unit operating in Ireland from 1920 to 1922, their role was to suppress Irish republican military activity; however they were not well trained or disciplined and became notorious for their heavy handed and violent treatment of both republican activists and the general populace. Mickey was out on the road after curfew one night and the Black and Tans caught him and detained him for questioning. Mickey protested that he was no danger to anyone and was just a poor tinsmith making his way home and at gunpoint the Black and Tans demanded that he prove this. So Mickey got his tools out and on the spot made a small pandaí (a little tin mug) to show them that he was telling the truth and in doing this saved his own life. The Mickey Doherty monument was built on the spot where the incident happened and it is made in the form of the gable of a traditional cottage and features a sandstone fiddle

Ice house, Doochary - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2107890

The Ice House is a unique two-room stone house Victorian structure built from locally quarried red granite and set into the side of a hill

The ice house was commissioned, literally to store ice, by the Marquis of Conyngham in about 1850. Conyngham owned huge tracts of the county up until the beginning of the 20th century and built a hunting lodge nearby.

The structure was used to store salmon caught in the abundant waters of the Gweebarra River, to which the marquis owned exclusive rights

In a properly constructed house, the ice could last for up to three years.

T McKeen, Flesher, Larne - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2083260

It is located at Dunluce Street and despite being partly damaged in a bomb during the troubles, it has not altered very much since it first opened in the 1890s

Meat carcases used to be hung over the pavement from hooks below the shop sign

The original wall tiling is still perfect, both externally and internally - Featured inside along the top border is a combination of the rose, shamrock, thistle, and leek, depicting the four nations of the British Isles, i.e. England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

The Pilgrim's Steps - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/813937

The Pilgrim Steps are in the "Wee Dock" where the boat-owners moor their punts.They are on the south side close to the road and are so called because they were used by people boarding boats which took them out to the sailing ships bound for America. The sailing ships were anchored off the Skerries. This was before the big harbour was constructed and there was only the old dock.

McGlinchy's Mill, near Greencastle - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2036912

This old building was constructed by the McGlinchy family from County Donegal over 300 years ago and renovations were carried out to it in 1879 and there is an inscribed stone on the gable wall to mark the event

Site of the "Bull's-eye", Crossroads, Omagh - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/607846

One local person in his eightieth year who was born in the Old Mountfield Road, "Dinky" Rodgers has recollections of the Bull's-eye. He remembers that it was a round stone about half a metre high and was formed in sandstone. He can remember sitting on it and when the road was continued round the corner, it wasn't thought important enough for it to be removed, but after several mishaps with traffic, it was taken away. Fortunately he is one of a small number of people who has a vivid recollection of its existence. It should be noted that in one of the "Images of Omagh" books, W.J.McGrew (dec'd) has tabulated that the bull's-eye was located on the Old Mountfield Road just past Gibson School. This is not the case, as I have verified by talking to some of the remaining folk of the area. It was thought that it didn't have any historical importance but it is thought that it was plinth for enabling a gentleman to step on before mounting a horse, or for passengers to alight from a cart.

The Lighthouse along the A5 at Raw, near Omagh - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/76559

An isolated house on the right hand side of the A5 road about five miles out from Omagh heading to Ballygawley was locally known as 'The Lighthouse'.

More at - http://www.pasttimesproject.co.uk/lsl_browse.php?subsite=ll&story=186

Rev H Cooke stone relief, Omagh Orange Hall - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/931823

This one, at the centre, reads H. Cooke LLD. He studied chemistry, geology, anatomy, and medicine and was awarded an LLB (an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws)

He opened the new Trinity Presbyterian Church in Omagh in 1856
 - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/754121


Orangemen carry his likeness on their banners (though he was no Orangeman), and his statue in Belfast (erected in September 1875) is still a symbol of the Protestantism of the north of Ireland.

He is more famously known as "The Black Man"
- see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/432355

Maggie McDonald's, Castle Street, Omagh - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/115764

Or should I say Maggie Fish? Its such a small world as when I was photographing this building an elderly lady whom I didn't know spoke to me and told me that she worked with my father many years ago in the tin shop of Nestlés factory which closed last year. Anyway, this used to be a fish shop from the 1930s to the late 1950s and Maggie McDonald ran it along with her cats which she kept in the shop. Local children used to taunt her with name calling like "Maggie Fish". Public Health would not approve of the felines if it was the situation today. It seems to be used for accommodation now and these look like the residents entering the premises.

Ballynahatty Gaol - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/746653

Not much remains of this structure as viewed from the Ballynahatty Road Two ground floor corner wall of this structure remain and it  had to be partly demolished in 2007 due to it becoming unsafe. This was built on the Huston Estate and was a result of the frequent drinking bouts associated with the fairs held on the townland and people got out of hand after indulging in poteen, a home brewed liquor derived from potatoes and made in illicit stills. A sizeable contingent of constables had to be called in and drunkards were locked up until they sobered. Several did not make it as the strength of the brew varied. It is said that you could either survive, go blind or die. Originally the building was two stories high and had stone walls and a slated roof. The single cell This wasn't a big affair. It was long and narrow, no more than a couple of metres wide, bounded by the interior wall to the right of the entrance door. A bench ran along the long wall and there was a small window with bars was located on the near wall opposite the door.

Outhouse, Errigle - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1055054

The smooth plastered part of the wall reminds me where the water tank used to be, on a light-hearted note, as a child I would make little boats out of any material I could find and sail them along the surface. The water was pumped from the lower meadow and stored here. More seriously though, I recollect this is where my late uncle Dennis would bring the sprayer, which was like a timber barrel, with a large crank handle, fixed to the three point linkage on the back of the wee fergie and he would make up a mixture of bluestone and washing soda. He got me to drive the tractor which I loved doing and we went to the fields of potatoes to spray them before the blight destroyed them. Dennis had to keep pumping by hand to force the spray to come out, and there were six sets of double nozzles, three in line top and bottom and they frequently clogged up. For smaller jobs there was a small knap-sack sprayer, which you also had to pump by hand. Above the smooth plastered area, there is the outline of a blocked window, which was part of the former dwelling.
see - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1058869

Note: A fungicide for blight was not discovered until 1882, when it was found that spraying potatoes with a solution of "bluestone" (copper sulphate) prevented the disease from taking hold. I have often wondered why washing soda was added to the bluestone, it was thought that it helped to make the bluestone stick to the plants but real the reason was that bluestone on it's own would burn the potatoes and had to be neutralised, a test needed to be done with blue litmus paper and if it even turned a little red, more of the latter was added. There was a second test recommended after the washing soda was added and that was to get it to turn blue. I don't think this test was done but little book of litmus paper could have been obtained from the chemist for 2d (two old pence) It should be stressed that there is no cure for blight if has already taken hold, and the application of the spray is done when the crops are about 6" high and then about 3 - 4 weeks later. There is a plaque at Sheskin in County Monaghan to commemorate the site where the blight was first identified - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1992880

Water Pump and Fountain, Ballygawley - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1024814

There is an interesting inscription behind it which reads, "This fountain was erected by the subscription of Sir Hugh Stewart and the inhabitants of Ballygawley in the year of our Lord, Eighteen Hundred and Thirty-Six"

It is located at the corner of the courthouse along Main Street, where it joins Church Street
-see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1024820


The Stewart Family lived here for many years - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/52361

Castlederg's hidden gem! - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2142504

One of several older buildings built by Sir Robert Ferguson and located at the rear of Gailey's premises on Main Street.Not much about him is to be found, but it is recorded that in the case of the Castlederg railway, he was the local MP who lobbied very actively at Westminster between 1840 and 1850. This was necessary because every railway company had to have approval of a specific Act of Parliament.

This was repeated by local dignitaries in towns all over the country - his bust is inset into the walls opposite here - see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2142511

Rainbow "Ballroom of Romance", Glenfarne - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/824091

The dance-hall was built by the late John McGivern in early 1934 and was known then as McGivern's Dance Hall.

I am reliably informed that the passing writer who wrote the book "The Ballroom of Romance" was called William Trevor Cox, (now living in Crediton) but is not English. He was born in Mitchelstown in the south of Ireland but his chosen nom-de-plume is William Trevor.

A BBC producer, having read William Trevor Cox's book, decided to make a film based on it. And so the film of the same name was screened worldwide.

During the 7 weeks of lent there were no dances held in the Rainbow or any other hall in the diocese of Kilmore (except on St Patrick's night). This was a ruling by the Clergy of the diocese. During those weeks of no dancing John would organise concerts and other types of entertainment. - more at http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1089875

Johnston's Corner, Stranorlar - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2168801

The Emo filing station and Mace shop are built on the site where the late Dr Johnston's residence stood at the corner of Meetinghouse Street and Pound Street. The song ‘Johnston’s Motor Car’ was written by Willie Gillespie, Ballybofey, to commemorate an incident that took place in 1921. This is one of the few incidents when the intensity of the campaign in the North was tempered with a little levity. The tune "Johnston's Motor Car" was one used widely by local poets for their home-spun products. There is a plaque in the wall in front of the Emo column - http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2168814

The background to this is Johnston's Motor Car is an Irish rebel song written by William Gillespie based on the commandeering of a motor car belonging to a Doctor Johnston by the IRA in 1921.
The song was very popular in Ireland in the 1920s before being rediscovered and covered by bands like The Dubliners and Flying Column (music group), although the more modern versions have slightly different lyrics; Johnston is often replaced with Johnson as well, as in the Clancy Brothers version. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnston%27s_Motor_Car

The song describes how an IRA unit needed transport to a town over fifty miles away, but had no car to carry them. They decided to call out Doctor Johnston and then ambush him and his car at a railway bridge and commandeer the car for the IRA. The song is based on real events.