Not Quite An Antique.

'The Raleigh' Does The Antiques Roadshow

Tiddling through Hillsborough the other day on The Raleigh, out of the corner of my good eye I spotted a crowd of peeps carrying all manner of old items into the castle grounds. 

This can possibly mean two things I thought to myself.
1. A cry had gone out for items to be donated to the castle or...
2. There was an antique valuation taking place.

Well of course it was the latter, and in transpired that the BBC Antiques Roadshow, a programme that has provided perfect Sunday evening TV viewing for many a year was in town, or in this case village.

Now my trusty steed might be almost 30 years young, but the old girl is not quite an antique yet.

Alas the same cannot be said of her owner who was valued at the princely sum of 20p, or at a stretch possibly £1 if the wind is blowing the right direction.
 

Down by The Mary Peters Track

A while back 'The Raleigh' and I were on the outskirts of Belfast when I decided, on a whim, to call in at the Mary Peters Track. 
I have some happy memories of this place, particularly the balmy summer evenings as a teenager trying to out-sprint my dad (and failing miserably time after time).

I haven't been here since the mid-nineties when I photographed the Les Jones Memorial Games, which included such notables of the athletics world as Linford Christie, Sally Gunnell, Sonia O'Sullivan and Colin Jackson etc, and to be honest very little has changed, although the track is now an eight lane one and the stand in the background is also a new addition.The venue, opened in 1976, is a natural amphitheatre at the south end of the Queen's University Malone Playing Fields and it has a real charm to it, sat as it is in 30 acres of conifer woodland with a network of forest and mountain bike trails surrounding it and leading to the Lagan Towpath and Shaws Bridge.
The silence of the area contrasts perfectly with the nearby hustle and bustle of the City of Belfast.

All Saints’

During a recent 40 miles jaunt, 'The Raleigh' and I stopped off at the Parish Church of All Saints’ Eglantine, near Lisburn.

Originally built as a private chapel for the Mulholland family of Eglantine House as a memorial to St Clair Kelburn Mulholland, one of the family who founded the York Street Spinning Mills in Belfast, and his son, also named St Clair.

The church is approached through a group of twelve closely cut yew trees known as the twelve apostles.

During the Second World War, the church was surrounded by buildings, which were part of the Long Kesh aerodrome that stretched to Sprucefield.

Despite being situated relatively close to the M1 motorway, it's a quiet place for reflection and at the rear of the church is a well-kept graveyard where twenty-one Commonwealth Air Force Men who were based at Long Kesh and who lost their lives during the war, were laid to rest.

The Butterflies

It's often been said that the arrival of spring sees the roads and pavements etc littered with more than the usual amount of cyclists, runners and walkers, or 'Butterflies' as they are affectionately known.

Whilst I agree there are many people who only come out to play when the weather is fine (hence the butterfly tag) I do however tend to take a more pragmatic approach to this annual phenomenon.

There are folk for whom a particular health problem for example might not be conducive to exercising in the colder, darker, days of autumn/winter, or folks who don't have the time to get out and put in the miles, particularly in the darker evenings and after a day's graft.

So next time some of you hardy peeps pass or meet a 'butterfly', remember there might just be a reason you don't pass or meet them when the days aren't as pleasant........

'To Belfast's Salty Waters'..................

From a fast moving stream at it's source in the Dromara Hills near my home at Slieve Croob, the River Lagan 'river of the low-lying district" is a major river here in Northern Ireland.
From Dromara it continues on a lonely and at times busy 40 miles journey to Belfast through Dromore, Donaghcloney and Lisburn before entering Belfast Lough.

Looking towards East Bridge Street and the Titanic Quarter, this shot of my trusty steed was taken near the former Gasworks site in Belfast.
Visible in the background are the famous Harland & Wolff twin shipbuilding gantry cranes (Samson and Goliath) which are situated at Queen's Island in the city.

Springtime in Belfast.

A lovely spring day in the City Centre, as 'The Raleigh' hits Belfast........

The Norman Trail (Part 1)

The arrival of the Normans in Ulster brought with it dramatic changes in the landscape of Ulster, particularly in Counties Antrim and Down.
Fortifications were soon constructed within the conquered land, along with abbeys and churches to meet the spiritual needs of the people.
County Down is particularly rich in such sites and this one, an Anglo-Norman Motte and Bailey just south of Lisburn between Legacurry and Ravernet, is a fine example.

A lot of these impressive structures were strategically placed near water and the Ravernet one is no exception sitting as it does near the local river.
This particular fortress, originally an oval earthwork dating back to the 10th-12th centuries AD was re- modelled by the Normans in the late 12th or 13th century AD with the addition of a motte and modifications to the timber palisade defences.

1961 excavations revealed parts of wooden and stone buildings in the bailey enclosure and slighter structures outside to the east.
Also found were a collared urn with a cremation burial.