A Rope Bridge and Antrim Surnames

Céad míle fáilte, welcome to your Letter from Ireland “Shorts”. Each Tuesday we’ll bring you a quick-read of some of our favourite and interesting Irish things for this week.

FAVOURITE PLACES IN IRELAND
Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge, County Antrim.

This rope bridge was first erected by salmon fishermen over 250 years ago to get to Carrick-a-Rede island where you can still find a fisherman’s cottage today. Our friends at Tuatha have this great guide for a real or virtual visit. It’s a long way down and a real thrill on a windy day – experience the thrill from the safety of home in this video!

FEATURED IRISH SURNAME

This week we’re going to look at the many surnames of County Antrim. Did your ancestors come from County Antrim? Click here to see if your surnames are in the Top 30 list (about halfway down the article).

BOOK I’M READING NOW
“The Tide Between Us” by Olive Collins. We like to feature books that are recommended by our members. Here’s a short review from one of our Green Room members: “Olive dedicated her novel to the many Irish exiles and Jamaicans who celebrate their Irish heritage. It’s a splendid read, and perhaps some of your readers might be interested in the tale it tells of poor Irish children being taken to Jamaica as slaves by the English.” Click here to see the book on amazon.

IRISH WORD OR PROVERB

“Filleann an feall ar an bhfeallaire”

Which translates to “What goes around comes around”. Now ain’t that the truth!

Click here to listen to how a native Irish speaker would say it

IRISH CRAFT/PRODUCT WE LOVE (not an advert – just things we like)

Cowfield design is a small, family business based in Belfast making an array of different craft products. The stand-out ones for me are these miniature wild atlantic way signs. The signs will be very familiar to anyone who has been travelling along the scenic Wild Atlantic Way, on the west coast of Ireland. If you have a special spot on this route close to your heart, then this is the perfect way to take a piece of it home with you. They’ve also kindly agreed to offer readers of this letter a 15% discount if you use the code “letterfromireland” at the checkout.

That’s it for this week. Send us an email with any of your own favourites for inclusion in future emails, or if you’re a plus member leave a comment below.

Slán for now,
Mike & Carina.

Note: The above article may contain some affiliate links (for example the Amazon link) which means we get paid a small amount should you choose to purchase, at no extra cost to you. This helps us keep the show on the road!