County Down Genealogy, Pictures and Surnames with Van Morrison

I don’t know about you – but I am a big fan of the music of Van Morrison – I think most people would find something of beauty in his vast repertoire. But this morning, we’re going to use just one of his songs – “Coney Island” to guide us around south County Down.

“Coming down from Downpatrick

Stopping off at St. John’s Point

Out all day birdwatching

And the craic was good

It was a cool, but bright autumn day in September last that saw Carina and myself heading towards Downpatrick for the night. While Van Morrison’s song is based in the mid 1960s, the thing that Van, Carina and myself have in common is that our respective trips happened outside the time we know as “The Troubles”.

From the late 1960s to the early 2000s – Northern Ireland was a place that experienced some of the worst sectarian violence in the world. There was a heavy police and army presence in much of the province. This made it quite hard to move around freely – and tourism was definitely a non-industry.

Nowadays we move around without even noticing a border crossing – the only remaining sight of a high security presence being the high walls around local police stations.

Saint Patrick’s Grave in Downpatrick

We stayed in a lovely old Inn in the centre of Downpatrick for just one night – and I think the room was probably haunted. It had that feeling! County Down received it’s name from this town – from the Irish Dun Padraig – meaning the fort of Patrick. if you wander into the cathedral, you’ll see Saint Patrick listed as the founding head of this church – with all the names up to the present. He is also meant to be buried by a rock close to the church.

Downpatrick was also the seat of the Irish tribe known as the Dal Fiatach up to the 1100s. Chief families within this group were Dunlevy, Haughey/Hoey, Lynch, McGinnis, O’Lynn/O’Flynn, Gillespie, McArtan, and Lavery/Lowery. Many of these families moved further west with arrival first of the Normans and then the later Scottish and English settlers.

“On and on, over the hill to Ardglass

In the jam jar, autumn sunshine, magnificent

And all shining through

Stop off at Ardglass for a couple of jars of

Mussels and some potted herrings in case

We get famished before dinner”

We drove south to the lovely fishing village of Ardglass – no mussels or potted herrings on offer – but maybe we didn’t look hard enough.

Ardglass, County Down

County Down – along with County Antrim – are the two counties in Northern Ireland with a Protestant majority. Basically, it means  that these counties were the first settled by Scottish and English settlers – mostly from the 1600s onwards – and they managed to build up a majority of the population over time.

Was My Family Irish or Scottish?

It’s probably ironic that many of these Scottish names came from families that arrived in Scotland from Ireland many hundreds of years earlier. However, when they returned this time, most brought with them a set of beliefs based around Presbyterianism – which was very much at odds with the Gaelic Irish in the area of the time.

Sometimes I get asked “Was my family Irish or Scottish?” I have found it most useful to reply that many Ulster Scots immigrants in the American colonies of the 1700s saw themselves as Irish – even though their families may have been in Ireland for only 2 or 3 generations.

“On and on, over the hill and the craic is good

Heading towards Coney Island

As we left Ardglass we headed toward Dundrum and Newcastle at the foot of the Mourne Mountains. Maybe you’ve been here? Coney island was to our left, but we left that to the bird-watchers.

Percy French on the Promenade in Newcastle

The songwriter Percy French is remembered on the seafront in Newcastle where “the mountains of Mourne sweep down to the sea”. Maybe you know the song:

“Oh Mary, this London’s a wonderful sight, there’s people here working by day and by night…”.

On we drove through this beautiful part of Ireland – the site of many battles, myths and much conflict and ambition over thousands of years. However, everything looked so peaceful and friendly on this Sunday afternoon in autumn.

The Ancient Fort of Eamhain Macha in Armagh

We headed toward the ancient city of Armagh – and I think final words to Van’s “Coney Island” sum up our feeling in the best way possible:

“I look at the side of your face as the sunlight come

Streaming through the window in the autumn sunshine

And all the time going to Coney Island I’m thinking,

Wouldn’t it be great if it was like this all the time?”

I do hope you have an enjoyable, healthy – and peaceful week.