seamus dubhghaill

Promoting Irish Culture and History from Little Rock, Arkansas, USA

Tag Archives: Cushendun (County Antrim)


by Leave a comment

Birth of Alan McGuckian, Bishop of Down and Connor

Alexander Aloysius “Alan” McGuckian, SJ, the 33rd Bishop of Down and Connor, is born on February 25, 1953, in Cloughmills, County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

McGuckian is the youngest of six children to Brian McGuckian and his wife Pauline (née McKenna). He is named after his uncle, also Alexander Aloysius McGuckian, who dies five month before he is born. Yet another uncle, Daniel McGuckian, is a priest of the Diocese of Down and Connor and serves as parish priest of Cushendun and then Randalstown until his death in 1980. His father is a successful pig farmer who, alongside his brothers, develops the world’s biggest pig farm.

Two of McGuckian’s brothers are also Jesuit priests, while another brother is a businessman. Both of his sisters predecease him.

McGuckian attends primary school in Cloughmills and secondary school at St. MacNissi’s College, before beginning studies in Irish language and scholastic philosophy at Queen’s University, Belfast (QUB) in 1971, where he is a near-contemporary of future brother bishop Dónal McKeown. He first visits Ranafast, County Donegal, in 1968, and has since become a regular visitor to the Donegal Gaeltacht.

After one year in Belfast, McGuckian enters the Jesuit novitiate at Manresa House in Clontarf, Dublin, during which time he completes a Bachelor of Arts in Latin and Spanish from University College Dublin (UCD) between 1974 and 1977, a Bachelor of Philosophy from Milltown Institute of Theology and Philosophy between 1977 and 1979, and a Master of Divinity and a Licentiate of Sacred Theology from Regis College, Toronto, between 1981 and 1985. He subsequently completes a Master of Arts in Irish translation from Queen’s University, Belfast.

McGuckian is ordained to the priesthood on June 22, 1984, and makes his final profession on February 15, 1997.

Following ordination, McGuckian spends four years as a teacher in Clongowes Wood College and vocations director for the Jesuits, before undertaking a six month period of spiritual renewal in southern India and serving in a shanty town in Quezon City, Philippines.

McGuckian returns to Ireland in 1992, where he is appointed director of the Jesuit Communication Centre, during which he develops Sacred Space, a website which allows people to pray at their computer, in 1999, and Catholic news service CatholicIreland.net in 2004.

McGuckian also serves as editor of both An Timire and Foilseacháin Ábhair Spioradálta, later translating the autobiography of Ignatius of Loyola into Irish under the title Scéal an Oilithrigh. He also co-authors the drama 1912 – A Hundred Years On with Presbyterian historian Philip Orr in 2011, which looks at the experiences of the Ulster Covenant and the wider Home Rule movement from both nationalist and unionist perspectives.

McGuckian also serves as chaplain to many of the Gaelscoileanna in the Diocese of Down and Connor, and subsequently as chaplain to Ulster University campuses in Belfast and Jordanstown. Following the publication of the Living Church Report, which outlines the findings of a synodal process within the diocese, he is appointed by Noël Treanor in 2012 to set up and lead the Living Church Office, whose aim is to realise the hopes and aspirations expressed in the report and subsequently in the upcoming diocesan pastoral plan.

McGuckian is also appointed diocesan director of formation for the permanent diaconate in 2014, and also works during his directorship of the Living Church Office to establish pastoral communities across the diocese, through fostering a culture of co-responsibility for the mission of the Church between clergy and lay people.

McGuckian is appointed Bishop-elect of Raphoe by Pope Francis on June 9, 2017. His appointment makes him the first member of the Jesuits to be appointed a bishop in Ireland.

McGuckian is consecrated by the Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland, Eamon Martin, on August 6, 2017, in the Cathedral of St. Eunan and St. Columba, Letterkenny. He uses the name and title Alan Mac Eochagáin, C. Í. when ministering in the Gaeltacht.

In an interview with The Irish Catholic in September 2019, McGuckian says that having a home is as fundamental as the right to life and education, and that the Government must be “pushed” to enshrine a right to housing in the Constitution of Ireland. He also joins a number of church leaders in the West of Ireland on September 16, 2021, in calling on the Irish government to offer reparations to homeowners whose properties are affected by defective concrete blocks.

In an interview with The Irish Catholic in February 2021, McGuckian takes issue with the view held by political leaders that public worship is deemed to be “non-essential” during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Republic of Ireland. Quoting Pope Francis, who states that “the right to worship must be respected, protected and defended by civil authorities like the right to bodily and physical health,” he expresses a need to let political leaders know that public worship is not only central, but also “utterly essential.”

Following a fatal explosion in Creeslough, County Donegal, on October 7, 2022, McGuckian refers to the explosion as “the darkest day in Donegal,” adding that the local community is “living through a nightmare of shock and horror.” He also concelebrates at the Funeral Masses of each of the victims, describing the fact that the parish church would be holding two funerals in the space of three hours as “surreal.”

McGuckian is appointed Bishop of Down and Connor by Pope Francis on February 2, 2024. In his first address following his appointment, he expresses his hope that the restoring of the Northern Ireland Executive will help the most vulnerable in society.


by Leave a comment

Birth of Charles Lanyon, Civil Engineer & Architect

Sir Charles Lanyon, DL, JP, civil engineer and architect, is born on January 6, 1813, at Eastbourne, Sussex, England, third son of John Jenkinson Lanyon, purser in the Royal Navy, and Catherine Lanyon (née Mortimer). His work is most closely associated with Belfast, Northern Ireland.

Following his local education, Lanyon becomes an apprentice civil engineer with Jacob Owen in Portsmouth. When Owen is made senior Engineer and Architect of the Irish Board of Works and moves to Dublin, Lanyon follows. In 1835 he marries Owen’s daughter, Elizabeth Helen. They have ten children, including Sir William Owen Lanyon, an army officer and future administrator of the Transvaal in southern Africa.

Lanyon is county surveyor in County Kildare briefly, a post he exchanges for its equivalent in County Antrim, based in Belfast, when the incumbent, Thomas Jackson Woodhouse, resigns in 1836. By 1842, he has built the Antrim coast road between Larne and Portrush, through spectacular natural surroundings. He designs the lofty three-arched Glendun viaduct on this route near Cushendun, an early example of his versatile talent for monumental display as well as the Ormeau Bridge over the River Lagan. He remains county surveyor of Antrim until 1861 when he resigns from the post to concentrate on private work and other interests.

Lanyon is elected Mayor of Belfast in 1862, and Conservative MP for the city between 1865 and 1868. In 1868 he is also knighted and serves on the Select Committee on Scientific Instruction.

Lanyon loses his Belfast parliamentary seat in 1868 to William Johnston but continues to serve as a Belfast Town councillor until 1871. From 1862 to 1886 he is Belfast Harbour Commissioner. He serves as Deputy Lieutenant for County Antrim and is appointed High Sheriff of Antrim in 1876. He is also a Justice of the Peace for many years.

Lanyon’s other business interests include being director of the Blackstaff Flax Spinning Company and chairman of several railway companies. He is made director of the Northern Counties Railway in 1870 but resigns in 1887 because of ill-health. Alongside his business activities he is an active Freemason and serves as Provincial Deputy Grand Master of Belfast and North Down between 1863 and 1868, Provincial Deputy Grand Master of Antrim between 1868 and 1883 and Provincial Grand Master of Antrim between 1883 and 1889.

Lanyon lives at The Abbey, a grand house in Whiteabbey, County Antrim, which eventually becomes a sanitorium during World War I and is now part of Whiteabbey Hospital. His wife dies in 1858, and his son William dies from cancer at the age of 44 in 1887. He dies at The Abbey on May 31, 1889, and is buried in Knockbreda Cemetery, Belfast, in a tomb also of his design.


by 1 Comment

The Battle of Farsetmore

The Battle of Farsetmore is fought near Letterkenny in County Donegal, on May 8, 1567, between the O’Neill and O’Donnell Túath. Shane O’Neill, chief of the O’Neills of Tír Eoghain, is defeated by Aodh mac Maghnusa Ó Domhnaill (Hugh O’Donnell) and the O’Donnells free themselves from O’Neill aspirations of ruling Ulster as its King.

Shane O’Neill had, in the previous 20 years, eliminated his rivals within the O’Neills and asserted his authority over neighbouring clans (or “septs“) the MacDonnells of Antrim in battle and O’Donnells by kidnapping the O’Donnell leader Calvagh, in Donegal. In 1566, the English Lord Deputy of Ireland, Henry Sidney, gives support to the O’Donnells by ransoming the long tortured Calvagh O’Donnell, against O’Neill who is regarded as a destabilising and anti-English power in the north of Ireland. O’Neill forces out these English troops, but the new O’Donnell chieftain, Hugh O’Donnell, who takes over after the long tortured Calvagh dies, takes the opportunity to assert his independence and raids O’Neill’s lands at Strabane. In response, O’Neill musters his armed forces and marches into O’Donnell territory.

O’Neill crosses into Tir Connell (O’Donnell territory) the traditional way by crossing the River Swilly at an Fearsaid mhór (known as Porterfields today), about 3 km (2 miles) east of the modern town of Letterkenny. O’Donnell has advance warning of this impending incursion so has prepared for the forthcoming attack by dispatching messengers to all his people. Both sides are not equal in size. O’Neills army is estimated at 2,000 men and are composed of cavalry (Nobility), Gallowglass, kearn and a small body of English soldiers who have deserted to him to provide modern weapon skills to his host. O’Donnell’s initial force is only about 40-foot and 80 horse (his personal guard).

O’Donnell’s horsemen harass O’Neill’s men immediately after his fording of the river, leaving O’Donnell a short breathing space to locate his small force in a more defensible position, at Magherennan (near today’s entrance to the Letterkenny Rugby club). When their lord is in position the O’Donnell cavalry withdraws and there O’Donnell awaits his reinforcements. While his opponent waits, O’Neill sets up his camp in Cluain Aire beside the river to cover the ford. When O’Donnell’s troops finally arrive, they number 400 Gallowglass from all the MacSweeney septs. With this virtual parity in the usually decisive heavy infantry, the O’Donnell host proceeds to advance on O’Neill’s camp. When first perceiving their attack, Shane says, “It is very wonderful and amazing to me that those people should not find it easier to make full concessions to us, and submit to our awards, than thus come forward to us to be immediately slaughtered and destroyed.”

This statement, made just as the armies meet, is possibly a late attempt to put heart into his own surprised army. Significantly, the main O’Donnell war host has employed rising ground to successfully cover their advance until it is far too late for O’Neill to deploy his own Gallowglass spars into proper line of battle to hold the enemy while the O’Neill horse mount up. The O’Neill army are caught utterly unprepared, in much the same way as O’Neill himself had taken a MacDonnell host by surprise at Glentaisie in 1565. Despite the element of surprise and O’Neill’s lack of manoeuvre room, the resistance of the surprised O’Neill Gallowglass in this encounter battle is at first successful for the Four Masters state that the action lasted “for a long time.” Eventually, with their loose protective screen of Gallowglass cut down, a panicked rout of Shane’s force ensues. The O’Donnell pressure of attack continues so fiercely that the broken O’Neill host is forced back on the ford and attempts to recross the Swilly. As the tide is now coming in, many of them drown in the speeding rush of waters. O’Neill’s losses are estimated by their enemies at 1,400 men killed and no prisoners are mentioned, although the English sources note a more credible total of 680 dead. With many of his most senior commanders and advisors killed amid the chaos of the first onslaught, O’Neill himself escapes the final slaughter with the timely aid of a party of the Gallaghers. They guide him to Ath an Tairsi (Ford of protection), near Crieve Smith in Oldtown today, where they escort him to his own territory and relative safety.

Many of the Donnelleys, Shane’s foster family and the source of his strongest support, defend him to the last and are decimated at Farsetmore. Abandoned by his tanisté and all of his Urríthe, literally under-kings, and with the destruction of his army, the “most powerful force Gaelic Ireland had yet witnessed,” Shane begins looking for a mercenary force to sustain him until he can make good his losses. With all other options closed, he turns to a warband hired to fight against him the previous winter by William Piers from among the MacDonald’s of Dunnyveg. He arrives at their camp at Cushendun with a small retinue and during their negotiations an altercation occurs, in which Shane is killed. Despite being engineered by Piers, this assassination has gone down in history as retribution for Shane’s military action against the MacDonalds in 1565. Shane is buried in a place called CrossSkern Church at Ballyterrim townland in the hills above Cushendun. Later his remains are exhumed with his head then being sent to Dublin.

(Pictured: An artist’s impression of an O’Donnell gallowglass dispatching an O’Neill kern in the waters of the Swilly, with Glebe Hill in the background, May 8, 1567)


by Leave a comment

Birth of Rose Maud Young, Writer & Scholar

rose-maud-young

Rose Maud Young (Irish: Róis Ní Ógáin), writer, scholar and collector of Irish songs, is born in Galgorm Castle, Ballymena, County Antrim, in what is now Northern Ireland, on October 30, 1866. She is best known for her work to preserve the Irish language. Her books make lyrics from the Gaelic tradition accessible to the general public and are used in the Irish classroom for several decades.

Young is the daughter and seventh of twelve children born to Grace Charlotte Savage and John Young, who is a prosperous unionist and high sheriff. Despite his position he is a believer in tenant rights. Her younger sister is the writer Ella Young and her brother Willie Young is secretary of the Ulster Unionist League.

Young is educated by governesses until 1884 before completing training as a teacher through the University of Cambridge. She also attends Gaelic League classes in 1903 in London while visiting her sister who is living in the city at the time. After visiting the Bodleian Library she becomes committed to the study of the Irish language.

In the early 1900s Young returns to Ireland and continues her study of the Irish language in Belfast at Seán Ó Catháin‘s Irish College and in Donegal at Coláiste Uladh in Gort an Choirce. She also stays in Dublin and becomes friends with members of the Gaelic League and meets Margaret Dobbs. She works with Dobbs on the Feis na nGleann (The Glens Festival), a gathering dedicated to the Irish language.

Young is not involved in nationalism though she is strongly supportive of creating and maintaining a sense of “Irishness” through language and culture. She is also a friend and patron of Roger Casement. She also works with Ellen O’Brien and contributes to O’Brien’s book, The Gaelic Church. She keeps meticulous diaries and becomes interested in Rathlin Island and the Gaelic spoken there.

Rose Young dies on May 28, 1947 in Cushendun, County Antrim, where she resides with Dobbs. She is buried in the Presbyterian churchyard at Ahoghill, County Antrim.


by Leave a comment

Death of Rose Maud Young, Writer & Scholar

Rose Maud Young (Irish: Róis Ní Ógáin), writer, scholar and collector of Irish songs, best known for her work to preserve the Irish language, dies on May 28, 1947 in Cushendun, County Antrim.

Young is born in Galgorm Castle, Ballymena, County Antrim, daughter and seventh of twelve children born to Grace Charlotte Savage, and John Young who is a prosperous unionist and high sheriff. Despite his position he is a believer in tenant rights. Her younger sister is the writer Ella Young and her brother Willie Young is secretary of the Ulster Unionist League.

Young is educated by governesses until 1884 before completing training as a teacher through Cambridge University. Young also attends Gaelic League classes in 1903 in London while visiting her sister who is living in the city at the time. After visiting the Bodleian Library she becomes committed to the study of the Irish language.

In the early 1900s Young returns to Ireland and continues her study of the Irish language in Belfast at Seán Ó Catháin‘s Irish College and in County Donegal at Coláiste Uladh in Gort an Choirce. Young also stays in Dublin and becomes friends with members of the Gaelic League and meets Margaret Dobbs. Young works with Dobbs on the Feis na nGleann (The Glens Festival), a gathering dedicated to the Irish language.

Young is not involved in nationalism though she is strongly supportive of creating and maintaining a sense of “Irishness” through language and culture. She is also a friend and patron of Roger Casement. She also works with Ellen O’Brien and contributes to O’Brien’s book, The Gaelic Church. She keeps meticulous diaries and becomes interested in Rathlin Island and the Gaelic spoken there.

Rose Young is buried in the Presbyterian churchyard at Ahoghill, County Antrim.