Rennie McOwan visits the seat of ancient kings.
ST PATRICK has a way of setting the spirits soaring. A lovely man, as
people would say nowadays, energetic, vigorous, fiery sometimes, able to
overcome hard times, a lover of people and of creation.
When St Patrick came to Ireland from either Britain or Gaul in 432 he
meant to sail up the coast to County Antrim where, as a young slave, he
had looked after flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle on
Slemish hill, near Broughshane, between the town of Ballymena and
Carnlough village in the Glens of Antrim. This prominent mound-like
volcano-plug hill has an ancient fort on top and wide views.
Slemish can be climbed by most nimble visitors by way of a prominent
path and is the scene today of modern Church pilgrimages.
But strong currents swept St Patrick's boat through the tidal narrows
of Strangford Lough, the largest sea inlet in the British Isles, and he
landed where the Slaney river flows into the lough and 10 miles east of
what is now the county town of Down, Downpatrick. Strangford was named
by the Vikings 1000 years ago and means strong or violent currents and
is now an attractive village facing its twin town of Portaferry across
the straits.
Strangford Lough is a huge, gouging bite into the eastern section of
Co Down, with the great Ards peninsula curving round like an inverted
crescent-shape and forming its eastern shore.
It is a beautiful corner of wild coastline, sheltered corners, rolling
hills, wide rivers, bird-filled estuaries, rich farmland and the relics
of many peoples.
Patrick toiled for 30 years to convert the Irish to Christianity and
died at Saul in 461 and is buried at Downpatrick -- now a natural
touring centre 20 miles south of Belfast -- in a grave now marked by
simple stone slabs in Down cathedral churchyard.
St Brigid and St Columba (Columcille) are also buried there.
You can follow St Patrick's first footsteps on Irish soil, from the
spot at Ringbane, near Raholp, on Strangford Lough, where he landed, and
then on to Saul, and then to Struell where he blessed the wells. The
small church at Saul is a replica of an early Christian foundation with
a round tower.
Downpatrick has been a place of Christian worship since the fifth
century and the prominent cathedral dominates the hill today and
overlooks the wide and sparkling Quoile River.
Down County Museum is well worth a visit and was once a jail. A linked
heritage centre tells St Patrick's story. Many of the people held in the
jail were transported to Australia and Tasmania. If you are unlucky with
the weather, it is worth making a trip to the National Trust's
Castleward Mansion, just to the west of Strangford.
Images tend to dominate in Northern Ireland ... and Armagh City has
the spires of two great cathedrals sited on hilltops and the countryside
to the north east of the city has the sight and scents of apple blossom
orchards.
The separate churches tell of religious and political strains as well
as a glorious Christian heritage, but there is a happy after-glow from
one of the most successful of working-together projects, ''Armagh
Together 1994-1995'', when community sharing in a host of products
brought praise from all over the country.
St Patrick founded his first church there and the visitor sees a
county landscape which changes dramatically from the mountainous Ring of
Gullion region to the shores of vast Loch Neigh. Armagh is the most
venerated of Irish cities.
The name Armagh comes from Ard Macha or Macha's height, after a
legendary queen, Macha, who built a fortress on the high ground. For mre
than 700 years the legendary kings of Ulster had their royal capital at
nearby Navan Fort, another hilltop site, and where there is a
startlingly effective heritage centre.
The high ground of Armagh city dominates the landscape. St Patrick
approached a local chieftain, Daire, who gave him a site near the foot
of the hill where he built his first church.
After his own conversion Daire gave him the hilltop site and Christian
churches have now stood there for 15 centuries and the influence of the
Church spread all over Ireland and abroad. By the eighth century Armagh
was generally accepted as Ireland's ecclesiastical capital.
As well as the soaring walls of the two great cathedrals, the visitor
is today impressed by the standard of much of the city's other
buildings. The eighteenth-century Church of Ireland primate, the
influential Archbishop Richard Robinson, employed some of the country's
best architects and much of the city's splendour rivals that of Georgian
Dublin.
St Patrick's Church of Ireland cathedral contains the burial place of
Brian Buro, High King of Ireland, and this much loved building is on the
site of the great Irish monastic schools to which students came from all
over Europe.
The Roman Catholic cathedral stands on another hilltop across from the
older Church of Ireland cathedral and was begun in 1840. Its interior
owes much to the intricately decorated churches of continental Europe
and its soaring towers are breathtaking.
People who get steamed up about obtrusive heritage or visitor centres
being built close to historic sites will find themselves reassured by
the character of the Navan Fort centre, two miles from Armagh city. Here
King Conor NacNessa had a palace, which was also home to the Knights of
the Red Branch and the mightiest of all the Irish warriors, Cu Chuliann,
the tales of whom also appear in Scotland's Celtic history.
The centre tells the archaeological and mythological story of the area
and is built into the side of a small hill and because it has a
grassed-over roof it gives the feeling of an underground building. The
centre got a deserved tourism award in 1993.
In Armagh city itself is St Patrick's Trian (pronounced tree-an), a
name linked to the ancient divisions of Armagh. The series of displays
and audio visual theatre which tell the Armagh Story from prehistoric
times until today are housed in a complex of buildings.
If you want a change from saints and warriors then try the city's
planetarium, established in 1967 and which attracts large numbers and
which tells the story of space exploration. The city's observatory,
founded in 1790 by Archbishop Robinson from his personal finances,
combines the original Georgian mansion with modern buildings.
If that isn't enough, you can head for the Palace Stables heritage
centre where you can take part in a day in the stable life of the
eighteenth century, good fun and minus the glaur.
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