Yes, we are in Portugal now, but I am going to have to go back and do some posts on Ireland. We spent so much time driving and exploring that I didn’t get any downtime to post about all of our experiences.
Here goes…
Everything in Ireland seems to be old.
Well, to be fair, it is old
When I say old, I mean… old.
It always feels really strange to me to walk around in, and explore these old sites. Back home, old would be about a hundred and fifty years. Here it is eight hundred to three thousand years (and even seven thousand as you will see). It is a whole different energy to walk barefoot over stairs and stones concave from the friction of millions of footsteps, or to run your hand over window sills that have been leaned on by hundreds of generations of elbows (imagine how many hot apple pies have been cooled on those stone sills).
We booked a B&B up in the North of Ireland, just a mile or so from the town of Bushmills. Again, as with all our room choices in Ireland, we picked it based on price (hotels are insanely expensive in summer in Ireland, and we are on a budget), so it was a delightful surprise to land where we did at the Ballylough House.
Here is Tam, with her best Scooby Doo face on, having breakfast at the Ballylough House after she spent a night convinced that this “creepy old house” was haunted. I mean, yeah, it is a bit creepy, with the prerequisite squeaky doors and creaking floors, and the eyes of the family members following you around the room from their spooky portraits. I am pretty sure it could have been the inspiration for a few of those Scooby Doo haunted house episodes.
The property itself has such a long history; some weird, some horrible, and all of it seemingly very Irish.
Seven thousand years ago, there was a settlement here on the bog, with the remains of a rath (a circular dirt fort used by a chief or holy man) and other relics discovered in one of the many archeological digs done here over the years. In one such excavation, the remains of a thirteenth century Savage Castle was found directly under the ruins of the current castle ruins from the 1500’s. These are the ruins that still stand today, and were the home of the Macmillan and MacDonnels. The house, which sits about 100 meters in front of the castle ruins, was originally built in 1450, remodeled/rebuilt in 1650, and renovated again in the late 1700’s.
That is the house that we stayed in… with it’s cast of characters.
There is the “Old Man”, a ghost that is reported to have been seen lying in the bed of the master bedroom, covered by a tartan rug. That one is okay, as long as he stays in the master bedroom with the hosts.
And, as many of the guests and the owners have claimed, “The Grey Lady”, is a specter of an old lady that can be seen walking the grounds near the castle ruins, gardens, and gate. It is believed that it is the ghost of one of the members of the wedding massacre — possibly the mother of the bride.
The Grey Lady is the one you do not want to see… The legend states that if you see her it portends a death (possibly your own) in the near future.
As you stroll about the confusion of overgrown pathways and gardens, you really do get the feeling that you may see her slipping silently around the next corner, or hovering near the rusted old garden gate.
Luckily, I did not.
The grounds, the castle, and the house are steeped in legends and folklore. And histories. One of those, dating back to 1585, tells a tale of a brutal event between two families. There is a plaque on the property that gives a few details of the event (I copied it below so it is a bit easier to read).
The plaque reads:
“It is said that, in around 1585, the MacQuillans and the MacDonnells held an arranged marriage at Ballylough in an effort to bring about better relationships between the feuding clans. At the wedding banquet almost all the MacQuillans were slaughtered by the MacDonnells. The surviving MacQuillan bride inherited all the Macmillan lands, some 20,000 acres, which the MacDonnels then took under their own control. The story relates that the castle was burned down at this time”.
It is believed by many that this story was the inspiration for the “Red Wedding” episode (“The Rains of Castamere”) on Game of Thrones, but the author of the supporting series of books, George R.R. Martin, has claimed that the inspiration came from two unrelated earlier events in Scotland: the Black Dinner, and the Massacre of Glencoe.
So that makes me wonder: Was this a pretty common thing to do at that time? And, if so, knowing this, why would you ever go to a wedding planned by your enemies?
The Stewart family, who were granted stewardship by the MacDonnells, ran the estate from 1624 until it was purchased by the Traill family in 1789. In 1588, the Stewarts were also charged with the safekeeping of two treasure chests from the Spanish ship, Girona, following its sinking along the North Ireland coast (had I known this, I would have looked around the place a bit more carefully). I will have to assume that the Stewarts had sorted all that out before selling the property to the Reverend Anthony Traill. The house remains to this day in the Traill family name.
When Tam and I booked our stay there, we had no idea of all this. It turned out to be a pleasure to stay here and experience some of the history. David and June, the owners/proprietors of the place, being quintessential Irish folks (and most likely having been down to county cork several times for a smooch on the ol’ Blarney Stone) loved to talk and tell stories of the place. June is actually a member of the Traill family by marriage, and she has published a book about the history there. They both kept us entertained for hours about the history of the Ballylough house, grounds, and the surrounding area.
Tam and I went for a walk on the property in the morning after June had prepared us the most amazing “full Irish breakfast”. Usually, this breakfast is a simple, light affair of four different types of sausage, two types of blood pudding, rashers (super thick bacon), tomatoes, mushrooms, eggs, brown bread, soda bread, fruit and granola with yogurt, juice, and strong coffee. Trust me: you have to go on a long walk after a breakfast like that.
We got separated on our walk (Tam frustratingly loves to wander off without telling me), so I wandered around looking for the Grey Lady, and walking out to see the lough itself and see if I could find the earthen rath from seven thousand years ago. I did not find either.
Tam, on the other hand, had some kind of adventure. I found her an hour later, wandering the gardens, sweaty, and not just a little muddy (and maybe a bit lost among the confusing garden paths). She said she went looking for the same things I did, but actually entered the bog and got stuck, and got scared that she may disappear in some quicksand and never be seen again.
Strangely enough, this was the same thing I thought may have happened to her after she had been gone for forty-five minutes or so.
She did say that she found a secret fairy garden through a hole in the castle wall, so maybe that was where she spent some time also.
And she ended up with grass seeds and thistles stuck in her socks.
No other guests were booked in that day, so the entire place was all ours for the adventure.
How amazing is it to have full access to a place like this all to yourself?
It really was a great place to stay, and a great experience. How often do you get to stay in a Scooby Doo haunted house, and walk freely through so much amazing history. I cannot recommend it enough if you are up in the North of Ireland (which I also recommend).
