Along the banks of the River Bann to the South of Coleraine lies the parish of Kildollagh in the townland of Loughan. Sometimes referred to as Fish Loughan, on account, I guess, of the salmon that used to be in plentiful supply in the Bann. St Paul's Church of Ireland sits next to a small graveyard which seemed worthy of a visit with an old film camera a couple of weeks ago. It was pleasant enough to walk around but the Church was closed and there wasn't a whole lot that caught my eye in the graveyard. The light was flat and hazy, which probably didn't help. This was the pick of the bunch:
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| Celtic Cross at the Loughan, 2021. Hasselblad/FP4/RO9 on Foma 313 paper. |
From memory the name on the memorial was Lyle and I think he had been the minister there, which probably accounted for the rather impressive design and size of the monument - most likely crowdfunded by the parishioners, who must have held him in high esteem. I should have taken a phone snap of the inscription but when I'm juggling a Hasselblad in one hand, a walking stick in the other and with a spot-meter hanging around my neck I don't always have the wherewithal to fish in my pocket for my phone in order to document what I'm snapping. I was hoping to get the information I needed from a bit of 'desktop research' but this one proved a little elusive. I'm sure the information is out there but a lot of these genealogy&gravestone sites have cottoned on the fact that they can charge big bucks for their records. (Update: after another look I came across a Rev John Lyle 1817-1912 associated with St Paul's at the Loughan). When I started out researching my family tree I did stump up for a few of the paid sites but once I had got back a few generations on both my mother's and father's side it seemed that finding out more would be a real challenge - and inversely proportional to the time spent on the whole project. So I shelved it. As it stands, I got back to the early 19th Century and am just shy of 600 people in our family tree (which includes my wife's family as well my own). I found it very rewarding to research the family tree and I got to talk to my mother about people no longer with us, which was really good…helping her to dig deep into her memory cells. Plus a few family ‘mysteries’ were solved along the way. I guess every family has those…
Perhaps it's not meant to be, but I find the scene quite creepy. Maybe because the light on the memorial seems to be brighter than the surrounding graves.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what mysteries are in my family, but I've gotten a few surprises.
The scene was a bit darker than it appears here as the light coming from behind was quite strong, so I held it back a bit in the darkroom. I feel the scene needs a bit of shadow across it to give it some atmosphere.
DeleteMy mother’s side of the family were Free Church of Scotland and became Brethren went they arrived in Ulster. They were very quiet people and didn’t discuss their business with anyone…even family, so my mother had to piece together things from snippets here and there. I doubt they would have embraced Facebook, where some people have a need to share what they had for breakfast, lunch & dinner.
The scene was a bit darker than it appears here as the light coming from behind was quite strong, so I held it back a bit in the darkroom. I feel the scene needs a bit of shadow across it to give it some atmosphere.
DeleteMy mother’s side of the family were Free Church of Scotland and became Brethren went they arrived in Ulster. They were very quiet people and didn’t discuss their business with anyone…even family, so my mother had to piece together things from snippets here and there. I doubt they would have embraced Facebook, where some people have a need to share what they had for breakfast, lunch & dinner.