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The Cave Hill Campaigner is published every spring. It is free and we usually manage to cover the cost of printing by carrying advertising from local businesses. We deliver it to as many private homes in the vicinity of the Cave Hill as possible. In May 2008 over 3,000 copies were distributed in this way and a further 100 were posted to decision makers such as councillors and to other environmental organisations. A selection of articles since the year 2000 can be read below. |
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Chairman's Report |
Invasive Species Not Welcome! |
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Chairman's Report One very positive development is that The Cavehill Conservation Campaign has been consulted throughout the process; the committee had a meeting with the Council Officer late last summer when he was drawing up his proposals, and we also have had a preview of what is being planned.. The draft was considered at a committee meeting and warmly received. Our view was that it contained a great deal that was laudable; our only reservation was that there might not be enough funds to implement it. That consultation was part of a noticeable trend this last year or so; we are in much closer contact with the City Council officers responsible for Cave Hill. Apart from the officer in overall control, there is a City Council Biodiversity Officer and a City Council Countryside Officer. We have worked with the Biodiversity Officer in tree planting and in putting up nest boxes, and the Countryside Officer has drawn us into the scheme for the upgrading of the paths below and to the north of the caves. There has been one major new problem on the Hill this year. Those who frequent its upper reaches cannot have failed to notice the amount of plastic rubbish caught in the high fences and entangled low among the roots of the shrubs further down the hill. This is not unconnected with the grading work being carried out in the MacWill landfill site on the Hightown Road. That process is bringing a lot of loose plastic rubbish to the surface and prevailing westerly winds are carrying it into the Park. We wrote a letter of complaint to the owners of the site and the Council Officer also made strong representations to the company. The result was an acknowledgement of responsibility and an agreement to pay a group of men for a short time to remove the offending material. But that was a short-term solution. As I write, more plastic rubbish is being blown into the Park and this is likely to continue while the landfill site is being graded. We have to hope that the site owner can be held responsible for this, and will either provide men to remove it while the grading work is continuing, or that funding may be made available to enable the Council to deal with the problem. We have also been engaged in seeking protection for a badger sett
in the vicinity of the Park. We are, at present, lobbying the Environment
and Heritage Service (EHS) of the Department of the Environment, to
determine precisely whether such a sett exists and, if so, to ensure
that the developer takes action to safeguard these wonderful and beautiful
creatures. Last year we began the process of trying to link all our
members electronically. We asked all members for their email addresses,
and in return we promised to keep them informed of all our activities
on the Hill. To that end we have sent out summaries of our committee
meetings every two months along with details of any future projects.
We will continue to do this. It is an excellent way of keeping members
aware of developments, and I would urge members with email addresses
to pass them to us for inclusion on our database. Don't forget that
our website editor details our activities on the website and this
is an additional way of keeping up-to-date. Check out: www.cavehill.freeuk.com
You can also contact us electronically by emailing me direct at cormachamill@ireland.com
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Many people who live in this part of the city are aware that a light railway - the first in Ulster and the third in Ireland - was constructed to transport material from the limestone quarry on Cavehill for use in the prodigious development of 19th century Belfast. Fewer, perhaps, know of the connection between this industry and Cave Hill Primary School. As a former Principal and historian of the school, Ken Robinson, has pointed out, Cave Hill School began in 1844 as The Cavehill Railway National School. The original application to the National Commissioners for Education in Ireland to establish a school was made by John Wallace, solicitor to the railway company. The school was then constructed from limestone quarried from Cave Hill and when completed, provided instruction for the children of the railway and quarry workers. The school was transferred to the Antrim Education Authority in 1927 and was known thereafter as Cavehill Public Elementary School. Closed during the Second World War the school was used as an Air Raid Warden's Post. However a new prefabricated school for 360 pupils was built after the war and opened its doors in 1954. Nowadays the site is occupied by the most recent reinvention of Cavehill school: an impressively modern, light, airy building complete with wind turbine and solar panels. By a nice irony of history, the principal of this splendid new school is also a Mr Wallace. Off the main Antrim Road, The Preparatory Department of Belfast Royal Academy, more generally known as Ben Madigan, from the name of the 9th century chieftain who dominated the region, lies within the former Castle Estate. The Academy's playing fields, known as the Castle Grounds, were acquired from the then Lord Shaftesbury in 1934, and in due course trees were removed and playing areas levelled and drained under the supervision of the groundsman who had just two years before laid out the new grounds for the Northern Ireland Parliament at Stormont. Although the grounds had been intended as the site of a Preparatory Department for the Academy, this development did not take place until after the war, a consequence of which for the school was the dispersal of many of the Academy's pupils to temporary accommodation in some of the smaller towns in Northern Ireland which were deemed safe from German bombing. By 1965 a new purpose-built school was opened at the Castle Grounds. An extended single-storey construction designed by Allan Dorman, a former pupil of the school, Ben Madigan was very much in the architectural idiom of the time with a flat roof and plate glass windows overlooking the playing fields. Situated just below the tree line, and in the benign shadow of Cave Hill, the building cheerfully but unobtrusively complements the natural beauty of its surroundings. A near neighbour of Ben Madigan is Our Lady of Lourdes Primary School more colloquially known as Park Lodge School. The original Park Lodge was the great house on the site of which the present school stands. According to the imformative prospective of the school, Park Lodge was a splendid building apparently modelled on the mansion in which Napoleon Bonaparte was imprisoned on the island of St Helena after his final defeat at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. It sat, complete with tower, and in its 19th century grandeur, surrounded by "fruit gardens, outhouses and glasshouses." Latterly it was owned by the Baird family, proprietors of the Belfast Telegraph and during the second world war it became an ARP station, as had Cavehill School. The first pupils of Park Lodge School were enrolled in 1958 when the Christian Brothers purchased the by now rather neglected old building and converted it to a school. Work on the present modern building, which has such a distinctive presence on the Antrim Road, began in 1964 and it was formally opened in 1967. In 1990 girls were enrolled for the first time. A nineteenth century authority on what was then known as elementary education held that it should "benefit the health, cultivate the mind and train [the pupils] in habits of benevolence and virtue." These three schools, in bright attractive buildings, and situated as they are in one of the most picturesque districts of the city, beneath the brow of Cavehill and overlooking the great sweep of Belfast Lough, are ideally placed to express a less stern version of this ideal. And in doing so they display a sensitivity to their immediate environment which their Victorian predecessors perhaps lacked. Edward McCamley |
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Next year sees the 150th anniversary of what can deservedly be called the great Cave Hill rights of way case of 1859. This secured the right of way which enters today's Cave Hill Country Park facing Gray's Lane, rises via the Volunteer Well to the caves, and then to McArts Fort (though the latter part is now virtually impassable owing to landslips). The formation of the Association for the Protection of Public Rights of Way in 1856, and its epic struggle against the speculative builder Joseph Magill, culminating in the court case victory of 1859 was pioneer stuff indeed. The Association was almost certainly the first in Ulster to seek to protect rights of way for recreational purposes. Given the weakness of rights of way protection in Northern Ireland 150 years later, the episode retains its relevance today, and of course has enduring significance for those of us who love the Cave Hill. It is an anniversary that we must mark. The most obvious way to do so would be to organise an anniversary walk along the route threatened in the 1850s. In doing so we can explore the rich history of the route, and of the people who lived and worked on the Hill at the time, and who campaigned to protect free access to it. One of the reasons that we know so much about the episode is that an 88 page transcript of the 1859 trial was published at the time by the Northern Whig, and the original rules and membership list of the Association are also available in printed form. We are fortunate too that L'Estrange and Brett, who acted as solicitors for the Association survive to this day, and Adam Brett of the firm has recently located maps from the case in their archive. An obvious anniversary objective must be to re-publish these invaluable documents with an appropriate introduction and illustrations. If anyone has in their possession other documents or early photographs of the path, and relating to Joseph Magill's ill-fated villa at Martlett Towers, we would much appreciate copies. They can help enhance the proposed publication. In the meantime for anyone who wants to know more now, a longer account of the case was published in the 2004 Cave Hill Campaigner and can be accessed here. John Gray |
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Hazelwood Woodland Management Project Belfast City Council is undertaking extensive woodland management at Hazelwood Local Nature Reserve within Cavehill Country Park. Previously the site was dominated by hazel with sycamore occurring as scattered specimens. Sycamore, however, is an invasive species and now dominates parts of the woodland. If not controlled it will significantly alter the habitat and reduce the woodland ground flora for which Hazelwood is particularly noted. It is not desirable to remove all the sycamore at once, but in parts significant removal of mature trees, capable of producing large amounts of seed was required. Other areas of the woodland are still in pristine condition so minimal woodland management was undertaken. The trees have been left in-situ to provide dead wood for invertebrates. Over 400 hazel whips have been planted in the north western section of the site to re-establish hazel woodland). A very successful tree planting event was held in March. Many thanks to the staff of White Young Green who worked extremely hard planting these trees and to Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland for providing the trees. Future proposals for the site include monitoring sycamore on the site and coppicing over mature hazel stools. This project is funded by the Big Lottery Fund, Breathing Places grants programme. If you would like further information on this project or would like to become involved contact Orla Maguire at biodiversity@belfastcity.gov.uk or 028 9066 2259. |
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The recent news that one of the lakes at Belfast Waterworks has been threatened by a fast-growing lily has highlighted once gain the threat which non-native invasive species can pose to our native flora and fauna. The lily in question - Fringed Water Lily - is native to parts of Europe and the Mediterranean, but because of its attractive yellow flowers, it is sold here as an ornamental pond plant. It tends to grow in dense patches, excluding native species and creating stagnant areas of water underneath the floating mats. Fish and other aquatic creatures are threatened by low oxygen levels. At the Waterworks, the lilies have spread rapidly and threaten to eventually turn the lake into a swamp if no action is taken. Belfast City Council is aware of the problem and has applied to EHS for permission to use chemical spraying to remove them. Unfortunately, these lilies are by no means the only non-native invasive species in the area of Cave Hill. Regular walkers in the Country Park will be aware that there are large areas of Rhododendrum and Laurel, particularly in the area close to Belfast Castle. Both of these were originally introduced as part of the formal gardens but have escaped into the wild areas and rapidly colonised. They cast a dense shade under which nothing else can grow, including native wildflowers such as bluebells. Some of our volunteers have been active in recent years in reducing their presence, but a complete solution will require contractors, because of the large extent of the areas affected and because to prevent re-growth it is necessary to either remove the roots or treat the stumps. We have had more success in tackling Japanese Knotweed (pictured). This is established in an area close to the Hightown Road car-park and also close to the Upper Cavehill Road entrance to the Country Park. Like other non-natives, it provides nothing for native wildlife in terms of either food or habitat and it soon crowds out native species such as hawthorn and blackthorn. But it can be treated using systemic weed-killer during late summer, and last August we did just that. It is likely that two further treatments will be needed, but we are looking forward to getting it completely eradicated from the Hightown area and replanting with native species. Peter McCloskey |
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A recent article in The Times by Jack Malvern highlighted once again the problems presented by the remorseless progress of the grey squirrel. This threatens (and not least in the environs of Cave Hill) to drive the red squirrel to extinction unless drastic, and to many people, no doubt, unpalatable, action is taken to control or, say it quietly, locally exterminate, the grey squirrels in order to preserve the native red. First some facts: according to The Times the population of grey squirrels in our sister island is about 2 million. Classically, the grey is about 25 cm long and is easily recognised by its 20 cm tail. It was introduced to Britain, from whence it has spread to Ireland, in 1876 when a breeding pair was released to Henbury Park in Chesire. The population of red squirrels is about 120,000 and thee animals are about 22 cm long with a 22cm tail. According to the experts, the reds have been native to Britain for about 10,000 years. So what's the problem? Well the problem is that the grey carries the squirrel parapox virus but is resistant to it, and mates once or twice a year, producing between one and seven young. The red has no immunity to parapox and produces litters of up to six young. The consequence is that the grey is well on its way to replacing the native red. Unless steps are taken to sustain the population of native red squirrels, its American cousin, the grey Sciurus Carolinensis, will soon be dominant. In a recent debate in the House of Lords Baroness Butler-Sloss, who, as Malvern points out, was the most senior female judge in England and Wales, urged getting rid of the grey to protect the red. This means shooting, and already the border between England and Scotland is being manned by those authorised to do just that. For those who are repelled by such a policy the alternative is simply to accept the inevitable replacement of reds by greys. Read more at The Times online, wildlifeonline.me.uk, Redsquirrel Protection Partnership, The Ulster Wildlife Trust. Edward McCamley |
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Editorial |
Waste in the Belfast Hills |
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A VIEW FROM MACART'S FORT What then is there to worry about if we, and the skylarks, can still enjoy this unique resource on the very edge of a city? Reflect a moment: it is only as a result of constant vigilance and action that we can preserve resources such as this. A combination of greed, the knee-jerk support of politicians for commercial development, short term thinking, indifference to the great outdoors and the environment, the pressures of housing demand - all of these have done and still can do untold damage. As we remember elsewhere in this issue, we owe present-day public access to the Cave Hill to the pioneer campaign of the Rights of Way Association, which defeated the speculative developers of the 1850's. Grandiose and inappropriate plans for the Cave Hill have followed over the years, ranging from the pre-First World War scheme for a tramway to the summit, to the proposal for a cableway of only a couple of years ago. Some of these schemes have fallen by the wayside because the economics didn't add up. Others, such as the mining proposal which gave birth to this organisation, have only been stopped by vigorous public opposition. We can guarantee that yet more such notions will surface in the future. The Cave Hill Conservation Campaign will defend the hill as before. Prospective threats to the Cave Hill are only a microcosm of those that endanger the Belfast Hills generally, all the way from the Black Mountain via the Cave Hill to Carnmoney Hill. The Cave Hill Conservation Campaign, along with others from the foot of the Black Mountain, first urged a collective approach to these problems in the early 1990's. It is hugely encouraging that years of co-operative work have now borne fruit in the formation of a powerful Belfast Hills Partnership supported by government and the five district councils which have parts of the hills in their areas. The Partnership, which is currently recruiting staff and will be initially based in the offices of the Collin Glen Trust, has an impressive programme to improve conditions in the hills, and including for those who live there. Perhaps above all its work will encourage a greater public commitment to the protection of what remains a uniquely valuable if fragile resource for us all. Its work should make it more difficult for those whose only motivation is financial gain; it should make it easier for those who are merely unthinking to think again. JOHN GRAY |
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WATERWORKS DOWN THE DRAIN?
The Water Works is an historic feature built in the 1840's to provide Belfast's water supply. Right up until the late 1960's it was actively used for a whole range of outdoor activities organised by the Council including boating, fishing and swimming. Council promotional literature described it as 'Belfast's inland seaside resort'. Thirty years of gross neglect have not destroyed its inherent and unique attractiveness. It remains important as an inner city nature reserve, and as part of a green wedge running into the City. It is heavily used by walkers of all ages. The children's playgrounds are popular, as is the new multi-sports facility. All these uses, with the exception of the multi-sports facility, are on a free access basis, unlike the pay-in environment of a leisure centre. How could such a proposal emerge? What is not in question is that mainly Nationalist areas in North Belfast have long felt deprived of proper leisure facilities, and with considerable justice. Travel to other centres in mainly loyalist areas is a problem for young people in particular. The new balance on the City Council has enhanced Nationalist bargaining power. Trade-offs with Unionists are now possible - one leisure centre for you, one for us. East Belfast gets one, North Belfast gets one. Now the race is on between the SDLP and Sinn Fein to prove that they were instrumental in getting North Belfast's entitlement, and to get it built as fast as possible before the window of opportunity closes. In this political steeplechase, no one questions the logic of separate leisure centres for separate communities. The pattern, by which Belfast has 17 leisure centres while a similar sized city like Sheffield has 3 really good ones, will continue. As for the new North Belfast leisure centre, no one stops to think too hard about siting it. Simply getting it is the be all and end all of it. Then, take a brief look, and isn't the Waterworks the largest vacant plot in an otherwise densely packed area? Certainly over the years the City Council have done their best through wilful neglect to ensure that the Waterworks can be perceived as a vacant plot. Look at the mud bank at the top of the lower pond. After prolonged wrangling over cost and procedures, it appears that the Council has now decided to dredge the lower pond, but only because of the immediate health and safety risk, not because of any amenity considerations. See how they have removed all the flowering shrubs in the lower part of the park ostensibly to remove cover for drinkers, drug-dealers, and glue sniffers. So the ground seemed well prepared for a consultation exercise with a pre-ordained outcome. A Council questionnaire was hardly distributed at all, and in any case asked general questions about leisure centre provision in Belfast, rather than adequately exploring the Waterworks issue, let alone enabling informed responses to it. The Council's website actually shows three possible locations in the Waterworks (see link at the end of this article) and gives no information about the size of the proposed facility or about what it will contain. We may presume that the favoured option does embrace the lower pond, because Sinn Fein have consulted 'environmentalists' about the effect on bird life there. Apparently the birds don't mind being moved. One would have loved to be in on this consultation exercise with the large population of mute swans: perhaps the geese, pochard, and tufted ducks were more talkative! If they were hoping for an easy ride on all this, they were in for a rude shock. Consultation meetings held in Manor Street and Newington were well attended and the majority expressed resolute opposition to any proposal to damage the Waterworks. Here were those living in the area apparently looking a gift horse in the mouth. What they were saying is that they do not want a leisure centre at any price, and especially if that price is to be the partial destruction of the unique community asset of the Waterworks. Perhaps the immediate hostile reaction to the proposal will lead to second thoughts. We hope so. Already we hear one response along the lines that it is up to opponents of the scheme to come up with an alternative location for the proposed leisure centre. No! The Waterworks should never have been proposed as a leisure centre site, and it is the task of political leaders to come up a solution other than one suitable only for April Fools Day. You can see the map showing the proposed locations for the new leisure centre at www.belfastcity.gov.uk/leisurereview/Proposed_LC_Sites.asp JOHN GRAY |
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RESURRECTION OF THE CHAPEL?
Originally Belfast Castle Chapel it was designed by Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon, in what Paul Larmour describes as the Decorated Gothic style, and completed in 1869 as a mortuary chapel for the Earl of Belfast who had died in 1853. The mortal remains of the Earl and those of four of his immediate relatives, including his mother who died in Paris in 1860, were transferred to the Chapel from the Chichester family vaults in Carrickfergus and re-interred in a crypt cut into the rock under the chapel. In 1934 the Earl of Shaftesbury presented his estate on the slopes of Cavehill, and the Castle to the City. Four years later the Chapel of the Resurrection was transferred without endowment to the Church of Ireland and, in conjunction with St Peter's Church on the Antrim Road, services continued to be held in the Chapel throughout the Second World War. Thereafter it was used rarely and in 1972 it was deconsecrated and closed. Furnishings were distributed to other churches, most notably St Peter's, and a white marble monument of the young Earl being mourned by his mother is now to be found in the City Hall. The Chapel was listed in 1974 and sold by the Church of Ireland in 1988. As with so many vacant buildings, it was repeatedly vandalised and is now in a sorry state of disrepair. Its present owner is P J Conway (Contractors) Ltd and the land on which it is situated is being developed for private residences. Recently however the BBC has shown some interest in including the Chapel of the Resurrection in a new series of television programmes on the restoration of listed buildings under threat. "Once lost, listed buildings cannot be replaced…They represent a finite resource and irreplaceable asset and contribute to the quality of the built environment". Who could argue with such sentiments? One is heartened even more by the fact that it appears in the preamble to Planning Policy Statement 6, published by the Planning Service. This document goes on to point out that the destruction of a historic building is very seldom necessary, and pleads for such buildings to be incorporated into new developments or for new uses to be found for them (Policy BH 10). Consent to demolish a listed building, it avers, will not be given simply because redevelopment is economically more attractive to the developer than repair; and demolition of a Grade A or Grade B+ building (the Chapel of the Resurrection is in the latter category) should be wholly exceptional and undertaken only after permission has been granted and the building appropriately recorded. It is not unfair to say that in Northern Ireland neither private owners nor public bodies have a reputation for seeing themselves as zealous custodians of the country's architectural heritage. All too often demolition or calculated decay are regarded as the easy options. In the recent elections, Planning issues and environmental considerations did not feature prominently in the manifestoes of the main political parties. Concerted and sustained pressure by organizations such as the Ulster Architectural Heritage Society and the Environment and Heritage Service, supported by residents' associations, can however make a difference. The Planning Service has provision for compulsory acquisition as a last resort. If an owner cannot maintain or restore an important building such, as the Chapel of the Resurrection, or if he is not interested in doing so, sale or leasing to a restoring purchaser may be a possibility, and one that is allowed for in the rubric of the Planning Service. Those who see the Chapel of the Resurrection as an important building in its own right, as well as an architecturally significant part of an ensemble of buildings comprising Belfast Castle itself, and the former Castle Gate Lodge at Strathmore Park, like to think that it may yet be saved. [ Belfast's Original Black Man: The Young Earl 1827-1853 by Brendan Colgan was an important source in the preparation of this article.] EDWARD McCAMLEY |
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THE CAVES - A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The best physical description occurs in a detailed survey published by Philip Reynolds and Samuel Turner in the Ulster Journal of Archaeology vol 8 no 2 (1902) and I have taken the liberty of reproducing a drawing by Joseph Carey, which the authors of the article used.
The second cave can be reached by scrambling up the soil to the left of the first cave and then climbing up a five metre sheer cliff. This leads to a secure ledge system and this in turn leads to both the second cave and a shallow hollow in the face called 2A in Carey's diagram. This second hollow was known as the lion's den according to the old sketch map. They are about twenty three metres above cave 1. This second cave is the smallest of the five being about three metres deep, nearly three metres wide and less than two metres high. The other three caves form a connected system. Folk memory indicates access to them via a dangerous horizontal path across the cliff to cave 3 and the UJA article also refers to access this way. That path is now eroded away and such access is now impossible. The sketch in the Bigger collection shows a winding path from ledge to ledge going up from slightly to the right of cave 2. That access is also now not possible. It is possible to reach the fourth cave by climbing vertically up from the ledges above and to the left of cave 2 but it is a serious rock-climbing exercise; six metres of treacherous basalt. Although its entrance is small, cave 4 is the largest cave, being about nine metres deep, five metres wide and over two metres high at its highest. Near the back, on the right is an earth ramp leading to a hole in the ceiling and through which you emerge onto the floor of cave 3. This cave is about six metres deep, three and a half metres wide and less than two metres high. The mouth of the fifth cave is on the top right corner of cave 3 as viewed from below the caves. Access involves a slight exposed scramble at the mouth of cave 3 and this opens into a cave four and a half metres deep, five metres wide and two and a half metres high. On my last visit, a number of years ago, there was little evidence of human visitation other than two religious inscriptions. The difficulty of access ensures their preservation. Little is known for definite about them and their history and what has been written is largely speculation. In a future article, I intend to bring together what is known and gather together any references to them. CORMAC HAMILL |
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THE GREAT CAVE HILL RIGHT OF WAY CASE
Magill had obtained the land by inheritance from his father-in-law, Andrew Nash. Nash was a colourful character, a navy lieutenant from Cork who fell in love with and married Sarah Orr 'The Flower of Cave Hill', and owner of the lands later at issue. Nash was a bon-viveur who lived beyond his means until, as Francis Joseph Biggar tells us, his creditors were in such hot pursuit that there was 'often only one safe day in the week (Sunday) for him to walk abroad'. Joseph Magill was a would-be businessman and speculative developer and must have seemed a godsend to Nash in his straitened financial position. When Martlett Towers was completed and the path closed off there was little sign of the storm to come. The customary Easter Monday Fair below the caves could not take place, but there was no immediate protest and Magill could in any case pose on the side of morality because by 1856 the fair was in decline and disapproved of by the clergy of all denominations as an occasion of drunken debauchery. What Magill and his father-in-law failed to anticipate were the strong feelings of the most respectable citizens in the area, including their own neighbours. The Rights of Way Association rapidly recruited 68 members including both of Belfast's MPs. Magill refused to negotiate on the matter and eventually, in 1858, the Rights of Way Association took him to court and successfully prosecuted him for obstructing a public highway. Magill appealed the verdict in August 1859. The appeal case ran for five days and was a public sensation. Not only were the proceedings fully covered in the local papers, but at the conclusion the Northern Whig also rushed out a full 88-page transcript. This remains an invaluable source not only for the affair itself, but also for the whole social history of the Cave Hill from the late18th century onwards. The oldest prosecution witness was 89-year-old James Grimshaw, Vice-President of the Rights of Way Association, and senior member of the Grimshaw dynasty of cotton manufacturers from Greencastle. He could remember the Volunteers enjoying free access to the Volunteer Well in the previous century. [The Volunteers were a Protestant militia formed in 1778 to counter the threat of a French invasion of Ireland during the American War of Independence. They quickly espoused radical politics and helped to obtain greater independence for the Irish Parliament and further relaxation of the Penal Laws against Catholics.] Other evidence was given about use of the path as a traditional route from Geeencastle over the Cave Hill to Glenavy, and as a route of access to numerous small limestone quarry workings on the face of the hill. Most telling of all was evidence about the Easter Monday Fair. Andrew Nash claimed that he constantly warned people off the hill, but admitted that he had encouraged "more respectable" visitors. But his own tenant, Patrick McHale, who had lived in a small cottage immediately behind the Volunteer Well described far more general access. He and his wife Biddy had sold food and poteen to passers by, and on Easter Monday itself Biddy had done a roaring poteen trade with the revellers at the bottom cave. Nash's attempt to describe limited access by landlord invitation for the select few was discredited. Worse still, his own architect, Robert Young, also gave evidence against him. He stated that he had understood that there would be 'a path left along the wall at Mr Nash's mearing for the public'. Since childhood Young, who was a keen amateur geologist, had rambled the Cave Hill and he was doubly offended by Magill's bad faith. Magill lost the case, and was effectively ruined by it. In the 1880s, when the much richer and more powerful Donegalls wished to alter the route of the traditional path, they had to proceed with great care, and by act of parliament. Nothing remains of Martlett Towers except for the gate lodge facing the top of Gray's Lane - a cautionary tale for speculative developers! JOHN GRAY |
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BIG HOUSES OF THE ANTRIM ROAD Ardsallagh: John Rogers (wire manufacturer) Many place names in the vicinity now carry the names of the old houses
there previously: Footnote…Many homes in this area had turret towers so that the residents (many of whom were ship-owners) could watch the arrival and departure of their vessels and possibly spy on their workers at the docks! GERALDINE BIRCH |
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MAKING A DIFFERENCE IN THE BELFAST
HILLS Our plans also include retaining an area of upper grassland for the endangered skylark population. Due to overgrazing in previous years the site was not meeting the needs of the skylarks, but a small number had clung on. We are now lucky enough to have six breeding pairs and hope that this year will add a few more to the growing population. We also intend to create a habitat for a local sand-martin population that have been displaced from their home by human encroachment. This is the most risky of our projects as it may be hard to relocate a floundering population, but if we don't try we'll never know if it is possible! A wild flower meadow is another improvement which we hope to make over the coming months and we hope that this will attract all different types of butterfly. By adding a number of native wild flower species we intend to complement the surrounding woodland, wetland and heathland to create a mini eco-system that will enable a number of species to co-exist thereby further improving the conservation value of the site for all forms of local wildlife. If anyone is interested in participating in our efforts over the summer period and is prepared to help us to achieve some of the above, your help would be much appreciated! I can be contacted on 90848551. MARTIN McDOWELL |
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GREY SQUIRRELS ARE HERE TO STAY Grey squirrels are primarily seed eaters but they will eat a wide range of foodstuffs, including shoots, buds, flowers, bark, lichens, mosses, adult insects and larvae, and even birds eggs and nestlings. In some places, they cause considerable damage to trees through bark-stripping. Beech, sycamore and oak are the most frequently attacked species but other favourites include birch ash, hornbeam, maple and sweet chestnut. A further problem with greys is the serious threat they pose to the important hazel wood habitat area above the zoo. The problem with grey squirrels is that they strip the hazel nuts in September, before they are ripe enough to germinate. As a result, the hazel woods fail to regenerate naturally. This has become a serious problem in England, in areas where no attempt is made to control the number of greys. Grey squirrels live for eight to nine years, which is roughly double the lifespan of the red, and are also adept at scavenging for food in urban areas. Many of us can already confirm that they are good at raiding bird tables and trashing nut feeders (you can get squirrel- proof feeders but they cost more). Depending on food supply, they can breed twice a year and usually produce three young per litter. The red squirrel is one our oldest animals, having arrived in Ireland at the end of the last Ice Age about 10,000 years ago. But it was in fact driven to extinction during the 18th century, as a result of deforestation and over-hunting for pelts. The red was then re-introduced from England during the 19th century and our current population of reds is derived from these re-introductions. Studies have shown that as soon as the grey colonises an area, the red disappears. It has been suggested that the greys carry a disease (parapoxvirus) to which they are immune but when they pass this on to the resident reds it proves fatal. Red squirrels favour large areas of mature, coniferous woodland and some of our large conifer plantations are providing a haven for them. The reds require the presence of species such as Norway spruce and Scots pine but the greys also avoid areas dominated by Sitka spruce. It could be that the much-maligned conifer plantations will help the reds to survive in Ireland. EDITOR |
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Editorial Comment |
Wildlife on Cave Hill |
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Solve the riddles to reveal the hidden word: As usual, our thanks go to Ruairi McClenaghan for compiling the quiz.
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Rabbits: Rabbits are not native to Ireland and were introduced
by the Normans as an important source of meat and fur. They probably
became established in the wild soon after this period and became numerous
over the following two hundred years. Domestic and wild rabbits formed
the basis of an important skin-export industry in the 17th and 18th
centuries. The rabbit is generally regarded as a pest as it can cause
major damage to crops and newly planted forests. The laboratory-developed
disease Myxomatosis was released to control rabbits in the 1950s and
was extremely successful. However, in recent times, rabbits have begun
to develop resistance to this disease. Hedgehogs: It is not clear when and how the hedgehog reached
Ireland. It was certainly present in England from about 10,000 years
ago, after the last ice age, and may have been introduced to Ireland
by man sometime in the 13th century as a food source. Hedgehogs have
been persecuted for their predation on eggs of game birds and waders
(see the current attempt to remove them from Uist in the Hebridies,
where they were introduced in 1974) although, in actual fact, damage
was small. One of the most common road kill animals is the hedgehog
with large numbers of deaths occurring during periods of peak abundance
and at certain 'hotspots'. Hedgehogs are particularly vulnerable to
garden pesticides and many are poisoned by eating slugs which have
fed on the poisonous slug bait put out by gardeners. They are often
caught and trapped in man-made objects with steep sides such as garden
ponds and cattle grids. A wide publicity campaign a few years ago
raised public awareness of the situation and suggested the solution
of placing a plank within these structures so that the animals can
escape. Hibernating hedgehogs reside within self-built nests with
one of the most appealing spots being inside piles of garden bonfire
material. Many hedgehogs are killed in this way - so check before
lighting or, better still, move the pile to a 'burning site'. The
hedgehog's main natural enemies are foxes and badgers. Stoats: It is not known exactly when the stoat arrived in Ireland although it was probably present as long as 35,000 years ago. Confusingly, stoats in Ireland are often called weasels, although the weasel is in fact a smaller animal which has never been native here. Stoat numbers declined with the fall in the rabbit population due to myxomatosis, but now that the rabbit has become resistant to the virus, this prey item is once again available in large numbers. Stoats can be found in many locations, including woodland, farmland, mountain and hedgerows. The stoat is quite a ferocious animal and can kill prey more than five times its own body weight. However, small mammals such as mice and rats make up the majority of its diet. Badgers: Badgers have been present in Ireland for about 10,000 years. They make their setts in a wide variety of places in woodland, scrub, hedgerows, moorland, open fields, embankments and occasionally under buildings. In Ireland, which has the smallest percentage of tree coverage in Western Europe, badgers are normally found in hedgerows and scrubland. Badgers are truly omnivorous, their diet depending upon availability. Small mammals such as rabbits, rats, mice and hedgehogs are taken as well as slugs, snails, large quantities of earthworms and large insects. They also eat vegetation, plant roots and an assortment of fruit. The badger does not appear to be under any major threat in Northern Ireland. However, bovine tuberculosis is present in about 8% of badgers. As a result, many cattle farmers view all badgers as a potential source of disease and there is now a threat of a more general cull as part of a government experiment. Current threats to badgers include the occasional exclusion due to property development and the cruel practice of badger baiting. The latter threat, although illegal, can be quite significant on a local scale. Foxes: Fox bones have been found in archaeological sites dating from about 5,000 years ago, although it may have been present before this time. Foxes are becoming increasingly urbanised due to their ability to scavenge on discarded food. They are frequently seen at night in gardens and roads in the vicinity of the Cave Hill. Foxes have been generally considered vermin and every possible means has been used to kill them in Northern Ireland. From the early 1940's to the late 1970's, a bounty was paid for each fox killed, and during this time about 200,000 dead animals were submitted for the bounty. Today, foxes may be affecting the numbers of breeding waders in some parts of the country and may also be having an impact on Irish Hare populations. However, the evidence is scant. The few organised fox hunts on horseback in Northern Ireland probably have little impact on fox populations, apart from the terror they cause to the individual foxes hunted. Source: EDITOR |
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Editorial Comment |
The buildings of Belfast Castle Estate Cave Hill Quiz Millennium Projects Update The Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan Managing the woodland areas of Cave Hill |
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Most worrying is the failure to advance the Belfast Hills Trust. Remember that the very notion of a Belfast Hills Trust only arose when the Labour Direct Rule minister got cold feet over earlier promises of a Belfast Hills Regional Park. It was with some misgivings that environmental groups such as our own entered the process to define the objectives and powers of a Belfast Hills Trust - we were determined not to be associated with a fig leaf disguise for the abandonment by government of its responsibilities towards the Belfast Hills. In the event, we judged that the model for the Belfast Hills Trust agreed in early 2000 was a powerful one, capable of making a major beneficial impact in the Hills. Unfortunately, it was a model opposed by the hill farmers (represented by the Ulster Farmers Union), who walked out of the working party, and who have done their best to undermine the proposition with senior civil servants and politicians ever since. At the recent Belfast Urban Area Plan consultation meeting in respect of the Belfast Hills, it was clear that there is actually a lot of common ground between farmers and environmentalists in respect of what is going wrong in the hills. It simply is that farmers appear to oppose either a planning or a management framework for the hills. Can it be that government, in the face of behind the scenes lobbying, have once again got cold feet? Since the Belfast Hills Working Party agreed its proposals in March 2000 we have heard nothing further. There has been some discussion of the body's constitution, and a warning here - one way to ensure its still-birth would be to pack it with the same government and public bodies which have failed the hills thus far and to exclude environmental and community interests. There is talk of setting up a shadow trust, but we have not been consulted about this. Who is to be represented on the shadow trust? Why is a shadow trust needed rather than the real thing? Will a shadow trust not be in a powerful position to determine the nature of the final body, perhaps as a perpetual shadow of what was originally intended. Of course, all this may be the wildest paranoia. If so, let the Department of the Environment set all our minds at rest and declare its intentions, with an acceptable timescale. Divis to be acquired by National Trust If that is the case, it is a major failure by the Council, and in particular our North Belfast councillors, to make the most of a unique environmental asset which any other city would give its eye teeth for. Belfast claims to be anxious to encourage tourists and yet it remains a perilous challenge for any tourist, and many locals, to find safe ways up the Cave Hill. We have van-bound park rangers who can hardly reach first base in pursuit of bye-law breakers, such as the quad drivers who churn the paths and intimidate the walkers. In short, most of the old difficulties remain. As for the Campaign itself, we are increasingly engaged in
tree-planting and clearance of invasive species, as well as our annual
clean up day. We are anxious to do far more, but to do so we need a
positive Council management strategy to which we can contribute. We are
meeting Council officers before our May AGM to see how far we can progress
matters in the near future. | ||
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A growing number of people in areas adjacent to the Antrim Road have been coming together in residents' associations. They are alarmed by rapid and often thoughtless development and its undermining of a sense of area identity. They are dismayed at the apparent indifference of the planning authorities, who succumb too readily to the demands of property developers and other commercial interests. Residents are increasingly showing that they are prepared to resist inappropriate development by direct campaigning. The Cave Hill Conservation Campaign was founded in 1989 to counter threats to Belfast's most easily recognised landmark. The Campaign has subsequently extended its remit to participate in the more general strategy of protecting the hills that surround the landward reaches of the city. Quick Profits Another perceived threat to the area lies in the disturbing number of planning applications by telecommunications companies for the erection of transmitting masts with their attendant equipment along the line of the Antrim Road. The roof of the Lansdowne Hotel, the grounds of the Cavehill Tennis and Bowling Club, the area immediately adjacent to the former gatelodge of Belfast Castle at Strathmore Park ( a listed building as well as a dental surgery), and the telephone exchange at Somerton Road are all sites where planning permission for such masts has been considered or conceded. Residents' Associations Planning Submission It has to be said that the prospects are not especially favourable. The
recent and largely farcical review of the planning procedures refused to
even consider the right of third party appeal - an essential element in
planning decisions. As the editorial in a recent issue of Heritage
Review put it: Local Empowerment | ||
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The Cave Hill Country Park is the largest area of publicly owned open space in the Belfast area. It has come into public ownership in a series of purchases by what is now Belfast City Council, between 1911 and 1988. The first acquisition was Bellevue, which was the main depot of the Cavehill and Whitewell Tramway Company from 1882. The tramline and the 32 acre site of Bellevue were acquired by Belfast Corporation in 1911 for the sum of £64,500. The Bellevue pleasure gardens were opened in 1920 and soon became a popular destination for day trippers on the tram. In 1922, the adjoining 46 acre site of Hazlewood was acquired for £7,000. It was decided to reinstate the lake which had once surrounded the ancient crannog, and this was completed by June 1924. However, the most significant development of the site was the building of a zoo, which was opened in March 1934 and attracted over 285,000 paying visitors that year. In May 1936, the art-deco Floral Hall was opened. It soon became popular as a ballroom and entertainment centre, and had 130,000 visitors in 1947. Belfast Castle was built by the third Marquis of Donegall and occupied in 1870. The estate was enclosed with stone boundary walls and an extensive tree-planting programme began in the 1880's, which eventually transformed most of the estate from open farmland into woodland. In 1934 the Shaftesbury family sold the entire 200 acre estate to Belfast Corporation for £10,750 and the site was officially opened in July 1937. In 1951, the small area of land between Belfast Castle estate and Hazlewood was acquired, enabling visitors to walk from the Castle gates at Downview Park West to the area of Belfast Zoo. The next purchase was in 1978, when Carr's Glen was acquired. This area had become an unofficial dump and had to be cleared of rubbish. However, the glen, with the stream running through it, is a natural woodland habitat with high conservation value. The final acquisition (to date) was in 1988, when the 350 acre area known as Ballyaghagan was acquired from the Wallace Estate for £125,000. This area stretches along the top of the Cave Hill, from Hazlewood to the Hightown Road. The Cave Hill Country Park was formally established in 1992, when a grant from the European Regional Development Fund enabled the establishment of a heritage centre on the second floor of Belfast Castle and way-marked trails throughout the area. The total cost of acquiring all of the land was approximately £200,000 which works out at less than £300 per acre. Most people in Belfast would probably agree that it was public money well spent. The total area now consists of 750 acres of moorland, heath, grass meadows, rock face and woodland. It contains a variety of important wildlife habitats and a large number of species of plants, animals and birds. Since the late 1980's the woodland areas have been actively managed with a view to conservation. This ongoing programme has included the removal of rhododendron and sycamore, which are invasive alien species, and their replacement by planting large numbers of native species such as birch, oak and scots pine. (See the article on woodland management for more details.) The "right to roam" has been recognised in the Countryside and Rights
of Way Act in Great Britain, which will come into force in 2003-4.
Unfortunately, due to a combination of political inertia and vested
interests, it is unlikely that similar legislation will be enacted in
Northern Ireland in the foreseeable future. This means that areas of
publicly owned land, such as the Cave Hill Country Park, will remain the
most important points of public access to the countryside. As such, the
park should be cherished and appreciated by the people of
Belfast. | ||
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Early Days The local connection began over four hundred years ago with the appointment of Sir John Chichester of Raleigh in Devon as Elizabethan governor of Carrickfergus, at a time when the English were seeking to extend their influence in Ulster from sea-supported colonies such as Carrickfergus and Newry. This had provoked a general uprising by the native Irish under Hugh O'Neill in the period 1593 to 1603. Sir John Chichester was captured in a battle with Randall MacSorley MacDonnell in 1597 and beheaded. His brother Arthur came to Ireland shortly after, perhaps to avenge his brother. He had served against the Armada in 1587-88 and was a captain under Sir Francis Drake. In November 1600 he laid waste to the countryside for twenty miles around Carrickfergus. Chichester's scorched-earth policy was consistent with the strategy adopted by Lord Mountjoy, the Lord Deputy of Ireland, against O'Neill. After the collapse of the Ulster rebellion in 1603, Arthur Chichester was appointed Governor of Carrickfergus and shortly after, he became Lord Deputy. He was rewarded for his part in the suppression of the Ulster rebellion by being made Baron Chichester of Belfast in 1612. He was granted great swathes of land in Ulster, including much of the land around Belfast, previously held by the O'Neills of Clandeboye. Despite his title, he preferred Carrickfergus to Belfast, built a large house there, called Joy Mount and was buried in St. Nicholas' Church in 1624. Arthur Chichester left no male heirs and the title passed to his brother Edward. His son in turn, Arthur, became the first Earl of Donegall in 1646. This Arthur had six sons and at least six daughters through three marriages. It is a telling comment on the life expectancy of the time that all six sons and at least four daughters died young. So the title of second Earl passed to his nephew Arthur. He fell foul of King James II and was attainted in 1689, but the Williamite conquest led to his lands and title being restored. Arthur's son, another Arthur was third Earl and was killed fighting in Spain in 1706. His son, Arthur again, was born in 1695 and succeeded as fourth Earl. It was three of his sisters who were killed in the fire in the first Belfast Castle (in the centre of Belfast) in 1708. His mother, left homeless, returned to Fisherwick in England with the fourth Earl and his surviving siblings. This Arthur died childless in 1757 and the title of fifth Earl passed to his nephew Arthur (again!). The fifth Earl was created a peer as Baron Fisherwick in 1790 and was also granted the additional title of Marquess of Donegall in 1791. He died in 1799. His influence over Belfast seems to have been positive. Belfast was carefully controlled by him and leases were granted which obliged tenants to build houses of particular quality and style. He paid for fine public buildings such as St Anne's cathedral and the Assembly rooms. He gave land for the Poor House and for the White Linen Hall, and helped to fund the Lagan Canal. The Shaftesbury Connection In 1807 the family moved to the second Belfast Castle at Ormeau. Donegall's debts were now enormous- £250,000- (about £20 million now). However, he continued his father's policy of public benevolence, providing land for, among others, the Royal Belfast Academical Institution and the Gasworks. In 1818, he arranged for his eldest son, George Hamilton, to marry a daughter of the Earl of Shaftesbury, one of the richest men in England. A week before the ceremony, Shaftesbury learned that Donegall had never been properly married and that George Hamilton was therefore illegitimate. (Anna May had been underage at the time of her marriage should have had the permission of the courts in 1795 but this had not been sought.) The marriage to Shaftesbury's daughter was abandoned. Three years later, a parliamentary change to the marriage law legitimised George Hamilton, who married Harriet, daughter of the Earl of Glengall in 1822 and succeeded to the title as third Marquess of Donegall in 1844. The burden of inherited debt plagued the third Marquess. Practically the whole of the town of Belfast was gradually sold off and the only lands left to Donegall were Ormeau and the deer park on the slopes of the Cave Hill. Belfast Castle As the third Marquess had no sons, the title passed to his brother
Edward, dean of Raphoe who became fourth Marquess. Dermot Richard Claud
Chichester, seventh Marquess, born 1916, is his direct descendant and
still lives in Waterford. And yes, he has a son called Arthur! The family
gradually lost interest in Belfast and after the death of Harriet, the
contact declined. The Shaftesburys lived on their substantial estates in
England. The troubles in 1922 led them to break contact entirely. In 1934,
the Chapel of the Resurrection, designed as a family mausoleum, was
presented to the Church of Ireland, part of the Castle grounds were sold
for housing and the Castle and the rest of the grounds were presented to
the city.
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Napoleon's Nose is a prominent feature of the Cave Hill. However, contrary to what is popularly believed, it is not the most prominent feature; it is not what is otherwise referred to as McArt's Fort. It is the hump which lies above the caves. You can check this for yourself. The best place to view the hill profile is from the Antrim Road, above the junction with Fortwilliam Park. Seen from there, the profile of the hill is strongly reminiscent of a giant face on its back. If the sun is shining in the mid-afternoon, it throws a shadow into a gully beside McArt's Fort which then appears very like an eye; it takes little imagination to see the face in great detail. Try it! The nose is then seen to be above the caves. This profile has been well known for many years. It has been suggested that it might have lodged in Swift's imagination when he was a clergyman in Kilroot outside Carrickfergus in 1694. He must have been familiar with it and it just might have contributed to his creation of Gulliver. I think that this is highly fanciful but it is a nice idea. The giant profile did inspire others however. Alice Milligan (1866 - 1953), a largely forgotten figure nowadays but well-thought-of in her day, wrote a poem extolling the mountains of Ireland and finished with a description of Cave Hill. Here is the last verse: Look up from the streets of the city, | ||
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Belfast Castle Chapel of the Resurrection Gate Lodges Martlet Towers Park Lodge Ben Eden | ||
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Questions (answers are below) Answers | ||
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(1) MAKING A DIFFERENCE As you will know trees are essential in the production of oxygen, to counteract global warming and to provide a habitat and food-source for local animal and bird-life. But while every tree helps, some do a far better job than others…. The so-called 'native' trees (such as alder, hazel, elm, oak and birch) are species that naturally found their way to Ireland many thousands of years ago and so are well adapted to our local climate and soil. As a result, these trees support a higher number of birds and insects than introduced species, such as sycamore, horse chestnut, and the sitka spruce so beloved of the Forest Service. An oak will support 284 different types of insect while a horse chestnut will only support 4 species. This why environmentalists campaign for to native trees to be planted as opposed to introduced species. After all if trees are going to be restricted to 7% of land we might as well get maximum environmental benefit from the ones we do plant. In an effort to make a difference Cave Hill Conservation Campaign committee member Katherine Hall and myself have been working actively to increase the number of trees in the Belfast Hills. In conjunction with Bryson House, we are responsible for the planting of over 19,000 native Irish trees on a fifty acre site on the airport road. By creating and maintaining a new forest we are trying to do our bit towards improving the environment in which we all live. The Cave Hill Conservation Campaign has recently become more actively involved in tree planting in the Country Park and on the Castle Estate. We are hoping to increase the percentage of native trees and decrease the number of non-natives to help make the Cave Hill that bit more special. If you would like to get involved in tree planting or would like further advice on trees please contact the Campaign. Each one of us can help by planting one more tree in our garden. Maybe
you could plant a birch instead of a Japanese cherry? It might not have
blossom, but it will look just as well for the other 50 weeks of the year
and it will contribute much more to the environment. What better gift
could you leave to the next generation?
(2) THE CAVE HILL MAZE When I first embarked on my project I had little idea at all of the work and expense involved and am very much indebted to Agnes McNulty of Belfast City Council for her help in securing funding to enable the idea to become a reality. I looked at various maze designs and decided on a unicursal (closed-curve) labyrinth. This means that the labyrinth has no junctions and consists of a single path leading from the entrance to the goal. There are three main forms of unicursal labyrinth; classical, Roman and medieval Christian. These forms share a hidden characteristic: internal rotational symmetry. The design was drawn by Eamonn Twomey and also transferred to the ground by him, with the assistance of Brian, Graham, Andrew, William and Jonathan. There are approximately 1,800 beech trees planted on the site, with some 350 bags of organic farmyard manure being dug into the ground (ask Eamonn and Billy about that!). Approximately 250 wooden posts and 400 metres of wire netting were used in the fencing which gives protection and support to the trees. The centrepiece of the maze is a cat mosaic, under which we have buried a time capsule. This was designed and created by Primary 7 pupils from Ben Madigan, Park Lodge and Cavehill primary schools in January 2001. Local artist Angela George was the brains behind the finished design and was also responsible for transferring the pupils work from the classroom to the actual site. I would like to convey my thanks to Angela for her help in the project. There were quite a number of people involved in the ground preparation for the tree planting and I would like to thank them all for their help. I feel that special mention has to be made of Eamonn and Billy who worked in all weathers and who gave me loads of moral support when I wondered if it would ever be finished. The day of the actual planting, Thursday 7 March 2002, dawned sunny and dry and was great fun with the Primary 7 pupils from Park Lodge and Ben Madigan Primary Schools (along with their teachers) very enthusiastically digging and planting the beech trees under the watchful eye of numerous helpers. Unfortunately the Primary 7 pupils from Cavehill Primary were not able to be with us due to other school commitments. I would like to thank the staff and pupils from the three schools for all their help and support throughout the project. Finally I would just like to say a very big thank you to everyone
involved in the creation of the Cave Hill Maze (that includes those
involved in providing refreshments) and I hope it gives lots of pleasure
to many people for years to come. | ||
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The Cave Hill Conservation Campaign was represented at the BMAP Belfast Hills consultation meeting held in Belfast Castle, and has subsequently made a submission to BMAP. Following the failure of the planning service to proceed with a local area plan for the Belfast Hills, the Metropolitan Area Plan is likely to provide the framework for planning policy in the area for the next twenty years. All those concerned with the hills were disappointed by the 'Issues' document which formed the basis of the consultation exercise. It referred to the hills as no more than a backdrop to the city in the language of the weak and failed reports of decades ago. Both at the meeting and in our submission, we have emphasised the importance of the Cave Hill and the Belfast Hills seen in their total context. In respect of the Belfast Hills generally, we were involved in the preparation of the detailed submission made by the Belfast Hills Committee. Broadly speaking, the emphasis in this is on the need for a planning designation, or designations, covering the entirety of the Belfast Hills, and capable of protecting the environment with statutory force. The preferred option would be to have the entire area designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its proximity to a city area strengthens the case for this. A fall back position, which is fully detailed, is to have the hills protected by a range of different designations, which though more complex, should have the same effect. With regard to the Cave Hill we have argued as follows: | ||
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This report was drawn up for Belfast City Council by the Ulster Wildlife Trust. It was completed in 1987, but most of it is still relevant and its influence can be seen in the clearing and planting programmes which the Parks Department has followed in subsequent years. The report includes a detailed survey of the animal, bird, butterfly, plant and fungi species to be found in Belfast Castle Estate. (It notes that red squirrels have been absent since 1973, but the report predates the arrival of the grey squirrel in the late 1990's. However, this confirms that the reds were absent for at least 20 years before the greys appeared.) It also contains detailed information on the geology and drainage of the area. Woodland management The ideal woodland from a conservation point of view is one that is diverse in native species with a variety of age structure. (The woodland area of the castle estate is mostly the same age, having been planted in the late 1800's. However, the major planting efforts of the past 15 years and future years will gradually change this.) The report identifies eight distinct types of habitat and recommends management priorities for each: Habitat management proposals The story since 1987 However, much remains to be done. There are still large areas of
rhododendron. Sycamore remains a problem over much of the estate,
colonising gaps left by the elms, and also re-growing from the stumps of
felled trees. The best that can probably be said is that a start has been
made in the right direction. Undoubtedly, resource limitations have
prevented more rapid progress in the 15 years since the report was handed
to the Parks Department. The future | ||
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THE CAVE HILL CAMPAIGNER - MAY 2001 |
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Editorial
Comment At the time of writing, there are signs that the foot and mouth disease crisis in Northern Ireland at least is receding, but caution is the watchword. While the woodland areas on the Cave Hill have now been reopened, grazed areas and the summit remain out of bounds. The same applies to farmland and grazing areas in the Belfast Hills generally. We fully support strict observance of these restrictions - it is a time for urban dwellers to show solidarity with the farming community and others in the rural community who are indirectly affected. Foot and Mouth Disease is a naturally occurring virus, but on this occasion its wildfire spread through England and Scotland, and the threat it presents to us, has been greatly exacerbated by modern marketing methods involving the assembly, movement, and further dispersal of tens of thousands of sheep daily right across the country. No doubt, as with the feeding of animal remains to herbivores which caused BSE, it is the most profitable way of doing things. If any good is to come out of this new agricultural crisis, it will be in a dramatic re-appraisal of priorities, with a much higher emphasis on environmental issues, and on safe and good quality food production. That should include a shift in support structures away from intensive and factory farming production, and in favour of those farming in more traditional ways in environmentally sensitive areas such as the Belfast Hills. We will have to be equally insistent that any new order provides a secure living for the farming community, even if that means higher prices. It is doubly unfortunate that desperate farmers are often their own worst enemies. That has certainly been the case in the Belfast Hills. Yes, while foot and mouth threatens, we are urging all to stay off the Belfast Hills but unfortunately that appears to be the permanent position of farmers’ representatives from the area and the Ulster Farmers Union. The Belfast Hills Walk has not been able to traverse the full line of the hills for the last two years because access has been refused by some farmers. With or without Foot and Mouth, farmers’ representatives have given the impression that they would prefer interlopers from the city to be disinfected at all times, that is if they cannot be shot. They make no distinction between teenage vandals and responsible representatives of environmental groups or of public bodies. The very notion that there might ever be an approved walking route along the Belfast Hills is met with the response, ‘sure, you can go on the roads’, as though there is a linear road along the skyline (forbid the thought!). Do we exaggerate? Consider the record. Farmers effectively sabotaged the proposal for a Belfast Hills Regional Park which was briefly government policy in the 1990’s. Precisely because the importance of working with the farmers and not against them was recognised, environmental groups supported a shift in emphasis to the creation of a less over-arching Belfast Hills Trust. Farmers grudgingly agreed to serve on the Belfast Hills Trust Steering Committee which had the responsibility of progressing the concept. From the outset it appeared that their hearts were not in it, and every meeting of the Committee was treated to an hour long filibuster on the irresponsibility of the others present. At the November 2000 meeting, in the least surprising event of the Committee's entire history, the farmers' representatives walked out. It was no coincidence that this meeting was due to discuss the final draft of the proposed Hills Trust’s Business Plan. The farmers were seeking to torpedo the Hills Trust in the same way in which they had seen off the earlier concept of a Belfast Hills Regional Park. What precisely were they resisting? The first operating principle in the Business Plan makes clear that the future Trust will ‘promote recreational projects only on public lands or on lands where public access has been agreed with the owners’. What could be clearer? - in the context of the Plan enhanced access has to be a matter of consent. Elsewhere, the Plan fully recognises the need to support what are marginal farming undertakings on the urban fringe. Farmers argue that ‘they themselves are best placed to conserve the hills’. Certainly they are an indispensable element in any future conservation programme, but reliance on their capacity to do the job alone has already failed. Their own rage at urban vandals, or the existence of 52 sites in the Belfast Hills where illegal dumping has taken place and as identified by the Belfast Hills Watch, makes the case for a more systematic approach and for the Belfast Hills Trust. Certainly the as yet non-existent Trust can hardly be blamed for the existing lamentable state of affairs! Because farmers, who are not fools, have failed to make any cogent case against the proposed Trust, we are bound to ask are there other agendas at work? In a period when high hill farming is close to non-viable, their real fear may be that other sources of income or of future economic opportunity may be closed to them in a more tightly controlled environmental framework. Certainly any possible proposals for improved support for urban fringe or hill farming will not be able to rival the prospective gains from sale of land to property developers, illegal dumping, in-fill dumping disguised as agricultural improvement and so on. Farmers should note, however, that, with or without a Belfast Hills Trust, public opinion has moved inexorably against such activities. Perhaps farmers may simply be seeking to up the financial pay-off to allow public access to the Belfast Hills. The danger here is that farmers may have an exaggerated idea of the possibilities of their position. They should know that there is a limit to how much the future Belfast Hills Trust or any other public body can stake in this poker game. Quite rightly, and for the moment without the farmers, the Business Plan for the Belfast Hills Trust was approved in January and matters should now proceed inexorably to the creation of the Trust during the summer. It remains essential that the public bodies involved thus far, including government departments and district councils, ensure that the new Trust is properly funded. The interests of half a million citizens in the Greater Belfast area demand it. And as for the farmers, you remain essential to the future of the Belfast Hills, and we will fight to secure your position. Just remember though that you depend, and particularly in present times, on the support of the urban community. Lose that and you are truly lost. John Gray | |||||||||||
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WARTIME US PLANE CRASH TO BE FILMED In early February 2001 the Cave Hill hit the headlines for quite an unusual reason. A film, to be entitled Closing the Ring, is being based on a US Army plane crash, which occurred on the Hill in June 1944. The crash resulted in the deaths of the ten men on board. The incident was recalled by James Doherty, an Air Raid Warden at the time, in his 1989 book Post 381, about the war period in Belfast. He was one of only a few local people to arrive on the scene. Mr. Doherty received a call early one morning alerting him to a plane crash on the Cave Hill, behind the Floral Hall, at Bellevue. On arrival at the scene Mr. Doherty and a friend were confronted with the scattered remains of a B17 Bomber, nicknamed the Flying Fortress. US Army personnel immediately cordoned off the scene of the crash, the reason for which still remains unclear. Mr.Doherty suspected that the plane was carrying top-secret military equipment. Whatever the case, no one was permitted to leave the crash site until about 4.00p.m.the following day. During their confinement, to add to their distress, a soldier known as ‘Crazy Guy’, because of his trigger-happy nature, was the sentry for part of the night. Interestingly, James Doherty found a letter written by one of the young soldiers containing the lines, ‘Mother, we are now flying over Ireland and we will be going down in a few minutes.’ This was followed by an illegible scribble presumably as the plane had begun a sudden descent. Mr. Doherty passed this letter to an American soldier in the hope that it would offer some consolation to the grieving mother. But it was a more recent find at the crash site which was to be the inspiration for this movie. In August 1996 the Belfast Newsletter reported how Alfred Montgomery found a wedding ring, which subsequently turned out to belong to Lawrence Dundon, a soldier on board the ill-fated flight. Determined to return the ring, Alfred set out for Louisville, Tennessee, in September 1996, hoping to make contact with any surviving relatives. He successfully returned it to the airman’s widow. The story was made into a documentary for BBC Radio 4. Linda Gabriel, an American playwright, on hearing the story, scripted a film in classic Hollywood style, which is due to hit the big screen in the near future. Watch out for it! Ruairi MacLeanachan | |||||||||||
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LOCAL RESIDENTS' ACTION GROUPS FORMED Cavehill Residents Action Group "This is a beautiful part of Belfast,” said Sue Burns, local resident and Committee Press Officer “But its attractive townscape character is being allowed to deteriorate by the uncaring decisions of our totally unaccountable Planning Authorities. The situation is further exacerbated by greedy property developers and speculators. They are permitted by the Planners to deliberately allow previously mature sites to become derelict and undeveloped, whilst they wait for further profits from property increases. These sites frequently become an attraction for young people with consequent vandalism, drinking, even solvent and drug abuse. It is nothing short of a public scandal.” Others expressed concern at the absence of safe playing areas for children. Many underlined frustration at the negative impact on their area when Planners are prepared to permit inappropriate facilities such as Bookmakers and Hot Food Bars, against the expressed wishes of the residents and their elected representatives. Another resident, Michael McCann added; “Increasingly, too, these developers are permitted by the Planners to build multiple dwellings, of design inappropriate to the character of the area, on sites previously occupied by single Edwardian houses. The resultant loss to the built heritage and social fabric in our area is permanent and irreversible.” A committee was formed to represent the wider Group, now called Cavehill Residents Action Group (CRAG). CRAG is now drawing up a dynamic Action Plan and Strategic Development Plan for the Cavehill area, with a view to bringing about radical change to the current situation. CRAG further intends to submit constructive proposals for the area to the impending Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan, and also to link up with other appropriate groups. The Group is developing a website, which can be found at http://crag-online.tripod.com/ and the email address is crag-online@bigfoot.com Fortwilliam Action Committee A packed meeting of local residents turned out at the initial meeting in the Lansdowne Court Hotel on Thursday 15th February to express their concern about British Telecom’s third attempt to obtain planning permission for a mobile phone mast on the Somerton Road. The application has since been rejected, but the meeting provided clear evidence of residents’ concern about a number of other issues, such as the apparent lack of a planning policy, and the consequent abundance of un-sympathetic property developments which threatens to radically change the nature of the locality. A particular concern was the number of recent planning applications for apartment complexes as well as commercial undertakings of dubious worth, such as fast-food outlets and betting shops. It was pointed out that 'developers’ (often outbidding local families) target the larger houses for purchase and - often after a calculated period of dereliction - demolish, and then replace them with intensive infill, which adversely affects the character of the district. Local councillors, and residents of the area, Tom Campbell and Alban Maginness addressed the meeting, and expressed their concern about the future for the neighbourhood if residents did not mobilise to protect this part of Belfast with its distinctive historical and architectural character. Fifteen volunteers constituted a committee and each household represented at the meeting donated £5.00 towards running costs and the establishment of a permanent organisation. The Fortwilliam Action Committee has distributed copies of its first newsletter, and the members hope to establish links with similar associations which are concerned with protecting and advancing the character of their environs. Anyone who would like to join the FAC should contact Kevin Davis at 90229527, or email us at fortwilliamaction@hotmail.com Edward McCamley Belfast Metropolitan Area Plan Several months ago, we were very concerned to learn that planning permission for a major housing development was going to be applied for in what is currently greenbelt land in the area of the farm above the Upper Cave Hill Road. This area is on the edge of the Cave Hill Country Park. We wrote to the planning authorities, stating that we would demand a public enquiry if any such application was listed. Our latest information is that the application will not now proceed, but may well do so in the future. It is therefore essential that this land continues to be zoned as greenbelt in the new Metropolitan Area Plan. We have made initial representations on these lines to the planners and will take further action, if necessary, when the initial plan is published. Editor | |||||||||||
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The red squirrel is one of our most popular wild animals. Everyone knows that it has been gradually losing out to the alien grey squirrel, which was introduced from North America in the late nineteenth century. The red is now almost completely absent from England, but still has significant populations in Ireland, Scotland and Wales. However, its history is more interesting than people realise. Millions of years ago, when Europe and North America were joined together, the red and grey had a common ancestor. As the landmasses drifted apart, the squirrel gradually evolved into the two distinct animals we know today. In the middle ages, the red was hunted for its fur and is thought to have become extinct in Ireland around 1500, probably due to disease. It was reintroduced in the nineteenth century and spread so rapidly that it was killed as a pest. Numbers declined again between 1900 and 1920, but recovered again afterwards. Since about 1950, the spread of the grey has driven the red from many areas of Ireland. However, the North East is still a stronghold and in the Belfast area there is a healthy population in Belvoir forest. It is not clear why greys invariably drive reds out, but there is virtually no evidence of the two species sharing a territory - when the greys arrive, the reds disappear within a few years. Reds have been absent from the Cave Hill for many years and greys are now established in the area. If no action is taken to check the spread of the greys in the Belfast area, it is likely that the red population in Belvoir forest will have disappeared within twenty years. The good news for the Cave Hill is that Belfast Zoo is hoping to carry out a captive breeding programme in order to reintroduce the reds in this area, using animals from Belvoir. However, for this to succeed it will be necessary to remove the greys from the area before any reds are released. In addition, a supplementary feeding programme may be desirable to help the reds to re-establish themselves. A further reason for removing the greys from this area is the serious threat they pose to the important hazel wood habitat area above the zoo. The problem with grey squirrels is that they strip the hazel nuts in September, before they are ripe enough to germinate. As a result, the hazel woods fail to regenerate naturally. This has become a serious problem in England, in areas where no attempt is made to control the number of greys. Editor |
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MOUNTAIN
BIKERS - A CODE OF CONDUCT The Committee’s feelings about mountain bikes are more equivocal. They are non-polluting and their use is a form of healthy exercise. Individually, they cause much less damage than motor bikes. However, the sheer number of mountain bikers on the hill means that, cumulatively, they are causing serious damage in certain areas. When inconsiderately ridden downhill at high speed they also alarm and pose a physical risk to pedestrians. There is no doubt that unless mountain bikers show more restraint, the demand for an enforced ban, or their restriction to limited areas, will grow. It is less clear how any ban or restrictions might be enforced so long as there is no regular wardening of the upper areas of the Cave Hill. In the meantime we urge mountain bikers, both in their own interest, and that of other users of the hill to observe the following voluntary code of conduct: 1. Stick to gravel paths in wet weather or when the ground is saturated. 2. Avoid the following paths where serious damage has already been done or paths are fragile: (a) The path from McArts Fort to Bellevue. (b) All paths from the caves to the summit plateau. (c) McArts Fort itself (this is an ancient monument). 3. At weekends go early in the morning or late in the afternoon avoiding periods of maximum pedestrian use. 4. Please slow prior to entering blind corners! 5. Break well before you reach pedestrians. 6. Generally, show respect for pedestrians. We would welcome the opinion both of our own members and of mountain bikers on this proposed code. It is a matter we intend to discuss further at our Annual General Meeting on Thursday 3 May 2001. John Gray | |||||||||||
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MILENNIUM PROJECTS
UPDATE The land has undergone a total transformation in the space of 12 months. What was once an area of unimproved grazing land is now a haven for wildlife. A hedge of over 1000 trees has been planted, four wildlife ponds have been created/improved and over 7000 trees have been planted as a legacy for future generations. The chosen trees are all native Irish species which will help to support a rich variety of insects, birds and wildlife. The badgers, foxes, hares and rabbits in existence will now have the opportunity to increase in number, their future guaranteed. I read recently that it takes 15 trees to counteract the pollution caused by each individual alive today. Every extra tree planted helps to reinforce the fragile eco-system in which we live and helps to counter global warming and air pollution. One very important lesson I have learned is that making a difference to the environment is not beyond the reach of the average person. All it takes is a bit of enthusiasm and time. So what can you do? Plant an extra tree in your garden. Reduce the amount of weedkiller and pesticides which you use. Buy a bird table. Recycle your newspapers. You mightn’t think this will make much difference, but it will, it’ll make the world of difference. Martin McDowell (2) Castle Millennium Herb Garden In keeping with the ideas and spirit of the award, the garden was planted to encourage public awareness of the benefits of a more sustainable and healthy lifestyle. In its early stages, the garden has been set out mostly for culinary use, with the intention of adding aromatic and medicinal herbs in the coming years. Herbs enhance the foods we eat. Apart from the vitamins and minerals they provide, it is the taste, mood enhancement and health benefits they give foods that make them so valuable. They are the aphrodisiacs of the culinary world. For thousands of years physicians of the body and spirit were gardeners and botanists. Herbs have always been used to heal aches, pains, injuries and ailments. Today’s alternative medicine uses herbs in massage, meditation, acupuncture and aromatherapy. The use of herbs is experiencing a rebirth of enormous proportions. The garden seats invite you to rest and enjoy the panoramic view of Belfast Lough. In this tranquil setting, it is difficult to believe that you are only a few miles from Belfast city centre. Geraldine Birch (3) The Millennium Maze Despite the delay in planting, the creating of the mosaic for the centrepiece has progressed. With the help of the P7 pupils from Cavehill Primary School, Ben Madigan Preparatory School and Our Lady of Lourdes (Park Lodge) Primary School, very enjoyable and productive hours were spent in the respective classrooms creating the cat mosaic. Under the expert guidance of artist Angela George, the children, some 198 in all, stuck tile pieces onto hessian squares which will be transferred onto a cement base in the middle of the maze. The children were all very enthusiastic about the project and a pleasure to work with. I would like to extend my thanks to the teachers and heads of the schools involved for their interest and support and also to Angela, the brains behind the creating of the mosaic. Incidentially, Angela designed the cat mosaic from pictures drawn by the children and these will be displayed in the heritage centre in Belfast Castle later in the year. I have thoroughly enjoyed my work on the maze project and spent three very interesting days in England and Wales visiting various maze sites looking for inspiration! I would like to express my thanks to Belfast City Council for their assistance in the project especially Agnes McNulty from the Parks department who has been extremely supportive. The maze, when planted, will be an added attraction to Belfast Castle grounds and something that will flourish and grow alongside the children who have been involved in its creation. Louise Wilson | |||||||||||
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A BELFAST HILLS TRUST IS ON THE WAY! On 30 January 2001 the Belfast Hills Trust Steering Committee adopted a Business Plan for the future Trust. This means that its actual creation has now come within sight and should follow during the summer. The Business Plan follows on from the 1999 Belfast Hills Feasibility/Options Study which recommended the creation of a powerful Trust with the capacity to acquire and manage land and to raise funds.. The following, in abbreviated form, are the key elements of the Business Plan: Mission:
Strategic aims:
Operational Programme: (1) Conservation and enhancement. It is envisaged that the Trust will work in the context of a wider Belfast Hills Sustainable Development Initiative involving all the relevant statutory bodies, and may also provide the secretariat for it. Key elements of the proposed operational programmes are as follows: Conservation and enhancement Countryside recreation and enjoyment It should be noted, however, that these objectives are also governed by one of the operating principles which states that the Trust will promote “recreation projects only on public lands or on lands where public access has been agreed by the owners”. Partnership activities How will the Trust operate? John Gray | |||||||||||
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THE ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CAVE HILL At first sight, it may be thought surprising that there are not many more remains of human occupation of Cave Hill, given that humans have lived in this area since shortly after the last retreat of the glaciers, about 9,000 years ago. However, it must be borne in mind that most traces on this upland area have been covered over by the growth of peat and heather over the last two thousand years. To give one example, there exists on the summit of Cave Hill a large stone cairn (about 16 metres in diameter and 1.15 meters high) which has almost completely been covered over by peat. The path from McArt’s Fort to McLaughlin’s quarry runs right over this cairn. The cairn is probably Neolithic (4500 BC to 2500 BC). But there are some remains to be noted. Close to the entrance to the Cave Hill Country Park on the Hightown road is a cashel. Technically, this is an enclosure surrounded by a dry stone wall. It has been speculated that this is the remains of an eighth century fortified farmhouse. It is a large structure, consisting of a low ring about 40 metres in diameter with another rectangular structure about 9 metres by 12 metres straddling it. This may be a later feature. In August 1993 a gold dress fastener was found on the side of the new gravelled path to the summit, near its highest point. The Ulster Museum followed up this find with a small three-day excavation. They concluded that it belonged to a period (1000BC - 700BC) within the late Bronze Age. It is a reasonably common find in the south and midlands of Ireland but no others are known from the Belfast area. It is interesting that the extremely localised dig also uncovered an Early Mediaeval fireplace about 30 centimetres from the fastener. It can be speculated that the some early mediaeval person had a form of picnic, little knowing that they were very close to a precious object lost at least a thousand years earlier. McArt's Fort “ Near the centre is a large hole of a dry gravelly soil called the Giant’s Punch Bowl, a very incongruous name. The punch bowl, however, has lately received a vast addition to its dimensions, owing to the havoc of a certain adventurer, assisted by a number of persons unknown, who heard, or dreamed, or fancied that they were to be the discoverers of hidden treasure. This was the greatest of several attempts that had been made in the same place, and for the same purpose. For one whole day spades, mattocks, and shovels were in requisition; the labour was vast; the hopes were great; now elevated; now depressed. It was the effort of a day, and nothing more; “gloomy and sad” returned the hero of the piece, and his coadjutors followed “humming surly songs”. This probably accounts for the large depression near the SW edge of the Fort. The Caves Crannog at Hazlewood Rath and Souterrain There have been a few scattered finds elsewhere within Cave Hill Country Park. Close to the path previously mentioned, there have been separate finds of early mediaeval pottery, Neolithic pottery and also a Neolithic flint and across the same general area there are earth banks which may only date to the eighteenth or nineteenth centuries. Cormac Hamill | |||||||||||
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(Answers are set out below.) (1) Which well known European’s nose has become an alternative name for MacArt’s Fort? (2) Name the ninth century chieftain who is said to have ruled in the Cave Hill area. (3) Name the local highwayman written about by John Heron Lepper in his book A Tory in Arms. (4) During the nineteenth century an annual festival was held on the Cave Hill. At which time of the year did this occur? (5) In which year did Wolfe Tone make his ‘solemn obligation’ on Cave Hill? (6) On March 12th 1890 what tragic event occurred on the Cave Hill? (7) In 1840 a railway line opened on the slopes of the Cave Hill. What was its main cargo? (8) In which decade was the Antrim Road officially established? (9) For which purpose was Park Lodge used during the Second World War? (10) The townland Ballysillan stems from the Irish Baile na Sailean. What does this mean literally? (11) In 1894 the ninth Earl of Shaftesbury added the Italian baroque serpentine staircase to Belfast Castle. Why? (12) Who was born on July 17th 1863 and later lived in ‘Ardrigh’ on the Antrim Road? (13) In 1859 The Right of Way Association brought criminal proceedings against whom for blocking access to the Cave Hill? (14) Which local figure wrote a novel set in the Middle Ages about Corby
MacGilmore? (1) Napoleon Quiz compiled by Ruairi MacLeanachan | |||||||||||
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| THE CAVE HILL CAMPAIGNER - MAY 2000 | |||||||||||
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Editorial
Comment Our first issue of the new millennium. Hardly a bright new dawn yet for the environmental cause. The pressures for unsustainable development that began with the industrial revolution have since run on apace. In the Belfast Hills we have had fifty years of warnings - it was just after the Second World War that it was first suggested that they should be preserved as a regional park. Nothing was done. The perimeter of meadows, which within living memory rang to the cry of the corncrake, has vanished now. McArt's Fort, gaunt and battered as much by circumstance as by nature, looks out on the playground of the developer, the dumper, the quarryman, the vandal, and over the fiefdoms of failed planners and politicians. Yet there is much still to be saved. There is a powerful popular momentum to do it. The penny has dropped - the half million inhabitants of the urban jungle of Greater Belfast look up and hope, and recognise an environmental asset on their very doorstep, and one that is unique to any city in these islands. Sentiment, of course, will not do. We can do little for the environment in an armchair. The Cave Hill Conservation Campaign has worked since 1988 in a variety of ways, and as the times have required. By protest, by raising public awareness of issues on the hill, by positive voluntary endeavour - cleaning the hill, planting trees, surveying use of the hill, and organising a watch scheme for dumping and vandalism. We have also sought to work with other groups and friends working to preserve Carnmoney Hill, Squire's Hill, Divis, and Black Mountain. Areas adjacent to the Belfast Hills are a potentially large and powerful constituency, and if, as we all hope ‘the war’ is over, politicians have even less excuse than before for evading popular demand on environmental issues. Let us make it clear; this is not for the moment the manifesto of a new political cause. Far better that politicians and planners respond to the prevailing wind of public opinion before it blows them over. Put it another way; we would far rather work in a consensual way with public representatives fully committed to the proper protection of the Cave Hill and the Belfast Hills, than consign ourselves to an eternity of often ineffectual protest. That does, however, beg the question - are there meaningful prospects of progress in this way, after years of neglect? There are in fact promising signs that a better future for the Hills can be secured without immediately taking to the barricades. Certainly the new City Council has been more receptive to the needs of the Cave Hill. The old fetish for commercial development at all costs (and often literally!) is no longer in the ascendant. As we report elsewhere, the Council has now, in a long overdue and very welcome step, commissioned highly credible environmentalists to draw up a management strategy for the Cave Hill, and, furthermore, the Campaign has been consulted at the very outset with regard to this step. Meanwhile on the Belfast Hills generally, there is to be no Regional Park, but the government has lent its support to steps to create a powerful Belfast Hills Trust, with, amongst other things, the potential power to acquire and manage land. The Cave Hill Conservation Campaign is represented on the steering committee which is working to establish the Trust. It is too early to predict outcomes in either area, but for the moment we are fully supportive of both processes, with this caution: we need to see steady progress towards the implementation of measures to materially improve conditions on the Cave Hill, and in the Belfast Hills generally. There must be no repeat of the empty promises of the last half-century. John Gray | |||||||||||
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The distant past About 600 million years ago, what is now Ireland lay under the ocean, somewhere in the southern hemisphere. About 510 million years ago land began to form due to crustal movement and the part of the crust where Ireland was to form migrated northwards towards its present location. Ireland had a recognisable landmass about 340 million years ago, but after tens of millions of years, the land was worn away and largely covered by sea. Mud, rich in the remains of sea-life was deposited on the floor of this sea and gradually formed what was to become the carboniferous limestone which covers a large section of present-day Ireland. With further crustal movement, Ireland’s limestone cover was thrust upwards about 300 million years ago and heavily weathered. About 290 million years ago, the sea invaded large parts of Ireland again and deposits of salt at Carrickfergus, for instance, are the remains of this incursion. This continued into the Jurassic period, about 190 million years ago, and during this time, the clays and schists underlying the basalt and chalk of the Antrim region were laid down. About 65 million years ago, in the Cretaceous age, much of the land was inundated by rising sea levels and the remains of sea creatures were deposited as the soft chalk we see on Cave Hill. This chalk is particularly rich in flint nodules, which are the fossilised remains of Cretaceous sponges. The flint was valuable to Stone-Age man who worked it into tools and weapons. The climate was probably tropical or sub-tropical. Lava and basalt The remains of the lavas are known as basalt and are visible everywhere from the river Bann eastwards to the Antrim coast and southwards to the Lagan valley. The Belfast Hills, including Cave Hill, mark the south-eastern edge of the lava flows. Cave Hill is a basalt layer which lies over a much older limestone base. This can most easily be seen along the face of the old limestone quarry on the slope of Cave Hill above Carr’s Glen. The quarry excavation has cut down through the basalt and limestone and exposes the layers clearly. The phenomenon of basalt overlying limestone can also be seen along the Antrim coast road. This is no coincidence, as the Cave Hill was formed at the same time and by the same volcanic events that created the whole of the Antrim Plateau. Ice ages Cormac Hamill | |||||||||||
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“Never doubt that a small group of caring people can change the world because indeed, it is the only thing that ever has” (Margaret Mead) Five members of our committee outline their millennium projects:
PONDS AND HEDGEROWS My award enabled me to create ponds and plant hedges to encourage
wildlife to return to an area of rough grazing land at the back of Cave
Hill. In less than six months, the results have already been amazing.
Already frogspawn has been laid and hatched in one of the ponds. On
Saturday 11 March, 23 local people of all ages (from 11 to 74) and
backgrounds turned out to help me plant a 130 metre hedge of 1,000 young
trees, a mixture of native species such as hawthorn, blackthorn, crab
apple, spindle, willow and whitebeam. It was a great community effort,
with everyone enthusiastically digging. The new hedge is starting to come
into leaf and will soon provide a food source for all sorts of wildlife.
As the years go on we'll all be able to watch the hedge grow and support
all kinds of wildlife. We'll know that without us all those birds, animals
and insects wouldn't have a place to eat, live and breed. So maybe, just
maybe, the individual has made a difference. SKYLARK HABITAT With the aid of my millennium award, I am engaged on a habitat
restoration project for skylarks at the back of the Cave Hill. This began
recently with a friends of the skylark day. Two handsome shire horses
pulled an old fashioned plough across open ground, creating folds of earth
in which we sowed oats from a traditional seed bag. A group of
enthusiastic children followed behind, gleaning unwanted stones from the
ground. The sown field was then left guarded by three frighteningly
impressive scarecrows, imaginatively created by the children. The
converted field lies below a natural lark heath and will hopefully offer
the birds a convenient and much-needed feeding ground in the months ahead.
HERB GARDEN As a member of the Cave Hill Conservation Campaign, I am striving to
make a positive contribution to the local community through personal
action. In the next nine months, I intend to establish a herb garden on
the site of the old castle kitchen garden, so in a way I will be carrying
on the old tradition into the new millennium. I have always been
interested in alternative medicine and in particular herbal health and
healing. After attending a course on organic herb production and visiting
herb farms in Great Britain I will have accumulated sufficient knowledge
to commence the project. The plants will be for the use of the castle
restaurant. The general public will be invited to visit the garden to
sample the herbs, enjoy the scents and the peaceful ambience – and yes –
appreciate the beautiful views of Cave Hill and Belfast Lough.
MAZE I am sure most of you are familiar with the area but if you are not, it
is to the north side of Belfast Castle, on the left hand side of the main
pathway if you enter the grounds from opposite Guys shop on the Antrim
Road. I was delighted when I obtained my award, as were the other four
members of the Cave Hill Conservation Campaign who also applied
successfully. I am working closely with the Parks Department within
Belfast City Council and the only stipulation they made was that the theme
of the maze should be in keeping with the castle and its grounds. I am
being assisted by P6 schoolchildren from several of the local primary
schools. I do not want to give away too many secrets regarding the design
and materials to be used in the project, save that it will not be a
traditional maze. I hope that when it is finished in November 2000, it
will greatly enhance the castle grounds and be something of which we can
all be proud. COMMUNITY COMPOST SCHEME | |||||||||||
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CAVE HILL USERS
SURVEY We identified seven main access points and we decided to survey the users over a twelve-hour period, from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Each access point was assigned to a committee member whose task was to find a small band of volunteers to man that point in shifts over the twelve hours. We also devised a short questionnaire which people would be asked to complete. This was to identify the type of person using the hill and to ask about their concerns. We also recognised that some people might not have the time to reply, or that they might be spotted at a distance. We devised a sighting report to try to include such occurrences. The day, chosen in advance, proved to be far from ideal. The morning started overcast, the cloud thickened during the day and by mid-afternoon the rain was falling. It was so bad that we abandoned the survey at about 5 pm. However, we did garner some very useful results. Despite the weather, a surprisingly large number of people were on the hill. Over the day we surveyed 576 visitors. We were able to show that by far the majority were local, with only a few from other areas of Belfast, never mind from further afield. We were able to identify the most popular access point ( Upper Cavehill Road ) and to chart the way the number of visitors varied during the day, peaking, to no one’s surprise, in the late morning. Older visitors were very definitely a minority on the hill that day – 64% were aged under 40. Many dogs (116) were recorded and it was noticeable that 66% of lone females were accompanied by dogs. Most of the visitors that day were frequent visitors to the hill, two-thirds of them coming more than once a week. We did not identify specific issues in the survey. We invited the person surveyed to indicate his or her concerns. The ten issues most often mentioned were: Bikers (mountain bikes and scramblers) We intend to carry out a numbers survey this summer, if a decent Sunday presents the opportunity to find out how many people use the Hill in good weather. Cormac Hamill | |||||||||||
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PAINTING THE CAVE
HILL The many depictions of Belfast from the late 18th century onwards, whether from Cromac Wood (by Jonathan Fisher), from Newtownbreda Churchyard (Andrew Nicholl), or from the Castlereagh Hills ( J W Carey) invariably portray the rising industrial town, as it then was, against the omnipresent Cave Hill. The ubiquity of these, as well as other more popular representations, was made possible by the lithographic and steel engraving techniques developed by the well-known Belfast firm of Marcus Ward and Company. Viewed from the rural hinterland of the city (as it became in 1888) or through the smoke that spilled from the tall chimneys of the mills and factories, the Cave Hill may be seen as a counterpoint to the industrial clamour over which it presided - and which it now has outlived. By the end of the 19th century Belfast was the only industrial city in Ireland and had a population larger than Dublin. A century later the Cave Hill overlooks a radically transformed urban environment. A window in time, which lets us glimpse this changing economy, is William Hollywood's view of the city from just beyond McArt's Fort painted in 1951. In this evocative work, two girls look out from an impressively green summit towards a great manufacturing city, but one whose essentially 19th century industrial base was by then, as we now know, increasingly under threat. More recently the hill has been depicted in less sentimental form. This may be an unconscious reflection of perceived threats to the area from the environmental damage that results from ill-considered and poorly regulated recreational use and encroaching urban development. A reminder of the pristine glories of the Cave Hill can be seen in the super-realism of Dennis Kelly's depiction of the area under snow, a view complemented by the brisk, airy, blue-green treatment of the familiar view of the summit in the work of Simon McKinstry. The more widely frequented lower slopes have provided Dan Dowling with inspiration for a number of his immensely successful, humorous and affectionate depictions of friends and families relishing the pleasures of each other's company in an increasingly threatened part of the local environment of Belfast. In May 1998, the appropriately named Cavehill Gallery presented an exhibition of art exclusively devoted to paintings of the Belfast Hills. Cave Hill featured prominently in the collection and the show, which was a resounding success, provided a unique opportunity for the public to enjoy a splendid demonstration of how the city's most prominent natural feature had provided inspiration for another generation of artists, such as Richard Croft, Anya Waterworth, John Conway, Catherine and Joseph McWilliams as well as those mentioned above. An old and familiar landmark was interpreted anew. Eddie McCamley | |||||||||||
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THE CAVE HILL
DIAMOND Thirty years earlier in the 1890's, the last of the Belfast ballad
sheet printers, John Nicholson of Church Lane had printed not one but two
songs entitled The Cave Hill Diamond. Perhaps Crone was familiar with
them. Both songs, as local singer and expert on Belfast folk song, Maurice
Leyden, has pointed out, probably owed something to Sir Samuel Ferguson's
historical romance, CorbyMac Gillmore which had been published in 1887,
and which dealt in a fairly fanciful way with the feuds of the old Irish
clans on the hill. One of these Cave Hill Diamond songs finds no more of a
diamond than the beautiful Eileen O'Neill hiding, disguised as a hermit,
in the bottom cave, and here to be found by a passionate young Magennis.
There is a much earlier song, an 1810 version of The Belfast Mountains,
which makes a more specific reference to geological diamonds. The
complaining maid of the song laments: On the matter of diamonds, the second Nicholson version of the 1890's
is much more specific. This time both the geological and the romantic
varieties are separately identifiable, albeit in an improbable enough
tale: Certainly this was a modern song, written by Professor Robert Hanna of
Queen's University, and dedicated to Lady Shafstebury. Why should the
Professor have taken up the theme of "the Diamond'? Why should John
Nicholson have simultaneously published another song alongside it and with
the same title? Clearly the subject was topical, because it makes an
appearance in the Ulster Saturday Night of 23 February 1895: More of the fanciful stuff then, but the author of these “Random Notes
and Notions” uses the phrase “until it was unearthed”, and then goes on to
tell us “I know the man who found the Cave Hill Diamond.” Thirty years
later, the very same column described the stone: By 1926, even John Crone doubted whether this was any more than a tall
story, and Maurice Leyden, chronicler of the songs in our own time, asks
“was it just a piece of limestone or did it really exist?” Turn then to
George Henry Bassett's Book of Antrim published in 1888, and the entry for
Whitewell. Hence indeed the publication of two Cave Hill Diamond songs around the same time - clearly a large semi-precious stone of some kind was found, but what was it? Perhaps our geological friends can enlighten us. In the meantime anyone wanting the full text of those songs can find them in Maurice Leyden's, Belfast, City of Song (Brandon Press, 1989). John Gray | |||||||||||
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TREE PLANTING: LET’S
RISE TO THE CHALLENGE! Only 6% of the land area of Northern Ireland is covered with trees, compared to a European average of 36%, despite our tree-friendly climate. At one time, most of Ireland was tree-covered, but by 1900 very little old woodland survived, mostly due to clearance for farming. It was only in the later twentieth century that Northern Ireland began to plant significant numbers of native hardwoods such as oak, ash and birch, and native conifers such as scots pine. Although the local timber industry still depends on non-native conifer species, most of the plantations now contain some native hardwoods, to the benefit of wildlife. The environmental value of trees in the urban environment has been well understood for several generations. Many of the mature street trees in Belfast were planted in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The Forest of Belfast Initiative was launched in 1992 and has planted over 100,000 trees in the Greater Belfast area. The Woodland Trust has recently arrived here and has been involved in several projects, including the successful restoration of Throne Wood on a thirteen acre the site at the old Throne Hospital near Bellevue. The Millennium Tree Campaign – which was launched by David Bellamy in March 1997 - has so far planted about 1.3 million trees and expects to hit its original target of 1.5 million by May 2000, which is roughly one tree for each person who lives in Northern Ireland. It is estimated that over 90% of the trees planted by the Millennium Tree Campaign are native species. Many were grown from seed by members of the public and many others were supplied by Conservation Volunteers Northern Ireland from their Clandeboye nursery. However, Conservation Volunteers estimates that even this splendid effort will only increase the area of tree cover in Northern Ireland from 6% to 6.1%. This shows how much remains to be done. It is so important for our environment and our biodiversity that we give this a high priority and find the necessary resources. A target of ten million trees in the first ten years of the new millennium should not be beyond us. After the success of the Forest of Belfast, why not the Forest of Ulster? Peter McCloskey | |||||||||||