Southern View on Ulster-Scots Language and Culture

Eamon O Cuiv, minister responsible for the development of the Irish language in the Republic of Ireland has met up with Ulster-Scots speakers as part of a cultural fact-finding trip.

The Minister was keen to find out more about the language and culture of the Ulster-Scots as his department, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, part funds the Ulster-Scots Agency, the organisation responsible for developing the Ulster-Scots language and culture.

Minister O Cuiv on his visit to Northern Ireland was introduced to Ulster-Scots poets, writers and enthusiasts from Ulster-Scots heartland areas in Co. Antrim and North Down, as well as enjoying a brief historical overview as part of his whistle-stop tour.

An Irish speaker and grandson of former Irish President Eamon de Valera, the Minister was interested in hearing the spoken language and he met Ulster-Scots poet James Fenton and linguist Dr Philip Robinson, who presented the Minister with their highly acclaimed works on Ulster-Scots words and grammar.  The Minister also met Nelson McCausland, director of the Ulster-Scots Heritage Council, after lunch at Stormont with Culture Minister Michael McGimpsey.

Minister O Cuiv was earlier welcomed to Carrickfergus borough by the Mayor, Alderman Eric Ferguson, before visiting the Andrew Jackson Heritage Centre at Boneybefore and the Templecorran Church ruins, the site of the first Presbyterian congregation in Ireland.

Chairman of the Ulster-Scots Agency, Lord Laird of Artigarvan, said: “I’m delighted that Minister O Cuiv has taken the time from his busy schedule to find out more about who we Ulster-Scots are today, where we came from, how we speak and what makes us who we are.

This visit recognises that the Ulster-Scots language and culture is a tangible, vibrant presence.  We ourselves will be interested to hear the Minister’s viewpoint on the future development of Ulster-Scots as a language as he has an expert understanding of the successful development of Irish.”

James Fenton is a renowned Ulster-Scot poet and his collection of Ulster-Scots words, “The Hamely Tongue” is a definitive work on native Ulster-Scots in Co. Antrim.

Dr Philip Robinson has written a number of fictional books in Ulster-Scots as well as the ‘Ulster-Scots: A Grammar of the Traditional Written and Spoken Language.”

Boneybefore cottage was built 1750 by Ulster-Scots settlers named Donaldson and depicts the typical home that President Andrew Jackson’s parents left behind when they sailed to America for a new life.

The cottage is furnished with furniture and equipment of the period.  Andrew Jackson, the seventh American President, was one of 17 presidents with Ulster connections.  His parents lived in Boneybefore before emigrating to America in 1765.  Andrew was born in the Carolinas in March 1767.

Templecorran Church in Ballycarry, which dates back to early Christian times, is the place where the first Presbyterian congregation in Ireland gathered to worship in 1613.  The earlier Presbyterians had no church of their own to worship at first and ‘borrowed’ this former Church of Ireland Church for their worship.

The church ruins are an excellent example of enclosure design of a church where the monastery was enclosed inside a ditch or wall.