Once Upon A Time In London

This is the tale of the adventures of a native Oregonian in London.

24 December 2010

Roots (Northern Ireland)

I don't know if you are aware, but some of my family originally comes from Northern Ireland. The Skaggs, in particular, and also the Lynns. More is known about the Skaggs, in particular that they came from Londonderry and that William Skaggs was born there in 1600.

Yeah, I know, long time ago. But I wanted to see the place where my ancestors once lived. I have a thing for history and family history in particular. Lyn was kind enough to drive over to Londonderry the day after Thanksgiving so we could have a wander and see if we could find anything.

Admittedly, there's not a whole lot left from that time period except the wall around the original city. But it's a BIG wall! Here's the view of Londonderry/Derry from the top of the wall:



This is the site of the original cemetery and chapel (Next to the cathedral.). There has been a chapel on this site since the 1600s and there has been a church of some nature on the cathedral site since the 112th or 13th century. The buildings that stand there now are a bit more recent, though. Also, the oldest graves seem to date from the 1800s, long after the Skaggs left Northern Ireland, so no luck there.


Also the church records weren't available. We did, however, get the name of someone who could help. For a price, of course. I took his name and details, just in case!

Despite the snow we wandered the walls and took in the views. You can even see the snow coming down in this picture of one of the towers on the wall:


This cannon is actually from the right time period! My ancestor would have been about 25 years old when this cannon arrived in Londonderry.


And here I am 400 years later on top the wall of Londonderry!


2 Comments:

Anonymous Lyn said...

You forgot to mention the great drive home and the blizzard on the Glenshane Pass. Clean trousers anyone?????? But thankfully it was not as bad as earlier in the year when the Glenshane Pass closed and loads of people got stranded and had to abandon their cars and sleep in church halls and the like. Phew.

12:45 PM  
Blogger SheaLuna said...

I am very grateful we didn't have THAT kind of nonsense going on.

1:44 PM  

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