Hi, Can anyone help with the children's names in Manor House home, 2 of my siblings spend some time there and I want to know more...especially what came of that Matron, Rafter or something. Also, researching the History of the old tunnels that run under Lisburn and the mystery surrounding them. Also, like to chat to anyone who remembers me.

hello lynn in reply to your enquiry about tunnels under lisburn i dont know if this is relevant or not but the principal of hilden school the late mr alexander woodend once told us that lisburn was partly built on a huge underground lake that could be accsssed from the grounds of lisburn cathedral. i dont know if this is true or not but i remember some years ago when they were digging up grahams garden carpark they broke through an old culverted river buried there and i saw little totaly blind trout swimming up the river in the carpark. also if your ever standing at the dublin road t junction (at bow st mall entrance) and any heavy vehicle passes you can feel the road shaking. try it for yourself. eamon

I remember mentioning an entrance to an underground lake at the Cathedral to Dr Semple some years ago and he told me he had never heard of it.
There was always rumours about secret passages and tunnels all around Lisburn especially in the Castle Gardens and the neighbouring Convent but how much reality there was remains a mystery.
donald

Eamon & Donald, very interesting about the underground lake in Lisburn. I wonder is it true. Mr Woodend, from what I have heard of him, would have been fairly accurate in his knowledge of any subject he was interested in.

Eamon, today I will stand at the entrance of Bow Street Mall and find out if the earth moves for me.

Dominic remembers work being carried out in Bow Street years ago. A culvert was discovered by workmen at the time. It was located running underneath Bow Street between Chittick's Shop and Green's. The culvert was used to carry a small river.

Possibly the Fairy Well which rises in Benson St and mouths into the Lagan Canal facing the "Wee Park " beside the Union Bridge
donald

Firstly, I would like to thank you all for your replies, this has really got me going and endeavour to know more, maybe even write about it. There is a piece of history of Lisburn that has got lost with all the changes in the past couple of century's. It is up to us Lisburnians to find this history.

I was once told, that under the ground in Lisburn there was a smoke house for fish, was it blind fish?

Also, when the changes happened in Castle Gardens there was some finds of remains of bodies, this was kept secret, it would be interesting to explore what did just go on in Lisburn as there is some uncanny stories too.

If I go missing get Poirot lol

There will be more

Fascinating discussion. Look forward to someone finding the entrance to Mordor under Bow Street Mall! And blind trout, who'd a thought! :)

Hi all,


I know for a fact there were secret passages underground in the Convent grounds, tunnels that led towards the dungeon in the Castle Gardens.

They were reached from the cellars in the Convent, proported to be an escape route for clergy or others during the persecution of religious

The dungeon was visible thro' the gate near the Ryans, that is where the tunnels emerged. You would have then been in the Castle Gardens.

The Irish Dancing classes were held in the cellar, there was an archway off the cellar, which led into the tunnel.

Forbidden ground BUT you know what Convent schoolgirls are..........Curious?????


Pat

Pat that was so wonderful to read, really, bless ye! For though unusual for protestant girls to Irish dance, my mother did. We are what I like to say a good equal mix. However, it may have been my mum (RIP) who told me of the undergrounds which lead me down this route of wanting to know so much more about Lisburn. Other, little stories tie in with some of the uncanny rituals carried out in our boroughs....IRONIC, Halloween and Hallow ground there is.

Also, Lady Stanuss of Lisburn bequeathed her house to the orpahans of Lisburn the over fill once of the work house at Lagan Valley, (more tunnels) between the school, home, and our present Police station and the church....

I feel a book coming on!!!

Please please, those that have a story, I want to hear....

Lynn

Thanks Darryl, I do hope it does create a great interest and a good read.

Lynn

I hope I'm not mixing threads too much, but in my semi-senility, I start getting confused between blind fish swimming under Bow Street from The Fairy Well to the Lagan, and those 'HOME'boys with whom we used to have bow and arrow wars - the'HOME' boys had a fearsome reputation, and were rumoured to dip their arrow heads in poison.

Dabbler the fairy well ran into a tunnel under the railway lines into the mill dam at stewarts mill, then behind the houses at brookvale drive toward waste ground at bottom of ridgeway street/pump lane, then headed towards antrim street,there was another dam there which could be seen as you would turn into entrance to stewarts mill from antrim street ,where it went from there is anybodys guess,probably into the large brick sewage tunnel under antrim street, maybe it then made its way into the lagan via the brick sewage tunnel into bow street

About 8 years ago when our family booked the boat (unfortunately not running any longer) which then took parties for a boat trip from the Union Bridge to Scott´s locks at Hilden mill the guide who was on board and explained points of interest took the boat a little further up under the bridge to the "wee park"and showed us water exiting into the Lagan canal. He said it was proved to be from the Fairy Well as geologists added dye to water leaving the Fairy Well and the coloured water a short time later entered the Lagan there.
donald

It is of no historical interest, but I remember the rivulet in the field by Stewart's Mill. As a 14 year old, I used to wonder if it joined up with the 'wee race' that disappeared underground by Nicholson's shop, near the Union Bridge. If any old folk are really reading this, they may remember the field, mill dam, and the rivulet. In my mind, it is as clear as daylight; to the right as you walked toward the mill gates, with Antrim Place houses to the left. Looking down at those houses, Davy Jones lived in the first one on the right hand side.

Pat
I was reading a book "Old Lisburn" by John Hanna ISBN 1840332271 last night . On page 9 is a photo of Castle Street. The Convent of Sacred Heart of Mary, established by French Nuns in 1870 can be seen. To me that seems to be a little late for the necessity to create escape routes for Clergy. That may have been necessary in the middle ages but not then. Do you (or anyone else ) know if the Convent is built on an older religious site?
donald

Dabbler
You asked recently about the Wallace fountain in the Castle Gardens.
On page 4 of the same book there is a photo of Market Square the Wallace fountain can be seen there, then on page 5 in another photo of the same place taken in around 1922 it is no longer to be seen. On page 6 ,taken in the early 1950s it is not there either. I read once that it had been moved to the Castle Gardens where I remember seeing it. Now it has been moved back to Market Square into a sunken garden.
donald

Hallo All
Am I suffering from delusions?
This talk about the Wallace Fountains aroused my interest and I went onto Google Earth and to my astonishment there is still a Wallace Fountain in the Castle Gardens. Does that mean there are 2 examples in Lisburn? One in Castle Gardens and one in Market Square? I then went online to find out more about Wallace Fountains and found they are all over the world
Please help me here.
http://parisianfields.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/the-man-who-gave-paris-50-fountains/

donald

Donald, I wonder if on can press a button to get a drink from the Castle gardens fountain, or is it now just ornamental?

Hello again

Yes as someone noted, there seems to be a bit or rebuilding over old history. It seems it is definite that water runs still from the fairy well to other underground parts of Lisburn. In our wee town we have many steep hills and I believe they all link up. I was told there was a fish smoking house underground at Manor park....

From 1600 lots of history has been changed either deliberately or with environmental changes. Churches were renamed too. Is there a tunnel also at the chapel.

As a small child, down near where Davy Jones lived, is that where the Stewart's Mill dam was? Do I remember that we ice skated on that dam? During one of the bad snows, we used to have sledges and go down the steep hill in Tonagh from the back of the grave yard.

Hi Lynn and all,

If you search Google you will find a book called "Lisburn Miscellany", this was written by Fred Kee the former town Sanitary Engineer. Some interesting facts about Lisburn also a good number of articles Fred had published in the "Star" over the years. You will find references to the Fairy Mount, the Underground River and much more. I just had a copy of this book sent to me, I checked it out on the Net and there it was.

The book is listed in "Books" on Lisburn.com,I should have checked there first, the late "James Goddard Collins" never missed a thing.....

Beano

Yes, Beano, I enjoyed reading that online, years ago. Good old Jim -and Fred.

Pat
Thanks to Beano my question has been answered, in Lisburn Miscellany there is an article about old Lisburn schools and it say the Convent was built where a house from a gentleman named Buckley once stood. Possibly that is where the passages originated
donald

The Convent of the Sacred Heart of Mary, or, as stated on the Estate maps, "Convent de Sacre Coeur de Marie," was the other boarding school in Lisburn. It started with the buying of Charles Buckley's house in Castle Street in 1870 for the sum of �1,350, which was almost the same price as the Quakers' paid when they commenced their school about one hundred years earlier.

Dabbler, you are spot-on re the Wallace fountain in the Castle Gardens. Recently, I had a look at the fountain and unfortunately you can no longer get a drink there. It is, as you say, completely ornamental, but still a very grand specimen.

I realise now, from reading the posts, that there is a awful lot of history in Lisburn that I know absolutely nothing about. I will take steps to learn more about my birthplace and home.

Beano, Lynn, here's the link on the site to Lisburn Miscellany http://lisburn.com/books/lisburn_miscellany/miscellany.html. I think my dad put that up years ago - I can see he was learning and experimenting with web design. :)

Thanks for the book reference Donald. I've just added John Hanna's "Old Lisburn" to our Amazon store: http://lisburn.com/shop/lisburn-amazon-shop.html (it's on page 2 of "Lisburn Books").

Ann; in my advanced years I can appreciate the ornamental beauty, and the history, but it is difficult to convey my PERSONAL attachment to the old fountain, where I quenched my thirst after sweaty play.

Ref: Antrim St rivulet.


In the 60's, whenever we visited Joe's parents, in Brookvale Drive, his brother Rocky, used to take the children fishing for spricks, in that rivulet, that ran behind their house. I have a photo somewhere of them.

Pat

Ref: Escape Routes.


Donald,

To cut a long story short, we all need escape routes at some time in our lives, never mind in the Middle Ages.

Pat

Dabbler, many a drink I had from that same fountain in the Castle Gardens. Somehow the water tasted nicer than it does today.

There was a little water fountain in Hilden Park also, behind the baby swing. There was always someone there taking a drink.

The Wallace Park also had a drinking fountain.

I suppose these fountains were essential in the days before we were able to quench our thirst from our own bottles of mineral water.

Dabbler, the "wee race" that vanished at the bottom of the "back lane" near Bridge Street reappeared at the bottom of the "ryans" near to "Kay Street" as it was known. It ran for a short distance and disappeared into another tunnel and exited below Millbrook. I told the story here about wading through the tunnel from Millbrook and being stopped by iron railings at the bottom of the Castle Gardens. Aidan.