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When Mum married dad!

When my mother (the wee english girl) first went over to Lisburn to meet my grandmother Sadie Fulton she had to go down the 40odd steps and across the lagan to downvillas she was wearing the latest fashions and her best stilleto heels! Needless to say the journey took longer than ever as she spent most of the time pulling her heels out of the mud!
The next morning she woke to switch the lights on!
Then asked where the bathroom was!
Uncle billy Johnston then put a bowl of water in front of the fire for her to wash but no one left the room. She then asked were she coud clean her teeth and was guided to the pump..........The next day she came out in hives. When Mum arrived back in england a week later her mother said "by god what a mess, if that's what a holiday in Ireland does for you what would happen to you if you had to live there"!!

Re: When Mum married dad!

Sally,
Your mother traversed the famous 41's as had many millworkers before her and many more since. You are like a breath of fresh air.
If you haven't walked the 41's you haven't lived.
Down Villas were the last post of civilisation "over the loanins" and your mum was blessed!!!

Re: When Mum married dad!

Low roader / Sally
The "loanins " as they were called were a much favoured "courtin" place then. No one moved out of the family until they got married. There were mossy banks to rest upon and birds chirping made it very romantic. Warm summer nights and Sundays ( Saturday was a working day ) would see courting couples roaming there hand in hand.
Donald

Re: When Mum married dad!

Hello Donald and all,
Happy, happy memories. We used to walk out past Down Villas and on to the Hillhall Road, up the road at what was the YF hall up into the Tulliard(sp?) Hills and then down onto the Legacurry road and down the big,long hill that finished at the Plantation. I remember once Stephanie Kingsberry and Janet Anderson were cycling down that hill and both missed the corner. They finished up in hospital. It was quite exciting. Another walk took you down into Drumbeg from the Hillhall Road. There was a cork(?) tree in the churchyard and you could punch the bark without injury. Also in that same area ( Loanins to Hillhall) there was another lane before Orrs Lane which led eventually to one of the Simpson brother’s farm (there were several brothers) and down into Tullynacross. I seem to remember some sort of a loch or dam near the farm. My initial thoughts were McNieces dam but reflection says this was up the Magheralave(sp?) Road. Could be wrong (often am). We must have walked miles in those days and here’s a real surprise - it never rained in the summertime !!! The memory is a great trickster or is it just me growing old ungraciously.
Keep up the good work Donald and the rest as I am back in the first flush of youth at present , thanks to you all.

Re: When Mum married dad!

Lowroader
Was Mc Neices Dam not up at the Point?
There was a small path at the point that led to the loanins and Gillilan,s farm and a little bit further up a path which led to Cromwells Highway.
That Cycling accident you mention, was not my Aunt Shelia Watters also involved? she had to spend a night in hospital also because of concussion.
Didn,t that road you are talking about take you out a Hillhall graveyard , Ferguson,s wee shop and the Jam factory? I mentioned earlier that I remember the remains of a German POW camp there on the site of Hillhall Primary school. Like you say most of the land and farms around there were owned by Simpson
Donald

Re: When Mum married dad!

Donald,
I think you are spot on.
There was third girl involved but I could not remember the name. Sheila, would be the logical one as the three of them went about together.
I still cannot place McNiece's Dam but certainly remember the track up to Gillilands. There were, if you recall lots of little tracks (no Tarmac then!!!) around. another one was, again, past Down Villas going left instead of right and I seem to remember some cottages about there. I never did my courting round there. I was more sedate, using Wallace Park and up Magheralave or Belsize roads.
You mentioned in one of you earlier posts regarding Hilden (of blessed memory) the houses down by the river before you crossed the bridge. Do you remember who lived there?
I have just thought of something. The parents of the girl Toman mentioned in one of Sally's posts I seem to recall had a shop in the Front Row. Or am I again dreaming. BTW I remember Billy Lyness well.
LR

Re: When Mum married dad!

Lowroader
Starting at the bottom working back towards the School, were ,Griffen Courigan, McShane,Weir Fitzsummens,Bleakley, with some in between, McKiterick comes to mind. Lunns lived there a little bit up, Magennis, Hughes, another McKiterick, Taylor, Dougherty. I think Lunn and Weir were related to my Uncle Ronnie,s Wife, Muriel Bradley. Their mothers were sisters and came from Derryaughy, where my Grandmother came from. They were all half timers in the Mill
After the River ,Before the Overfalls ( the original River Lagan) was a row of Whitewashed houses they were built parallel to the River . Porter, Murdock,McMullen lived in the last one. I beleive my parents started 6heir married life there in a rented room
Happy Easter everybody
Donald

Re: When Mum married dad!

Lowroader,
Mrs Toman kept a shop before Bleakley in the front Street.
The Dad Pat Toman was in the Army all his life, as was his son and daughter. there was another one Nell whom was I think a nurse. I remember old Pat and a Cavalry man Billy Friars I think he was called exchanging yarns about how many enemy they shot or captured. Billy was from the Lowroad and after the Army was a carter in Belfast. He used to talk about the THOUSANDS of horses they captured . Us boys used to laugh behind their backs and make fun, but now I realise what they came through. To return to Tomans both Father and son didn,t walk they marched , very proud and upright
Donald

Re: Re: When Mum married dad!

HI, I would like to know more about the Simpson farms you mentioned. Where are they located?

Re: When Mum married dad!

Simpson's farms.
If you know Tullynacross. One farmed between Tullynacross and Greenhill.
Another farmed from the Hillhall Road to Tuulynacross.
In fact I think it would be fair to say that most of the land round about Tullynacross was farmed by the Simpson family, either sons or daughters.

Re: When Mum married dad!

Tullnacross, Lambeg , Hillhall, Lisnatrunk. Most of the land around that area was owned and /or farmed by the Simpson family. Once my family stayed at a daughter called Margory,s place, she was married to a farmer in Newtownards and rented Holiday Homes along the Ulster Way, a very industrious family.
Donald