The Return to the Homeland

During the first week of classes, I was talking to one of the girls in the program — Anne — who came over to the country with her family a week early and went around the island tracking all of her family history. This got me thinking and itching to dig up the past of the Arneals. It just so happened we were to have an extra day of adventure following our Dublin/Belfast trip. In talking with the group, I discovered that Jillian also had ancestors from Ireland and it turns out the homelands of our relatives were about 30 miles apart. I smell a road trip. Since the places were in the middle of Northern Ireland we figured the best way to get to them would be via car.

Seven years ago, my brother Nathan and I did a whirlwind tour of Ireland. We rented a car and saw the country the way it was meant to be seen. It remains one of my favorite parts of the trip. Needless to say, when the opportunity to drive through the Irish countryside presented itself, I was sold. In addition to Jillian and I, Adam, who has no Irish blood in him, joined us on our journey.

After picking up our car from the Dublin airport our first mission was to get to the Irish Sea. We picked an exit and drove along the seaside until we found a parking spot where we could go exploring. The only downside to the stop was the Sea was at low tide so we had to walk a long way to get to the water. In the gap between the shore and the water were hundreds of jellyfish on the beach. Luckily, it wasn't raining during this time and we were able to wade out into the water. I found the water incredibly cold, however, Jillian and Adam both thought it was warm compared. We collected a few shells and made our way back to our car. It so happened off that the next town up the road Clogerhead. I thought Whitney would like to live there.

From the shoreline, we navigated up Northern Ireland. We took a mostly side and winding roads, it soon became clear that Irish drivers are insane. I was going about 10 km under the speed limit and we felt slightly uncomfortable taking the turns so fast. Yet, the Irish drivers still caught up and passed us. Oh, and this is forgetting to mention that the roads were ridiculously narrow and their idea of shoulders were 10-foot high bushes. Good times. Also passing on their version of highways is great fun. Instead of using the right lane to pass, the slow car essentially moves onto the shoulder to allow the faster one to go on.

Anyway, In just under two hours we safely arrived at Jillian's town, Irvinestown. This strand of family stems from her maternal grandmother's family. They descended from Christopher Irvine, an English nobleman who was granted the land by King James VI in the early 1600s. The castle is currently an equestrian operation with lots of horses and trails, but still has a great view of the countryside. The old part of the castle has undergone major renovations and was last used as a military hospital during WWII. You can see the windows and doors are now painted a lovely shade of blue and trimmed with red.

The other cool part about Irvingstown was after we exited a cafe for lunch, we heard bagpipes. As we looked up the town centre, a marching band emerged followed by about 40 people wearing suits and orange sashes. This was a live Orange March that our professor told us about. We watched them march down the street (along with a smattering of other people) before walking out to the castle. We spent about an hour or so wandering out around the castle. Upon our return to the town centre, the crew was still marching. They were hardcore.



After doing a little postcard hunting, we took off to Killeeshill. A quick overview of my trip destination. I don't know much about my family other than John Arneal traveled from Ireland to Ohio sometime between 1810-1820. We didn't have a castle or anything.

Before the trip, I knew that the Arneals came from the County Tyrone, which is now part of Northern Ireland. After doing a little research and e-mailing a few people, I narrowed the county down to Killeeshill, which isn't a town, but rather a road and parish. Knowing I was looking for a parish, I found the Church of Ireland on Killeeshill Road. It took one drive by, but we ended up finding the road and the church quite easily. The chapel, St. Paul's Church of Killeeshill, was perched above on a hill. We parked outside the gates and let ourselves it. It appeared that the church was still active as it had service times posted on a badly stained sign, which unfortunately was the only sign of identification. The church had been renovated, but the back part looks like the original section. Huge trees blocked the front side to prevent any pictures from that angle, but the backside was still quite the sight.

The cemetery surrounded the church on all sides. Most of the front section was filled with newer graves (as recent at 2003) while the back was overgrown. I read on a website about the church that the front side was the Protestant section and the back was reserved for Catholics. Several of the graves looked to be quite old, but we were unable to read them because most of the inscription had been worn off. We pieced together enough information from several graves to figure out that the cemetery existed back in the early 1800s. (The website said it had graves from the 1700s, but I could find no proof.) Even though I didn't find the ultimate prize and find a gravestone with "Arneal" on it, being in the cemetery and church were my ancient relatives walked was still an amazing experience.

I walked around a little more taking pictures of as many gravestones as I could before we (and the rain) decided it was time to move on. However, before we began our trip back to Dublin, I spotted a sign by the highway for US Grant's ancestral homestead. We drove to the sight and toiled around for a minute or two (long enough to take a few pictures) and took off again. The Grant House was only a few miles from Killeeshill, so if you think about it, there is a pretty good chance that my ancestors knew the relatives of Ulysses S. Grant. (Also, we drove around Killeeshill Road for a little while and there are some huge amazing houses in the area. Glad to see the natives are still doing well.)

The drive home was uneventful and smooth. We had an automatic shifting car so we didn't have to mess with using a stick shift on the left side. The last thing to cap our amazing day was a full rainbow that appeared to end right on the road.

In all, it was a great trip. Even though I fell short of the ultimate goal, it was still worth it to explore the area and feel connected to a little bit of my personal history.

That wraps up the four-day trip to Dublin. In itself, it would have made a great vacation. But there is more to come. This weekend, I am off to Cork and Blarney Castle. But not before I have a final on Friday. We've been busy studying for it so not many updates for the day. I'm going to knock it out of the park.

Cheers,

LJLA