Thursday 3 October 2019
This morning we're out and about by about 9:30 so we can wander down to the Salmon of Knowledge and check out the River Lagan before heading over to Crumlin Road for the tour there at 11 am. The weather forecast isn't great, impacts from Hurricane/Storm Lorenzo scheduled to hit at about three o'clock. Great, right when we're supposed to be out in it. We walk down past the Merchant Hotel and take our opportunities to photograph the street art here and there as we go. It seems like no time before we're at the Salmon of Knowledge. I wondered how on earth someone came up with the idea, but I find in the little book of Irish Legends I bought in Dublin that the story of the Salmon of Knowledge is among them, originating from the Boyhood Deeds of Fionn who became leader of the Fianna.
Not far away is Thanksgiving Square and the sculpture known colloquially as Nuala with the Hoola. She stands on a globe and "creates a tangible first statement of our long term objective in bringing people together to foster a happy and fulfilling life for all and a sense of gratefulness for all that life has given us". This seems like an appropriate start for our sightseeing today, when so much of our time will involve considering various angles on the historic divisions in the community.
We turn our attention to the bridges across the Lagan. Queen's Bridge is reasonably attractive, opened by Queen Victoria in 1849. I'm not sure I'd be thrilled to have the Queen Elizabeth Bridge named for me, it's a bit ordinary compared to the others. I like the pedestrian bridge across the Lagan Weir quite a lot though. It's a shame we don't have time to take a Titanic Boat ride and explore the Lagan.
Conscious that we need to make tracks towards Crumlin Road we adjust our route and head back towards St Anne's Cathedral, pleased to get a better opportunity for a look at the Albert Clock. Hubby decides he needs to return to the hotel room for something so we agree I'll walk slowly and he can catch me up. This leisurely approach to the walk works out pretty well, I enjoy the street art and the Cathedral and from there the walking route to the gaol is very simple. Before I know it or Hubby can catch up with me, I'm arriving at a magnificent derelict building. What a beauty! Full planning permission is in place for a hotel, announces the for sale sign outside.
I cross to the gaol and redouble my efforts to contact Hubby. We've not really mastered making phone calls between these two stupid SIMs of differing national origins. I'm sure it's very simple once you've figured it out, but so far it hasn't been such an issue that we have been bothered doing more than become annoyed when the messages don't work. Email works well enough so we make do with that, we're rarely apart anyhow.
Crumlin Road Gaol was in use until not so long ago, late 1990s I think, which for oldies like us seems like yesterday. Again I am struck by the effort taken in times past to make even utilitarian places like gaols look attractive. I claim my pre-purchased tickets at the ticket office and wait anxiously for Hubby to turn up. The tour assembly point is in an indoor room with interesting information panels so there's no need to feel bored while we wait for our guide.
When I was planning I was wondering if Crumlin Road might be a bit samey given that we had the tour of Kilmainham Gaol in our itinerary. No. They are quite different and both are very very good. We hear about reception and walk down into the tunnel across to the court house. We hear an absolutely scandalous story about the sale of the court house when it was closed 20 odd years ago. A developer paid one pound for it. Yes folks. One pound on the promise of a multimillion dollar investment in a hotel. We can see for ourselves that never happened. The developer ended up selling it on, and no, not for one pound. Naturally they sold it then for tens of millions of pounds. In response to my reaction our guide suggests they would have needed to recover outlay on rates and so forth. Hmm. I'm not entirely convinced. We hear about escapes, floggings, Jeremy Bentham and his barbaric theories of rehabilitation, changes in prison population over time as Ordinary Decent Criminals became overwhelmed by the numbers of republican and loyalist prisoners. There's a tale about self segration of loyalist and republican prisoners and sectarian violence even within the gaol. But of all the fascinating information provided, the most confronting was the detailed description of the management and execution of condemned men. It was very confronting. Our group was warned before being taken into the condemned cell, so that those who did not want to hear that part could skip it. I've heard descriptions of executions before in various gaols, and some, such as Kilmainham are very moving and solemn, but they have paled in comparison to the practiced delivery and process described by our guide today. It is truly swift and savage. Even putting the issue of capital punishment to one side, I can't decide if the conduct of it here was humane under the circumstances or absolutely barbaric.
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| The beauty of the spaces in the gaol is sharply juxtaposed against its function |
On our way to lunch at Cuffs Bar and Grill we spend some more time on the information provided at the tour starting point. I'm fascinated by the photographs of child inmates from the 1850s. They look like they could have been taken when I was a kid. One of them looks quite a lot like a boy who lived next door to us. They locked up kids as young as 7 years old in this place. It's so weird to contemplate the horror these boys were subjected to and yet the incredible legacy for their families to have these photographs from a time when very few would have access to images of their forebears at all let alone of such quality.
We have a leisurely lunch in Cuffs. Only one other group here. Hubby has a very nice pasta with garlic bread and I'm into the BLAT. A nice job of upselling by our waitress results in the choc orange cheesecake and a little pavlova making their way to our table also. We should have skipped those.
These days Crumlin road has arranged to have conflicting stories tours start from the gaol, but I booked yonks ago so we need to walk over to the Divis Tower for the start of our tour at 2 pm. Our route is through an area with a lot of union jacks and other signs of commitment to the United Kingdom. There's also street art focussing on the power of people within the community to lead changes that improve the area for everyone.
As we arrive at the Divis Tower, it's raining. It's hard to identify others waiting for the same tour, people don't seem inclined to talk. So we stalk about keeping an eye open and eventually we figure everyone's assembling so we confirm that's our group and get our names ticked off the list. Our first guide is Joe and he tells us his story, from when he was a kid witnessing violence at the Divis Tower when a young boy was killed by the State and the subsequent 1969 progrom where Catholics were burnt out from a mixed area nearby, through his imprisonment and involvement with famous events and people and the deaths of close family and friends in sectarian violence. It's all very interesting but it's not for me to relate the details here. Despite the telling of his personal history, the overwhelming tone of the discussion was not focussed on the violence of the past, or the surely inevitable anger or grief which must be part of Joe's story, but on peace, reconciliation and confidence in the future. Remarkably, he says he doesn't blame the individuals who committed the acts of violence which have impacted him personally, but sees it as a symptom of a seige mentality as a minority group (over the island of Ireland as a whole) seeks to dominate the majority holding a different view. It's the regime that's to blame not the individuals. The tone of everything Joe says communicates his confidence that in time, consensus will be built and the community can move forward as one with social justice for all, and yes, reunification when and only when the majority of people vote to do so. The message and the thinking behind it is honed and practiced and there's no hint at all of any seeping internal conflict on these points. Joe is 100% confident that reunification will come in time, through peaceful means.
Joe tells us that Republican supporters have taken down the Irish Tricolours because they have decided that displaying them everywhere in people's face was a mistake and anyway they get tatty looking, so now they only fly them at the Republican memorials for those killed in the violence. I only noticed one other Irish Tricolour, hanging out of a window on the Divis Tower. The memorials where the tricolour is flown are presented with neat and solemn dignity, much like most war memorials I've seen anywhere in the world. While on the topic of flags Joe asks us if we know the symbolism in the tricolour - the white in the centre means peace between orange and green, the colours symbolic of the political and religious divide.
I've done a little research and it seemed to me that Joe's tour was pretty consistent with Sinn Fein's current talking points, positioning themselves as potential future leaders of the entire community. Which makes sense given Joe's long term involvement with and work for the party. Inclusiveness, healing the old wounds and the need for a political resolution rather than violence is the message.
Joe tells us about his community work with young people which he loves, trying to support them and keep them on the straight and narrow. As we walk, the impacts of Hurricane Lorenzo arrive. We all stand in the pouring rain, having come from all over the world, intently hanging on Joe's every word. Theres no sign whatsoever that any individual among us has even a moment's thought of abandoning this walk and talk. Lorenzo be damned.
Joe allows for a toilet stop in a local pub. I've hung back taking some photographs, but catch up as Joe is waiting for the comfort stoppers. It's time to hand over to Mark, our ex-loyalist prisoner, to hear the other side of the coin. Joe points him out and some of us head over while Joe waits for the rest of the group to catch up in a position where they can easily see him. Then there's an official and perfectly friendly and civil handover and greeting between the two guides and Joe heads back over the divide as Mark hands out nifty little audio devices which will make it so much easier to hear what he's saying. Our meeting place here is on the Protestant side of the wall. Mark gives us a detailed run-down of the nightly curfew and closure of the heavy metal gates. It's quite confronting. Neither Hubby or I had any clue this was still going on every day.
Mark relates incidents of unjustifiable violence involving bombs hurled into civilian gatherings and points out kindergartens on either side of the wall and asks how can we build peace for the future when the children don't know each other. There are still some small groups on the republican side that commit acts of violence. We head along the "peace wall." The oft repeated message is about two communities that can't live together. The tone of the message is hard to figure out. It seems to wander back and forth from frustration back to accusation with gratuitous little digs at the other side slipped in with increasing regularity. We see no sign of the section of wall that our friends wrote on. At the moment they have a lengthy display about walls that divide people around the world. Mark tells us of programs that had been funded by the EU to create opportunities for children of either community to come together to get to know each other and build bridges, but with Brexit that funding stopped so that has fallen over. I ask what the British government is doing to bring the community together, what funding do they provide?
We're told that since Northern Ireland parliament is suspended there's no local body to accept any funding. The fault for the suspension of Northern Ireland's parliament is sheeted home to Sinn Fein because they insist on the adoption of the Irish language and Marriage Equality. The tone suggests that it is a complete no brainer why those things can't be agreed to. I'm thinking, Really? You fly the Scottish Saltire, we went through areas of Scotland with dual signage in Gaelic. Is that really a deal breaker? and you fly the cross of St George here too, marriage equality is everywhere else in the UK including England. There's got to be more to it than that surely. One of our group, I think it's the lady from New Zealand, a sensible progressive nation if every there was one and where the Maori language has level pegging with English, is simply aghast at what she's hearing. The look on her face is utterly priceless. Finally she can contain herself no longer. She says in a tone of exasperation "Why don't you just put the kids in the car and take them to an agreed place?" She's just not buying the funding problem as an excuse. We walk past a new development. It's the first development in the area for decades and they are hoping that the favourable financial terms will attract residents to move back here. Population in this area has dropped by about 50,000. I suggest that this fall in population may explain the integration difficulties. Those who want to integrate have perhaps voted with their feet, leaving behind those with more extreme views. "Older people" Mark volunteers. We go along like this and come to an area almost drowning in Union Jacks and note "Does this look like a community that wants reunification with Ireland?" (or words to that effect). He says proudly that it's one of the most partriotic communities in the nation. The density of memorial artwork on the buildings increases. The digs at the other side of the conflict continue and I'm finding myself losing patience with it. He's losing me. We stop at the site of another ghastly and unjustifiable act of violence on innocent people, Repeated remarks are made emphasising the death of a two year old in this bomb attack. I drop behind photographing some relevant things that caught my eye because they directly contradict assertions Mark has made that were clearly intended to show the superiority of the Loyalist side over the Republicans.
Eventually we come to a large and grusome memorial where there are displays of graphic photographs of the aftermath of violence. The group is silent and sombre, the atmosphere among us is thick. We're nearing the end of our tour. Mostly I think all of us try pretty hard to just listen and keep our mouths shut. I can't live with myself if I don't say something about this. I summon up my courage and comment "This is just SO unhelpful." Those who have travelled with me before have heard my rant on this subject. "What is needed" I say "is for people to talk about the things they have done to others rather than the things others have done to them. Not just in Ireland, everywhere. Until we all do this, we can never have lasting peace." Mark says he disagreed with the way this memorial was done. "We don't need to be constantly reminded." he says and he's right. Remember the dead. Remember ALL the dead, not just your own.
Throughout our tour Mark repeatedly expressed his frustration or was it verging on despair, at the slowness of progress breaking down the wall and I don't know, was it regret? that it took so long for people to come to their senses and realise that violence was not the answer. Mark is not obliged to tell us what he was imprisoned for and noone asks, Mark's personal history and journey is not part of our walk which I guess in some ways probably makes his task more difficult. Overall for this second half of our tour I am left wondering about everything other than the fact that it is so very difficult to move forward with such a history. But it must be done and it can be done and it is being done. I hope our visit to Northern Ireland along with other Tourists helps in some little way to promote progress and provide economic rewards to encourage perseverence. Of course the danger of going on tours, especially one tour is that, obviously, you are hearing a limited range of voices. I am very glad our political tours are not the only conversations we had directly on some of these subjects, but I don't regret one single moment of the time we've spent on them. I am grateful to both Joe and Mark for the time they have spent walking and talking with us all.
Tour concluded we walk back in the rain ultimately arriving in writers square. Back in more familiar territory it's an easy walk back to the Premier Inn.
Glad to be back out of the wet, we hang our coats and chill out for a while procrastinating about what to do about dinner. We want something quick, with the late night last night and such a busy day, I'm not up for a long night of fine dining. In the end we decide to brave the weather once more and duck around the corner to Yardbird. A little nosing around in the Dirty Onion we find the stairs and head up. Seating and service is quite quick and food is great. Chicken breast perfectly cooked. Chicken wings simply wonderful. Quite possibly the best I've had - or at least equal to the wings I had with Daughter2 at Cradle Mountain. Totally delicious. Avocado salad is weird looking but also delicious. We're really glad we came here. Another dash back through the rain to get home, at least it's not as heavy as it was this afternoon.
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