Folly

Following hot on the heels of the last post at reference 1, a package turned up from Armagh at lunchtime containing a copy of reference 2. With the address of the sender being somewhere in Folly Park.

Intrigued, I take a look at gmaps. Folly Park turned out to be a bit of a cul-de-sac off a rather more substantial Folly Road. I then tried to run down some 18th century folly attached to a large house in or around Armagh, but eventually decided that what we had was Folly Glen, a modest stream running north-south, a little to the east of town centre, as at reference 3. A pleasant bit of recreational green space, snapped in the old postcard above, courtesy of the Linen Hall Library in Belfast, away to the north east. But no folly.

While Beckett looks more promising, although in the interests of space, he does not spend much of it on what happened before the Tudor conquest of the 16th century. But I have learned that while neither the Romans nor the Saxons bothered with Ireland, both the Gaels and the Vikings did, in that order. With the Gaels coming directly from Gaul, so presumably the same word. Pagans, they arrived in the south of the island at about the time of our Lord, and took around four hundred years to get a proper grip on the whole. A warrior aristocracy on top of the aboriginal heap, very much after the fashion of the later Normans in England.

Also that the Irish church was quite keen on Henry II coming over, hoping that he would back much needed reform of the church.

Also that the Irish kings brought over mercenaries from the west of Scotland to help them against the Normans. Well armed chaps, fighting with the Viking battleaxe. Known as gallowglasses, a corruption of the Gaelic for foreign soldiers. They also appear in 'Macbeth'.

Also that the Scots - the brother of the Robert the Bruce who caused us so much trouble - mounted a full scale invasion of Ireland early in the fourteenth century - with an army not much smaller than that of the Conqueror at Hastings. An invasion which eventually failed, despite initial successes.

Reference 1: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2021/06/hearthlands-of-belfast.html.

Reference 2: A short history of Ireland - J. C. Beckett - 1951/1966.

Reference 3: https://mapcarta.com/W914807300.

Reference 4: https://linenhall.com/. Beware of the unsolicited voice over!