Journal - Carrickfergus

"I wish I had you in Carrickfergus...I would swim over the deepest ocean, the deepest ocean to be by your side..."
- "Carrickfergus" recorded by Van Morrison and The Chieftains on Irish Heartbeat

Unlike the author of this traditional song, none of us had a love to whom we were prepared to swim over the sea, but we had heard good things about the town of Carrickfergus, just a short drive north of Belfast. So we organized a large group of people and met bright and early in the Europa Bus Station to catch the 10am Ulsterbus to Carrickfergus.

In our naivety, we did not expect there to be so few things to do on a cold, cloudy, Sunday morning, although we should have known that everything would be closed, at least until later in the day, as is the case most places here. So we headed around town to hit all of the highlights from the tourist brochure: the gates through the old city walls, the many parks (with purple, yellow, and white crocuses starting to appear), St Nicholas' Church, the marina, and Carrickfergus Castle. The church was just starting the service, and the castle didn't open until 2pm, so we amused ourselves around the marina, climbing among the rocks, watching the boaters, and noticing the small plaque to where William of Orange landed in 1690 on his way to defeat King James in the Battle of the Boyne.

I guess this would be a good time to throw in a bit of history, so feel free to skip this paragraph if you want to. Carrickfergus is really old (in Eurocentric American terms), and a castle and town has been here since the late 12th century. It was an important market town long before Belfast, and later kept watch over the entrance to Belfast Lough. Sir Arthur Chichester (a big name in Ulster and Belfast; his Donegall descendants built Belfast Castle) played a large role in the city during the 17th century. One of the city's claims to fame is that it was where King William of Orange landed before defeating King James at the famous Battle of the Boyne. Carrickfergus' second claim to fame (probably less important) is that the Andrew Jackson Cottage (where the US President's parents lived before emigrating) is located nearby.

On this gray day, that history seemed far away and barely relevant. From out of the mist loomed the 1970s stack at the nearby Kilroot Power Station, a four-lane highway buzzed along what would be the shore, and many abandoned buildings stood just outside of the city centre. Oh, I should have mentioned that I found out later that Carrickfergus was home to the first Presbytery in Ireland. That is reasonable, considering we passed the well-kept Orange Hall, numerous flying flags of Ulster, and some red, white, and blue painted curbstones.

As they day progressed, things looked up; we also kept looking up to see if the sun would make it through the clouds (it didn't). Everyone at St Nicholas' Church were very nice too, and they gave us a good tour of the inside, noting the remnants of the 1182 church, the numerous beautiful stained-glass windows, and the wing of pews that was once reserved for the Chichester/Donegall family and under which the Chichester family now lies. They also made sure to note that when looking down the cross-shaped church, the pews angle to the right, because Christ's head supposedly tilted right as he died upon the cross.

We emerged just after 1pm with hungry stomachs, and a core group of five decided to eat at a pub while the rest headed back to Belfast. Chips, a minted-veal-burger, and an hour later, we headed over to the Carrickfergus Castle. Supposedly the highlight of the town, it would have been if it were free, but I thought the 3-pound fee was a bit high for a self-guided tour of cannons and ramparts, complete with plaster princesses and amusing but eyeless defenders with names like "Chester the Crossbower." The high walls and gun-sights did offer great views of the Lough, the town and hills, and a trio preaching religion through loudspeakers below.

Unfortunately we had to wait two hours for the next bus, during which time I learned several things from our visit to the Carrickfergus museum: carpets are a necessity in museums because you can lay down on them, never let archaeologists talk about their work while in the laboratory because you fall asleep watching their video, nothing happened in Carrickfergus during the 20th century despite "significant changes to resident's way of life," and I really like chocolate digestive biscuits.

At quarter-past-five, everyone was relieved to be back on the road again. I think it was unanimous that unlike Van Morrison's claim, none of us will be striving on our deathbed "to be home in Carrickfergus."