The yew walk is an amazing feature of the garden at Loughall, the house and grounds owned by the Department of Agriculture but part now open to the public. The walk dates from around 1685 and the founding of the estate. The yews here are not clipped, but are free-growing trees of spreading form. Two […]
The Expansive Pear
On a farm near Carrickfergus in the shelter of the Knockagh is the biggest pear tree of them all and an amazing survivor. At first glance it seems to be an entire orchard, not a single tree. Half a dozen trunks raise their pale downy leaves, a mass of flowers early in the year, and […]
Wild Cherries of Navan
Beside the ancient royal site of Navan at Armagh is the mysterious pool known as the King’s stables. Whether or not a king kept his horses here, it is known to be a ritual pool into which offerings where thrown and from which treasure has been recovered. Around the pool, now somewhat choked by aquatic […]
The Pear Tree on the Map
On a rural area of Co. Down between Saintfield and Ballynahinch is a Peartree Road, with a Peartree farm and the very pear tree after which both were named. Marked on the earliest Ordnance Survey maps of the 1830’s, this local hero of a pear tree is still alive and well. The trunk leans mossily […]
The Precision Pear
At Brookhall Open Farm outside Lisburn, a remarkable pear survives, known to be over 100 years old: it was planted when the buildings were erected in the 1870’s. What makes it remarkable is that it is an espaliered specimen, grown tight against the gable-end wall of farm buildings, and has been severely pruned for all […]
The Ancient Apple Trees of Armagh
Many old varieties of apple and pear have been lost but there is increased interest in preserving those that remain. Keegan Crab, Barnhill Pippin, Golden Nobel and Ballyfatten, all planted around 1880, may still be found in the MacNeice orchards beside Ardress House in Armagh. Other old trees survive beside farmhouses, sometimes kept as much […]
Saint Bronagh's Bell
Long ago in Rostrevor there was an uncanny happening. Regularly, on stormy nights when local seafarers might be at risk on Carlingford Lough or the open Irish sea, a bell was heard ringing gently and sweetly. No source could be found, though the sound came from the old graveyard. Then came the ‘night of the […]
The De Lorean Fairy Tree
One of the many vanished fairy thorns, but this was better known than most and has earned an international notoriety. The thorn was known to generations of mill workers in Dunmurry, once a centre for the linen industry. It was said that mill girls on their way to an early shift had actually seen the […]
The "Ball of Fire"
Central to the arboretum in Tollymore Forest Park is all that remains of a once mighty tree. It was a Wellingtonia, at 100 feet the tallest tree in the place. It is now a massive tall spiky stump. About 2 o’clock in the afternoon on 12th October 1988 a freak electrical storm swept over the […]
The ‘Pin Tree’, Ardboe
One of the famous wishing trees was the ‘pin tree’ at Ardboe old church on the West shore of Lough Neagh. The most recent tree blew down in the fierce wind of Christmas Eve 1997. It had been dead for some time – probably no tree could survive for long the metal pressed or hammered […]