Pamela Louderback, Day 98

Today was another splendid surprise that was a grand day out courtesy of Eileen, my Fulbright buddy.  We began our journey with Eileen picking me up at the apartment for an early start of 9:00 a.m.  Our destination was the Seacourt Print Workshop.  Seacourt is an artist print studio in Bangor catering to anyone with an interest in printmaking, from the beginner to the professional artist.  Bangor is about thirty minutes away from Belfast.  The exhibition currently on display was a 3D exhibition of a variety of medium (paper, textiles, glass, etc.).  Eileen is familiar with one of the artists and was keen on checking out the piece, as well as the permanent gallery of F. E. McWilliams, world renowned sculptor from Bangor. 

What I found to be of most import was the fact that education has been an essential aspect of Seacourt's activities since its inception. Its original premises were within a teachers' college and public classes in all techniques are still offered on a regular basis. Partnership programmes (residencies) with the South Eastern Regional College and local secondary schools allow students to work alongside professional artists. Targeted outreach for groups in health and community settings is also an important part of our educational strand.

However, we didn't make it to Seacourt as quickly as anticipated -- as we took the wrong road and ended up in Armagh.  (which actually worked out really well in the end).  By taking advantage of our mishap, our wrong turn provided an opportunity to visit the St. Patrick's Cathedral Armagh.  Scaffolding enveloped the exterior of the Church but the interior was relatively free of any refurbishing tools (and people).  Eileen and I were the only visitors that morning, and the caretaker was also present. 

Saint Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral stands on the hill from which the City of Armagh derives its name – Ard Macha; the hill of Macha. Less than half a mile away, on the adjoining hill, is our sister St Patrick’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. (we did a "drive-by" of the Roman Catholic Cathedral)

According to the website, in recent years many visitors have returned again to Armagh, the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland, most likely in part to the fact that both Cathedrals are part of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board’s St Patrick’s Signature Trail. 

The Metropolitan Cathedral of St Patrick, Armagh, is set on a hill from which the name of the city derives – Ard Macha – the Height of Macha. Macha, a legendary pre-christian tribal princess – some say goddess – is also linked with the nearby Emain Macha, a major ritual site occupied from late Neolithic/early Bronze Age times which is regarded as having been the ancient royal centre of Iron Age Ulster. Emain Macha is associated with the epic Ulster cycle known as the Tain bo Cuailnge whose doomed hero figure is Cuchulain, the ‘Hound of Ulster’, and which features also the King of Ulster Conchobhar MacNessa, his adversary Queen Macbeth of Connaught, Conail Cernach, the Red Branch knights and the Boy Troop of Ulster.

After the ritual destruction of the sanctuary at Emain it is likely that the nearby hill of Ard Macha became the centre of the Ulaid (the local tribal group that gave its name to Ulster). It is this hilltop enclosure which St Patrick acquired and within which he built his first ‘Great Stone Church’. St Patrick’s earliest church in Armagh was probably ‘Templum na Ferta’, the Church of the Relics on a site close to Scotch Street, below the Hill of Armagh.

There were relics along the interior walls of the church, many encased in displaly cases, from the area.  My favorite items were 3,000 year old carved statues that someone had recently uncovered while digging in their back yard garden area.  Of course, the tie to St. Patrick is quite interesting -- it is on this same site that today’s Cathedral stands where St. Patrick decreed that the Great Church at Armagh should be the premier church in Ireland.  From the fifth century of the Christian era, the hill acquired a new significance with the arrival in Armagh of St Patrick. Patrick, as a boy, had spent some years as a slave in Ireland. He managed to escape and return to his family in Britain. After a time, Patrick claimed to have had a vision in which a man called Victoricus implored him to return to Ireland. Accordingly, he prepared himself for ordination and eventually, as a bishop, began his ministry in Ireland in, according to tradition, 432.

In his travels throughout the country, Patrick eventually reached Armagh where, following some hard negotiating with a local Chieftain, Daire, he was given his desired site on the hill of Armagh. In what is believed to be the year 445, he built his church. Whether or not the building was of stone, as the Irish name Damhliag Mor implies, is uncertain but there certainly was a great stone church at Armagh in the ninth century according to the Annals of Ireland.

All in all, it was a great day of historical and modern-day discovery as well as another opportunity to immerse myself in the areas culture, arts, and education.