State Coach

The  magnificent Londonderry State Coach, now restored by the National Trust, is usually on display at Mount Stewart in County Down.

The colours of the coach are of significance, since the heraldic colours sable (black) and or (yellow or gold) feature in the Londonderry coat-of-arms.

This coach, which dates back to 1880s, was used by the Londonderry family to travel to the coronations of EDWARD VII, GEORGE V, GEORGE VI, as well as royal weddings and great state occasions in London.

Several years ago the National Trust approached the 9th Marquess, who owned the coach, with the aim of restoring and conserving this historically important artefact.

Now, after months of restoration by National Trust experts and with an project investment of around £100,000, the coach is displayed in all its sumptuous glory at Mount Stewart.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the Londonderry family had several homes across the UK, including Mount Stewart , travelling frequently between them with several carriages kept at each residence, suitable for a variety of uses.

This particular coach would have only ever been used for state occasions and is now in Northern Ireland for the first time where previously it remained at the family’s London home, Londonderry House, in Park Lane.

Londonderry House, Park Lane

Very few state coaches now survive and the National Trust has four examples of such carriages which can be seen at Powis Castle, Wales; Tatton Park, Cheshire; Arlington Court, Devon; and Mount Stewart, County Down.

Frances Bailey, the National Trust Curator, commented:

“As a conservation charity, we are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to invest in the restoration of the Londonderry State Coach. We have gathered really interesting stories, coronation footage, old images of the coach and the people associated with it; to give visitors a strong sense of what this grand vehicle would have been used for and of the important aristocratic family it belongs to."

The late Lady Mairi Bury remembered the coach well, recalling the time when her parents, the 7th Marquess and Marchioness, attended the coronation of King George VI in 1937 whilst wearing their coronation robes and coronets.

This was also the last time the coach was ever used.

Lady Mairi was a keen photographer at that time and took some snaps of her parents on their procession to Westminster Abbey for the great event.

The images portray the excitement of the day and show the crowd that had gathered outside their London home to see the carriage set off.

These photographs, other stories and the splendid coach can be viewed at Mount Stewart.

Visitors can learn about the coach, the Londonderry family, as well as the staffing of stately homes.

First published in March, 2010.

Londonderry State Coach

The State Coach is usually on display at the National Trust's Mount Stewart estate, County Down, former seat of the Marquesses of Londonderry.


A new coach-house was made for the coach, which used to be based at the family's grand London residence, Londonderry House, Park Lane.

The coach  (or chariot) is exquisite in its detail and craftsmanship.

The Londonderry coat-of-arms, crests and coronets adorn it.

7th Marquess & Marchioness

The walls of the coach-house tell its story: it only seems to have been used on state occasions.

The coach is on loan from the present Marquess.

First published in 2010.

8th Earl of Belmore

THE RT HON JOHN ARMAR [LOWRY-CORRY], EARL OF BELMORE, LIVES AT CASTLE COOLE ESTATE, COUNTY FERMANAGH

The 8th Earl of Belmore succeeded his father, the 7th Earl, when he was nine years old.

Although the title is officially registered as the Earl Belmore (without the "of"), it is thought that this was an historical discrepancy, since Belmore is a place.

Lord and Lady Belmore live at  Castle Coole estate, near Enniskillen in County Fermanagh.

In fact they live close to the great mansion house itself, at the Garden House within the grounds.

Lady Belmore is a daughter of the 6th Earl of Clanwilliam.

I recall Lord Clanwilliam, whose seat was then Montalto House near Ballynahinch in County Down: he was, I think, the president of the Scout Association in the county and Lord-Lieutenant. Lady Belmore would be familiar with Montalto.

One of Lord Belmore's sisters, Lady Anthea Forde, lives at Seaforde House in County Down.

Lord and Lady Belmore have three children: the eldest son and heir John, Viscount Corry (below); the Hon Montagu Lowry-Corry; and Lady Martha Lowry-Corry.

Lord Belmore's interests include fishing and fine art.

Castle Coole was completely restored by the National Trust in September, 1987, at a total cost of £3.07 million. It was officially re-opened in 1988 by Her late Majesty Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

First published in August, 2008.

Ballymacormick Footpath

I've just returned from a day with the National Trust volunteers at Ballymacormick Point, near Groomsport in County Down. We have practically completed the first phase of the footpath now.

Work continued on the gullies we've been digging to facilitate drainage from a section.

There were about seven of us today. It appears that the annual Christmas Party dinner bash will be held on the Castle Ward estate so, if I can manage it. I would hope to kip down at Terinichol for the night!

I munched another one of those chilli chicken wraps today - home made - with chicken, salad, mustard mayonnaise and sweet chilli sauce.

Glastry Reserve

I dropped a Malteser chocolate down the sofa last night and the ruddy thing melted, causing a mess. I didn't know it was there until I got up! I got the worst of it tidied up; however I've tackled the stain this afternoon and it seems to be all right.

Yet another day of toil; a labour of love. We - the NT Volunteers - met at Glastry today. Glastry is about a mile from the fishing village of Ballyhalbert in County Down.

The National Trust owns the land which was once the old brick-works at Glastry. It closed a long time ago, in 1872. The former clay pits filled naturally with rain-water; and now form a series of ponds surrounded by a lovely nature reserve. I think it once formed part of the 2nd World War air base, RAF Ballyhalbert.

The weather was fairly rotten today, the rain relentless for most of the day. Still, we managed to get a substantial amount of gorse cleared, lighting a bonfire to burn it.

Glastry Nature Reserve project involves the regeneration of a former waste tip site, into a wild life promoting habitat and green area for use by local residents near the 35 acre site. Formerly the site of Glastry Brickworks at the turn of the 19th century, the area now benefits from several small ponds created by clay mining for the production of bricks used in many of Belfast's buildings.

The land was presented to the National Trust in 1978 but was left wild, grazed by local cattle, for a few years before being used as a council waste tip in the early 1980s. The tip was capped in the late 1980s and once again the land was left to return to open grassland. There are two sections to the site with the Glastry road separating them.

Currently funding is being sought to support this initiative from the Rural Development Programme, National Lottery, and the Arts Council.

Some of the plans for the area, including tree planting, picnic tables, car parking facilities, and fencing. It is also hoped to attract local artists to create woodland themed art installations in the area, including sculptures of wildlife, and popular fictional themes such as 'The Ents' the guardians of Fangorn Forest from the Lord of the Rings stories.

The Allotment Bench

The weather has been much kinder today. I was at Minnowburn, beside the River Lagan at Shaw's Bridge near Belfast, a property of the National Trust.

Today we were erecting a new wooden bench overlooking the allotments. The sun shone and we could strip down to polo shirts. I'd brought two hamburgers, rolls and coleslaw with me because we lit a barbecue at the garden beside the warden's office.

There were about half a dozen of us working today, though the numbers swelled to about double that figure when the barbecue was ready!

The photograph taken this afternoon shows the new gazebo and the allotments. Hopefully we might acquire a suitable weather-vane for the top of the gazebo at some stage.

Ballymacormick Path

It has been another dreadfully wet day, as far as our weather is concerned. I have been helping other National Trust volunteers in re-constructing a footpath which runs from Groomsport to Ballymacormick Point in County Down.

Despite being reasonably well prepared, with waterproof over-trousers, anorak, cap etc the rain still managed to find its way into my boots and socks!

Nevertheless, we did make good progress with the path. We were with a working party which was staying at the Base Camp (former gamekeeper's cottage), Castle Ward. I told two of the girls that I'd love to have stayed over and joined them in a few drinks, though logistics (driving!) prevented this. If they ever offered to put me up, I may be unlikely to refuse, though.

We lunched in a damp mini-bus and I munched my ham-and-salad-cream sandwiches. Somebody had baked a fresh walnut and date cake, so I readily accepted a chunk thereof.

Chapel Island Day

I've spent the day with other National Trust volunteers on Chapel Island, Greyabbey. By Jove, the weather was quite awful - blustery, wet, lashing rain at the northern end. We were doing a litter lift and repairing some fencing.

There were about seven of us and we had our lunch at the side overlooking the mainland. The quad bike was driven over with a trailer in order that we could carry the litter back.

On Island Taggart

Island Taggart is a property of the National Trust on Strangford Lough, County Down. It lies between Ringdufferin directly to its north and Killyleagh, the nearest substantive village, to the south. The size of the Island is roughly 92 acres in extent and there are the remains of one farm-house and three cottages; a well; kelp kiln; orchard; hedgerows and ruinous stone walls. The Shrigley Monument can clearly be seen from the island.

Simmy Island, residence of Sir William and Lady Hastings, lies at Taggart's north-western tip; while the Dunnyneill Islands are to the south-east.

I spent the day on Island Taggart with seven other volunteers. We took a little boat from an old quay just south of Simmy Island.

There was an abundance of brambles with ripe, sweet blackberries on the island. Today we were clearing the newly-planted orchard - adjacent to the old farmstead - of long grass and weeds. We also tidied the whole area at the kelp kiln, which is now clearly visible from the east of the lough.

I'd brought along a carton of mini blueberry muffins to share; oh and, by the way, my sandwiches today were lean corned beef and salad-cream with wholemeal bread!

We all suffered a slight mishap during the afternoon: the boat accidentally overturned at its mooring and the outboard motor was unserviceable as a consequence; so we had to row back to the mainland! More exercise and calories burned on top of the sixty lengths I've just completed in the swimming-pool.

Tullyratty Day

I was out with the National Trust Strangford Lough weekend volunteer group today at Tullyratty, a townland bordering the Castle Ward estate in County Down. There were seven of us. We were picking ragwort from several fields and it's gratifying to see that this weed is now well under control; indeed I think it is almost eliminated from the fields which the Trust owns. This encourages other species and wild flowers to thrive, thus encouraging more fauna - like butterflies - too.

We had our packed lunches in a lovely meadow which overlooked a pond and adjacent hills. The Trust has already marked out a new path to Tullyratty from the Estate.

Weather permitting, we hope to visit Salt Island next week.

Idyllic Crom

I drove to Crom Estate, County Fermanagh, this afternoon via Lisnaskea. It was fine and mostly sunny. I parked at the old farmyard, which has been converted inot lovely apartments. It's beside the lough, where there is a large jetty.

I walked along a path to Old Crom Castle; and continued to the aesthetically handsome boat-house, where I spotted Lord Erne's car: He was down at the water's edge with his sister, the youthful Lady Rosanagh. They were preparing to go for a trip on their boat and we exchanged a few words. When I mentioned Crom Castle's former house-keeper, Mrs Johnston, and an amusing incident some twenty-two years ago when I was staying on the Estate, Lady Rosanagh asked me if I'd had my tea-leaves read by Mrs J!

Later in the afternoon I enjoyed cottage pie and salad at the National Trust tea-room.



I stopped in the centre of Lisnaskea on the way home and photographed the old Corn and Potato Market, the ancient Market Cross taking pride of place in the centre. The Market was erected by the 3rd Earl of Erne. Click to enlarge.

Minnowburn: Rose Garden

I spent the day at Minnowburn today, up at the Rose Garden. We were weeding and planting plants, including lavender and roses. There were five of us. A perk of the job - being a NT Volunteer - is that there's often the opportunity to get logs for fire-wood; so I filled a large sack of small logs from the large barn adjacent to the Warden's Office this afternoon.

Boat Trip

I picked up Richard, another NT volunteer, just before noon today and we motored straight to the picturesque village of Strangford in County Down. We were meeting up with Craig, who was supervising a boat trip round part of Strangford Lough.

The boat, MV St Brendan, arrived at one o'clock and several dozen of us embarked. We sailed southwards, past Cloghy Rocks and Kilclief Point; before approaching Killard Point. En route we spotted many seals, cormorants, shags, grey herons and black-headed gulls.

At Killard Point, we changed direction and made towards Ballyquintin Point at the very tip of the Ards Peninsula. Now we sailed northwards and back into Strangford Lough again. We passed Portaferry and the Old Court estate, including the pretty little Katherine Quay with its boat-house or lodge; thence the boat took us past Ballyhenry Island, Chapel Island and Jackdaw Island; and back past Audley's Castle.

We finally disembarked at three o'clock; and three of us strolled over to the Cuan Bar in the village where we found a table and ordered food and drink: Richard had scallops; Eric, the confit of duck; while I devoured a rather good - though pricey - open prawn sandwich, at £14.50. I washed it down with a half shandy.

Despite inclement weather, it was a most agreeable outing.

Ballymacormick Footpath

I'm just back from a day's volunteering at Ballymacormick, beside Groomsport in County Down. I joined a National Trust working party, a group of people spending their holiday working at various projects around Strangford Lough. There must have been about fifteen of us altogether. We were widening a footpath.

Craig invited me to a boat trip on the Lough this Sunday; and suggested that we retire to one of the hostelries in Strangford afterwards! Hopefully I'll be able to have a meal there.

Grey Abbey Gardens

I just happened to be perusing the National Trust Events leaflet in bed last night, when a small list of open gardens in the Ulster Gardens Scheme caught my eye.

I see that the private gardens of Grey Abbey House are open for three hours on Sunday, 12th September, 2010, from 2pm till 5pm.

I have written an article about Grey Abbey House and the Montgomerys here.

Castle Ward Sunday

I spent about five hours at Castle Ward, County Down, yesterday and most relaxing it was, too. I made myself a round of corned-beef and salad-cream sandwiches (nursery food!) beforehand. Parking at the main car-park, I walked to the former Gamekeeper's Cottage, thence past the ponds and on to the Colonel's Walk.

At Ballyculter Gate Lodge, I strolled over to the Church Walk which took me directly to Castle Ward House.

Having munched my sandwiches at the car, I enjoyed another walk to Downpatrick Gate Lodge, which is now available to rent as a country cottage; indeed there were people reading their newspapers outside in the sunshine as I passed by.

Later, I ambled over to the stable-yard. It was one of those European Heritage days and entry to the House was free for all, which did not make any difference to me since I am a Life Member of the National Trust. Nevertheless, since I hadn't taken a tour of the house for many years, I decided to go ahead. I feel I'd like to revisit Castle Ward House again, because the tour merely included the ground floor, excellent as our guide most certainly was.

The Barn has been transformed into a sort of interactive children's play area, with toy tractors, straw and tracks outside; quite a change from the erstwhile Countryside Centre.

On my way home in the car, I made a detour to Ballyculter Parish Church and the Bangor family graves. The 5th Viscount was the last Lord Bangor to be interred there.

A Divis Day

Timothy Belmont is presently imbibing a modest Chardonnay restorative, having laboriously shifted some furniture from one bedroom to another. I intend to use a larger bedroom, which has more wardrobe space.

I have just spent an agreeable day at the National Trust's Divis and Black Mountain property. We were working on a gravel path close to the Long Barn (above).

Notably we spotted a red kite hovering near Divis Lodge. I wonder if it had a nest nearby...

Salt Island Map

Click to enlarge

Salt Island

I have spent most of the day on Salt Island, a property of the National Trust on Strangford Lough near Killyleagh, County Down.

Craig picked three of us up on the boat from Killyleagh Yacht Club and we motored the short distance over to the island. The weather was idyllic.

We were undertaking routine maintenance mainly at the bothy. We lunched in the sun outside the bothy and I had a wholemeal ham and chutney sandwich, washed down with tea!


Swallows have built a nest inside a wooden extension to the left of the bothy and there were several eggs. We also spotted a grey heron and, I think, a pair of ravens.

Annual Balsam Bash

We assembled at the Minnowburn car-park this morning in preparation for our annual offensive on Himalayan Balsam. There were a mere four of us. We were concentrating on an area known as the Meadows, adjacent to the new Belfast Activity Centre at Shaw's Bridge (above).

The Balsam wasn't so abundant this year; however, one must keep on top of it.

Minnowburn is a truly heavenly spot, undoubtedly one of Belfast's treasures.