Here in a brief history of a village originally called Edenderry and now called Ardoyne . There are parallels of truth that hint it may have been the very first place St Patrick would have landed when he was first brought to Ireland as a slave .
A Poem entitled Call Of St Patrick By Paul McCann They sent him to Ireland a prisoner was he .
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As far back as the in the days when St Patrick was first brought to Ireland the slave trade was big business in County Antrim and Down in Northern Ireland .
Boatmen often came into the Lough with their cargo of slaves and these poor cargos of lost souls had a one way trip to their final destination .
Some reports from nobable sources have been made that pointed to many misplaced and innocent individuals who had been brought in chains on the boats that came to Ireland .
The passage along the sands and deep into the Lough would have opened the first view for the slaves and prisoners of their new home .
In those very early days most of the boats would have landed at the white ford , the junction of the river Lagan , the lough and the River Farset .
It is a reasonable assumption that when Patrick was brought over to Ireland from Wales his journey was pointed directly into the direction of Belfast Lough
Belfast Lough would have been the first view of Ireland for St Patrick himself and it is reasonable to conclude that the first time St Patrick put his foot on Irish soil , it would have been right there at the mouth of the river Lagan
In what is today called Belfast .
Patrick would have escaped slavery across the River Lagan at low tide and then on to the south where he sailed to freedom .
Taxation records of Pope Nicholas from 1291 describe the white church of St Patricks there in Belfast as “Ecclesia Alba cum capella de vade”
Another record a little later on from Pope Terrier also mentions the White Church in Belfast . Faith spread like a fire through Belfast and then into every corner of Ireland .
With St Patricks flame buring in their heart many people like St Brendan saw beyond their beloved Irish Shore . With a great rise in monastic work and in the missionary work Ireland won for herself the title Isle Of Saints and Scholars .
Early on the hills above Belfast were known as The Hill Of Wolves, which then became Wolf Hill .
After Chichester burnt and destroyed all the homes and their lands in the seventeenth century a place bare and unpopulated saw a small town grow .
The small streams around Edenderry attracted many industrialists .
Edenderry in the early 1800’s sprang up when linen was needed and as the
Demand for linen grew bleaching machinery was introduced .
Linen Mills followed .
History tells us that Michael Andrews from County Down opened a business in Belfast and had secured a number of acres in the townland of Edenderry .
It was here in Edenderry where Michael Andrews established a hand-loom factory and refurbished what few old homes were there and his business grew .He gradually added more workers homes until the attractive little village with its bell tower and clock , its pebbled square and its bell-man calling out the hours at night , its snow white homes, its school, its quoit pitch, and its little factory became one of the leading attractions for the people of Belfast City .
All these were there and flourishing in the mid 1800’s .
The townland of Edenderry although immortalised with the todays small business people like The Edenderry Post Office ,and Edenderry National School , the name passed from the lips of the people and Ardoyne took its place .
Up the road from Edenderry was Ligoniel and Hill of the white lime quarries .
In those far off days of the 1850’s limestone from the White mountain was used for surfacing the Crumlin , Ligoniel , and Shankill roads .
On these snowy white roads in the summer time the glare was blinding .
The whiteness increased day by day by tons of white powder that poured through the white joints of the big bright red carts that were full of limestone coming down from the white mountain .
My village in Belfast is called Ardoyne . Ardoyne is a busy district in Belfast .
Situated in North Belfast Ardoyne has seen many changes over the centuries.
The name Ardoyne means John’s Hill .
To this area Michael Andrews brought people work and homes and a well loved never to be forgotten name and one known all over the world ..
Ardoyne has just been through hell for the past thirty years and more .
By Paul McCann Well there was the bog around the Beltex Mill ,
Old Ardoyne
and the spring on the cinder pitch .
Before the troubles came .
Then the Beltex fell to the Shamrock Club
that was built before the streets of Old Ardoyne
had changed their name.
Near Flax street was the Milly dam ,
where two white swans swam and spricks wriggled ,
a stones throw away from the Bone .
Boys and Girls went to school as the battlefield grew .
Houses were burned to the ground .
The swans found a new home .
Old gable walls with graffiti backdrops hung a portrait
of oppression as black taxi's run the streets .
Dark shadows clung to the corners of Old Ardoyne ,
as an army of ants crawled around in tanks and jeeps .
Old Ardoyne was filled with tears as mums with babies
in prams choked on CS gas that was thick in the air .
Men ran for cover from rubber bullets ,
dogs were kicked ,
cats killed ,
and the birds were not singing anywhere.
As the helicopters hunted through the grey sky
some in Old Ardoyne had said the swans were coming back .
One day the trouble stopped
and over the rubble new houses had been built ,
Peace returned and that's a fact .
With one terrible tragedy after another the people of Ardoyne have embraced the recent good Friday agreement .
By Paul Mc Cann The flower died and bloomed again in the steady Northern Ireland rain . A long road found an end and people everywhere called out in Gods name . New lights beam in little streets and there are gate latches without a chain . Strangers are welcome , hear the new footsteps , Doors are left open again . We understand it's time to get on , its time to get over the pain , Gerry Adams and Sinn Fein looked to the future with Reverend Ian . All is never lost in love and war just the memories that remain . May those memories remind us never to hurt each other again . United by love , we must decide for ourselves what has to be done . No longer divided as the people of Northern Ireland are one . No longer now do we need to ask the whereabouts of where you're from . There's no need to fight because what we believe in has already come . Peace is flowing like a river that lies glistening under the sun . The way ahead is easy and tomorrow has already begun . Our children will sing and play again and in the streets they will have fun . What unites us is not the fear but the hope of what is yet to come .
Province Of Peace
Irish President Mary McAleese herself came from Ardoyne . As a small boy I delivered milk to her Mothers door .
I lived in the same street as she did . Ardoyne has always had large catholic families . The majority were working class and always battled hard to make ends meet .
The village of Ardoyne has a great strength of character and that is the reason it has survived the recent troubles since 1968 .
Now today there are housing associations , business centres , Community Organizations , social clubs , Shops, Co-Ops , schools , churches ,Sporting Clubs and most of all Ardoyne has grown a very big heart .
From Slaves to Saints in Edenderry , Ardoyne has made herself a home .
The End
By Doctor Write
Originally Posted On Site: 2008-02-12 04:04:17
Last Login: 05.21.12
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