The hidden and deserted clachan of Galboly. A truley Irish adventure!

[Chri5]

Locally known as the Hidden Village or Robbers Village, The hidden village of Galboly is buried deep in the hills on the Antrim cost. According to my father and a few locals that I had spoken to the village acquired the nick name robbers village because in the 1960s when the coast road was under construction the people of Galboly would come down from the hills and rob people on the road. Seeing as I was a child I had these visions of robinhood types riding down from the hills in all there glory and engaging in fierce battle but after some research it would appear that the villagers where in fact desperate as there farm trade was slowly being erased by a new type of farming.

The buildings all of stone are single story except for one that has an extra floor added. Originally they
would have been thatched; latterly they were mostly roofed with sheet metal. In the latter part of the
19th century a popular shebeen provided a liquor popular with the residents. There were regular
social visits between this part of the world and Scotland. The villagers originally worked on the Vane
Tempest estate and a smaller number at Garron Tower for their landlord and later when the building
became a hotel having been bought by the famous Larne tourist operator Henry Me Neill towards the
end of the l9th century.

According to the population censuses in 1841 for Galboly there were nearly sixty inhabitants but
this reduced to only six by 1951. Since then and up until recently, one of the cottages has been
inhabited by a single person, a monk from the Abbey at Portglenone. The reasons for the decline
are thought to be the change in agricultural practices of the Vane Tempest Estate from crop
cultivation to livestock rearing that required fewer farmhands and of course the increasing use of
mechanisation. The procurement of clean drinking water was a problem and this had to be brought
from a source near the A2 Coast Road in a creamery churn on a donkey cart.

I searched for a few hours trying to find the village. I climbed high on to the Garron plateau, through gorges and even some caves but the village seemed to not want to be found as had been the case for the last 20 years for me. So I stopped for a break and looked down towards Garron point and low and behold it would seem as though an angel had appeared in the clouds to guide me to the prize. So I slowly climbed about halfway down the side of the hill and took this shot.



As I approached the village It was like stepping through a portal to another time, a time when the hustle and bustle of modern life and the ideas of machines and technology where not even a far fetched idea in some thinkers mind.



There was not a sound to be heard as I walked through the lonely Village and I tried to imagine what it would be like to be alive when the village was thriving. I could imagine walking up to this cottage and calling for the one id like to court.



I tried to imagine what it would be like walking through the village hand in had with the fair maiden. I could smell the pete burning on the fire and the sweet aroma of the thatched roofs.





and as the day drew to a close I might take my grá (Irish for love) to the barn where the rest of the village had headed for a "a fháil le chéile" (Irish for a get together). There they would play traditional music and tell very tall tales.(A lot like this one)



After the "chéile" (gathering) I might kiss "mo ghile" (my darling) behind the barn..



And perhaps we would get a small place we could call "baile" (home) where we might start a "muirín" (family) of our own?



And our family might grow and walk down the long winding road that we know as life. Never ending but always turning.



An Old Irish Prayer

Give us, Lord, a bit o sun
A bit o work and a bit o fun
Give us in all the struggle and sputter
Our daily bread and a bit o butter
Give us health our keep to make
And a bit to spare for other's sake
Give us, too, a bit of song
And a tale and a book to help us along
Give us, Lord, a chance to be
Our goodly best, brave, wise and free------
Our goodly best for ourselves and others
Till all men learn to live as brothers

[TrishBJ]

A wonderful series Chris. I really like the leading lines, textures, beautifully captured clouds and natural colours.

[Digital]

Chris, very beautiful photos, and a real nice narrative.


Bruce

[Shadowman]

Very nice series.

[Ziggy]

Enjoyed, thanks for sharing. The clouds in the first one are very nice.

[DEAN01]

Chris,
Thank you for sharing the beautiful photos and the story. I really like the third shot showing the iron gate.

[Aeros]

Chris, you brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for sharing this. Me great grandma was from Belfast and me great grand da from Dublin. And the worlds greatest poets are all Irish.

[Barnwell]

Nice photos. I really like the 4th one - leading one off to...

[Barbara Ponder]

The photos are very good but the narrative and the poem FANTASTIC!! Thanks for sharing.

[GBO25]

Wonderful crisp clear shots and such interesting subjects. Excellent and a great story as well.

[Chri5]

Thank you all very much. I think I will be spending most of my summer up there now that I have finally found it.

[ST1]

Excellent images and narrative Chris, well done

[IzzieK]

Thank you for the journey Chris...what a beautiful series this is...and the narrative, the thoughts and plans and wishes, Excellent and + more...

[John 2]

Thank you all very much. I think I will be spending most of my summer up there now that I have finally found it.

....but, are you sure it's still there.

A Beautiful and interesting story, well illustrated Chris.

[Chri5]

....but, are you sure it's still there.

Are you suggesting that I imagined the whole thing? How rude?

Thank you all very much for the comments and for looking. I had been looking for that place for a long long time and when I finally found it I was like a child at Christmas. I will definitely be going back for a re-shoot

[John 2]

Are you suggesting that I imagined the whole thing? How rude?

I had been looking for that place for a long long time and when I finally found it I was like a child at Christmas. I will definitely be going back for a re-shoot

Chris, it just sounded like a plot from an Irish Brigadoone. To quote the synopsis:

".......to protect Brigadoon from being changed by the outside world, 200 years ago the local minister prayed to God to have Brigadoon disappear, only to reappear for one day every 100 years."

Where there's one ............

[Donald]

A fine teller of tales .... and a good photographer to boot!

[Kris V]

Beautiful set of pictures - and thanks for a wonderful story.
Now I'm digging through my CD collection to find all the Irish music I collected over the years.

[Chri5]

Chris, it just sounded like a plot from an Irish Brigadoone. To quote the synopsis:

".......to protect Brigadoon from being changed by the outside world, 200 years ago the local minister prayed to God to have Brigadoon disappear, only to reappear for one day every 100 years."

Where there's one ............

I was just messing with you john, Thanks again for looking

[Chri5]

A fine teller of tales .... and a good photographer to boot!

Thanks Donald. Im glad you like it.