‘The Arrival of Na hUltaigh to Leitrim 1795/96’
Written for The County Measure on RTE Radio 1, this piece documents the story of the forced migration of thousands of Catholics from Ulster to Leitrim (and further afield) in 1795/96, following a period of intense sectarian violence culminating in the ‘Battle of the Diamond’ in Armagh in September 1795. These people were referred to by locals as the ‘Ultachs’ or ‘na hUltaigh’, meaning ‘the people from Ulster’.
Listen: 🎧 ‘The Arrival of Na hUltaigh to Leitrim 1795/96’
I chose to write this piece because of a personal connection I have with this historical event: we think that my own ancestors on my mam’s side arrived in Leitrim as part of this mass displacement of the Ulster people.
The biggest challenge for me while writing and recording this piece was doing so while navigating the limitations of the illness I acquired back in 2021 (Long Covid/Covid-induced ME/CFS & dysautonomia). Everything was recorded remotely using whatever equipment I could put my hands on in the house and completed mostly while in a reclined position/lying down and in short windows of time where energy was available. Not gonna lie, the process frustrated the living bejaysus out of me and I am indebted to both my sister who helped me through, and my pal Daragh who performed audio miracles on the sound files I sent him.
Also very grateful to Vincent Woods & RTE Radio 1 for this lovely opportunity to write a new piece for their Leitrim episode (listen to the whole programme here: The County Measure N0. 32 – Leitrim).
Hope you like it!
Ailie x
PS you can listen to me talking about my experiences with Long Covid here: ‘On Living with Long Covid’ (Sept 2023). I’m due to give an update – I’ll hopefully do that soon!)
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‘The Arrival of Na hUltaigh to Leitrim (1795/96)’
I ndeireadh an tsamhraidh, tháinig saghas síochána
By the late summer, a sullen peace had come over the place,
But grievances persisted,
And not too far away, the northern refugees would begin their journey south and west.
They came in their droves. Neighbours driving neighbours from their homes.
4, 5, maybe 10,000 of them..
It was a mass exodus.
Leitrim was a gateway to the west, and many of them settled on the mountainside here.
And to tell you the truth, though I knew about them, I’d only really taken a passing interest in these refugees, till I learned I might be one of them. After that I listened a bit more closely.
It was 1795, and time, apparently, for the resurrection of that old chestnut: ‘To Hell or to Connacht’.
I ndeireadh an gheimhridh, chuadar siar ó dheas
It’s hard to imagine them now, arriving on the same mountain that the legendary Tuatha De Danann are said to have arrived thousands of years prior… and with almost as much mystery.
Many of them were weavers and spinners, they say – part of a then thriving cottage linen industry. And there’s no doubt but that they brought with them skills, and stories. Spinning yarn and spinning yarns..
But much of this is lost to history now, undocumented, and you’re left kind of filling in the spaces a bit.
I do take some solace though, from the fact that 200 years later, in a town not far away, there we were, the Maguires, the McGrails, the O’Donnells, the McNultys… all my old school-pals, playing away, blissfully oblivious to the hardships written into our DNA.
Evidence that, at least over time, these refugees, the northern weavers, the Ultachs, na hUltaigh, wove themselves right into the fabric of the place. As refugees invariably do, I suppose, when given their due respect and, well, half a chance.
***
Song credits:
Music and lyrics by Ailie Blunnie, 2024.
- Verse of Mise Raiftéirí an File written by/attributed to Antoine Ó Raiftéirí/Seán Ó Ceallaigh & recited by Ann, John, Ailie & Róisín Blunnie
‘Dul siar ar m’aistear,
Le solas mo chroí,
Fann agus tuirseach,
Go deireadh mo shlí.’
- Irish translation of selected lyrics by Ann Blunnie.
- Latin chant ‘Et in terra pax’. Text taken from the Gloria of the Latin mass.
Arranged by Ailie Blunnie & Daragh Dukes.
Produced by Daragh Dukes.