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By Malcolm Rogers

Malcolm Rogers visits some northerly places associated with Ireland’s most beautiful songs.

Portrush, Co. Antrim

Red sails in the sunset
Way out on the sea
Oh carry my loved one
Home safely to me

Red Sails in the Sunset was inspired by a scene from Portrush, where Omagh man Jimmy Kennedy had settled. One evening he watched as a Portstewart boat, The Kitty Of Coleraine (named after the local song), put out to sea. The sails of the boat were white — it was only the sunset which made them appear red, etched out in silhouette against the Inishowen Hills of Donegal. The scene, some 60 or so years ago, inspired Jimmy to write one of his most popular songs. Incidentally, the Kitty of Coleraine has been refurbished and is moored in nearby Portstewart harbour.

I never really realised the full impact of the words of Red Sails till last week when I was walking on the harbour front at Portrush. The sun was sinking in the west, although I actually couldn’t see it. But what I did see were the elegant houses which make up the seafront being lit up in the most amazing hue of orange. My companion honestly thought that a huge floodlight had been switched on, and I was almost convinced that this was the case. However, when we emerged from the street, we could see the full glory of what was one of the most spectacular sunsets I had ever seen. The red sky over the Inishowen must have been as red as the night Jimmy Kennedy penned his famous song.

HHHHH Worth A Visit Rating — a five out of five. The town itself is impressive, the scene of the song equally so, and it’s no more than a stone’s throw from some of Europe’s most spectacular beaches — Benone Strand, Whitepark Bay and Magilligan Strand. And that’s before you even consider the proximity to the hallowed town of Bushmills.

Carrickfergus, Co. Antrim

It’s been several years since I journeyed to Carrickfergus. Although home to one of the most beautiful songs ever to have been written, the town itself hasn’t the greatest of reputations. Indeed, it has vied with Portadown for the title “A Town called Malice”. However when I visited the place last week there were no outward signs of sectarian squabbling, although the Ulster flags and union jacks spoke volumes. It might even be the sort of place where you could re-write “If You’re Going To San Francisco” as “If you’re going to Carrickfergus, be sure your kids don’t have a fada in their names…” It’s certainly not the place to refer to the union jack as The Butcher’s Apron.

All that aside, Carrickfergus is an extremely handsome Co. Antrim town. It grew up around the massive Anglo Norman castle built by John de Courcy or his henchman Hugh de Lacey in 1180 to guard the approach to Belfast Lough. (John de Courcy was the head honcho in Ulster at the time).

Fishing boats and pleasure craft are moored in the marina, with the four storey keep an impressive backdrop. Medieval banquets are held in the castle.

The town gets its English name from Carraig Fhearghasa, or Fergus’s Rock, and apart from the eponymous song, it has long been famous in the annals of Irish history. On the ancient quay under its western wall, King William of Orange landed on his way to the Battle of Boyne. Although he is unlikely ever to have quipped, “Ach, sure the whole thing will be forgotten about in a couple of weeks,” the Dutchman surely would never have suspected his arrival would still be fresh in the minds of the locals some four hundred years later.

St. Nicholas’ Parish Church, contemporaneous with the castle, is similarly impressive, as are the town’s walls, over half of which are still standing. But apart from the odd mention on tea towels in souvenir shops, little mention is made of the song.

HHH Worth A Visit Rating — three out of five. The town is pleasant, there’s a few reasonable restaurants, and the town is the gateway to the Antrim Coast Road, one of the most spectacular thoroughfares in the world.

Limavady, Co. Derry

Limavady is the scene of a remarkable joint enterprise between native Catholic, Ulster planter and English bystander.

Considered by many to be the most perfect piece of music ever written, Danny Boy (or the Derry Air) has confused origins. The air came to general prominence due to the efforts of three people: a fiddler, a schoolteacher and a doctor. It seems an itinerant fiddler was passing through Limavady one day when a schoolteacher Miss Jane Ross heard him play the melody.

The Derry woman was so enchanted that she wrote it down, possibly adding some variation of her own — although the tune is traditional, it has a classical feel which may have been Ms Ross’s work. At any rate, she eventually gave it to the great collector Dr. George Petrie.

In 1910 the most familiar words to the melody were penned when an English college tutor called Fred Weatherly wrote the familiar “Oh Danny Boy, the pipes, the pipes are calling.” refrain. But it was an unknown Irish poet who wrote the beautiful third verse, in an attempt to stop the British army during the 1st World War hijacking the composition as a recruiting song:

With the playing of Danny Boy at Princess Diana’s funeral, it became the most widely played Irish melody of all time — heard by an estimated 2.5 billion people. The song was listed on the funeral bidding as “Air from Co. Derry — G. Petrie in The Ancient Music of Ireland (1853).

Today there is little to connect Limavady with the song, which in a way is quite heartening — most places with such a momentous song to boast of would be coming down with interpretative centres, souvenir ships and Danny Experiences. The only manifestation is a plaque at no 51 Main Street commemorating the singular service Miss Jane Ross made to the world of music. Jane and her sister are buried across the road at the 18th century parish church.

The Danny Boy plaque isn’t the only one in town — another celebrates the birth of William Massey in Irish Green Street in 1856. Young William went on to become prime minister of New Zealand.

And in 1842, when Limavady would still have been widely known as Léim an Mhadaidh (the dog’s leap), W.M. Thackeray stopped for ale at he local coaching inn — now demolished, alas — and penned a tribute to the barmaid, “Sweet Peg of Limavady”.

HHHH Worth A Visit Rating — four out of five. Limavady is in the beautiful Roe valley, perched just above the Roe River. The road north eastwards towards Coleraine climbs over an 800 ft high ridge of hills with splendid views across to the Sperrin Mountains.