I've just downloaded "Bob was a Protestant Horse" and I notice a few
similarities to my early days:
* It's set near Cookstown, just north of Dungannon where my ancestors
came from (or is it 'from whence my ancestors came'? :) )
* There's a Wilkinson farm just up the road. That's my name, but not
my farm. There are many Wilkinsons in that general area. Mine moved
to Belfast in the late 19thC.
* I too spent several summers, in the '40s up to 1948 when we
emigrated, on family friend Robinson's Farm in Hillsborough, Co.
Down, as a child. Dad was works manager of Patrick & Wilkinson, an
agricultural machinery manufacturer in Belfast, and I'd often
accompany him on trips where he'd try to sell tractors to farmers.
Sometimes successfully, but draught horses were common then.
* The farm's description brings back fond memories of those farming
days. I do remember the cold mornings, running barefoot all the
time, collecting eggs, keeping away from the geese, and harvesting
time in the fields when the 'ladies' would ply us 'workers' with
ploughmens lunches.
What a lovely whimsical story I have yet to read in full.
Gordon
On 24/06/2020 10:02 am, Gordon Wilkinson via CoTyroneList wrote:
Elwyn,
Don't for one moment think Handfasting is obsolete. My Irish cousin
(of mature years) 'Handfasted' a few years ago in true Druid fashion
to his 3rd wife. Although married in Oz they traveled to the UK to
visit Liverpool relatives (from Armagh) and for their Handfasting. I
have the video and it was a moving ceremony. Some of these Druid
traditions still persist. In this case I think the Handfasting came
after the marriage. ;-)
Gordon
On 24/06/2020 4:45 am, elwyn soutter via CoTyroneList wrote:
Peter,
I have come across “buckle the beggar” but not buckleberry. It looks
to be
a term that must have come to Ulster with the Scots, as many of our
local
words did. I have never heard it used in Ulster but it seems as
though it
was at one time because I can see a couple of references on the net.
In the Scottish National Dictionary it says: *buckle-beggar*,
*buckle-the-beggars*, “one who marries others in a clandestine and
disorderly manner” (Sc. 1808 Jam.)
It reminds me a little of another form of marriage known as
“handfasting.”
This was particularly common in the Scottish Borders in the 1500s &
early
1600s, where there were very few Priests or Ministers due to the whole
place being basically lawless. Such clerics as there were usually had to
have a peel tower (similar to a bawn in Ulster) to retreat to if
attacked.
So it was hard to get a Priest or a Minister to marry you. Quoting from
Godfrey Watsons’ book ”The Border Reivers[1] <#_ftn1>” (publ 1974) p
180:
“..if a priest was perhaps available only once a year, a problem
inevitably arose for those who wished to get married out of season,
as it
were. The answer was ‘handfasting.’ This was a custom whereby a couple
would live together till the book-a-bosom man could bless their
union. The
arrangement was for a trial period of one year (unless the parson
appeared
earlier), after which it became permanent. If, before then, one or other
wanted to bring the arrangement to an end, he or she must accept
responsibility for any children of the union, in which case they were
still
regarded as legitimate. There is still in existence an old genealogy
of the
Elliots of Lariston, which refers to “Simon of Benks who handfasted
or took
for a trial a bastard daughter of the said Gibbie with the Golden
Garters
on condition he should pay her a considerable tocher[2] <#_ftn2> in
case he
was not pleased with her.” Normally handfasting required no dowry,
and this
idea of making second hand goods more marriageable may well have been
restricted to the gentry, who appear to have handfasted in the same
way as
anyone else. John, Lord Maxwell, for instance was contracted thus to a
sister of the Earl of Angus.
Nobody in the Borders seems to have worried very much about children
being
born out of wedlock, and there are countless examples of natural[3]
<#_ftn3>
children figuring openly in men’s wills.”
Isn’t “Gibbie with the Golden Garters” a wonderful name?
_______________________________________________
CoTyroneList Mailing List
Mailing List Email Address: CoTyroneList@cotyroneireland.com
Change Your Preferences:
http://cotyroneireland.com/mailman/listinfo/cotyronelist_cotyroneireland.com
Mailing List Archive: https://goo.gl/mQCKrY
--
_________________________________
Nereda & Gordon Wilkinson, Hyde Park, South Australia.
Web: www.ozemail.com.au/~neredon Skype id: neredon
Emails: gordon.wilkin...@ozemail.com.au nereda.wilkin...@ozemail.com.au
_______________________________________________
CoTyroneList Mailing List
Mailing List Email Address: CoTyroneList@cotyroneireland.com
Change Your Preferences:
http://cotyroneireland.com/mailman/listinfo/cotyronelist_cotyroneireland.com
Mailing List Archive: https://goo.gl/mQCKrY
