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Binevenagh
Take the high road
Follow the Bishop's Road along the crest of Binenvenagh
ABOUT
Binvenenagh
Follow the Bishop`s Road along the crest of Binevenagh, offering spectacular views all the way. Some say that this wild place is where the last wolf was slain in Ireland, a legend that is easy to believe. However, at the junction with Leighery Road, marked by a black-and-white painted stone bridge, we want to leave the high drama of the Bishop`s Road and descend sharply from the mountain through modern forest plantings, until we meet Duncrun Road, where we want to go left.
Within a mile, this takes us to Tamlaghtard Church (St Cadan's), which was commissioned by Frederick and finished by his architect, Michael Shanahan, in the English style, by 1787. Tamlaghtard is a truly magical sight; the sort of modest, well-proportioned little church that one would expect to see in a leafy English village, transposed onto the wild slopes of a volcanic mountain. The church is still in use today and the graveyard contains the tomb of John Heygate, whose main claim to fame is that he stole the famous writer Evelyn Waugh`s first wife away to this lonely corner of Ireland.
When Frederick built this church, he gave the site of the next church along the road, Saint Aidan`s, to the local Catholic congregation. This was at a time when Catholics, by law, were not supposed to build churches! Saint Aidan`s is less than a mile due south of Tamlaghtard. The church building there now is a relatively modern one, although simple and pretty, however the remains of a much older church can be seen and beside that, the grave of Denis O`Hampsey, the blind harper of Magilligan.
O`Hampsey was a contemporary of Frederick`s and often used to play at Downhill, to entertain Frederick and his guests. Frederick was so pleased with O`Hampsey`s music that he gave him a plot of land nearby, to build a house. O`Hampsey is one of the musicians credited with handing down the ancient tune that eventually became Danny Boy – the famous ‘Londonderry Air,’ of which more in our section about Limavady.
Indeed, the end of the Duncrun Road joins the A2 coastal road again, where we continue through the pretty townland of Aghanloo and into Limavady for more stories.
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Interesting Places Nearby
These locations are linked to the Earl Bishop, they are close to Binevenagh Mountain, and you might also find them interesting.
St. Aidan`s church stands on the slopes of Binevenagh. An early Christian site known as Tamlaghtard, in the Earl Bishop`s time this was a Church of Ireland, but when he commissioned nearby St. Cadan`s, Frederick allowed the site to be used by Catholics. There are several interesting graves at St Aidan’s. The grave of Denis O’Hampsey stands alongside the medieval church. Denis (1695 – 1807) was one of Ireland’s most distinguished harpers. He had the distinction of living in three different centuries and marrying at the age of eighty six.
When Edward Bunting visited Magilligan in 1792 to annotate music from O’Hampsey’s vast repertoire, Denis told him that ‘It must have been the Devil that buckled he and his wife together for he was blind and she was totally lame.’ Nevertheless there was an offspring from the marriage.
There is also a headstone to the Allisons, a planter family, in the cemetery. The Allisons, who were tenant farmers, lived at Drumnahay, Magilligan. There are two grave slabs here recording the deaths of the first generation of the family; John, who died in 1736 and his wife Jane, who died in 1684.
In 1768 their descendant, Joseph Allison, had a visit from the agent of his landlord and after having paid the rent, Joseph served the agent supper with the family’s silver spoons. But as the agent departed, he informed Joseph that if he could eat with silver spoons, then he could afford an increased rent. Disillusioned, Joseph left Ireland for Philadelphia. His vessel was shipwrecked off Nova Scotia, but he got ashore and set himself up from scratch again as a farmer. His family prospered and eventually his grandson became a rich banker, who in 1839 founded Mount Allison University, the first university in Canada. The silver spoons were then presented to the University!
DUNCRUN CHURCH
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