Praying with USPG and the music of Vaughan Williams: Tuesday 30 August 2022

Magda’s Irish home … Dundarave House in Bushmills, Co Antrim, was the home of Magdalene (Fisher), Lady Macnaghten, for whom Vaughan Williams wrote the tune ‘Magda’

Patrick Comerford

Today the Calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship remembers John Bunyan, Spiritual Writer (1688), with a Lesser Festival in the Church of England.

Before today gets busy, I am taking some time this morning for reading, prayer and reflection.

This year marks the 150th anniversary of the composer Ralph Vaughan Williams, whose music is celebrated throughout this year’s Proms season. In my prayer diary for these weeks I am reflecting in these ways:

1, One of the readings for the morning;

2, Reflecting on a hymn or another piece of music by Vaughan Williams, often drawing, admittedly, on previous postings on the composer;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary, ‘Pray with the World Church.’

Newport Pagnell United Reformed Church can be seen through an arch on High Street … John Bunyan (1628-1688) was part of the Cromwellian garrison in Newport Pagnell (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2022)

John Bunyan was born at Elstow in Bedfordshire in 1628. He was largely self-educated and used the Bible as his grammar. He read very few other books, and they were all piously Protestant in nature, yet he produced Pilgrim’s Progress, probably the most original text of spiritual genius that century, telling the story of the man Christian on his journey through life to God.

Pilgrim’s Progress was not written while John Bunyan was a prisoner in Bedford gaol, as often stated, but during a confinement some years later. History tells us little of the man but what is clear from his writings is that the salvation of the soul was what mattered most to him. He died on this day in 1688.

We sang his only hymn, ‘He who would valiant be,’ to the well-known tune by Vaughan Williams as the processional hymn at the Parish Eucharist in the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Giles in Stony Stratford on Sunday [28 August 2022].

Luke 21: 21, 34-36 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 21 ‘Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it …

34 ‘Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.’



Today’s reflection: ‘Saviour, again to thy dear name we raise’

For my reflections and devotions each day these few weeks, I am reflecting on and invite you to listen to a piece of music or a hymn set to a tune by the great English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958).

This morning [30 August 2022], I invite you to join me in listening to the hymn ‘Saviour, again to thy dear name we raise’ by Canon John Ellerton (1826-1893).

Vaughan Williams wrote the tune Magda with this hymn in mind, but also gave it some interesting Irish connections.

The tune was first published in 1925 in Songs of Praise, where it is chosen as the setting for this hymn.

Vaughan Williams named the tune Magda because he wrote it in preparation for the wedding of Magdalene Fisher (1903-2002), his niece by marriage, who was about to marry the future Sir Anthony Macnaghten (1899-1972) on 27 February 1926.

After World War II, the couple moved to his family home, Dundarave House in Bushmills, Co Antrim. In 1955, Sir Antony Macnaghten succeeded to the family title as tenth baronet and as Chief of the Macnachtan Clan. The first Macnaghten moved from Scotland to Ireland in the 16th century and served as secretary to the MacDonnells, Earls of Antrim. The lands they acquired included a large portion of the village of Bushmills, which the clan rebuilt in the late 1800s. The family motto is: ‘Be not wiser nor the Highest, I hope in God.’

When her husband died in 1972, Magda continued to live in Northern Ireland until her death in February 2002 at the age of 98.

One of the hymns sung at her funeral on 1 March 2002 in Dunluce, Parish Church was ‘For all the saints, who from the their labours rest.’ Her uncle Vaughan Williams had composed the tune Sine Nomine for that hymn by Bishop Walsham How (1823-1897).

The tune Magda is used for the hymn ‘Go forth for God; go forth for the world in peace’ by John Raphael Peacey (1869-1971) in both the New English Hymnal (No 321) and the Irish Church Hymnal (No 455), while Ellerton’s hymn ‘Saviour, again to thy dear name we raise’ is often set to the tune ‘Ellers’ by FJ Hopkins (1818-1901), re-harmonised by Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900), with Vaughan Wlliams’s Magda as an alternative tune (see New English Hymnal, No 250) .

Like Vaughan Williams and Sir Anthony Macnaghten, Canon John Ellerton was a graduate of Trinity College, Cambridge. He was an authority on hymns, wrote or translated over 80 hymns, and contributed to Hymns Ancient and Modern. His best-known hymn is, perhaps, ‘The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended.’ He is said to have written that hymn in 1870 as he made his nightly walk to teach at a Mechanics’ Institute. It was published that year in 1870 for A Liturgy for Missionary Meetings.

He was born in Clerkenwell into an evangelical family, and was educated at King William’s College on the Isle of Man, and Trinity College, Cambridge (BA 1849; MA 1854), where he came under the influence of Frederick D Maurice.

He was ordained deacon in 1850 and priest in 1851 by the Bishop of Chichester, and at first was curate of Eastbourne, Sussex, and then Curate of Brighton Lecturer of Saint Peter’s, Brighton.

In 1860, he became chaplain to Lord Crewe and Vicar of Crewe Green in Cheshire. There he chaired the education committee at the Mechanics’ Institute for the local Railway Company. Reorganising the Institute, he made it one of the most successful in England. He taught classes in English and Bible History, and organised one of the first Choral Associations in the Midlands.

While he was Vicar of Crewe Green, he wrote this hymn in 1866 for the Malpas, Middlewich and Nantwich Choral Association in Cheshire.

He was co-editor with Bishop William Walsham How (1823-1897) and others of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (SPCK) Church Hymns (1871).

In 1872, he became Rector of Saint Oswald’s, Hinstock, Shropshire, in the Diocese of Lichfield. In 1876, he moved to Barnes, then in Surrey, a west London suburb. There he became very involved in the work of SPCK. However, the work among a large population broke him down and he had to go abroad for a year, serving as Chaplain at Pegli in Italy (1884-1885). He returned to England and the small Essex parish in White Roding was his last.

During his final illness, he was made an honorary canon of St Alban’s Cathedral in 1892, but was never installed. It is said that as he lay dying hymns flowed from his lips in unceasing praise to God. He died in Torquay in Devon on 15 June 1893, aged 66.

Ellerton refused to register a copyright on any of his hymns, claiming that if they ‘counted worthy to contribute to Christ’s praise in the congregation, one ought to feel very thankful and humble.’ To hear them offered in worship was reward enough for him.

Saviour, again to thy dear name we raise
With one accord our parting hymn of praise.
Guard thou the lips from sin, the hearts from shame,
That in this house have called upon thy name.

Grant us thy peace, Lord, through the coming night;
Turn thou for us its darkness into light;
From harm and danger keep thy children free,
For dark and light are both alike to thee.

Grant us thy peace throughout our earthly life;
Peace to thy Church from error and from strife;
Peace to our land, the fruit of truth and love;
Peace in each heart, thy Spirit from above.

Thy peace in life, the balm of every pain;
Thy peace in death, the hope to rise again;
Then, when thy voice shall bid our conflict cease,
Call us, O Lord, to thine eternal peace.

Dunluce Castle near Bushmills, Co Antrim … Vaughan Williams wrote the tune ‘Magda’ for the wedding of his niece by marriage Magdalene Fisher and the future Sir Anthony Macnaghten (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayer, Tuesday 30 August 2022 (John Bunyan):

The Collect:

God of peace,
who called your servant John Bunyan to be valiant for truth:
grant that as strangers and pilgrims
we may at the last
rejoice with all Christian people in your heavenly city;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with your servant John Bunyan
to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The theme in the USPG prayer diary all this week is ‘A New Province,’ inspired by the work of the Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola (IAMA), made up of dioceses in Mozambique and Angola, the second and third largest Portuguese-speaking countries in the world.

The Right Revd Vicente Msosa, Bishop of the Diocese of Niassa in the Igreja Anglicana de Mocambique e Angola, shares his prayer requests in the USPG Prayer Diary throughout this week.

The USPG Prayer Diary invites us to pray today in these words:

Let us pray for terrorism to cease as many innocent souls continue to be killed every day in Cabo Delgado.

Yesterday’s reflection

Continued tomorrow

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Westgate houses raise fears about the future of Georgian Wexford

The former De Rinzy townhouse at Westgate, Wexford, is crumbing and deteriorating (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

The second stage of this year’s late summer ‘Road Trip’ brought two of us from Cork, Clonmel and Kilkenny through Bunclody to Wexford Town, which always charms me and continues to feel like home.

Even though I moved from Wexford to Dublin in the mid-1970s and from the Wexford People to The Irish Times, I continue to delight in exploring the town’s history and heritage, and strolling through its narrow streets and lanes.

Dunluce is an important part of the early 19th century architecture of the town. It was first known as Slaney View, and was built as the Wexford townhouse of the Perceval family of Slaney Manor.

The architectural features of the house include the classically-detailed doorcase with its simplified ‘peacock tail’ fanlight; the diminishing in scale of the windows on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the elegant bow defining the principal rooms.

Other details include crown or cylinder glazing panels in hornless sash frames, the joinery, the restrained chimney-pieces and the sleek plasterwork refinements.

Slaney Manor, also known as Barntown House, was developed by Thomas Perceval in the 17th century. The Cork branch of the family included Spencer Perceval (1762-1812), the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. A succession of former owners and tenants of Slaney Manor including Sir Frederick Hughes (1814-1895), Lady Theodosia Hughes (1851-1931) and Admiral David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty.

There is a memorial in the gallery in Saint Iberius’s Church, Wexford, commemorating Edward Perceval who died at the age of 21 while he was in the navy.

The Perceval family remained at Slaney Manor until 1923, although Slaney View in Westgate may have been sold at an earlier date. Slaney View was renamed Dunluce by Edward McQuillan, who claimed to be The McQuillan or head of the Clan McQuillan, once based at Dunluce Castle in Co Antrim.

Edward McQuillan was one of the prominent Quakers in Wexford in his day, and died in 1941. The former Quaker Meeting House in High Street, Wexford, dating from 1657, had closed in 1927 following the departure of the three remaining Thompson families.

Dunluce, renamed after the McQuillan castle in Co Antrim, was once the Perceval family townhouse at Westgate (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Next door, the former technical school is a more recent building in Westgate, dating from 1918. But this early 20th century, three-bay, three-storey building stands on the site of and may incorporate parts of Spa Well House, built in the 18th century by the Harvey family.

This earlier house may be reflected in details such as the classically-detailed doorcase, the diminishing in scale of the windows on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with these windows showing a late instance of the so-called ‘Wexford Window’ sash-and-overlight glazing pattern.

The former technical college stands on the site of the townhouse of the Harvey family (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Across the street from these two buildings, the former Westgate Bed and Breakfast and the former Westgate Tavern are in sad states of neglect and decaying rapidly.

The former Westgate Bed and Breakfast was built in the early 19th century as the townhouse of the De Rinzy family of Clobemon Hall, near Ferns. The De Rinzy family claimed descent from Sir Matthew de Renzy or Rentsi (1577-1634), a native of either Cologne or the Low Countries and ‘a great traveller and general linguist.’ He in turn was claimed as a descendant of Scanderbeg (1405-1468), the great Albanian hero. He died on 29 August 1634, either in Dublin or at Clobemon Hall, Ferns, was held by his descendants until recent times.

The house was built around 1825. It has been described as a ‘well-composed house of the middle size.’ It was built as the townhouse of the De Rinzy family of Clobemon Hall, but at a later point it became two separate houses on a prominent position on a corner site where Westgate and Slaney Street meet.

The building was extensively renovated in the late 20th century for use as a guesthouse.

Three years later Wexford County Council refused planning permission to a Wexford couple, Tony and Breda Wright, who wanted to knock down the early 19th century townhouse.

An Taisce objected on the grounds of the building’s architectural heritage and its proximity to Wexford’s old town wall at the rear of the building and said it is possible that masonry walls and cobbled surfaces found in the basement of the neighbouring West Gate Tavern are part of the town wall.

The former Westgate Tavern was run by Michael and Catherine Power for 18 years until it was sold in May 2005.

The former Westgate Tavern has been closed since it was sold in 2005 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Maria Pepper reported in the Wexford People four years ago (27 August 2016) that Tony and Breda Wright had applied for permission to demolish the structure for safety reasons.

The Wrights proposed to demolish the building and to finish the area with gravel and a new boundary wall to match an existing wall. But they did not outline any plans for the future use of the site.

The council rejected their application because it would have ‘a detrimental impact on the streetscape and the architectural character of the area.’

In addition, the Wexford Town Walls Conservation Plan says there should be no further demolition of 19th century or earlier properties and that building against, overlooking or opening onto the town wall should not be allowed unless there is a compelling case to show that the outcome will be of ultimate benefit of the town walls.

No plans have been put forward for the future development of the site and there are fears that the proposed demolition would result in a vacant brownfield site that ‘would have a detrimental impact on the streetscape and the visual amenity of this town centre area.’

The couple have a current planning application on the adjoining property, the former Westgate Tavern, for change of use of the ground floor from a public house to office use. Meanwhile, Breda Wright was granted permission in 2013 for change of use of an adjoining ground floor retail unit to wholesale storage.

Wexford County Council referred the Westgate application to a number of agencies for comment or recommendation, including the Heritage Council, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and An Taisce.

An Taisce’s report recommended refusing permission for the demolition, saying the house stands on a strategic location and demolition would be ‘inappropriate.’ It said, ‘Wexford County Council should encourage the re-use of centrally-located vacant buildings rather than demolish these structures.’

Meanwhile, the former De Rinzy townhouse at Westgate continues to crumble and deteriorate, the building suffers from dry rot, a first-floor beam has collapsed, and the rear and side of the building are being used as a car park. It is a sad and visible commentary on the threats facing Wexford’s Georgian architectural heritage.

The side and rear of the former De Rinzy townhouse at Westgate are being used as a car park (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Listening to legends of castles, giants and salmon fishers on the Antrim coast

On the Causeway Coast in Co Antrim, above the Giant’s Causeway (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

On my Saturday visit to the Antrim coast two weeks ago [12 November 2016], after walking through the ‘Dark Hedges’ and visiting Gracehill House, I moved on to visit Dunluce Castle, the Giant’s Causeway and the Rope Bridge at Carrick-a-Rede, three of the most popular and most-visited tourist sites in Northern Ireland.

Dunluce Castle is a mediaeval ruin perched precariously on the craggy and treacherous Antrim coast in north-east Ulster. It stands on the edge of a basalt outcropping on the coast between Portballintrae and Portrush.

The steep cliffs and drops beneath the castle may explain why a fort has stood on this site from early times, and the first castle on this site was built in the 13th century by Richard Óg de Burgh, 2nd Earl of Ulster.

The McQuillans came from Scotland in the 1200s as hired mercenaries, and were the Lords of Route from the late 13th century. They built their castle on the cliffs around 1500, and the earliest written record of the castle dates from 1513. The earliest features of the castle are two large drum towers about 9 metres (30 feet) in diameter on the east side, both remains of the castle built by the McQuillans after becoming Lords of the Route.

The McQuillan family continued to hold Dunluce Castle for anonther 55 years until it was taken by the MacDonnells, who came over from Islay in 1554. The McQuillans lost two major battles with the MacDonnells in the mid-16th century, and the McDonnells took Dunluce Castle by force in 1565 after the Battle of Orla. It is said the McDonnells covered a bog with rushes and stationed a few men on firm ground, fooling the McQuillans into charging into the bog.

Dunluce Castle then became the home of the chief of the Clan MacDonnell of Antrim and the Clan MacDonald of Dunnyveg from Scotland.

John Mor MacDonald of Dunluce Castle was the second son of ‘Good’ John MacDonald of Islay, Lord of the Isles, 6th chief of Clan Donald in Scotland. His mother, Princess Margaret, was a daughter of King Robert II of Scotland.

In 1584, on the death of James MacDonald, the 6th chief of the Clan MacDonald of Antrim and Dunnyveg, the Antrim Glens were seized by Sorley Boy MacDonnell, one of his younger brothers. Sorley Boy rebuilt Dunluce in the Scottish style, and swore allegiance to Queen Elizabeth I.

The castle also has links with the Girona, a ship in the Spanish Armada that foundered on the rocks of the Giant’s Causeway. Sorley Boy MacDonnell retrieved the cannons from the shipwreck and mounted them in the castle. The rest of the cargo was sold, and the funds raised were used to restore the castle. The dead crew of the Girona are said to have been buried in Saint Cuthbert’s graveyard.

Sorley Boy’s son, Randal MacDonnell, was made 1st Earl of Antrim by King James I. Randal and his wife frequently visited the royal court in London and filled the castle with riches including curtains from Cardinal Wolsey and chairs of State.

The countess is aid to have built Saint Cuthbert’s Church near the castle. It was originally thatched and the ceiling plaster was decorated with signs of the zodiac. Saint Cuthbert’s was the only church in Ireland with that name and is thought to be linked to the cult of the saint in Northumbria. Saint Cuthbert’s in Bushmills takes its name from this church in Dunluce.

Dunluce Castle on the Antrim coast … did the castle kitchens ever fall into the sea below? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

A local legend claims that on a stormy night in 1639, as the family was waiting for dinner, the castle kitchens next to the cliff face, along with kitchen staff, collapsed into the sea, and that Lady Antrim refused to live in the castle any longer.

The legend says that only a kitchen boy survived, as he was sitting in a corner of the kitchen that did not collapse. However, the kitchen is still intact and next to the manor house, with the oven, fireplace and entry ways. It was not until the 18th century that the north wall of the castle collapsed and fell into the sea. The east, west and south walls are still standing.

General Munro arrested and imprisoned the Earl of Antrim in 1642 and ransacked the castle. The Earl of Antrim returned to Dunluce Castle after 1666. One of his visitors was Oliver Plunkett, Archbishop of Armagh, who was later martyred on Tyburn Hill.

Dunluce Castle was the seat of the Earls of Antrim until the MacDonnells were impoverishwd of in 1690, following the Battle of the Boyne, when Alexander MacDonnell, 3rd Earl of Antrim, supported the cause of James II.

The family abandoned Dunluce Castle, moved to Glenarm Castle, and since then Dunluce Castle has deteriorated. When the MacDonnell line looked look dying out, the ttile was restored on many occasions to daughters in the family, whose husbands and sons changed their name to MacDonnell and McDonnell and the family titles were rescued from extinction at different times. Over the years parts of the castle were scavenged and used as materials for nearby buildings.

Alexander Randal Mark McDonnell, 9th Earl of Antrim, still owns Dunluce Castle, but lives in Glenarm Castle. His son and heir, Randal Alexander St John McDonnell, is known as Viscount Dunluce. Dunluce Castle is managed by the Northern Irish Environment Agency.

The castle appeared on the cover of Led Zeppelin’s album Houses of the Holy (1973). It is said to be the inspiration behind the royal castle of Cair Paravel in CS Lewis’s Narnia stories.

In 2011, major archaeological excavations found significant remains of the lost town of Dunluce, razed to the ground during the wars of 1641. Lying beside Dunluce Castle, the town was built around 1608 by Randall MacDonnell, 1st Earl of Antrim, and predates the official Plantation of Ulster.

The MacDonnells brought Scottish settlers over to found the trading town of Dunluce. The town, designed to rival Coleraine, had Scottish, Irish, English and Welsh residents, as well as people from Continental Europe. However, the town was a failure because it had no port that could be used for trading.

Over the last five years, the archaeological digs have uncovered cobbled streets and stone merchants’ houses. The digs uncovered a Scottish merchant’s house, built in the first two decades of the 17th century, fronting onto the cobbled streets. The walls survive to waist height with plastered walls, an internal privy and a fireplace. The town also held a courthouse and a dungeon.

The recent excavations have discovered a cobbled street stretching through the town towards the castle, with a blacksmith’s forge, as well as coins dating back to the reigns of Elizabeth I and Charles I, bone combs, dress fastenings, thimble, gaming pieces, and the stem of a wine glass.

A bronze tuning pin used to tune harps suggests the presence of musicians. A 16th century Polish coin, kept as a token by the merchants, provides a reminder of the Scottish migrations to Poland.

Looking down on the Giant’s Causeway from the Causeway Coast (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

From Dunluce Castle, I moved on to Bushmills and the Giant’s Causeway, about 5 km further east. The Giant’s Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, formed by an ancient volcanic eruption, perhaps 50 to 60 million years ago. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a national nature reserve in 1987.

The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, although there are also some with four, five, seven or eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (39 feet) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres (92 feet) thick in places.

According to legend, the columns are the remains of a causeway built by the giant Fionn mac Cumhaill (Finn MacCool), who was challenged to a fight by a rival Scottish giant Benandonner. Fionn accepted the challenge and built the causeway so that the two giants could meet. Across the sea, there are identical basalt columns, formed by the same ancient lava flow, at Fingal’s Cave on the Scottish isle of Staffa.

The discovery of the Giant’s Causeway was announced to the wider world in 1693 in a paper to the Royal Society by Sir Richard Bulkeley of Trinity College Dublin, although it had been discovered a year earlier during a visit by William King, Bishop of Derry and later Archbishop of Dublin.

The site received international attention when Dublin artist Susanna Drury exhibited watercolour paintings of it in 1739. The Giant’s Causeway first became popular with tourists in the 19th century.

Today, much of the Giant’s Causeway and Causeway Coast World Heritage Site is owned and managed by the National Trust. The remainder of the site is owned by the Crown Estate and private landowners.

Crossing Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Carrick-a-Rede Rope Bridge near Ballintoy is said to have been first built by salmon fishermen in 1755. The bridge crosses a chasm that is 30 metres (98 feet) deep and 20 metres (66 feet) wide and was first built by fishermen to check their salmon nets.

The rope bridge links the Antrim coast and Carrick-a-Rede Island. Suspended above the rocks and the sea, the rope bridge is a popular tourist destination, attracting thousands of visitors who also come to see the Giant’s Causeway Coast and the Glens of Antrim.

The bridge and the island offer uninterrupted views of Rathlin Island, the coast of Scotland and the Causeway Coast. There are views of the clear, green water flowing around the caves and caverns far below, but the challenge alone makes this a popular attraction.

It is said local salmon fishermen have been building bridges to the island for over 350 years and it has taken many forms over the years. It is no longer used by fishermen during the salmon season. The season once lasted from June until September, but there are few salmon left there today. In the 1960s, almost 300 fish were caught each day, but by 2002 only 300 were caught over the whole season.

In the 1970s, the bridge had only one handrail and large gaps between the slats. A new bridge, tested up to ten tonnes, was built with the help of local climbers and abseilers in 2000. Another bridge was built in 2004. The current bridge was made of wire rope and Douglas fir bridge in Belfast and was built in 2008 at a cost of over £16,000.

From there we travelled along the coast on to Cushendun in the Glens of Antrim to admire the village that is the architectural creation of Clough Williams-Ellis, better known as the architect of Portmeirion in Wales.

A reminder of the centuries old traditions of the fishermen near Ballintoy (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)