~ Celebrating Ballintoy’s
Hidden History ~
Members of the local community celebrating the achievements of Ballintoy's Hidden History Project.
Maurice
McHenry, chairman of the Society, welcomed everyone to the event, particularly
Mr Martin McDonald MBE from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and representatives
from the University of Ulster at Coleraine. He explained that the project,
funded by HLF’s All Our Stories programme, was established to explore and tell
the stories of Templastragh Church, Ballintoy Castle and an eighteenth-century
school at White Park Bay. Very little was known about these three important
local sites, but the Society, with the assistance of archaeologists from the
University of Ulster and Queen’s University Belfast, was determined to rescue
them from obscurity and ensure they were given their rightful place in the
story of the local community. Mr McHenry
thanked the HLF for the funding which had enabled the Society to undertake the
project, the professional archaeologists for providing invaluable support and
expertise and the Society’s members for all their hard work.
Maurice Mc Henry, Chairman of the Society welcoming everyone.
The
co-ordinator of Ballintoy’s Hidden History project, Robert Corbett, then
described how the members of the Society had trawled through historic
documents, surveyed the surviving archaeology and collected the stories and
memories of local people to uncover the hidden history of the three sites. He
commended them for their hard work, boundless enthusiasm and commitment to the
project.
Speaking at
the event, Gemma Reid, University of Ulster, praised the Society for having the
vision to initiate the project and congratulated them on their achievements. She added: ‘I hope the Society will continue
to undertake such imaginative projects to give the local community an opportunity
to explore, share and tell their stories.’
Gemma Reid University of Ulster, shares a joke with the audience whilst praising the Society for undertaking the project.
Martin McDonald, member of Heritage Lottery Fund NI Committee, added
their congratulations to Ballintoy Archaeological and Historical Society on
their achievements. He said: ‘We were pleased to support this local heritage
project and are delighted with its success. The All Our Stories pilot programme
proved very popular throughout the UK and we have now established an on-going
programme called Sharing Heritage. We would encourage communities to follow
Ballintoy Archaeological and Historical Society’s example and have a go at
their own local heritage projects. Who knows what they will uncover about their
heritage.’
The exhibition will be displayed at various local venues
during the next few months. We will provide details on where the exhibition can
be viewed on the ‘News’ section of our website. Some of the information about, and images of, Templastragh
Church, Ballintoy Castle and the school at White Park House displayed in the exhibition
can be viewed on the ‘Hidden History’ section of our website. More information
about these sites will be presented on our website in due course.
We have now completed this stage of our project. We wish to
thank everyone who has assisted us and followed our progress. However, we will
continue to explore, share, tell and celebrate the hidden history of Ballintoy
and the surrounding area. We will use
this blog to keep you up to date with our activities and we hope you will
continue to follow our progress.
Gemma Reid, University of Ulster, Maurice McHenry and Robert Corbett,
Ballintoy Archaeological and Historical Society and Martin McDonald HLF.
