Archive for the ‘English Ascendency’ Category
A Day In Loch Garman
The Pikeman in the Bull Ring
29 April 2011: I’ve spent this day in one of the first towns in Ireland to rebel against the foreign domination of this Celtic country first overrun by the Norman rulers of England in the latter part of the 12thC and subjugated for a further 800 years.
Of what? The Tree of Liberty.
Where did it first grow? In America.
Where does it bloom? In France.
Where did the seeds fall? In Ireland.
- Irish Breakfast served at Sidetracks on the Crescent Quay
Loch Garman was a random choice but ultimately wholly significant to the reason for my journey away from Cymru today. Although the trip was a statement, I did have ample opportunity to sample the local fare, not to mention the several glasses of Guinness.
Opposite Sidetracks is the Crescent Quay. The town has been a settlement since the earliest times and was important to fishing industries and international commerce from the arrival of the Norse in the 9thC. On the Quay is the statue of Commodore John Barry – a native son of Loch Garman – whose contribution, in 1783, in the fight for American independence included firing the American Navy’s last shot of the Revoltuion.
