Thank you Greg. The care and sincerity and sensitivity you bring to these difficult parts of our identity is remarkable. So much History. We grew up walking past these walls, looking through the railings from the Falls Park or walking up the White Rock Road. Never ever going in. Both my Mum and Dad grew up on the White Rock, just across from the cemetery. Mum told me about sheltering along the cemetery wall during heavy bombing of the City during the Blitz, huddled together with her family, with a vegetable colander on her head as the search lights filled the night skies and the bombs rained down. Shrapnel fell down on them from the FLAC. Many families took shelter there amongst the head stones. Mum worked as a tea lady for the Jaffas , in their fur shop in the City, after my Dad died. They were very kind to her, and payed her well. The Wall was always a story whispered to you as we gawked through the railings. I do have a ghost story , handed down through the family, related to the cemetery. Thanks again Greg. Excellent music.
As always Des, you add so much value to the videos with your vivid commentaries. I only now recall Jaffa Furs, of course! I never made the connection until now, but obviously it’s the same family.
I really enjoy wondering about graveyards! We did it a fair bit around Milltown, and the tomb of a bishop there had a carved profile that had an eye with a black patch over it, it was considered good luck to rub your wee thumb in the black socket!!! The sad neglected look of the City cemetery has an odd romance to it! That Gothic novel, spooky and intriguing. My great uncle was a priest and an exorcist for the Catholic Church, hence the spooky stories.
Happy New Year to you Greg, and thanks once again for a very interesting video. My imagination is now running riot with Catholic worms on one side of the underground wall and Protestant worms on the other 😂.
What a beautiful and haunting place. It is indeed a sorry state we're in when even the dead aren't even permitted peace.I am far too literal in my comprehension of Christianity and view it simply in the words of Jesus Christ Himself, "Love God with all your heart and might and love your neighbor as I have loved you. There are NO Commandments greater than these"..... I really thought they were pretty simple precepts. I am reminded daily that it is just not that simple for others...unfortunate, really very unfortunate. Thanks so much for another lovely video. I really did enjoy this cemetery visit.
Thanks for another well-presented and interesting video. I think that the pre-demolition mortuary chapel, both outside and inside, can be seen as a backdrop to parts of Gary Moore and Phil Lynott's video to Out In The Fields.
Yes NI. I couldn't believe it when I first was dandering about in the City Cemetery and heard about the wall!!! The same nonsense happened right across the place in other cemeteries! What are we like? lol
Nice video, Greg! If you have the time or the inclination, I would recommend the novel Cré na Cille (the Graveyard Clay), by Máirtín Ó Cadháin, which is the finest book written in the Irish language and indeed in Irish literature as a whole (to the point where it has been translated in several European languages, including English). The part about the Catholic burial plots being separated from the Protestant ones via an underground wall is worthy of satire, and is redolent of several scenes in the Graveyard Clay.
Thanks for the recommendation. Alas it would have to be the English translation in my case - 3 years of secondary school Irish would hardly cut it. But, yeah, I’ll look out for that one. Good tip.
@ No worries, Greg. The book in question was thought to be “untranslatable” for a long time, with one would-be translator deciding to become a nun, while another refused as the Connemara dialect was too difficult. I read it in English, and there’s a recent translation from Alan Titley, entitled “The Dirty Dust”. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cré_na_Cille
I do like a good cemetery, you meet a better class of people in them 😁. Some expensive graves in there. How strange an unground wall, you’d never know it was there. I never understood or did vandalism, even as a kid. What is the point in vandalising a grave. The saddest grave I ever saw was that of my mate from school, I knew he was dead years ago but to stumble on his grave accidently one day really struck home. I must admit I don’t see the point in expensive gravestones, I don’t plan to have one at all. I think its sad to see once loved graves just left to decay, the way of things I know, but still sad to see people once loved and missed just left in unkept graves. Maybe its just me.
I think you’re right in the sense that graves are going out of ‘fashion’. So many people are opting for cremation now. I guess for one thing we’re running out of space!
@nakedireland true space getting short, more so here than Ireland I think. That's what I'm having, pop in oven till done 😂. When I did my family tree spent a lot of time in graveyards, alas many of my lot poor and no stones ever.
Managed a few minutes in there as time was limited before heading to Milltown . Next visit to Belfast l will spend more time there and a quick walk around the Falls park too.
Another interesting peep into the island's rich history, though it does seem a shame that the one thing that unifies the residents of the cemetery - death - is used as a tool to keep them apart, along the lines of faith. Moreover, it seems utterly disrespectful to use echoes of that division as a blunt instrument to violate the peace and resting places of the deceased and affront their descendants. Senseless. Thanks, Greg.
Spot on Mark. Having said all this it’s a small minority of stupid people who cause the vandalism, and I think most people have respect. But yeah, religious segregation in death - crazy!
Thank you Greg. The care and sincerity and sensitivity you bring to these difficult parts of our identity is remarkable. So much History. We grew up walking past these walls, looking through the railings from the Falls Park or walking up the White Rock Road. Never ever going in. Both my Mum and Dad grew up on the White Rock, just across from the cemetery. Mum told me about sheltering along the cemetery wall during heavy bombing of the City during the Blitz, huddled together with her family, with a vegetable colander on her head as the search lights filled the night skies and the bombs rained down. Shrapnel fell down on them from the FLAC. Many families took shelter there amongst the head stones. Mum worked as a tea lady for the Jaffas , in their fur shop in the City, after my Dad died. They were very kind to her, and payed her well. The Wall was always a story whispered to you as we gawked through the railings. I do have a ghost story , handed down through the family, related to the cemetery. Thanks again Greg. Excellent music.
As always Des, you add so much value to the videos with your vivid commentaries. I only now recall Jaffa Furs, of course! I never made the connection until now, but obviously it’s the same family.
They were a very prominent Family, the Jaffas. There is a book written by a member of their family on the History of the Jewish Diaspora in Ireland.
i seem to remember seeing a carved head of one of the Jaffas (presumably the Lord Mayor) on the wall of one of the buildings behind the city hall.
I really enjoy wondering about graveyards! We did it a fair bit around Milltown, and the tomb of a bishop there had a carved profile that had an eye with a black patch over it, it was considered good luck to rub your wee thumb in the black socket!!! The sad neglected look of the City cemetery has an odd romance to it! That Gothic novel, spooky and intriguing. My great uncle was a priest and an exorcist for the Catholic Church, hence the spooky stories.
An exorcist!! Spooky stories indeed.
Happy New Year to you Greg, and thanks once again for a very interesting video. My imagination is now running riot with Catholic worms on one side of the underground wall and Protestant worms on the other 😂.
I know! I guess we all decompose the same way!
What a beautiful and haunting place. It is indeed a sorry state we're in when even the dead aren't even permitted peace.I am far too literal in my comprehension of Christianity and view it simply in the words of Jesus Christ Himself, "Love God with all your heart and might and love your neighbor as I have loved you. There are NO Commandments greater than these"..... I really thought they were pretty simple precepts. I am reminded daily that it is just not that simple for others...unfortunate, really very unfortunate. Thanks so much for another lovely video. I really did enjoy this cemetery visit.
Many thanks Timothy. Yes it’s a sad state of affairs, but of course it’s a small minority of hoodlums who perpetrate these acts. Cheers for watching.
Thanks for another well-presented and interesting video. I think that the pre-demolition mortuary chapel, both outside and inside, can be seen as a backdrop to parts of Gary Moore and Phil Lynott's video to Out In The Fields.
Wow i had no idea! Thanks for that info. Wish I’d known before I made the film and I’d definitely have included that.
Nice one NI!
Best wishes from the Belfast Castlereagh hills.
And a Happy New Year to you Tom.
Yes NI. I couldn't believe it when I first was dandering about in the City Cemetery and heard about the wall!!! The same nonsense happened right across the place in other cemeteries! What are we like? lol
It’s embarrassing Tom. We hate each other in life, and then continue the hatred in death!
It is funny NI. Funny and daft at the same time!
Nice video, Greg! If you have the time or the inclination, I would recommend the novel Cré na Cille (the Graveyard Clay), by Máirtín Ó Cadháin, which is the finest book written in the Irish language and indeed in Irish literature as a whole (to the point where it has been translated in several European languages, including English).
The part about the Catholic burial plots being separated from the Protestant ones via an underground wall is worthy of satire, and is redolent of several scenes in the Graveyard Clay.
Thanks for the recommendation. Alas it would have to be the English translation in my case - 3 years of secondary school Irish would hardly cut it. But, yeah, I’ll look out for that one. Good tip.
@ No worries, Greg. The book in question was thought to be “untranslatable” for a long time, with one would-be translator deciding to become a nun, while another refused as the Connemara dialect was too difficult. I read it in English, and there’s a recent translation from Alan Titley, entitled “The Dirty Dust”.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cré_na_Cille
Thanks for that link. I’ll take a look. I’m sure it must lose something in translation, but good to know it’s available - thanks for that.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you for watching Joanne.
My great-grandfather became a catholic just before his passing so he could be buried with our great granny Sarah God love you both ❤
Thank you for sharing that James.
I do like a good cemetery, you meet a better class of people in them 😁. Some expensive graves in there. How strange an unground wall, you’d never know it was there. I never understood or did vandalism, even as a kid. What is the point in vandalising a grave. The saddest grave I ever saw was that of my mate from school, I knew he was dead years ago but to stumble on his grave accidently one day really struck home. I must admit I don’t see the point in expensive gravestones, I don’t plan to have one at all. I think its sad to see once loved graves just left to decay, the way of things I know, but still sad to see people once loved and missed just left in unkept graves. Maybe its just me.
I think you’re right in the sense that graves are going out of ‘fashion’. So many people are opting for cremation now. I guess for one thing we’re running out of space!
@nakedireland true space getting short, more so here than Ireland I think. That's what I'm having, pop in oven till done 😂. When I did my family tree spent a lot of time in graveyards, alas many of my lot poor and no stones ever.
There’s no shame in that. It’s sad, but of course, we’re all equal in death!
@nakedireland very true, death is a great leveller. Happy topic 😂. Happy new year BTW 👍
Happy New Year to you too. And yes, I need a few more cheerful videos again soon!! 😂
Nice work
Many thanks for watching.
Managed a few minutes in there as time was limited before heading to Milltown .
Next visit to Belfast l will spend more time there and a quick walk around the Falls park too.
Im gonna do a wee film on Miltown soon too Paul so look out for that.
Both my Mum and Dad are buried in Milltown, as are most of my relatives. Though we have relatives buried in Friers Bush, very old graves.
Yes, Friers Bush, I think that’s Belfast’s oldest graveyard?
@@nakedireland And I believe it's closed to the public! There is a Famine related mass grave in Friers Bush, victims of Typhoid.
Another interesting peep into the island's rich history, though it does seem a shame that the one thing that unifies the residents of the cemetery - death - is used as a tool to keep them apart, along the lines of faith. Moreover, it seems utterly disrespectful to use echoes of that division as a blunt instrument to violate the peace and resting places of the deceased and affront their descendants. Senseless. Thanks, Greg.
Spot on Mark. Having said all this it’s a small minority of stupid people who cause the vandalism, and I think most people have respect. But yeah, religious segregation in death - crazy!