Jon Marshall's book "Discovering Mosside" provides a detailed history of the small village in Ireland from its earliest settlers over 10,000 years ago to modern times. It describes archaeological sites from the Bronze Age when the area was an important trading partner, through the Celtic and early Christian periods when Saint Patrick established one of his first churches there. The book highlights the area's importance through wars and rebellions over centuries and its cultural heritage, leaving the reader surprised by all that this tiny village has witnessed and contributed to Irish history.
Jon Marshall's book "Discovering Mosside" provides a detailed history of the small village in Ireland from its earliest settlers over 10,000 years ago to modern times. It describes archaeological sites from the Bronze Age when the area was an important trading partner, through the Celtic and early Christian periods when Saint Patrick established one of his first churches there. The book highlights the area's importance through wars and rebellions over centuries and its cultural heritage, leaving the reader surprised by all that this tiny village has witnessed and contributed to Irish history.
Jon Marshall's book "Discovering Mosside" provides a detailed history of the small village in Ireland from its earliest settlers over 10,000 years ago to modern times. It describes archaeological sites from the Bronze Age when the area was an important trading partner, through the Celtic and early Christian periods when Saint Patrick established one of his first churches there. The book highlights the area's importance through wars and rebellions over centuries and its cultural heritage, leaving the reader surprised by all that this tiny village has witnessed and contributed to Irish history.
Review For years many people have passed through Mosside on the main Coleraine to Ballycastle road with hardly a glance. Recently I came across a new book called Discovering Mosside. I wondered what there was to discover about Mosside that could fill 170 pages. Jon Marshall, the well-known local archaeologist, historian, broadcaster and author has shown that this little place has enormous importance and has featured in the history of Ireland at many of its most significant moments. Quite rightly (and not surprisingly, given Mr Marshall’s archaeological background) the book begins in the deepest past, with the story of the first settlers in Ireland who provided themselves with food and shelter with nothing except their intelligence, the wood and stones of the place. Some sites at Mosside have been dated to the time of Mountsandel, almost 10,000 years ago. Despite our modern sophistication, I wondered how many people today could begin to build a life with nothing but the countryside and their wits. The book describes their progress, how they tamed the land and how the population grew as they began the first farming and permanent settlements, shaping the countryside we see today. The book describes the Bronze Age places and finds from Mosside at a time when Ireland was the richest land in the known world. I never realised that our people were so important or that 4,000 years ago people from North Antrim were trading as far as Scandinavia and the eastern Mediterranean! After all, it was only in the 1960s that the first package holidays to sunnier climes became available to the better off. It is amazing to think that people from here were travelling so far, so long ago. The accounts of gold, bronze and other objects and the facts of how far we were advanced of the cultures of Egypt and Ancient Greece are truly amazing. Later, the customs and culture of the Celts became central to the place names and folklore of the area and the interpretation of the local townland names in this book are a treasure in themselves, painting a picture of the landscape 2,000 years ago which can still be seen today. Other sites such as the cult centre of Drumtullagh which gave the Grange of Drumtullagh its name and the ornamented Celtic cult stone of Derrykeighan Stone are shown. I hadn’t realised that this stone was one of only six such pieces known in Ireland. I believe that the Derrykeighan Stone may soon return to Ballymoney Museum. Nor did I realise that there were so many holy places scattered about the area, from early churches to holy wells to inauguration sites to the original sites of midsummer bonfires which became the 11th of July bonfires of today. And who would have thought that Saint Patrick himself would have chosen Mosside for one of his five original churches of the north and who could have expected that the lost lake at Loughlynch would be the single largest concentration of prehistoric logboats around its ancient shores? As I read on, Discovering Mosside was producing a lot of really important facts which were not just local but also had national and international importance. It became obvious that in those far off times, the influence of Scotland is clear and that the Ulster-Scots were a force to be reckoned with, long before the English Plantation of the early 1600s. There are stirring accounts of the rebels and the people of Mosside in the 1641 and 1798 risings, stories of a famous Scottish hero born on the island in Loughlynch who featured in the stories of Sir Walter Scott and the identification of a previously undocumented Plantation Castle. As I read on, the amount of important features of Mosside was quite incredible and almost unbelievable for such a tiny area. In this book, folklore stories of cures and remedies, an architectural heritage and the effects of wars are combined with the constant background of the agricultural community and give an account which must make the people of Mosside proud. When I had finished reading, I thought that few communities in Ireland or the UK could have such an important local heritage and how privileged Mosside is to have such a volume about its people and place. It used to be that all the history taught in schools was either English or Irish or, in other words, the politics of London or Dublin predominate. Discovering Mosside is a real history of the people and makes for fabulous reading. Every village should have one! A fantastic read, no matter where you come from. The book is silver blocked hardback on black laminate covers, 171 pages, beautifully illustrated with more than 64 line drawings and maps and available from outlets local to Mosside at £10.00 or from J Marshall, Clegnagh House, Mosside, Armoy, Ballymoney BT53 8UB at £13.00 UK post paid. Overseas enquiries are welcome to [email protected]
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