Travels Through History - Northern Ireland and Scotland

By Julian Worker

A series of essays about visits to the murals of West Belfast, the award-winning Titanic Centre, The World Heritage Site of the Giant’s Causeway, the seven little-visited stone circles at Beaghmore, and the dramatically situated Dunluce Castle perched high on the cliffs in Antrim in Northern Ireland.
There are further stories about the island of Lewis and Harris, Edinburgh, Dryburgh Abbey, and Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland.
On Lewis and Harris, I visited the Callanish Stone Circles, the Arnol Blackhouse, and the Dun Carloway broch all of them redolent with history from different eras.
In Edinburgh, I walked along the Royal Mile and was astounded at the plants in the Botanical Gardens.
I also describe the tranquil Dryburgh Abbey, where Sir Walter Scott is buried, and Rosslyn Chapel, whose many secrets are buried deep in its lavishly decorated interior.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AG Books
• Release date: Jul 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9781785388064

Julian Worker

“Little Known British Traditions” is my first book of humourous stories. One of my stories, Safari Sickness, has been recently published in an anthology called “Leave the Lipstick, Take the Iguana” by Travelers’ Tales. Other articles have recently appeared in the Expeditioner online e-zine, and in Americas the magazine of the Organization of American States. My travel stories have appeared in The Toronto Globe and Mail, The National Catholic Register, International Travel News, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Southern Cross newspaper in South Africa. On the Internet my writing has appeared on the following websites: In the Know Traveller, Go World, Paperplates, Intravel, and GoNomad. I have also taken many photographs that have appeared in travel guides/articles by National Geographic, Thomas Cook, The Rough Guides, and The Guardian.

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The Murals of West Belfast, Northern Ireland

Growing up in England in the ‘70s and ‘80s, certain names in Belfast became synonymous for me with the troubles of those times. Some of those names included The Falls Road and Shankill Road in West Belfast. Recently, I ventured there for the first time in my life and I must admit there was trepidation in my steps as I headed along Castle Street in Belfast towards Divis Street and the Falls Road. I am not sure why I felt nervous, but I did. It might have been because most people who visit the murals in this area take one of the Black Cab tours, where the drivers act as your guide to the various paintings and the background behind them. I was walking around on my own, so I suppose I felt vulnerable.

As I headed west, I first noticed a traditional post box that had been painted green. There were various posters on the walls referring to the 32 counties of Ireland and to opposing the triumphalism of the British Army. This was the other side of the truth coin I had never been exposed to before and it’s why I go to places, to find out a little about how other people perceive the events that have taken place, some of them in my lifetime.

As Divis Street became the Falls Road, I crossed over the road to look at the murals painted on the bricks of the International Wall, before turning right on to Northumberland Street where the murals continued. The murals on this wall commemorate, amongst others: Nelson Mandela, the Republican hunger-strikers of the early 1980s, solidarity amongst POWs around the world, and Abdulla Ocalan of the PKK (Kurdistan Worker Party). I was impressed by the geographical reach of these murals from around the world whose common theme was their struggle against their oppressors. The message I took from this was twofold. Firstly, the Republicans will never give up their struggle to become part of a united Ireland, just like Mandela never gave up his fight against apartheid. This can be seen from the current leaders of Sinn Fein, who called for a referendum soon after the Brexit vote in 2016. Secondly, the Republicans draw strength from the feeling of unitedness they experience with their fellow political activists around the world.

An anti-George W Bush mural, depicting a tattered American flag flying above a mountain of skeletons, next to a signpost showing the way to Baghdad and Basra, was particularly powerful. Lines from the US National Anthem containing the words our flag was still there were painted on the scene to one side. Bush was shown blowing bubbles containing dollar signs. Under his image were written the words America’s Greatest Failure. I liked the humour in this mural although I did remember the words from the ‘Star Spangled Banner" were referring to the American flag that flew over Baltimore’s Fort McHenry on a hot summer night in 1814 during their war with the British. Of course, the Americans won this war and I wondered whether that was the underlying message - that the British can be defeated.

My favourite mural depicted the effects of Climate Change and was entitled ‘Climate Change Affects Everyone... But Not Equally". Polar bears and penguins on small ice floes, a sinking Statue of Liberty, and a face reminiscent of Munch’s The Scream emphasised the point. The main subject of this mural was Global Warming and the fight against this modern scourge, but as with all the murals in this part of Belfast, there was the underlying theme of struggle against the odds, a struggle that must continue until something is overcome. This made me feel quite pessimistic, as both sides can’t win.

Then I went from the familiar to the unfamiliar; I saw an armoured gate.