In the land of Tom's ancestors

Today we left the north coast and headed south to a small, quiet community known as Straid.  Straid is the Gaelic word for street and we have seen several places with that name around Ireland, but we have reason to believe that this Straid is where Tom's great-great grandfather's family was from.  They immigrated to Canada about 1838, so it is doubtful that we will find much information about them, but never-the-less, it was fun looking around the town.  We talked to some of the residents of the town who were all very friendly and ready to chat. 

Not far from Straid is the town we're staying in tonight, Carrickfergus.  This is another coastal city with a castle.  We are staying in a B&B called "The Keep," which is just a couple of blocks from the castle and harbour.  Since we're leaving Ireland on Thursday and will go to Kiev to embark on a 12 day cruise, we knew it was time for doing laundry.  Fortunately for us, we've chatted with plenty of friendly people here who recommended a laundry where we got the clothes washed, dried, and folded (by the staff), while we went to look at the castle.  We picked them up after our castle tour and now we shouldn't have to think about doing laundry until we get to Spain (Did you hear that Caren?  Any idea where there's a good laundry in Cordoba?)

We're only a short distance from Belfast, which is where we will be going tomorrow.  I plan to visit a genealogy library there in search of some of Tom's dead relatives. More on that tomorrow.........

A lady in the village of Straid told me that this is where the Ellis used to live (they owned the fields here).  We do not know if this is the same Ellis as Tom is related to - but it seems likely.

This Congregational church was built in 1816 - so it was part of the village when Tom's relatives lived here.  Much of the town is now new housing - it has turned into a bedroom community for Belfast.

I chat up sopme of the locals to see what they know - they did not know much but it was a good chat!

The castle was the main stronghold of various clans. It was used for 800 years - only being turned over as a tourist attraction in the '50s. OIriginally built in 1178 by a local Lord, John de Courcy, King John visited it in 1216 after which it was enlarged to its present size.  It was under siege several times but only fell once in the 1600s after a 14 month siege.

The castle sits on a rock in the ocean and has a wonderful view of the city.

It also has a great view of the harbor.

After a hard day a good fisherman's pie at the local harbor went well!