Beragh, Co Tyrone

From the collection of

Northern Ireland Screen's Digital Film Archive
Launched in 2000, Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive spans from 1897 to the present day and currently contains an ever-expanding catalogue of 13,000 items. It comprises material from a variety of depositors including feature films, sport, documentaries, animation, amateur footage, light entertainment, and a significant proportion of broadcast material from the UTV Archive.

Beragh, Co Tyrone

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Visit the area of Beragh in County Tyrone and explore the history and people.

Joe visits the town of Beragh in County Tyrone. He tells the story of Saint Patrick arriving in the area and being warned there was a giant serpent about. He then commanded a horse to battle the serpent but when the horse went mad after defeating the foe Saint Patrick ordered it to dive to the bottom of a lake and live there until the end of time, a lake now called Lough Patrick.

Seamus Rodgers takes Joe to the nearby abandoned graveyard and then onto a Toothache Tree where it is said that toothache can be cured by driving a coin into the bark of the tree. Martin McGuigan takes Joe to what is left of Lough Patrick which has now almost entirely grown over with bog grass and can be walked on top of. The Reverend Elaine O'Brien shows Joe inside St Patrick's parish church at Cholgherny and tells him of the folklore connecting the area to the saint, with the church still known as the Church of the Horse. She also shows him a bag of human skulls of unknown origin which are kept under a floorboard of the church.

The Kelly family show Joe their techniques for making the potato-based Pearly Pudding. Helen Bullock McFarland shows Joe her paintings including one of the local Toothache Tree. Hamilton and Olive Kee are Joe's guides as they take him inside Camowen Green House which is powered by turbines from the local Camowen River. Local historian, Patrick Joseph McLean shows Joe his historic house in the town centre, the former Royal Irish Constabulary barracks with iron bars over what used to be jail cells. Finally, Joe return to the Kelly's to try out the completed Pearly Pudding.

Lesser Spotted Ulster is a long-running and popular programme that visits the places many of us have heard of but never been to. Presenter Joe Mahon gently explores what makes a place what it is.


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Lesser Spotted Ulster

Exploring the townlands and hinterlands of Ulster through landscape, history and local traditions as a torch is shone upon the roads less travelled.
Joe Mahon is an engaging host as he catalogues his journeys around towns and villages rarely mentioned in the news but rich in their own stories, legends, and tales of past industries and events. Using local people as his guides, Joe delves into the heritage and customs from yesteryear, documenting many before they pass from human memory. Starting in 1995, Lesser Spotted Ulster chronicled the regional variances of life around the six counties of Northern Ireland which, together with Donegal, Cavan and Monaghan, make up the historic boundaries of Ulster. With gentle panoramas of beautiful Irish countryside, played out under a lilting soundtrack, the series was a staple of the Ulster Television schedules for nearly 20 years. This selection of programmes from the series serves as a testimony to the rural culture of Ulster and a resource for anyone with an interest in the past and disappearing traditions.

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