sometimes undated and always largely unpunctuated, as was the practice in those days before the standardisation of spelling and punctuation. “I think yu ware very lazy”, she wrote to him in Dublin in the last decade of his life, “yu did not write to me last post I am Yr. Own A Ward pray send me as soon as possible half a pound of carroway comfits if Robbins wife has not left send them by her.” There is scant evidence nowadays in Killough village of its once powerful landlord. His preference for Port St. Anne as its name did not long outlast him. There is not a vestige of his Charter School, though his corn mill is still recognisable, and his “corn road” still cuts arrow-straight across Lecale to Castle Ward. No trace of his original home there still stands, but Castle Ward House, built by his son Bernard between 1761 and 1767 is one of the most attractive properties of Northern Ireland’s National Trust. Bernard became the first Lord Bangor in 1781, a royal favour that eluded his father. Perhaps Michael’s most lasting legacy is the almost 2000 letters he wrote, now preserved in the NI Public Record Office, giving a fascinating glimpse of life in Down over two and a half centuries ago. Writing in 1983, Rev. W.E. Kennedy, Rector of Strangford, citing the schools, almshouses, roads and employment the Ward family had provided, was generous in their praise: they were not absentee landlords, bent on exploitation. They did a lot of good, and deserve the reputation which they still hold in the district. The learned Judge would surely have been gratified by the compliment.
Fishing In Strangford Lough. G.W. Skillen
A favourite line used in the Strangford area when fishing for blockan, lythe and mackerel was made from the white breast-feathers of geese. The middle section of the feather was cut or torn off the quill and rolled to form an imitation “fry’” or young herring on which the other fish fed. A clove-hitch of black linen thread was tied to the end of the lure or “feather” as it was known locally, and the feather was then attached to the back of the hook. Usually the feathers were made to last for a season, but where goose feathers were readily available some fishermen renewed them, varying the length as the herring fry grew. Feather fishing was most effective for blocken and lythe an hour after sundown in currents and eddies and over rock “pladdies” where the fish were wont to feed. When I was young I remember being reprimanded by local fishermen for running over nets and “heads” lying out to dry on the grass-scovered pier at Strangford. “The heads” were floats for the nets ancl they were made from bladders of animals.The neck of the bladder was first stretched over a cotton reel from which the bottom rim was pared off. A piece of cloth or canvas was then wrapped round the bladder neck and over the spool, lapped with twine (or “seized’” as it was called) and varnished to protect the twine from the salt water.The bladder was then blown up by the mouth and a tight fitting spike or plug (coated with Archangel tar) was inserted into the hole in the reel.When the bladder dried out it was painted, usually in two colours, then it was fitted with fine ropes and attached to the head rope of the net. In counting fish I have watched fishermen count out the “long hundred” as : “Forty casts, a cast and a fish,” i.e. 124. In counting the “mease” (pronounced “maze”) there were five long hundreds, i.e. 620 fish.This count applied to herring or blockan. Small blockan were called “gilpins” by the Stranglorcl fishermen. They were split and sundried on the rocks or on the roofs of the houses. Then they were tied in bundles and hung up in the kitchens of the fishermen’s houses and used during the winter. Newtownards, Co. Down. 40
Inverbrena Local History Group Magazine 2006