Mark Gatiss

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0:00:02 > 0:00:03Turning over. Quiet, please!

0:00:07 > 0:00:11Actor and writer on Doctor Who and Sherlock Mark Gatiss

0:00:11 > 0:00:15makes his living from his lifelong passion - storytelling.

0:00:16 > 0:00:19My whole career is a long revenge against PE.

0:00:21 > 0:00:23If people know me for anything, I think it's...

0:00:23 > 0:00:26I think children who are not necessarily sporty

0:00:26 > 0:00:28can take a little bit of heart.

0:00:28 > 0:00:31Mark first walked onto our TV screens in the cult comedy

0:00:31 > 0:00:33The League Of Gentlemen.

0:00:34 > 0:00:38Horror films have been an obsession since childhood.

0:00:38 > 0:00:40I used to walk around the football pitch

0:00:40 > 0:00:43talking about horror films with my best friend.

0:00:43 > 0:00:48Enjoy this performance, Wolfe. It will be your last!

0:00:49 > 0:00:51HE LAUGHS

0:00:51 > 0:00:54History's also always been one of my biggest passions,

0:00:54 > 0:00:56really, from primary school.

0:00:56 > 0:00:59- Very dark, but really catchy. - But funny, as well, I imagine.

0:00:59 > 0:01:01It's a sort of affinity with it all, in a way.

0:01:01 > 0:01:05My mum used to say I had "an old soul", which I always liked.

0:01:05 > 0:01:09Mark's mother, Winnie, died in 2003.

0:01:09 > 0:01:11The idea that my mother was half Irish,

0:01:11 > 0:01:14it has all kinds of romantic connotations.

0:01:15 > 0:01:18I'd love to join the dots right the way back.

0:01:19 > 0:01:21I'd like to be the King of Ireland,

0:01:21 > 0:01:24but if I am the King of Ireland, I won't, you know...

0:01:24 > 0:01:25I'll be quite gracious.

0:02:00 > 0:02:04The big mystical thing for me is my mother's side.

0:02:04 > 0:02:09The Irishness of her side of the family always appealed to me.

0:02:09 > 0:02:12I've never really delved very deeply

0:02:12 > 0:02:15but the ideal place to start is with my dad,

0:02:15 > 0:02:19who still lives in the house where I was brought up.

0:02:22 > 0:02:25Mark's on his way to see his dad, Maurice,

0:02:25 > 0:02:28in County Durham in the north-east of England.

0:02:28 > 0:02:30I think he's always been intrigued about my mother's

0:02:30 > 0:02:33side as much as his own.

0:02:33 > 0:02:35I'm really just fascinated to find out.

0:02:54 > 0:02:56Mark's stopping in to pick up Maurice at his local pub.

0:02:56 > 0:02:58Hello!

0:02:58 > 0:02:59All right?

0:03:02 > 0:03:06So, Dad, what do you think we might discover

0:03:06 > 0:03:08lurking in the shadows?

0:03:08 > 0:03:10A murderer of some description.

0:03:10 > 0:03:11That's what I said!

0:03:18 > 0:03:22So, I painted this picture 15 years ago when I was a lot younger.

0:03:22 > 0:03:24I didn't expect you to hang it up like that.

0:03:24 > 0:03:27That was when I was slightly obsessed with Velazquez.

0:03:27 > 0:03:31Everyone thinks it's me as a choir boy, which I certainly never was.

0:03:31 > 0:03:33HE LAUGHS

0:03:33 > 0:03:36So, Dad, tell me everything.

0:03:36 > 0:03:37THEY LAUGH

0:03:37 > 0:03:40Where...? Oh, he's going to start!

0:03:40 > 0:03:42I'm afraid it was the milkman.

0:03:42 > 0:03:43HE LAUGHS

0:03:43 > 0:03:46Well, we'll start with these, then.

0:03:47 > 0:03:49This is wedding day, isn't it?

0:03:49 > 0:03:51Certainly is, with your mother.

0:03:51 > 0:03:53That's 1957?

0:03:53 > 0:03:55- It is.- Where was that?

0:03:55 > 0:03:59That's the front of the Catholic church at Dean Road.

0:03:59 > 0:04:01Dean Road.

0:04:01 > 0:04:06But were you aware of Mum's family being a Catholic family

0:04:06 > 0:04:09because Mum was always a bit lax, wasn't she?

0:04:09 > 0:04:12Well, she wasn't lax until she met me!

0:04:12 > 0:04:15THEY LAUGH

0:04:15 > 0:04:18- Do you say that to all the ladies? - Indeed!

0:04:18 > 0:04:21So, what did you know of Mum's family?

0:04:21 > 0:04:25Did she tell you about the O'Kane sort of Irish side of the family?

0:04:25 > 0:04:28Not a lot. Not a lot.

0:04:28 > 0:04:33But you knew that Hilda, Mum's mum, Grandma,

0:04:33 > 0:04:39was a widow and Jeremiah had been the local GP, is that right?

0:04:40 > 0:04:44- I knew that.- Yeah. - He was very well thought of.

0:04:44 > 0:04:47So, this is...this is Jeremiah.

0:04:47 > 0:04:51Mark's maternal grandfather, Jeremiah O'Kane,

0:04:51 > 0:04:53died the year Mark's mother was born

0:04:53 > 0:04:56so they know little about him except that he came

0:04:56 > 0:05:00from the north of Ireland and moved to England to practise as a GP.

0:05:01 > 0:05:04I've always thought he looks a bit like

0:05:04 > 0:05:07Little Tich or Grimaldi the Clown!

0:05:07 > 0:05:10- You can see the nose.- The nose.

0:05:10 > 0:05:12Did I tell you this nose has haunted me?

0:05:12 > 0:05:14It's the O'Kane nose.

0:05:14 > 0:05:17We got this photo when Auntie Sheila died.

0:05:17 > 0:05:18Never seen this before.

0:05:19 > 0:05:23But he looks like he's certainly part of the team.

0:05:23 > 0:05:25Team, yup.

0:05:25 > 0:05:27And whether it's all...

0:05:27 > 0:05:31whether it's actually maternity... It's like Call The Midwife!

0:05:31 > 0:05:32Maybe that's what it is.

0:05:32 > 0:05:34Mum always used to say, "You should be a doctor."

0:05:34 > 0:05:37I said, "Why?" And she said, "You've got lovely hands."

0:05:37 > 0:05:40THEY LAUGH

0:05:40 > 0:05:41Yeah.

0:05:43 > 0:05:46This is very prestigious, actually.

0:05:46 > 0:05:50Queen's University of Belfast,

0:05:50 > 0:05:53Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery and Bachelor of Obstetric.

0:05:53 > 0:05:57Oh, there we are. Maternity was his, er,

0:05:57 > 0:05:59speciality.

0:05:59 > 0:06:01He's got three degrees.

0:06:01 > 0:06:03That's rather good. Wow!

0:06:03 > 0:06:0511th December, 1918.

0:06:07 > 0:06:08That's fascinating.

0:06:10 > 0:06:15So, it looks like I need to head to Ireland,

0:06:15 > 0:06:18well, certainly to Northern Ireland and probably to Belfast,

0:06:18 > 0:06:21if we're going to find out a bit more about Mum's family.

0:06:24 > 0:06:31His grandfather, Jeremiah O'Kane, is Mark's way in to his Irish ancestry.

0:06:31 > 0:06:34I became slightly obsessed with being a quarter Irish.

0:06:34 > 0:06:37It's quite a good thing to say!

0:06:37 > 0:06:39Not as good as half Irish. Certainly, not as good as Irish.

0:06:51 > 0:06:54Mark's starting at Queen's University, Belfast,

0:06:54 > 0:06:58where Jeremiah completed his medical training in 1918.

0:07:01 > 0:07:04He hopes the university's archives will have

0:07:04 > 0:07:05records of his grandfather.

0:07:09 > 0:07:11Two soups, please!

0:07:11 > 0:07:13Archivist Ursula Mitchel is helping Mark.

0:07:16 > 0:07:18And this is the entrance... one of the entrance registers

0:07:18 > 0:07:21for Queen's University, Belfast.

0:07:21 > 0:07:24It's for the year 1912, 1913.

0:07:24 > 0:07:28So, this is the year Jeremiah O'Kane came into Queen's.

0:07:31 > 0:07:33There he is there, Jeremiah O'Kane.

0:07:34 > 0:07:38"Date of Birth, Religious Denomination, Catholic,

0:07:38 > 0:07:41"Parent or Guardian, Margaret O'Kane."

0:07:41 > 0:07:43So, he was from Derry, then?

0:07:43 > 0:07:44He was, yes.

0:07:44 > 0:07:48To find out about earlier generations, Ursula has tracked down

0:07:48 > 0:07:52more family documents, including Jeremiah's birth certificate.

0:07:52 > 0:07:57So, Birth, his is in Garvagh...

0:07:58 > 0:08:00..Father, John O'Kane of Garvagh,

0:08:00 > 0:08:03Mother, Margaret O'Kane, formerly Mullan.

0:08:07 > 0:08:09An obituary. Gosh!

0:08:09 > 0:08:11- So, this is his mother?- Yes.

0:08:11 > 0:08:15Died in 1939.

0:08:15 > 0:08:18"It was with sincere and very deep regret that her many friends

0:08:18 > 0:08:20"learned of the death of Mrs Margaret O'Kane,

0:08:20 > 0:08:24"which occurred at her residence, the Commercial Hotel, Garvagh.

0:08:24 > 0:08:27"A native of Glenullin, deceased was the daughter of the late

0:08:27 > 0:08:29"Jeremiah O'Mullan,

0:08:29 > 0:08:32"a large landowner in the district of Ashlamaduff."

0:08:32 > 0:08:35It sounds like it's from the Middle East!

0:08:35 > 0:08:38Jeremiah O'Mullan would have been a big landowner,

0:08:38 > 0:08:40a big Catholic landowner.

0:08:40 > 0:08:42- Land...- Yes.

0:08:42 > 0:08:44- ..as Lex Luthor always said... - Yeah, absolutely.

0:08:44 > 0:08:46- ..people always need land. - Especially in Ireland!

0:08:46 > 0:08:47HE LAUGHS

0:08:47 > 0:08:50- Wow!- Yeah.- Well, that's absolutely amazing.

0:08:50 > 0:08:51It's lovely.

0:08:54 > 0:08:58From his mother, Winnie, whose maiden name was O'Kane,

0:08:58 > 0:09:00Mark has now traced back three generations.

0:09:00 > 0:09:02His great-grandparents, John

0:09:02 > 0:09:07and Margaret O'Kane, lived in County Londonderry, and Margaret's father,

0:09:07 > 0:09:12Mark's great-great-grandfather, Jeremiah O'Mullan, was a landowner.

0:09:18 > 0:09:21Very intriguingly, my great-great-grandfather,

0:09:21 > 0:09:22Jeremiah O'Mullan,

0:09:22 > 0:09:26had obviously some connection to quite a lot of land.

0:09:26 > 0:09:29So, I'm heading to the Public Record Office in Belfast

0:09:29 > 0:09:31to find out more about him.

0:09:38 > 0:09:41Mark's meeting historian Bill MacAfee, who's been

0:09:41 > 0:09:46searching for Jeremiah O'Mullan in Irish land valuation books.

0:09:46 > 0:09:48I was surprised I was able to find Jeremiah

0:09:48 > 0:09:52because you wouldn't have had many Catholic landowners at this time.

0:09:52 > 0:09:54You do have to leaf through the book.

0:09:54 > 0:09:59In fact, eventually, you do come to a page in the 1880s where,

0:09:59 > 0:10:02um...

0:10:02 > 0:10:07- Dennis Mullan, John Mullan. - There's a lot of Mullans.

0:10:07 > 0:10:11- Is that the same as O'Mullan or is it...- Well, yes, it is.

0:10:11 > 0:10:14Right. So, here we have Jeremiah O'Mullan...

0:10:14 > 0:10:16Mullan. And then it says...

0:10:16 > 0:10:17That says...

0:10:17 > 0:10:20It says "same", which means it's Jeremiah.

0:10:20 > 0:10:21And if we keep going...

0:10:23 > 0:10:25..there he is again. So, this is all Jeremiah.

0:10:25 > 0:10:27Right, right. Is it like a farm?

0:10:27 > 0:10:29Oh, yeah. These are all farms, you see.

0:10:29 > 0:10:32Yeah. He's the landlord?

0:10:32 > 0:10:37He is, actually. A fairly substantial landowner.

0:10:37 > 0:10:40The valuation books show that Jeremiah O'Mullan

0:10:40 > 0:10:43owned more than 700 acres in the 1880s.

0:10:44 > 0:10:50This made him one of the biggest Catholic landowners in the area.

0:10:50 > 0:10:51Now, I have a surprise for you.

0:10:51 > 0:10:53I'm glad. I love surprises!

0:10:55 > 0:10:57Who do you think that is?

0:10:59 > 0:11:01Oh, my Lord!

0:11:01 > 0:11:02Well, certainly.

0:11:02 > 0:11:05Wow! Is that Jeremiah?

0:11:05 > 0:11:08- That's Jeremiah.- Oh, my...

0:11:08 > 0:11:11- Obviously, as a young man.- Yeah.

0:11:11 > 0:11:13And a looker. Look at that nose!

0:11:14 > 0:11:18- It's been following me for centuries!- Now you know.

0:11:18 > 0:11:23- Wow, that's amazing!- Isn't it? - 1860, 1850, something like that.

0:11:23 > 0:11:25- Round about that, yes.- Cravat.

0:11:25 > 0:11:28- So, that's him when he was a young man.- It's amazing.

0:11:30 > 0:11:32There he is as an older man.

0:11:34 > 0:11:35Same man, different time.

0:11:35 > 0:11:37Ah, some years later.

0:11:37 > 0:11:39Yes.

0:11:39 > 0:11:41He'd grown a considerable beard there.

0:11:41 > 0:11:44Oh, yes. That is a very good pony and trap.

0:11:44 > 0:11:46- This is a quality horse.- Yeah.

0:11:46 > 0:11:48This is a quality piece of kit.

0:11:48 > 0:11:51- All the livery. - And all the livery's very good.

0:11:51 > 0:11:53So, they are aspirational people.

0:11:53 > 0:11:54Oh, yes.

0:11:54 > 0:11:57They will drive down the road to

0:11:57 > 0:12:00the church on a Sunday in something like that.

0:12:00 > 0:12:03- Lord and Lady Muck! - Oh, yes. I suppose so.

0:12:04 > 0:12:06And that's the wife.

0:12:06 > 0:12:08That's Elizabeth,

0:12:08 > 0:12:11Mrs O'Mullan, Elizabeth O'Mullan. What do we know of her? Anything?

0:12:11 > 0:12:13Oh, she's Elizabeth O'Kane.

0:12:13 > 0:12:15- Is she now?- Oh, she is.

0:12:15 > 0:12:16That's her maiden name?

0:12:16 > 0:12:19That's her maiden name, yes. She is an O'Kane.

0:12:19 > 0:12:21Through several generations of his family,

0:12:21 > 0:12:26Mark can lay claim to both O'Kane and O'Mullan ancestry.

0:12:26 > 0:12:30Mark's great-great-grandmother Elizabeth's surname was O'Kane

0:12:30 > 0:12:33until she married Jeremiah O'Mullan.

0:12:33 > 0:12:35And their daughter, Mark's great-grandmother,

0:12:35 > 0:12:40born Margaret O'Mullan, married John O'Kane.

0:12:40 > 0:12:42Both surnames were extremely common.

0:12:42 > 0:12:45There are so many Mullans and O'Kanes here

0:12:45 > 0:12:47that in fact, you know,

0:12:47 > 0:12:51the chances are he'll marry a Mullan or he might even...

0:12:51 > 0:12:52Throw a stone and you'll hit one!

0:12:52 > 0:12:55Yeah, he might even have married a Mullan. Never mind that,

0:12:55 > 0:12:57- there's so many of them. - Might have married himself!

0:12:57 > 0:12:59They wouldn't be necessarily related.

0:12:59 > 0:13:02- Yeah, not in a direct way. - No.- Brilliant.

0:13:03 > 0:13:08So far, we haven't really shown you where in the country

0:13:08 > 0:13:10Jeremiah would live.

0:13:10 > 0:13:12We're in Belfast here,

0:13:12 > 0:13:15and the O'Mullans and the O'Kanes, of course, they're quite...

0:13:15 > 0:13:19A lot of them live in this area of County Londonderry.

0:13:19 > 0:13:22And that area was once, where they live,

0:13:22 > 0:13:24was once known as O'Cahan's Country.

0:13:24 > 0:13:27O'Cahan is the Irish for O'Kane.

0:13:27 > 0:13:30- It's mine!- It's yours!

0:13:30 > 0:13:33I'm going to plant a flag on it! O'Cahan?

0:13:33 > 0:13:37- O'Cahan. That's the Irish. So, you'll be...- King of Ireland.

0:13:37 > 0:13:39I don't know if you can be the High King of Ireland

0:13:39 > 0:13:42but you might get part of the way up.

0:13:42 > 0:13:45- Those particular genes came from there.- That's my realm.

0:13:45 > 0:13:49- So, Jeremiah O'Mullan is obviously quite an unusual man.- Yes, yes.

0:13:49 > 0:13:51So, we should go in pursuit of him.

0:13:51 > 0:13:53Oh, yes, and find out a bit more about him.

0:13:53 > 0:13:55Go west, young man!

0:13:55 > 0:13:58In this case, you're going to have to go west and slightly north-west.

0:13:58 > 0:14:03- Yeah, go north-west, youngish man! - Yes. Indeed, indeed. You are.

0:14:03 > 0:14:05Brilliant. This is so exciting.

0:14:10 > 0:14:12In the north of Ireland in the 1880s,

0:14:12 > 0:14:16it was unusual for a Catholic to own land.

0:14:18 > 0:14:21But Mark has confirmed that Jeremiah O'Mullan

0:14:21 > 0:14:23was not only a landowner,

0:14:23 > 0:14:26he owned hundreds of acres.

0:14:26 > 0:14:29How he came by that, I don't know whether it was by inheritance

0:14:29 > 0:14:33or whatever, so I'm heading to County Londonderry

0:14:33 > 0:14:35to try and find out more about him.

0:14:45 > 0:14:48Mark's come to the Guildhall in the City of Derry in Londonderry

0:14:48 > 0:14:51to meet historian Jonathan Bardon.

0:14:51 > 0:14:52Here he is.

0:14:52 > 0:14:55Ooh, that's a magnificent photograph, isn't it?

0:14:55 > 0:14:58Yes.

0:14:58 > 0:14:59He looks a bit like you.

0:14:59 > 0:15:02I should hope so. Jeremiah O'Mullan.

0:15:02 > 0:15:06Would he have inherited that land from his own father?

0:15:06 > 0:15:12Let's have a look at this survey carried out between 1848 and 1864.

0:15:12 > 0:15:14There's that word again - Ashlamaduff.

0:15:14 > 0:15:20And this is the main family holding in Ashlamaduff,

0:15:20 > 0:15:25which was right in the heart of the mountainous country.

0:15:25 > 0:15:29George O'Mullan, crossed out and replaced with Jeremiah.

0:15:29 > 0:15:34We know that George O'Mullan was in fact Jeremiah's father.

0:15:34 > 0:15:36The record shows that Jeremiah's father,

0:15:36 > 0:15:40Mark's great-great-great-grandfather, George O'Mullan,

0:15:40 > 0:15:45had occupied the family homestead at Ashlamaduff before his son

0:15:45 > 0:15:49but unlike Jeremiah, George didn't own the land.

0:15:49 > 0:15:52This is a Tithe Applotment Book.

0:15:52 > 0:15:54I would say that this document indicates that George,

0:15:54 > 0:15:58he's not a landowner at all, he's a tenant.

0:15:58 > 0:15:59It's poor, arable land.

0:15:59 > 0:16:04It's a pretty small amount of land so he's not particularly well-off.

0:16:04 > 0:16:07Now our next one is...

0:16:07 > 0:16:10it's a freehold lease.

0:16:10 > 0:16:13"To Mr George Mullan. 1826."

0:16:18 > 0:16:24An Indenture and this is George O'Mullan

0:16:24 > 0:16:28and he is leasing land in a place called Glack.

0:16:30 > 0:16:31It's certainly a mystery

0:16:31 > 0:16:35when we find that Jeremiah is really a very substantial landowner...

0:16:35 > 0:16:36Yeah.

0:16:36 > 0:16:38..but his father, George...

0:16:38 > 0:16:41- Was not.- ..clearly, is not.

0:16:41 > 0:16:42How did that happen?

0:16:42 > 0:16:45How did that happen? Are you telling me you don't know?

0:16:45 > 0:16:47- I don't know.- Oh, gosh!

0:16:47 > 0:16:51I was waiting for an answer! Well, yeah.

0:16:51 > 0:16:53So, George doesn't have very much.

0:16:53 > 0:16:54No.

0:16:55 > 0:16:57And then Jeremiah has quite a lot.

0:16:58 > 0:17:03George O'Mullan was a tenant on two plots of land in the 1820s -

0:17:03 > 0:17:07the family homestead at Ashlamaduff and farmland in nearby Glack.

0:17:10 > 0:17:14This land had been under British control for more than 200 years.

0:17:14 > 0:17:16It was in the Province of Ulster in the area

0:17:16 > 0:17:19which today is Northern Ireland.

0:17:19 > 0:17:23In the early 1600s, the English conquered the North of Ireland

0:17:23 > 0:17:27and seized Ulster from the native Irish chieftains.

0:17:30 > 0:17:34In 1609, King James I began what became known as the

0:17:34 > 0:17:40Plantation of Ulster to bring the unruly Catholic Irish under control.

0:17:40 > 0:17:43He decided that he wanted to calm this place down

0:17:43 > 0:17:46by introducing good Protestant British.

0:17:46 > 0:17:49The most difficult place to attract British settlers to

0:17:49 > 0:17:53was O'Cahan's Country. It was the most Gaelic part of Ireland,

0:17:53 > 0:17:55it was heavily wooded, it had wolves,

0:17:55 > 0:17:59it had "wood-kerne" or bandits in those forests,

0:17:59 > 0:18:03and so James approached the livery companies of London

0:18:03 > 0:18:05and managed to persuade them

0:18:05 > 0:18:09to involve themselves in planting this particular area.

0:18:09 > 0:18:13The livery companies had developed from London's ancient guilds

0:18:13 > 0:18:16such as carpenters, grocers and fishmongers.

0:18:17 > 0:18:21They were made up of wealthy merchants, traders and craftsmen.

0:18:22 > 0:18:27King James instructed them to colonise this part of Ulster.

0:18:27 > 0:18:32The rule was they had to remove all of the native Irish from their land.

0:18:33 > 0:18:37Only 10% of the land was left for the native Irish to keep.

0:18:37 > 0:18:39It's sort of like the...

0:18:39 > 0:18:42It's like an Indian reservation, isn't it,

0:18:42 > 0:18:44or the Highland Clearances?

0:18:44 > 0:18:46It's ethnic cleansing that's going on.

0:18:46 > 0:18:50The livery companies failed to entice British Protestants

0:18:50 > 0:18:53to territory they feared was hostile.

0:18:53 > 0:18:56By George O'Mullan's time in the 1820s,

0:18:56 > 0:19:01the London landlords had no option but to lease to Catholic tenants.

0:19:02 > 0:19:05George rented his plot in the townland of Glack

0:19:05 > 0:19:09from a livery company - the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers.

0:19:09 > 0:19:13If we look at this contemporary description of Glack here,

0:19:13 > 0:19:16dated 1835...

0:19:16 > 0:19:21"There's not a single land holder at present in the townland

0:19:21 > 0:19:27"of Glack of any other denomination than Roman Catholics.

0:19:27 > 0:19:30"The reason assigned for this..."

0:19:30 > 0:19:32Ooh!

0:19:32 > 0:19:34"..singular instance..."

0:19:35 > 0:19:40"..in the above parish is that the entire of Glack was formerly..."

0:19:43 > 0:19:44- Ah...- "Moss..."

0:19:44 > 0:19:47"..and mountain, altogether..." Oh, you've got it there.

0:19:47 > 0:19:48That's not fair!

0:19:48 > 0:19:49THEY LAUGH

0:19:49 > 0:19:51- I was doing very well.- You were.

0:19:51 > 0:19:54"..formerly moss and mountain, altogether uninhabited.

0:19:54 > 0:19:56"The Catholics were driven up to the mountains of Glack to

0:19:56 > 0:19:59"colonise its cold and barren surface."

0:19:59 > 0:20:04- That's fantastic. So, where's Glack, geographically?- Now...

0:20:07 > 0:20:10That map is about 50 years older,

0:20:10 > 0:20:12got it in about 1965.

0:20:14 > 0:20:16But it does show the townland names, which is why

0:20:16 > 0:20:18I like to hold on to it.

0:20:18 > 0:20:20Right, Glack.

0:20:20 > 0:20:23Now, if we can find the foot of Loughermore Mountain...

0:20:25 > 0:20:28- ..and you should be able to find Glack.- There's Glack.

0:20:28 > 0:20:31There's Glack. Don't forget, it's mountainy land.

0:20:31 > 0:20:34- It was...- Pretty remote. - It's pretty remote.- Pretty wild.

0:20:34 > 0:20:35Mm.

0:20:35 > 0:20:38Before the Plantation of Ulster,

0:20:38 > 0:20:42the whole area would have been O'Cahan land,

0:20:42 > 0:20:47and Lord O'Cahan, in his territory, he lorded it over.

0:20:48 > 0:20:52Other Gaelic gentry beneath him would have been the O'Mullans.

0:20:52 > 0:20:54Right. So, I'm gentry?

0:20:54 > 0:20:57Just say this, I'm an Irish Time Lord!

0:20:57 > 0:20:58That's all I need to know.

0:20:58 > 0:21:03You are descended from an Irish Time Lord, you are a Time Lord, yes.

0:21:03 > 0:21:04Or a lord, at least.

0:21:04 > 0:21:11Cos those lords were, in earlier times, kings,

0:21:11 > 0:21:14so the...certainly the head of the O'Mullan clan,

0:21:14 > 0:21:18the head of the O'Cahan clan, would have been a king.

0:21:18 > 0:21:23At one stage in Ireland in the early Christian times,

0:21:23 > 0:21:25there were about 200 kings in Ireland.

0:21:25 > 0:21:27- Too many.- Too many. - Let's narrow it down.

0:21:27 > 0:21:28THEY LAUGH

0:21:34 > 0:21:38Ancient Irish kings! That does the heart proud.

0:21:39 > 0:21:43I'm deeply aware there are lots of O'Kanes and O'Mullans around here,

0:21:43 > 0:21:48so I'll have to devise some sort of Kind Hearts and Coronets-type plan

0:21:48 > 0:21:53to knock off all my relatives in order to claim the kingship.

0:21:53 > 0:21:55But...I did want a murderer in the family

0:21:55 > 0:21:57so maybe it's going to be me!

0:22:02 > 0:22:06But the big mystery at the moment, more recent times,

0:22:06 > 0:22:10is Jeremiah O'Mullan's father, George O'Mullan,

0:22:10 > 0:22:14who is my great-great-great-grandfather,

0:22:14 > 0:22:21was paying rent on a piece of poor, arable land

0:22:21 > 0:22:24and then, as we've discovered, his son, Jeremiah...

0:22:27 > 0:22:32..is then someone of considerable substance and land.

0:22:32 > 0:22:35So, something has changed between father and son.

0:22:35 > 0:22:39So, we're going to head to Glack now to see what we can find.

0:22:44 > 0:22:47Historian Dr Heather Laird is joining Mark.

0:22:55 > 0:22:58She's taking him onto the land that George rented.

0:23:04 > 0:23:08So, Mark, here we are.

0:23:08 > 0:23:09This is our stopping point.

0:23:13 > 0:23:15Bleak, barren, cold Glack.

0:23:19 > 0:23:21So, Mark, I know you've been hearing a little

0:23:21 > 0:23:24bit about your ancestor, George O'Mullan,

0:23:24 > 0:23:28and how this area relates to him.

0:23:28 > 0:23:30- Glack. - Glack, yes. The townland of Glack.

0:23:30 > 0:23:32- The cold and barren.- Yes.

0:23:32 > 0:23:34Yes. Looks rather nice today.

0:23:34 > 0:23:37I also have discovered that George was married

0:23:37 > 0:23:40and his wife's name was Bridget O'Kane,

0:23:40 > 0:23:44and I think O'Kane is a name that's come up already...

0:23:44 > 0:23:48- Yes.- ..for you. George and Bridget had eight children,

0:23:48 > 0:23:51so a substantial family, substantial-size family.

0:23:51 > 0:23:56And, of course, as you can see, the land, it's very beautiful today

0:23:56 > 0:23:59but it's not exactly the most productive of land.

0:23:59 > 0:24:03So, that might raise a question in terms of how George

0:24:03 > 0:24:06is sustaining his family and keeping his family.

0:24:06 > 0:24:10So, what I've discovered is that George was not only leasing

0:24:10 > 0:24:12land from The Fishmongers' Company,

0:24:12 > 0:24:15he was also an employee of The Fishmongers' Company.

0:24:15 > 0:24:19George's landlord, the Worshipful Company of Fishmongers,

0:24:19 > 0:24:22used much of their land in Glack for large-scale cattle grazing.

0:24:24 > 0:24:27This could put them in conflict with their local tenants,

0:24:27 > 0:24:31renting small farms from them on the higher, less fertile ground

0:24:31 > 0:24:33that was left over.

0:24:33 > 0:24:36These subsistence farmers believed it was their ancient right

0:24:36 > 0:24:40to move their own small herds down to better land

0:24:40 > 0:24:43when their grass supplies ran low.

0:24:43 > 0:24:47So, the absentee landlords employed locals like George O'Mullan

0:24:47 > 0:24:49to protect their interests.

0:24:49 > 0:24:54He was employed by The Fishmongers' Company as a land steward

0:24:54 > 0:24:56and as a herdsman.

0:24:56 > 0:24:59It's kind of like our modern-day equivalent of a farm manager.

0:24:59 > 0:25:02And one of his roles would have been to collect rent from those

0:25:02 > 0:25:04- who were...- Oh, God!

0:25:04 > 0:25:06THEY LAUGH

0:25:06 > 0:25:09..those who were renting the land from The Fishmongers' Company.

0:25:09 > 0:25:13Tensions between the locals and their London landlords were

0:25:13 > 0:25:17running high when George O'Mullan worked as a land steward.

0:25:17 > 0:25:20Population increases through the 1820s and '30s

0:25:20 > 0:25:24made life more difficult for tenants, so they sometimes

0:25:24 > 0:25:27resorted to intimidation and violence against the middlemen.

0:25:27 > 0:25:30I have a document here that actually gives us a sense of just how

0:25:30 > 0:25:34vulnerable somebody in George's position might be.

0:25:34 > 0:25:38It relates to an incident that took place in neighbouring Fermanagh.

0:25:38 > 0:25:41"In the newsletter of last Tuesday we stated that

0:25:41 > 0:25:44"the Reverend Mr King of Corrard, County Fermanagh,

0:25:44 > 0:25:47"had received a notice from Captain Rock, commanding him

0:25:47 > 0:25:51"to discharge his steward, otherwise they would both be destroyed.

0:25:51 > 0:25:55"In accordance with this notice, the Captain's men have commenced putting

0:25:55 > 0:25:58"their threats into execution, as on the night of Tuesday the 10th inst.

0:25:58 > 0:26:03"the house of Hewitt, the steward, was set on fire and consumed.

0:26:03 > 0:26:05"The day after the burning, a notice was found, informing

0:26:05 > 0:26:08"Mr King that this was the first visitation,

0:26:08 > 0:26:12"and to remember that the second would be, 'Death, death, death!'

0:26:12 > 0:26:15"Captain Rock." Gosh, this is fantastic!

0:26:15 > 0:26:18So, who is Captain Rock?

0:26:18 > 0:26:21Well, Captain Rock is not an individual, as such.

0:26:21 > 0:26:27There isn't a centralised kind of agrarian organisation.

0:26:27 > 0:26:29But what there is is a sort of persona.

0:26:29 > 0:26:33So, any group of

0:26:33 > 0:26:36subsistence farmers who felt that their livelihoods were being

0:26:36 > 0:26:42impinged on could take on the persona of Captain Rock.

0:26:42 > 0:26:45So, it's a sort of invented name for a movement, for a gang?

0:26:45 > 0:26:47- Yes, yes.- Captain Rock.

0:26:47 > 0:26:51If the warning wasn't heeded, this could then escalate, so...

0:26:51 > 0:26:52Did people die?

0:26:52 > 0:26:56Yes, people died, property was damaged, people were attacked.

0:26:56 > 0:27:00And, in fact, I have an example of a notice...

0:27:02 > 0:27:07..that could be received.

0:27:07 > 0:27:10"Take notice on pain of suffering

0:27:10 > 0:27:14"the most excruciating torments of death.

0:27:14 > 0:27:18"Any landlord or landlords' agents or under agents..."

0:27:18 > 0:27:21- "On their perils..." - "On their perils"?- Yes.

0:27:21 > 0:27:25"..are strictly forbidden to take distrain

0:27:25 > 0:27:28"or impound any tenants' goods or chattels

0:27:28 > 0:27:33"or any pound-keeper taking any man's cattle into his custody

0:27:33 > 0:27:37"will undergo the same fate as above mentioned.

0:27:37 > 0:27:41"I remain yours truly, Captain Rock."

0:27:41 > 0:27:43Wow!

0:27:43 > 0:27:46- "Excruciating torments of death"! - It's great. The language is often

0:27:46 > 0:27:50a mixture between kind of pseudo kind of legal language and also

0:27:50 > 0:27:53- almost biblical...- It is, yeah. - ..kind of Old Testament language.

0:27:53 > 0:27:56- It's got also the feel of the Jack The Ripper letters.- Yes.

0:27:56 > 0:28:01And I actually have a document which suggests that George's job did,

0:28:01 > 0:28:06in fact, lead him into a certain amount of danger.

0:28:06 > 0:28:10And it's a document that was sent on the 1st August, 1827.

0:28:10 > 0:28:14"George O'Mullan, the superintending herdsman who resides at Glack..."

0:28:14 > 0:28:19- Here we are.- Yeah.- "..applied to the deputation to be assisted with money

0:28:19 > 0:28:23"to enable him to build office houses, his former ones having been

0:28:23 > 0:28:26"destroyed by some malicious mountaineers

0:28:26 > 0:28:30"in revenge for his pounding their cattle

0:28:30 > 0:28:33"when trespassing on the Company's lands."

0:28:33 > 0:28:36So, what he's done is he's taken... Their cattle have been trespassing

0:28:36 > 0:28:39and he's found them trespassing on the Company's land,

0:28:39 > 0:28:42he's taken those cattle and he's taken them essentially into custody.

0:28:42 > 0:28:46Right. "George O'Mullan has a salary of £20 a year for receiving

0:28:46 > 0:28:50"the rents of the mountain pasturage

0:28:50 > 0:28:54"and taking care of the cattle depasturing thereon."

0:28:54 > 0:28:59- So...- So, he'd lost his buildings to a revenge fire.- He did.

0:28:59 > 0:29:03It doesn't say what burnt but that's the most likely thing that happened

0:29:03 > 0:29:07- to those buildings, was that they were burnt down.- It is very, er...

0:29:08 > 0:29:12I'm torn because...because, obviously,

0:29:12 > 0:29:14your natural human sympathies

0:29:14 > 0:29:17are with the malicious mountaineers

0:29:17 > 0:29:19who are just struggling to -

0:29:19 > 0:29:22literally struggling to exist up here.

0:29:22 > 0:29:25And my instincts

0:29:25 > 0:29:29would absolutely be against the Company.

0:29:29 > 0:29:32So, er, it's...

0:29:32 > 0:29:35morally ambiguous, to say the least.

0:29:35 > 0:29:38Um, but also feeling

0:29:38 > 0:29:43George had got a good job in a very difficult time.

0:29:43 > 0:29:46He's in a difficult situation.

0:29:46 > 0:29:49- Between Captain Rock and a hard place!- I think exactly that!

0:29:49 > 0:29:51SHE CHUCKLES

0:29:51 > 0:29:54And also, as he was almost certainly related to everybody

0:29:54 > 0:29:56on the mountain, he might have been very torn!

0:29:56 > 0:29:59HE CHUCKLES

0:30:03 > 0:30:08Well, clearly, the shadow of the Plantation is immense.

0:30:08 > 0:30:11In George's time, it was an absolute fact of life.

0:30:11 > 0:30:15They were living with something from two centuries before

0:30:15 > 0:30:19which had totally upended the natural order of things.

0:30:23 > 0:30:26I'm intrigued to know whether George O'Mullan,

0:30:26 > 0:30:30who was in a very precarious situation in Glack,

0:30:30 > 0:30:32felt at all ostracised by his community

0:30:32 > 0:30:35and by the people who surrounded him.

0:30:37 > 0:30:41Mark's in the heart of O'Cahan's country at the local museum

0:30:41 > 0:30:43in the town of Garvagh.

0:30:46 > 0:30:50He's meeting historian Dr Paddy McWilliams to look at

0:30:50 > 0:30:54an unlikely source of information about the local Irish population

0:30:54 > 0:30:59in George O'Mullan's time - the Ordnance Survey of Ireland.

0:30:59 > 0:31:03- So, Mark, this is done on a scale of six inches to a mile.- Right.

0:31:03 > 0:31:05- Amazing level of detail. - Amazing detail.

0:31:05 > 0:31:09- But quite a bare landscape in a way. - Yeah. There's Glack.

0:31:09 > 0:31:13- There's Glack townland.- Looks just like it did this morning.- Yes.

0:31:13 > 0:31:16- Which means?- It's on "glack",

0:31:16 > 0:31:19- means the "hollow" or the "recess".- Right.

0:31:19 > 0:31:21- Quite non-specific.- Yes.

0:31:21 > 0:31:26The British Ordnance Survey project of the 1820s and '30s

0:31:26 > 0:31:30set out to map Ireland and record Irish place names,

0:31:30 > 0:31:34including George O'Mullan's family homestead at Ashlamaduff.

0:31:34 > 0:31:37And over here we have the townland of Ashlamaduff.

0:31:37 > 0:31:40Ashlamaduff, yes, which keeps recurring.

0:31:40 > 0:31:43Ashlamaduff. Your stress isn't in the right place. Ashlam-aduff.

0:31:43 > 0:31:47- Ashlam-aduff.- Ashlamaduff. - Ashlamaduff. Right. Which means?

0:31:47 > 0:31:50Which is "Ashlamaduff" - it's "bare black hill".

0:31:50 > 0:31:56But to investigate the origins of place names, John O'Donovan,

0:31:56 > 0:31:59one of the principal field workers of the Ordnance Survey, traversed,

0:31:59 > 0:32:02I'd say, every nook and cranny of the country for a number of years.

0:32:02 > 0:32:05And what we have here is a letter

0:32:05 > 0:32:08written by John O'Donovan

0:32:08 > 0:32:10to the head of the Ordnance Survey

0:32:10 > 0:32:14detailing his experiences in this part of the world, 1834.

0:32:14 > 0:32:18"Dear Sir, I have travelled through the parishes..."

0:32:19 > 0:32:22- Er...several Irish names. - Yes.

0:32:22 > 0:32:24"..in search of Aborigines." Wow!

0:32:24 > 0:32:27- He meant Irish speakers.- Right.

0:32:27 > 0:32:30"I passed through the wildest district I ever beheld

0:32:30 > 0:32:32"in the townlands of Glack.

0:32:32 > 0:32:36"I was at length directed to a Mr Mullan,

0:32:36 > 0:32:41"Land Steward to Mr Sampson." So Mr Mullan, is that George O'Mullan?

0:32:41 > 0:32:43- That's George.- Oh, right.

0:32:43 > 0:32:47- "He is a very intelligent man..." - Naturally.

0:32:47 > 0:32:50"..and has a general idea of the county.

0:32:50 > 0:32:53"I spent the greater part of yesterday with him

0:32:53 > 0:32:56"to get him to define their topographical words.

0:32:56 > 0:32:58- "Tur." - Hm-mm.

0:32:58 > 0:33:03- "A talking place", maybe where people gathered to gossip.- Yes.

0:33:03 > 0:33:05- "Evish."- Yes.- Avish.- Evish.

0:33:05 > 0:33:09- "Soft grass, wild mountain pasture." - Mm-hm.

0:33:09 > 0:33:12So, your ancestor, through his meeting with O'Donovan,

0:33:12 > 0:33:15was able to provide, what, more than a dozen

0:33:15 > 0:33:18- little snippets of information... - How wonderful.

0:33:18 > 0:33:21..that John O'Donovan used.

0:33:21 > 0:33:24So, your ancestor made an impression on O'Donovan.

0:33:24 > 0:33:27He was a Land Steward, he sort of worked for the other side,

0:33:27 > 0:33:29you might say, to a certain degree.

0:33:29 > 0:33:32Yet, I don't think he lived at arm's length from the people

0:33:32 > 0:33:36because I don't think a person would be able to be so imbued

0:33:36 > 0:33:38and so aware of their origin

0:33:38 > 0:33:41and of the living history around them

0:33:41 > 0:33:44and the traditions and recollections of the county.

0:33:44 > 0:33:47I think was certainly not at arm's length from the people

0:33:47 > 0:33:50amongst whom he lived. No, a decent, decent sort.

0:33:50 > 0:33:54Without his input, O'Donovan perhaps would have had more difficulty

0:33:54 > 0:33:56in ascertaining the local townland names

0:33:56 > 0:33:58which are still here to this day.

0:33:58 > 0:34:01- And this one... - Have a stab at that.

0:34:01 > 0:34:04Well, I'll go round the houses cos it doesn't -

0:34:04 > 0:34:06it won't sound at all like it looks.

0:34:06 > 0:34:09- "Sissan"? - "Sheskin".

0:34:09 > 0:34:11- "Sheskin". - "Sheskin".

0:34:11 > 0:34:13Quag. A quaw. A quag, a shaking bog.

0:34:13 > 0:34:16Yeah, I think that's short for quagmire.

0:34:16 > 0:34:18Unlike perhaps in England or in Great Britain,

0:34:18 > 0:34:20where things are written down,

0:34:20 > 0:34:24history in Ireland was passed down primarily in an oral manner.

0:34:24 > 0:34:26John O'Donovan's enquires

0:34:26 > 0:34:30unearthed a lot of oral history that was about to disappear,

0:34:30 > 0:34:33and he meandered into some wonderful tales.

0:34:33 > 0:34:36George O'Mullan told a story to O'Donovan.

0:34:36 > 0:34:38- Great. So, there's more... - There's more indeed.

0:34:38 > 0:34:40What have we got here?

0:34:40 > 0:34:45"Mullan tells the following story of the fate of the O'Kanes." Oh, good.

0:34:45 > 0:34:47As well as explaining local names,

0:34:47 > 0:34:50George O'Mullan was a keeper of the family stories.

0:34:50 > 0:34:52"He reached..."

0:34:52 > 0:34:57He told O'Donovan a colourful and elaborate tale of distant ancestors

0:34:57 > 0:34:59in O'Cahan's country.

0:34:59 > 0:35:03"He drew his dagger and ran him through!" Exclamation mark.

0:35:03 > 0:35:08I think the gist of it, Mark, is that the rightful O'Kane heir

0:35:08 > 0:35:13was killed by a usurper, and he, in turn, met his comeuppance

0:35:13 > 0:35:17at the hand of the followers of the rightful heir.

0:35:17 > 0:35:21That's quite a yarn, isn't it? The fall of the O'Kanes.

0:35:21 > 0:35:24The fall of the O'Kanes indeed. I'd be amazed if this was the only story

0:35:24 > 0:35:27- that George knew. I can't believe it.- Yeah, yeah.

0:35:27 > 0:35:30And O'Donovan probably heard more but told this particular one because

0:35:30 > 0:35:33of the intrigue and the skulduggery involved in it.

0:35:33 > 0:35:36A modern seanachi would perhaps tell you more than I could.

0:35:36 > 0:35:39- And what's that?- Seanachi is the Irish word for "storyteller".

0:35:39 > 0:35:42It appeals to me because it makes it feel like

0:35:42 > 0:35:45there's storytelling in the blood.

0:35:49 > 0:35:54I'm really taken by the fact that George O'Mullan was regarded

0:35:54 > 0:35:58as something of a storyteller, a "seanachi".

0:35:58 > 0:36:03So, I'm now going to try and meet the genuine article

0:36:03 > 0:36:06and see if he can tell me a bit more about him.

0:36:12 > 0:36:15Mark wants to know more family stories of the O'Kanes

0:36:15 > 0:36:18and the O'Mullans that his great-great-great-grandfather

0:36:18 > 0:36:19would have passed down.

0:36:19 > 0:36:23- Hello, Bob.- Mark.- How are you? - Very well, thank you.

0:36:23 > 0:36:25- Welcome to Glenullin. - Thank you.

0:36:26 > 0:36:29You'll see a few headstones...

0:36:29 > 0:36:32- Yeah, familiar names. - ..which are familiar names.

0:36:32 > 0:36:35Mullan, Mullan, Mullan, O'Kane.

0:36:35 > 0:36:38Mark's joined Bob Curran at St Joseph's Church

0:36:38 > 0:36:40in the village of Glenullin.

0:36:43 > 0:36:46Bob is a folklorist - as well as a storyteller.

0:36:46 > 0:36:50People like George O'Mullan would have imbibed

0:36:50 > 0:36:52the traditions of the area.

0:36:52 > 0:36:56We're beginning to look at stories, myths, folklore

0:36:56 > 0:36:59and bits and pieces of history,

0:36:59 > 0:37:04all fused together to give the people a sense of belonging

0:37:04 > 0:37:07and to give them their identity.

0:37:07 > 0:37:11And I suppose they get more and more embroidered as generations pass?

0:37:11 > 0:37:14Well, you see, these are oral stories, Mark,

0:37:14 > 0:37:17and in order to remember the stories,

0:37:17 > 0:37:19you had to have wonderful facts.

0:37:19 > 0:37:22The more spectacular the story, the better they remembered it.

0:37:22 > 0:37:28And in this area, you're surrounded by supernatural.

0:37:28 > 0:37:32So, are there any famous stories that George would have known around

0:37:32 > 0:37:36the supernatural that actually concerned the family, the clan?

0:37:36 > 0:37:41- Well, Mark, I know you're very interested in vampires.- Tends to be.

0:37:41 > 0:37:47Yes. Now, the Irish for vampire

0:37:47 > 0:37:51is "dearg-dul", the "red drinker".

0:37:51 > 0:37:56And here is a book which might be of interest to you

0:37:56 > 0:38:01and has a story in it which is connected to the O'Cahans,

0:38:01 > 0:38:05which George O'Mullan would undoubtedly have known

0:38:05 > 0:38:07- and may well have formed one of the strands..- Of Dracula!

0:38:07 > 0:38:10- ..of Dracula. - How brilliant!

0:38:10 > 0:38:12So, you think Stoker would have known them?

0:38:12 > 0:38:15Well, in this area,

0:38:15 > 0:38:18the word "Droch-fhoula" means "bad blood".

0:38:18 > 0:38:20- No!- Yes.

0:38:20 > 0:38:24- THEY LAUGH - That's too good!

0:38:24 > 0:38:28- Where am I looking?- You're looking, I think, about Page 64.

0:38:29 > 0:38:31"The Tale of Abhartach."

0:38:31 > 0:38:33- Abhartach.- Abhartach.

0:38:33 > 0:38:37"The legend comes from the townland of Slaghtaverty

0:38:37 > 0:38:40"near the town of Garvagh in North Derry, which, though it is

0:38:40 > 0:38:43"only a few miles from the town, is still a fairly isolated spot.

0:38:43 > 0:38:46"It lies in the Glenullin Valley and is cut off on three sides

0:38:46 > 0:38:49"by the beginning of the Sperrins mountain range.

0:38:49 > 0:38:52"In the fifth and sixth centuries, this valley

0:38:52 > 0:38:53"was a patchwork of tiny kingdoms,

0:38:53 > 0:38:55"each ruled by individual kings

0:38:55 > 0:38:59"who are little more than local warlords."

0:38:59 > 0:39:03- So, this vampire story concerns an O'Kane?- It does, yeah.

0:39:03 > 0:39:06It would have been a story known to my

0:39:06 > 0:39:10- great-great-great-grandfather O'Mullan?- Yeah.

0:39:10 > 0:39:14- And Slaghtaverty is still there? - You can go and have a look at it.

0:39:14 > 0:39:16Before the sun goes down!

0:39:16 > 0:39:18I would go there pretty quick!

0:39:18 > 0:39:21THEY LAUGH

0:39:21 > 0:39:22Now, whatever you do, Mark,

0:39:22 > 0:39:28- don't try to lift the stone or the vampire will get out again.- OK.

0:39:44 > 0:39:47"Those under the harsh rulership of Abhartach wished to get rid of him.

0:39:47 > 0:39:49"But because of his dark powers,

0:39:49 > 0:39:51"they were too frightened to attack him themselves.

0:39:51 > 0:39:55"So, they hired another chieftain called Cathan..."

0:39:55 > 0:39:57or "Cathain" - O'Kane -

0:39:57 > 0:40:01"..to come and kill him for them, which he did, slaying Abhartach

0:40:01 > 0:40:04"and burying him standing up -

0:40:04 > 0:40:07"a befitting burial for an Irish chieftain.

0:40:07 > 0:40:11"The next day, however, Abhartach was back

0:40:11 > 0:40:14"demanding a basin filled with blood from the wrists of his subjects.

0:40:14 > 0:40:18"'In order,' says the legend, 'to sustain his vile corpse.'

0:40:19 > 0:40:24"Puzzled, Cathan went to a holy man and asked him the reason.

0:40:24 > 0:40:27"The holy man thought for a moment.

0:40:34 > 0:40:37"'The evil Abhartach is not dead,' he replied at length.

0:40:37 > 0:40:41"'But he is in a state of suspension due to his dark arts.

0:40:41 > 0:40:44"'He has become one of the neamh-mairbh

0:40:44 > 0:40:46"'and cannot, therefore, be killed.

0:40:46 > 0:40:50"'But he can be prevented from rising again.

0:40:50 > 0:40:52"'In order to do this,' the hermit told him,

0:40:52 > 0:40:56"'Cathan must slay Abhartach with a sword made of yew wood,

0:40:56 > 0:40:58"'he must bury him upside down,

0:40:58 > 0:41:01"'he must surround the gravesite with thorns,

0:41:01 > 0:41:03"'and he must place a great stone

0:41:03 > 0:41:06"'directly above the spot where the vampire lay.'

0:41:06 > 0:41:08"The grave is still there.

0:41:08 > 0:41:11"It is said that the thorns that Cathan placed around the site

0:41:11 > 0:41:14"have grown together into a thorn tree

0:41:14 > 0:41:17"that grows above the remnants of the sepulchre."

0:41:17 > 0:41:23"Even today, local people will not approach the field after nightfall."

0:41:23 > 0:41:26ANIMAL HOWLS

0:41:26 > 0:41:28Which, looking at the state of the sun,

0:41:28 > 0:41:31means that we should probably get out of here!

0:41:38 > 0:41:40George O'Mullan was a brilliant storyteller,

0:41:40 > 0:41:42so I don't want to over-romanticise it,

0:41:42 > 0:41:46but it sort of feels like maybe that's where I get it from.

0:41:47 > 0:41:50Somehow, there's a little slant towards all that

0:41:50 > 0:41:55which comes from being of this stock way, way, way back.

0:41:55 > 0:41:56I'd like to think so.

0:41:56 > 0:41:59That might be just me romanticising, I don't know. Might be just cos

0:41:59 > 0:42:01I spent too much time watching horror films as a child.

0:42:01 > 0:42:06But it's... It feels right, it feels like it's coming from somewhere

0:42:06 > 0:42:08and I rather like that.

0:42:10 > 0:42:15And all that brilliant stuff, you can feel it, you know,

0:42:15 > 0:42:18still feels possible on a dark night like this,

0:42:18 > 0:42:20in the middle of Northern Ireland.

0:42:34 > 0:42:37Clearly, we know from his storytelling that George was

0:42:37 > 0:42:40very aware and very proud of his roots,

0:42:40 > 0:42:44but, um, his story is very up and down, isn't it?

0:42:44 > 0:42:47George O'Mullan had a job as a Land Steward

0:42:47 > 0:42:50for the British Landlords, the Company of Fishmongers,

0:42:50 > 0:42:54but like his neighbours, he was also a tenant farmer

0:42:54 > 0:42:56renting poor land at Glack,

0:42:56 > 0:42:59as well as the homestead, Ashlamaduff.

0:43:00 > 0:43:04Mark wants to know what became of George and his family,

0:43:04 > 0:43:07and get to the bottom of how his son, Jeremiah,

0:43:07 > 0:43:10came to own such a vast amount of land.

0:43:10 > 0:43:12I'm off now to Drumcovitt House

0:43:12 > 0:43:17which is a Georgian house originally owned by the Company Of Fishmongers,

0:43:17 > 0:43:19of whom we've heard a lot,

0:43:19 > 0:43:23to meet a historian called Olwen Purdue.

0:43:40 > 0:43:43Olwen has been searching the livery company's records

0:43:43 > 0:43:45for more information about George.

0:43:45 > 0:43:48The first, from 1836.

0:43:49 > 0:43:52You might like to have a look at this document

0:43:52 > 0:43:54from the Fishmongers' Company.

0:43:54 > 0:43:58"We received a petition of George O'Mullan, Glack,

0:43:58 > 0:44:02"stating that in consequence of the extreme severity of the last winter

0:44:02 > 0:44:07"he had lost 15 head of black cattle and four horses,

0:44:07 > 0:44:11"and soliciting a loan of £100 at 5% to enable him

0:44:11 > 0:44:15"to continue his improvements and to bring more land into cultivation,

0:44:15 > 0:44:19"which sum he would repay at the end of five years

0:44:19 > 0:44:22"or by yearly instalments as the court may please direct."

0:44:22 > 0:44:25He's taking out quite a significant loan here and promising to repay it.

0:44:25 > 0:44:28- That's a lot of money.- It was a big, big investment.- Yeah.

0:44:28 > 0:44:31As well as the grazing, would there have been crops?

0:44:31 > 0:44:34He would have been trying to grow potatoes,

0:44:34 > 0:44:37I would have imagined, as well. I mean, ultimately, at this stage,

0:44:37 > 0:44:41potatoes were the bulk of the population, were the staple diet.

0:44:41 > 0:44:44- When was the famine? - Famine started in 1845.

0:44:44 > 0:44:46So, it would... I mean, he didn't know this,

0:44:46 > 0:44:51but it's getting very close to the big crash, isn't it?

0:44:51 > 0:44:54George O'Mullan was heavily in debt when the famine hit.

0:44:54 > 0:44:59For seven years after a blight wiped out the potato crop in 1845,

0:44:59 > 0:45:03the Great Famine devastated Ireland.

0:45:03 > 0:45:07Nearly a million people died from starvation and disease,

0:45:07 > 0:45:10contributing to a mass exodus from the island.

0:45:10 > 0:45:15The kind of land that George was trying to cultivate,

0:45:15 > 0:45:16the famine hit very hard indeed

0:45:16 > 0:45:21and continued, really, until 1850, 1851.

0:45:21 > 0:45:24There was an agricultural depression at the time, as well,

0:45:24 > 0:45:27so things were really, really hard across the board.

0:45:27 > 0:45:31So, out of five sons of George, four of them migrated,

0:45:31 > 0:45:35two to New York and we think two to Australia,

0:45:35 > 0:45:40and leaving Jeremiah, the fifth son, here at home with his father.

0:45:40 > 0:45:43That's interesting. I wonder why he chose to stay behind.

0:45:43 > 0:45:47You do suspect that this was something that was very important

0:45:47 > 0:45:51to George, to have one son with him, presumably helping him out.

0:45:51 > 0:45:54So, I think for Jeremiah to stay,

0:45:54 > 0:45:58to carry on that family presence here was very important.

0:45:58 > 0:46:04So, you might want to now look at this next document, 1852.

0:46:04 > 0:46:10"The Deputation much regretted to find that the Company's old tenant,

0:46:10 > 0:46:12"George O'Mullan, had been dispossessed

0:46:12 > 0:46:16"of his holding in Glack." Hard times.

0:46:16 > 0:46:19After putting all that effort and all that money in,

0:46:19 > 0:46:22he's basically just chucked out on his ear.

0:46:23 > 0:46:27And would that be basically because obviously he was...

0:46:27 > 0:46:30He would have been increasingly behind with his payments

0:46:30 > 0:46:33and that it never really... And then the famine hit and it was all blown?

0:46:33 > 0:46:36- Absolutely. - And it also it says here:

0:46:36 > 0:46:38"His age being greatly against his so doing..."

0:46:38 > 0:46:42So, he was clearly too old to make a fresh start.

0:46:42 > 0:46:43There is a mystery here

0:46:43 > 0:46:50because we know Jeremiah, who stayed behind, we now know...

0:46:50 > 0:46:56- in the 1880s. he is listed as having quite a lot of land.- Yeah.

0:46:56 > 0:47:00So, his fortunes certainly improve, if not his father's.

0:47:00 > 0:47:02Do we know anything about that?

0:47:02 > 0:47:04This affidavit might actually start to give you some clues

0:47:04 > 0:47:07as to what happened to Jeremiah.

0:47:07 > 0:47:09This is a bit later.

0:47:09 > 0:47:12This is 1876.

0:47:12 > 0:47:16So, this is...an affidavit.

0:47:17 > 0:47:20"Jeremiah O'Mullan, the only other son of the said George O'Mullan

0:47:20 > 0:47:22"and Bridget, his wife,

0:47:22 > 0:47:25"and the brother of the said Bernard O'Mullan,

0:47:25 > 0:47:28"and that since his father's death about 13 years ago

0:47:28 > 0:47:30"he has always resided in,

0:47:30 > 0:47:34"and now resides in, Ashlamaduff aforesaid in said county."

0:47:34 > 0:47:37Mark's great-great-great-grandfather,

0:47:37 > 0:47:43George O'Mullan, died at Ashlamaduff around 1861.

0:47:43 > 0:47:46Jeremiah, the only son remaining in Ireland,

0:47:46 > 0:47:50stayed on at the homestead, still just a tenant.

0:47:50 > 0:47:54We have to ask why was this affidavit needed?

0:47:54 > 0:47:59This letter might help shed some light on the mystery.

0:47:59 > 0:48:03- "August 24th, 1875." - This is a letter.

0:48:03 > 0:48:04"Mr Jeremiah O'Mullan.

0:48:04 > 0:48:08"Dear Sir, a letter from Messrs Fitzharding & Son

0:48:08 > 0:48:09"of New South Wales,

0:48:09 > 0:48:13"solicitors for the executors of your brother Bernard O'Mullan.

0:48:13 > 0:48:16"Your brother died with the considerable sum estimated at

0:48:16 > 0:48:21"£20,000 and that by his will he bequeathed the principal part of it

0:48:21 > 0:48:23"to his brothers George Vaughn, Neil Arthur,

0:48:23 > 0:48:26"yourself and John in equal shares.

0:48:26 > 0:48:28"The object of the communication is to obtain

0:48:28 > 0:48:30"the address of yourself and brothers in this country."

0:48:30 > 0:48:34Oh, my God! So, it's an inheritance!

0:48:34 > 0:48:36That would have been £5,000 then,

0:48:36 > 0:48:38which would be about £400,000 today.

0:48:38 > 0:48:41- It's a fortune.- It is a fortune. It's a lot of money.

0:48:41 > 0:48:43So, Bernard has done very well in Australia.

0:48:43 > 0:48:46- Do we know what he was doing? - He was a grazier.

0:48:46 > 0:48:49- Like his dad. - Like his dad.- Wow!

0:48:49 > 0:48:52Gosh, that's wonderful.

0:48:52 > 0:48:56So, out of this adversity something has come.

0:48:56 > 0:48:59We know from the Public Records Office Jeremiah invested a lot of it

0:48:59 > 0:49:03in land himself cos he has hundreds of acres.

0:49:05 > 0:49:07So, finally...

0:49:07 > 0:49:10"An Indenture of Conveyance,

0:49:10 > 0:49:14"1891, made between the Corporation of Master and Wardens

0:49:14 > 0:49:16"and Brother and Sisters of the Guild of Fraternity

0:49:16 > 0:49:20"of Corpus Christi of Skinners of London, and Jeremiah O'Mullan

0:49:20 > 0:49:24"of Ashlamaduff, Garvagh, in County Londonderry, farmer,

0:49:24 > 0:49:27"therein after called the Purchaser of the third part."

0:49:27 > 0:49:31And that is Ashlamaduff.

0:49:31 > 0:49:34- So, he bought it. - He's bought it.

0:49:34 > 0:49:35Well, well.

0:49:35 > 0:49:39Rather than investing in rich arable land somewhere else

0:49:39 > 0:49:42- in the country, he's basically bought home.- He has. Yeah.

0:49:42 > 0:49:45It shows the deep commitment he had to home.

0:49:45 > 0:49:48This was a really important thing for him to do.

0:49:48 > 0:49:50- To be able to actually own the land...- Yeah.

0:49:50 > 0:49:54- ..was really something. - And own their clan land, really.

0:49:54 > 0:49:57I mean, going back to the O'Cahans and everything,

0:49:57 > 0:49:58this is their territory.

0:49:58 > 0:50:01You can imagine him wishing that his father had lived to see it

0:50:01 > 0:50:04cos it's one of those things, isn't it?

0:50:04 > 0:50:07- "If my dad could see me now." - He'd be so proud.- He'd be so proud.

0:50:07 > 0:50:09Is it still mine?

0:50:09 > 0:50:13Well, actually, it is still owned by a member of your family,

0:50:13 > 0:50:16a lady called Betty Ann McNicholl

0:50:16 > 0:50:19who lives just down the road in Dungiven,

0:50:19 > 0:50:23- and the property itself isn't far away.- Wow!

0:50:23 > 0:50:26- Well, that's fantastic. - So, it's still in the family.

0:50:32 > 0:50:35This whole situation is like a western, I think -

0:50:35 > 0:50:39the grazing of the cattle, the pushing out of the indigenous people

0:50:39 > 0:50:40onto the poor land.

0:50:40 > 0:50:43It's really interesting.

0:50:43 > 0:50:45And this is a bit like a Native American

0:50:45 > 0:50:49getting a little bit of Manhattan back. I'm going to write a western,

0:50:49 > 0:50:51that's what I'm going to do, and film it here.

0:50:51 > 0:50:54It is a brilliant story.

0:50:54 > 0:50:56"The land is them, they are the land."

0:50:56 > 0:50:58That's the tag line of the film, by the way!

0:51:09 > 0:51:13Mark's in the town of Dungiven to pick up his distant cousin,

0:51:13 > 0:51:16Betty Ann McNicholl.

0:51:16 > 0:51:19Betty Ann is Jeremiah O'Mullan's great-granddaughter,

0:51:19 > 0:51:22one generation closer to him than Mark.

0:51:22 > 0:51:25- Pleasure to meet you, Mark.- Pleased to meet you.- Are you coming in,

0:51:25 > 0:51:27- maybe for a cup of tea?- Yes. Yes. As long as there's a cup of tea.

0:51:27 > 0:51:31- This is him... - Ah, my goodness.

0:51:31 > 0:51:33..in the 1850s.

0:51:33 > 0:51:35Aye, my Uncle Jerry's very like him.

0:51:35 > 0:51:38We always talk about the O'Kane nose,

0:51:38 > 0:51:41my Uncle Pat has it, my mum had this nose...

0:51:41 > 0:51:43- Ah, yes.- ..but I think it's an O'Mullan nose now.

0:51:43 > 0:51:46And believe it or not, my sons have it.

0:51:46 > 0:51:49- So, there we are.- I'm proud of it now! I used to hate it!

0:51:49 > 0:51:51THEY LAUGH

0:51:51 > 0:51:54I'll show you this photograph of my grandfather.

0:51:54 > 0:51:56Now, he'd be a son of Jeremiah.

0:51:56 > 0:52:02This was in the boat coming home from America, the SS America.

0:52:02 > 0:52:07And that's my grandfather, James O'Mullan, a son of Jeremiah,

0:52:07 > 0:52:10and a brother of great-aunt Margaret.

0:52:10 > 0:52:13- Great-grandmother. - Great-grandmother.

0:52:13 > 0:52:17- And that's myself.- Huh-huh. - That's my brother and my mother.

0:52:17 > 0:52:19So, you were born in America?

0:52:19 > 0:52:21I was born in Long Island, New York.

0:52:21 > 0:52:23You could run for President!

0:52:23 > 0:52:27I still have my American passport, though.

0:52:27 > 0:52:30And I've also here photographs of your two aunts,

0:52:30 > 0:52:33Winifred and Rose, your great-aunts, I should say.

0:52:33 > 0:52:37- Your mother was Winifred.- My mother was Winifred, yeah. Winifred Rose.

0:52:37 > 0:52:39- She was named after... - Winifred Rose.

0:52:39 > 0:52:42- Oh, for goodness' sake, named after the two of them.- Mm.

0:52:42 > 0:52:44Isn't that lovely? When did your mother die?

0:52:44 > 0:52:48- 2003. - 2003, uh-huh.

0:52:48 > 0:52:51- You have a look of my mum, as well. - Is that right?- You do, yeah.

0:52:51 > 0:52:53THEY CHUCKLE

0:53:02 > 0:53:06Betty Ann grew up at Ashlamaduff from her early teens.

0:53:06 > 0:53:11She now rents the land to cousins - Mullans - who still farm it.

0:53:21 > 0:53:22So, this is it, then.

0:53:22 > 0:53:26- This is the homestead. - The old homestead.- That's right.

0:53:26 > 0:53:29- Ashlamaduff.- Ashlamaduff. Happy memories.

0:53:29 > 0:53:31So, do you remember what you what you thought

0:53:31 > 0:53:36- when you first saw it after coming from America?- Not really.

0:53:36 > 0:53:39I just remember getting out of the car,

0:53:39 > 0:53:42up at the door and all the people being there...

0:53:42 > 0:53:44And they had a big ceili house,

0:53:44 > 0:53:47and plenty of laughing and singing and dancing.

0:53:47 > 0:53:51- A welcoming committee, was it? - A welcoming committee.- Yeah.

0:53:51 > 0:53:55- All the neighbours and cousins had all arrived to meet us.- Right.

0:53:55 > 0:53:59- Uh-huh. - Well, there it is.

0:53:59 > 0:54:02- It was home to me. - Yeah, mm.

0:54:02 > 0:54:05We had our rosary every night down on the cement floor

0:54:05 > 0:54:09and that was...the way it was.

0:54:09 > 0:54:10It's very, er...

0:54:10 > 0:54:15It's very it's striking that I think that there's so much travel,

0:54:15 > 0:54:20- lots of people in the family going to Australia and America...- Yes.

0:54:20 > 0:54:25- ..but there's the sense of wanting to come home...- Oh, yes.

0:54:25 > 0:54:27- ..is incredibly strong, isn't it?- Aye.

0:54:27 > 0:54:31And there's a pull, there's always the pull to your homeland, you know?

0:54:31 > 0:54:33There's something about this here,

0:54:33 > 0:54:36of course, because your grandfathers

0:54:36 > 0:54:38and your great-grandfathers...

0:54:38 > 0:54:41It's where your heart lies, just, you know?

0:54:41 > 0:54:44And it's still in the family, you've kept it going.

0:54:44 > 0:54:48Still kept it going, please God, we will as long as we can, whatever.

0:54:48 > 0:54:51Just only time will tell.

0:54:52 > 0:54:56- Now, in we go.- Watch your step, watch your step.- Uh-huh.

0:54:56 > 0:54:58There we are.

0:55:00 > 0:55:03Well, when I lived here, that's the fireplace,

0:55:03 > 0:55:07- there was a big fire burning there with our kitchen table there.- Yeah.

0:55:07 > 0:55:11That was all those years ago.

0:55:11 > 0:55:14- It's a shame to see it like this, isn't it?- Aye.

0:55:14 > 0:55:18It's over 50 years, you know, since anybody lived here.

0:55:18 > 0:55:22- And there we are. - Extraordinary. It is.- Mm-hm.

0:55:22 > 0:55:24Several generations in here.

0:55:35 > 0:55:38- I'm going to see if I can get round the side.- OK, Mark.

0:55:38 > 0:55:41Like his father, George, before him,

0:55:41 > 0:55:43Jeremiah O'Mullan died here

0:55:43 > 0:55:48at Ashlamaduff in 1908. He was 75.

0:55:48 > 0:55:51It's wonderful to find something as tangible as this.

0:55:52 > 0:55:58As a homestead, I just really can't get over how bleak it is.

0:55:58 > 0:56:01It's such tough country.

0:56:02 > 0:56:06The choice to live here,

0:56:06 > 0:56:09in such a landscape, it's moving, really.

0:56:09 > 0:56:11I like him for doing it.

0:56:15 > 0:56:17Hm.

0:56:19 > 0:56:22I should really take a little bit back.

0:56:22 > 0:56:23HE CHUCKLES

0:56:25 > 0:56:27Build something around it.

0:56:36 > 0:56:41Living with the legends and the history of the O'Mullans

0:56:41 > 0:56:46and the O'Kanes, and having once been kings in ancient times,

0:56:46 > 0:56:50is a very strong sense of ownership and dispossession

0:56:50 > 0:56:52and then a rightful restoration.

0:56:54 > 0:56:57To have been bought by Jeremiah,

0:56:57 > 0:57:01almost certainly lived in by George O'Mullan,

0:57:01 > 0:57:04sort of brings the whole story full circle.

0:57:04 > 0:57:09I'm very heartened to know it's still in the O'Mullan family.

0:57:10 > 0:57:14And by dint of that, somehow the O'Kanes, too,

0:57:14 > 0:57:16as we're all intertwined.

0:57:19 > 0:57:21I have loved every minute of this.

0:57:21 > 0:57:23I don't want to stop.

0:57:23 > 0:57:25I'm definitely coming back,

0:57:25 > 0:57:29at the head of an army, to reclaim my rightful kingdom.