0:00:03 > 0:00:05In the first programme, we looked at how links
0:00:05 > 0:00:06between Scotland and Ulster
0:00:06 > 0:00:09go back hundreds, indeed thousands, of years.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13And I thought that I had impeccable Catholic roots,
0:00:13 > 0:00:16but it turns out that my great-great-grandfather
0:00:16 > 0:00:19was a Presbyterian assistant farmer from Innishargie
0:00:19 > 0:00:21on the Ards Peninsula.
0:00:21 > 0:00:25And he had a wee bit of illicit "Cohesion, Sharing And Integration"
0:00:25 > 0:00:28with a Catholic maid from a couple of fields away.
0:00:28 > 0:00:30Her name was Mary Anne Cleland.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34His name was McClelland, both Scottish names.
0:00:34 > 0:00:37So it proves that I am just a wee bit Ulster Scot.
0:00:37 > 0:00:38Yes, the McClellands
0:00:38 > 0:00:40and Clelands probably came over in the early 1600s,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44and that's when we start the second part of our journey,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47as we take a close look at the Plantation.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01The Plantation is one of those historical events
0:01:01 > 0:01:05that we all remember with certainty and passion.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08Unfortunately, often that certainty and passion isn't backed up
0:01:08 > 0:01:11by any detailed knowledge of the actual events. Why?
0:01:11 > 0:01:14Because, well, it's Northern Ireland, and our current
0:01:14 > 0:01:18political views often colour how we view the Plantation.
0:01:18 > 0:01:19Let's look at the facts.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23The Protestants, I think we would all agree, arrived here 400 years ago.
0:01:23 > 0:01:25They robbed the Catholic land,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28they drove us up to the hills like so many sheep, they did their best
0:01:28 > 0:01:31to brutalise our language, our culture, our traditions.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Our struggle continues today to right those wrongs,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37and that struggle goes on, even as we speak.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40I couldn't have put that better myself.
0:01:40 > 0:01:43These early settlers were fine, decent,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46hardworking Protestant stock. What did they find when they got here?
0:01:46 > 0:01:49They found a wasteland, a bog, as Kevin said.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51Inhabited by semi-nomadic,
0:01:51 > 0:01:54non English-speaking Roman Catholics.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58Up to now, settlements in Ulster were haphazard and unofficial.
0:01:58 > 0:01:59This one was different.
0:01:59 > 0:02:03This was Plantation as government policy.
0:02:03 > 0:02:07The official Plantation affected six of Ulster's nine counties.
0:02:07 > 0:02:11OK? You had Donegal, Tyrone, Fermanagh, Cavan, Armagh
0:02:11 > 0:02:14and a county that was originally called County Coleraine,
0:02:14 > 0:02:16but then in 1613 became County Londonderry,
0:02:16 > 0:02:19and that was because the London companies,
0:02:19 > 0:02:22- the great merchant companies of London...- That name'll never stick.
0:02:22 > 0:02:25Well, they were given responsibility for developing
0:02:25 > 0:02:27what became County Londonderry.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31Planning took place in London over a number of years prior to 1610,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34when it was rolled out. We see various categories of grantee.
0:02:34 > 0:02:36When we think of the Plantation we think of the settlements,
0:02:36 > 0:02:38they're the undertakers.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41And, interestingly, they were the only group of grantees
0:02:41 > 0:02:44specifically forbidden to have Irish tenants.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Now, that was the theory, and the theory, when it's devised in London,
0:02:49 > 0:02:51is very different from the practice when it's rolled out in Ulster.
0:02:51 > 0:02:54The theory was to have Irish removed from the undertakers' estates,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57the reality is that most of those estates were Irish.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59This is the trouble with Irish history - it's too complicated.
0:02:59 > 0:03:01I thought it was nice and simple,
0:03:01 > 0:03:03the Protestants came and stole all our land,
0:03:03 > 0:03:05but that's not how it happened at all, in reality.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09So these Scottish settlers arrive in Ulster.
0:03:09 > 0:03:12Would they have spoken a different language from the native Irish,
0:03:12 > 0:03:14have a different religion from the native Irish?
0:03:14 > 0:03:18Yeah, well, they would overwhelmingly have spoken Scots.
0:03:18 > 0:03:21But the Irish natives were speaking...
0:03:21 > 0:03:24- Gaelic Irish.- Oh, yes. They would have been, That's right.
0:03:30 > 0:03:31Thanks.
0:03:33 > 0:03:36The trouble with the Ulster Scots language
0:03:36 > 0:03:39is that most people don't think it's a language.
0:03:39 > 0:03:41Plus, it's too easy to mock.
0:03:41 > 0:03:43I mean, any second-rate comedian can do that.
0:03:43 > 0:03:45Does anybody here speak Ulster Scots?
0:03:45 > 0:03:47No, you all do.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51Why? Cos it's not a language.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53With a real language, you need a good ear.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55With Ulster Scots, you need a straight face.
0:03:58 > 0:04:01With a language, there's grammar and syntax and regular verbs.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03With Ulster Scots, to learn it,
0:04:03 > 0:04:06all you need is six-pack of Harp and DVD of Rab C Nesbitt.
0:04:08 > 0:04:10All right, Jackie, I'm one of those people you want to slap,
0:04:10 > 0:04:13cos I've been on the telly taking the hand out of Ulster Scots, but...
0:04:13 > 0:04:15Don't give me that look!
0:04:15 > 0:04:18Monie's the time, big lad, I would like to slap you across the bake.
0:04:18 > 0:04:20This could go very badly!
0:04:20 > 0:04:23So, I'm not going to apologise, I'm going to tell you,
0:04:23 > 0:04:24I have taken the hand out of it,
0:04:24 > 0:04:27but I want to know - yous think it is a proper, living language.
0:04:27 > 0:04:29You're a native Ulster Scots speaker.
0:04:29 > 0:04:31Is it a language or is it a dialect?
0:04:31 > 0:04:34You know, it's like saying, "is a daisy a flooer or a weed?,
0:04:34 > 0:04:36or "is a dandelion a flooer or a weed?"
0:04:36 > 0:04:38There's that sort of a dividing line.
0:04:38 > 0:04:44Um, folk would say it's a dialect. To me, that's just my way of life.
0:04:44 > 0:04:47It's been so stigmatised here, because English was brought in,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49and the Ulster Scots was getting bated oot ye,
0:04:49 > 0:04:52should it be in school, or wherever - or even talking to folk.
0:04:52 > 0:04:53But yinst you -
0:04:53 > 0:04:56when you're in the schoolhouse it's always Standard English,
0:04:56 > 0:04:59and yinst you stepped ower that door into the playground,
0:04:59 > 0:05:01you switched, automatic.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03- And essentially, you're bilingual. - You were bilingual?
0:05:03 > 0:05:07We were bilingual even before bilingual was even thought about.
0:05:07 > 0:05:11In 1860, a teacher in Belfast named David Patterson
0:05:11 > 0:05:14was totally appalled by the pronunciation of words
0:05:14 > 0:05:15by people in Belfast.
0:05:15 > 0:05:18In fact, so appalled was he that he wrote a book
0:05:18 > 0:05:21with the astonishingly patronising title of...
0:05:21 > 0:05:23HE READS IN AFFECTED ACCENT
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Yes, even 160 years in, you still want to slap him.
0:05:31 > 0:05:34He was very annoyed by the way people were pronouncing their words.
0:05:34 > 0:05:38Words like "gold", he said, was pronounced "goold",
0:05:38 > 0:05:42"idiot" was pronounced "eejut", and "whip" was pronounced "whop".
0:05:42 > 0:05:45Even worse than that, according to Patterson,
0:05:45 > 0:05:47these people actually made up words
0:05:47 > 0:05:50that weren't even in the Oxford English Dictionary.
0:05:50 > 0:05:53Words like "skelf", meaning a splinter,
0:05:53 > 0:05:55or "carnaptious", meaning crabbit,
0:05:55 > 0:06:00or "boke", meaning to listen to the Stephen Nolan Show.
0:06:00 > 0:06:02These words were indeed, of course,
0:06:02 > 0:06:05Ulster Scots words that had their origin in Northumbria,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09and then spread to the Lowland Scots before coming here to Ulster.
0:06:15 > 0:06:17We often think of the Ulster Plantation
0:06:17 > 0:06:19and the movement of Scots across the North Channel
0:06:19 > 0:06:21and into our own province
0:06:21 > 0:06:25as being the most significant event in Scottish history of that era,
0:06:25 > 0:06:27but the reality was, more Scots went to Poland
0:06:27 > 0:06:30in the early 17th century than came to Ulster.
0:06:30 > 0:06:33In fact, more Scots went to Scandinavia in the early 17th century
0:06:33 > 0:06:36- than came to Ulster.- And did they bring anything with them?
0:06:36 > 0:06:39Hugh Montgomery established a school.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43There was also a playground or a green beside the school,
0:06:43 > 0:06:46in which there was space to play golf, archery and football.
0:06:46 > 0:06:48You're telling me that we
0:06:48 > 0:06:50wouldn't have had Rory McIlroy or Geordie Best
0:06:50 > 0:06:52- without the Ulster Scots? - Very possible.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55One aspect of the Plantation we rarely discuss
0:06:55 > 0:06:58is the actual character of the planters themselves.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01The Reverend Blair from Bangor in 1623,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05well, he was frankly unimpressed, describing the new settlers as...
0:07:08 > 0:07:10And the Reverend Andrew Stewart from Donaghadee,
0:07:10 > 0:07:12he was even less impressed.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14He said that the new settlers were, and I quote...
0:07:18 > 0:07:22The type of people, he said, who were just fleeing debt or justice.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31Well, isn't that what we always say about new immigrants?
0:07:31 > 0:07:34But there were some really bad boys from the Scottish Borders
0:07:34 > 0:07:36who came to Ulster.
0:07:36 > 0:07:38James I clamped down on a lot of the clans,
0:07:38 > 0:07:41particularly the Grahams, who were the most notorious of the people
0:07:41 > 0:07:44who would have gone across and stole cattle and rustled sheep...
0:07:44 > 0:07:46They were a bit lawless, the Grahams?
0:07:46 > 0:07:47They were extremely lawless.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49So a lot of them were hanged, and some of them, actually,
0:07:49 > 0:07:52when they came to Ulster, spelled their name backwards to try
0:07:52 > 0:07:54and avoid the authorities.
0:07:54 > 0:07:56If you spell it backwards it's roughly "Maharg",
0:07:56 > 0:07:59so you find some Mahargs, certainly here in County Antrim.
0:07:59 > 0:08:01Yeah, so they were really, really bad people.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07Can you tell who was a planter and who was native by people's names?
0:08:07 > 0:08:09It's very dangerous to make any assumptions
0:08:09 > 0:08:12about someone's religious affiliation or political allegiances
0:08:12 > 0:08:14based on their surname.
0:08:14 > 0:08:16You take, for example, McGuinness.
0:08:16 > 0:08:19You've got Ken Maginnis, Alban Maginness, Martin McGuinness.
0:08:19 > 0:08:20You've people who have names
0:08:20 > 0:08:23that, you know, in our own preconceived notions,
0:08:23 > 0:08:26"Oh, he must be a Unionist, he must be a Nationalist," but actually,
0:08:26 > 0:08:28you look at their background, it's much more complex than that.
0:08:28 > 0:08:30We're all mixed up to some degree.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33Well, let me throw a couple of names at you, then. Adams.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36Well, Adams is, er, very much a Scottish name.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38- It's a Scottish name?- Yes.
0:08:38 > 0:08:39Gerry Adams is an Ulster Scot?
0:08:39 > 0:08:44Well, it's possible, certainly, but we do have to be careful with names
0:08:44 > 0:08:45in that sometimes we have names
0:08:45 > 0:08:48that are sounding very obviously Scottish or English,
0:08:48 > 0:08:52but may actually be an Irish name that has been anglicised in some way.
0:08:52 > 0:08:56So, without delving into someone's own family history, it's...
0:08:56 > 0:08:59- Duncan.- Well, again, Duncan is maybe a Scottish name, so...
0:08:59 > 0:09:01Hugo Duncan is an Ulster Scot.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03- Very possibly. - You heard it here first.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Irish history has always been pretty turbulent,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14featuring wars, invasions, rebellions,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16and quite a lot of brutality.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19But now another factor was added into the mix, and a very potent one.
0:09:19 > 0:09:21Religion.
0:09:21 > 0:09:25One of the false perceptions of the Plantations,
0:09:25 > 0:09:27with regard to the Scots, for instance,
0:09:27 > 0:09:31that they were Scots Presbyterians, and exclusively Scots Presbyterians,
0:09:31 > 0:09:32that's not the case at all.
0:09:32 > 0:09:37Some were undoubtedly people who had sympathies with Presbyterian system.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Others were Episcopalians, still others were actually Roman Catholics.
0:09:41 > 0:09:45There was a small but significant colony of Scottish Catholics
0:09:45 > 0:09:48at Strabane in the early 1600s.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Some people ask why Scots decided to settle here in Ulster.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53Well, isn't it obvious?
0:09:53 > 0:09:56In Scotland the weather is wet and miserable, whereas here...
0:09:56 > 0:09:58RAIN PATTERS AND WIND WHISTLES
0:10:00 > 0:10:02Exactly 400 years ago,
0:10:02 > 0:10:06the Reverend Edward Brice arrived in this village, Ballycarry.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09He was the first Presbyterian minister in Ulster, indeed,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12the first ever Presbyterian service in Ireland was held here
0:10:12 > 0:10:15in the year 1613.
0:10:16 > 0:10:18This is the church that Brice preached in.
0:10:18 > 0:10:23He would have preached here from 1613 until 1636.
0:10:23 > 0:10:26The early Presbyterian ministers who came here into Ulster,
0:10:26 > 0:10:28almost, I think, to a man,
0:10:28 > 0:10:30were all out of favour with the church authorities.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34But also there was the pull-factor of these new settlements
0:10:34 > 0:10:36of Scots without ministers.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39There were about eight or nine very influential Presbyterian ministers
0:10:39 > 0:10:44in South Antrim and North Down, at places like Bangor.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47Robert Blair is probably the most prominent of them all.
0:10:47 > 0:10:50But John Knox's grandson, he ends up in Temple Patrick.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53So these were Premier League guys who were coming across here,
0:10:53 > 0:10:55at the time.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58And so that sense of Presbyterian identity, that starts to cause
0:10:58 > 0:11:02all sorts of problems, but not necessarily with Catholic Irish.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05With Anglican bishops.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08The Plantation may have been more complicated and messier
0:11:08 > 0:11:11than we imagine, but it undoubtedly fostered tension and resentment,
0:11:11 > 0:11:14both political and religious, with the native Irish.
0:11:14 > 0:11:17Eventually, resentment and anger boiled over.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25Rebellion broke out in Ulster in the year 1641.
0:11:25 > 0:11:28English settlers were massacred by the native Irish.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31Initially, the Scots settlers were exempted from attack,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34but very quickly the violence spread.
0:11:34 > 0:11:38There were massacres of Scottish settlers in Armagh and Portadown.
0:11:38 > 0:11:41This led, in the following year, 1642, to a Scottish Covenanter army
0:11:41 > 0:11:44arriving to defend the Presbyterians.
0:11:44 > 0:11:47There were further atrocities on both sides,
0:11:47 > 0:11:51and then, just to add to things, civil war broke out in England.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54After a bloody civil war,
0:11:54 > 0:11:57King Charles I was defeated by the forces of parliament.
0:11:57 > 0:11:59Their leader was a man who, even today,
0:11:59 > 0:12:01wouldn't get a pint in certain Irish bars.
0:12:01 > 0:12:03Not that he'd want one. Those Puritans.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08Catholics in Ireland used to have two pictures
0:12:08 > 0:12:09hanging on their living room wall -
0:12:09 > 0:12:12one of the Pope, and one of John F Kennedy.
0:12:12 > 0:12:15Neither of whom is quite as popular as he used to be.
0:12:15 > 0:12:18One man whose picture would never grace a Catholic home
0:12:18 > 0:12:19is Oliver Cromwell.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22He of the famous massacres at Drogheda and other places.
0:12:22 > 0:12:26Cromwell is to Catholic Ireland what Osama bin Laden is to America.
0:12:26 > 0:12:29What I didn't realise, however, is that Oliver Cromwell
0:12:29 > 0:12:32wasn't much of a friend to the Ulster Scots, either. Why?
0:12:32 > 0:12:33Well, during the English Civil War,
0:12:33 > 0:12:36the Ulster Scots made the mistake of supporting the Royalists.
0:12:36 > 0:12:39So when Cromwell arrived in Ireland in 1649,
0:12:39 > 0:12:42he also wanted to have a word not just with the Catholics,
0:12:42 > 0:12:44but also with the Ulster Scots.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46In December of that year, he defeated a combined
0:12:46 > 0:12:50Ulster Scot-Royalist army at Lisnagarvey just outside Lisburn.
0:12:51 > 0:12:54Oliver Cromwell famously told the Catholics that they could go...
0:12:56 > 0:12:58He then told the Ulster Scots that they could go...
0:13:00 > 0:13:03Which, to be honest, doesn't have quite the same ring about it.
0:13:03 > 0:13:06Cromwell had a list of 150 key Ulster Scots leaders
0:13:06 > 0:13:08that he was going to send on a trip to Tip.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12But then he relented, and said that the Ulster Scots could stay
0:13:12 > 0:13:14as long as they paid large fines.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16Yes, as far as Cromwell was concerned,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18Presbyterians weren't the right sort of Protestants -
0:13:18 > 0:13:20but at least they were Protestants.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24When the short-lived English Republic came to an end
0:13:24 > 0:13:27and King Charles II came onto the throne,
0:13:27 > 0:13:30things actually didn't improve for the Ulster Scots Presbyterians.
0:13:30 > 0:13:33Yes, they were Protestants, but according to the established church,
0:13:33 > 0:13:35they weren't the right sort of Protestants.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38Indeed, all the Presbyterian ministers in Scotland and Ulster
0:13:38 > 0:13:41were expelled from their churches.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44The Ulster Scots had been badly treated
0:13:44 > 0:13:48by the Catholic King James II, plus the settlers had very real fears
0:13:48 > 0:13:51about a repeat of the massacres of 1641.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53So when revolution again broke out in England,
0:13:53 > 0:13:56it was clear whose side the Ulster Scots would be on.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03When King William of Orange arrived in the year 1690,
0:14:03 > 0:14:05the Ulster Scots supported him to a man.
0:14:05 > 0:14:07He arrived here in Carrickfergus Castle,
0:14:07 > 0:14:10and if you want to know what happened next,
0:14:10 > 0:14:12well, look at a gable wall near you.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21So, Jackie, I don't now if you know, but I found Ulster Scots roots.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24My great-great-Grandfather Clelands and McClellands
0:14:24 > 0:14:29from Innishargie and Nuns Quarter. So, I am part Ulster Scots.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32- I'm starting to like you already, big lad.- Are you?!
0:14:32 > 0:14:34I'm sorry to have pushed you aroon, after all.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39Least that's time to slag you off now, anyhow, on the TV, there.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42We did some vox pops in town and asked people about Ulster Scots,
0:14:42 > 0:14:44and a couple of things emerged.
0:14:44 > 0:14:46We're doing a wee documentary about Ulster Scots.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50- Och, aye?- "Och, aye"! - I'm fluent in it!
0:14:50 > 0:14:54- Are you fluent?! - Especially with a few drinks in me.
0:14:54 > 0:14:57What about the Ulster Scots language?
0:14:57 > 0:14:58I haven't a clue.
0:14:58 > 0:15:01It's no more a language than Glaswegian's a language.
0:15:01 > 0:15:02That's the way I see it.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05I don't think it's a language, you can't convince me it's a language.
0:15:05 > 0:15:09You just can't convince me of it. It's a makey-up thing, I think.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12In terms of the language, either they mocked it,
0:15:12 > 0:15:14or they thought it was merely a dialect.
0:15:14 > 0:15:17In all honesty, and I'm not trying to dodge the question,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19but I don't think it matters.
0:15:19 > 0:15:23Because what I think is important about it is that it's a living thing
0:15:23 > 0:15:27that people here still use, and I think that should be valued.
0:15:27 > 0:15:30I think that there's a Scottish vocabulary,
0:15:30 > 0:15:35an Ulster Scots vocabulary, that is entirely universal here.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Um, and I think what matters is that those things
0:15:38 > 0:15:42make this place feel special, make it feel different.
0:15:49 > 0:15:52The 1600s had been extremely violent and traumatic.
0:15:52 > 0:15:55The 1700s were slightly less violent until the end of the century,
0:15:55 > 0:15:57but equally as traumatic.
0:15:57 > 0:15:58Throughout the century,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01the Ulster Scots Presbyterians suffered discrimination
0:16:01 > 0:16:04at the hands of the established Anglican church,
0:16:04 > 0:16:05the Church of Ireland.
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Presbyterians were barred from public office,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11their marriages weren't recognised, they could even teach.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14And when they died, their burial ceremonies had to be in accordance
0:16:14 > 0:16:16with Church of Ireland rules.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18And, to top it all, the Presbyterians had to pay
0:16:18 > 0:16:20the Church of Ireland a tithe
0:16:20 > 0:16:22for the pleasure of being discriminated against.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25And you know what Ulster Scots are like - that was bound to hurt.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28Persecution took many forms.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31The Reverend John McBride from the Presbyterian church
0:16:31 > 0:16:33in Rosemary Street in Belfast
0:16:33 > 0:16:35had a few difficulties with the authorities.
0:16:36 > 0:16:42From about 1703 to 1712 he was effectively on the run.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45The portrait here, we can see on the wall, of McBride.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48The Sheriff of Belfast came with some soldiers to arrest him.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51And McBride had been tipped off, and escaped.
0:16:51 > 0:16:55And the Sheriff of Belfast, in seeing McBride had gone, drew his sword -
0:16:55 > 0:16:57he couldn't stab McBride,
0:16:57 > 0:17:01so he stabbed the next best thing, which was the portrait.
0:17:01 > 0:17:05Ongoing persecution, a series of famines and rising rent
0:17:05 > 0:17:08led many Ulster Scots to emigrate to America for a new life.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11Plus, let's face it, the weather was better as well.
0:17:11 > 0:17:13While many Ulster Scots fled to America,
0:17:13 > 0:17:16those who remained behind continued to suffer
0:17:16 > 0:17:18discrimination at the hands of the established church.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22Then the American Revolution broke out in 1776.
0:17:22 > 0:17:24It was led by the close friends
0:17:24 > 0:17:26and relatives of many of the people of Ulster,
0:17:26 > 0:17:29and this, in turn, led Presbyterians to becoming more radical.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33Then, in 1789, the French Revolution broke out,
0:17:33 > 0:17:36and this radicalism became even more militant.
0:17:36 > 0:17:41In 1791 the Society of United Irishmen was formed here in Belfast.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45And many of its members worshipped in this church.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48LA MARSEILLAISE PLAYS
0:17:50 > 0:17:54The United Irishmen's core support came from Belfast Presbyterians.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56Originally, they wanted political reform,
0:17:56 > 0:17:59but when Revolutionary France declared war on Britain,
0:17:59 > 0:18:01the government clamped down on the organisation,
0:18:01 > 0:18:04and the United Irishmen started to demand not reform,
0:18:04 > 0:18:05but revolution.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13In 1795, Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken,
0:18:13 > 0:18:14the leaders of the United Irishmen,
0:18:14 > 0:18:19came up here to McArt's Fort on the Cavehill, and they swore an oath...
0:18:27 > 0:18:31Three years later, however, McCracken was back on the Cavehill,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34this time on the run, in hiding after the violent and bloody failure
0:18:34 > 0:18:37of the 1798 rebellion.
0:18:38 > 0:18:41Many of the founding members of the Linen Hall Library
0:18:41 > 0:18:45were United Irishmen, but it's wrong to suggest that everyone in Belfast
0:18:45 > 0:18:46sympathised with them.
0:18:46 > 0:18:50The Society had to accommodate both the United Irishmen, you know,
0:18:50 > 0:18:55the radical politics of the time, with conservatism.
0:18:55 > 0:18:58And there's a minute from around 1793
0:18:58 > 0:19:01that says that while books on religion and politics
0:19:01 > 0:19:05are very important, these topics will not be discussed
0:19:05 > 0:19:07within the Society, because they were so divisive.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12In the same year that Henry Joy McCracken
0:19:12 > 0:19:14pledged himself to an Irish Republic,
0:19:14 > 0:19:16the Orange Order was formed in Armagh
0:19:16 > 0:19:19after vicious clashes between Catholics and Protestants.
0:19:19 > 0:19:23The United Irishmen said they wanted to unite Catholic, Protestant
0:19:23 > 0:19:25and dissenters, but in the south,
0:19:25 > 0:19:29the 1798 rebellion often descended into sectarian conflict.
0:19:29 > 0:19:32And whilst the rebellion in the north was mainly
0:19:32 > 0:19:36led by Presbyterians, certainly not all Presbyterians supported it.
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Thomas Russell was our second librarian.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Because of his United Irishmen activities,
0:19:41 > 0:19:45he was arrested on the library premises in 1796.
0:19:45 > 0:19:49Now, he wasn't released until 1802,
0:19:49 > 0:19:52and he had ended up in Fort George in Scotland.
0:19:52 > 0:19:54So he was, I think,
0:19:54 > 0:19:56the longest-serving State prisoner at the time.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01So it shows how dangerous they felt, the government felt, that he was.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06There was a real split between those who were friends of Russell
0:20:06 > 0:20:11and those within the society who had given money towards
0:20:11 > 0:20:13the reward for his arrest.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15Like all wars and conflicts,
0:20:15 > 0:20:19the 1798 Rebellion had its own small tragedies.
0:20:19 > 0:20:22There was a local boy, 16-year-old William Nelson,
0:20:22 > 0:20:24who was hanged for his part in the rising.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26He's called the Ballycarry Martyr.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30The authorities believed Nelson knew who the key people were
0:20:30 > 0:20:31and they wanted him to give the names
0:20:31 > 0:20:33and, because he was so young, I think,
0:20:33 > 0:20:36they reckoned he would be the one to crack, he'd be the one to break.
0:20:36 > 0:20:39He was brought back here with two men, who were flogged,
0:20:39 > 0:20:42but Nelson ended up being hanged.
0:20:42 > 0:20:46BAGPIPES PLAY
0:20:46 > 0:20:48At the same time as all this political turmoil,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52the greatest writer in Scots, Rabbie Burns, burst on the scene.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54He wrote in the language of the Ulster Scots
0:20:54 > 0:20:58and his own radical views reflected theirs.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00Burns certainly was a leader of the movement
0:21:00 > 0:21:04to use what we now regard as Ulster Scots language,
0:21:04 > 0:21:05and to use the Scots...
0:21:05 > 0:21:09And a lot of his books were written actually in Scots and English,
0:21:09 > 0:21:12with translations in some of them, in fact,
0:21:12 > 0:21:15for people who didn't understand the original works.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25Burns regularly sent pieces of his work to Belfast
0:21:25 > 0:21:27and they were published in the Belfast newsletter.
0:21:27 > 0:21:31Allow me to introduce myself. I am the poet, Robert Burns.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33The first book of Burns' poetry that was published
0:21:33 > 0:21:37outside of Scotland was actually published in Belfast.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40Burns had a huge influence on the rural poets
0:21:40 > 0:21:42and the movement known as the Rhyming Weavers,
0:21:42 > 0:21:44people like Samuel Ferguson,
0:21:44 > 0:21:48who wrote poetry based on their experiences of rural life in Ulster.
0:21:48 > 0:21:52An' cut ye up wi' ready slight Trenching your gushing entrails...
0:21:52 > 0:21:58'Burns's radicalism resonates with the radicalism of people in Belfast
0:21:58 > 0:22:01'and the North of Ireland in the 18th century.
0:22:01 > 0:22:05'His radicalism can be equated with the radicalism'
0:22:05 > 0:22:08in the North American continent at that time,
0:22:08 > 0:22:10when they were going through independence
0:22:10 > 0:22:12and the War of Independence.
0:22:12 > 0:22:13BAGPIPES PLAY
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Burns was an inspiration in politics and poetry.
0:22:17 > 0:22:19One man who took up both causes was the greatest poet
0:22:19 > 0:22:22the Ulster Scots ever produced, James Orr.
0:22:24 > 0:22:27Well, James Orr is a very interesting figure
0:22:27 > 0:22:29in the history of the Ulster Scots community.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33The poet John Hewitt referred to him as having written poems
0:22:33 > 0:22:35that were better than anything written by Burns.
0:22:35 > 0:22:37He didn't go to school at all, is that right?
0:22:37 > 0:22:39He didn't spend a day at school in his life
0:22:39 > 0:22:42and I think it's phenomenal that somebody who, you know,
0:22:42 > 0:22:45never spent a day in a formal school environment
0:22:45 > 0:22:47ended up the most prominent poet of the Ulster Scots.
0:22:47 > 0:22:49Don't be telling schoolchildren that.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51So he didn't go to school at all
0:22:51 > 0:22:52and he's one of the most famous poets
0:22:52 > 0:22:55- that the Ulster Scots have ever produced?- Absolutely.
0:22:55 > 0:22:57Orr was involved in the rising itself.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59June the 7th, 1798, he gives, I think,
0:22:59 > 0:23:03one of the best accounts of what happened
0:23:03 > 0:23:06for these people on the 7th June.
0:23:06 > 0:23:08The preparations the night before - in with the blacksmiths,
0:23:08 > 0:23:11making the pike heads and all sorts of things.
0:23:11 > 0:23:14Wives baking bread for the men, wrapping them up.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17He says they baked bread with tears instead of water.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21He refers to how some of them, when they marched towards Antrim,
0:23:21 > 0:23:24make a pretence of what he calls "making their burn",
0:23:24 > 0:23:26which is going to the lavatory.
0:23:26 > 0:23:27"Making your burn"?
0:23:27 > 0:23:29I like the sound of that. It's a new euphemism on me.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32But they never come back to join the column.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36He also reflects on the fact that it was a beautiful summer day
0:23:36 > 0:23:37and they got to Donegore.
0:23:37 > 0:23:40The Presbyterian farmers in Donegore had turned out as well
0:23:40 > 0:23:42but they'd turned out to harvest their crops.
0:23:42 > 0:23:44And he says...
0:23:48 > 0:23:52And it talks about the aftermath of the battle, when they arrive home.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55They say to him, "You've arrived safely." And the person says,
0:23:55 > 0:23:58"I'm going to have to say it was somebody else, forc'd me out..."
0:24:04 > 0:24:08# I'm the changingman
0:24:08 > 0:24:10# Whoa, built on shifting sand... #
0:24:10 > 0:24:15The 1798 Rebellion ended in total defeat for the United Irishmen.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17Their leader in Ulster, Henry Joy McCracken,
0:24:17 > 0:24:20was court-martialled and hanged in Cornmarket.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23He was eventually buried here, in Clifton Street Cemetery,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26alongside his sister, Mary Ann McCracken.
0:24:26 > 0:24:29Mary Ann herself was a remarkable character.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32She was actively involved in the rebellion in 1798
0:24:32 > 0:24:35and she adopted Henry Joy's illegitimate daughter
0:24:35 > 0:24:36and raised her as her own.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39As well as that, she was a radical for her time -
0:24:39 > 0:24:43she actively opposed slavery in Belfast, she was a feminist.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46But also, like many Presbyterians of her time,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48she came to accept the Act of Union.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53They turned away from the idea of an Irish Republic, essentially.
0:24:53 > 0:24:55They moved more in the sense of social reform, I think.
0:24:55 > 0:24:59And it's interesting when O'Connell starts his campaign
0:24:59 > 0:25:02for emancipation, Catholic Emancipation,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05which is really the last of the Penal Laws from the 1690s,
0:25:05 > 0:25:06the Presbyterians...
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Henry Montgomery, one of the main Presbyterians leaders,
0:25:09 > 0:25:12supports that campaign and a lot of the Presbyterians support that
0:25:12 > 0:25:15because it's about equality in society.
0:25:15 > 0:25:18During the 1800s, the Protestants of Ulster
0:25:18 > 0:25:20and indeed of Ireland became more pro-Unionist.
0:25:20 > 0:25:23There are two reasons for this. First of all, the Church of Ireland
0:25:23 > 0:25:25ended its discrimination against nonconformists
0:25:25 > 0:25:28and, secondly, there was a religious revival,
0:25:28 > 0:25:31led by this man, Dr Henry Cooke.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34Henry Cooke, better known as the Black Man,
0:25:34 > 0:25:36presumably because he's green(!)
0:25:38 > 0:25:41Henry Cooke effectively turned the Presbyterians of Ulster
0:25:41 > 0:25:44from being anti-establishment to being pro-establishment.
0:25:44 > 0:25:46Added to that, the campaigns of Daniel O'Connell
0:25:46 > 0:25:50for Catholic Emancipation and then repeal of the Act Of Union
0:25:50 > 0:25:53effectively associated Catholicism with nationalism.
0:25:53 > 0:25:56The politics of Ireland were becoming deeply sectarianised.
0:25:58 > 0:26:00From the 1840s, right up to today,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03the history and politics of Ireland has been us and them,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06Nationalist versus Unionist, Republican versus Loyalist.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08And, like everything else, the history and culture
0:26:08 > 0:26:11of Ulster Scots has been seen through the prism.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19With the introduction of the national schools
0:26:19 > 0:26:21came a single national curriculum.
0:26:21 > 0:26:24And, of course, the language of that curriculum was English.
0:26:24 > 0:26:27That meant that written Ulster Scots tended to die out
0:26:27 > 0:26:30and spoken Ulster Scots came to be seen as a language
0:26:30 > 0:26:33of the rural and the uneducated.
0:26:33 > 0:26:35If the native speakers dinnae take it on beard,
0:26:35 > 0:26:37and we dinnae get it into the education system...
0:26:37 > 0:26:39We'll dae it. Definitely, we'll dae it.
0:26:39 > 0:26:41"Dinnae take to the beard"? What's that?
0:26:41 > 0:26:43If... If... Sorry there?
0:26:43 > 0:26:45"The beard," did you say?
0:26:45 > 0:26:46If... Ugh. BEEP
0:26:46 > 0:26:49If the native speakers dinnae take it on beard - being take it on BOARD...
0:26:49 > 0:26:51- Oh, right. Right.- A beard.
0:26:51 > 0:26:53A beard to you is that there beard, that's right.
0:26:53 > 0:26:57If they dinnae take it on beard, the level in English will dee off.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58It'll just go, sort of thing.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02I'm needing my BBC subtitles here with deeing and beard, right here.
0:27:04 > 0:27:07Sometimes we need to stop and take off our political glasses,
0:27:07 > 0:27:10our Troubles-tinged perspective on life
0:27:10 > 0:27:14because it's not always about British versus Irish
0:27:14 > 0:27:17or Unionist versus Nationalist.
0:27:17 > 0:27:19If you set all the politics aside, you know,
0:27:19 > 0:27:23what makes Ulster special as a province is the interweaving
0:27:23 > 0:27:26of English, Irish and Scottish cultural influences
0:27:26 > 0:27:28throughout the centuries.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30And I think that's something
0:27:30 > 0:27:32we should all know more about and enjoy.
0:27:36 > 0:27:39So we've come to the end of my Ulster Scots journey
0:27:39 > 0:27:42and what have I learned? Well, I've learned that our history
0:27:42 > 0:27:44is even more complicated than I thought.
0:27:44 > 0:27:46I've learned that Scotland was named after Irish people
0:27:46 > 0:27:51and girls from Nuns Quarter aren't necessarily as pure as nuns.
0:27:51 > 0:27:53But what I've also learned is that Ulster -
0:27:53 > 0:27:56historical, geographical Ulster - has had a long-standing
0:27:56 > 0:28:00and incredibly close link with Scotland.
0:28:00 > 0:28:02It's not just the border or our accents that make us
0:28:02 > 0:28:06different from the rest of Ireland, it's our Scottish roots.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08Now, that's not a political statement.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13It's just that I think our Ulster Scot heritage is part of who we are.
0:28:13 > 0:28:15You can, of course, choose to reject that
0:28:15 > 0:28:21but I think, on occasion in future, I will embrace my inner Ulster Scot.
0:28:21 > 0:28:25Now, as we say in Ulster Scots, it's time for you to "make your burn."
0:28:25 > 0:28:28And then tell your friends to go and iPlayer this.
0:28:32 > 0:28:34# Alternative Ulster
0:28:36 > 0:28:38# Alternative Ulster
0:28:40 > 0:28:42# Alternative Ulster
0:28:45 > 0:28:47# Alternative Ulster. #