Episode 1 Santer

It's great to be back with Santer,

where you'll get all the very, best in Ulster-Scots music,

storytelling, history, lifestyle, and, of course, good craic.

In this week's programme,

Paula will be making a feast at the Cairncastle Music Festival.

-Your "fine" is my "rough"!

-Or maybe your "fine" is my "rough"!

Andy Mattison finds out all about a Greek chieftain

that worked as a minister at Kilwarlin Moravian Church.

The legend is that he didn't die in Dublin, that he faked his own death?

Well, it could have happened that way.

Mark Wilson, who'll be taking off on his musical journey in Scotland,

starts that journey in England.

You might be wondering

why I'm starting a journey about Ulster-Scots music,

south of the border, here at Carlisle Castle.

And, young Luke Drysdale takes us round a queer selection of cars

at the Yesteryear Exhibition at Mount Stewart.

Whoever owns this isn't afraid to get a bit of mud on it.

That's what motoring's about.

But before all that,

why don't you enjoy some really good Lowland Piping from Fred Morrison?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

This is a great place you've brought me to for your cooking tonight.

It's beautiful, isn't it?

-You can see Scotland behind me.

-Look at the Ailsa Craig.

We're not on our own here tonight.

There are folk coming in the gate there for Cairncastle Festival.

FIDDLE MUSIC

What are you making?

I'm making a brine beef, but I'm going to spice it,

and then we'll do a turnip hash.

So we're sort of going for a Cajuny Ulster-Scots theme.

I've taken the beef out of the brine.

There's juniper berries, there's coriander. Coriander...

And then I've got a wee bit of peppercorn - pink peppercorn here.

Cumin and coriander here.

And then you've got your turmeric.

All these were used traditionally, as you know, in Ulster-Scots.

No salt - it's been in brine so you don't need that.

Aye. Are those scallions fine enough for you now?

Yes, they're fine.

Your "fine" is my "rough", would that be right?

Or maybe your "fine" is my rough!

So, I've got some nice crispy, streaky bacon in there.

You've got a wee bit of oil come out, so that's good.

And then I put in some turnip that I've cooked beforehand.

OK, so that just goes in there, that'll be great there.

Do you want to throw your scallions in there?

-Aye. A few in here?

-Uh-huh.

Last year I grew my own scallions.

-Did you?

-And chopped them myself.

That's ready now in my book.

The hash is coming on lovely - look at that.

Gorgeous, can't wait for a spoonful of that.

It does smell gorgeous.

I cannae describe the smell of the spices. Beautiful.

Take a wee bit of the hash - just put it down the middle.

The turnip and bacon are lovely together.

-Aye, gorgeous.

-It's just lovely.

Do you think anybody will like theirs well done?

A bit of music, a wee bit of good Ulster-Scots meat,

it couldn't get better!

Here's one of the festival organisers. Do you want to try a this?

It smells brilliant.

-Turnip, bacon and scallions.

-You can't beat turnip.

Get a spoonful of that in you. What do you think of that?

A bit of good Ulster-Scots cooking, Anne.

We slaved hard over a hot stove.

I saw that, yes. You've done well.

Geordie, come here and taste this good Ulster-Scots meat

and let me know what you think. Nice, spicy steak.

Not too much, just a wee tiny bit.

Don't you be eating it all now!

What do you think of that?

It's lovely!

Isn't it gorgeous? Take a wee bit of the steak.

-We'll just take the plate now, will we?

-Do you want the whole thing?!

We'll be back with Paula later on in the show for pudding.

Tha Proota Getherin.

Dae ye mind the times in harvest climes

When we went gatherin prootas

Me, my ma, and once my da

An the neighbours roon aboot us

Bend yer back and dinnae slack

Heid doon and dinnae stop

The winter's not so far away

And we cannae lose the crop

Then pour tea away to the back of the hedge

Which you take from a gallon can

A loaf of bread wi' butter well spread

And a coating of homemade jam

An uncle sits by the proota pits

as if that should shovel soil

With a fire o' peat and a bite to eat

At the end o' a hard day's toil.

Well, I know in the last series,

a lot of you enjoyed Mark Wilson's musical journey

down the Old Wagon Road in America.

Mark's off again. This time he's in Scotland.

Last series, I packed up my drums and headed to America.

I took a musical journey down through the Shenandoah Valley,

down the Old Wagon Road.

This time, I'm coming back to where the music all started,

back in Scotland.

But I'm starting my journey in England.

And you might, quite rightly, be wondering why

I'm starting a journey about Ulster-Scots music south of the border,

here at Carlisle Castle.

But it was within these walls

that many of the border people were imprisoned.

The rescue to capture one back again from the English forces,

spawned a song 46 verses long, known as The Ballad Of Kinmont Willie.

But there were many ballads written about these people

because there were many Border Reivers.

# Come a' ye gallant Borderers

# Ilk water, moss and fell

# Tae a' your weel kent nooks and crooks

# Forever fare thee well

# We'll gaun nae mair a-rovin'

# A-rovin' in the nicht

# We'll gaun nae mair a-rovin'

# Let the moon shine e'er so bricht

# We'll gaun nae mair a-rovin'

# And when the harvest moon shone

# What blithe times we did see... #

Rod Paterson, you're probably the leading performer,

singer and authority on Scottish Lowland and Border ballads.

And the ballads was a huge tradition within the Border Reivers,

and there are many ballads about the Reivers.

There certainly are.

When there's stuff going on

like the wild kind of lawless antics of the Border Reivers,

then that's going to occupy quite a lot of the available ballad space.

# ..The king is ower the border gane

# In London for tae dwell... #

In the song that I sang you there which, incidentally, is not a ballad.

That song was written in the early 1800s,

with a retrospective view on the Border Reiving.

But in the song they mention that the Border Reivers

used to go to the Trent and the Humber.

Now, that's weeks' ride away.

These must have been massive expeditions,

organised well in advance and with a goodly number of people.

# ..And how can I, tether'd

# On Yarrow's banks abide?

# Wha far as Trent an Humber hae

# Scour'd the Southrons wide.

# We'll gaun nae mair a-rovin'... #

Across the road from Carlisle Castle,

is the Tully House Museum, which has a permanent exhibition on the Reivers.

Reivers were basically lawless thieves, raiders and bandits.

Families such as Armstrongs, Grahams, Elliots,

were notorious raiding families from this area.

But that was all to change

when James VI and I came to the throne.

He established a system called the Jedart System,

which was basically zero tolerance.

He told them to desist from their ways, move to Ulster or be hanged.

Now, the Reivers loved their lawless way of life,

and the only place they could continue that was Ulster.

# An how now break ma bonnie Broon Tae harl't like a snail... #

They must have had a bit of a gripe

with the reasons that they've had to leave.

Especially the ones that James VI and I

transplanted over to Ulster.

I mean, nobody was happy with that, I'm sure.

I think the question you have to ask is,

why did they take the ballads with them?

And I think it just shows to what extent

these stories were a part of their sense of themselves, you know.

Are you going to leave your very heritage in Scotland,

even although you're having to leave yourself?

No, I think you take it all with you.

It didn't occupy much space in your holdall, a ballad.

# ..We'll gaun nae mair a-rovin' A-rovin' in the nicht

# We'll gaun nae mair a-rovin' Let the moon shine e'er so bricht

# We'll gaun nae mair a-rovin'! #

Along the underpass between Carlisle Castle and the Tully House Museum,

surnames of the Reivers are etched on the ground.

Many of these names are common in Ulster, including Wilson.

Maybe we weren't always good boys!

Mark's Scottish journey that has taken off in Carlisle

will take him to Dumfries, then on to Wigtown and Portpatrick,

before he heads north to Dunoon,

and finishes up in Campbeltown at the tip of the Mull of Kintyre.

We'll be following his progress all through the series.

My name is Luke Drysdale.

I've come to the Cars Of Yesteryear exhibition at Mount Stewart.

Now I'm going to have a look around.

This here is a Ferrari 308 and it's got a V8 engine, right?

And if you come round the back here,

you can see that it's got a "4" on the back.

It tells you that it's not a two-seater,

which most Ferraris nowadays are.

It's a four-seater, which makes it less valuable.

This car has a three-litre V8 engine,

and it's got 250 brake horse power.

The top speed of it is 154 miles per hour.

It goes from 0 to 60 in 6.9 seconds.

Now, Michael Schumacher used to drive a Ferrari for most of his career,

but now he's an old man he doesn't do very well.

I've heard that choosing a Ferrari is like choosing a woman.

You wouldn't want to go for an ugly one.

You'd want to go for the nicest one you would see.

But I'm too young to know about that stuff.

You come from the same place as me, Michael.

That's right, I'm from Portavogie.

How many cars do you reckon are here today?

I think there are at least 130.

Why do you think they're so popular?

If you look at the backdrop of this place,

and you see the big house there,

everybody loves to come to a place like this,

because it's a lovely backdrop.

What's your favourite car here today?

I think it has to be this car.

It's my favourite car here today, this Bugatti.

Whoever owns this isn't afraid to get a bit of mud on it.

Look at the dirt on her. He's not worried by that.

That's what motoring's about.

Now, this here car is a Morgan.

I don't know very much about them, but I do know a man who does.

Right, Andrew, I hear you like your cars.

I'm very much into them.

Can you tell me about this particular car?

This one's a Morgan Plus 8. Morgan set out in 1909,

building three-wheelers.

Now these three-wheelers had a motorbike engine in them.

From 1923, they started making four-wheelers with big V8s in them.

Now this particular model here has a 4.6 litre V8 in it.

So, that says 2006 here. So this here Morgan is a replica?

Oh, no. All Morgans are hand-built nowadays.

This one here, and the one behind it, they're both originals.

Of the 130 cars on exhibit today,

this Rolls Royce Silver Shadow has to be my favourite.

It was made in 1978.

Underneath the bonnet, it's got a 6.75 litre V8 engine.

It's pretty big.

Stephen, I see this is for sale. How much are you looking for it?

24,000.

That's a large amount.

Would you take a tenner?

-LAUGHING:

-I don't think so, not today, not today.

That's all I've got in my piggy-bank.

That's all you've got in your piggy-bank?!

You know the way in English,

you could have one word spelled one road with one meaning?

Well, in Ulster-Scots,

we could have the very same word, spelled the very same road,

but with two or three different meanings.

This is something that could keep you talking for hours,

as Liam Logan and Gary Blair found out.

Gary, we talked about some words

that have shared meanings and different meanings.

One of the words that I would look at would be "road".

Aye, I know that many a time I use it in many different ways,

in many different "roads" even!

Out of interest, since you're a lot of years my senior...

You cheeky blurt, you!

..what would you call a main thoroughfare, a main road?

It was always called a "line".

It still is.

The Ballymena Line. The Portrush Line.

And the Rasharkin Line.

That was about the full extent of my universe when I was young.

The funny thing is for a stranger coming,

"Do you know the Finvoy Road?",

if they were asking someone local, they'd say, "The Finvoy Road?

"I'm not sure - I know where the Rasharkin Line is," though it's one and the same.

And if you weren't doing too well in your work,

and your employer wasn't impressed

with what you were bringing to your daily task,

he maybe would "give you the road".

He more than likely would!

And I think I've heard that used a wee bit in English

about people being "down the road".

"Down the road", meaning they got sacked or paid off.

And then you have that other meaning for it,

where if you're going to a dance, a disco or somewhere,

you may "pay your own road in".

You might have paid HER road in,

but unfortunately, when I was doing a bit of courting,

the girl sometimes had to pay her own road in!

Did that happen often?

Very often! But I'm like most Ulster-Scots -

I'm very fond of a pound.

She can pay her own road!

Paula, that last bit of meat went down very well.

What are we having after?

Well, I'm going to do... It's a sticky Indian meal cake,

so it's not polenta.

But we use Indian meal in Ulster-Scots cooking.

So, if you beat that, and I'll add the eggs.

I'm beating this, right?

Yes, that's lovely. Faster, come on!

What do you think I am, a Kenwood?

So, what do you have in this now?

That's just the beaten butter and the sugar,

then you add four eggs.

-Right.

-Now we're going to put in some plain flour,

so if you keep beating.

This is the corn meal, OK?

It's nice in a cake because it's light -

it lightens the cake.

Oh, I tell you what, this better be some cake!

Yes, so this is the cake. Now what I did...

It came out of the oven, right,

and I ran a skewer round the whole cake.

Then just pour your whisky and honey syrup all over.

I suppose that goes right in through the sponge.

-That goes in and gives you a lovely, sticky cake.

-Oh, lovely.

We're going to do a wee bit of...

I'm just going to do some apples and pears with this.

A wee bit of raisins and some whisky action as well.

So, a nice hot pan.

Do you think Ulster-Scots cookery is fond of whisky?

Whisky and honey.

Paula, I hate this bit.

I know you do, Anne.

Especially when there's whisky in it.

-Aye!

-And it's sticky and...

-Aye, whisky and honey.

-Mmmmm!

So, you're playing here at the festival, are you,

-and your name is Duke Joint?

-Duke Joint.

And where are yous frae?

We're frae Lurgan in Armagh!

You'll have to get tasting this cake first then.

There's whisky and honey in the apples and pears.

There's Indian cornmeal in the cake.

-It's beautiful.

-Well fed and well musicked -

well everything at this festival!

APPLAUSE

Just outside Hillsborough, you'll find the Kilwarlin Moravian Church.

Out of the five Moravian churches in Ireland,

Kilwarlin's the only one that can say it had a Greek chieftain

working as its minister.

In 1828, Basil Patras Zula, a young Greek chieftain,

had to go into exile with a price on his head, put in place by the Turks.

He ended up in Dublin, married a Moravian,

trained to be a minister, and was called to work at Kilwarlin.

Andy Mattison finds out more.

So, Reverend Quaite, you served here for four years in the '60s

and, of course, you were well beloved by the local folk around here.

But an even more famous and even more, you could say,

beloved person, was Basil Patras Zula.

Indeed. Zula came here early in 1834, of course,

when he found the church, manse etc in a ruinous state.

If you look up above the entrance to the church,

you can see the plaque.

It tells you when Zula rebuilt the church -

October 13th, 1834.

There are not many churches like this one.

It looks slightly Grecian

with the minarets on either side.

Zula, of course, as you know, was a Greek nobleman.

There was a price on his head, put there by the Turks.

And, even though he had arrived here in Ireland,

and arrived here at Kilwarlin, he still had a fear of assassination.

And so, when he was rebuilding the manse,

he rebuilt it in such a way

that every room in the house had two doors.

And, indeed, the house had two staircases.

Why two doors in every room?

Was it if someone came through one, he could run out the other?

Correct - a means of escape.

And the little addition to the back of the building here

is very interesting.

Zula had that specially built,

and on the floor there was a trap-door.

Underneath was a hiding place, so that if he saw someone coming,

thought he was going to be assassinated,

he could nip in there through the trap-door and hide.

Indeed, my wife actually used that little outshot as a sewing room

when we lived here.

She used to hide from you?

Well, that's possible!

Zula was homesick but couldn't return home

so he employed the local Ulster-Scots folk

to lay out and maintain the church grounds

on the plan of the famous Greek battle of Thermopylae,

including a grassy brae to represent Mount Oeta.

You can't help but wonder what the local folk thought

of this strange building -

a representation of a Greek battle in front of their church,

here in the middle of Kilwarlin outside Hillsborough.

You know the Ulster folk as well as I do.

They're rather pragmatic people, aren't they?

Here was this gentleman employing them.

They could feed their families at this rather difficult time.

What Zula did, of course, was to put in a pond.

It's a bit overgrown now.

The pond represented the hot springs that gave Thermopylae its name.

Around the pond,

he created flower-beds of the 24 letters of the alphabet.

It's just a little bit difficult to see.

Well, of course this would be 150 years old.

Oh, yes.

So, as you're standing here,

you can trace out - it looks like an upside-down V.

-It does.

-It looks like a V from this side,

but come here, you can trace it round as "Alpha".

And over here you do have just the start of the Omega

-going under the trees there.

-Yes, uh-huh.

And in the grounds of the churchyard here,

we have Zula lying in his grave.

He died in October 1844.

Yes, down at...

And his wife is beside him.

Yes, she died in 1858.

But, of course, the question really is, is he there?

Is he in the grave?

Ah, you're referring to the legend that grew up following his death.

The story goes that he was supposed to have seen

a couple of rather foreign-looking gentlemen hanging around the place.

He was, of course, going to Dublin on church business.

So he thought that these foreign-looking gentlemen,

-were the Turks come to get him.

-Possibly.

The story goes that it was arranged that he would go into hiding.

Some people think that he may have gone back to Greece,

and the coffin, when it was brought up to Kilwarlin from Dublin,

contained stones instead of Zula's body.

So the legend is that he didn't die in Dublin,

that he actually faked his own death?

Well, it could have happened that way,

but I believe that's just a story.

I personally prefer to believe

that his remains are here with us, here at Kilwarlin.

Well, that's near enough it.

We hope you'll stay with us for the rest of the series.

We're going to leave you now with some more good music.

# Working on the farm, up at the crack of dawn

# Jump out of bed, get your overalls on

# Grab a slice of toast and whistle for the dog

# Make the paddock ready, bring the cows down the road

# Make the paddock ready, bring the cows down the road

# Here comes Beauty, Number Eight

# Three pulls of meal for she's milking great

# Heifer behind her needs a kicking bar

# Run and get the new one from the boot of the car

# I'll get the new one from the boot of the car

# Wake up, you boy you, you'd lie all day

# A meal man in the yard and he's looking paid

# You get the cheque book and I'll get the cows

# When the last run's through, take them up to the knowes

# When the last run's through, take them up to the knowes

# Working on the farm, up at the crack of dawn

# Jump out of bed and get your overalls on

# Get your overalls on. #