The Emigrant's Stile

By Albert Colmer

Every Churchyard in Ireland has a story to tell and Killowen in Killyleagh is no different, the story of 'The Irish Emigrant' being recited and sung the world over.

Situated in Clandeboye estate stands a fine memorial edifice, known as Helen's Tower, erected in 1861 by a loving son Frederick, first Marquis of Dufferin and Ava, to perpetuate the memory of his dear mother Helen Selina Lady Dufferin, Countess of Gifford.

Helen, born in 1807, the eldest daughter of Tom Sheridan and his wife Henrietta (nee Callender) and grand-daughter of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, playwright and politician, married Price Blackwood in 1825 at her tender age of 17 years. She gave birth to her only son, Frederick Hamilton Temple Blackwood a year later on the 21st June 1826, in Florence, Italy.

Her husband succeeded to the title of Lord Dufferin and Ava in 1839 and on his death she married Lord Gifford, a much younger man than herself, on "who had waited to woo her for over 20 years." Sadly prior to his marriage Lord Gifford was involved in an accident, mush worse than was realised, as he was to die just eight weeks after the marriage. Helen herself died five years later in 1867.

Helen was to live through the desperate years of the famine of the mid 1840's, and it was the result of a chance meeting at Killowen that was to immortalise her name with that period. Her sad rendering of "The Irish Emigrant," still tugs at the heart strings, which she wrote in 1845 just a hundred and fifty years ago.

The story goes that whilst walking out of Killyleagh along Barrack Brae beside Killyleagh Castle, on her way to Shrigley, she chanced to turn into the laneway down to Dibney River to Killowen Church where she saw a sad looking young man sitting on the Churchyard stile. Enquiring why he was so sad, the young man told her the following tale. Phelim Magennis, for that was his name, from the Burren District of South Down, related that he had just buried his young wife Mary McAnulty and their young son, both dying from the Cholera Epidemic which was sweeping the countryside. He was bidding farewell to them on that lovely May morning, before setting sail to seek a new life in the new world, America!

Deeply moved, Helen wrote down Phelim's thoughts in the now famous poem and ballad, sung the world over by many, including the late Count John McCormack.

The ruined Church and vandalised stile, are all that remain of a once beautiful ecclesiastical building of the Middle Ages. Killowen Church though not mentioned in the Papal Taxations of 1306 obtains its name from Kill Eoghain: Kill = Church, Eoghain = John - St. John's Church; situated beside the Dibney River surrounded by a low wall, where Christians of all denominations were buried in the surrounding graveyard.

The first recorded Minister was John Bole in 1622, who came from Scotland, but due to the ruinous state of the church, Lord Clandeboye had a new church built in 1640 on the site of the present Church of Ireland building in Killyleagh town.

Today thanks to the efforts of Killyleagh Town Committee and voluntary agencies, and sympathetic support from Down District Council, the little Church and famous stile, may yet be preserved and restored for prosperity, not only for the tourists but also the local people who love their heritage and common culture.

Many thoughts still filter through my mind, questions still requiring answering -

  • Did Phelim Magennis make a new life in America?
  • Did he find the happiness he sought?
  • Are there relatives in the States or in Burren who can come up with more details?

Mary McAnulty must surely have relations in the Killyleagh area.

I feel the final curtain has not fallen on 'The Irish Emigrant' and the Churchyard Stile at Killowen.

Continuing (By Dawn Bassett)

In May 1995, Lady Helen Dufferin travelled back in time to Killyleagh as one of her ancestors had done previously. She was invited back to plant a special tree to mark the complete restoration of Mary's Stile and the famous kissing gate entrance to the site in Killyleagh.

The restoration work was made possible by the effort of Local man Jim Woods of the Voluntary Service Belfast (VSB) to restore one of the most historical sites in Ireland. The VSB along with ACE workers, who also contribute with tree planting, fencing and river clearance, completed the restoration work to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Great Famine .