‘I actually cried when I saw Con’ s signature’
Roy’s book relates how, in the turmoil of Ulster history, Con was captured and then released before, in 1602, a huge party he was hosting in the Castlereagh Hills ran out of wine and, in a subsequent clash with English troops, a soldier was killed.
Con was taken back to Carrickfergus Castle but he escaped with the aid of the smuggled rope and fled to Scotland.
But he lost two-thirds of his land back home and his debts increased, forcing him to sell more and more of his land.
By the time of his death in 1619, Con had only six of his townlands left, compared to the 150 or more that he had once owned.
“He died in relative poverty,” said Roy, who wants the 400th anniversary of his passing to be marked not only by his book, but also by a commitment to honour him.
“He was a complex, flawed character, who lived at an absolutely seminal moment in Irish history.
“He was totally out of his depth as he struggled to cope with huge historical forces that were really beyond anyone’s power to manage.”
It’s generally believed that Con O’Neill was buried in the old Ballymaghan (or “Baile Ui Mhiachain”) graveyard, which is now in the middle of the Motelands housing development off the Old Holywood Road in east Belfast.
There are no signs or headstones to show that it is O’Neill’s final resting place, but Roy said there were concerns that his grave could be built upon.
“And that’s another sad indictment that this man is not recognised and not seen as part of the history of east Belfast and Ards and Castlereagh and beyond,” he added. Roy said few people in east Belfast fully appreciated the ties with Con O’Neill, whose name lives on in the likes of the Connswater river, which is the title of a Van Morrison instrumental on his 1983 album Inarticulate Speech of the Heart.
A song by local singer Duke Special, Some Things Make Your Soul Feel Clean, also celebrates and namechecks the Connswater river. Connsbrook Avenue, near Glentoran’s Oval football ground, also took its name from O’Neill, a fact that eluded many of its residents — including this writer, who was brought up on the street.
Roy H Greer lived at the bottom of Connsbrook Avenue, on Larkfield Road, and was married in Connswater Congregational Church, but he wasn’t aware of the link to O’Neill for a long time.
“I was within touching distance of Con, but I didn’t know it,” said Roy, who now lives close to the site of the old castle and wants to put Con back on the map.
“We should be celebrating the memory of Con and the fact that the connections with the Ulster Scots transformation afford us the opportunity to celebrate the two traditions here.
“If we share this part of Ireland, Northern Ireland, then the history that is associated with it is our history, so we can look back to a proud Gaelic Celtic tradition, as I do to a proud Ulster Scots tradition, as well,” added Roy, who said the history of old Con O’Neill bridge in Morrison’s Hollow was surrounded by confusion.
“There are several views about it. In Belfast folklore, it was called the ‘King’s Bridge’.”
It was suggested that it was built by King John in the 1200s, but some people argued that the name was in honour of King William having crossed it on the way to the Battle of the Boyne, but that’s unlikely given the size of it and all the soldiers and cannons who would have had to go over it.
“But a number of old maps clearly show that the bridge was the Con O’Neill bridge for centuries and it would seem that it is definitely one of the oldest stone structures in Belfast.”
Many people spell O’Neill’s Christian name ‘Conn’, but Roy found concrete evidence that there’s only one ‘n’, not two.
He said: “That was one of the most emotional moments of my research. I was in the Public Record Office in Belfast where I came across an old yellow indenture of a land exchange and there, at the bottom, was the signature of CON O’Neill.
“I actually cried, because I was able to run my finger over his signature, the first time I’d ever seen it for real.”