The Cahans Walk – June 2012 – retrace the steps of an 18th-century mass emigration The Cahans Walk is part of the "Celebrating our Cultural Diversity" project, funded by the International Fund for Ireland and managed by the Northern Ireland Rural Development Council (RDC) under the Integrating Communities Programme. The three organising groups, The Cahans Project, Knockatallon Ramblers and Clogher Historical Society/Cumann Seanchais Clochair, have been supported and encouraged by their funders throughout this highly successful project, which is now coming to an end. Later this month, walkers from this cross-community partnership will re-enact the Cahans Exodus of 1764, when a large group from a Seceder Presbyterian congregation near Ballybay in County Monaghan walked over forty miles in order to emigrate. The group was led by Thomas Clark, an energetic Scottish minister with a charismatic personality who had arrived in Cahans in 1748. Clark’s time in the county had been eventful. He was jailed on several occasions for refusing to swear on the Bible in the process of taking the Oath of Allegiance. During his incarceration, he performed christenings and marriages and preached out of the window of his cell. After the death of his wife and one of his children, Clark began to contemplate emigration. Eventually, in May 1764, he led 300 members of the Cahans congregation to Narrow Water near Newry, where they boarded the ship ‘John’, bound for New York. Robert Harper of Ballybay, who had emigrated a few years earlier and was a professsor of mathematics in New York, helped the emigrants to get established. Some settled on frontier territory, travelling up the Hudson River to Stillwater and to New Perth (later known as Salem). The remainder put down roots around Abbeville, South Carolina and established churches at Little Run, Long Cane and Cedar Creek. The Cahans Walk 2012 will be completed over four days – Friday 15th and Saturday 16th June and Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd June. It will take in the beautiful rural scenery of mid-Monaghan, the high ground of historic Mullyash and then descend into Newry via Bessbrook. Watch out for the Cahans group striding out over the hills, some in 18th century costume. Members of the public who would like to take part are asked to contact the organisers. Over the past two years, the project has engaged a wide variety of participants from the diverse communities in the county and has found some innovative ways to bring them together. ‘A Walk with Patrick’, a drama based on St Patrick’s walk through Monaghan in the 5th century, was staged by over a hundred children, teachers and parents from 5 primary schools in the county in May 2011. The project ran a twelve-week Genealogy Club in Ballybay Wetlands Centre in Spring 2011 and participants got to know each other whilst exploring their family histories. A series of talks on the origins of local communities ran in tandem with the club. The Eoghan Ruadh O’Neill Walk took place in Knockatallon and was guided by costumed re-enactors who gave an insight into the turbulence of 17th-century Monaghan. A Famine Walk was held in Clones in September 2011 as part of the National Famine Commemoration. It brought together 120 children from six primary schools, to provide on-street re-enactments of famine scenes around the town. Information leaflet available here If you like the sound of these activities and would like to get involved in the Cahans Walk, give a quick call or send an email to: Clogher Historical Society/Cumann Seanchais Chlochair St Macartan’s College Mullaghmurphy Monaghan +353 (0)47 71984 (10am-2pm) info@clogherhistory.ie
Home - History - People - Place - About Us - Events - Contact