Frankie Quinn

'Through a mutual friend of the artist and son of Cleator Moor, Conrad Atkinson, a conversation started and I became intrigued by the history of the town and decided to bring my camera".

Frank McGhee, 94.

Castledawson, South Derry - moved to Cleator Moor in 1950

Frank had many jobs. But for his last 20+ years of work he was a plastic moulder at Ashley & Rock in Cleator Moor.

My interest began with correspondence with renown Cleator Moor born artist Conrad Atkinson. Conrad wrote an article in 1981 on the high unemployment rate in the town (where it used to be the richest part of England). His friend Tom Duffy wrote ‘Little Ireland’ that chartered among other things how Cleator Moor became a hub of Irish mining coinciding with the English ‘boom’ (industrialisation) and the Irish ‘doom’ (Starvation) in the mid nineteenth century that spawned a further contribution to the Irish diaspora. I had to investigate with my camera.

‘Conrad Atkinson was to pop art what the Sex Pistols were to punk rock: the first to the barricades, the rebellious iconoclast, the knife to the gut. Only a super artist like him he could have taken on that most kryptonite of subjects: Britain's corrosive role in the North of Ireland. And yet he did so with a swagger and a derring-do which outraged the comfortable and comforted the afflicted. 40-plus years on, it's worth noting that his compelling love letters from Ireland have been vindicated by peace talks, ceasefires and a powers-sharing parliament. And they say art can't save lives. It did here, courtesy of Conrad’.  - Máirtín Ó Muilleoir, former Lord Mayor of Belfast and Finance Minister of Northern Ireland Assembly.

My great, great Grandfather on my Father’s side, Michael Conner, was born in County Mayo in 1813. He married Mary (nee Collins) in 1848 before they emigrated in 1850 settling near Annan in Scotland.

Their daughter Anne married James Burke (my great Grandfather) who was also born in Ireland and they settled in Frizington, Cumberland. James was employed as a quarry worker.

Their daughter Margaret Burke (my Grandmother) married James Hagan who’s family also emigrated from Ireland to Cumberland, settling in Cleator Moor.

On my mother’s side, her grandfather John Gaffney was born in 1854 in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow. He married Wilhelmina Kemp who was also from Rathdrum. They emigrated to Cumberland around 1869, finally settling in Cleator Moor. John’s trade was Ironstone Miner.

Their son Michael Gaffney was my Grandfather.

My grandma was working in Manchester as a nanny, she met my grandfather there, he was from Castlebar, Co. Mayo then both come up to here. My grandma was from Cleator Moor but they lived and settled in a place called Pica then went on to live in a place called Distington about 6 miles from Cleator Moor, thats the Dunleavey name on my mams side and my dad is called Tynan who came from Ireland also. There is a place called Tynan I am led to believe, people tell me Tynan Abbey which is in the North of Ireland.

One of four children to Jay and Eileen Close (nee Heron). Born in Cleator Moor into a large family of over 40 relatives all living in and around Cleator. Both parents of Irish decent . My generation is 4th generation. Surrounded by Irish traditions and folklore. Loved my Cleator childhood and wrote about it in two books.

My Grandparents spoke with a distinct irish accent. My Parents ,less so. My accent has very little to associate it with Ireland except for a few expressions I got from my parents. My children and Grandchildren have West Cumbrian accents and consider themselves as totally British. I however being more aware of my Irish heritage feel 90 % English with a nod to my Irishness. The connection dilutes with every successive generation which is the case I'm sure with all emigrants.

I should have added that my Grandparents all four of them on both sides were born of Irish parents who came to Cleator Moor around about 1860

So I'm 100% Irish. That ended when I married my wife who was Church of England, and my daughters married partners with no Irish connections.

My dads mother and her family all came over from County Cork, I never visited but some of my cousins did before all the rest of the family over there died

1841 Census has my great, great, great grandfather Edward Farrell a coal miner born in Ireland in 1786 living in Whitehaven with his wife Mary. My paternal grandmother was Bridget McGrath and her family came to Cleator Moor from Castlewellan Co.Down in the mid 1800s . My maternal Great Great grandfather was Jack Wilkinson an Ulster prod from Glenavy in Co. Antrim who came to work as an Iron ore miner in Frizington around 1870.

My Rooney family come from Avoca, Co. Wicklow.

Former Corporate and Regulatory Reporting Analyst at Network Rail

Nanny and Grandas family from Newcastle County Down, my Granda was Malachy Rush and it was his family bread shop that was burnt down so they moved over to Cleator Moor.

I have researched my grandparents but none were Irish. I think the generation before was but I have no evidence. My Irish background was that I was born in Little Ireland and taught to hate Protestants and love Celtic. I also learned to go to church but not let it taint me.

My Mother (nee Keenan) and all my aunties are from Armagh City. My father who was from Egremont, just up the road, came over to Armagh when I was about 8 and dragged us all back here. When we were last over there about four years ago, my aunt Minnie, she used to feed dogs in the garden and it were all full of bones, it looked like a beach made of bones, well, we both liked a wee bet and on the day we were leaving she wrote her bet out and when we got home we got a letter to say the horses won and she sent the money over, she was in her late 70s, aw man, it were heartbreaking. One night around midnight all the women were drinking tea and chatting and a knock came to the door, I answered it and this woman had come up from Belfast, (she had lost her husband in the ‘Troubles’) she blessed herself, came in and was giving our Catherine and Sean money, she had holes in her shoes and was still giving money away, so kind-hearted. It wasn’t too bad going over but with us getting older the last few times were heartbreaking and my Mother would stand at the end of that boat looking at Belfast and I’m looking at her bawling her eyes out and me having to watch that all the way back. A lot of my memories are of landing in Belfast and it were always late of a night and we’d get the bus to Armagh - I often think about it - good memories.

I’ve grown up in Cleator Moor my whole life and the Celtic has been a huge part of my life. Growing up in a town with a real sense of community has allowed me to feel welcomed anywhere, knowing the town and the people is amazing, it allows you to catch up with different people on a daily basis.

My Dad is from Castledawson, Co.Derry.

On my mam's side her grandparents and great grandparents were both Irish, they were called Woods. He was nicknamed Pa Woods.

My younger brother estimates he has around 8000 descendants since around 1875

And I'm 100% plastic paddy.

James Howlett was my great, great grandfather on my Mother's side... His parents were John and Catherine.

James was the one born in my house when it wasn't my house....

One of the kids was born in Kilmacoo in Ireland.

So, I’m assuming they are from Wicklow. Again on my Mams side, her Mother’s side.... This would be my great Granda... Matthew Looney.

He kept disappearing back to Ireland but had 13 kids here to Alice Campbell. Apart from my nana and my auntie Teresa they all died really young. Auntie Teresa died at 64 and my Nana was 51 when she died, all the others were in their teens and twenties, some had large families, so all died young really.

My dad's Side is Welsh...

My grandma’s sister is buried in Derry cemetery.... I went and looked for her This is her entry in the Derry cemetery book of memories... caught my breath when I seen her grave... had a few words and said a prayer.....the book says the date entered...her name. Catherine Williamson,

Catherine (Kathleen) Williamson, 20, was a supply assistant with the Women’s Royal Naval service.

She was the daughter of Mrs C. Williamson of Ehen Road, Cleator Moor. Kathleen had only been in the WRENS for two months (passing her exams with distinction) and was appointed auditor in the naval supply department.

Previously, Kathleen had worked as a clerk at the Cleator Moor food office, after missing out on an opportunity to go to teacher training college in 1940, which was put on the back burner when her dad died that year.

She was stationed at HMS Ferret, a shore establishment which was home to the Royal Navy’s intelligence branch, which was heavily involved in the Battle of the Atlantic.

In 1944, she was found unconscious beside a railway line near the River Foyle ferry. The inquest decided she had been struck in the darkness by a train during the blackout, on the way to the naval barracks to report for duty.

Kathleen is buried at the Londonderry Cemetery in Northern Ireland.

My connection is from my Great Grandfather who came from Rathdrum, Co. Wicklow and settled on the Moor. My mums family came from Avoca , Co.Wicklow so I have a strong Irish connections and have researched my family tree as far as I could in Ireland.

My Maternal grandparents were Irish and my Paternal great grand parents were Irish, my paternal grandmother was English, from the North East because my grandfather would go there to work in the mines when the ones in Cleator Moor shut, he must have met her there. My maternal grandfather is South African so that’s half Irish, quarter South African and a quarter English.

My mother said we were gypsies, Irish Gypsies because we’ve travelled all over.

When the mines started closing, the priests had like a grapevine going and the priests got them jobs and some miners went all over the world, my great grandfather went to Butte Montana, it was dangerous work, he was only there for a few years and then he came back and he worked around here then joined up for WW1.

My grandfathers brothers and sisters all went to Iowa to the Oskaloosa coal mines there, I’ve been in contact with a distant relative there so they went all over the spot.

There was a town in Arizona called Cleator Gulch because all the miners were from Cleator - It changed it’s name to Finntown when the Finnish miners took over.

My grandfathers sister and her husband, he worked on the railways and they went to New York and became a tram driver and they lived in the Bronx which was Irish and Italian.

My niece and her husband are in New Jersey, her brother is in Japan and I’m here!

Cleator Moor Celtic Football Club was founded in 1909 by Irish immigrants. The team were nicknamed ‘The Celts’ and began footballing life in the Egremont Divisional League for the 1909/10 season.

Youngest of 8 children 4 of whom were born in Co. Offaly.

Mother born and raised in Ferbane Co Offaly. Left Ireland to work in London where she met my dad. Moved between Ferbane and Cleator Moor until eventually settling in Cleator Moor where all 8 children still reside. She loved the Cumbrian fells and being next to the sea but never stopped telling me tales about home. I have hundreds of cousins in Co. Offaly who we visit when we can.

Historian and author

I was born in Cleator village.

All I know is that my Grandad came to live here on Cleator Moor and he was Irish, I’m not sure about his parents. I remember going for a job one time and the boss man said that name sounds very Irish’

My dad was a Sergeant Major in the Royal Artillery, he was given a medical discharge and was only 48 when he died, just a young fella, both of his kidneys were ruined and I remember the doctor saying to my Ma, ‘if one was good we could take the bad one out’ and then my mum and my sister died and I got TB when I was 8 year old and I’m still here.

Co. Down

Mechanic

I was born around the corner on Fletcher Street.

My family are from a small village called Rathmullen, Co Down.

Joe; My grandparents all born in England. Dad's family, Fitzsimmons, are from Co. Wicklow. Mother's family Rooney (her maiden name) and Murning are from County Down (some from Newry or possibly Downpatrick, Co. Down)

Teresa; (nee McGhee) daughter of Frank McGhee.

My family are from Derry.

My Grandfather on my Fathers side was Matt Sullivan and he had a family of 12 which was quite normal

‘The best thing in life is when you’re not working is being in the garden’.

Community worker

Dance teacher and choreographer.

I was born on the Main Street in Cleator.

I went to school with Conrad Atkinson, we were in the same year at the grammar school

My paternal grandfather married a Rooney whose origins are in Co.Down. My maternal grandfather and grandmother are Rooney too and came from Glendalough in Co.Wicklow so I’m three quarters Irish, I might have an English sounding name but most of my family are based in Ireland.

(I observed that the two prominent counties being Wicklow and Down because of the mining tradition) - not only mining, the Co. Down people might have come a bit earlier to the flax mill and fishing through Kilkeel and Ardglass to the nearby Whitehaven, there was a saying ‘They came over with the geese’ meaning anyone who came over to through Whitehaven would drove the geese the three or so miles to Cleator.

On my Mothers side, one of her cousins were an O’Toole who married a Kelly and they had two daughters, Mary and Nelly who went off to Belfast and set up a confectioners shop on the Falls Road, I used to visit them regularly, it was the Lower Falls and was very popular, they also made bridal cakes.

As a young man, as a child really, I wanted to be a priest, a missionary, a ‘white father’ and went to a seminary in Scotland and the south of England for 3 years and then I was sent to study philosophy and part of the training was in Ireland, in BlackLion, Co Cavan, right on the border.

I was there from 1956-58. Of course the ‘Troubles’ flared up again (1956-62 IRA border campaign) and I was there when they were blowing up the side-roads and me looking into one of these craters.

I got a good feeling of going home in a sense because it had this sense of community. We were all encouraged to go out walking every so often and of course I made a beeline for Cuilcagh (2,000 feet) and Ben Bulben, I used to walk them regularly. I walked with a Derry lad, John Docherty, who became a priest and every house we passed of course it would be, ‘come in and have a cup of tea’ , we enjoyed the craic and I thougfhrly enjoyed my 2 years in Ireland.

I gave up the priesthood. I came out and struggled to find a job, even though there was plenty of work at the time but I ended up in local government and ended up head of personnel department and worked there for 35 years.

Being active in the community other than that I was town clerk for a while and a volunteer youth-leader in the youth club and one of the founder members of the Credit Union.

When I was a lad of around 5 or 6 this pond or lake didn’t exist. There were a lot of waste heaps here from the mine over there and a lot of people who lived in Cleator, worked in the mine. The mine closed in 1938-39 and when they stopped pumping the water out the mine just filled up but not as high as it is today, there were large ponds with islands scattered around, we used to swim out to them, then they (Council) had the idea to create a lake so they put a sluce valve in and let the river fill it up what were waste heaps created by the Irish miners.

If you were born in or around Cleator Moor, if you’ve been away for any length of time, the first thing you see when you’re coming back is Dent Fell and you know you’re home.

Minister at St. Leonards Church of England.

Priest at St. Mary’s RC Church.

Francis’ people on his mother’s side come from Wicklow and Down and on his father’s from Down. He has taught in England and Africa.

My Grandfather was born in Glasgow but his parents were from a place in Donegal called St. Johnston. His mother died in the 1918 Spanish Flu epidemic so his aunt and uncle also emigres from Donegal adopted him and gave him the name of Gallagher. His birth name was Reilly which he kept as his middle name I.e. James Reilly Gallagher.

Family roots go back to Co.Cork.

Family from Newtownards, Co. Down.