Stone Circle Consulting

12/04/2026

Some lovely old gravestones which I found in the kirkyard of Donaghadee Parish Church this afternoon.

William Scott, mariner, died 1660

Jean Mackgwear (Maguire), died 1660

Oughtrie McCosh, died 1671

John Herron of Billywilliam, died in 1725 aged 57 years.

Andrew Agnew, died 1735 aged 83

Eliza Johnson, 1784

07/04/2026

Hurray!! An afternoon with Gillian Shorter (aka Shorter IT Services or Jake H.L. Shorter Inc) and my old website is restored!!

It will need some updating but at least it is available again after a couple of years of nothing.

Thanks also to Colin Turner who saved an old version of the site for me.

Now I just need to start posting and updating again.

This is my page for TV, radio, media stuff and all things Ulster-Scots. The tourism stuff is on my Hidden Ulster Tours page; and photos of my cat and the moon are on my personal page lol.

Thanks Gill x

16/01/2025

In an unfortunate misunderstanding, my website has been entirely deleted and is not recoverable. All that content - gone 😞

I'm not technical and never made any kind of backup. I guess for now, Facebook will be all I have. Sigh.

02/12/2024

Thanks to Maud Hamill for these photographs from the Ulster History Circle event a few days ago in Larne.

A blue plaque was unveiled to the late John Clifford (1900-1983) - historian, poet, folklorist, musician, librarian and, above all, much loved family man and friend.

John's son Raymond, daughter-in-law Violet and grand-daughter Karen were there, along with Helen Mark from BBC Radio Ulster's Kintra programme who recorded proceedings for an upcoming episode.

It was an honour to participate. Thanks to Seamus McKee and Chris Spurr (Ulster History Circle) and David Hume (Larne Historical Society) for the invite.

27/11/2024

Nice wee event this morning in Newry.

06/11/2024

POST 10 OF 10 - FINAL FILMING

Supported by the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund, Thomas and I have been recording a second series of 10 interactive videos looking at Ulster's "rhyming weavers".

The videos are filmed in 360⁰ which means you can use your mouse or a VR headset to explore the scene and 'look all around you'.

The idea is that each episode is recorded in a location with some significance to the poet in question.

The attached pictures are from the final episode which we recorded in the old Seapatrick Burying Ground outside Banbridge. We were looking at the poetry of 19th century Weaver Poet, Joseph Carson - the Bard of Kilpike whose little 1833 publication can be viewed (under supervision of the librarian) at Belfast's Central Library.

The graveyard has associations with St Patrick and some very interesting old stones. The Gault grave records the death of Robert two weeks after injuries were inflicted on him in Warrenpoint; I found two people who'd died after falling from their horses; and the engraver of Mary White's stone definitely miscalculated the spacing!

Joseph Carson knew this graveyard though his own burial place is unrecorded. His poetry is inspired by Robert Burns and James Hogg but well-transposed to an Ulster setting in the Penal era. I really enjoyed 'getting to know him' through his Preface and writing.

All the filming is done now - so post-production can conclude and these will be ready soon.

Virtual Visit Tours
Northern Ireland Screen
Hidden Ulster Tours

06/11/2024

POST 9 OF 10

Supported by the Ulster-Scots Broadcast Fund, Thomas and I are recording a second series of 10 interactive videos looking at Ulster's "rhyming weavers".

The videos are filmed in 360⁰ which means you can use your mouse or a VR headset to explore the scene and 'look all around you'.

The idea is that each episode is recorded in a location with some significance to the poet in question. They will be ready sometime later this year hopefully!

The attached pictures are from an episode we recorded last week in Christ Church Strabane. The Rector, Rev John White, kindly allowed us inside this lovely building to talk about The Crochan Bard, William Starrat, who was an Anglican schoolteacher, land surveyor and poet in the 1700s. He lived in Strabane and is considered the first writer to publish poetry in Ulster-Scots.

Virtual Visit Tours
Northern Ireland Screen
Hidden Ulster Tours

29/10/2024

Another date for your diary - Saturday 23rd November...

Ulster-Scots poetry - old and new.....

Lolly Spence will host a drop-in poetry workshop looking the Ulster-Scots language through old and new poems, the words and their meanings.

29/10/2024

https://www.burnavon.com/whats-on/ulster-folklore-the-celtic-wheel-of-the-year/129554648

Thursday night if anyone is near Cookstown, I am doing this wee talk to mark Samhain.....

Multi-purpose facility catering for a range of arts, drama, music events and activities. Details of upcoming shows, booking information and galleries of previous events.

25/10/2024

Tomorrow afternoon (when I've waved goodbye to my tour group after 14 days) I'm headed to Groomsport to facilitate a wee workshop as part of Ulster-Scots Week.

Bakers will be making bread and I'll be talking about language and poetry and hopefully the weather will be kind. If you're in the area, do stop by - it's a free event.

30 more days until Winter Hibernation......

Call at the whitewashed Cockle Row Cottages and be transported back in time. Immerse yourself in this traditional thatched fisherman’s cottage.