ON THE SHINING BANN : RECORDS OF AN ULSTER MANOR; A Book for All Touring in Northern Ireland

Sibbett, R.M.

Published by W. & G. Baird, Ltd, Belfast, Ireland, 1928

Octavo, 9.6 in. x 7.3 in., pp. 207. Illustrated with black and white photographs. Blue cloth boards with gilt title and double frame stamped in blind to front. Rubbing to extremities. A few light stains to boards; small chip to fore-edge of front board. Corners bumped. Light warping to rear board. Mull showing at pp. 8/9, but hinge holding. Darkening to endpapers; age-toning to pages. Unmarked interior. "Robert Mackie Sibbett (1868-1941), known to family historians for his books and genealogies, was a Ballymena and Belfast journalist. "His book, On the Shining Bann (1928), was almost what we now call a microhistory investigation, based on Telegraph articles and using written records of the manor of Cashel to revisit his Speers cousins, the Bann Valley and Portglenone: "Temperance has been touched upon. Alongside an allower and ever a forceful movement relating to the spiritual sphere. In 1859, a great revival had broken out and spread over the whole of Ulster. Cashel came into the sweep of that wave of religious excitement, and, baptised from on high, quite a number of young and old forsook their former ways, and took up evangelistic work. "These included W. M. Speers, who later identified with the teaching profession, was a descendant of the Grand Jurors of his name in the manor. For forty years subsequently he continued to bear a bright testimony to his faith and gathered around him not a few men and women of the neighbourhood similarly dedicated. The influence of the 1859 revival long remained in Cashel and helped to mould the thought of people of that area on lines at once new, elevated and lasting. Even yet there are prayer gatherings, evangelistic campaigns, and tent meetings in various parts of the district, which trace back their origin to the hallowed days of '59. Hymns sung at these assemblages are on the lips of everybody and, hummed at work or play, testify to the strong hold religion has upon the great majority of the population." "Sibbett transcribed many passages of dull local administration road and fence maintenance, market weights and measures without much effort to paint characters, but with many interesting and dated mentions of local citizens. Genealogy-centred family historians are not too keen on his prose style; they would prefer once-for-all indented pedigrees or clearly drawn trees, but must untangle a bunch of partly documented paragraphs." (from Malvern Optics, UK). Seller Inventory # 86830

Bibliographic Details

Title: ON THE SHINING BANN : RECORDS OF AN ULSTER ...
Publisher: W. & G. Baird, Ltd, Belfast, Ireland
Publication Date: 1928
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good Only