TOURISM
Developing our coastal heritage tourism through the Spanish Armada
by Dr Peter Bolan , Ulster Business School
I
n stormy weather conditions in 1588 a number of ships from the Spanish Armada invasion of England foundered off the north and west coast of Ireland .
Whilst the vast majority of sailors perished , some made it ashore in various locations , from Lacada Point near the Giant ’ s Causeway in Northern Ireland to Donegal , Sligo , Galway and Kerry along Ireland ’ s west coast .
Whilst some facilities and activities exist to mark this connection that Ireland has with the Armada it is arguably an under developed resource for tourism .
We have seen our maritime heritage developed and utlised to good effect in Belfast in recent years and rightly so .
Belfast was the birthplace of thousands of vessels , from luxury liners to naval warships , including notably RMS Titanic and HMS Belfast . Furthermore , the River Lagan was the main import and export route connecting the city and its wares to the world , employing thousands of workers by shipbuilders Harland and Wolff and indeed the company ’ s iconic yellow gantry cranes Samson and Goliath still dominate the city skyline today .
However , further north on the Antrim coast near the Giant ’ s Causeway we have a much older significant example of maritime heritage that can form a hugely important element of our tourist product .
Our maritime heritage links with the Armada go back much longer than any maritime heritage previously commemorated and we are now at last seeing this begin to receive more attention .
An event took place on the 26th May at the Causeway Visitor Centre to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the discovery and recovery of the treasure from the Girona .
The galleass Girona was one of the largest ships involved in the Armada invasion but foundered and sank off Lacada Point , not far from Dunluce Castle and the Giant ’ s Causeway on the north Antrim coast in 1588 .
The wreck of such a vessel is noted for the loss of life that occurred and the gold treasures since recovered .
The Girona , sailing up the west coast of Ireland had anchored in Killybegs harbour for some repairs . Some 800 survivors from other wrecks that had already occurred were taken on board .
In addition to its own crew then the Girona had substantial additional sailors on board when it went down off the Antrim coast , with over 1300 lives lost ( a mere handful of the crew made it to shore ).
Whilst some washed up salvage ( including
58 www . businessfirstonline . co . uk three brass cannons ) are said to have been recovered by Sorley Boy MacDonnell ( of Dunluce Castle ) at the time , the most famous recovery of treasure was in 1967 when after much searching and exploration , a team of Belgian divers led by Robert Stenuit brought up one of the greatest hauls of treasure from a wrecked Spanish Armada ship .
To this day those treasures , including the famous jewel encrusted golden salamander can be seen in the Ulster Museum . The recent 50th anniversary event to commemorate this was the brainchild of the North Coast Armada Connection in conjunction with Causeway Coast and Glens Council .
The evening event reception had the Girona gold on display ( on loan from the Ulster Museum ). In the afternoon , a number of services took place , in particular at St . Cuthbert ’ s graveyard , where some 260 bodies that had washed ashore were buried in unmarked graves .
A commemorative stone was also laid there at the service to mark this .
This event was merely the beginning . The North Coast Armada Connection , of which I am also a committee member , and led by Dr Bob Curran , has a strategy to make much more of this significant element of maritime heritage .
The wider concept of an Armada trail along the west and north coast of Ireland is very much on the cards . This would be a highly beneficial addition to the already growing popularity of the coastline as a tourism resource .
An Armada themed conference examining issues related to identity , culture and heritage as well as the tourism significance of the connections is being planned for next year to
take place on Ulster University ’ s Coleraine campus ( coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the University itself which began in Coleraine in 1968 ).
Whilst awareness of the Armada connections are currently limited amongst international visitors , we have seen some facets of local community and local business embrace such a connection .
Lacada Brewery in Portrush ( specialising in craft beer ) are named after Lacada Point where the Girona went down , and the famed golden salamander is a prominent part of their logo .
It is time to raise the strong Armada connection yet further and to develop and harness this important element of history to become a more visible part of our tourism product , one with a hugely dramatic and interesting story to be told .
Our tourism product in Northern Ireland is going from strength to strength in recent years . If we can properly unveil , develop and showcase more of our untapped treasures like this , then we can truly chart a course to real tourism success .