Winter River, Nov 2020, v1 Short

The River Mourne (Irish: An Mughdhorn) is a river in County Tyrone (between Strabane and Newtownstewart), and is a tributary of the River Foyle. At Strabane it joins with the River Finn to form the River Foyle. Fishing is largely for salmon, grilse and sea trout, however good quality brown trout are also available.

The River Mourne begins a couple of miles North West of the town of Newtonstewart, at the confluence with the River Derg. Upstream of here it becomes the River Strule, which is one of many tributaries of the Mourne. From its confluence with the Derg, the Mourne flows in a North Westerly direction, past Douglas Bridge, Victoria Bridge and Sion Mills on its way to join the Foyle and the River Finn at Strabane, a total of about 8 miles.

The Mourne is a big, fast flowing river, which is more than 20 metres wide in parts. Over recent years it has developed a reputation as being right up there with the Finn, the Moy, the Lower Bann and the Munster Blackwater, as one of Ireland’s top Salmon fisheries. The abundance of salmon has steadily declined over the years and current estimates by the Loughs’s Agency suggest that upwards on 15,000 salmon entering the Mourne each year. However, local anglers would dispute these figures based on the declining rod catch rate with many now regularly returning salmon and sea trout on a catch and release basis to help sustain the wild natural stock.

The salmon fishing can be very good from the end of May onwards, with the peak months being June and July. The Mourne is not a spate river but like many other Irish rivers, it fishes best as the water fines down, but because of its size it usually fishes well for 3 or 4 days after the flood waters have receded. The Grilse will often press on unless the water is really low.

The river does get a few Springers from April to about mid-May. Likewise, it gets a few autumn fish and the sport can be good through September and October.

From June onwards the Mourne can get good runs of Sea Trout and this has improved in recent years.

The Sea Trout can get up to about 3 lb with the average being around 1 lb. The larger trout arrive first in early in May to mid-June with the bulk of smaller fish arriving from July onwards to the end of the season. Typical Sea Trout patterns such as, Peter Ross, Zulu, Teal Blue & Silver, Butchers, Silver Doctors, and Black Pennell will all take sea trout. Nigh fishing can be quite productive for sea trout if your game.

Shrimp flies are very popular patterns for the Mourne. The Bann Special, the Gold Shrimp, the Golden Grilse, the Grilse Fly, the Wilkinson’s Shrimp, the Curry’s Red, or the Apache Shrimp. Sizes are anything from 14 down to 6 depending on the water levels, with a sink tip line in higher water, and a floating line in lower water.

The lower part of the river is controlled by Strabane Lifford Anglers Association (SLAA) from just above the point of Islandmore (known locally as Marreco’s Island) on the River Foyle to the point of the Finn (McGirrs Point), known as the Greenbrae’s Fishery and then upstream on the River Mourne to the boundary with Sion Mills Angling Club (SMAC). SMAC also manages the stretches, which are under the control of the Department of Culture, Arts and Leisure (DCAL) including stretches up as far as Liskey Wood. The fishing on the upper river from Victoria Bridge up to Newtonstewart (on the Strule) is owned in part by the Abercorn Estates (Baronscourt) and is privately let from there with a number of small private syndicates controlling some smaller stretches.

From McGrirr’s Point up to Victoria Bridge the river is quite wide so a double handed rod would be the preferred fly-fishing method. You can fish from the bank, however with modern day spey casting methods its better if you can wade so a pair of chest or waist waders would suffice. A wading staff is very useful as some sections of the river bed are quite rocky, some with large rock shelves that are very slippery, so wading can be quite difficult.

 

The salmon fishing season begins on the River Mourne from 1st April and finishes on 20th October each year. Club membership and day tickets are available locally from local fishing tackle shops or the SMAC Office located in the centre of the village.

 

‘The Moorlough Shore’ is a traditional Irish ballad, which first appeared in print in an 1886 broadside, now at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.

The air is also known by various other titles and lyrics, such as "The Maid of Mourne Shore", "Moorlough Mary", "Banks of the Moorlough Shore", "An Traigh Múghdhorna", "The Maids Of The Mountain Shore", "The Foggy Dew", "Down by the Salley Gardens", "Gort Na Saileán" and similar

 

Over the years there has been much debate about where the song is set, but it is clear that it must be in County Tyrone, close to Strabane. There are a number of places referred to in the lyrics that link it to Holyhill (usually pronounced Holly Hill), a Sinclair estate in the parish of Leckpatrick, where there is also a Moorlough Road. The Holyhill Sinclairs established themselves in Tyrone and Donegal in the seventeenth century, and by the 1770s had set up a thriving linen business at Holyhill. In 1778, Mrs Elizabeth Sinclair asked permission from the landowner to divert the course of the Glenmornan River (a tributary of the Foyle) to provide water for a flax mill or a bleaching green.

 

The song has been recorded by a number of musicians: John McGettigan & his Irish Minstrels (USA, 1930s), Paddy Tunney (1963), Peta Webb (1973), The Boys of the Lough (1980), Dolores Keane (1989), Caroline Lavelle (1995), Patrick Street (1996), Susan McKeown (2000), Emm Gryner (2005), The Corrs (2005) and Sinéad O’Connor on her album ‘Sean-Nós Nua’(2002).

 

A young man praises the beauties of the countryside and the girl he has fallen in love with. She refuses his advances on the ground that she already loves a sailor. She will wait for her true love for seven years. In frustration the boy leaves his childhood home and sails away, still praising the girl he loves that lives by the Moorlough Shore. The song is set in Strabane, and local names and places along the River Mourne are mentioned.

The Sinclairs of Holyhill

In the south or ‘Murkle Aisle’ of the parish church in Thurso, Caithness, Scotland, there is a mural inscription on the northwest wall, in the folllowing terms:

This is the burial place of James Sinclair of Borlum; and here lyes James Sinclair his eldest son and his spouse, Elizabeth Ennes, who left behind them the Rev. Mr John Sinclair who was Rector of Leckpatrick nigh Strabane in Ireland 1665. Here lyes Isabel Sinclair who was married to the Rev. George Anderson, Minister of Halkirk; and Elizabeth Sinclair married to John Farquhar, Bailize of Thurso; and Margaret Sinclair, spouse to George Sinclair of Ulgrimbeg [grandson of John Sinclair, 1st of Assery].

Cited in The Sinclair Family of Belfast, N. Ireland and their Descendants 1660-1964 by Mrs St. Claire Lappe Daub (USA), from The Caithness Family History Book by John Henderson.

 

“Your Place & Mine” (BBC Radio Ulster) broadcast a programme about Leckpatrick graveyard in May 2008, when Hamilton Thompson, then the current owner, talked about Holyhill House, which was purchased by Rev. John Sinclair from the Magee family in 1683.

Hamilton recounted an interesting story about the house and family. After the Siege of Derry in 1689, James II’s fleeing troops arrived at Holyhill. They were about to burn it down when the commander of the troops issued an order that it should be left untouched. He was a Hamilton, and it is thought it was because the Rev. John Sinclair’s first wife was a Hamilton that he saved it from destruction. The commander was on the Donegal bank of the Foyle at the time, so his messenger had to swim across the river to deliver it. However, the Rev. John Sinclair did not marry a Hamilton, but his daughter Isabel married Claude Hamilton of Monterloney, which would make this story quite possible.

There is the strong likelihood that the well-known ballad called The Moorlough Shore is referring to this family and Holyhill House in the lines:

"Farewell to Sinclair’s castle grand,

Farewell to the foggy hill".

 

 

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