toppy toosy....Carnmoney...is this a road

[stevenson]

Looking for this road....

1 ..is it a road

2...if so where

3..did it have houses on it

4..is it still there now

Steve

[aghadowey]

There's a Tappatourzee/Tappuetousie (local pronunciation Tap a toosy) in Knockaduff townland, Co. Londonderry. It is a mound (from which 13 parishes can be seen) thought to have been a burial mound and/or fort.
The name according to Jameson's Scottish Dictionary means 'dishevelled head.'

[BallyaltikilliganG]

I am sure Aghadowey is pointing to the meaning, I had a wee look Does boggy rhyme with topsy turvy www.belfasthills.org/popup_content.php?PageId=434
“Carnmoney takes its name from Cairn Monadh ‘the cairn on the boggy mountain’, a burial chamber that originally stood on the summit of Carnmoney Hill.”
Extraordinary is www.newtownabbey.gov.uk/leisure/downloads/CarnmoneyHilll.pdf which has an introductory page, topsy turvy , yes upside down text and pictures. I have never seen this on any website before.
I couldnt find more, It’s a most interesting challenge. However Steve, where did you get your reference please, Jim

[scotmum]

Extraordinary is www.newtownabbey.gov.uk/leisure/downloads/CarnmoneyHilll.pdf which has an introductory page, topsy turvy , yes upside down text and pictures. I have never seen this on any website before.

First page, anyhow, done like this as designed to be printed off and folded into a leaflet, as per guide marks at each side.

From aghadoweys find, I wouldn't be surprised if there was something similarly named by the locals in Carnmoney - hopefully someone will come up trumps for you on this one Steve.

[stevenson]

Thank you all

My Da...has been talking about this "toppy twosy"road in Carnmoney.....but was not sure if he was imagining it or not.

good meanings by Aghadoweny...love the "dishevelled head" bit,  ......do think it is probably a local name for a road.

Maybe some local might know where this road is/ or was.

Apparently it was very good to go down it, in the blitz, to get to the fields for the night...blankets and all.(then watch the bombs go off)

Steve

[BallyaltikilliganG]

Could  a "toppy twosy"road in Carnmoney have a topsy-turvy road connection to where Mary Butters, The Carnmoney Witch might have lived.  The ballad about her is published online at  www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/, in the book "Irish witchcraft and demonology by St John D. Seymour" as part of the Sacred Texts collection. Published 1913.Chapter IX  A.D. 1807  To Present Day Mary Butters, The Carnmoney Witch--Ballad On Her--The Hand Of Glory--A Journey Through The Air--A "Witch" In 1911 etc.. “A clever racy ballad was made upon it by a resident in the district, which, as it is probably the only poem on the subject of witchcraft in Ireland, we print here in its entirety from the Ulster Journal of Archæology for 1908, though we have not had the courage to attempt a glossary to the "braid Scots."”
Regretfully I couldnt find “ topsy turvy” in the ballad

Searching for ‘topsy turvy and witchcraft’ on google reveals many associations, and I was led to another on line book. The Gaelic-English Dictionary By Colin B. D. Mark has interesting definitions for topsy turvy, the gaelic word starting with bun…but in a rush, I didnt find any nearby streets or townlands within Carnmoney recording that connection.

Finally Steve, your father might be interested in the Belfast Blitz story as recorded on www.glenravel.com.  At the other end of Belfast my father walking [awkwardly on his artificial leg from WW1] was taking me in moonlight to the nearby Malone Road to hear and then occasionally see walking fast, sometimes speaking, sometimes greeting each other,  sometimes not, but the irregularly walking noise rising above all, of the thousands fleeing the area. It was unforgettable and a war lesson of what humans did to other humans.

Have you seen an OS 6inch map of carnmoney area yet.
Good luck on your many quests, Jim

[stevenson]

Bally

What a fabulous find   www.intute.ac.uk/artsandhumanities/

Blitz was really bad ,
my Da told me about his sisters being late home from a dance in Belfast,
the sirens went off, but because they were late they didn't go down the nearest shelter they hurried home
.....that shelter got a direct hit that night.
....and they carried bodies out the following morning
....they were both lucky.... so many others were not.

on ward ever on wards to find the "Topsy Twosy"

Steve

[saz1401]

I vaguely remember Topsy Toosey being the road (more a narrow lane) that we walked thro from Ballyhenry to Carnmoney graveyard. Only a few little cottages / farm buildings on the way thro. I think it came out at "Red sheds" on Ballyhenry Rd. All would be long gone now with the housing estate and new road.

saz

[stevenson]

I managed to get Da to remember the road today.

He said it was by Carmoney Church opposite Abernathys's shop (have no idea if this is spelled right or where it was) and it was just a lane that went all the way up past the church and down lower Abernathy's lane all the way down to the grave yard by the other church.

so Saz your memory isn't bad for your age   
 Da is going to draw me a map (if he remembers)

What I need to know now is ........
who lived on that lane...apparently the top end of it lived an old Aunt of my Da's also some Biggers that were related.


Anyone help please

Steve