John Manley interviews Claire Mitchell
In today’s Irish News, John Manley (Political Correspondent) interviews Claire Mitchell, author of The Ghost Limb: Alternative Protestants and the Spirit of 1798. She says the title refers to "that part of you that is cut off" and the "feeling like you have to hide the Irish parts of yourself".
"My family are Protestants who have always identified as Irish and have always supported reunification," says Claire, who as part of the charismatic renewal movement recalls childhood introductions to CND and Amnesty International.
Having more recently borrowed a copy of Bill Wilsdon's book, 'The Sites of the 1798 Rising in Antrim and Down', Claire realised the same landscape she lived in had once provided a backdrop to rebellion.
"I'd never learned about the United Irishmen at school but as I began to discover the people and places of 1798 all around me, it was a light bulb moment," she says.
"I know it's a cliché that Prods don't know their history, and it's not always a fair one, but I had never emotionally connected with United Irish history before and realising that all these Dissenters and Protestants existed in Co Down over 200 years ago, with a confident, anti-sectarian, Irish politics, made direct contact with my gut – their politics made sense of my own politics."
With her introduction to 18th century Protestant radicalism, Claire found her family was "far from unique" and she became a "bit obsessed about finding out if the spirit of the United Irishmen still existed".
"I wondered if there were lots more northern Protestants who held similar values, or shared aspects of my own experience," she says.
"So I roped in friends to visit 1798 sites, and the book grew out of these conversations."
In addition to friends and family, the author spoke at length to east Belfast Gaeilgeoir Linda Ervine, Baptist minister Rev Karen Sethuraman and Séan Napier, one of the public historians behind the Belfast 1798 walking tour.
"A lot of the book is about silencing – the mechanisms of Lundying which are used to shut alternative Protestants up," says Claire.
"Each person I talked to gave me a jigsaw piece, until I was finally able to piece together what this alternative Protestant ecosystem looked like," says Claire.
"It's been liberating and healing for me to realise that we are walking such a well worn path, from the United Irishmen right through to today."
For full article, see: https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2022/11/09/news/co_down_author_claire_mitchell_s_book_aims_to_recapture_the_spirit_of_1798-2888342/