1904-1905.] 293 



colony of Nendrum or Nedrum, showing up prominently in 

 the foreground, and by the aid of field-glasses could be dis- 

 cerned the ruins of Sketrick Castle, one of the strongest of 

 the twenty-seven fortresses built on Strangford Lough by the 

 Anglo-Normans after John de Courcy's invasion in 1177, but 

 now fast crumbling away. Many places of interest in the 

 surrounding neighbourhood were pointed out and commented 

 upon, while the distant views embraced Slieve Croob, the 

 Mourne Mountains, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. The 

 tower rises on the top of a wooded hill overlooking the 

 demesne of Clandeboye, and the woods which embosom it 

 were seen at their loveliest, as some of the trees were now 

 assuming the warm tints of autumn, which, mingled with the 

 varied shades of green displayed by the firs and other trees, 

 formed a picture not easily to be forgotten by those who 

 beheld its beauties. The name of the estate is derived from 

 the ancient district of Clannahoy (cla'nn Ardha huidhe, the 

 clan of yellow Hugh, who was one of the O'Neills of Tyrone; 

 with his followers he crossed the Bann in the fourteenth 

 century, and, establishing himself here, gave his name to the 

 district), but in the second year of King James the lands 

 were transferred by an arrangement with Con O'Neill (after 

 his assisted escape from the Castle of Carrickfergus, where 

 he had been incarcerated on pretence of rebellion) to Sir Hugh 

 Montgomery and James Hamilton, the ancestor of the present 

 owner. Helen's Tower was erected about 1850, and en- 

 shrines some beautiful lines written by Helen, Lady Dufferin, 

 on the occasion of her son's (the late Marquis of Dufferin) 

 coming of age in 1847, and the building is named after this 

 talented authoress. It also contains verses by Robert Brown- 

 ing, Lord Houghton, and Lord Tennyson, as well as the 

 verses by Rudyard Kipling, in which the women of India 

 return homage to the now Dowager Lady Dufferin for her 

 philanthropic work in India while the late Lord Dufferin was 

 Viceroy. 



After examination of the tower the members separated 

 to indulge in their varied pursuits, and collections botanical 



