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Belfast Telegraph
17-05-2025
- Politics
- Belfast Telegraph
Explore NI's curious sites – from an upside down lighthouse to a monument for a man who set fire to the White House
Along the road between Rostrevor and Warrenpoint stands a particularly impressive monument, an obelisk that reaches 30m into the sky, which was erected in memory of a local man, Major General Robert Ross. He was first noted as a commander of a British force that, with their allies, the Russians, helped to defeat the Dutch Batavians in 1799. He also fought against Napoleon at Alexandria in 1804, at Heida in 1806, at Corunna in 1809 and in the Pyrenees in 1813. He then went west to America to take part in the 1812–1815 war between the British and the United States. There, in 1814, he was involved in the defeat of the US army at the Battle of Bladensburg, which has been de- scribed as 'the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms'. The panicked disorganised retreat of American forces, including President Madison and the rest of the federal government, became known as the Bladensburg Races. The American defeat resulted in the taking of the city of Washington and the setting fire to the White House by Ross's men. The Library of Congress was also destroyed by the British. Later, during the Battle of Baltimore, Ross was killed. His body was preserved in a barrel of 129 gallons of Jamaican rum and shipped to Nova Scotia, where he was buried. This obelisk was erected in 1826 in his honour, on the site where he and his wife had planned to build their home.
Belfast Telegraph
17-05-2025
- General
- Belfast Telegraph
From a man who set fire to the White House to an upside down lighthouse: Explore the hidden gems around Northern Ireland
Michael Fewer's new book delves into the history behind interesting sites on the island of Ireland Along the road between Rostrevor and Warrenpoint stands a particularly impressive monument, an obelisk that reaches 30m into the sky, which was erected in memory of a local man, Major General Robert Ross. He was first noted as a commander of a British force that, with their allies, the Russians, helped to defeat the Dutch Batavians in 1799. He also fought against Napoleon at Alexandria in 1804, at Heida in 1806, at Corunna in 1809 and in the Pyrenees in 1813. He then went west to America to take part in the 1812–1815 war between the British and the United States. There, in 1814, he was involved in the defeat of the US army at the Battle of Bladensburg, which has been de- scribed as 'the greatest disgrace ever dealt to American arms'. The panicked disorganised retreat of American forces, including President Madison and the rest of the federal government, became known as the Bladensburg Races. The American defeat resulted in the taking of the city of Washington and the setting fire to the White House by Ross's men. The Library of Congress was also destroyed by the British. Later, during the Battle of Baltimore, Ross was killed. His body was preserved in a barrel of 129 gallons of Jamaican rum and shipped to Nova Scotia, where he was buried. This obelisk was erected in 1826 in his honour, on the site where he and his wife had planned to build their home. It was cold and overcast on December 31, 1909 when a small group of people in a meadow in Hillsborough Park watched 25-year-old Harry Ferguson sit into an elaborate contraption of wires and spruce frames covered with linen, mounting a 35-horsepower engine. Outside the town of Hillsborough, opposite his former home, today you will find there the Harry Ferguson Memorial Garden. It features a bronze statue of the man standing at a farm gate with a spanner in his hand: a very low-key memorial for a true Irish genius.
