Farewell to Gallows Hill

My first photograph of Gallows Hill, July 13, 2012 taken the day we decided to purchase our new house in North Antrim.

It is almost 11 months since I wrote the previous blog in which I commented that one year of my life was “a mere 69th of my entire life”. This year, to state the obvious, the fraction is even smaller. The clock ticked round to three score and ten. We decided to mark the occasion by… moving house. (There were other celebrations, of course!). So now you know why I have been so quiet this year photographically speaking.

Almost eleven years we had lived at the foot of Gallows Hill. But it was time to move on. The word ‘downsizing’ was figuring increasingly in our conversations. Better to downsize now, we reckoned, than to be downsized later! “One day our kids will thank us,” we repeated to each other as the mountain of boxes grew in our front room. (Perhaps they will - if I’m able, I’ll let you know!)

The Witnesses. My first attempt at astrophotography was on Gallows Hill

When we moved to Gallows Hill, I began a personal project of photographing the hill, and especially the small group of battered beech, that stand like a group of old friends, witnessing over many decades the comings and goings of the countryside below, including the “blow-ins” that now lived on the Ballyveely Road.

I made my first ‘proper’ black and white landscape photograph on Gallows Hill. It was on Gallows Hill that I first attempted to photograph the night sky. In every season, in all weathers and from every angle I could think of, including from the air, I photographed the hill each year for more than ten years. Thousands upon thousands of photographs, now also downsized to just over 400.

Perhaps one day I will get to do something more significant with the photographs of this special place. For now I feel privileged that it was our daily view, a constant friendly companion, (despite the connotations of its name) during our sojourn there. And as a celebration of this tiny parcel of North Antrim countryside, known only to a few, I offer a small selection of my favourite photos.

It was time to say farewell. But I have the memories. I have the photographs we made together.

The Three. There are three separate groups of ancient beech trees on Gallows Hill as shown in this sunset panorama.

Celebration. A very special birthday present in 2014 when the skies danced and the Aurora Borealis was visible to the naked eye over Gallows Hill.

Evening glory. Spectacular sunset skies are a feature of Gallows Hill.

From the hills to the ocean. Gallows Hill in its North Antrim setting in late May as the sun sets into the Atlantic Ocean, and the colours reflect in the lake at Lissanoure Castle

Standing Tall. Winter sun stretches the skeletal shadows of the trees across the snow.

The Island. The small clump of green seems to be floating in a brown whirlpool after harvest as a last remnant of the forests that once covered the land.

You and Me. During a snowstorm on Gallows Hill I was able to isolate these two trees, supporting each other in their old age like a happy couple.

Fall Gold. A day like this in autumn is every landscape photographer’s dream.

From here to eternity. The Milky Way stretches high above Gallows Hill.

A fresh beginning. A beautiful snowy dawn made for a fitting final photograph as we prepared to take flight once more.