There are, and for long have been, individuals in the North who genuinely cherish the traditions of all the people. Such a man was Francis Joseph Bigger, whose house, Ardrigh, on the Ant rim Road of north Belfast, was a haven for poets and writers of all kinds, for archaeologists, for members of the Naturalists Club, for the rising young generation who, through the influence of the Gaelic League, were discovering a new perspective on Irish history and Irish writing and the archaeology of their country.
About a mile from his house was Mac Art's Fort, where Tone and his friends in early summer 1795 "took a solemn obligation" never to desist, etc. But Bigger's contribution was to be largely in the field of archaeology and music and song, in local lore and local patriotism and the love of the Irish language. For example: he thought the labourers' cottages in his area of south Antrim could be better - more sturdily built and yet more easy on the eye. So he built some. He thought islands around our shores were unnecessarily isolated, and so he worked to have motorboats established at various stations. He interested himself in the welfare of the Lough Neagh fishermen.
He collected the pieces of the Cross of Dromore and had it restored to its proper location. He was responsible for the giant stone over what many believe to be the last resting place of St Patrick in Downpatrick. His charity was endless. Shane Leslie, in a fictional setting, called him "a Protestant with Franciscan leanings". He was a gentle and good man and preached all his life a love of the common inheritance of all people on this island. Joseph Campbell remembered him in a poem which ends:
An urger of native effort -
ah the loveliest soul
The lordliest type of mortal
Irishman
It has been or will be, my lot to know.
The Celtic cross that stands over his grave in Mallusk, Co Antrim was blown up about 25 years ago. He would forgive the unfortunates who did the deed.