30th March 2020. Today on Facebook we remember 10 local things of interest about Helen Allingham, a talented artist and wife of William Allingham the Ballyshannon poet. Helen is remembered in the Abbey Arts Centre and in the annual Allingham Arts Festival along with her husband. Please share this blog and the top ten blogs as the hits are really rising thanks to you who read and share.
31st March 2020. Tomorrow's blog will also be of interest to young people as it will be the first in a new series of Landmarks of Ballyshannon highlighting a feature in the town and surrounding areas. The first one is the most viewed site in the town. Please share this blog especially with friends who have young people.
- Helen Allingham (nee Paterson) married Ballyshannon poet William Allingham on 22nd August 1874 in London. He was aged 50 and Helen was 25.
- Helen was an English born watercolour painter and illustrator who illustrated Thomas Hardy’s famous novel “Far from the Madding Crowd.”
- The Allinghams had 3 children Gerard, Eva and Henry.
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| Helen Allingham's painting of two of her children |
- On his deathbed in 1889 William spoke a memorable farewell to his wife :
“And
so, to where I wait, come gently on”
William was buried in his native Ballyshannon at St. Anne’s Church.
- In 1891 two years after his death Helen brought her children to visit their father’s grave in Ballyshannon and to meet their relations.
- On her visit to Ballyshannon, Helen painted 13 local scenes including Catsby, The Purt, Cottages near Ballyshannon and the Fairy Bridges in Bundoran.
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| The Fairy Bridges by Helen Allingham |
- To the best of my knowledge none of her local paintings are in Ballyshannon. Helen’s paintings are valuable today. Maud Allingham, a cousin of her husband’s, was a prolific painter of local scenes, including her painting which is on the cover of my book “Ballyshannon Genealogy and History.”
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| Maud Allingham's painting of the town which is on the cover of my current book "Ballyshannon Genealogy and History" |
- Helen Allingham kept alive her husband’s poetry and his memory, by ensuring that all his works were published after his death, including his diary. She died on 28th September 1926
- In the Abbey Centre in Ballyshannon today there is a Helen Allingham Gallery and across the road her husband is remembered in Allingham Park.
- Every November there is an annual Allingham Arts Festival in memory of the couple.
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| William Allingham 1824-1889 |
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