The Ghost Limb: Alternative Protestants and the Spirit of 1798

by Claire Mitchell

In The Ghost Limb a group of northern Protestants retrace the steps of the United Irishmen, who worked for the unity of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter over two hundred years ago. In a quest to reconnect with this lost heritage, they walk and talk their way through the landscapes of County Down and Antrim. They go to political meetings, take Irish language classes, visit graveyards, pubs, churches and protests. They commune with radical ghosts and personal ancestors. And they chalk messages on walls.

As they search for the spirit of 1798, they bring a new politics alive in the present. They begin to imagine a different future.

The book pulls together history, politics and personal stories, with a little magical thinking, to bring alternative Protestant identities back into the light.

Genres: Ireland, History

246 pages, Paperback

Published November 15, 2022

Reviews

[Debs Erwin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this book, it is so resonant for me on a personal leve and makes me feel seen. I first heard it was in the offing maybe 18 months ago or more when I heard the author interviewed on the Corrymeela podcast and the notion of a dissenter identity felt liberatory. I'd been looking forward to its publication since then and it didn't disappoint. I love how Claire Mitchell has written the book in conversation with a variety of 'alternative Protestants' weaving together threads of history, genealogy, and social radicalism through memoir, imagination, walks in graveyards and talking about the things that matter in the human experience. The book looks forward as well as into the past and I think that's the exciting piece as her analysis suggests it's possible to imagine new, fairer and more democratic futures in the contested spaces of this island.

[Caoimhin Gabhann · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Ghost Limb.

I received this book as a Christmas gift after seeing it in Waterstones pre the holidays.

Claire Mitchell has put together a really interesting publication about cultural identity, radical protestantism and modern day stereotyping.

The story centres around the radical protestantism and the anti sectarianism politics of the United Irishmen! (And yes I am aware that sectarian atrocities did happen in 1798)

But their was a united effort between many different shades of green (and orange) that was led by Presbyterianism in the rebellion that year. Many things changed after the Act of Union and a lot of this nationalist protestant history was simple left out of our history books. Intentionally and deliberately

What Claire Mitchell does in this book is look beneath the surface and see that, while limited, this work has been ongoing for centuries right up into the modern day. Sometimes in the most unlikely of places. Catch all terms like PUL and CNR, legitimised by the GFA are deliberately put in place by political parties and organisations to limit the reach of dissent and to bracket us all as two seperate communities. I have noticed this over the years on grant application forms! Lundyism, a name used more and more often within political unionism is deliberatly designed to quell any liberalisation of politics.

Interestingly in a conversation in my own house last night nobody other than me knew what PUL stood for!

I also thoroughly enjoyed the chapters were Claire interviewed Stephen McCracken and Gemma Reid and Linda Ervine about their work in the community.

It is an enjoyable read and through this book we can see that the ideals of the United Irishman and many reminders of that period are still hidden within plain sight. The story is still being told.

Available in Waterstones.

[Senioreuge · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up because I am seeking to explore the differences between Unionism/Loyalism and Radicalism in the non Catholic working-class in Northern Ireland. Very few writers I have looked at, admittedly mostly non academic, have failed to discuss let alone explore this.
This work is a welcome exception. Claire Mitchell carefully examines the buried reasons for the itch which seems to be demanding a good scratch. It is full of different views on the subject yet all seem to understand that there is a basic and intrinsic radical instinct that has survived popular suppression from within "Protestant culture" in Northern Ireland. Designed for the last century at least to secure a controlling interest in this part of Ireland, at the expense of the more radical and liberal view, demonstrated by thousands of Presbyterians during the latter part of the 18th century. A view for which hundreds died and in many cases exiled to prop up the far flung reaches of the British Empire.

I had long be aware of and had read about the United Irishmen's rebellion of 1798 and of a number of the characters mentioned in the book such as Betsy Gray and Mollie Ward. It was pleasing to see that the heritage which rightly belongs to them is being re-claimed and am sure that all who read this will gain from it. It was interesting to see my name mentioned in by Stephen Baker (p168), although he listed my Trade Union as the ITGWU when it should be ATGWU.

[Ashton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Itching for a walking tour after this. A lovely & ethereal exploration of religious, political, and family identities in NI.

Each chapter lays out a conversation with someone new, while Mitchell reflects on her own story and her changing thoughts throughout. A mix of history, current politics, and ordinary people living their lives side by side.

I especially liked the language section, learning about the history of the Ulster-Scots language. Or, when she chats to people from Protestant and Loyalist backgrounds learning Irish in inner east Belfast.

If nothing else, I definitely took away the beauty of long walks through city and country, and being granted the dignity of telling your story.

[Brian Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the variety of stories - it gives words to thoughts I’ve had but couldn’t formalise - it’s a hopeful book, one that those who can’t find their space in mainstream “P” community could do some thinking and forming - thanks Claire

[Si Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t express how much I loved this.

[John Ó Doibhlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really thoughtful and well written book, exploring lots of different perspectives in interesting ways.

[Sarah Wylie · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much repressed history, an eye- opening read

[David Campton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant book of contemporary encounters helping the author to excavate the deeply buried, or deliberately disremembered spirit of the 1798 United Irishmen's revolt, yet with a future-focus. Her trajectory mirrors my own, only in a much more focussed and determined form, and that combined with many people and places I know well made this a very personal experience. I do hope that something comes of her and Steve Baker's concluding aspirations re a recovery of a United Irishmen/women's mindset rather than just a continuing series of wistful historical commemorations.

[Scott Millar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved how this book gave voice to my own nuanced sense of Irishness. As someone from a Protestant background, I have sometimes struggled to fully claim and feel an authentic part of the Irish identity whilst simultaneously reserving space for a specifically northern Irish flavour. Am I Irish first and Northern Irish second or the other way around? The two at times have seemed irreconcilable but this book shows that there is so much more diversity to Irishness than the features of typical religious and cultural binaries, so often quoted when explaining the North.