After arriving in Ireland and settling in to our B&B we started some local research about the Caughey family, that being my mother’s maiden name. We’ve always pronounced it as ‘coy’ but that’s not recognised here at all – it’s ‘caggie’ or ‘cackie’!

My search began at Killinchy, a small village on the western shores of Strangford Lough where previous research by my Auntie Nell had placed our family.

To get to Killinchy from our accommodation in Ardkeen we had to drive north around the Lough or catch the ferry across The Narrows from Portaferry to Strangford. We chose the ferry!

A few miles later and we were in Killinchy and there was the church we were looking for, perched on a hill like all good churches are 😊

Now to find the Caugheys! It wasn’t going to be easy as the churchyard cemetery was overgrown with blackberries and ivy and so many large headstones were laying on the ground, many face down and covered in lichen.

We left disappointed ☹️ I did find a headstone for a John Caughey (not my great grandfather who had gone to Australia though) but couldn’t find Hamilton Caughey, and I knew it must be here somewhere as a photo of it had been shared on Ancestry.com. More research needed!

We drove the long way home around the northern end of the Lough and visited the National Trust property, Mount Stewart, on the way back to our B&B, where the house doggies were waiting for us.