Lesser Spotted Ulster
Joe Mahon goes off the well-travelled path in search of vanishing traditions and stories
Joe Mahon's tranquil wanderings through the nine counties of Ulster entertained UTV viewers for several decades. Through townlands, villages and small towns, Joe took the road less travelled to shine a spotlight on places unfamiliar. In so doing he opened up a treasure trove of old stories, traditions and crafts in danger of slipping out of memory.
With beautiful camerawork capturing the lush landscapes of the north of Ireland, from rugged Donegal to the majestic glens of Antrim to the verdant woodlands of south Down, and with the series' lilting and gentle music, Lesser Spotted Ulster formed a soothing mainstay of the UTV schedules until being replaced with the ongoing Mahon's Way.
Unquestonably, some of what was captured by Joe and his faithful team has already been lost in terms of old crafts and storytellers. This makes Lesser Spotted Ulster all the more important as a record of these counties not just at the end of the twentieth and start of the twenty first centuries, but of the hundreds of years of stories and tradition leading up to that point.
Browse through this remarkable collection of landscape and history by searching each of the nine county collections below.