My Greystones: Noel Belton

The man…

f someone was ever going to play Noel Belton in a movie, the closest fit would have to be Lee Marvin.

If we had to go with someone still kicking and breathing, Harrison Ford would be the nearest thing Hollywood has to offer today.

The fact is, Noel Belton is pretty unique. Not that he’d ever see himself that way, but, the 86-year-old Delgany deity has lived his entire life in this small Wicklow village – and his mark is pretty much on everything.

There probably isn’t a square foot of land in and around Delgany that Noel Belton hasn’t either worked on or owned.

From converting an old cowshed into a home up on Blackberry Lane (for local gravedigger Shoveller Dixon, no less) to foolishly, merrily taking over the Horse & Hound for a few glorious years, Noel has been there, built that, drunk those. And then went to bed and did it all again the following day.

Swinging by his small cottage right in the heart of Delgany yesterday, it didn’t take long before the man’s first-hand knowledge of the town came flooding forward. What this man doesn’t know about Delgany could be written on Shay Clear‘s bald patch. With a whitewash brush.

The little cottage we’re in now and its adjoined buildings were all once part of The Factory Square, with 18 employees living in 18 tiny homes as the La Touche estate had them making bonnets for the French market.

Across the road, there was the village green, a small triangular meeting spot for the locals, the adults playing cards and pitch’n’toss whilst the kids – including the young Noel Belton – would play marbles.

Also across the road, at the recently destroyed Style Bawn House, the young Noel and his sister played with the in-hiding Erksine Childers, the Irish nationalist who smuggled guns in his sailing yacht, Asgard, and wrote the influential novel, The Riddle Of The Sands.

And then there was the band hall on Blackberry Lane, currently under siege by the council as they bulldoze this beauty spot into oblivion, and once used by the local brass bands and assorted community groups, having been gifted to the town by the La Touches.

Noel & Hazel

The building known as Round The Bend, adjacent to the central graveyard, was also once a community centre, known as The Parish Rooms, where Mrs Keyes ran the library, and the billiard table came in for daily use.

And so the stories, and the characters, and the fond memories, continued as Noel and Hazel laughed and my brain swirled, trying to remember so many golden nuggets of local history.

In truth, it was a surprise that Noel agreed to take part in My Greystones, the man being of an age where the internet is just a buzzing fly knocking on your window, and recent ill health – for both Noel and Hazel – suggesting that they most likely don’t need any intrusion right now into their lives.

Turns out that’s the one thing this old-school couple miss – that old community spirit of neighbours calling on neighbours, to see how they’re keeping, to see if they need anything, or, sure, might as well have a cup of tea whilst we’re at it. For Hazel, a month-long stay in St Luke’s earlier this year brought it home – whereas other patients, up from the country, had a constant flow of family and friends calling in, there was no one from Delgany.

“It’s a shame,” says Noel, “and more than a little shocking. There was a time when you just all lived together. You had your separate houses, and all that, but the village was like one big family. We’ve been broken into three times here in recent years, and I was attacked during one of those break-ins – they dismissed as just “an old man“ – and not one neighbour saw anything, or called by afterwards to see if we were okay.

“That’s what I miss the most about the Delgany that I grew up in. I just hope that, before it’s too late, people hold on to what’s left of that old village, and recognise that a big part of any village or town is the community spirit.”

Not that Noel and Hazel are full of the woes of life. So many happy blasts from the past surfaced, many of them in the 15 years that they’ve lived together here in Delgany. Up until this year, and Hazel’s health scare, they headed off each year, for 16 years, in their motorhome with the Irish Caravan And Camping Club.

“Today,” smiles Hazel, “our biggest level of adventure is feeding the swans at Bray harbour.”

It’s hard to do justice to the role Noel Belton – and his father, James, before him – played in the shaping of Delgany. This was back in the day when men were fishermen, or farmers, or labourers for hire. Everything was done by hand, and all business deals were done with a handshake.

And before you think we’re going all Angela’s Ashes on your ass, it’s important to point out that Noel Belton  had a feckin’ good time. Pretty much all the time.

Noel sadly passed away on Sunday, October 13th, 2019, a day after his long-time Delgany neighbour, Tess Byrne. You can explore Delgany further here, and here, or come along on one of our ramble chats around the village with loco historian Shay Clear here.