A one hour lesson on the history of Ireland with plenty of beautiful scenery to enjoy. The programme was made in 1997 so we have moved on a little since then.
All the rain we endure is the price we pay for the greenery.
Wednesday forgot to dawn. I know you are fed up with me saying that. But it happens way to much, this is Ireland and not Denmark or further north.
What happened the sky?
I took my mug of hot water back to bed, re closed the curtains and decided to toddle round blogland and FB ‘till the day improved. Then the phone rang…
“Do you feel like coffee?” asked an elderly friend.
With my mind moving to overdrive… I replied.
“That sounds like a nice idea”
“I know a nice Farm shop & Tearoom, in Straid. I have been there a few times and I thought we might go. Would 10:30 suit you?”
Glancing down to the clock on my laptop I see it is 9:20 – Where had the hours gone?
A fourminuteshowerandhairwash plus a banana & pills on the run, and I would just about make it.
“Great! I’ll pick you up at 10:30.” I said.
I did.
My friend was a good navigator, and we chatted our way through the gloomy countryside. Our destination was well sign posted along the way.
Ballylagan Organic Farm shop
A warm wood fire greeted us in the Tea room quickly followed by a welcome from the staff and service at our table. All food was prepared on the premises.
We each decided on a scone with our coffee. My friend opted for a fruit one and mine was pear with almond. Yummy! I so want to make these.
There was no rush, no fuss and we happily chatted the morning away.
As we headed back to the car, I took two photos, the one above and the one below. You can see from the bottom one the time I took them – still no proper sky detail. I have not altered them apart from cropping.
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For more info: Ballylagan Organic Farm, shop, Tea Room and Guest House
I had the honour of joining a walking tour of ‘Walking the Bridges of Dublin, hosted by one of my wonderful Toyboys, Anthony Mc Guinness. Anto and Dublin City Council are responsible for the Bridges of Dublin The website is all down to Anto and the time, energy, research and love for the subject in the project came through loud and clear during our tour on Saturday night.
The River Liffey rises close to Kippure in the Wicklow mountains. It flows for around 125 km (78 m) from source to sea through counties Wicklow, Kildare and Dublin before entering the Irish Sea at the midpoint of Dublin Bay. There are in total 24 bridges that cross the river.
Our walk covered fifteen, with added information of those we did not see.
We gathered at Rory O’More Bridge, often referred to as Watling Street Bridge. Building began in 1859 and it was declared open to the public in 1861 and crosses the River Liffey from Watling Street, on the south side to Ellis Street to the north side of the city. It is in fact the fourth, or possibly fifth, bridge at this location since records began. Dates of two of the previous structures: 1670 & 1704.
Rory O’More Bridge
When a bridge was first built on this site, it was a wooden structure, much needed by a growing city only served by a single bridge and it often in a state of dilapidation. In the photo below you can actually see a line of wooden stumps from former wooden foundations.
Wooden foundations at Rory O’More Bridge
A single span bridge with a cast iron deck, built in St. Helen’s Foundry in Lancashire, England. The original, estimated price was 7,556 guineas, but rose to 11,000 guineas on completion. Can you imagine the large structure floating up the Liffey on a barge, before being lifted into place, by MANPOWER and not the modern machinery we have today.
We continued our walk along the quays, stopping at each bridge to hear the story behind it and sometimes crossing over the bridge to take in some detail, find a space large enough to hold twenty of us without causing obstruction to passers-by or the moving motorised traffic. The journey from Watling Street to our final destination and watering hole was 5 km.
We explored:
James Joyce Bridge 2003 – road bridge
Mellow’s Bridge 1768 – road bridge
Father Mathew Bridge 1818 – road bridge
O’Donovan Rossa Bridge 1816 – road bridge
Grattan Bridge 1874 – road bridge
Millennium Bridge 1999 – footbridge
Liffey Bridge 1816 *1
O’Connell Bridge 1791 – dual carriage road bridge, a continuation of O’Connell St.
Rosie Hackett Bridge will be officially opened on 20 May 2014 – Road bridge.
Butt Bridge 1932 previous structure in 1879 – road bridge
Loopline Bridge 1891 *2
Talbot Memorial Bridge 1978 – road bridge
Seán O’Casey Bridge 2005 – footbridge
Samuel Beckett Bridge 2009 – Rotatable road bridge
At this stage, the evening was cooling down the closer we came to the coastline, legs grew tired and Anto’s whistle needed wetting, so we adjourned to the Ferryman pub at Sir John Rogerson Quay.
In days gone by the Liffey Ferry crossed the river at this point, transporting workers from North to South of the river to work in the Gasometer, the Banana Factory and Dublin’s ship building yard. As recently as the mid 1980’s Guinness boats carried barrels of their famous brew past The Ferryman.
I thought I knew the city of my birth, having grown up in the days when I needed money for nylons or tights, I walked everywhere instead of waiting for buses that knew not a timetable. You know the story, no bus for an age and then three come together!
Since I moved North thirty seven years ago, traffic has changed direction along the quays several times and five new bridges have been added with a sixth due to be unveiled tomorrow and open to motor traffic on Wednesday.
I will include some of my photos, the flotilla was an unexpected surprise and we were close enough to chat to the people on board the various water-craft. I have just realised that I have no photos of O’Connell Bridge. It was busy and broad, so difficult for me to take a good photo. Maybe I was too busy chatting to remember. 😉
For more information, and professional photos please check out Anto’s website link above.
*1 Liffey Bridge is foot bridge. In the beginning there was a toll to reclaim some of the building cost, so it became know as the Ha’penny bridge and the name stuck. In Dublin, we like our nicknames!
*2 Liffey Viaduct, a rail bridge with overhead power supply for the crescent shaped Dart electric train line along Dublin Bay.
Non Starter
The world’s second-largest bike race, the Giro d’Italia, is is an annual stage race bicycle race primarily held in Italy, while also occasionally passing through nearby countries.
The Grande Partenza or ‘Big Start’ of the Giro d’Italia began yesterday in Belfast. It will continue today and cover some 219 km of our most beautiful country side. The route from Belfast will be inland to the Giant’s Causeway and from there it will follow the coast line all the way back to Belfast.
Giro route Day 2
The whole of the Province has turned Pink. Belfast City Hall was glowing in Pink last night. There is bunting (the nice kind) everywhere and our local optician, not on the route, has a pink bicycle frame in the window!
Stage 3 tomorrow begins in Armagh, with stops in Richhill & Newtownhamilton before crossing the now non existent border and on to Dublin. 187kms.
Day 3 Armagh to Dublin
Boy am I glad not to be in the saddle, I might end up like this……
Not on course or in the Pink
And not on course or in the Pink! 😉
The other day I wrote about trying as many of the modes of public transport available to me in Dublin.
Today I want to cover items 2 &18 from my ‘To Do’ list for 2013:
2. Take an unplanned, spur-of-the-moment trip.
18. “A Day In My Life” in photos.
Travelling by train was the mode of transport I chose.
Map of the main train lines from Dublin to stations across the land
Monday 22nd July, saw me up early and ready for the road good and early.
Where to choose?
I wanted a train with the opportunity to hop on and off or change direction.
I decided to take a train from the local Station in Adamstown and see how far I could comfortably travel in one day.
The adventure begins!
Leaving the house at 09:32 hrs, I walked to the train station. The next train to Portlaoise was due at 09:36 hrs
Thirteen minutes makes for an easy stroll to the station up ahead.
Thirteen minutes to reach the train station in the distance. That makes for an easy stroll. 😀
My ticket to Portlaoise
Although my Northern Ireland Senior Smart card is valid for all public transport in the Republic of Ireland. I need to get a train ticket for access to and from station platforms. It also records the journeys we take in order to charge Translink, the Northern Ireland transport system for our usage.
Here she comes!
The train on the right is the fast Inter City, My train is further back on the left hand track.
The wheels are turning.
The wheels are turning and we are on our way.
Into the wild.
The fields are well bleached by the sunshine of the past ten days.
View on the window across the carriage
View on the window across the carriage, I had it all to myself at that time of day. Anyone in a hurry went back to Dublin to catch the non stop Inter City train.
He didn’t get on board!
He did not get on the train, the next stop was the final destination for this train.
Portlaoise Station
Now to find my way into town, have a cup of coffee and do a little exploring.
Plastic people to make the street look busy!
Shop mannequins display the clothes sold in a nearby shop. Trees lined the street and were rather a nuisance. They must have dropped a wide circle of sap during the night. My shoes literally stuck to the pavement every time I passed a tree. I heard the locals complaining too. It was like walking on moist glue.
I felt I had traveled back in time about fifty years. Nothing really changed since I accompanied my father on journeys across the country all those years ago. Time to head back to the station and catch the next train to Cork on the south coast.
Cork City from the train
Not sure why this one was so ‘blue’ I blame the train window! 😉
Engine No 36
Engine No 36 is on Display at the entrance to Cork Kent Station. Built one hundred years before I was born, this old workhorse is looking well!
Busy St Patrick’s Street, Cork City
I took the bus to St Patrick Street, the main thoroughfare. It was buzzing and lively. I enjoyed my dander and kept going until I came to the end of the street.
Is that Shandon I see before me?
I wonder if that is the Tower of St Anne’s Church, Shandon? Do I hear the famous bells? There is one way to find out…
The River Lee, Cork
I crossed the river Lee and up some steps!
There are plenty of stepped alleyways to be found in Cork City.
I spoke to those two gentleman and they assured me the steps would lead me to the Shandon Bells. I took my time. It was a very long climb for knees that live in a bungalow!
Not far to go now
Once at the top I followed the directions i was given.
Nice car
Pity I didn’t meet this guy at the bottom of the hill. We spoke for a few minutes but a call to his phone brought word of a burglary at his home. He needed to rush off.
I finally found the tower.
I finally found the clock tower.
The clock was made in 1847 by James Mangan, a Cork clock maker. It was at the request of Cork Corporation who paid for it then and to this day still maintain it. The clock is known locally as “The Four Faced Liar” because in days gone by, the four faces seldom showed the same time.
The four dials are painted on the stone of the tower with each face having a diameter of 15 feet 7 inches. The roman numerals are 3 inches high, made of timber and guilded. The minute hand is seven foot three inches from centre to tip.
St Anne’s Church of Ireland, home to the Bells
Even more steps!
Wooden steps to lure us further up.
The wooden steps take us to where you can ring the famous bells.
visitors ringing the bells
This young family working the bell ropes had come all the way from Alaska. The ropes are numbered one to eight like the notes in a music scale. A book sits on a lectern with several simple recognizable tunes for people to play on the numbered ropes. The young girl was calling the numbers for her family to play. This time it was Happy Birthday and I discovered that they were playing it on the birthday of the little fellow in the middle.
I let the family go ahead of me
These steps needed thinking about – narrow very steep and with only a rope for help. It was a “Will I, won’t I” moment…
Rough flagged curve to the next level
Now you know my answer.
View from a narrow window
View from a narrow window looking at the North Cathedral.
still more steps
Look at how steep those steps are.
How time was & has changed
There are five barrels attached through pulleys to five weights which provide the power for driving the clock. Five is unusual as three are the norm. The clock ran for four days and had to be wound up by hand twice a week. The weights have now been disconnected and small electric motors are attached to the barrels, keeping the clock wound and running.
The 14 ft pendulum of the clock
The 14 foot pendulum of the clock hangs through the ceiling from the clock works on the floor above. It takes two seconds to swing from side to side. The total weight of the clock is in the region of five tonnes. I would not like the weight of that time on my arm! 😉
The clock bears an inscription:
The clock bears an inscription:
“Passenger measure your time for time is a measure of your being”
The eight bells were installed in 1752, a gift from Daniel Thresher. The played out across Shandon on 7th December for the marriage of Henry Harding and Catherine Dorman. They were being played as I passed, and although I was given ear protectors, I didn’t dally to try and photograph the moving clanging giants.
Each bell carries an inscription
The eight bells weigh a total of six tonnes and each one has an inscription. They were cast at Rudhalls foundry in Gloucester, England.
The final steps to the viewing gallery were a little precarious for me so I cried off made the sensible decision not to climb any higher. I still had to work out how I was going to unclimb all those steps.
If you are curious the view, professional photos and more history can be found here.
It was time to head back to the station if I wanted to make it home in time for dinner. The journey home was short, my head was buzzing with all I seen and the wonderful people I spoke to on my day of adventure.
I had a wonderful welcome waiting for me when I got off the train at Adamstown:
Welcome home
The LBC topic for Friday 26th July What you see out the window, was chosen by me long before my travels and the weather interrupted play. Little do you realise how busy I was, collecting evidence from one end of the country to the other.
Photos were gathered, sorted and ready to post when the internet connection ground down to a snail’s pace and at times disappeared altogether. Blame the weather!
Click on any one for the thumbnails to see the gallery.
Windows from my travels over the past three weeks. The stories will unfold over the days & weeks to come…
The last two views are my home ground and come from my archives.
Now it is time for me to catch up and have a squint through the windows of my fellow LBC members. I hope you have looked after them in my absence.
I went walking & exploring with my camera on my last visit to Elly & George. I found a man at work:
A man at work
John planting spuds.
On chatting I discovered this man was called John. The day was bright but there was a bite to the cold air all around. The ground was cold and John said he was a whole month later this year in planting his spuds. The other allotments around him had a neglected look, the owners not ready to venture out following the severe weather of the past months.
Wandering further, I discovered something unusual.
Three conical buildings
This Wonderful corkscrew-shaped barn was built in 1743 on the edge of Castletown House Estate, which borders Leixlip and Celbridge, Ireland.
The stairs ascends around the exterior of the building and it is flanked by two smaller dovecote towers.
The Barn itself stands approximately 22 metres in height, and has a tapering cone, encircled by a cantilevered staircase with a crow’s nest viewing gallery. A central hole through each of the floors supports the generally accepted theory of its use as a granary.
Alas, the barn is now in a dilapidated state due to vandalism and the entrance is blocked.
One of two dovecotes beside the Barn
The work was commissioned by Katherine Connolly, widow of William ‘Speaker’ Connolly. He had made his fortune from land transfers, following the confiscations by the Crown of lands belonging to supporters of James II after the Williamite War ended. He had the first Palladian Mansion built in Ireland – Castletown House near Celbridge in County Kildare.
William Connolly died in 1729 and was said to be the wealthiest man in Ireland at the time of his death, which left Katherine an extremely wealthy widow. There had been a severe famine in Ireland in 1740-41, she kept the local people employed working on projects like The Wonderful Barn.
There was talk of building a housing estate on the land about the barn, during the years of the Celtic Tiger, but thankfully that idea was shelved and the locals make great use of the space to exercise their four legged friends and enjoy the great outdoors. I must have talked to at least ten different dog walkers on my wander about.
On Monday last week I went to the Pictures. I realise it was April Fool’s Day, but there was no fooling about it. I warned you about it beforehand.
In Ireland we never went to the movies. We never went to the cinema.
WE WENT TO THE PICTURES!
But, sure you all know it was the same thing.
Did I ever tell you about George? No. Not George, my son-in-law. This is another one. George, lived next door to us when I was very small. At that time, he was the only person I knew who spoke with an American accent. Now for a man whose feet never touched a foreign shore, that was some feat (pun intended). He worked for one of the film distributors, maybe all the films we saw in Ireland came from across the big pond. It was a long time ago, George died when I was eight. I am not quite sure what exactly he did at work. It might have been promoting the new movies, or delivering them round the cinemas. He might have been the man who rewound the films on the reels, but whatever he did, he talked like an American.
So back to last Monday. I was in Dublin for a special live viewing of See You at The Pictures, a feature length documentary about the history of Irish cinema going through the decades. It covered cinema entertainment history, through eight decades. Right from the early days of the talkies through to the latest effects-laden superhero epic.
Up until the arrival of Telefís Éireann – now RTÉ, on 31 December 1961, entertainment and social interaction was very limited. The cinema became a great outlet:
Caught in the middle of a cultural war, Irish men and women, boys and girls, flocked carefree to the cinema in search of entertainment or enlightenment, escape or glee, in some cases warmth from the cold outside, and, quite often, privacy, to be alone with one’s sweetheart in the dark away from prying eyes or prodding canes…
The film explores the vast national treasure chest of hitherto undocumented or privately documented stories and adventures that have been stored inside heads or scribbled in yellowing notebooks and diaries across the country.
Stories ranged from the humorously anecdotal or intimately personal to nation-forming issues such as the struggle between State, Church, and Nationalists for the hearts and minds of the Irish people.
Director, Jeremiah Cullinane had this to say:
While talking to the many, many people – potential witnesses, characters, interviewees – we have already met during the research for this project, I have noticed a particular phenomenon, It is how people, when asked about their experience at or with the cinema, suddenly and completely transform when a particular memory comes back to them. It’s no exaggeration to say that the person’s eyes light up all of a sudden, the voice changes, the body becomes excited, they really become a different person. A memory, but a particularly strong one, that has been dormant, all of a sudden sparks to life, and a whole flood of associations is released. The emotional impact of this person’s transformation is unmistakeable – anyone who observes it cannot fail to be moved by it somehow. This phenomenon is true, not only of older people, as one might expect, but of practically every single person we have spoken to about the project, including future collaborators, technicians, post-production people providing quotes for services, contacts in local newspapers, etc.
Everyone seems to have a story to tell, and everyone seems to have this particular desire to tell it.
Thank you to Jeremiah and all at Planet Korda Pictures for allowing me to recall, relive and share my memories.
I have finally found a video of the documentary. It lasts one hour fifteen minutes, so put the kettle on, pour the tea and sit back and enjoy! Now remember: No blinking!!
“See You at the Pictures!”
How many times did you say those words, or have someone say them to you?
In the middle of December 2011, I became aware of a project at the hands of Planet Korda Pictures.
Planet Korda Pictures in association with RTÉ, were looking for stories or anecdotes about all aspects of the cinema-going experience from people of all ages within the island of Ireland. I could not resist adding my tuppenceworth to the stories already gathered.
In May of last year interviews were being held in Dublin and I was asked if I would be available for a chat. Always ready to try something new, I went along and it was a very interesting experience.
The aim of the project was to make a documentary about Ireland at the movies through eight decades. Like a journey through a shared history, with a very particular slant: growing up with the cinema.
Following months of travelling all over the land and interviewing cinema goers, a feature film is now ready and ‘See You at the Pictures!’ will be broadcast on RTÉ1 on Monday 1st April 2013 at 21:30 hrs.
I have no guarantee of being included, I might be lying in a bundle on a cold cutting room floor by now, but I will make it my business to watch and have my memory jogged about cinemas and films that I have forgotten all about.
Another aim, was to build a free online social history resource, a repository of information surrounding the history of Irish cinema. This is still a work in progress. The main focus of the site will be an interactive map of Ireland containing every cinema that has ever existed in the country. Eventually, when clicked on, each cinema will show video testimonials of former patrons, photographs and written accounts of people’s experiences there.
We seemed to have had dull damp days forever.
The evidence!
So when I saw a bright object in the sky today, I decided to spend an hour outdoors. I took my camera for a dander at Lough Neagh. It is the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles.
One tiny corner of Lough Neagh.
The photo above was taken through the open sun roof of my car
To the right we had clouds
To the left we had only a puff or two.
A last look before I went in search of a cup of coffee.
Six Mile water at Antrim Castle.
Courtyard at Clothworthy House
Clotworthy House now has a coffee shop open seven days a week.
I came home via Junction One shopping centre, at Antrim. You would never guess there were only 20 days to Christmas.