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An Sidhe Gaoith Daniel McDonald 1841 NFC |
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Hauling the nets Photo via Tomás Sullivan |
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themorriganslair.weebly.com |
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Joel and myself many years back out on the river |
Waterford Harbour Tides & Tales
Andrew Doherty
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An Sidhe Gaoith Daniel McDonald 1841 NFC |
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Hauling the nets Photo via Tomás Sullivan |
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themorriganslair.weebly.com |
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Joel and myself many years back out on the river |
This morning, the Morgenster, a Dutch two masted, square rigged, sailing ship will enter Waterford Harbour with her crew and 30+ trainees aboard. She is sailing under the auspices of Sail Training Ireland and on Saturday she will be open to the public to mark the 200 year anniversary of the Port and as a fundraiser for Waterford City River Rescue. Tickets for a groups of four are available for €10. Waterford In Your Pocket has all the details.
But apart from the magic of seeing a tall ship in the harbour, or a fundraiser for one of our favourite charities, what makes it so special is that our eldest daughter Hannah will be one of the trainee sailors aboard. She shipped out last Sunday evening, from Cobh in Co Cork. I mentioned Cobh before on the blog, because it was a departure point for many of the family who never returned. I’ve always found it a emotive location. It was all the more so to us as we walked towards the pier with our daughter.
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Morgenster at Cobh |
Hannah was fortunate of course. An email from a singing buddy, Breda with the Waterford Women’s Centre had caused her much excitement. It spoke of an opportunity to have a bursary towards a sailing experience, with the assistance of Waterford Area Partnership, Waterford Port Authority and the Council. She had the choice of applying for a five or sixteen day trip. She ticked the latter and sent it off. A week before we had heard nothing, and so following a few calls and social media call messages, Alina from Sail Training Ireland came back and suddenly rather than speculation it was planning!
Hannah was a little unsure coming closer to last weekend. Was it all a bit rushed, would she have the right equipment, how would she really get on. Although unspoken, we both shared her fears and more. However, remaining quiet and trying to be supportive we gave what encouragement we could. It was after all her decision. Coincidentally, or was it something more, a few weeks before my mother had passed on a family memento to me for safekeeping. Taking it down, I passed it over to her. She placed her hand into it and I explained what it was used for. It instantly relaxed her, almost as if the physical action of connecting with the weathered leather, imbued with the blood, sweat and seawater of generations, eased her mind and grounded her.
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Palm and needle, and an Aul for making holes in canvas when required |
For as long as I can recall my father had this Palm and Needle. The palm and needle was used by sailors in the past when sailing before the mast to make and repair sails. In fact it was so common to me growing up, I always presumed it was his. However, when my mother passed it on, I noticed his handwritten note to say it came from a sailor aboard a tall ship named Brooklands. The Brooklands, a three masted schooner was originally named the Susan Vittary. She was built in 1859 by Kelly of Dartmouth and had plied a trade originally between England and the West Indies. She was sold to the Crenin family of Ballinacurra in Cork in 1923, renamed and continued to work until her timbers gave way and she sank off the Tuskar Rock in 1953.1
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Brooklands inbound to Waterford early 20th C, Minaun in the distance photo accessed from WHG, posted by Andy Kelly. 2 |
What was so special about her, was that she was the last ship to ply the southern Irish coast without auxiliary power. Tom MacSweeney gives a great sense of what that means in this extract about her. Unfortunately I never got to ask my father just what his connection to the Brooklands was, but I imagine there were Cheekpoint men sailing her from time to time. Another possibility, is that whilst dropping a cargo of coal to Cheekpoint, or awaiting a favourable wind, my father was aboard hearing the yarns of the sailors that he would one day want to emulate. I’m well aware of the numbers of such ships that entered and left the harbour. Growing up in the forties my father had a front row seat to witnessing the dying tradition of sailing “before the mast”. I asked him often if he would have liked to try it but I recall him always changing the subject or dismissing the suggestion. He told me the last man that he knew in Cheekpoint who had sailed such ships was Larry Cassin on the old road. Larry worked at the time in the Harbour Board, and to my eternal dismay I never made it my business to call to him and ask about it before he died.
Last Sunday evening in Cobh we got the chance to board with Hannah and meet her shipmates and see her thrilling home for the next sixteen days. Alina was our guide and the ships captain Harry was very welcoming and we had a brief chat about our family tradition. “Well then Hannah” he said, “I can promise you an experience that your forefathers missed”
As we turned to leave Hannah was in two minds. That uncertainty was back. Eventually she said “I’m scared, but I’d feel worse driving home not knowing what I missed” How many others uttered the same words at Cobh through the generations I wondered.
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Hannah on the left, enjoying some down time photo via Sail Training Ireland Facebook page |
1&2. Irish. B & Kelly A. Two Centuries of Tall Ships in Waterford. 2011. Rectory Press. Portlaw.
Adults can sometimes be guilty, inadvertently in fairness, of causing deep confusion in youngsters. An example I can recall was the placename “Buttermilk Castle” or more common with the fishermen simply “the Castle”. The Castle was formidable lump of rock and forestery that jutted out into the river directly across from the Russianside, just below Nuke in Co. Wexford. The associated fishing weir shared the name. The rock gave a sense of a citadel but when I sought further information my youthful questions were usually brushed aside. My confusion continued even after I started fishing, the Castle from which the name arose you see had crumbled into the cliff, and was swallowed up by the undergrowth.
My first introduction to the Castle, came when visiting a wonderful maritime museum that was located at Duncannon Fort, back in the 90’s. Alas no more now, it had a photograph, below, of the Castle, taken by AH Poole in the late 19th C. It depicted the familar square shaped Norman Tower house. It was before the coming of social media and the wonderful books of Billy Colfer, and it was a joy to me to finally see what for years I could only try imagine. It was well worth the £25 I paid!
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Buttermilk Castle AH Pool |
But where one question is answered, others very often arise. And so it was with Buttermilk. Why a castle in such an out of the way spot and what was its purpose? Locally the accepted wisdom was that it was part of the elaborate farm and business of the Cistercian abbey at Dunbrody. The monks constructed it as a protection and comfort to their fishing monks, who were working the associated weir, and operating others, no doubt 24/7. Colfer states that it was built as a “headquarters for fishing activities in the harbour”.1
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Via Colfer, RSAI 2 |
However in another publication he says that both the Towerhouse at Ballyhack and Buttermilk were constructed to “exploit the economic opportunities presented by Waterford harbour”3
I personally lean towards the broader position, although for years I had accepted the fishing monks abode without question. In the first instance, it’s an elaborate build to keep the rain off fishermen. Towerhouses, were usually built for defense. The location would not protect it much from the land, but would certainly be formidably from the river. Was it more of a secure location, a place where business could be transacted and valuables stored.
Its undoubtedly true that the weirs were a commercial success in the harbour and drove a lot of the trade from the area to the continent. Rental to Dunbrody of three fishing weirs was equal in value to the rental of half a ploughland at 48s 4d. 4
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Buttermilk castle and weir circa 1850 N.L.I. 5 |
Of course, foreign fleets were also working the harbour and off the coast. Such fleets needed secure landing places to dry or salt their catch. Is it possible that it was an administrative centre for such activities. The monks certainly would have had the contacts. I wonder was the fact that we have two towerhouses so closely located, a sign of hostility. The tower at Ballyhack is most probably of Templar build, was there competition between both groups at a time in the past, for such trade .
I also heard it described as a Toll House and indeed a Water Gate. I find the notion of a toll house fascinating. In modern times, we might think Buttermilk is a bit out of the way, but in medieval times what ships needed was a safe anchorage and would have sought out such places whilst waiting a cargo or a position in port. There could have been a possibility of a connection with Dunbrody or New Ross. An intriguing thought. Even in modern times the site is still highly regarded as a safe anchorage.
Colfer says that the Tower was initially known as “Skeroirke Tower”, something that he speculates is a name of Norse origin, Skar being a word used for rock.6 Certainly appropriate given the outcropping, The name Buttermilk is a newer origin. I’ve never heard anyone speculate as to why a tower built to protect weirs, would be called after a dairy by-product. According to my Grandmother, the name of the castle comes from the fact that it was used to transport point between Dunbrody and Faithlegg. She said that butter was made on the site from milk gathered from the Waterford side of the harbour on a Faithlegg farm under their control.
Whatever the truth of it, the reality is that over millennia, the chances are that Buttermilk Castle served several purposes, some of which we may never realise. Its just another one of those rich and fascinating placenames and sites we have in the harbour, which we need to explore.
1&2 Colfer B. Wexford Castles. 2013. Cork University Press
3,4,5&6 Colfer. B. The Hook Peninsula. 2004. Cork University Press
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PS Toward Castle, an example of an earlier paddle steamer, I’m taken with the image however, of the person atop the paddle and imagine Meagher in just such a position on entering the harbour. 2 |
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Dunbrody Abbey, Co Wexford from the river
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Snow Hill House, Co Kilkenny. 3
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TF Meagher in later years
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