My first time in the Saratoga Bar in Woodstown was about this time of the year many years back when playing rubbers. Whats a rubber you may well ask. A rubber is a card game where two teams of three played thirties against each other. The winners progressed to...
I recently confirmed something, that I had previously only suspected. That there were two Motte and Bailey castles in the area of Cheekpoint dating to the Norman conquest. One we know for certain was on the land of Phil Gough in Faithlegg. The other however is a...
The Passage East fish house stands today as part of the local community centre. It was once the actual centre of the community however, processing at one point over 38,000 herring per day and providing a vital outlet for fishermen and onshore employment too. As a...
111 years ago today a special event train carrying up to 500 invited guests travelled across the the Barrow Bridge to signify the opening of the South West Wexford Line. It would mark a new departure in Irish Sea travel for citizens of the south of Ireland and be a...
John Roberts 1714-1796 was born to a Waterford builder and architect from who it must be imagined he first learned his trade, before heading to London to further his studies. Apparently whilst there, he met and eloped with Susannah Maria Sautelle (1716-1800) and the...
Faithlegg House was built in 1783 by Cornelius Bolton, then landlord of the Faithlegg/Cheekpoint area of east Waterford. Known as a progressive businessman and politician one can presume he intended Faithlegg as not just his home but a statement of his stature in the...
Jack Meades pub and restaurant has got to be one of the more remarkable and intriguing 18th Century agricultural sites in the country. As a young man I hadn't much time for the older men who drank there, preferring to spend my time having the craic and the beer with...
When Arthur Young, the noted agriculturalist and travel writer visited the Faithlegg area in 1776 and again in 1778 he was an enthusiastic supporter of the works of Cornelius Bolton, the elder and his younger son of the same name. One of his observations was that he...
If I had a penny for the number of people who asked me what was the factory across from Cheekpoint with the big chimneys I'd be wealthy. Of course those distinctive 450 foot chimneys, which belched black smoke into the atmosphere for just over three decades, were part...
In 1824 Rev Richard Hopkins Ryland published The history, topography and antiquities of the County and City of Waterford. The Dungarvan native and amateur historian had set out to challenge "the incorrect ideas and false representations of flying travellers...
A lime kiln is a structure that uses heat to break down limestone rock into limestone powder. The kiln sites that remain in the harbor are based on a similar design and probably date back to the mid-18th century. Most of these kilns are double kilns, meaning they have...
This Sunday 21st August my wife Deena and I will conduct a heritage walk through Faithlegg commencing at 12noon at the Church. Its the 11th year that we've organised something for Heritage Week . Faithlegg is probably best known now as a location for weddings,...
This week marks the 110 anniversary of the opening of the Barrow Railway Viaduct, 21st July 1906. Built to connect Waterford with Rosslare, the bridge crosses the Rivers Barrow & Nore at Drumdowney in Kilkenny and Great Island in Wexford. The event was officiated...
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...
Jack Meade's is one of Waterford's, if not the country's, most popular pubs/restaurants. Like all businesses it has had to adapt and diversify to remain viable, and given that it's over 300 years old, its seen more than a bit of change down the years. The pub itself...
There's nothing as fickle as a market I guess. Products that go from boom to bust in a few short years, or less today when we think of technology. In the past Waterford, along with many other ports traded in a commodity that was considered an essential for the food...
Many readers will know that we have a holy well in Faithlegg dedicated to St Ita. January 15th is her feast day, (she reputedly died on this day in 570AD). We looked at St Ita around the same time last year, and I left it with a question in terms of why the well is...
The Barrow Bridge was officially opened in 1906 to connect Waterford's train station, and thus the SW of Ireland, to the newly developed port at Rosslare. I've written before about the initial planning and concern about crossing the River Barrow which separates...
Growing up in the Mount Avenue in the 1970's the most notable and invasive feature on our young lives was neither the magnificent Barrow Railway viaduct, or the colliding waters of the three rivers as they met below our home. That honour, if that phrase is...
One of the oldest grave stones in Faithlegg belongs to a family named Fortune. But the headstone creates a bit of a stir...it gives two dates of death for the lady...1745 & 1746 The headstone reads; Here lyeth ye body of ANSTAS FORTUNE alias QUINLAN...
In an era of rapid and perhaps instant communication, it might come as a surprise to younger readers to realise that in the past, communication was a slow and very often weather dependent activity, involving stage coach, ships and very hardy individuals. The Mail...
A few years back a group of scientists were gathered and asked what was the 20th Century's greatest invention. Out of an eventual list of 100, refrigeration topped the bill. You might think the kitchen fridge is a relatively modern development, and I guess you'd be...
Today marks one year of blogging about my community and giving a sense of just how rich this area is in terms of history, heritage and culture. A theme that runs through the writing is how the ordinary becomes a little more, once you take the time to look more...
For some reason, I have had, for as long as I can remember, this idyllic notion of the workings of a watermill. It includes a gushing stream of water, the clanking of gears turning in a fine stone building, the dust escaping from corn sacks as they are spilled into a...
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