For generations of Cheekpoint fishermen, the White Stone was a foul mark to be wary of, a river-based location that was notorious for dragging nets to the bottom and causing costly damage. Recently I stumbled upon the back story to the foul, the cause of so...
It's been a hectic Heritage Week 2023, in fact, my busiest yet with three seperate events. We kicked off on Sunday 13th August with a presentation in Byrnes of Ballyhack, Co Wexford which focused on the history of Salmon fishing here in the harbour area, the boats,...
The oldest map I have seen of the area (1764) indicates Cheekpoint at what we know locally as the Sheag Rock close to the Mount Avenue. The present village and a quay are indicated but called Faithlegg Slip! We know that a quay was here for the Mail Packet ships from...
In March I was lucky enough to deliver a talk for the Dublin Bay Old Gaffers at Poolbeg and after the talk Jonathan Wigam came up to me with some images that were taken in his great grandfather's time –Edward Jacob, an agent for Lloyds of London based in...
Living beside the meeting of the three sister rivers, and having fished it for over 15 years, I’ve been lucky to see quite a variety of fish over that time. By far the largest and most incredible was a Minke whale, which beached but which my brother Robert, Pat...
I've recorded the name Tom Poors Quay before as part of a blog on the Lightermen. I had heard it called Lighterman's Quay in Cheekpoint although it does not seem to have been called by this elsewhere. In Ballyhack the name Tom Poor is common...and most are of the...
This coming weekend my brother Robert and I will participate again in the RNLI fundraiser the Mayday Mile. This year, we are rowing the River Suir from Carrick to Cheekpoint. And to whet the appetite David Carroll has contributed a guest blog. David explores the life...
On Thursday 16th March 2023 I was delighted to give an illustrated talk in Ballyhack on the Paddle Steamers’ service that ran from New Ross and Duncannon to Waterford from 1836/7 to 1917. The steamers carried passengers and freight, provided day trips on summer...
In December 2022 Walter Foley retired as pilot officer for New Ross. Walter had provided the service since my uncle Sonny retired at Cheekpoint in 1995. Walter actually mentioned to me that he took over the role on the first tide of January 1996, Sonny retiring on the...
In April 1898 some of the people of New Ross were disturbed to see what they understood to be a Royal Navy gunship, moored in the town with an intention to suppress the commemoration of the 1798 uprising. But was this the real purpose of this ship, and where had...
This is my ongoing diary into the fate of the Barrow Bridge. The details are below but in brief here's whats covered to date (24/5/2024) July 1906 - opened to connect the new port at Rosslare with Waterford and on to the west Sept 2010 - route closed Feb 2022 - Bridge...
In 1906 the River Suir was vibrant if weakening commercial thoroughfare transporting goods up and down from Clonmel to the sea on a daily basis, just like our motorways today. The boats used were flat-bottomed lighters (also called yawls above Carrick and barges) and...
I grew up with the placename Pill. And I suppose as is often the case, something so familiar goes without questioning. It was as much part of my vocabulary as Bight, Tailstone, Stroke, Taught, Backlash, Scooneen, Slob, and so on. Over time I came to...
One of our favourite boat trips is up the Campile Pill from where we can call to Dunbrody Abbey, visit the village itself or explore the neighbourhood and its interesting heritage. Although my favourite pastime is in exploring the fishing heritage of the area,...
For this years Imagine Arts festival I am doing two talks - both in Jordans on the Quay and both on the theme of Waterford Maritime History. The first is "In the Great Westerns Wake" - a reminisce of the ship that traded from the early 1930s to the mid-1960s from the...
For this year's Heritage Week Deena and I organised a weir building workshop based on my personal life experiences of working on the repair and the fishing of the traditional Waterford Harbour Head Weir. I decided to build a life-size model of the structure at...
After four long years of a hard slog, Cheekpoint finally got a new pontoon access to the water, bringing the village into the 21st Century. A small local committee with a very healthy membership of local boat owners was behind the project and from the outset, the...
Some might say that one event as a volunteer organiser for Heritage Week is noble, but two may be over the top. The truth is, I was thinking the same myself last week as the time clipped along and the workload seemed daunting. Having committed to do a...
On Saturday 23rd July the Camino Society of Ireland came to our community to appreciate the role of the harbour in medieval pilgrimage. On a walk led by Damien McLellan, we met at Passage East, took the ferry to Ballyhack, and wandered the roads in search of pilgrims'...
Today marks the opening of the Barrow Railway Bridge and the South West Wexford line. I wrote previously about the planning and construction of the Bridge which was started in 1902 by the firm of William Arrol & Co to a design by one of the foremost engineers of...
I am delighted to have this guest blog entry from Cian Manning of a vivid account of just one of the many historic races that took place in the regattas of the past in Waterford City. In this case, it reveals the visit of the Oxford rowers in 1890 who came to compete...
Although Sunday 26th June dawned wet and breezy, as the morning wore on the cloud started to lift and by early afternoon it was a beautiful sunny summer day, but with a strong SW breeze. As Deena and I drove towards Dunmore East Geoff Harris broadcast from the...
As you pass under Barrow Bridge entering the River Barrow or (Ross River as we call it in Cheekpoint) there is an outcrop of rock that rises almost vertically from the river. Located on the left hand side, or port if we want to be suitably nautical, this Kilkenny...
On Saturday 18th June 2022 I went for an evening boating trip. As Deena was entertaining some friends at home I was on my own, but we had already had two good trips out together - to Jack Meades and Campile earlier that week. Our first trip out, made it to Jack...
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