My normal blog generally follows a predictable theme of heritage or history concerning Waterford Harbour. However, although this post concerns heritage, which will become clear at the end, it also celebrates volunteers, our youth and decries the condition of our...
As a child the village shop was owned by Molly Doherty, on the spot where Ben Power now trades. There's a photo hanging up there of Molly standing in front of it all those years back. It was a much more modest building, but one feature of it was as you...
I often had to correct visitors who believe that Thomas Francis Meagher's body is interred in Faithlegg. Yet the family tomb is there, as are three other family plots, that I know of, around the world. But Thomas alas is in none of them. He's the man with four...
Today's blog is a summary of the recent walk conducted to celebrate Heritage Week 2015 and is a narrative of the afternoon and what we encountered. Welcome to Cheekpoint and to this years heritage week event, which is hosted by the Cheekpoint Fishing Heritage...
One of the industries that grew up in Cheekpoint in conjunction with the Mail Packet station was textiles. Nothing now remains, except some brief mentions of the trade and local lore. It appears that the Cheekpoint venture was part of an initiative in the...
The salmon driftnet season traditionally closed on August 15th, and it was always brought mixed feelings. Grateful to have a break after the rigor of 24hr a day fishing, but conscious that within a week you'd be longing to be back into the familiar rhythm of...
We briefly met with the Owen's last week, when I introduced the forthcoming walk for Heritage Week; Cheekpoint's Industrial Age. This week I wanted to take a closer look at the family. The Owen's came to Cheekpoint in 1787 to run the Mail Packet Station....
In 1785 Cornelius Bolton along with other investors bought out the Mail Packet Station, then based at Passage East and moved it upriver to Cheekpoint, Co Waterford. Around this business, Bolton built a vibrant industrial village. The man who came to run...
Daisybank house, was a derelict three story Georgian mansion when I was growing up. Its only saving grace to me with its shattered windows and crumbling brickwork was an old orchard at its rear, with some very flavorsome apples. A visit to those apple...
It is reputed that one of the earliest of the parishes to be founded under the Norman system was at Faithlegg. The lands (some 4000 acres [including 199 at Cheekpoint and 353 at Faithlegg]) were granted by Henry II to Aleward Juevinis. Henry had landed at...
One of my earliest memories as a child was my mother bringing us off on a Sunday afternoon to visit our Nanny in the Russianside. It was a smaller place then. From the cross roads you passed the homes of Martin Nugent, Joanie Hanlon, Andy Lannen and Nellie...
Cheekpoint is both a village and a townland, and for many's the year there has been two explanations to the origins of the name, a practical, geographical placename and what is probably best described as a romantic version. The name Cheekpoint derives from...
With St Patricks weekend coming up, my thoughts turned to that “wearing of the Green” day of my childhood, and particularly the 9am mass at Faithlegg Church. On reflection I guess the mass stands out, as in those days before it became a "festival" it was much...
In last weeks blog we met the Bolton family of Cornelius Bolton the elder, through the visits and writings of Arthur Young. At this time the families activities were generally of a pastoral nature. In a few short years however they would...
For the winter solstice this year we decided to do something we had never done before; walk to the Minaun and welcome the rising sun as I imagine our forbearers in the distant past had. I have to say I was nervous that anyone would be interested to come along,...
Recently I was asked for the origins of the placename Minaun. The Minaun as we wrote about recently is not alone the highest piece of ground in the area, its the highest in the Barony of Gaultier. For many years it has been a walking attraction and from...
This weekend marks an renewal of an old tradition, the Senior Citizens party. I recall many years back the parties going on in the Reading Room and as youngsters we passed by and could hear the voices and the music and do our best to avoid the cars...
As a child there was a popular song by Glenn Campbell called Rhinestone Cowboy. Somehow, it wound its way into the local parlance, often sang about the exploits of a certain fisherman who worked Ryan's shore (or the shore) for a living. It could have been...
Adelaide Blake was the third daughter of Nicholas Mahon Power, landlord of Faithlegg from 1819 to 1873. His youngest child, she was forty before she married John A Blake MP. Part of her legacy was the establishment of the Reading Rooms, Cheekpoint and the stained...
My grandmother had a phrase “the longer you live in a place, the longer you live”. I found it a curious phrase, one that tended to be used on the death of a friend or neighbour I remember. Like many of my grandmothers utterances, I never stopped the...
From Wendell Berry [The concept of "Mendo Island" is not to be isolationist or provincial, but rather to focus our attention and efforts locally, transitioning to more community-sufficiency, and in that process we also help those in far away places who are being...
Some responses to the key areas for the community plan Rather than design a survey, I have used the mind mapping format to generate ideas for myself. I am listing them here, and also some further notes on the survey idea. Ray will also send on a...
Some notes on areas for an action plan Possibility of using an electronic survey - survey monkey to do some initial information gathering via current email addresses of mine, the community alliance group and via the village facebook page. Need to explore the potential...
“We see people and things not as they are, but as we are” Anthony De Mello These last few weeks of revisiting previous musings and re writing them in a reflective way has helped to refine some thoughts, but also to stimulate new ideas and directions. A colleague...
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