As we enter another bank holiday weekend in lockdown, David Carroll has put together this maritime history quiz of the SE area to give you a bit of a distraction. The questions have a maritime/historical basis and any of my regular blog readers will have a good understanding of them already. But for others it’s multiple choice so a one in three chance of being right. David will post the answers here on Monday. So hope you enjoy it.

1. Ballyhack Castle is thought to have been built c 1450 by which great military order? A: Knights Hospitallers of St John, B: Knights Templars or C: Teutonic Knights
2. Dollar Bay acquired its name from a cargo of 250 sacks of Spanish milled gold dollars, ingots and gold dust that were buried there by pirates in 1765. The ship from which it was stolen had departed from Tenerife, in the Canaries, for passage to London.
   The ship was called? A: Earl of Wessex, B: Earl of Sandwich or C: Earl of Pembroke
3. “At Geneva Barracks that young man died
   And at Passage they have his body laid
   Good people who live in peace and joy
   Breathe a prayer, shed a tear for the Croppy Boy”
   Originally built to accommodate Swiss artisans, valued for their knowledge and skills, who were fleeing that country. A site was acquired for their anticipated arrival and was named New Geneva, after the country of origin of the new settlers. The Government believed that such body of skilled merchants would give impetus to trade and commerce in Waterford city and the nation. The experiment, however, failed and the building was subsequently used for military purposes, including the infamy of 1798.
   A famous architect was commissioned to draw up plans for the original town. Was it? A: John Roberts, B: James Gandon or C: Richard Cassells
4. A saint is said to have to have come to the Hook from Wales in 452 AD and established a monastery on the site of the lighthouse. He is said to have lit the first warning beacon for ships shortly after his arrival. The beacon was maintained by the monks for seven hundred years until the lighthouse was built.
   What was he called? A: Dewi, B: Dyfrig or C: Dubhán
5. What was the surname of the Arthur who built Dunbrody Park and the village of Arthurstown in the first quarter of the 1800s and provided the village with its name?
   Was it? A: Chichester, B: Rochester or C: Winchester
6. Legend has it that the fleet of King Henry II, arriving in October 1171, numbered 600 ships and one of the merchants who donated to the flotilla was a Bristol merchant. He was handsomely rewarded with the granting of 7,000 acres of land centred in Faithlegg. This family ruled the area for five hundred years until they were dispossessed in 1649 by the armies of Oliver Cromwell.
   What was this family called? A: Aylward, B: Power or C: Devereux
7. Duncannon Fort as it is to-day mostly dates from 1588, when it was constructed on a promontory in Waterford Harbour as a defence against an expected attack from the Spanish Armada. In 1645, Duncannon Fort was in control of Parliamentary Forces and Cromwell sent four ships to relieve the fort. The Confederates, who were besieging the fort, attacked the ships. Three of the ships managed to get away but the flagship was caught up in bad currents and tide and could not move. She came under heavy fire which broke her masts. She drifted out into the main channel where she sank on January 26th, 1645.
   The ship was called? A: Great Britain, B: Great Lewis or C: Great Eastern
8. “Of shipwrecks and disasters we’ve read and seen a deal
   But now the coast of Wexford must tell a dreadful tale
   On the 4th day of January the wind in a gale did blow
   And four and twenty hands were lost of the Alfred D. Snow
   From the port of San Francisco she sailed across the main
   Bound for the port of Liverpool her cargo it was grain
   On a happy day she sailed away to cross the stormy foam
   There’s not a soul alive today to bring the tidings home.”
   The Snow was lost on the 4th of January in year? A: 1888, B: 1878 or C: 1898
9. In the 1650s, the Loftus family, who were English Planters as part of the Cromwellian conquest were given what we now call Loftus Hall. What was the Hall called prior to that time?
   Was it? A: Hook Hall, B: Redmond Hallor C: Ely Hall
10. In 1814, Dunmore was a small fishing village nestling in a sheltered cove, when it was chosen by the Post Office to be the Irish terminal of a new Mail Packet route from Milford Haven. The Post Office engaged an Engineer, called Alexander Nimmo, to design and build the new harbour.
    Where was Nimmo born? A: Wales, B: England or C: Scotland
11. According to local tradition, a track steeped in legend runs from the ‘Forty Steps’ at Creadan Head to Fornaght beach and from there on over Knockavelish to Harristown Hill where a late Neolithic passage grave crowns the hilltop.
    One popular interpretation makes it a slave route or possibly likely to be a smugglers route or even a ceremonial route linking Creadan Head to the Harristown passage grave.
    What is the track called? A: Bóithrín na mBan Gorm, B: Bóithrín na mBan Buí or C: Bóithrín na mBan Bán
12. Having served as a major in the Royal Marines during the Second World War, Major Cholmeley-Harrison moved to Ireland in 1945 and bought Woodstown House, a Regency villa. It was previously the home of Lady Carew, who had been at the Duchess of Richmond’s celebrated ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo and lived until 1903.
    In the summer of what year did Cholmeley-Harrison rent Woodstown to Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of the assassinated US president?
    Was it: A: 1965, B: 1967 or C: 1969
13. On August 23, 1170, ‘Strongbow’ landed at Passage with at least 200 knights and 1,000 soldiers.
    What was Strongbow’s real name? Was it? A: Raymond Fitzgerald, B: Miles De Cogan or C: Richard De Clare
14. In what year was the Barrow Bridge opened to connect Waterford to the newly developed port of Rosslare by rail?
    Stretching from Co Kilkenny to Co Wexford, where the Suir, Barrow and Nore meet, it is 2,131 feet in length and up to the 1990s was the longest railway viaduct in the country.
    Was it? A: 1896, B: 1906 or C: 1916

And so for the answers via David Carroll. Over to you David:

Thank you to everyone who took part in the quiz.  I hope that you found it interesting and that it helped pass some time during these unusual times.

Thank you for all the comments that were posted.

I hope that many of you learned something new about the wonderful heritage and history of Waterford Harbour that Andrew brings to is each day through his social media platforms.

For anyone new, perhaps, to ‘Waterford Harbour’, I hope you interest has been whetted and that you curiosity will encourage to read and research more into the wonderful heritage and history that we are privileged to enjoy.

1. Ballyhack Castle is thought to have been built c 1450 by which great military order?

        A: Knights Hospitallers of St John

“Ballyhack Castle is a large tower house thought to have been built c. 1450 by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John, one of the two great military orders founded at the beginning of the 12th century at the time of the Crusades.”

• Dollar Bay acquired its name from a cargo of 250 sacks of Spanish milled gold dollars, ingots and gold dust that were buried there by pirates in 1765. The ship from which it was stolen had departed from Tenerife, in the Canaries, for passage to London.

                                        B: Earl of Sandwich

• “At Geneva Barracks that young man died
  And at Passage they have his body laid
  Good people who live in peace and joy
  Breathe a prayer, shed a tear for the Croppy Boy”

Originally built to accommodate Swiss artisans, valued for their knowledge and skills, who were fleeing that country. A site was acquired for their anticipated arrival and was named New Geneva, after the country of origin of the new settlers. The Government believed that such body of skilled merchants would give impetus to trade and commerce in Waterford city and the nation. The experiment, however, failed and the building was subsequently used for military purposes, including the infamy of 1798.

A famous architect was commissioned to draw up plans for the original town.

                                        B: James Gandon

“New Geneva Barracks was identified as the proposed site for a planned colony for artisan and intellectual Genevan settlers, who had become refugees following a failed rebellion against a French and Swiss government in the city. Ireland had been granted a parliament separate from London in 1782 and it was thought that the creation of the colony would stimulate new economic trade with the continent. James Gandon, who designed the Custom House, was commissioned to create a masterplan for the site overlooking the Waterford Estuary. The plans for the colony eventually collapsed, however, when the Genevans insisted that they should be represented in the Irish parliament but govern themselves under their own Genevan laws. It then became a barracks following the United Irishmen Rebellion in 1798.”                 

Watch Catherine Foley read from her book:

• A saint is said to have to have come to the Hook from Wales in 452 AD and established a monastery on the site of the lighthouse. He is said to have lit the first warning beacon for ships shortly after his arrival. The beacon was maintained by the monks for seven hundred years until the lighthouse was built.

                                                C: Dubhán

“Saint Dubhán is said to have lit the first warning beacon for ships at Hook Head shortly after his arrival. This beacon was maintained by the monks for 700 years until the lighthouse was built.

Saint Dubhán built a church and soon the whole peninsula was known as Rinn Dubháin. The name Dubhán can be translated into English as a ‘fishing hook’ and so, it is said, the peninsula became known as Hook Head.”

• What was the surname of the Arthur who built Dunbrody Park and the village of Arthurstown in the first quarter of the 1800s and provided the village with its name?

         A:  Chichester

“During the first quarter of the 1800s, Arthur Chichester built the estate village of Arthurstown on the Dundrody estate which became a focal point for the surrounding areas. The village had a hospital, a coast guard station, a police barracks and a courthouse. The pier in Arthurstown was built in 1829.”

• Legend has it that the fleet of King Henry II, arriving in October 1171, numbered 600 ships and one of the merchants who donated to the flotilla was a Bristol merchant.  He was handsomely rewarded with the granting of 7,000 acres of land centred in Faithlegg. This family ruled the area for five hundred years until they were dispossessed in 1649 by the armies of Oliver Cromwell. 

                             A: Aylward

“A Norman named Strongbow landed in the harbour in 1170 and this was followed by the arrival of Henry II in October 1171.  Legend has it that Henry’s fleet numbered 600 ships and one of the merchants who donated to the flotilla was a Bristol merchant named Aylward.  He was handsomely rewarded with the granting of 7000 acres of land centred in Faithlegg. The family lived originally in a Motte and Baily enclosure the remains of which is still to be seen.  This was followed by Faithlegg Castle and the 13^th century church in the grounds of the present Faithlegg church dates from their era too. The family ruled the area for 500 years until they were dispossessed in 1649 by the armies of Oliver Cromwell.  The property was subsequently granted to a Cromwellian solider, Captain William Bolton.”                            

• Duncannon Fort as it is to-day mostly dates from 1588, when it was constructed on a promontory in Waterford Harbour as a defence against an expected attack from the Spanish Armada.

In 1645, Duncannon Fort was in control of Parliamentary Forces and Cromwell sent four ships to relieve the fort.  The Confederates, who were besieging the fort, attacked the ships.  Three of the ships managed to get away but the flagship was caught up in bad currents and tide and could not move.  She came under heavy fire which broke her masts.  She drifted out into the main channel where she sank on January 26^th, 1645.

                                    B: Great Lewis

    https://russianside.blogspot.com/2018/05/duncannon-siege.html                             http://www.waterfordinyourpocket.com/the-great-lewis/

• “Of shipwrecks and disasters we’ve read and seen a deal
  But now the coast of Wexford must tell a dreadful tale
  On the 4th day of January the wind in a gale did blow
  And four and twenty hands were lost of the Alfred D. Snow

From the port of San Francisco she sailed across the main
Bound for the port of Liverpool her cargo it was grain
On a happy day she sailed away to cross the stormy foam
There’s not a soul alive today to bring the tidings home.”

        The Alfred D Snow was lost on the 4^th of January in what year?

                                        A: 1888

• In the 1650s, the Loftus family, who were English Planters as part of the Cromwellian conquest were given what we now call Loftus Hall. What was the Hall called prior to that time?

                                        B: Redmond Hall

1. In 1814, Dunmore was a small fishing village nestling in a sheltered cove, when it was chosen by the Post Office to be the Irish terminal of a new Mail Packet route from Milford Haven. The Post Office engaged an Engineer, called Alexander Nimmo, to design and build the new harbour.

Where was Nimmo born?

                                       C: Scotland

1. According to local tradition, a track steeped in legend runs from the ‘Forty Steps’ at Creadan Head to Fornaght beach and from there on over Knockavelish to Harristown Hill where a late Neolithic passage grave crowns the hilltop.

One popular interpretation makes it a slave route or possibly likely to be a smugglers route or even a ceremonial route linking Creadan Head to the Harristown passage grave.  

What is the track called?

                                A: Bóithrín na mBan Gorm

1. Having served as a major in the Royal Marines during the Second World War, Major Cholmeley-Harrison moved to Ireland in 1945 and bought Woodstown House, a Regency villa. It was previously the home of Lady Carew, who had been at the Duchess of Richmond’s celebrated ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo and lived until 1903.

In the summer of what year did Cholmeley-Harrison rent Woodstown to Mrs Jacqueline Kennedy, widow of the assassinated US president?

                                        B: 1967

13.    On August 23, 1170, ‘Strongbow’ landed at Passage with at least 200 knights and 1,000 soldiers.

What was Strongbow’s real name?        

                                        C: Richard De Clare

1. In what year was the Barrow Bridge opened to connect Waterford to the newly developed port of Rosslare by rail?

Stretching from Co Kilkenny to Co Wexford, where the Suir, Barrow and Nore meet, it is 2,131 feet in length and up to the 1990s was the longest railway viaduct in the country.

                               B: 1906