For many years I was intrigued by the copper mining at Bunmahon on Waterford's coast, but it was only recently I realised that the industry had a connection with one of this pages passions, ships. Bunmahon, on Waterfords coast is home now to the Copper coast Geo park...
Welcome to my online gallery. It arose from a post by Maria Doyle, originally from Ballyhack. She suggested a photo library taken of my book cover from wherever people read it. And the title of this online gallery is suggested by Maria too. Please feel free to...
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...
On Tuesday 24th October on Geoff Harris' Lunchbox show on WLR FM I was interviewed about my blog, new book and the launch last week at Jack Meades. I was delighted to feature on this lunchbox show interview with Geoff and he has a great insight into the river and its...
As my regulars now know, I launched my first book last Friday 20th October. Called Before the Tide Went Out it tells my own story from my earliest memories into my childhood recollections of the village of Cheekpoint and the fisherfolk that made up my world. I bring...
Those who have looked on the photos depicting the bustling trade on Waterford and New Ross quays in the 19th Century must wonder at the safety aspect of so many ships in close proximity. Indeed the risks associated with this golden age of sea travel have made for...
This day next week Friday 20th October I will launch my first book titled Before the Tide Went Out. It takes place at Jack Meades on the Cheekpoint road at 7.30pm and everyone is welcome. Of course launches are something I am very familiar with. Launching punts...
Few could imagine in this day and age, the joy of attending a disco in an old hall, with broken windows and a sagging floor with dodgy electrics and no toilet or running water. But in rural Cheekpoint in the 1970's every teenager from the village and for miles around...
I offer a platform for anyone who wants to write about Waterford harbour on the last Friday of each month. This month David Carroll joins us with a tale of ships and people from the port in 1960 and his experience of the impounded vessel the SS Macuto and how it...
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...
Last Sunday there was an understated but very fitting memorial ceremony for the crew of the sailing ship, Alfred D Snow. The ship grounded in Waterford Harbour on January 3rd 1888 and all 29 crew aboard were drowned. The memory of the tragedy lives on however, on both...
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...
Sunday 7th September 2008 dawned bright and clear. A good day for a trip, and a good day for a match. Waterford were to meet Kilkenny in the All Ireland Hurling final and expectations were high. It had got off to a slow start, with some controversy but had improved...
The day after my fathers ninth birthday, 26th August 1940, he witnessed something that profoundly marked his life. Up on the hills around the village he caught sight of his first ever German airplane which was followed closely by the dropping of bombs on the small...
Growing up in a fishing village like Cheekpoint in the early 1970s, nets were part of the everyday scene in the community. They lay around in the same way tractors and machinery hang round a farmyard. Nets for fishing the weirs, trawl nets including beam and otter,...
Snowhill, Co Kilkenny is now little more than a place-name on the river, but it once graced a fine Georgian mansion with an extensive farm and demesne and boat house on the river. I previously wrote about the house, which prompted a memory in an older neighbour of...
A new method of warfare in WWI was the use submarines in deploying mines. Initially the presence of these explosives would only be known when an unfortunate ship stumbled upon them. The mine laying subs commenced with the UC I type in 1914 carrying a payload of 12...
Our guest blog today like last months looks back to a childhood holiday spent on a beach. However this month rather than Crooke in Waterford we get to accompany the Lloyd family holidaying at Duncannon Co Wexford and there is a Waterford connection too. I'd like to...
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...
Sir William Brereton was an English politician and writer who did a tour of Ireland in 1635 and wrote an account of it that is available online. Interesting in itself, what I found fascinating was his departure from Ireland. Brereton sailed on St James Day, July 25th...
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...
I recently returned from my first adventure on walking the Camino de Compostela. It was a ten day trip that my son Joel and I started from James Rice's tomb in Waterford with a plan to walk from St Jean Pied de Port in France to Logrono in Spain. I have had so many...
Today is the last Friday of the month and so it's guest blog day. I always love to share others thoughts and as the summer holidays officially start in our local national school, this reflection on school holidays from the 1960's is a real counterpoint to the...
Today I’m following in the footsteps of one of Waterford's most famous mayor’s, James Rice. For like him I’m starting on a journey to do pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Of course my journey will be remarkable different from the travels of a 15thC wine merchant...
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