Introduction Over the centuries, people have harnessed the power of water via ponds, streams and rivers to drive wheels, which created the power to grind wheat, corn and other grains. The fertile valley and hinterland along the Three Sisters rivers had many...
Earlier this week Dave O'Hallorahan contacted me via Twitter - yes I know it's got a new name, but it's bad enough to use the platform knowing the new owner, without embracing the change- to say that an interesting ship was off Dunmore. A quick search on Vessel Finder...
On a wild windy winter night in December 1888, the Belfast Barque Etta, rounded Hook Head in search of shelter, the lifeboat was signaled, but the ship was driven onto the rocks of Creaden Bay before the lifeboat could reach the vessel. Miraculously all but one were...
Christmas is just another time of the year for seafarers. The oceans and seas of the world carry much of the goods that we consider essential but this desire never ceases. This was just as true in the days of sail and to give a sense of the struggles faced by...
The long-awaited and much-anticipated new book from Cian Manning has hit the shelves for Christmas and it's a cracker. Cian is renowned for his fresh look at Waterford history, his unique style of writing, and his ability to extract the nuggets from the mire of times...
I was delighted to recently present to the Éigse Sliabh Rua on the topic of 19th Century lives along the local South Kilkenny riverbank. One of the themes I touched on was women’s work. Women played a vital role in the local fishery and seafaring communities...
The following story comes from the newspapers of February 1892 and concerns the haunting of an ex-RIC man who had taken up residence in the home of an evicted family. In February 1892 a family by the man of Kingworth (Kingsworth by some accounts) had a fearful...
On last month's blog which gave the sailing directions to Waterford City in 1790, I mentioned that I was surprised to see the Ford Channel given as an option. This area was previously a crossing point to Little Island from the Kilkenny shore and this month I want to...
A guest Blog by Pete Goulding. Last month I mentioned in the story about 1790 navigation into Waterford that my good blogging buddy Pete was working on a story of the lighthouses at Duncannon. It's one of those stories I always wanted to tell, but let's face it, when...
Recently I chanced upon the 1790 sailing directions into Waterford and although it's for a different era, it offers some fascinating insights into the practicalities, the difficulties, and the practices of navigation at a time when all sailors had was their wits and...
By Dorothy McMahan With excerpts from On Shipboard by Anne Starrett Craig Information gathered by Dorothy McMahan and Chuck McMahan Olivia Murray, a page regular with a family connection to the Waterford coast, brought this guest blog to my attention. The story is one...
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...
To conclude our Mayday Mile coverage on the blog this year David Carroll shares a fascinating insight into the ultimate sacrifice of two fishermen and how it provoked the community to campaign for a lifeboat station. Remember the Mayday mile runs until the end of the...
To support our local lifeboat station at Dunmore East my brother Robert and I rowed the river Suir this year - an estimated 25 miles. If you would like to support our efforts here's the link to make a financial contribution. All donations go to the RNLI. When I wrote...
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...
Occasionally a blog falls literally into my lap. So it was with this account when a partial and very faded 19th-century sailing ship log was handed to me recently. But what would the tattered pages of the document reveal? An incredible amount as it happens...
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...
Waterford Greenway has brought many benefits to the City & County, and one of them for me was the first views it gave of the Suir Railway Bridge or known in more recent times as the Red Iron located at Grannagh. Although it might have been new to me, several...
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