On 13 February 1884 the fully rigged sailing ship Stowell Brown came to grief on the sand bar above Creaden Head, one of several ships caught out in a terrific February storm that year. A regular and popular guest contributor to our page, David Carroll has the story....
On Tuesday 6th January 1852 the American sailing ship Columbus went ashore to the east of Hook Lighthouse and was wrecked. Despite the efforts of those onshore 14 were lost including three female passengers. It was arguably an avoidable tragedy but as is often the...
Traditionally Christmas has been a time of excess when whatever you were celebrating was marked by feasting and making merry. Turkey originated in Europe with the early explorers returning from America with breeding pairs. The large bird became a favourite for...
In a follow up to an earlier article on the life and times of Irish Master Mariner Albert Bestic, author David Carroll affords a second installment of Bestic's career -the tragic sinking of the Irish Lights Vessel Isolda on 19th December 1940. Take it away David:...
Captain Tom Donohue of Co. Waterford was a sea captain who sailed throughout the Irish Emergency to keep the country supplied with basic foodstuffs and other essential supplies. He survived many scrapes including one of of the most famous rescues at sea in the era by the MV Kerlogue crew
On the 18th of November, a significant piece of local maritime history was created when the new pilot launch Port Láirge was received by Port of Waterford at Dunmore East. ‘Port Láirge’ is a name well known in the maritime heritage in Waterford. The previous namesake...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExWZP805WNg The lecture was recorded and is available to view here Our good friend and regular guest contributor, David Carroll will do a public zoom lecture on the History of the Dunmore East RNLI Lifeboats, crews, and the maritime...
A Guest post by Conor Donegan. Two weeks ago, Dr Pat McCarthy, the foremost expert on the Irish revolutionary period (1912 – 1923) in Waterford, gave a very well attended lecture on the landing of a significant shipment of arms at Cheekpoint by the IRA, the...
The Gaultier Story: Aspects of Waterford’s Maritime Barony consists of 21 chapters on different aspects of the Barony of Gaultier History, Geology, Archaeology, Townlands, Education, Religion, Pilots, Lifeboat, New Geneva and Geneva Barracks, Passage...
After a busy month of activities, I was relieved when Damien McLellan offered a guest blog arising from last week's two-day event exploring the arrival of Henry II at Passage East in 1171 - 850 years ago this year. Damien, like so many others who attended, was buzzing...
Arming the IRA – Running guns into Waterford Harbour 1921 By early summer of 1921, the IRA was facing a crisis in its conflict with British forces - a severe shortage of arms and ammunition. This shortage was threatening to curtail operations by the active units...
Henry II, Crooke 1171 Recalled is a two day event that the Barony of Gaultier Historical Society is hosting on the 23rd and 24th of October 2021. We had previously planned to hold it a week earlier on the 17th October 2021, which is the 850th...
On a dark December night off the coast of Dunmore East, the pilot boat Gannet spotted an incoming steamer and sailed on a line upriver to intercept. The action would lead to the loss of the pilot boat and an unholy row in Waterford that would see the court of...
I wanted to acknowledge this wonderful achievement by a blog regular, David Carroll. David wrote his first guest blog for us in January 2017 and has been a firm favourite since. In that story, Memories of a Harbour Boy, David recalled growing up in Dunmore East...
This coming September marks the 11th anniversary of the last passenger train to use the SW Wexford railway line and the Barrow Railway Viaduct. The bridge is Irelands longest rail bridge but it would appear that this September may see another regressive step...
Concluding our examination of the placename Halfway House today, we showcase another wonderful building on the site, the commercial Ice House- the fridge freezer of the 19th Century. It utilised frozen water as a cooler area and a preservative for foodstuff –...
I'm indebted to David Carroll for this On This Day contribution to the blog today August 19th 2021. In it, David, who has written several guest features, explores the near-tragedy that occurred this day in 1988. Thankfully the keen eyes of a child playing at Dunmore...
The Halfway House site is one of the most densely populated sites of Lime Kilns that I know of. They were built to produce quicklime which had a variety of uses in agriculture and rural living in the 18th & 19th centuries. The site was chosen due to its location on the tidal Pill as I will explain. The operation of the kilns was a tough, physical task, but it could also be deadly as one young woman found to her cost at Halfway House.
Last week we looked at the operation of a saltwater mill, which harnessed the tides to power a mill wheel to grind local corn. This week, we will look at another innovative water-powered wheel, but this time it was freshwater, harnessed by man. Just off the main...
Introduction While last week we explored the origins of the placename, geographic location and the pub at Halfway House, this week I wanted to highlight two water mills that are on the site; the later Brook Lodge Mill, visable from the road, and a much earlier salt...
In an effort to have my say into the recent consultation on the expansion of Marine Protected Areas I drew on my own bitter experience of how the political system can treat those communities that lack political power. My fear about the expansion (although I welcome...
Halfway House For this year's Heritage Week event, and specifically Water Heritage Day I wanted to showcase a unique water-related site at the popular bar and restaurant known now as Jack Meades, but previously it was more commonly called Halfway House. Over the next...
Although in this day and age, multi millionaires look to the sky for their thrills, there was a time when they looked to the sea. One such example was an American millionaire named Howard Gould, who dropped anchor aboard his magnificent yacht Niagra at Passage East in...
A recent email from Donie Brazil with an image from Dunmore of a steamship caused a fair amount of research on my part. Donie had an image from his aunt's collection of a ship tied up at the East Pier in Dunmore, which could have easily been dismissed as a large...
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