“Fire in the water”

Because I was raised in a traditional fishing community and went to fish as a child, I often took for granted what others consider magical.  But there was one such phenomenon is what we call locally “Fire in the water”, that never lost its appeal. And...

Echoes of medieval fishing in Waterford harbour

As a child growing up in Cheekpoint, there were a number of curious features off the main quay known as Eel boxes.  The Eels which were fished from the village were placed into the boxes to be kept alive, and when the buyers came the eels were removed, weighed...

The travelling fish buyer

As a salmon fishing village, Cheekpoint, like all the others in the harbour, had to have a means of selling their fish.  In our case we either had to travel to sell them.  Or, when we were children in the 1970’s, the buyers traveled around to collect...