Normans in Ireland Archives

03/07/201506/12/2018

The origins of Faithlegg

It is reputed that one of the earliest of the parishes to be
founded under the Norman system was at Faithlegg. The lands (some 4000 acres [including 199 at
Cheekpoint and 353 at Faithlegg]) were granted by Henry II to Aleward Juevinis. Henry had landed at Passage East in 1171. Aylward was a merchant from
Bristol who had apparently donated a number of ships towards Henry’s imposing
entrance to Waterford harbour. Aylward
built a Motte and Baily to secure his position and it became the centre of Faithlegg Parish, which existed until amalgamated with Crooke & Killea in the mid 18th Century.

old gates to Faithlegg House 1969. Brendan Grogan

The name has featured widely down the ages, probably because of its strategic importance and the presence of Aylward and latterly his Bolton and Power successors. Frustratingly however, each time it featured it seems to have had either variations of its present name, or widely different names.

These are very helpfully gathered on the Logainm website for your perusal, Initially it seems to have been spelled as Fathelig and this name has had several corruptions. But it has also been called BalyFalyng, Whalyng and even Thatlegg.

In equal measure with the spelling, there seems to be as many variations with the origins of the name. For example I came across this account many years back online. As far as I can recall it comes from the Journal of the Waterford & South East Archaeological Society. Full account here. The excerpt below:

Faithlegg.-In your January number, Miss
Hickson’s interesting paper on (( Danish Names in Waterford
and Cork” discusses the probable derivation of the name ‘(
Faithlegg.” I think she

rightly assigns it to be of Gaelic and
not Scandinavian origin. Dr.Joyce ((‘ Place Names,” Vol. I., p. 494) Fethard (Fioth-ard) signifies (I High-wood.” In the County
Donegal there is a wellknown mountain called (I Slieve-league,”
which signifies (( The Mountain of Slates.” Following these
two clues, we make Faithlegg (Fioth-league)–” The Wood of the
Slates.” Anyone who has

observed the geological stratum of the
wooded hill of Faithlegg will at once perceive that this name,
as Miss Hickson says of Gaelic place-names generally, gives a perfect
word picture of the physical

features of the place, the hill being
composed of layers of thick slates or flags. It is not necessary, I
think, to go further for an explanation of the name.

I think that this account is a bit wide of the mark. From a desk you might think it makes sense, but knowing the geography of the area and the amount of pudding stone found on the summit, would challenge it. The slate mentioned is found on the Northside, but down towards the river on the Glazing wood side. I’d imagine it’s related to the quarrying that went on to build the marsh embankments, than anything older.

Pudding stone, old volcanic rock on the summit of the Minaun

Br Lawrence O’Toole (responsible for the creation of the secondary school in De La Salle College) in his “The Faithlegg Story” agrees. He goes on to consider that Minan Fheilinn may be an origin. The Minaun obviously which he equates with height, but who or what is Fheilinn. A person perhaps? Br O’Toole also considers that it might be a Gaelic term for Woodbine or Honeysuckle. Woodbine does grow on the Minaun presently but I don’t think anyone would say that it grows to such an extent that you would name the area after it. Perhaps in the past?

View from the Deerpark of Faithlegg and the river

Canon Power tends towards the woodbine theory, but interestingly he also thinks that the name may not be gaelic at all! His Place Names of the Decies here. So is it an old danish name or the tongue of some other tribe, who settled the area in the past and left a name to posterity.

None other that John ODonovan of the original ordnance survey, and noted Irish placename scholar was of a similar opinion. But he felt that the anglicised spelling of the placename as he found it, was closest to the original meaning, whatever it was, as listed in the older documents that he had access to.

So for now we might leave it to Canon Power who noted that “The name…has long been a puzzle, which we can only hope future investigations may solve”

14/11/201406/12/2018

Views from Cheekpoint Village

Rivers

Cheekpoint is
a traditional fishing village located 7 miles downstream from Waterford City. It has been an important
navigation point for the ports of Waterford and New Ross as it is located at
the meeting point of the three sister river network, the Barrow, Nore and Suir.
Between them they drain an area of land second only to the Shannon. The Suir 114 miles long, and the Barrow 119 miles long, (the Nore joins the Barrow
above New Ross) combine beside Cheekpoint and create the estuary that flows out
to the Atlantic.

Meeting of the Three Sisters. Photo via Anthony Rogers

Cheekpoint Quays.

Cheekpoint was reputed to have a settlement of Ostmen
(Vikings) in the distant past. It was
also of strategic importance to the Normans.
The first references to a quay date from the time that the Mail Packet
Station moved to the village. The Station was created in Cheekpoint
in 1785 by local landlord Cornelius Bolton. Cheekpoint Quay
would have been the point of departure for all mail,
including some freight and passengers, from Waterford to Milford
Haven in Wales during that time. Several ships were employed on the
service and it was run by a Welsh Quaker, Captain Thomas Own. The station operated until 1813, when it was
moved further down river to Passage and then to Dunmore East in 1824. The
present quay was constructed in the 1870’s, as was the lower quay breakwater, and
both have seen several upgrades and additions down the years. More about the quay here.

Cheekpoint in 1960’s photo by Martin Power via Déaglán De Paor

The Barrow Bridge

The Barrow rail bridge was for over 100 years the
connection that linked the SW of Ireland via Waterford to Wexford and Rosslare
port. It is 2131 feet in length and
consists of 13 fixed spans mounted on twin 8 foot diameter cast iron
cylinders filled with concrete. 11 spans are 148 feet long and the two
closest the opening are 144 feet. Because the port of New Ross is
above the bridge and an opening span had to be added at the deepest part
of the river channel. The railway is a single track steel line, built
within the protective casing of a mild steel girder frame with cross trusses.

Sir Benjamin Baker designed the bridge. Tendering commenced in late 1901 and was won
by a Glaswegian firm – William Arrol & Co. Both men were responsible
for some of the finest engineering constructions worldwide, of their age. The winning bid was £109, 347 and work had
commenced by June of 1902 and was opened on the 21st July
1906. The bridge served its purpose
until Saturday 18th September 2010 when the last commercial train crossed
over.

It has several distinctions as a bridge; it is the longest
railbridge in Ireland and it was also the last major rail line to be
constructed in Ireland and the bridge the last major piece of infrastructure.
Previously we covered the planning and construction of the bridge, its opening and eventual closure.

Add caption

Power stations

There are now two Power Stations across the river at
Cheekpoint at Great Island. The station
on the left is a redundant oil burner. The
building of the station started in 1965 and the first phase was finished in
1967. A second phase and chimney was added by 1972. The
chimneys are 450 feet high and are almost as high as the Minaun. There were 5 storage tanks on the site each
holding 17,000 tons of oil, which was delivered via oil tanker ships. At it’s height the station employed up to 70
people. The most recent station is gas
burning and its set to open this month, November 2014. The
gas is delivered by pipe and the new station is said to have a lifespan of 30
years. The entire site is believed to be
over 170 acres of land.

Fishing Weirs

A distinctive factor in the Cheekpoint fishery was the use
of fishing Weirs. An example of which can be seen above the main quay. The
weirs originated with the coming of the Normans in 1170 and since that time
were responsible for much of the fish caught in the area, either directly or
indirectly. They could provide year
round fishing. Weirs could be used under
licence for Salmon fishing, for white fish in autumn and winter and also a
source of bait for the summer Eel fishery.

Eels like the heat and during winter disappear into the
river mud to sleep. They emerge when they decide it’s warm enough and
feed voraciously. This feeding frenzy suited the fishermen well who used baited
pots to capture them. The Eels had to be kept alive prior to their sale,
and were exported live to the Netherlands. The buyers would arrive on the
quay with their water tanks on the back of trucks and the fishermen first
weighed the eels and then loaded them into the tanks for export. The village has a unique distinction in that it still has a
number of weirs in operation. This is
unique not just in Ireland but also in Europe and most probably the world.

I publish a blog each Friday. If you like this piece or have an interest in the local history or maritime heritage of Waterford harbour and environs you can email me at russianside@gmail.com to receive the blog every week.

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24/07/201406/12/2018

Old Faithlegg Church

With the
coming of the Normans to Ireland a man named Aylward was granted the lands of Faithlegg in 1177 and this led to the establishment of a parish. At the heart of this parish system was an early church close by to which was a Motte and Baily castle. This would have been the centre of administration and control associated with governing the area.

Faithlegg Churches 1928

According to Julian Walton there is a written record
of this church in the 12th century, however what we know as Old Faithlegg Church has been dated as 13th or possibly 14th Century. An older church on the site may have been a timber construction, the remains of which would have
quickly disappeared. It is also a matter of local speculation that the site of the old church is in fact the ruins of two seperate
churches.

The older part, it is speculated, is located
furthest from the road. This measures
6.8m by 5.2m and has been referred to as the “Chancel” or “Sanctuary”. The entrance to this is via a Romanesque
style arch which dates it earlier than the main church and belfry gable beside
it. The other features that would suggest this are; a different roof pitch, a different wall size and when the building became undermined in the 1990’s it was the chancel that was most seriously damaged. (The very obvious difference in roof pitch is still visible in the inside gable to the left of the Romanesque arched doorway)

On the western side, facing the road is the “Church”. This measures 13m by 6.5m and is in
the Venetian Gothic style which is a later style. The windows are also of a different design, although some have speculated that these may have been added at a later stage. The roof would have been of thatch.

Faithlegg 1888 – Lapham Collection
Sourced from Tomás Sullivan

It is probably that the church would have given a couple of hundred years of service to Catholics despite the upheavals in the country with the Reformation in England and the uncertainty this would have brought. It was most certainly closed when in 1649 the Aylwards were finally removed as landlords of the parish and replaced by Captain WIlliam Bolton. Bolton was described as a “stern old puritan” and the likelihood of a church surviving under his stewardship would be unthinkable. Locally there is a story that before the Cromwellian Army marched on Faithlegg the Priest of the Church buried his vestments with the church silver vowing that they would be recovered once the invaders had been vanquished. Alas, the Cromwellian’s won out, and the Faithlegg treasure remains hidden.

The Down Survey of 1658 stated that the church at Faithlegg
was “out of repair” and down through the years it has remained as such, although this did not prevent the Bolton family of Faithlegg and some of their relations being interred in the chapel of the church. At one point it also held a bell in the eastern gable, as depicted in a drawing by Charles Newport Bolton in 1843, presumably this was the church bell up until the new Spire and Belfry was added to the New Faithlegg Church in 1873.

Sketch by Charles Newport Bolton 1843
(Who is interred in the church with his Bolton relatives)
Sourced from Tomás Sullivan

As a child I remember the graveyard men – at the time Martin Nugent and my mothers Uncle, Paddy Moran- used to store their tools in the old church behind a padlocked gate. Once the graveyard committee was established and work proceeded on developing and enhancing the graveyard, the old church became a focus of attention and numerous letters were written to seek state support in preserving the building. However, this met with no success and by the mid 1990’s part of the chancel wall collapsed and it
became increasingly hazardous. There was a genuine fear that the whole building could collapse.

Photo copied from Kevin Ryan original 1999 of collapsed wall

Photo copied from Kevin Ryan original 1999 of the collapse

In 1999 Kevin Ryan began a survey of the
building with a view to determine how best
to structurally secure it. Kevin’s survey work combined with others enthusiasm formed the
basis of a successful application for funding. £10,000 was granted by the Heritage Council
of Ireland and a further £15,000 raised locally to carry out the necessary
works. The resulting work has served to protect the building and make it safe and accessible to the present and future generations.

A hope of the scheme at the time was that an archaeological survey might be carried out. However, the powers that be determined that there was little to be learned from the site and were of the opinion that such a survey would never be warranted. Such a pity, as the Church silver may have been unearthed, although more likely some evidence of an earlier church might have been proved or disproved.

Another mystery of course is what happened to the bell that hung in the gable of the old church. The new belfry got a new bell so where is the old one, and how old was it?…but that’s another story for another time

in 2001 there were some concerns that the sum of €25,000 was a high price to pay to preserve such an ancient piece of our built heritage. Personally, I’m very glad that the Graveyard committee had the foresight to work so hard to preserve the building, and that we were so lucky to have someone like Kevin Ryan in our midst that gave so freely of his time and expertise. The building is an historic landmark of Norman times, not just of Faithlegg, but of Gaultier, Waterford and indeed, in my own view, of Ireland.

Visitors can now access the old church in safety and with ease
Photo credit: Hannah Doherty

My Facebook and Twitter pages are more contemporary and reflect not just heritage

and history but the daily happenings in our beautiful harbour:

F https://www.facebook.com/whtidesntales T https://twitter.com/tidesntales