River Nore Archives - Waterford Harbour Tides & Tales

As part of this years Imagine Arts Festival, Deena and I were asked to lead a walk in our local community on a theme reflecting our heritage and arts. To do this we thought about the many songs, stories, poetry and prose that surround our area and reflect our rich maritime heritage. So the walk that departs this morning from Faithlegg Church at 11am is a walk that celebrates the big river, or more accurately rivers ( Barrow, Nore and Suir), that inspire and continually enrich our lives.

Our history stretches long back into antiquity. Gael, Viking, Norman and English have entered the harbour here and used it as a route to open up the entire country. When Ptolmy drew a map of the known world in 2 AD he included Ireland, and a River Birgos, long considered the Barrow. The parish of Faithlegg itself was gifted to a Bristol merchant named Aylward following the entry of King Henry II through Waterford this past week in 1171. Those Bristol men played a significant role in the development of the port, as did the Norman knights and religious orders that followed.

The Aylwards managed to weather many political storms until the arrival of Cromwell put and end to their reign of the area, when it passed to the Bolton family. The last Bolton, Cornelius left us Faithlegg House which he sold to the catholic Powers in 1816. We have the powers to thank for the modern church. Throughout these times Waterford continued to trade and prosper.

Accessed from;
http://www.libraryireland.com/articles/WaterfordQuayDPJ1-23/index.php

A sense of where the area was at is reflected in this piece from a man we have heard from before on the blog. Arthur Young, and his Tour in Ireland 1776-79 from which we take the following:

“The number of people who go as passengers in the Newfoundland ships is amazing; from 60-80 ships and from 3000 to 5000 persons annually. They come from most parts of Ireland; from Cork Kerry etc. Experienced men will get £18 to £25 for the season, from March to November; a man who never went will have £5 to £7 and his passage, and others rise to £20, the passage out they get but pay home £2. An industrious man in a year will will bring home £12 to £16 with him, and some more. A great point for them is to be able to carry all their slops (work clothes)for everything there is extremely dear, 100 or 200% dearer than they can get them at home. They are not allowed to take out any woollen goods but for their own use. The ships go loaded with porrk, beef, butter, and some salt, and bring home passengers, or get freights when they can; sometimes rum.

The Waterford pork comes principally from the barony of Iverk in Kilkenny, where they fatten great numbers of hogs; for many weeks together they kill here 3000 to 4000 a week, the price 50s. to £4 each; goers chiefly to Newfoundland. There is a foundry at Waterford for pots, kettles, weights and all common utensils; and a manufactory of anvils to anchors etc., which employs 40 hands. There are two sugar houses, and many salt-houses…

There is a fishery upon the coast for a great variety of fish, herrings, particularly at the mouth of Waterford Harbour…There are some premium boats here…

The butter trade of Waterford has increased greatly for seven years past; it comes from Waterford principally , but much from Carlow…the slaughter trade has increased…Eighty ships of sail now belonging to the port, twenty years ago not thirty…

The finest object is the quay, which is unrivaled by any I have seen…”

So Waterford as a city and the rivers that formed her harbour were a busy and prosperous place at this point, and it would continue to flourish long into the following century. But a variety of circumstances began to undermine that prosperity and I’m probably guilty of a lot of nostalgia in what I write when I reflect weekly on where we are now, not just as a city, or a port but also our once rich fisheries. When ever I hear the Jimmy Nail song Big River, it stops me in my tracks as I listen to his elegy for the hard work and vitality that was the River Tyne and its heavy industry. I don’t get any sense of what the future of the Tyne is in it however (lyrics here). But I do get a sense of a future in our rivers.

Faithlegg Churches 13th & 19th C

Our walk this morning is not meant to be nostalgic. It’s meant to communicate the rich history and heritage imbued in the buildings, pathways and vistas that surround us. Its meant to explore what they once meant and what the yet might become. It is story, song, poetry and prose of a past, a present and hopefully a future.

The walk is free and booking is via the Imagine Arts Festival Office at 083 313 3273 or email imaginefest@gmail.com

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.

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

After 50 years of living with the geographical feature that is the meeting of the Three Sisters, you might think that I would take it for granted at this point. Truth is though, I can’t ever remember a time that the rivers fail to interest me. Ever changing and always with some activity occurring around it, it’s either been a central feature to my days or a beautiful and appreciated backdrop. Of course leading walking tours in the area, the uniqueness of it is reminded to me by those visitors who view it, especially for the first time. The reaction seems more pronounced from those who walk from Faithlegg House, along the Glen and through the Glazing Wood. I guess its because they have been sheltered and teased by fleeting glimpses through the forest of the River Suir passing 200 feet below them, which will collide with the Rivers Barrow and Nore at Cheekpoint, and then flow as one out the estuary to form Waterford Harbour.

An old postcard view of the meeting of the Three Sisters
copy supplied by Anthony Rogers

These days when people talk about coming to Cheekpoint it’s to get a meal at McAlpins, to visit the wonderful playground, do shore angling or play a round Faithlegg Golf Club. But there was a time when it was the scenery, the views and the meeting point of the rivers that drew people here. Numerous reports from older newspapers and travel writers give a sense of why.

Cheekpoint: This is a favorite little retreat now on Sundays. On last Sunday it was crowded with boats of all kinds and sizes, amongst which we observed Alderman Davis’s, Mr P. Galwey’s, the Messrs Murphys’ Mr F Kavanagh’s (with music), Mr J Mullowney’s, Mr S Allan’s, and Mr E Campion’s neat crafts and many others now not remembered. The hospitable mansion of Mr Patrick Tracey, so comfortable situate, and in which is to had such right good cheer, was crowded to overflowing. The day was beautifully fine, the waters of the rivers calm and limpid, and the gorgeous scenery by which it is surrounded, could hardly be excelled – if at all equaled – on the banks of the Rhine. A view from Cheekpoint is well worth the labor of ascension – you behold from it at least five counties-namely Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, Tipperary, and Carlow; you witness from it the delightful mansion of Snow Hill, Belview etc, and beneath you, you witness the magnificent residence of Faithlegg, with its thickly studded woods, its beauteous walks, and its sloping dells, where by and by, the Incumbered Commissioners need never expect to place their fearful hoofs. From the hill can be seen Dunmore, Brownstown Head, the unrivaled bay of Tramore, and even the unmovable Metal man himself. From it may also be witnessed the fine stately old ruins of Dunbrody Abbey, with its stately tower and ivied turrets, a standing monument of Irish genius and architecture and an unfading emblem of Ireland’s imperishable faith…All of these things may be seen from the hill of Cheekpoint, and many of them from Mr Tracey’s table d’hote.

The Waterford News. Friday June 7th 1850

Mr Tracey’s table d’hote, Daisybank House

The same paper has, under a heading of pleasure trips, news that the Young Men’s Society band will travel to Cheekpoint on the following Sunday, in a piece dated July of 1861, Unfortunately I could not find a follow up report. In the 1770s it was the renowned travel writer Arthur Young, and I have mentioned his thoughts on the area previously. I’ve also mentioned when the Barrow railway viaduct was opened in July 1906 by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, the the special event train, stopped for a time on the bridge to view the meeting point and absorb the feat that the construction project was.

More recently the regional initiative for Ireland’s capital of culture bid for 2020 has seen the counties of Kilkenny, Waterford, Wexford come together under a banner that seeks to embrace. They have chosen the Three Sisters, as it was, correctly in my view, a symbol of connection and inter- dependability. Should the region win this bid, it will bring crucial investment and tourist numbers to the region, and no doubt our area. If nothing else, it has already brought a renewed focus on the wonderful resource that is our riverine network and the beauty that is the meeting point of the Three Sisters. If you haven’t already done so, get involved in supporting the bid at: www.threesisters2020.ie/

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

Tag: River Nore

Imagine arts festival walk 2016 – A big River

Meeting of the “Three Sisters”