Thomas Francis Meagher was born in 1823 in
the building that is now the
Granville Hotel on
Waterford’s busy quays. The family spent some years at Ballycanvan, hence the
family tomb at Faithlegg.
Thomas got an
expensive education which
culminated with
Stoneyhurst College in England. In
Easter week 1843, when he was not yet twenty, he returned home, having been
away for a year. In his Recollections of Waterford1 he includes a
very interesting account of this return including his journey up the harbour to
his native city.
“A bright sun was lighting up the dingy walls of Duncannon Fort as
we paddled under them. There was Cheek point on the left, towering
grandly over the woods of Faithlegg. Further on, at the confluence of the
Barrow and the Suir, were the ruins of Dunbrody Abbey – an old servant,
with torn livery, at the gateway of the noble avenue. Further on, the
grounds and stately mansion of Snow Hill, the birth place of Richard
Sheil. Then the Little Island, with its fragments of Norman Castle and it’s
broad cornfields and kingly trees. Beyond this, Gauls Rock, closing in
upon and overlooking the old city. Last of all Reginalds Tower – a
massive hinge of stone connecting the two great outspread wings, the Quay and
the Mall, within which lay the body of the city – Broad Street, the cathedral,
the barracks, the great chapel, the jail, the Ballybricken hill, with its
circular stone steps and bull post. The William Penn stopped
her paddles, let off her steam, hauled in close to the hulk, and made fast.
I was home once more….”
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PS Toward Castle, an example of an earlier paddle steamer, I’m taken
with the image however, of the person atop the paddle and imagine Meagher
in just such a position on entering the harbour. 2 |
Apart from the wonderful writing, I found it interesting not just in
what he sees around him, but also what he left out. I think most accounts
of the harbour now, would start with the
Hook light, yet for
Meagher its the “dingy walls of
Duncannon Fort“, surely a hint of his
political and revolutionary outlook, and a conscious consideration to its
strategic and sometimes dark history. Contrast it with his description of
the
Cistercian abbey at Dunbrody “an old
servant, with torn livery” in ruins possibly not long after the
dissolution but yet a beacon still to the young Meagher. Maybe this was
because it brought to mind a time when although ruled by foreigner, the country
had been free to practice the catholic religion. Or perhaps the prosperity
the Cistercians, Templers and Norman merchants brought to the harbour area.
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|
Dunbrody Abbey, Co Wexford from the river
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I can’t see why Passage or Ballyhack don’t get a mention, given their
commercial importance, although perhaps waning at the time due to steam power.
And it would be wonderful to hear of the sailing ships, steamers, work
boats and fishing craft plying the river at the time. Its also interesting to
note what has come since, for example the
Spider light at
Passage,
Great Island Power Station and
the
Barrow Bridge.
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Perhaps the most amazing thing I found in Meaghers account was his
confident style. not just the excerpt above, but also his account of walking
through his city streets and calling to
the
Waterford Club. His debates on the need for radical change and his vision of a
different Ireland were, I think, astonishing for someone so young. Its hard to
imagine that a few short months later he would make his first political speech
in Lismore at a rally organised by Daniel O’Connell, that he had yet to raise
the first tricolour, for which we now have
an annual commemoration, to
co-found the
Young
Irelanders, to participate in the failed rising of 1848, be transported to
Tasmania, escape to America where he would eventually found the Irish Brigade
to support the union cause in the
American
Civil War. Yet in his account all these things are suggested, or at least seems
possible, such is his certainty in himself.
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TF Meagher in later years
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Meagher has his detractors and I have read some harsh criticisms of the
man online. But Meagher was a man of principal, a man of action and a man
like all humans, of no small measure of complexity. Looking out upon the
harbour as I write, I wish I could see a young idealist entering the harbour
with a vision of change for this blighted republic of 2016. Yet I have no
doubt the same youthful visionaries are out there. Working here at
present against a different foe, a bureaucratic monster, all pervasive and
cloying. Working via peaceful means to create a different republic.
Less for speeches than blogs perhaps. Less
for insurrection than consciously and critically living their lives.
Just as much for direct action but by different means. Here’s an
example of two young women doing just that, one of whom hails from the
Russianside!, which I came across
recently: https://womenareboring.wordpress.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
1. I accessed the account of Meaghers in Fewer.T.N. (ed) I was a day
in Waterford. An anthology of writing about Waterford from the 18th to the 20th
Century. 2001. Ballylough Books. I fear the book is now out of
print, but is available in the Waterford room of the city’s Central Library.
Certainly would be good to see it reprinted.
2. Sketch of PS Toward Castle accessed from
here. Despite
numerous searches I could find no further information on the PS William Penn.
Tommy Deegan and Frank Murphy were both helpful in providing some leads.
Apart from Meaghers account, two other references to the ship exist.
Bill Irish recorded that the Waterford Steam Navigation Company were
using the ship from 1837 in Decies #53 and via Frank Murphy she is mentioned in
Bill’s book on Ship Building in Waterford as being owned or part owned by the Malcomson’s of Waterford.
3. photo of Snow Hill copied from Jim Walsh’s “Sliabh
Rua, A History of its People and Places” again out of print and available
in central library,
