Yet again, Heritage Week continues to be one of the busiest times of the year for the project and 2025 was no different. What follows is a brief overview of the Tides & Tales Heritage Week 2025 report

One significant challenge was my work schedule with the OPW as a seasonal guide at Ballyhack Castle. This meant that requests from Cork, Dungarvan, Kilkenny, Athlone and Ennisscorty had to be regretfully declined. However we still found time to both attend talks and deliver some too. We also went out of our way to showcase as many events as we could manage on our social media channels in the lead-up and throughout the week.

Our events kicked off on Sunday, 17th August, when our Company Secretary, Damien McLellan, delivered an illustrated talk titled Reclaiming an Irish Way of St James at Ballyhack Castle. Damien explained the origins of the talk, his theory about medieval pilgrims walking to take or return from ships at the village and the links to St James on the road towards Dublin. This well-attended event was followed up by a walk in the area to explore the old roadways.

Admiring the Pill at William St/Lombard St Bridge. Photo via Deena

On Tuesday, 19th August, we participated in a story-sharing evening at Faithlegg NS organised by the local Development Group and facilitated by Róisín Burke of Abarta Heritage. The content will help to shape a Heritage Action Plan Report of the area, and we were delighted to get the opportunity to reiterate the importance of the maritime influence on the community from boats, placenames, careers, seasonal aspects and most especially the importance of the salmon, eel and weir fishery in underpinning these.

On Friday, 22nd August, I led a walk in Waterford city, supported by Deena, titled St. John’s Pill – Waterford’s Victorian Thoroughfare. This free walk was supported by Waterford City and County Council and Local Authorities Water Programme (LAWPRO). The LAWPRO funding for the day funded a new speaker system, which proved its worth when trying to talk over traffic on the city streets.  Although the walk highlighted the tidal influence on the navigation of the river and the businesses that lined the river, we were also rewarded with an abundance of wildlife, including a kingfisher and a school of tiny minnows numbering at least 100. About 25 people attended, which made for some interesting exchanges and sharing of stories. The highest compliment was two ladies at the end who said they would never look at the river in the same way again. Bernadette Guest, the City & County Heritage officer, gave us an introduction at the start and acted as an extra guide and photographer on the day.

One other highlight that day was a surprising and kind gesture. After paying for parking the car we hauled ourselves down to the Marina Hotel. We had a few jobs to do on the Scotch Pill and with these finished we decided to get a cuppa in the Hotel. However the bar was not open. As we turned to leave the manager, Chris spotted us and asked if we were ok. We explained that we were looking for a cup of tea but totally understood if they were not open. All around him a bus load of tourists milled and a youths soccer team were in the foyer. I’m sure he had a lot on his plate. But completely by instinct, I think, he led Deena and me through into the breakfast bar, pointed out everything and told us to enjoy. He even opened the French doors so we could sit by the river on a glorious sunny morning. Neither of us had met him before; he didn’t know what we were there for, but he made our day. We gave our time freely for the event, we never expected anything in return, but it was such a lovely gesture. Thank you Chris and the Marina Hotel.

Ballyhack Millstone talk- image courtesy of Liam Ryan

On Sunday, 24th August, Water Heritage Day, a major event was held in Saltmills, Co. Wexford, to unveil the propeller of the Portlairge on the roadside there. I was delighted to provide some historical details (both written and by phone) to one of the main speakers, Ted O’Morchoe, who publicly acknowledged this assistance on the day. Another event that day was the raising of the blue plaque by Waterford Civic Trust at Dunmore East on the Fishermen’s Hall.  Another event I would have liked to make. But David Carroll kindly provided a blog post to mark the occasion.

However, I was elsewhere engaged, as I gave an illustrated lecture on the Millstone era in the harbour, at Ballyhack Castle. This PowerPoint concentrated on the interconnectivity of the river communities and how our ancestors used the tides and currents of the rivers for work, transport and trade. A lovely group of 20+ arrived, many local history buffs and many who I have long admired and taken great support from. Although the talk was relatively short, we were still talking an hour later and there were many more people I would have liked to have spent time with but that couldn’t be helped.

The new Adastra headphone and speaker system made communicating in traffic much easier.

So another hectic but amazing Heritage Week has passed. So many events, so little time. Already, the mind looks forward to 2026 and another bountiful week of history and heritage.

Tides & Tales

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