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bathing temple
Located on the banks of the River Liffey in the western outskirts of Dublin is Luttrellstown Castle. And the prettiest view in the grounds is the little Doric Temple beside the small lake, fed from the nearby river.Built in 1780 and accessed by a little rustic bridge, the classic portico hides its original use as…
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Harmless…
Under a breaking dawn, a Second World War, anti-shipping mine, now rendered harmless, stands on the causeway overlooking Dungarven Harbour in County Waterford, Ireland. A reminder of maritime dangers. Back in May 1945, the “Naomh Garbhan”, fishing out of nearby Helvick harbour, netted a mine just off Dungarvan which exploded killing three of the crew.…
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Monument to a Mood
‘Monument to a Mood’ was a term coined by historian Sir Kenneth Clark to describe follies. It could however, also encompass structures built for a specific use, now redundant, but with the same criteria of decorative whimsy and no practical use. Like today’s post.Overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, the imposing engine house above the village of…
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The Samson
“The Samson” crane ship wrecked on the rocks below Ardmore Head in County Waterford following a severe storm in 1987, is just one of the many photographs in “Waterford, A County Revealed”. To celebrate the onset of 2024, Blurb POD publishers, are offering a two day discount of 20% on the book starting from tomorrow and…
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Painting Portbraddon
Portbraddon’s most frequent visitors these days are walkers on their way along the spectacular 33 mile-long Causeway Coast Way. There’s also great surfing nearby, but today’s shot features a group of ladies painting the oh so picturesque hamlet.It’s name comes from the Irish word ‘Port Bradán’, meaning ‘port of the salmon’, and at one time…
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Rustic Bolthole…
Located on the banks of the River Liffey in the western outskirts of Dublin is Luttrellstown Castle. Of unknown age, it’s thought Sir Henry Luttrell, descendent from a family of Norman origin who fought with William at Hastings, seized the estate in 1436 during the reign of King Henry VI. His descendants played an important…
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Ornamental Watch Tower
Set into walls surrounding a neglected walled garden overlooking the Atlantic Ocean from Tynte Lodge in County Leitrim, is one of two weather-worn and decaying folly watch-towers. The gun loop windows on the second tower probably functioned as ornamental features given the towers were built in a time of relative peace during the 18th-century.Leitrim has…
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The Morseby Buoy
The British historian Kenneth Clark, described follies as ‘Monuments to a Mood’, but it’s a term that can be applied to all kinds of whimsical architecture. Often they are structures or ‘things’ repurposed, like the Moresby Buoy, now a memorial.The story behind the buoy relates how on 23rd December, 1895, while off the County Waterford…
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Mock Gothic Castle
Turrets, battlements and pointed windows – a Gothic, wanna-be castle in An Rinn, the Gaelic speaking area of County Waterford. Little is known about the folly, but it was probably built as a gatehouse around 1819, part of a grandiose scheme by Sir Henry Winston Barron, High Sheriff of County Waterford.The plans were eventually abandoned…
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Rustic Grotto
Down a long tree-lined avenue is Tullynally Castle, aka Pakenham Hall, in County Westmeath. It was the second Baron Longford, Edward Pakenham, who had the castle rebuilt in the Gothic Revival style, then turning his attention to the garden, swept away the canals and cascades of the formally designed grounds into the then fashionable look…
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Lady Alice’s Temple
A thing of beauty whether viewed down the Irish Yew Walk and across the small lake, or (as here) at the end of an avenue of tall, freshly leaved trees. The little temple with its Ionic columns and a curved seat is believed to have been erected in honour of his sister Lady Alice Hill…
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Blues
A rather ancient fishing boat makes its way down the River Slaney and out of Wexford Harbour for a night’s fishing. Wexford was Ireland’s leading fishing port in the 15th and 16th centuries, exporting mainly to ports along the west coast of England and Wales. But nothing lasts, and today Wexford Harbour is used on…
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A Castle Dark…
If you could read my mind, loveWhat a tale my thoughts could tellJust like an old time movie‘Bout a ghost from a wishing wellIn a castle dark or a fortress strongWith chains upon my feet… A verse to mark the passing of the singer-songwriter, Gordon Lightfoot, credited with helping to define the folk of the…
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The Bright Fort
A return to the past with Cahergall Stone Fort, near Cahirciveen on the Ring of Kerry, in south west Ireland. The name Cahergall comes from the Gaelic words, Chathair Gheal, which means “The Bright Fort”. Ring forts are difficult to date as they are often multi-period sites, it appears this dry-stone walled ring fort probably…
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Westport Bridge
Westport is a town in County Mayo at the south-east corner of Clew Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Ireland. Over the years I’ve noticed many Irish towns tend to situate houses so they back on to rivers. Westport is a beautiful exception, with the town’s Georgian architectural style…
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Olives…
A grove of olive trees basking in the late evening light. Over the years, the olive has been used to symbolize wisdom, fertility, power, and purity. Indeed the olive branch has often been a symbol of abundance, glory, and peace and ritually offered to deities and powerful figures as emblems of benediction and purification, and were…
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Stormy Stage Cove
On the clifftop, white posts and fencing surround the still open mine shafts above Stage Cove. At one time the hub of County Waterford’s copper mining, it was from here that copper ore was shipped out on small boats to waiting sea-going ships for transport to Swansea for smelting. Now part of the Copper Coast…
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Equine Delights
‘Twilight and a pair of curious horses on Croaghaun Hill are silhouetted against the misty blue Comeraghs’ an extract from Waterford, A County Revealed
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Ripples
The wind that ever is with mystic mightA spirit ripple of the Infinite.…Victor Hugo
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Atlantic Evening
The wind has swept from the wide atmosphereEach vapour that obscured the sunset’s ray;And pallid Evening twines its beaming hairIn duskier braids around the languid eyes of Day:Silence and Twilight, unbeloved of men,Creep hand in hand from yon obscurest glen.…by Percy Bysshe Shelley
George Munday Creative
Turning Imagination into Reality
George Munday Creative 