The Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Josepha Madigan, TD, has welcomed the Royal Institute of Architects of Ireland (RIAI) publication of Old House New Home, which was supported by the Department and the Creative Ireland Programme. This is an innovative e-publication, offering free guidance and advice on repairing and reusing historic buildings. It explains how to understand your home, conserve period features and reimagine it for contemporary living, while maintaining the character and craftsmanship that come with historic properties. The guide includes a wealth of case study projects representing different sizes, conditions, characteristics and locations – from homes in urban and suburban settings to the adaptation of farmhouse complex, their yards and outbuildings.
It also includes video footage telling the remarkable stories of five different built heritage scenarios – two urban residences above shops, a Cow House within a farmyard, a subdivided Georgian Town House and an Officers’ Mess that was the focus of a former military complex. These projects are of different scales, settings and complexities, but all have been reimagined for 21st century living, whilst retaining their unique architectural character. The success of many of these case studies is not just in the design of new works but also in the repair and conservation of historic fabric and retention of character.
‘These concepts,’ the Minister said, ‘of high quality design, reuse and good repair are of paramount importance to urban and rural regeneration alike, but of particular relevance to informing how to re-imagine the historic building stock that lies vacant at the heart of our towns and villages’.
‘As well as making distinctive homes’, the Minister continued, ‘the reuse and repair of existing buildings is an important response to climate change and urban revitalisation. Consideration of reuse and re-imagining of existing building stock, their embodied energy and craftsmanship is a carbon neutral option, which is part of sustainable development’.
The Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht through various polices and strategies on architecture and the historic built environment seeks to promote awareness and understanding of heritage-led regeneration with well-considered design as a benefit to the environment and to society as a whole.
If you have any quires with regard to your historic property and conservation in Waterford , please feel free to contact our Conservation Officer at rryall@waterfordcouncil.ie
‘folk beliefs…spring from our common heritage of human fears and human hopes…the fate of the house and of those who dwelt in it was affected, if not determined, by the good or bad luck which followed on casual actions or chance events.’
So wrote the Irish folklorist Kevin Danaher (Caoimhín Ó Danachair) about what might be loosely termed ‘superstition’. Such tradition has had a strong role in helping people make sense of what might otherwise be beyond their understanding and helped them deal with the challenges of everyday life. This lies behind the old festival of May Day, Bealtaine in Irish, the meaning of which appears to be ‘bright fire’, recalling the bonfires that were formerly part of this festival. In many places, such as Limerick City, May Eve, rather than Midsummer, was Bonfire Night.
May Day marked the start of the summer half of the year and Samhain (Hallowe’en) began the winter half, both days being occasions when the supernatural and human worlds coincided. The body of tradition relating to May Day is vast, although few of the customs and practices are carried out today.
Protection of the churn, the milk, butter and the farm animals, was of paramount importance at a time of great supernatural activity. On May Eve supernatural beings were supposed to be out and about and people generally stayed at home. On May Day it was widely considered to be very unlucky to let salt, water or especially fire, or even the dirt and dust from the floor, out of the house. There were individuals, most particularly the ‘milk-stealing hag’ who might be tempted to steal the ‘profit’ of the butter and thus the household’s nutrition and luck for the year ahead.
The words ‘Come all to me and none to thee!’ or ‘Come, butter, come, each lump as big as my bum!’ or ‘Come, butter, come! St Peter stands at the gate, waiting for a buttered cake, so come, butter, come!’ would be uttered by the miscreant, who used various methods to try to coax away the butter profit. Counteractions included pouring milk on the threshold or at the roots of a fairy thorn bush. In parts of Ulster, cattle were driven into ring-forts, bled, their blood tasted and some poured onto the earth.
Fire taboos were especially critical. The hearth fire was extinguished on May Eve and only re-lit the next day from a communal bonfire. A visitor looking for a coal from the fire for his own hearth was politely turned down: it was crucial that fire not leave the house, although fire could be got from the priest’s house. A person looking for a light for his pipe would have to finish his pipe in the house he visited. In fact, nobody liked to give away anything on May Day. Likewise, nobody wanted to be the first to light their fire, but smoke from the priest’s house gave the go-ahead. In some places there were taboos about digging, whitewashing, bathing or sailing on May Day.
“The May Bush is most common in Leinster, although it is also known in other parts of the country. It is set up outside the house on May Eve and is decorated with flowers, ribbons, pieces of paper etc. Whitethorn is the most popular type of bush.” It was taken in County Westmeath on May Day 1964 by James Delaney, folklore collector, Irish Folklore Commission.
May flowers – primroses, cowslips, buttercups, marigolds and furze (gorse) – were gathered before dusk on May Eve or before sunrise on May Day and were scattered on the threshold or floor of houses and outbuildings, and garlands of these hung on or over doors and windows. Flowers were also picked to honour the Blessed Virgin Mary, by decorating her statue or the household altar. In parts of Munster May boughs of holly, hazel, elder or rowan were laid on thresholds, sills or roofs and rowan was placed vertically in farmyards and fields. In Leinster, whitethorn was most common and was decorated with ribbons and garlands.
Holy water was sprinkled in the byre, sprigs of rowan were placed over the door of the byre, tied to the tails of the cattle or hung or their horns. In the Glens of Antrim, for example, a rowan twig was placed upright in the dunghill or midden. Cattle were driven between two bonfires in a rite of purification. Red ribbons were tied to the manes and harness of horses. Charms were recited to accompany various of these practices. In Donegal, the milk churn was washed with the water of three landlords, perhaps water from the meeting place of three townlands. Wells were guarded and protected by sprinkling salt and holy water into them and placing flowers around them. It was thought that milk-stealers could achieve their aim by dragging a rope across a field to gather the dew. Ashes from May bonfires were scattered in the fields, as they were on St John’s Eve (Midsummer). In some places, the pig, a key contributor to the Irish diet, was driven into the house on May morning for luck.
At home, there were divination practices, as there were at Hallowe’en. One involved bringing a snail to the hearth, the creature tracing the initials of one’s true love as it moved through the ashes. A girl wishing to retain her fair complexion would wash her face in dew before sunrise on May Morning.
May Day was traditionally the day that the letting of grazing and meadow and the hiring of farm servants and workmen took place. It was start of the fresh grass season, when cattle were put into pasture fields and started to be milked twice a day; cattle were brought to the higher ‘booley’ grounds where they would stay until autumn; and turf cutting season also began.
In the nineteenth century there were parades of ‘May Babies’ and the May Queen. In Louth, a female figure was set on a pole and elaborately dressed with flowers and ribbons and a married couple, perhaps childless, would dance around it. Dancing also took place at the communal bonfire. In some villages, pairs of athletic youths, dressed in white or multicoloured clothes decorated with ribbons accompanied, fore and aft, two beautiful girls in lightly coloured clothes who held aloft May bushes, decorated with long coloured ribbons, all accompanied by music. Traditions and ceremonies once associated with the May Bush, especially in urban areas, such as Smithfield in Dublin, were widespread. Today, a May bush can occasionally be seen, set up outside the front door of a rural house.
Maypoles are known from a few places in Ireland, including Finglas (until 1847) and Harold’s Cross in Dublin, Kilkenny, Mountmellick, Portarlington, Port Laoise, Holywood (Co. Down), Downpatrick, Carrickfergus and Maghera (Co. Derry, until 1798). In this last place there was a procession of May Boys, led by a king and queen ornamented with coloured ribbons.
May Day also saw girls in southern and south-eastern counties gifting decorated balls to the youths. These were often hurling balls decorated with coloured ribbons and hung under a hoop of greenery; the whole assembly was laid out on the village green and the young people of the district danced and sang around it. These activities often became very raucous occasions, sometimes leading to serious injury, as noted in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and eventually died out, along with most other May traditions.
Poetry Day Waterford was a unique festival of poetry and spoken word with interludes of music. Unique, not just because of the depth and breadth of the programme – but because it was entirely online.
Curator Anna Jordan of Modwords supported by Waterford City & County Council and assisted by Waterford In Your Pocket and Frontline Audio Visual put together a wonderful mix of spiritual, earthy, urban and rural expositions that engaged, entertained and intrigued the viewers and participants.
From Beara Peninsula to Berlin, from Dungarvan to Dublin poets gave generously their insights, fears, motivations, celebrations and in some cases personal tributes to those who have moved on.
Click on the links below for the four main segments of the day. Please note that these are for Facebook pages. In some cases there is a slight delay before the programmes start.
Sit back, relax and be prepared to be entertained for the next couple of hours.
There are roughly 400 surviving Ogham inscriptions on stone monuments throughout Ireland and western Britain, the bulk of them are in the south of Ireland, in Counties Kerry, Cork and Waterford. The vast majority of the inscriptions consist of personal names and were used as either grave markers or territorial markers. Ogham takes the form of lines and notches at the angle of a stone to denote letters. It is based on the Latin alphabet and is read from the base of the stone upwards to the top. The date of the inscriptions spans from the 4th century to the late 7th century.
Two of the 3 Ogham stones found in Ardmore have been relocated within the Cathedral
The first Ogham stone is 1.27m high and has the following inscription
LUGUDECCAS MAQI[ ̣ ̣ ? ̣ ̣MU]/COI NETASEGAMONAS/ DOLATI BIGAISGOB… which translates as ‘of Luguid son of …? descendant of Nad-Segamon’. McManus (1991, 65)
The second Ogham stone is 1.3m high and has a small incised cross upon the sloping top of the stone, on the side opposite to the inscription which reads AMADU which can be translated as “beloved”. McManus (1991, 117).The third stone, which is kept in the National Museum of Ireland has the inscription …]NACI MAQI […“of Anac, son of “
If you like to know more about Ogham stones an interesting link is https://ogham.celt.dias.ie ogham in 3D project
Tarlú stairiúil is ea an phaindéim seo agus an t-ordú dianghlasála a ghabhann leis, a bheidh mar chuid de scéal ár saolta sa todhchaí. Sin ráite, tá daoine breacaosta tar éis maireachtaint tríd go leor tarlúintí suntasacha, cuid acu a d’athraigh cúrsaí an tsaoil dóibh féin agus don tsochaí trí chéile. Ba bhreá linn dá mbeadh daoine breacaosta sásta an taithí úd atá acu a roinnt linn mar chuid de cheiliúradh Fhéile na Bealtaine i bPort Láirge.
De gnáth, glacann Port Láirge páirt i bhféile na Bealtaine, a d’eagraíonn na heagraíochta Aostacht agus Deiseanna gach bliain. Faraoir, ní féidir linn daoine a thabhairt le chéile i gcomhair imeachtaí mar is gnách i mbliana agus sinn i lár na paindéime seo. Sin ráite, is féidir linn ceiliúradh a dhéanamh ar dhaoine breacaosta agus iarraimid orthu anois a bheith páirteach linn sa cheiliúradh seo. Cé go bhfuil go leor daoine ag cocúnú, is féidir leo a gcuid taithí agus cuimhní saoil a roinnt lena bpobal áitiúil mar mheabhrú do dhaoine go dtiocfaidh deireadh leis an ngéarchéim seo chomh maith. Tá buncharraig nirt agus teacht aniar sa taithí atá ag na daoine níos sine gur féidir linne foghlaim uaidh, agus mar a deir an seanfhocal, ‘Ní Neart go Cur le Chéile.’
Táimid ag iarraidh ar dhaoine breacaosta a gcuimhí cinn maidir le rudaí suntasacha a tharla le linn a saol a roinnt linn – conas mar a chuaigh na himeachtaí i bhfeidhm orthu agus conas mar a dheileáil siad leo – d’fhéadfadh gur mór-tharlúintí stairiúla a bheadh ann, nó athruithe níos lú a tharla sa saol áitiúil thart thimpeall orthu. Mar shampla, an cuimhin leat?……
Ar choimeádadh tú féin nó baill dod’ theaghlach ar leithlis de bharr na heitinne a bheith ort/orthu
A bheith curtha as de bharr póilió, an fhiabhras dearg, nó briseadh amach ghalar de shaghas éigint eile
Nuair a bhuaigh an Dr. Ernest Walton, a rugadh i nDún na Mainistreach, an Duais Nobel sa mbliain 1951
Nuair a chuaigh cara nó ball dod’ chlann ar imirce
Aimsir na hÉigeandála agus ciondáil le linn an Dara Chogadh Domhanda agus conas mar a chuaigh sé i bhfeidhm ort féin agus do chlann
Ba bhreá linn a fháil amach mar gheall ar na tarlúintí suntasacha a bhí i do shaol.
Is féidir leat do thaithí a roinnt leis an bpobal i roinnt slite éagsúla. Tuigimid go bhfuil sé deacair rudaí a chur sa phost, nó teacht ar theicneolaíocht, ach a bhuíochas leis an tSeirbhís iontach ‘Call to Chat’ de chuid Chomhairle na nDaoine Breacaosta, Port Láirge (Waterford Older People’s Council), atá á reachtáil i gcomhar le Seirbhís Leabharlanna Cathrach agus Contae Phort Láirge, ní gá duit ach an guthán a phiocadh suas agus labhairt le duine.
Seo a leanas na slite inar féidir leat do Scéal a Roinnt:
Glaoigh ar 1761 10 20 20 agus lorg ‘Call to Chat’ (Is féidir do scéal a thabhairt i nGaeilge nó i mBéarla)
Cuir tuairisc i scríbhinn dod’ scéal chuig Halla na Cathrach, An Meal, Port Láirge nó chuig na hOifigí Cathartha, Cé Dáibhéid, Dún Garbhán. Scríobh “Is Cuimhin Liom/I Remember” ar an gclúdach litreach.
Roinn ar Twitter nó Facebook leis na clibeanna #TogetherWaterfordIsStronger, @WaterfordCounci nó @WaterfordLibs ar Twitter agus Waterford Council nó Waterford City and County Libraries ar Facebook
Déanann Bealtaine ceiliúradh ar chruthaitheacht i measc daoine níos sine, mar sin is féidir leat do chuimhní a roinnt i bhfocail, nó trí ghrianghraf a roinnt, nó tríd do shaothar féin a chruthú. Ba bhreá linn do chuimhní a bhailiú agus iad a roinnt le pobal Phort Láirge i gcoitinne le linn mí na Bealtaine, ionas gur féidir linn foghlaim ó do thaithí agus teacht le chéile chun do neart agus do theacht aniar a cheiliúradh. Ní neart go cur le chéile agus is féidir leatsa do pháirt a imirt chun an neart seo a mhéadú.
The current pandemic and lock-down is a historic event that will become part of the story of our lives in the future. However, older people have lived through many significant events, some of which have changed the course of their lives. It is this lifetime of experience that we would love older people to share as part of Waterford’s celebration of Bealtaine.
Usually in May every year Waterford participates in the Bealtaine festival organised by Age and Opportunity but, of course, we cannot gather people together for events as usual in the face of a pandemic. However, we can still celebrate our older people and mark their achievements and life experiences. While many might be cocooning, they can contribute to their local communities with their experiences and help people to appreciate that this too will pass. In the wealth of their experience lies a bed rock of strength and resilience that we can build on and ensure that ‘Together Waterford is Stronger’.
We are asking older people to share their memories of significant events in their lives, how they coped with them and how they were affected – they can be events of huge historical significance or small local changes that impacted on them. For example, Do You Remember?:
You or a family member spending time in isolation due to TB
Being affected by polio, scarlatina or other outbreak of disease
Getting access to a banned book
Petrol rationing and/or public transport strikes
Abbeyside, Dungarvan born Dr. Ernest Walton winning the Nobel Prize in 1951
The emigration of a friend or family member
The Emergency and rationing during World War II and how it impacted on you and your family.
We would love to find out what events were significant to your life.
We have lots of ways you can share your significant event with the community. We understand that it can be difficult to get to the post or, get into technology but thanks to the wonderful Call to Chat service of the Waterford Older Peoples’ Council, run in collaboration with Waterford City and County Libraries, you can simply pick up the phone.
Here are the ways you can Share your Story:
Call 0761 102020 and ask for Call to Chat
Post a written account of your story to City Hall, The Mall, Waterford or the Civic Offices, Davitt’s Quay, Dungarvan. Please mark the envelope “I Remember” Project
Share to Twitter or Facebook with the #TogetherWaterfordisStronger tagging @WaterfordCounci or @WaterfordLibs on Twitter and Waterford Council or Waterford City and County Libraries on Facebook
Bealtaine is about creativity in older people, so you can share your memory in words, by sharing a photograph or by creating your own piece of work. We would love to gather your memories and share them with the wider Waterford community throughout the month of May, so that we can build from your experiences and come together to celebrate your strength and resilience. Together Waterford is Stronger and you can play your part in building up that strength.
On the exterior of the west gable of Ardmore Cathedral, there are a number of carved tone panels, which according to historians, depict events from the psalms. In the past one of functions of these carvings was to illustrate stories from the Bible for the faithful. The panels comprise of two large semicircular lunettes and above them a range of thirteen round headed panels. The iconography of some of these panels has been interpreted, where it is possible as the enthroned Madonna with the child Jesus, The Last Judgment or Archangel Michael weighing the souls , whilst there is uncertainty about some of the other figures depicted. Underneath these panels are the two (possibly originally three) larger lunettes which depict Adam and Eve and the Judgment of Solomon over the Adoration of Magi.
The right-hand lunette combines both the scene of David playing his harp and the Judgment of Solomon. David’s battle with Goliath is the scene on the extreme right of the left-hand lunette, where a figure kneeling with bowed head is shown with a spear, which was one of the weapons borne by Goliath into battle. Respectively, the fourth arch from the left of the upper arcade is identified as David’s charge to Solomon and panels such as the third arch from the left of the upper arcade are identified as The building of Solomon’s Temple (Harbison, 1995).
It is probable that a number of smaller panels may have been eroded by time and weather, as a few are now blank. The off centre placement of the lunettes may indicate that further panels were intended or that the panels were reset with later modifications to the building. It might also be possible that these panels were relocated from another church. Usually twelfth century Irish churches were decorated with non figurative ornament based on geometric and foliage patterns. Figurative works such as these, which consist of many panels, are extremely rare in Ireland.
The most probable sources of inspiration for this type of decoration are found in the Poitous-Angoumois region in France, where there is similar arcading with figures on the exterior of the western elevations of the Cathedrals of Angouleme, Civay and Poitiers. Those also date from 12th century, while elements of the iconography are also similar to depictions on Norman manuscripts.
Continuing with how we can view our archaeology and built heritage through the maps using the Historic Environment Viewer link on The National Monuments website, it is possible to find archaeological features via town-land or by feature.
For instance, a search for ecclesiastical enclosures in County Waterford returns 27 results. Ecclesiastical enclosures are oval / roughly circular or “D” shaped areas, defined by banks and external ditches or dry stone walls. These sites are quite large, usually over 50m in diameter and enclose early medieval churches or monasteries . The enclosures date from the 5th-to the 12th centuries AD.
Ardmore Cathedral is considered one of the oldest Christian settlements in Ireland, having been founded by St. Declan in 416 AD, prior to St. Patrick’s arrival in 432 AD . The archaeological remains at the site range in date from the Early Medieval period. The large monastic enclosure encompasses St. Declan’s oratory, the graveyard, the Cathedral and iconic round tower.
Very little is known of the later history of the ecclesiastical centre. The only date recorded in connection with the cathedral is 1203 AD, when historic texts note that the building of the church in Ardmore was finished. Ardmore was recognised as a diocesan centre between 1170 and 1210, after which time the diocese was united with Lismore and the church became parochial.
In 1642, the Cathedral and round tower were besieged but the chancel of the cathedral continued in use as a church until 1838, when the present Church of Ireland church was built and the font from the Cathedral was transferred to its present location.
Remember to tag your Waterford photos with #MyWaterford2km to feature in our new photo site or in upcoming issues of Waterford News & Star.
The history of fanlights available on the Buildings of Ireland Facebook pageposted a photograph of the lovely double fanlight at 31 The Mall Waterford city recently.
Here are a few more examples from around the City and County.
On Tuesday the 21st April 2020, the Local Authority Waters Programme (LAWPRO) in partnership with Inland Fisheries Ireland, Waterways Ireland, The Heritage Council and The Heritage Officer Programme, launched a national Storytelling Competition ‘Stories from the Waterside’ / ‘Scéalta Ó Thaobh An Uisce’.
The competition is open to all, with €4,000 in prizes to be won. Entries are welcomed from across the island of Ireland and entries may be submitted in either in English or Irish. Stories of 600 words or less and only original and previously unpublished stories are allowed.
Please share with your families, friends and colleagues. Best of luck if you decide to enter. We would be most obliged if you could please pass this email on to anyone you feel might be interested in this storytelling competition.
During the Covid crisis, The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage (NIAH) Facebook site is highlighting some of our wonderful historic buildings and features with Built Heritage puzzles.
This week they are starting a “Fantastic Irish Fanlights: An Armchair Tour of Ireland” by Nessa Roche, Senior Architectural Advisor, which is perfect for a little lunchtime learning or a teatime tutorial.
“Fantastic Irish Fanlights” will explain why fanlights became so popular in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century buildings. It will also explore the wide range of buildings fanlights are found, who designed the fanlights, who made them and how they were made, the main design families – circle; cobweb; floral; Gothic; peacock; petal; spoke and hub; teardrop – and will showcase examples of the bizarre and spectacular. There will also be practical tips if you know of a fanlight in need of repair.
Go on the armchair tour of “Fantastic Irish Fanlights” – First stop will be “An Introduction to Irish Fanlights”.
A network of 83 Look Out Posts (LOPs) was constructed at approximately 10 to 20 mile intervals around the coast of Ireland during “The Emergency”. These single bay, single story, flat roofed mass concrete structures were built to the standardised designs of William Henry Cooke (1881-1977) of the Office of Public Works. It is said that these look outs could be constructed in a single day, using 137 precast blocks.
The LOP were numbered and in Waterford they were built at Brownstown Head, LOP 17, Dunbrattin, LOP 18, Helvick, LOP 19 and Ram Head, LOP 20. These posts were manned by the Marine and Coastwatching Service, which comprised of members of the Local Defence Force (LDF) and it was the primary intelligence-gathering system responsible for reporting all incidents at sea and in the air to Military Intelligence (G2). The service was disbanded in October 1945.
If you would like to find out more, the coast and marine section on www.heritagemaps.ie has links to the log books for each station, and a list of those who manned the stations.
As the schools are closed and most of us are trying to stay safe at home, Abarta Heritage / Irish Walled Towns Network have created a workbook aimed at primary school children (9 – 13 yr olds) to keep them entertained and as a way to help to promote the fantastic heritage of our walled towns.
The workbook features colouring pages, a building challenge, quizzes and information about some of the features that can be found in our historic towns and Waterford City.
One of the best places to see our city walls is at the junction on Castle Street/Manor Street, where you can see 3 of the towers as well.
Please do share this widely and we’d love it if you could send back drawings and pictures of the ‘build your own walled town’ construction projects to rryall@waterfordcouncil.ie so we can post them on the Waterford Council website and also on the IWTN social media channels.
Old House New Home is an important new online resource for the owners of existing properties, including protected structures.
