Skip to content

Survey: Waterford is looking to the future – Will you help?

Waterford is looking to the future – Will you help?

Waterford City and County Council is leading an initiative to plan and be ready for recovery from the impact of Covid-19 on Waterford society and business and the reopening of our Villages, Town and City Centres for tourism, retail, cultural and leisure activities.

One of the actions we are taking is to develop a brand that will be used to drive investment and business to Waterford and we need feedback for this investment brand.

Please have your say and take part in a short survey to shape how Waterford is promoted and presented nationally and internationally. Waterford City and County – a place for all Waterford people to be proud of and promote.

Please complete and upload our online survey by midnight Sunday 10th May 2020.

Link here: https://bit.ly/WaterfordBrandSurvey

Bring Nature Back to your Garden

Many people are taking delight in the abundant birdsong that can be heard all around us now that life has quietened down in the current pandemic. A new booklet “Gardening for Biodiversity” is now available to help you attract more bird life, bees and butterflies to your garden and do your bit for nature.

Developed by wildlife author Juanita Browne and supported by the NPWS, Department of Culture, Heritage & the Gaeltacht, the Heritage Council and Local Authority Heritage Officers, this free booklet offers practical advice for beginner wildlife enthusiasts and DIYers.

Leave a strip of dandelions, delay mowing your grass, build a log pile or even a bird bath and watch your garden become a haven for wildlife.

Check out biodiversityireland.ie and their Facebook page for identification swatches and recording apps to help you identify all the different species of birds, flowers and bugs.

It’s all in our Nature !

Imagine Arts Festival 2020: Open Call 2020

‘Imaginings’

A work-in-progress performance opportunity.

Are you in the process of creating a new work or have an idea you want to develop?

Imagine Arts Festival is offering an exciting opportunity for 3 artists / groups of artists, to present a work in progress at Imagine Arts Festival 2020. We are accepting applications from artists of all performance disciplines (Dance, Theatre, Circus, Multidisciplinary etc.) We are particularly interested in hearing from artists based in Co. Waterford and the South East of Ireland.

The Imagine In-Development performance ‘IMAGININGS’ will take place on the evening of Thursday 22nd of October with some basic tech provided – the venue is to be confirmed but will be in Waterford. The performances will be open to the public and the audience will have the opportunity to express feedback to the artists.

What we can offer

The chosen artists/companies will receive €500 towards producing their performance

One of these Artist’s will have the opportunity to discuss a commission of their fully developed work for Imagine Arts Festival 2021. This artist will be chosen by Imagine’s Advisory team.

  • Minimal tech support on the day of the showing, including 1.5 hours tech time
  • Structured audience feedback
  • A film of the live performance
  • We will handle all marketing and promotion of the event
  • We cannot cover accommodation, travel or per diem costs
  • We cannot host aerial rigging in the venue

To apply please email imaginefestofficial@gmail.com with the following:

  • Title and short description of the proposed work (max 300 words)
  • Name of the choreographer/writer/director/lead artist, a short biography/CV and jpg images
  • Names of performers if different from above
  • Length of piece (20 min max).
  • A short video link of the work so far (no longer than 2 minutes) or videos of your past work if you do not yet have footage or a script if it is a text-based piece

Deadline for submissions: June 30th

For further information about the festival, please visit www.imagineartsfestival.com

Please direct any queries for the attention of Nora at imaginefestofficial@gmail.com

eWaterford.com – an online shop for everyone

Attention business owners !

HelloWorld.ie has built a dedicated online shop for Waterford! Retailers can upload their products and consumers can purchase in one location ensuring local business is supported.

Created by Bryan Hurley, a Waterford native and owner of Helloworld.ie,
eWaterford.com is supported by Waterford Chamber.

Any Waterford business is now free to sign-up and add their products and services to eWaterford.com. When your customers order your products and services on eWaterford.com, their order details and requested items are sent to your business for processing. Customers indicate in their order whether they would like a local collection or a quote for delivery.

Each business on eWaterford gets a dedicated business page complete with images, contact information, biography, administration panel, and order reports. Customers can also contact businesses directly through the site to enquire about your products or services.

Your products, services, and company profile are shown on a searchable map of Waterford.  This allows people to find the businesses that support the area where they live, work, and play.

To start selling right now, just register at ewaterford.com

Online resource launched for owners of Historic and Protected Structures

Old House New Home is an important new online resource for the owners of existing properties, including protected structures.

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

Waterford Business Supports Hub is Launched

Council and Partners launch Waterford Business Supports Hub

As part of the ongoing collaboration between Waterford City and County  Council, Waterford Chamber, Dungarvan and West Waterford Chamber, Waterford Business Group, Waterford Local Enterprise Office and Enterprise Ireland, a new web resource has been launched so as to bring all the current and emerging supports for Waterford businesses onto a single digital platform during this Covid-19 crisis.

The whole idea behind the Waterford Business Supports Hub is that Waterford businesses, seeking guidance, will need to access just one primary local resource. This resource, in turn, will have summaries of the main national supports as well as appropriate links and signposting when required.

The very clear message associated with this collaboration is articulated by the Council’s Director of Services for Economic Development, Michael Quinn when he says: “It is only through a real commitment to working together that we can ensure that Waterford’s business interests are best served during this crisis and, more particularly, in its aftermath.”

Chamber CEOs, Gerald Hurley (Waterford) and Jenny Beresford (Dungarvan & West Waterford) agreed stating that they would be urging their members to not alone exploit the new resource but to influence its further development. In a joint statement, they said: “ The Chambers value this partnership and project, having a local online Business Hub eliminates unnecessary time wasting and encourages a stronger  connection with other stakeholders. Collaboration is paramount at this time to ensure a cross county recovery.”

Likewise Richie Walsh, Head of Enterprise with LEO Waterford: “This platform has been devised so as to ensure that Waterford businesses have the very best of access to clear, concise information and guidance.  Please use it.” Says Michael Garland, head of the Waterford Business Group: “Information is key to our joint recovery and having one website where all the information is available for business will put us ahead of the game”.

So, there is indeed an overriding message emerging which will drive Waterford’s business recovery in the months ahead and it is this – “Together Waterford Is Stronger”.  In the meantime, if you’re in business in Waterford, please check out the new Waterford Business Support Hub at  http://waterfordcouncil.ie/businesssupportshub

May Day in Ireland

‘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.

Article by Barry O’Reilly
National Inventory of Architectural Heritage

Reading

  • Danaher, Kevin (1972), The Year in Ireland (Mercier Press)
  • Evans, E. Estyn (1957), Irish Folk Ways (Routledge)
  • Ó Súilleabháin, Seán (1967), Irish Folk Custom and Belief (Cultural Relations Committee)
  • Wood-Martin, W.G. (1902), Traces of the Elder Faiths of Ireland (Longman, Gren & Co.)

Poetry Day Waterford recordings now online !

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.

Ogham Stones in Ardmore

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 NETA SEGAMONAS/ 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

Is Cuimhin liom … I Remember

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
  • Bheith in ann teacht ar leabhar a raibh cosc air
  • Ciondáil peitril agus/nó stailceanna iompair phoiblí
  • 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.
  • R-phost a sheoladh chuig archivist@waterfordcouncil.ie 
  • 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.

I Remember … Is Cuimhin liom

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
  • E-mail archivist@waterfordcouncil.ie
  • 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.

Ardmore Cathedral

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.

The Beauty of Maps … Archaeology

Ardmore, Co. Waterford

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.