SAINT JOHNS CATHOLIC CHURCH [PARNELL STREET IN WATERFORD CITY]

SAINT JOHNS CATHOLIC CHURCH [PARNELL STREET IN WATERFORD CITY]

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This church, attributed to John B. Keane (d.1859), is an important, monumental exercise in the Gothic Revival style, which has been very well maintained to present an early aspect, both to the exterior and to the interior. The construction of the street (north-west) elevation reveals high quality local stone masonry, particularly to the carved stone detailing which retains its intricacy. The church incorporates many features and fittings of considerable artistic merit (including the cast-iron railings to the boundary), while the exposed timber roof construction is of some technical significance. The church is an imposing feature in the streetscape of Parnell Street and forms an attractive landmark in the locality, identified by the soaring spire that adds incident to the skyline.

 

WATERFORD WALLS [AN ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL STREET ART FESTIVAL]

WATERFORD WALLS [AN ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL STREET ART FESTIVAL]

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The street art festival was the reason for my visit to Waterford this week. There was a lot to see and photograph making it difficult for me to describe the locations or the artists so if you want more information I suggest that you visit http://waterfordwalls.ie/ In general the local population appeared to be very excite about this year’s festival which is good.  

VIEW ALL  MY PHOTOGRAPHS OF THIS FESTIVAL

 

SAINT BRIGID’S CHURCH [KILLESTER]

SAINT BRIGID’S CHURCH [KILLESTER]

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With the building of a large number of houses in Killester, in the 1920’s, a church became necessary for the spiritual needs of the new community. The church was consecrated by the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr. Edward Byrne, on the 26th September 1926. With the large growth of housing developments in the 1940’s and 1950’s it became necessary to increase the length of the church .

THE FIVE LAMPS IN DUBLIN

THE FIVE LAMPS [NORTH STRAND DUBLIN]

 I am willing to bet that most of you will be surprised to discover that this is a memorial drinking fountain originally named the ‘General henry Hall Memorial Fountain’.

MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS FAMOUS DUBLIN LANDMARK ...

 

THOUSANDS SIGN PETITION [TO SAVE TREES IN FAIRVIEW]

THOUSANDS SIGN PETITION [TO SAVE TREES IN FAIRVIEW]

I am never happy about trees being cut down but in this instance I do not know the full story and may never do so.

Having read the news about the petition I decided to visit Fairview to see what the fuss was about and also it was a good excuse to visit the area.

According to one local that I spoke to the City Council is planning to remove about fifty trees in order to make way for a new cycle path but a second lady explained that as the trees will be replaced by the Corpo [Dublin City Council] she was not interested in the petition.

As the planting began in 1906 some of the trees are over a hundred years old and according to the City Council officials some of the older trees are distressed because of restricted growing space and need to be felled regardless of their plans for a cycleway.

On the main Fairview road there is a large number of trees marked with yellow bands and I assume that these are the trees destined for the chop. However, according to some online accounts it is the trees along the park’s main footpath that are under threat. I think that some reports have used stock photographs of random trees in the park.

By the way the Irish Times are not in favour of the petition see: https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/fairview-trees-row-shows-why-dublin-remains-a-mess-1.3183739

DIM SUM NOW AVAILABLE AT MR DINH [CAPEL STREET]

DIM SUM NOW AVAILABLE AT MR DINH [CAPEL STREET]

Some time next week they plan to introduce Dim Sum at Mr Dinh’s Hong Kong style restaurant in Capel Street. I am really excited about this as the restaurant is less than five minutes walk from my apartment.

Dim sum (Chinese: 點心; pinyin: diǎnxīn; Cantonese Yale: dímsām) is a style of Chinese cuisine (particularly Cantonese but also other varieties) prepared as small bite-sized portions of food served in small steamer baskets or on small plates. Dim sum dishes are usually served with tea, and together form a full tea brunch. Dim sum traditionally are served as fully cooked, ready-to-serve dishes. In Cantonese teahouses, carts with dim sum will be served around the restaurant for diners to order from without leaving their seats. The Cantonese tradition of having endless cups of tea and dim sum is also called Yum Cha.

PUBS AND RESTAURANTS ...

THE WATERWAYS OF GALWAY [RIVERS - CANALS - LAKES]

THE WATERWAYS OF GALWAY [RIVERS - CANALS - LAKES]

I plan to revisit Galway at the beginning of September. My last five visits were in August and the weather has been bad every time. The main problem was rain.


The River Corrib in the west of Ireland flows from Lough Corrib through Galway to Galway Bay. The river is among the shortest in Europe, with only a length of six kilometres from the lough to the Atlantic.

The Corrib may be one of Ireland's shortest rivers, but with a mean long term flow rate of 104.8 cubic metres per second, it is Ireland's second largest river, only surpassed by the River Shannon (by flow).

RETRO WIND SHELTERS IN CLONTARF [DESIGNED IN 1934 BY HERBERT SIMMS]

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 Dating from the 1930s is a number on interesting structures along the Promenade in Clontarf including the wind shelters shown in my photographs.

The shelters were designed by Herbert Simms in 1934. The design and construction such public structures arose from a concern for the welfare of the working class and facilitated a rise in communal outdoor recreation before the advent of modern affordable holidays.

During the 1930s, Dublin Corporation Housing Architect, Herbert Simms, took the dualistic approach to slum clearance of building both new urban blocks and suburban cottages. The flat blocks were considered essential architectural ingredients of the slum clearance project and from 1932 to 1939, twenty-one schemes comprising 1,002 inner-city flats were completed. In 1935 alone 1,552 dwellings were completed.

During the sixteen years he was in office, Simms was responsible for for the design and erection of some 17,000 new homes, ranging from striking blocks of flats in the central city, influenced by new apartment blocks by de Klerk in Amsterdam and J.P. Oud in Rotterdam, to extensive suburban housing schemes such as those at Crumlin and Cabra.



MORE ABOUT SIMMS

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