Do you remember the ‘Pill-Boxes’ on
Or the Air-Raid Shelters?
Pill-Boxes & Air-Raid Shelters
Month: January 2006
Armagh Road Quarry
Landfill in abandoned quarries has been the favoured method of waste disposal about here for generations. What few abandoned granite quarries that remain are too small and indeed are now being further excavated so that housing can be built there – witness the permanent ‘woodpecker’ drilling beyond Quinn Bennett’s former home on Barley Lane, for example.
Moving to Linenhall Square
My people, the Rodgers, originally came from
Kirk Ruddy’s School Days
You’ve heard of Tom Brown’s School Days.
But have you heard of Kirk Ruddy’s School Days?
Well, School day.. to be precise…
Carlingford Lough Panorama
Another panorama of Carlingford Lough – but this time from the top of Slieve Martin at the Cloughmore Stone, with a low winter sun shining down on Rostrevor and Warrenpoint in the distance below us.
Art Bennett 1793-1879
Art Bennett was an important part of the Ulster cultural revival of the late eighteenth-early nineteenth century. By sheer chance, my friend Tom McKeown found the photocopied note reproduced below, among his papers, with nothing attached to indicate its origin or meaning. That does not stop us from speculating!
Chapel Street Rocks
When I was a youngster back home in Newry, a lot of enjoyment was spent on ‘The Rocks’ in
LinenHall Arch
Was it always sunny in days of yore?
Or does it just seem so now we’re looking back from middle age?
This is the famous Linen Hall Arch again, this time unspoiled with soldiers in the picture!
Gosford Castle Sold!
The ‘tourist news’ this week is of the sale, for the ‘competitive market price’ of
Speaking on behalf of the developer [Gosford Castle Development Limited], Arthur Acheson of The Boyd Partnership (ironically it was the Achesons who originally commissioned the building, with stone pillaged from the Annacloughmullion Cairn near Lislea) said,
‘Applications have been made for Listed Buildings Consent and Planning Permission with the intent to convert the Castle into twenty-three private homes.
This gives the public and elected representatives an opportunity to see and comment on our plans.’ So that’s all right, then.
The announcement of the sale was made by the (English) Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Jeff Rooker.
The press blurb alleged that ‘significant interest was forthcoming in 2002 when the property was advertised on the open market’, presumably the reason it took four years to complete at the ‘competitive tender’ of