RTE reports that the Smithwicks Experience in Kilkenny, which was a Diageo owned visitor experience focusing on Smithwicks, is to close permanently as a result of Government lockdowns.
I suppose if it saves one life………..
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Month: April 2021
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Greenways galore
Another day, another greenway proposal for something that won’t be useable unless you live within 5km of it and have an appropriate social credit score.
Per the Leitrim Observer, Leitrim County Council have issued a tender for the design and preliminary route selection of a greenway on the former Sligo Leitrim and Northern Counties Railway trackbed.
The article contains a prime example of the inability of the MSM to actually get their facts correct (and they wonder why the MSM is in financial difficulty?). It claims that:
The simplicity of using the closed railway route is that the route is used on license from Irish Rail if it is ever needed for a new railway in the future.
I obviously missed the bit in Irish railway history where the SL&NCR was bought by GSR/CIE, thereby giving them the trackbed. The last time I checked, the SL&NCR, being a cross border railway, was excluded from the merger of all railway companies wholly within the Free State in the 1920s and it continued on as an independent concern until the Government of Northern Ireland closed the connecting line through Enniskillen by fiat, thereby rendering the SL&NCR economically defunct.
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Down the rabbit hole
I give up.
As if the madness around a virus with an IFR of 0.15% (i.e. 99.85% of people who get this virus don’t die) wasn’t bad enough, the Irish Government (which is borrowing billions to pay people to not work who should be working and paying people to work (public servants) who shouldn’t be working) intends to spaff some more money on the dead horse that is the Ulster Canal.
I had to read the press release many times to understand what is being funded (it is a very clever spinning of words which looks like it is promising a lot but is actually delivering the sum total of sweet fuck all) and all it is is an open air swimming pool in Clones, which they have mislabeled as a marina.
At this stage, I almost wish that there was a deadly virus that was wiping out the world’s population.
Edit 02/05/2021: Below is a map of the area and canal I prepared many years ago, which I have updated by highlighting the section of canal to be “restored” in continuous dark blue. This will be a disjointed section from nowhere to nowhere. The dotted blue either side is the derelict canal.
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The Dolphin’s Barn brickworks
H/T to Ron Cox and Mary Liz McCarthy of the IHAI for details of this online talk about the Dolphin’s Barn Brickworks company and the people associated with it.
The talk takes place on 6th May at 11:00 – registration is required. See the link above for details.
H/T to Ron Cox and Mary Liz McCarthy of the IHAI for details of this online talk being organised by Dublin City Council.
The event takes place on 21st April at 19:30 and looks at the impact of land reclamation along Dublin Bay and the Liffey forming the basis of the modern city.
Registration is required – see the link above for details.
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120 Dublin Stories
H/T to Ron Cox of the IHAI for bringing this to my attention.
The Little Museum of Dublin are hosting a series of talks and that being held on Thursday 15th April 2021 will cover an exploration of archive material from Dublin and Liverpool ports.
The talk takes place at 18:00 and can be accessed here.
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Ports Past and Present
Ports, Past and Present is a project that will consist of eight short documentary films and one feature-length film, primarily about the west coast of Wales but which will also feature Dublin Port and Rosslare Harbour. The films will be part of a wider campaign to raise awareness of the rich coastal and maritime heritage of these communities.
To get involved contact the team by emailing Rita Singer ris32@aber.ac.uk or message on Twitter @PortsPastPres or Facebook @portspastandpresent.
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Clogher Valley Railway
Every so often, the RTE website throws up an archive feature of interest.
Today, it gave me this piece – an archive section from 1987 noting the opening of an exhibition of railway memorabilia in Fivemiletown, Co. Tyrone.
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The Round House, Lanesborough
Nothing to do with railways (there were very few round houses in Ireland – I have only identified 6 in the history of railways in Ireland) but a house built by Bord na Mona in its housing complex in Lanesborough, Co. Roscommon.
The house has been on the market since 2018 (it would appear to be an executor sale as I also found a death notice from 2018 stating that the deceased was “formerly of The Round House, Lanesboro”) and was on the market then at €117k.
I became aware of the property’s IH connection last year (in fact, if it wasn’t for COVID and the inability to travel, I may have put in an offer) when it was advertised as for sale at €120k. In the last few weeks, the asking price has now increased to €125k.
Normally, if a property hasn’t sold in 3 years, it is because the price is too high, in which case, the thing to do is reduce the price, not increase it.
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Donegal Railway Talk
The CDRRL are hosting another online talk – this time a history of the three railways in Donegal and a behind the scenes tour of the railway museum in Donegal Town.
It can be viewed on YouTube at 19:00 on Easter Sunday (4th April 2021).