Clonmel

Marlfield village, Clonmel

Marlfield village on the outskirts of Clonmel might be just a small dot on the map, but at least three most visited – and loved – places are there, and it is where I am going to take you this time. In the first picture, you see the St Patrick’s Well site as it looks after the major remodeling and landscaping that took place in the 1960s. The works were funded by the generous donations from the Mayor of Los Angeles Sam Yorty whose mother was native of Clonmel, Mr Arman Hammer and the Irish Israeli society from South California.

This is how the place looked 100 years ago. A large ash tree was growing at the side of the well that could be accessed by walking on the stones through the marshy land ( click on the image to see the source). To be honest, I do like the original look…

Tear-shaped stone wall surrounds the well. The sight of ripples on the surface of the water both in the well and in the pool makes you look up and check if it is raining. The water is bubbling up from hundreds of tiny springs, and it is so clear that you can bring a cup with you and drink it right there.

St Patrick's Well

Spring water flows from the well through the hollowed stones. Similar medieval design is to be seen in St Brigid’s Well, Co Kildare.

St Patrick's Well

A simple sandstone cross is dated to the 5-8th century. The parish church was built in the 17th century, on the site of a much earlier monastic building – some fragments of it are visible in the masonry of the walls.

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Inside the chapel there is an altar tomb of Nicholas White who died in 1622, and the White family Coat of Arms. The tomb was brought here in 1805, and there is no body inside it.

A flight of stone steps connects this mystical place with the rest of the world, and it is also great for taking photographs from different angles and vantage points.

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More images and stories about St Patrick’s Well in my blog from last year.

This is the road between the holy well and the village. We will walk this road all the way down to the banks of River Suir.

Marlfield road

This picture was taken from another favorite place – Sandybanks. Well, a former favorite place, because a couple of years ago Clonmel City Council announced their decision to withdraw the summer Lifeguard Service from this very popular bathing spot. It was a shock to the locals when they learned that their favorite traditional bathing area ‘was not suitable for swimming’. Somehow they suspected that the decision had more to do with cutting costs than with the quality of the water.

River Suir

No bathing, so we just take a picture and walk back.

Just a minute walk from the Sandybanks there is an old church that is friendly shared between both Roman Catholics and Church of Ireland. Beautiful avenue of Horse Chestnut trees and the red door always attract photographers.

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Sometimes I walk around the graveyard and read gravestones, but the main reason is that I check on the old Yew tree.

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There is that tree, in the back of the graveyard. It takes three people to put their arms around it. I am coming to check on it once a year. It is quite scary to walk there – the reason why I converted the pictures to B&W 😉

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Marlfield church was built in 1818 on the site of the 12th century Cistercian Abbey. St Patrick’s Well and the church also belonged to the Abbey until it was dissolved in the 16th century. This beautiful window on the back wall of the Marlfield church is the only remnant of the original Abbey that was incorporated into the newer building.

Marlfield church

After the Siege of Clonmel in 1650 the lands of Marlfield, successfully farmed by Cistercian monks for centuries, were bought by the Bagwell family. Marlfield House was completed in 1785 by Colonell John Bagwell. The house was rebuilt after the fire in 1923. The central part of the house is used as an apartment complex, and there is also a conference hall that too can be rented.

Marlfield House

The magnificent conservatory was built by Richard Turner who designed the Botanic gardens in Belfast and Dublin.

Marlfield House

Last but not least favorite is Marlfield Lake. The lake covers six hectares in size, and the water is flowing into it from the St Patrick’s Well, where we began our tour.

Marlfield lake

Generations of local residents have been coming here and feeding generations of the waterfowl since the late 1700s when the lake was developed from a swamp by Stephen Moore.

Many species are breeding here, some ducks I have never seen before. There are many swans. The cygnets are shy, but the older birds often start a fight.

swans

When a visitor with some bread shows up, have your cameras ready.

There is a tiny picnic area, but you have to keep in mind that the road along the lake is just a regular road, and it can be quite busy.

Marlfield

These photographs were taken over the years, in different seasons.

Thank you for visiting Marlfield village! Hope you enjoyed the walk.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Carey’s Castle: a hidden gem at the foot of the Comeraghs

Just about a mile off the Clonmel to Dungarvan road, at the border between Tipperary and Waterford counties, stands the most loved and visited castle in the area.

The castle is located in the beautiful mixed woodlands close to the Glenary River, a tributary of the River Suir. Centuries ago the place was known as Glenabbey. It was a small monastic site that belonged to the Cistercian monastery in Innislounaght, Clonmel, but was abandoned in the 16th century as a result of the Dissolution of the Monasteries initiated by Henry VIII. The ruins of the old buildings and walls can still be seen.

After the monks moved out, the site was granted to Edward Gough, an alderman of Clonmel. There is no record that something remarkable had been happening in the site during the next 200 years, but in the beginning of the 19th century the Carey’s castle was built. At that time, the site was the property of the Carey family, the wealthy schoolmasters who loved history. It is believed that they were the ones who built the castle, because it is a mixture of architectural styles and eras. You see an ancient Irish Round Tower, medieval Norman hall, Romanesque arches and Gothic windows. There was also a walled garden facing the river.

The Careys sold the site in the 1840s when they emigrated to Australia. The next owner was Colonel Nuttall Greene, who soon became bankrupt, and his property was sold off in the Estates Court. The site was abandoned and became derelict.

I always thought this building was an ice house, but now I know it is a chapel :). I love to receive feedback and learn new things.

This is the other side of the chapel and the path that approaches the site from the east.

This is the path you would walk on from the parking lot after you take a right turn down the hill. The main path continues straight through the woods. It is also beautiful and worth to explore.

This is what you see when you walk down that path. In summer, the view is obscured by the tree branches.

Here the path makes a loop and returns to the woods. A different view from this point. On the right, you see the walled garden.

All the parts of the path are mystically beautiful. You see many ancient ruins who knows how old.

Glenary River is a treasure itself. Quite deep in some places, she even hosts fish. Local teenagers come for a swim in the icy-cold pool, just five minutes walk to the east from the castle.

I walk along the Glenary River out of the woods to the main road. It is quite dark here, and suddenly there is an opening between the trees, and the sheep appear like pale ghosts out of nowhere, startling me.

I hurry up, and in a couple of minutes the sun is shining again, and there are no ghosts anymore. Thistles and Foxgloves are stretching tall to get out of the thick wall of nettles guarding an old farmstead.

I take some pictures of the gate and old roof, and walk to the parking lot.

Carey Castle is a unique place, open to everyone. How sad it is that people leave all their litter there after having picnics and walking their dogs. Once a year, a local Slovakian/Polish family hosts a Gulash Party in the castle grounds. A huge saucepan of stew is cooked, and families with children stay in the site all the day, and some even over night, sleeping in the tents. Everyone can come if they are well-behaved 🙂 Before the party begins, the hosts are combing the area and picking up all the rubbish left there during the rest of the year. After the party, the place is tidied up again.

There is another Carey’s Castle in the world, a cave-like dwelling in the end of a magnificent trail at the South-West corner of Joshua Tree National Park, USA. Both sites are not officially recognized as tourist destinations, and remain ‘hidden gems’.

Thank you for visiting my favorite place!

Just to let you know. We have a wee addition to our family 🙂

Have a wonderful weekend!

Meanwhile in the streets

Visiting Saltee Island was a pleasure, but it is the time to return and check out what we have missed while we were away. There are some street scenes and the events that took place in Clonmel and Waterford.

Clonmel Junction festival is the most eventful week in July, filled with live music, street performance, theatre and visual art. Installations of the works A Child for sale by a world renowned artist and Kilsheelan resident Gottfried Helnwein could be seen in various places in the streets of Clonmel.

In my blog post Cry for the Last Child, I wrote about Gottfried and his beautiful castle. His granddaughters Croí and Éala are regular models for his paintings.

Lords of Strut – very talented and very positive comedians from Cork gave a brilliant performance in Clonmel.

‘Over styled and under dressed’, silly but charming characters Strut brothers Sean and Seamus, won the hearts of young and old with their hilarious show, acrobatics, satire and dance.

The streets of Waterford were not always as deserted as you might think after looking at this picture.

Historical reenactment of 1916 Easter Rising gathered quite a crowd and took us a hundred years back.

There is a video of the Reenactment I found on Youtube – I even caught a glimpse of myself in it 🙂

All sorts of transportation in The Quay, side by side. I love this street, and I think that most of my Waterford pictures were taken there.

Irish United Nations Veteran meeting was held in Cathedral Square, just a minute walk from The Quay. Thank you for your service!

Waterford Spraoi festival is one of a kind. Theatre, music, art, dance and much more is happening in the streets of Waterford on the first weekend of August. Here is my Spraoi 2015 post. I will share only a few pictures this time.

Spraoi orchestra string quartet.

Morbid&Sons, a brand new undertaker business. Way to go, guys!

Tango for all! Dance until dark!

The sun is setting down and it looks like we are having a rainy day tomorrow 🙂

Melting gold of the setting sun flows behind the horizon. Darkness comes instead.

It is a perfect time to see the famous Spraoi monsters in the streets of Waterford City…

… and listen to the monster style music 🙂

Don’t be afraid of Spraoi monsters. They are a little bit crazy, but all they want is to have fun. The only really scary and ugly thing in this world is hate.

Thank you for stopping by and for your interest in Ireland. In my next blog post, we will return to the Ocean and take a very unusual walk 🙂

Have a wonderful weekend!

Springish

Spring is the morning of the year… The Golden Rod by Frank Dempster Sherman is written about autumn, but I couldn’t find a better description for the season. All the forces of Nature awaken, the Sun is regaining his strength, a seed begins to sprout and a lamb is born. Life is young.

Morning in the mountains is quiet, hazy and cool. I get out of the car and all the sheep run away. Then they stop, and slowly come back. You think they look at me and pose for a photograph? Not at all. I left the car door open, and it is the music that fascinates the sheep. It is Camille Saint-Saëns, The Carnival of the Animals. I am not joking. The old sheep didn’t move until the music was over. The lamb were not overcome by art to that extent, and soon went around jumping and just being lamb.

The sun goes up and soon the rolling hills are lit and warmed. The weather in March is never the same too long.

The fowl of the earth are celebrating spring too. No chicks yet, but I came across some moorhen chick photographs in Sarah Potter blog . They are so cute, have a look ! 🙂 I love these green legs! This moorhen is marching around the pond in Stephens Green Park in Dublin.

A young gull with dramatic wings looks like a Fallen Angel. In fact, he is just trying to catch a slice of bread.

I took this picture in The Burren, right beside the Poulnabrone Dolmen. These cheerful sprouts are Lamiaceae family members, but I am not sure what exactly they are.

This picture was taken in Clonmel, between Lady Blessingtons Bath and Raheen Road on St. Patrick’s day 2007. Sadly, this daffodil field doesn’t exist any more. It was leveled during the City Council reconstruction works.

You wouldn’t believe, but the next three pictures are taken in March too. It was in 2009, we got a word that the famous Magnolia trees in Lismore Castle park were in bloom.

Camellia, Lismore Castle garden.

An when you think that the winter is gone, there comes a hailstorm.

The weather changes in a matter of minutes.

On days like this, you want to sit in the beach and listen to the surf and the rustling sound of sand…

…or build a castle.

They say that Mark Twain once observed “one hundred and thirty six kinds of weather inside of four and twenty hours”. That must have been in March. Capricious March! Sometimes it is difficult to be nice and balanced in the morning, even if it is the morning of the year 😉

Have a wonderful weekend!

Make it light

Photography is all about light, even the word itself means ‘writing with light’.

Morning light colors solemn calligraphy of bare trees.

Rich, copper-colored evening light fills the air with lush thickness.

I took this photograph in May 2013. I was on my way home when the Moon started coming out of the peach-colored clouds just minutes after the sunset. Astonishingly big, it was slowly rolling behind the mountain ridge. I quickly took some pictures and drove up to the mountain top in hope for a better view.

Unfortunately, the Moon sank in the thick clouds and left me in the dark. I had to drive down the road that was barely wider than my car. Still, there were a lot to admire, especially the lace of different silhouettes against the dying sunset, and Clonmel, Co Tipperary, at my feet. Photography never ceases! 🙂

The light can stream through the gaps in the clouds, or between the tree trunks in the forest, creating crepuscular rays. The rays in this photograph look like they have circled a sample of ferns to be taken to the alien spaceship.

This is a photograph from my trip to Rome. I visited Vatican, and had a plan to climb up St. Peter’s Basilica Dome. This plan was a reckless affair since I am quite claustrophobic, and at that time I also needed a walking stick. If you have any questions, no, it wasn’t a pilgrimage, and I didn’t expect to come down jumping stairs two at a time, and leaving my walking stick behind. I might write a separate story about that Rome trip.

Anyway, before the epic climb I peeked inside the Basilica. At certain time of the day, you can see crepuscular rays streaming inside from the different windows. I was lucky to observe these beautiful phenomena.

The most interesting thing about light is that its opposite, darkness, doesn’t exist. Darkness is only the absence of light, and therefore we cannot do anything to change or remove darkness itself. We can affect darkness only with light. However, darkness is a very important opposite – we know what is light only by darkness.

This is a photograph of my Dad, it was taken in 1937 when he was seventeen. He is my light.

My Dad left this Earth 31 years ago. I have only a few photographs of him. After he died, Grandma turned to the worse, and one day she managed to put almost all the family photographs in the fireplace. When my mother asked her why, she said that she was afraid. Some day I will write about whom she was afraid from, and why.

My Dad had an extraordinary life. His integrity, tact, good disposition and genuine empathy towards any human being earned him respect from people of different backgrounds and cultures.

‘Learn’ – I heard this word every day. He knew the value of light.

In Jodi Picoult’s book ‘My Sister’s Keeper’ there is a scene where Sara recalls a fight with her sister Zanne about the light left on. “You can make it dark, but I can’t make it light”, says Sara. I want to rephrase this sentence – I can make it light. You can make it light. We all can make it light.