The Barony Echo
A Quarterly of the Barony of Gaultier
Historical Society
Issue 3 February
2015
The Wars of the Weirs
The Salmon and Sprat weirs of
Waterford Estuary have had a prominent place in the story of Passage and
Cheekpoint and the neighbouring villages
across the Estuary. The first record
of a fishing weir dates back to a charter of King Henry 11 given to Juvenis
Ailward, an ancestor of the Aylwards of Faithlegg. By the mid 17th century the
Aylward family had 8 weirs in the Cheekpoint/Faithlegg area alone. By the early 1800s the numerous weirs between
Little Island and Woodstown were seen by the salmon men of the upper reaches of
the rivers to be killing machines leading to a severe reduction in the number
of salmon going upriver by the cot salmon fishermen of the Nore and
Barrow. The weirs were owned by the
local landlords and were often leased out to local fishermen. So there was a double target when the Barrow
and Nore fishermen formed a flotilla of 200 cots (small flat -bottomed salmon
fishing boats) in 1836, came down river, armada –like, and with axes, hatches,
and other weapons of weir destruction cut down the Scotch weirs and presumably some
of the head weirs of Waterford Estuary.
The Dublin Penny Journal reported how the salmon-men from Ross ‘braved
the dangers of the high seas, leaving on the tide, cut down the weirs and
returned on the incoming tide and were received in New Ross with tumultuous
cheers by all the lovers of cheap salmon.’
Were the
Vikings in the Barony?
The publication recently of Maria
Walsh’s Waterford 914 has prompted a long overdue visit back to the historical
sources. Ms Walsh’s book is a very
interesting read as it presents an alternative appreciation of Viking life
especially that of the women of that culture.
Ragnall is the Viking leader in this engrossing work of fiction but in
some ways it is his wife Daegmar who is the central character as the invading
fleet makes its first camp at Woodstown before proceeding upriver to take the
existing settlement at the junction of St John’s River and the Suir.
To what extent is Ragnall based on a
real life character? The different
Annals contain reference to a Ragnall between 913 and 918 AD. One of these references has a Ragnall Ua
Imair leaving Loch dá Chaech in 917 AD.
(See Clare Downham The Historical Importance of Viking-age
Waterford for a more detailed discussion). Although the name Loch Dá Chaech was in
common usage for Waterford Estuary in later times it is found in the Annals
only between 814 and 825. From 826 on it
is the earlier name Port Láirge which appears in the Annals. There are other Ragnalls in the records
indicating that the family of Ragnall was prominent and linked to the Dublin
Vikings.
Furthermore it is very interesting
that Ragnall of Waterford in Ms Walsh’s novel came from Jorvik (the later York
where there is now a Heritage site called Jorvik). And the records tell us the Waterford Vikings
had links to York
Apart from the possible land fall at
Woodstown that Ms Walsh includes in her story,
and the tradition of a Viking presence in Ballygunner, the scholars
differ as to the extent of the Viking presence in Gaultier. Further research may supply a definitive
answer but my money would be on an important Waterford Viking influence in the
Barony particularly along Waterford Estuary.
Gaultier History- WW2 activity – The
Brownstown Head Look-Out Post
I
was recently made aware of a book dealing with air incidents in the
south-east during the WW2 era. In the book written by Patrick J Cummins,
Emergency Air Incidents: South East Ireland 1940-1945 several incidents near
Waterford and Tramore are recorded.
Campile Creamery was bombed on Monday August 26, 1940 with the loss of
three lives; on April 24, 1941 a British Battle T.T.1 crash landed at Crobally,
Tramore; a German Junkers Ju weather plane was shot down 15 miles south of Hook
Hd and all 4 crew were killed; on August
23, 1942 a German Bomber crashed at Carriglong near Tramore and on February
7 a British bomber crashed at
Kilbarry.
In
nearly all of these incidents the Look Out Posts on the Waterford and Wexford
coasts were involved. The Look Out
Stations were established as part of the Marine and Coastwatching Service which
came into being on September 3, 1939.
These Posts maintained a 24 hour watch and reported on all military or suspicious
incidents. Of the 83 Posts around the
Irish coast, four were located on the south Wexford and East Waterford
coasts. These were numbered as follows –
No. 14 at Carnsore Pt, No. 15 near Kilmore Quay, No. 16 at Hook Hd, No. 17 at
Brownstown Hd and No. 18 near Bunmahon.
The Lookout number was marked out
in white on nearby rocks or cut into the ground and filled with whitewashed
stones. These signs measured 30 feet in
length. The word ‘Eire’ was similarly
displayed.
The
Posts were manned by a team of 7 or 8
men some of whom were members of the Defence Force, the balance made up of
local volunteers. The Society would like
to know the names of those who took part in this important work. We have some – John Fitzgerald and Paddy Dunne who were members
of the Defence Forces, John (Bulligan) Power.
There was also a man whose
surname was Corcoran reportedly from the Newtown area of Tramore. If
you have any further details please get in touch with the Society via woodhouseduo@gmail.com
The
huts made of prefabricated concrete and erected by local contractors were very basic. The shell of the Brownstown Post survives
including the small fireplace which was built into all. Each Post was equipped with a telephone, a
bicycle, a log book, telescope, binoculars, compass card, signalling lamps and
flags, a map of the assigned coastal area and aircraft and ship recognition
cards. Eight Coastwatchers were assigned
to each Post. Reports were made to the
Coastwatchers of all relevant incidents including ship and aircraft movements,
crashes or forced landings, bodies washed ashore. These reports were ‘placed at the disposal of
the British authorities’.
The Hook Hd Post No. 16 and Brownstown Post, No 17 were involved in
reporting several of the incidents listed at the start of this article. Coastwatchers reported the flight of the German bombers
after the attack on Campile Creamery and Ambrosetown viaduct. The plane that attacked Ambrosetown viaduct
but failed to destroy it flew out over Waterford Estuary followed 5 minutes
later by the Campile plane that was spotted at the Hook Head Lookout Post. This plane was heading off to the south-east. In the case of the British Battle, the
aircraft was seen near Dunmore ‘hovering
about’ at 1645 on the afternoon of
August 26. It eventually crash landed
safely at Crobally but I don’t have a report to hand saying that it was spotted
at Brownstown Post No 17. The Post seems
to have been involved in the matter of the Junkers Ju that came down in
Carriglong on Sunday August 23, 1942. At
0925 hours ‘two aircraft, five miles north, circling’ were reported from the
Brownstown Post. These happened to be
two spitfires chasing and firing at the German Junkers Ju, on a weather mission
from near Paris. The incident was also
seen by people on the Tramore Road who had to dive for cover to escape from the
dogfight overhead. The German plane crash landed in Carriglong in a field owned
by Owen Power and almost immediately burst into flames. The jettisoned machine guns were later
discovered when the corn was being harvested nearby in September. In the case
of the British Wellington Bomber which crash landed at the Six Cross Roads in
Kilbarry, the plane was sighted at the Brownstown Lookout Post at 00.20 hours
off Tramore Bay and then at Waterford Harbour ( presumably by the Hook HD post)
heading north. It eventually crashed in
Kilbarry at 01.30 after circling Waterford several times.
L.O.
Post 17 is showing some structural deterioration. The Society is currently investigating the
possibility of contributing to its repair.
The Society would also like to have the Coastwatchers who manned the
Post during The Emergency remembered in some suitable way.
The Society’s Spring Talks
The
spring season started with a very well received talk by Noel McDonagh. The talk was entitled Recent Finds of Flints in
Gaultier and it was held at the Saratoga pub on Wednesday February
18. The talk which was very well
attended centred on the dating of Noel’s finds in the Credan Head area. Professor Peter Woodman of UCC the leading archaeologist in
Ireland on the early Mesolithic period earlier expressed the view that the
finds were very significant and he placed
some of the material collected by Noel into the early Mesolithic suggesting
that settlement in our area occurred far earlier than previously thought and
may in fact go back to 7000 BC.
In
March, Michael Farrell, John Burke and
Ray McGrath will each give a 15 minute report on the latest research they’ve
been involved in. John’s talk will be
on Bishop Thomas Hussey (1746-1803) and
his links to Gaultier. Ray
McGrath’s subject is Laurence Crotty’s War:
his 1914-15 diary, and Michael Farrell’s talk will be on The Ladies Land League in Corbally The talks will take place in Hayes’s Pub
Killea Dunmore East on Wednesday March 18 starting at 8 pm, admission €5.
The Giant’s Grave and Jacquetta
Hawkes
Jacquetta
Hawkes came to Dunmore in the summer of 1939 to do an archaeological dig at the
Harristown passage tomb ( the Giant’s
Grave). She confidently placed the
building of the tomb to the Neolithic period about 4.500 years ago and also
discovered cremated remains dating from the Bronze Age. Also unearthed were beads,
which along with the structure of the tomb , link the Harristown site to the Scilly
Isles. Jacquetta Hawkes is remembered
for her mould -breaking work in the post war period in popularising
archaeology.
Hawkes
was a friend of Diana Collins who in her book Time and the Priestleys relates an incident told to her by the
archaeologist who on the day she made the finds was last to leave after
covering the tomb.. ‘as she cycled back to her dreary hotel she was met to her
surprise by a long procession of people making their way to the tomb.. rumour
had spread that a magical hare, the guardian of the tomb, had been disturbed
and that a crock had been discovered, which on the stroke of midnight would
prove to be full of gold coins..’
From
her childhood she wanted to be an
archaeologist and eventually became the first woman to graduate from Cambridge
University in her chosen field. She immediately
went to work with her future husband, the noted archaeologist Christopher Hawkes, whom she later divorced and then married the writer JB Priestley. Her work was rooted in prehistory and her
humanistic approach to the field is captured in an oft quoted remark of
hers...’let us have the courage to accept the inner experience that tells
us we are something more and that we may
be part of a process much greater still.’
Robert Manning at Springhill, Ballycanavan
Robert
Manning (1816-1897) made a lasting
contribution to engineering science when he published his water flow
formula. The speed at which water flows
in open channels and pipes was an important part of any drainage project. Manning devised a formula to calculate
this. The formula spread rapidly around
the world and is still in use. It is
known as the Manning Formula.
Although
Manning was born in Normandy he lived in Gaultier in his teen age years. Ruth
Stephens (1792-1854) of Dromina, Woodstown was his mother. After his father’s death in 1826, the family
lived in Springhill, Ballycanavan. There
was a tidal corn mill under Springhill on the Ballycanavan Pill and it is
likely from knowing how that worked that he developed an interest in the flow
of water.
Coastal Placenames 1 ( Creadan
to Dunmore)
The following is an amalgam of a map
prepared by Stephen Whittle and the work of Canon Power in his Placenames of
the Deises
Creadan
Head is derived from the Irish Ard Chriodáin.
Criodán probably refers to a Celtic deity or chieftain. The Packs is a ledge of flat-topped rocks just
west of Creadan Head. Donegal Hole is
cavernous inlet just west of Creadan,
origin unknown. Wall’s Cove or Creadan Cove is above Arnanamult Head
and was also known as Showery’s after the Power family who lived in Creadan
Cottage. The Dummie’s Garden is shown on
the Whittle map just south of Walls Cove.
Others put it between Walls and Credan. Ardnamult, the height of the wethers, is also
known as Middle Head. The Closh is west of Ardnamult. It’s a name that occurs frequently on our
coast and is probably derived from the Irish An Chlais meaning a cleft. Foillakipeen is next and is the last headland
before turning into Dunmore Bay.
Probable meaning is The Cliff of the Little Sticks ( See local legend). Laweesh is the rock lying off
Foillakipeen; origin unknown but sounds
Irish. The Gravel Hole is a
small cleft inside Laweesh Rock.
Cathedral Rocks lie between Laweesh and Councilllors. Can anyone supply the origin? Councillors Strand is probably named for the owner of
Nymph Hall who in the 18th century was a city councillor. Dunmore Strand was usually known as Lawlors
in the 1950s and named for the family
who owned the hotel. And Dunmore Bay itself is shown as Whitehouse Bay on the
Doyle chart of the 1730’s. Peg’s Rock at the west side of Dunmore Strand
remembers a Peg whose house collapsed onto the rocks below. Ladies’ Cove or is it Lady’s is around the
small headland. Men’s follows,
remembered for its diving board. Poll na
Línte translates as Hole of the Nets and is the cleft after Men’s. Badger’s is next and the origin is unknown
now. Goosey’s Rock is named An Charraig Liath
on the charts and then there is Stony Cove, named no doubt for its gravelly
beach.
Comments and material welcomed at woodhouseduo@gmail.com
