Ireland part four - Tramore and Waterford
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On Thursday afternoon we arrived at the small town of Tramore, which like Cobh is on the scenic south-east coast. After checking in we went out on foot & saw most of the small town, walking on the beach & boardwalk. After perusing menus we had a good dinner in town.
Later at the main pub we celebrated Arthur Guinness' birthday, with live Irish music, a trio of guitar, accordion and mandolin. The B&B was a 15 minute uphill walk from center city.
The B&B was comfortable and we were here two nights. The host was pleasant & talkative and it was nice being the only guests.
note - you can enlarge any part of a picture by left-clicking in and then out again.
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Tramore - Paul reading menus |
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more doors |
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and flowers at Pubs |
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the five o'clock rush |
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old doors; see note below |
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reading more menus |
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Celtic Sea, with 'Metal Men' in the distance |
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on the beach |
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sea wall |
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boardwalk |
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the rides packed away for the season |
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except the surfing machine |
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Arthur Guinness' birthday celebration | ||
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local musicians in a pub |
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note - this is my favorite old door image taken on this trip.
About Irish Doors.....in 2007 an excellent coffee table photo book was published called Doors of Ireland, 2007, by Alex Sokolow. Once traveling in Ireland, for any photographer, the prevalence of interesting doors & old buildings is basic public domain intellectual property.
On Friday morning after another great breakfast, we went for a walk to look for the Metal Men.
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kitty painting in my B&B room |
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very nice B&B |
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fuchsias again |
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houses next door |
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overlooking the coast |
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calm now, but... |
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over 120 shipwrecks occurred here | ||
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metal men saying 'please go away' |
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you can swim in a protected cove | ||
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closer to metal men |
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red hydrangea |
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Tramore |
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the trap |
The number of shipwrecks here is mind-boggling.
Historically, large sailing ships (and even steam powered ships) are known to have no little to no control in really rough seas, and winds, and massive storms often used to blow ships hundreds of miles off-course, with little to no control.
The last image shows that Tramore harbor has a boxy-shaped entrance, and ships might inadvertently find storm currents or winds pushing them into this trap, consisting of shallow water & rocky outcroppings. SE Ireland is known to have a very rugged coast.
The display stated that Tramore residents had time & again (in day or night) seen or heard ships breaking up during awful storms, with the attendant heart-breaking cries of the unfortunate passengers & crews as they drowned in rough seas, the residents being unable to do a thing to help. Within the hour, bodies were washing up on the beach.
The display also stated that the town Council after so many decades of shipwrecks refused to fund a light house. According to Wikipedia (researched later at home) in the early 1820s shipping insurer Lloyd's of London installed the Metal Men to try to warn ships away, a physical deterrent to protect their shipping assets. But it was not effective, because the display shows that a majority of shipwrecks occurred after that time !
Metal Men on 100 ft tall pedestals are well-dressed and their hand gesture seems to be saying "please go away". But they are admittedly tiny, and if your ship was caught in a gale wind and you saw them, it was not a good sign.
It was not until modern global electronics (post-WWII) provided (pre-GPS) location signals that such shipwrecks became 'a thing of the past'.
Waterford - later in the day we visited the historic town of Waterford, only a few miles inland from Tramore.
Waterford Crystal went into bankruptcy in 2009 and was purchased by a new owner in 2010. For a few years manufacturing was performed at overseas locations, but, our Docent said, as of 2013 the facility which we toured produces all of the 60,000 pieces made each year.
The Docent said that the glass making and decorating or etching jobs require a 6 to 8 year apprenticeship. and, those jobs pay really well. She added that the most skilled glass-cutting finishers only work two 3-hour shifts, with two hours off to recover in between.
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River Suir |
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cityscape |
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Royal Theatre | |
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town museum |
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crystal factory |
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chandeliers in city reflections |
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illusions inside too |
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the collection |
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unique pieces |
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our Docent starts the tour |
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how it's done |
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glass molds |
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tourists walk through the main work areas |
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real dilemmas |
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they have long apprenticeships here |
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rough vase shape |
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rough to finished |
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master glass cutter |
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copper wheels for engraving | ||
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crystal hummer |
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holding the BCS replacement trophy |
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The Docent said that at a recent (2011?) College Football Bowl Championship (BCS) ceremony in the US, held a month before the main sporting event, one of the guest speakers on the way to the podium lost his balance and lurched into the table with the Waterford crystal trophy on it, which rolled a bit & then smashed into the ground. That crystal football cost 23,000 Euros, or 41,000 USD, in currencies compared at the time of our visit.
Since then, the US BCS has asked Waterford to make & keep a backup crystal football on hand, in case this ever happens again, and, surprisingly, our small tour group was able to hand the backup crystal football around. Upon request, the docent held it & posed for us.
Now for the small part of Waterford we saw which was not related to crystal:
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Waterford history |
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checking the town out |
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historical markers |
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shopping area at 5 pm on Friday |
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drainage channel improvements |
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welding abstract with leaves & mud |
Postscript - We were in retrospect very fortunate to see the manufacturing center for Waterford Crystal, because about a year later the company was sold to a different owner and subsequently went under for good, a sad state of affairs.
go to next page Ireland, part 5 - Rock of Cashel & Dromoland Castle
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