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SALLY ROGERS BAR AND THE WAU CHINESE RESTAURANT

March 8, 2023 by infomatique

BESIDE THE OLDEST BRIDGE IN IRELAND

This Pub and excellent Chinese Restaurant is located beside the river Boyne at the town-centre end of the oldest bridge in Ireland. Many other towns and cities claim to have the oldest bridge but this is the oldest complete and unaltered working bridge in the country.

Here is an official description: Four-arch road bridge, built c.1730, with three medieval pointed-arches and one modern round-arch. Triangular cutwaters on the upstream and downstream sides of the bridge. Stone coping to parapet walls with modern lamp standards. The modern arch consists of rubble limestone with dressed voussoirs and keystone and depth marker. This stone bridge has been in continuous use for many centuries with only minor alterations to the fabric at its south end. Constructed of local stone, it is extremely well built and carries weight much in excess of what it was originally designed to carry.

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LAGANSIDE ART TRAIL LOCATION OF 17th CENTURY TOWN DITCH AND GATE

January 26, 2023 by infomatique

DUNBAR STREET BELFAST

These photographs from 2016 were not published until now as I was trying to find the background story but as I have failed to find any relevant information I decided to go ahead and process them.

One problem that I have when I visit Belfast is that it is often very difficult to find any information relating to items that I photograph. These bollards or whatever feature a plaque indicating that they are located on the Laganside Art Trail and that they mark to location of the 17th century town ditch and gate. Unfortunately I cannot find any information relating to the 17th century town ditch and gate and I cannot determine what the bollards [or sculptures] represent … some do appear to be representations of coins.

FORMBY-CONNINGBEG MEMORIAL ON THE QUAYS IN WATERFORD

January 20, 2023 by infomatique

PHOTOGRAPHED IN MAY 2016

The Formby-Conningbeg Memorial: Honours the memory of those lost when two Waterford steamers SS Conningbeg and SS Formby were torpedoed in December 1917.

These vessels were sister ships, both homeward bound to Waterford from Liverpool in December 1917. They were torpedoed by the same U Boat within days of each other, with a total loss of 83 lives.

I photographed this sculpture back in August 2016 and reprocessed them in January 2023. I had planned to visit Waterford again in 2023 but I am unwilling to pay the prices that the hotels are currently charging. I also had to cancel the 2022 visit.

A QUICK VISIT TO THE GROUNDS OF DUBLIN CASTLE

January 18, 2023 by infomatique

WELL WORTH A VISIT

Many tourists become somewhat disappointed when the see Dublin Castle because it is not is as they may have imagined it … John Cornforth described the Castle as “not even a work of architecture” but “a piece of English make-do and mend”.

The complex of buildings is usually open to the public, except during certain state functions. The crypt of the Chapel Royal is now used as an arts centre, and occasional concerts are held in the grounds of the Castle.

The castle complex also hosts the Chester Beatty Library, in a purpose-constructed facility, with a café, the Garda Museum, in the Treasury Building, and the Revenue Museum.

The former site of the “dark pool” on the Poddle was remodelled into a garden, with a water feature that commemorates fallen Gardaí, and a helipad.