2016

THE INTERIOR OF SAINT CANICE’S CATHEDRAL

January 31, 2024 by infomatique

KILKENNY MAY 2016

It was very difficult to photograph within the building and close to impossible without using a flash and that is against by policy. I have had to process the images to the extent that they begin to look somewhat artificial.

The first time explored the interior of the cathedral the experience was excellent but this time I found the staff/volunteers to be unhelpful when I sought specific information.

The present building dates from the 13th century and is the second longest cathedral in Ireland, after St Patrick’s Cathedral, Dublin. Beside the cathedral stands a 100 ft (30 m) 9th-century round tower. St Canice’s tower is an example of a well-preserved 9th-century “Celtic Christian” round tower. It is dedicated to St Canice. It is one of only three such medieval round towers in Ireland that can still be climbed to the top, the other two being Kildare Round Tower in Kildare Town and Devenish Round Tower in County Fermanagh.

Following the English Reformation, the reformed church in Ireland was established by decree of the Irish Parliament to become the state church in the Kingdom of Ireland as the Church of Ireland, taking possession of most church property (and so retaining a great repository of religious architecture and other items, though some were later destroyed).

The substantial majority of the population, however, remained faithful to Roman Catholicism, despite the political and economic advantages of membership in the state church. Since St Canice’s Cathedral was taken over in this way, Roman Catholic adherents were consequently obliged to worship elsewhere. St Mary’s Cathedral in Kilkenny was later built for the Roman Catholic diocese.

The cathedral contains some 16th-century monuments. The architectural style of the cathedral is Early Gothic and is built of limestone. It is richly endowed with many stained glass windows, including the east window which is a replica of the original 13th-century window. The cathedral contains some of the finest 16th-century monuments in Ireland.

MICHAEL STREET IN KILKENNY AT NIGHT AND IN THE RAIN

January 18, 2024 by infomatique

MAY 2016

I made two mistakes when I decided to visit Kilkenny in May 2016 – It got dark earlier than what suited me and there was constant rain.

Saint Michael’s Gate was an approach into the priory, hence the name Michael Street adjoining. The old infantry barracks, now Evan’s Asylum, was part of the abbey.

THE TEA HOUSES AS THEY WERE IN 2016

January 18, 2024 by infomatique

THE IMMEDIATE AREA HAS BEEN REDEVELOPED

The large structure had been demolished to make way for the new scenic riverside park within an area of the town now known as the Abbey Quarter.

Marrying the old with the new, the riverside garden leads you through the former St Francis’ Abbey Brewery and into a modern skatepark that has been designed for and by Kilkenny’s own skateboarding community who now have a park of their own

The project provides a riverside walk from the Tea Houses at Bateman Quay to Greensbridge, with a temporary walkway provided in the area of the planned new Urban Park around St. Francis Abbey.

The Riverside Garden project incorporates the newly completed skate park, which opened to the public on May 1. The amenity is already well used by skaters of all abilities and ages

ST. JOHN’S GRAVEYARD IN KILKENNY REF-227174-033

January 18, 2024 by infomatique

PHOTOGRAPHED DURING AN INTENSE RAIN STORM IN MAY 2016

There are five war dead buried here. I photographed the grave of 18816 Gunner Matthew Loughren and as he died in March 1919 he did not die in combat. He finished his career in the British Army Labour Corps a unit formed in 1917 for manual and skilled labour on the Western Front and Salonika during the First World War. In previous centuries the British Army had fulfilled this role through the Royal Pioneer Corps (1762–1763), the Corps of Pioneers (1795–1800) and the Army Works Corps (1855-c.1856). Though it disbanded in 1921, it is often seen as the predecessor to the Royal Pioneer Corps of the Second World War.

If one visits Kilkenny in May one can expect on average 13 wet days and when I visited in May 2016 it rained almost constantly for four days which was the full duration of my visit.

Based on previous experience I brought proper rain gear with me to Kilkenny. Over the years I have photographed this old graveyard many times but my May 2016 visit was very different as the rain was intense making it almost impossible to photograph and unfortunately my equipment (Sony A7RII and Zeiss Batis 25mm) was compromised. Unfortunately, I had to wait until the end of 2017 before the Sony A7RIII became available. The Mk III was a much better camera and the MK IV is in a different league. Water got into the Batis 25mm lens so at times depending on weather conditions it can be unusable because of condensation.

When I first visited this old graveyard I noted that the colour of the gravestones was different to what I normally see in Irish graveyards [orange/brown rather than grey/white]. I assume that gravestones were covered in what was an orange algae, lichen or fungi however in 2022 I noticed that, in many cases, the orange material had been bleached pure white … I assume that this is a pollution problem.

https://www.caringforgodsacre.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/A-Guide-to-Lichens-in-Burial-Grounds.pdf

Official Description: “A picturesque graveyard forming an appealing feature in the streetscape on the road leading out of Kilkenny to the south-east. Having origins in a fourteenth-century leper hospital the grounds are of special significance as the location of a seventeenth-century Catholic chapel, thereby representing an early ecclesiastical site in the locality: furthermore it is believed that fragments survive spanning the fourteenth and seventeenth centuries, thereby emphasising the archaeological importance of the site. The graveyard remains of additional importance for the associations with a number of Kilkenny’s foremost dignitaries or personalities while a collection of cut-stone markers displaying expert stone masonry identify the considerable artistic design”

LACKEN MILL AND WELL ON THE RIVER NORE

January 17, 2024 by infomatique

KILKENNY ON A REALLY WET DAY IN MAY 2016 REF-227165-000

I used a Sony A7RII and a Zeiss Batis 24mm lens and it was lashing rain at the time – it rained for the duration of my visit.

When I photographed this in May 2016 I dd not know that it was Lacken Mill and did not pay much attention to it as I was focused on the well that is attached. At the time I thought that the well was a holy well.

The medieval origins of Lacken Mill, which stands across the River Nore, opposite Ormode Mill, remain visible today. Discoveries made in the 1980s revealed a medieval stone arch as well as a stone slab bearing an incised carving of a man in 16th century costume, part of the Archer’s coat of arms. The mill’s brick façade is also built on a 15th/16th century structure. In the 19th century, the Sullivan family, who lived in Lacken Hall and owned the Brewery on James’ Street, renovated the mill, bringing it up to 19th century standards.

A well-composed large-scale building forming an important element of the long-standing industrial legacy of Kilkenny occupying a site that has had associations with milling for many centuries: a mill is identified as having operated on site as early as the fourteenth century. Although having fallen into ruins the composition survives substantially intact as identified by the regular pattern of openings across each elevation with the mill presenting a picturesque feature of some Romantic quality overlooking the River Nore.

The inscription over the doorway leading to the well reads “Lacken Well, Altered and Improved, July 1831.”