ALONG THE QUAYS

27/11/2023

I walked along Wellington Quay and Aston Quay.

The Dublin quays refers to the two roadways and quays that run along the north and south banks of the River Liffey in Dublin, Ireland. The stretches of the two continuous streets have several different names. However, all but two of the names (Bachelors Walk and Usher's Island) share the same "quay" designation. The quays have played an important part in Dublin's history.

Much of the southern roadway and about half of the northern roadway is part of the R148 road, while the other half of the northern roadway is part of the R801 road.

The name designations of the south roadway are (from west to east): Victoria Quay, Usher's Island, Usher's Quay, Merchant's Quay, Wood Quay, Essex Quay, Wellington Quay, Crampton Quay, Aston Quay, Burgh Quay, George's Quay, City Quay, Sir John Rogerson's Quay and Britain Quay.

BETWEEN THE TWO CATHEDRALS

09/11/2023

Werburgh Street is a street in the medieval area of Dublin, Ireland named for St. Werburgh's Church.

The street was originally St Werburgh Street, named after St. Werburgh's Church, with the street first appearing on maps in 1257. Werburgh Street Theatre was the first purpose-built theatre built in Ireland.

In 1280 Sir Robert Bagod bought a stone dwelling house near Werburgh Street from the Hyntenberghs, a prominent Dublin family. In the fifteenth century, Roger Sutton had a house on the Street. It passed on his death to his son William Sutton, Attorney-General for Ireland.

The southern end of the street was the location of one of the gateways in the city's walls, known as St Werburgh's Gate or Pole Gate. In the 1600s, the southern end was also the location of the Main Guard of the city. Their station on the street is denoted by Gun Alley nearby, which has since been demolished.

The earliest iteration of the prison, the Four Courts Marshalsea, was also located on Werburgh Street in an area previously known as Shoemaker's Street from 1580 until the 18th century.

In 1637, perhaps as early as 1634. John Ogilby (at the time, Master of the Revels for Ireland and member of the household of Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Strafford, the Lord Deputy of Ireland) founded Ireland's first theatre, the Werburgh Street Theatre.

There was a square on the western side of the street known as Darby Square, where the Liberty Rangers performed military practice in the run-up to the 1798 rebellion.

In 1785, a portion of the pavement collapsed, revealing a cave 40 feet deep filled with coffins and bones. It was thought to be the remains of the old cemetery of St Martin's Church.

Jonathan Swift was born in Hoey's Court, which was off Werburgh Street. One of the last surviving cagework, timber and plaster houses in Dublin was on the corner of Werburgh and Castle Street before it was demolished in 1813.

Bride Street runs from Werburgh Street at the north to New Bride Street at the south. It runs parallel to Patrick Street.

Bride Street appears in a 1465 map of Dublin as "Synt Bryd stret". The St Bride's Church for which the street is named is first mentioned in 1178. This church was demolished in the late 1800s to make way for the Iveagh Trust housing scheme.[3] Adelaide Hospital was originally located at 42 Bride Street until 1846.

Many of the older buildings on Bride Street were demolished during the 1960s to widen the road for increased vehicular traffic.[6] Before this, it was one of the streets illustrated by Flora Mitchell for her book Vanishing Dublin. It depicts the store owned by a noted Dublin character, Johnny Foxes.

Molyneux House sits on the corner of Bride Street and Peter Street. Molyneux House is a converted church and modern office extension that was once the offices of the architect Sam Stephenson who also designed the conversion and extension in 1973.[8] It is built on the site of the old Bird Market, and Stephenson provided the traders with a walled side garden from which they continued to trade.

There is a plaque to John Field on the corner of Bride Street and Golden Lane. Some of the series of plaques created by artist Chris Reid are on Bride Street, with quotes from local residents of the area.

BUSHY PARK

05/11/2023

This was my first session in November and the weather was beautiful so I walked from the city centre to Bushy Park only to discover that access to the wooded part that I planned to explore is restricted.

In 2019, a bat survey was carried out in Bushy Park as part of the Dodder Greenway project. This survey identified five Daubenton's bat roosts in trees in the woodland. Both bats and their roosts are protected under national and EU legislation and it is an offence to disturb or interfere with them without a licence. In Phase I, tree works were scheduled beside three of these bat roosts and DCC Parks, Landscape and Biodiversity services applied for a Derogation Licence from National Park and Wildlife Services (NPWS) to carry out work close to bat roosts. NPWS have recommended a series of further bat surveys between April to October 2023 (inclusive) before works can commence.

Bushy Park Woodland is also the home to a large number of herons which nest every year in the woodland. Parks have appointed a qualified ecologist to monitor the tree works close to the heronry as it is legally possible to carry out tree works during bird nesting season if no nests are disturbed and all works are monitored by an ecologist. This year heron eggs hatched earlier than usual with a second clutch laid. This has resulted in tree works beside the heronry being delayed for the protection of the heron chicks.

DCC Parks have worked with the NPWS to design a series of surveys and monitoring programme of both bats and heron nests in order to better understand the significance of this location in a wider context. These surveys are ongoing and will continue, in the instance of the bats until mid-Autumn. Unfortunately since the start of the year there have been a number of tree failures and large branches dropped in the woodland. With this in mind and in order to protect the public, a section of the main footpath in the woodland will be closed from June 2023 until the tree work is completed.

To promote the long term health of the woodland, the future management of the woodland will involve keeping some areas fenced off on a more permanent basis in order to allow natural re-generation and new planting establish successfully. There will also be a programme of Laurel and Japanese Knotweed removal which again may require sections of woodland to be closed for a period. These works will be flagged in advance. 

In future Parks will close the woodland in its entirety in response to weather warnings issued by the Met Office in future, yellow up. A woodland management plan is currently being prepared and will explain these initiatives in more detail.

The presence of both the bat and heron populations within the woodland in Bushy Park marks it out as a significant location for biodiversity in Dublin City. Parks apologise for the inconvenience caused by closing the woodland paths but must take necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of the public. Along with its history and cultural significance it is worth doing all we can to protect the woodland for future generations to enjoy.

THE SHADOW CARTOON

05/11/2023

I recorded a few videos today and most of them were unusable at the SD card was not fast enough. This particular video was in slow motion so I decided to experiment with it and eventually converted it to a cartoon and don't worry - this is not something that I plan to do on a regular basis.

Glasson Court Park is a 2.9-acre park located in the Windy Arbour area of Dundrum, Dublin. It is situated on the banks of the River Slang, a tributary of the River Dodder. According to some accounts the park is named after Glasson Court, a housing estate that was built on the site in the 1960s. However it is more likely that Glasson Court Park is named after the local village of Windy Arbour, which was historically called Glassons. The name Glassons is derived from the Irish word , meaning "the green land."

The name Windy Arbour or Sandy Arbour was later applied to the area, referring to a landing-point on the River Slang. A starch mill was formerly located there. “Arbour” once had the meaning “grass plot, lawn, garden”; it is possible that the name was intended as a direct translation of glasáin. So, the name Glasson Court Park is likely a reference to both the historical name of the area and the local village.