Waterford City
MOUNT SION CAMPUS IN WATERFORD
CBS SCHOOL AND EDMOND RICE CENTRE
There is a block that includes two schools and the Edmond Rice Center and it is bounded by Manor Hill, Hennessy’s Toad, Blake’s Lane and Barrack Street.
The Edmund Rice International Heritage Centre in Waterford, Ireland, is the resting place of Edmund Rice, founder of the Christian and Presentation Brothers. It is also the site of an impressive visitor centre, thriving community centre and beautiful chapel. Admission is free, and all are welcome.
In July 2022 Mount Sion Secondary School has been given the green light for a new €20m build. The new school will be future proofed to ensure capacity of up to 500 pupils, with 430 currently enrolled. It will also have capacity for four Special Educational Needs classes to support pupils with special educational and complex needs.
Edmund Ignatius Rice, F.P.M., C.F.C. (1 June 1762 – 29 August 1844) was a Catholic missionary and educationalist. He was the founder of two religious institutes of religious brothers: the Congregation of Christian Brothers and the Presentation Brothers.
Rice was born in Ireland at a time when Catholics faced oppression under Penal Laws enforced by the British authorities, though reforms began in 1778 when he was a teenager. He forged a successful career in business and, after an accident that killed his wife and left his daughter disabled and with learning difficulties, thereafter devoted his life to the education of the poor.
Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers schools around the world continue to follow the traditions established by Edmund Rice.
STREET ART IN WATERFORD IN MAY 2016
IT WAS MUCH BETTER IN 2017
When I visited the City of Waterford in 2016 I was unaware of the Waterford Walls annual street art festival I managed to not visit the areas where the best street art was on display. In 2017 I was much better prepared.
Each year new works of vibrant street art are added to Waterford’s walls, creating the wonderful outdoor gallery that locals and visitors alike get to explore and enjoy every day! Since 2014, the mission of Waterford Walls is to transform and regenerate urban spaces in Waterford to inspire and connect communities.
WATERFORD DISTILLERY PHOTOGRAPHED MAY 2016
PRODUCTION BEGAN IN JANUARY 2016
Waterford Distillery, Waterford (est. 2016) – a craft distillery established in a converted Diageo facility. Production of spirit began in January 2016. The distillery will produce a single malt.
Irish whiskey is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word ‘whiskey’ (or whisky) comes from the Irish uisce beatha, meaning water of life.
Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of decline from the late 19th century onwards greatly damaged the industry, so much so that although Ireland boasted at least 28 distilleries in the 1890s, by 1966 this number had fallen to just two, and by 1972 the remaining distilleries, Bushmills Distillery and Old Midleton Distillery (replaced by New Midleton Distillery), were owned by just one company, Irish Distillers.
The monopoly situation was ended by an academically-conceived launch of the first new distillery in decades, Cooley Distillery, in 1987. Since the 1990s, Irish whiskey has seen a resurgence in popularity and has been the fastest-growing spirit in the world every year since 1990. With exports growing by over 15% per annum, existing distilleries have been expanded and a number of new distilleries constructed. As of December 2019, Ireland has 32 distilleries in operation, with more either planned or under development.
IN-VISIBLE BY TINA O’CONNELL
AN INTERESTING WATER FEATURE IN THE WATERFORD PEOPLES PARK
One thing that I have noticed in Ireland is that water features are never properly maintained and eventually they become non-water features. Unfortunately, when I photographed this a year later it was in very poor condition … hardly any water and lots of litter and branches within the pool area. But to be fair in 2017 it was in excellent condition and the water in the ball was clear.
In 1999, artist Tina O’Connell was commissioned to re-create a fountain on the same site as where there had been a Victorian style tiered fountain which had fallen into disrepair. Thus Tina’s contemporary sculpture is also a fully functioning fountain. After an extended period of research into the materials and of development ‘In-Visible’ was finally sited and fully installed in 2002.
‘In-Visible’ (2001) is a contemporary sculpture incorporating a water feature. Inspired by the connection between Waterford City and the world famous Waterford Glass industry, O’Connell’s work consists of a very large transparent acrylic sphere (2 metres in diameter), over which clear running water continuously flows, and which is positioned on a large, circular platform made from black Kilkenny marble. The work has been referred to locally as the ‘Orb Fountain’.
