More of the 'Green Stuff'

I can hardly believe that within an hour or so of a week ago, I re-entered my home after eight days away.  Time certainly does move very quickly.  The advantage of taking pictures on holiday is that there is a reminder of what one did, what one saw, and what happened between one picture and the next ... sometimes.  Sometimes - and this

Galway Hookers

happened to me this week - there are pictures that mean absolutely nothing and you wonder how they got onto your camera.  This was just one such.  It wasn't until I looked at the time and date of its creation that I realised where I would have been, and therefore where it was.  I remembered then taking the picture just because it looked so strange, and I turned to Wikipedia to reveal its identity.  It is a fountain in Eyre Square, Galway, ornamented by a sculpture to reflect the unique character of the Galway Hooker (in Irish húicéir), a fishing boat developed to tackle the strong seas found in Galway Bay.  It has a single mast equipped with a mainsail and two foresails.  Traditionally the hull is black, and the sails a dark red-brown.  The vessel reminded me of the Norfolk Wherry in its origin and purpose, and to a limited extent in the shape of its mainsail.  To someone brought up near the east coast, its very shape is evocative of that culture just as, I presume, the Hooker is to natives of the Galway area.

Another loose comparison I wanted to tell you about involves the second B&B of my holiday, the place I called my 'bridgehead', from which I departed at 6.25 last Friday morning to make my way to Dublin Port for my return to the UK.  The accommodation that I enjoyed was converted from a lounge of a conventional semi-detached house in a suburb of Tallaght, about 10 miles from the port as the crow flies.  It had all the features I would require and I was perfectly satisfied.  It was my understanding that there was at least one more similar accommodation in the house, in addition to that used by my host, so three households accessed by one front door.

14 Henrietta St - Georgian bedroom

One sightseeing visit I made during my holiday was to 14 Henrietta Street, Dublin.  The street was begun in the early eighteenth century as a speculative project to profit from the needs of the rich.  No. 14 was completed in the late 1740s and its first occupant was Richard, Viscount Molesworth.  Subsequent residents included the Lord Chancellor of Ireland and the Bishop of Clogher.  After the Act of Union in 1801, the higher nobility moved (back) to England, and the street was taken over by the professional classes.  No. 14 was home to a solicitor and later to the Proctor of the Prerogative Court.  From 1850 to 1860 it was the site of the Encumbered Estates Court, set up to administer the acquisition and sale of insolvent estates following the Famine and after 1860 it was occupied by the Dublin Militia.

14 Henrietta St - typical basement
tenement c. 1913

No. 14's descent through the class structure continued after 1876, when it was converted to 19 tenements of from one to four rooms.  A single room might house a complete family, partitioned by curtains into separate areas for living and sleeping.  In 1911, no. 14 provided accommodation to a total of 100 persons, housed in 43 rooms: 17 separate households accessed by one front door (you see the comparison I drew with my B&B when I woke up last Friday morning).  14 Henrietta Street has been restored to "educate Dubliners and visitors about the history of the city through the prism of tenement living," as its website explains.  It's been a hard, thirteen-year journey and the work is still ongoing.  The house was opened to the public in September last year and I can thoroughly recommend it for a visit if you're going to the city.  It's open from Wednesday to Sunday and tours take about 75 minutes; the basic price is €9 with reductions for seniors, students and families and it's preferable to book in advance.

There was more to Ireland than a damp day in Dublin, of course.  On Monday afternoon, for example, I explored the ruins of the priory at Athenry on the way back from Galway and the next day I enjoyed glorious sunshine west of the Shannon when I briefly wandered around the centre of Ennis, the county town of Clare.  But no visit to Ireland would be complete without paying homage to the 'tart with the cart'!

'Sweet Molly Malone'