Strolling about
It was an absolutely glorious day down here today. So nice that it was a shame to be indoors so herself, myself, Sid and Nancy decided to head somewhere for a walk. Well, Sid and Nancy didn’t have much input as they are dogs.
Where to go, where to go? This is actually easy as herself hasn’t really seen much of what’s around here so off to Lismore we went.
For those who don’t know, Lismore, County Waterford is a heritage town with quite a bit of history attached. Lismore Castle is undoubtedly what the town is most famous for. The castle’s current owner is the very English Duke of Devonshire. The Duke is also noted for claiming the ownership of the River Blackwater that flows alongside the castle. This is a major bone of contention with fishermen who have to pay the Duke to fish on the river. But that is something for another day. In 1626 or 1627, Robert Boyle who is considered the ‘Father of modern chemistry’ was born in the castle. If you have a group of up to 23 people and a few tens of thousands of euro to spare you can stay there!
About 3km from Lismore, across the river is a place called ‘Towers‘. There is a really nice walk around there and this is where we were headed. These ‘Towers’ were a grandiose plan by a wealthy local during the period of the famine here in Ireland and were to form a gatehouse to a manor. They were never fully completed as apparently he ran out of money. What is his bad luck is our good fortune as it now quite a nice amenity. It is a nice relaxing, easy walk which is just what Sylwia wanted with only four weeks to go before baby is due to be born.
I brought my camera with me and took a few pictures while I was there. You can see the gallery at this page on my main website. So to wrap up, here is a picture of Lismore Castle.
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Robert you brought back memories of a time i spent in Lismore. It was way back… almost in another time zone.
Thanks for jogging the memory.
You’re welcome Grannymar
It’s only 17 miles up the road from me so if you are ever down this neck of the woods let us know.
It sure looks beautiful. In my opinion the Duke owning the river is a bit over the top. If it were a lake within the boundaries of his estate that would have been a different story. I looked at the other pictures too, what does the word bally mean? I hear it a lot as the first part of place names.
Hiya Gaye,
Bally would be the Irish word “Baile” in English. It means town or settlement.
Usually the Irish name of a town or village beginning with ‘Bally’ would be ‘Baile’. For example Ballymena is An Baile Meánach meaning “middle townland”.