The workings underneath

Another exploration of an abandoned building. This time we didn’t stray too far – just into Navan to visit the Blackwater Mill.  It has been abandoned for a long time and was gutted by fire a couple of years back.  Situated on the banks of the River Blackwater it must have been an imposing structure in it’s day. Not much left now apart from the walls and the blackened beams.

Outer walls and the burnt timbers

There’s still a few little dark places under all the rubble if you can find your way in. We found what seems to be the heating system or a drying area. Beautiful old arched brick rooms surrounding a furnace which fed heat upwards through tiles with holes.

Brickwork arches around the furnace.

Oh and we weren’t the only visitors there that day. On our way in we met a couple of kids on their way out. They too had cameras :-)

Got there before us....

He's alive and well in Dunderry

Spent the day at the Dunderry Fair today. This is the ninth year of the fair and it’s my first time to go. What a gem of a place! The streets were packed with people, stalls, markets, pigs, cattle, sheep – you name it. Imagine my surprise when I bumped into Elvis who was out doing a bit of shopping.  He’s not looking too bad for his years. I knew the rumours were true….

More shots on Pix.ie

Leaning to the left?

It puts the lotion on it's skin......

First thing that came to mind when I looked at this shot from today’s exploration – Jame Gumb in Silence of the Lambs.

This time we visited a large country estate house not far from Kells, Co. Meath. This house commands a beautiful position overlooking the River Blackwater and was being renovated by a local businessman a few years back. However the recession caught up with him and the property is now owned by us, the citizens of Ireland and is in the good hands of NAMA on our behalf. So I didn’t feel we were trespassing as we climbed the wall to get in and ducked under the surveillance cameras. I’ll post some pics of the house later but we found this well in the courtyard hidden under some planks. Reminded me of that great book by Thomas Harris, Silence of the Lambs, and the movie of course.

The stripping room

The abandoned building we visited last weekend has been stripped bare over the years. The copper hunters were busy and turned this room into on of their workshops. The floor was strewn with the rubber casing left behind after the boys removed the valuable copper.

Anyway, thought I’d use this title to grab your attention :-) It’s not what you thought it was going to be……..

You can see the full set of shots on Pix.ie

Wherever I lay my hat....

Another shot from our trip to an abandoned army barracks. One of the sheds is being used either by some poor unfortunate as a dry place to sleep, or it’s a temporary den of iniquity for local teenagers. Not sure which, but I wouldn’t fancy spending a night here.

The blue door

Took a trip to an abandoned and very derelict army barracks this morning. Lots of blocks dotted around a large square and all with lovely blue doors. Unfortunately there’s not much left as the place has been gutted and vandalised inside with every  piece of copper wire stripped and every window smashed. Still, it’s all part of our history and if you want to see more, have a look at the rest of the album over on Pix.ie

Smile please....

Isn’t technology great? Now everyone has a half decent camera in their pocket and they can share their photos all over the world in an instant. This lassie probably had the photo on facebook by the time she sat back down with her friends and her folks back home could keep up with her in real time. Brilliant!

Four of a kind

Going once, going twice, sold to the highest bidder.....

What a day we had on Saturday at the Danny O’Brien Memorial Photowalk in Trim. We had a great turnout again and were blessed with the weather – well we didn’t get wet anyway. After a short walk to the cemetery to say hello to Danny, we joined Noel French, our local historian for a guided walking tour of Trim. Noel entertained us with his excellent knowledge of Trim and it’s somewhat murky and colourful past. After the tour we headed for Brogan’s Hotel for the first two of our presentations. Unfortunately we had a last minute change of venue so hopefully not too many people missed out.

The presentations were then followed by the highlight of our weekend, the Trim Print Auction.

Where do I start? First mooted by Tommie Lehane a couple of months ago, he had the idea of selling a few prints and raising a few quid for the RAY cafe in Trim, which was Danny’s pet project. We reckoned we might get 30 prints donated and auction them off in the hope of raising about €600 – €20 per print. So we set about contacting various photographers and the offers came flooding in. Not only did we end up with over 40 top quality prints, most of them were framed and ready for hanging. Of course we wanted to get some of Danny’s work in too but Dónall told me that Danny’s computer was knackered and he couldn’t access the photos.  So in stepped rymus to save the day with his IT skills and now the family have Danny’s 28k + photos secure and safe.

Of course we couldn’t have a print auction without having some of Danny’s many fine prints, especially his iconic Fighting Gannets and a big thanks has to go to Steve Crozier of 360dpi.ie for producing an outstanding block mounted reproduction which made the highest price on the night. I’m not going to mention all the photographers who donated images but a big thanks to each and every one of you, you all helped make a great night outstanding.

And so to the auction. We were delighted to welcome Ray Butler TD as our auctioneer. Ray did an outstanding job on the night with his entertaining banter and his professionalism in keeping the bidding process moving. He certainly extracted maximum value from each lot. The auction lasted no more than an hour and at the end of it all we had raised an astonishing €2,300 in sales! All the prints sold with just two of them going to online bidders.

So a big thanks to everyone involved, and there was a lot of people working hard behind the scenes. I’m not even going to try mention everyone by name, you all know who you are.

Oh and best not forget the photographer (or she’ll kill me), thanks for the use of the photo Lorraine.