Carlingford COMMUNITY NEWSLETTER January 2021

This newsletter is jointly produced by the five bodies representing the Carlingford Community, namely:

Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust CLHT

Carlingford & Cooley Tourism Assoc. CCTA

Carlingford Tidy Towns CTT

Carlingford Community Development CCD (The Foy Centre)

Carlingford Residents Association CRA

Carlingford Community Newsletter NEWSLETTER NO. 73

Carlingford Community Forum News

As reported in the December newsletter we were awaiting the result of a funding application for the repair of the Holy Trinity Cemetery wall together with the upgrading of the public toilets. We are delighted that the grant has now been awarded for these much needed works. We appreciate the efforts of Louth County Council in submitting the application to the Town & Village Renewal Scheme 2020.

We would like to add our congratulations to our constituent organisation, Carlingford Tidy Towns and to all the Carlingford recipients of the ‘Louth Looking Good’ awards. It is fitting acknowledgment for the efforts of so many people who keep Carlingford looking so well under difficult circumstances.

We took part on Thursday last in a webinar attended by over five hundred organisations and businesses hosted by Tourism Ireland. On Feb.1st, we will attend a Fáilte Ireland Virtual Industry event. The tourism industry faces an uncertain future and we need to be aware of any initiatives that may come on stream. In the meantime we must play our part in coping with the pandemic and above all maintain our efforts to keep safe.

Carlingford and Cooley Tourism Association

CCTA.

CCTA and its Board of Directors note with deep regret the sudden and unexpected closure of the Tourist Office. This office played a vital and essential role in the promotion, development and support of Tourism in Carlingford and the wider Cooley area.

Frank O’Brien

Chairman

Carlingford Tidy Towns

COUNCIL WORKS

We welcome recent works done to repair footpaths on Dundalk St, Chapel Hill and at the D’Arcy Monument. And it is nice to see new bins replacing the old bins on Newry St and Dundalk Street. We had highlighted these to the Council.

WORK

Our Tús worker has been tidying the flower bed beside King Johns Castle on the way to the Greenway. Individuals have been litter picking and sweeping various areas in town including the Greenore Rd and the Omeath Rd. We are assisting St Oliver’s to tidy the school yard in preparation for school restarting.

PLANS

We are currently putting together a list of plants to order for the year these are for various projects including

Planting Flowers in front of the Folly (this was funded by a Clean Coasts grant).
Planting at Carlingford tennis courts (funded by winnings from Louth Looking Good Competition)
Landscaping on the Village Green (to be funded by Pobal grant, Tidy Towns).

PICNIC TABLES

We are applying yet again this year for funding for picnic tables for the Green areas. Let’s hope 2021 is the year we get funding.

WATER REFILL STATION

We welcome news that Carlingford will be getting a water refill station, funded by the Outdoor recreation fund. We had liaised with the Council about such a project.

We can’t wait to meet up again with friends in groups outdoors when it is safe to do so. Take care and stay safe. We hope to have a Spring Clean and Beach Clean when restrictions allow.

Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust

Our virtual talks have been very well received with audiences from all far and near including Italy, Vienna, Luxembourg and Limerick not to mention our Cooley and Gullion followings. Great thanks are due to our member, Séamus Murphy who thinks up the topics which appeal and who researches well to deliver engaging presentations, peppered with his lively wit. The final talk for January – “100 things to look at on the Cooley Mountains” was oversubscribed with about 150 trying to connect so we have decided to run it again on Monday 1st^th February at 7.30pm. See Facebook page for zoom link .We plan to have our friend Paul Gosling of GMIT deliver his talk on the Táin Bó Cuailgne in March.

If you would like to give a presentation on a topic you think would be of interest connected with the themes of history heritage and the arts, contact Linda Stevens by email community@carlingfordheritagecentre.com

Membership

Many of you are already members and thank you for your great support. You will shortly receive a notice from us regarding renewal and we do hope you will renew your membership which is so valuable to us at this time.

New members

We welcome new members at any time. Members can support the Trust not only with their donation but also with their time as they can be involved in our activities, helping in the Heritage Centre, guiding, welcoming guests to concerts and events and serving on committees. The Trust relies on its members to support its mission to protect and preserve the heritage of Carlingford and the surrounding area and to foster in every practical way the environmental, cultural, social and economic development of the area.

We invite new members to join us and support us by your donation of €30. In return we offer a number of events throughout the year and a free family/friends entrance to Carlingford Castle.

For more information – contact Sheila Boyle on info@carlingfordheritagecentre.com

Tel 042 939373454 www.carlingfordheritagecentre.com

Music Events

It is now planned to hold the Spring Series of Concerts as an Autumn Series in September/October if restrictions allow. This series is devised by Zoe Conway, our Artistic Director in collaboration with our member, Gerry Mc Alinden and is made possible with the support of Create Louth.

Rental Unit available in Strand Lane

A rental unit of 53sqm is available in this prime location from mid-February. Expressions of interest should be sent to info@carlingfordheritagecentre.com Tel 0429373454

Community Remote working Hub available from March/April.

We are opening a communal remote working hub in the Station House on the Seafront where we can offer a very attractive space of 40 sqm with panoramic views of the lough to 6 individual users to share.

The Hub will suit:

Commuters who want an office base to reduce commuting
People who want an office outside the home
Freelancers /small businesses looking for office space

We offer

High speed Broadband
A dedicated desk space socially distanced
A business address
A communal space for coffee/chat
Printing facility

Plus, The Heritage Centre as a venue for large meetings/training/ workshop and exhibition events

Interested? Or do you know others who may be? For further information and to discuss options, call Linda Stevens Community Heritage Manager

Tel 086 8242514 email community@carlingfordheritagecentre.com

Tales from local Heritage

The Long woman’s Grave

For visitors to Cooley the Long Woman’s Grave is a great conversation starter. The romantic story behind it may require a stretch of the imagination, but things are more believable in this rugged hollow. Mapmakers and county engineers are unromantic by nature so the mountain-top road junction is known to them as the Windy Gap for reasons that are obvious at this time of year. If we go back to the first map of the area, drawn by Matthew Wren in 1766, it had another name: Follogherin (Folach Eireann) which according to Fr Lorcan Ó Muirí’s history means ‘The Hiding Place of Ireland’. When there were no roads running through the Gap it would certainly have been that.

In 1770 John Hutchison, land agent for the Bayly estate which owned much of the peninsula, wrote to his landlord in England asking for permission to pay thirty pounds to the county Grand Jury “for a road from Ravensdale to Omeath, from near where your Honour was viewing the march between you and Colonel Fortescue, to be finished this summer through the mountains down to Souter’s. “ This was the new road from Jenkinstown shown on the Wren map – Souters was an inn down in Omeath.

It was over a hundred years before the second road from Glenmore came through the Gap and connected with the Famine road which came up through Tullagh from Cornamucklagh. But before the roads were built there were tracks and pads and there must have been enough passing foot traffic to keep Peggy Tam’s shebeen in business. It was in the angle of the roads looking down on Annagh bog and it is remembered because Peggy Tam became the target of our local literary hero, Séamas Dall Mac Cuarta. The poet’s line of credit in the shebeen had long since run out when he came tapping on the window one night. Peggy Tam blew out the candle and told her other customers to hide on the floor until the penniless rhymer was gone. She reckoned without the sharpened hearing of a blind man. He retaliated with one of his most famous poems: The cold house of Corrakit, where they hoke like badgers in the dark.

Submitted by Séamus Murphy, Committee Member.