Enniscorthy Castle Reopens

Judgement Day · 14-04-2010 10:42am #1

Well, here it is and no surprise, the Castle Museum is NOT going to be ready for the 2010 tourist season. Quite when the tourist season begins is a moveable feast but I would have thought that Easter would be a fair start date and there have certainly been quite a number of visitors poking about in the ruins of Enniscorthy in recent weeks. Today's article in the Enniscorthy Guardian says it all, the museum won't be refurbished in time - in fact precisely nothing has been done save the removal of the contents last year - and a mickey mouse display will be put on in the castle so that the local worthies can have something to be seen at for the Enniscorthy 1500 celebrations. Once that is out of the way the castle can be left to moulder away. Comments please!

Nialloooo · 14-04-2010 11:04am

ok does this mean that no work has been carried out today? as the tender is only due to be sought ?? if so whey close it and lock it up costing jobs and money to the town!!

Judgement Day · 14-04-2010 12:08pm

Nialloooo wrote: »

ok does this mean that no work has been carried out today? as the tender is only due to be sought ?? if so whey close it and lock it up costing jobs and money to the town!!

Apart from the removal of the contents of the museum the only 'work' that has been carried out appears to have been some sort of survey from OPW (?) bods with theodolites. Guess that and the temporary exhibition will take care of the €600k budget.

Judgement Day · 22-04-2010 5:36pm

And from today's Enniscorthy Guardian - the start of the tourist season has been moved to late August. :rolleyes:

http://countywexford.blogspot.com/2010/04/council-postpones-tourist-season-until.html

Judgement Day · 16-06-2010 10:30am

And so it goes on - the tourist season has now been put back to September! Not a sign of anything happening at the Castle, is it any wonder that the South East is dead on its feet with local authorities like we have? :mad:

From today's Enniscorthy Guardian.

Nialloooo · 30-06-2010 7:03pm

the woman that owns the shop across the road was on Joe Duffy re this, Joe was shocked and she spoke very well

Judgement Day · 14-07-2010 10:53am

Further delays - I dread to think what the refurbishment will be like if the farce surrounding the reopening is anything to go by. I suspect, as do many others, that a small exhibition will be thrown up inside the entrance hall for local worthies to have their photographs taken for "ENNISCORTHY 1500" while knocking back free booze and prawn sandwiches, and then the castle will be allowed to return to its rapid decline. I could be wrong but....:(

Some positive developments on the retail front in Enniscorthy here: http://countywexford.blogspot.com/

Cantona's Collars · 14-07-2010 11:30am

I fear you could be right Judgement Day,too many junkets and photo opportunities-not enough work.How come it took so long to sort out the tenders and get a contractor on site,it's not as if they're up to they're eyes in work.What's the bets September runs into October/November and thats another tourist year lost.
At least we're seeing a few folk take the plunge and opening businesses.(btw the kebabs are delicious)

Optimus485 · 14-07-2010 12:04pm

Think I'm gonna have to try out these kebabs

Padjo1981 · 21-07-2010 6:09pm

Is the county or town council in charge of the museum?

Judgement Day · 21-07-2010 6:37pm

Padjo1981 wrote: »

Is the county or town council in charge of the museum?

As far as I can ascertain the Town Council now 'appear' to be in charge of the project. Today I spotted somebody taking photos inside so a grand reopening in Summer 20.........:rolleyes:

Judgement Day · 07-09-2010 9:13pm

And here we are the 8th of September 2010 - not a bit of work done on the Castle and guess what it hasn't reopened! However, a 'meeting room" in a container arrived on site today so a grand reopening must be imminent. :rolleyes: I heard on the grapevine that the Council are putting together a website to promote the town as a tourist destination....... LaughingSmileyBall.gif&t=1

St Senan · 07-09-2010 10:25pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

And here we are the 9th of September 2010

Can you give me the lotto numbers for tomorrow night the 8th of September please before someone else asks you.;););)

Judgement Day · 23-09-2010 12:27pm

What a surprise and despite the castle now being festooned with builders advertising signs there is still little evidence of work taking place. I wonder what experience of working on Norman castles have Mythen Construction? :rolleyes:

From yesterday's Enniscorthy Guardian.

jpb1974 · 23-09-2010 1:07pm

despite the castle now being festooned with builders advertising signs

Aye... I seen all the "Mythen Construction" signs along the railings on the walls earlier this week and thought it was absolutely ridiculous.

Judgement Day · 30-09-2010 5:55pm

I hear today that the current manager of the Father Murphy Centre at Boolavogue has been appointed as the new supremo at the 1798 Centre/Enniscorthy Castle/Enniscorthy Convent. Anybody know anything about the Father Murphy Centre? Santa goes there once a year but does anybody else?

jd · 20-12-2010 11:59pm

I hear they have used white uPVC windows in the "renovations"

Judgement Day · 21-12-2010 10:44am

jd wrote: »

I hear they have used white uPVC windows in the "renovations"

Yes, but they are authentic and identical to those used by those early pioneers of uPVC - the Normans. :rolleyes:

Judgement Day · 22-12-2010 12:44pm

Enniscorthy Castle during restoration work 1900/1905.

From: http://countywexford.blogspot.com/

UpHill · 20-01-2011 12:49pm

I know the guy who put the windows in - Graeme Duffin, duffin joinery, he only does timber windows.

cython · 20-01-2011 6:54pm

UpHill wrote: »

I know the guy who put the windows in - Graeme Duffin, duffin joinery, he only does timber windows.

Be that as it may, they were pure white plastic when I saw them, and I have seen 2 posters on this forum also point this out, so something doesn't quite add up here....

UpHill · 21-01-2011 10:39am

They are timber full stop, whether they look pvc or not I'm not arguing that.

if you look at modern timber windows they are quite flawless, they possibly should have left them varnished on the inside, easy to say in hindsight.
In fairness to the TC they've been left with the job of finishing the restoration with relatively small budget, it's a big ask to be jack of all trades. If this was the UK you would have english heritage all over it.

Cantona's Collars · 21-01-2011 10:52am

If they are timber would it not have made more sense to stain them brown? The white colour really takes away from the view of the Castle.

UpHill · 21-01-2011 11:46am

I can only presume that the windows that came out were stained/painted white via the Roche family. Most old houses had painted windows - you can never be right because you are talking about a time period of approx 900 years - so you can go from no windows from the 12th centuary up to painted white windows in 1903!

On an unrelated topic I heard a interesting story that the Roche kids use to breed chinchilla rabbits on the roof!

Judgement Day · 21-01-2011 12:34pm

Right, just back from the Castle where I spoke to two different workers on site and they assured me that the 'new' windows are PVC and are, in fact, secondhand! Short of actually demanding to inspect them close-up I'm happy to take their word for it as they certainly appear to be PVC to me.

UpHill · 21-01-2011 12:47pm

All I know is that Graeme Duffin certainly put in some timber windows up there, whether some are pvc as well I don't know, it would be a pity if they were.

you appear to be delighted by the fact that they might be PVC, which is pretty sad in itself.

Judgement Day · 21-01-2011 12:50pm

UpHill wrote: »

All I know is that Graeme Duffin certainly put in some timber windows up there, whether some are pvc as well I don't know, it would be a pity if they were.

you appear to be delighted by the fact that they might be PVC, which is pretty sad in itself.

If you've bothered to read any of my other posts regarding the Castle, Enniscorthy etc., you will see that I'm far from delighted by the way things are down around the town. Pissed off yes, delighted no!

http://countywexford.blogspot.com/

UpHill · 21-01-2011 1:09pm

Judgement Day wrote: »

If you've bothered to read any of my other posts regarding the Castle, Enniscorthy etc., you will see that I'm far from delighted by the way things are down around the town. Pissed off yes, delighted no!

http://countywexford.blogspot.com/

I've read that blog before and agree with many of your points, fair play I think it's an important service you are providing. I do think the people of Enniscorthy need to take responsibility for their own town to a certain extent, the state of the town on Sunday mornings with chip bags and drinks thrown around the place is a disgrace, have these people no pride in their country? I see the poor tidy towns committee in fairness to them collecting stuff at 8.30am on Sunday morning when passing thru'.
Local authorities have limited budgets and staff, they can't be responsible to absolutely every last thing, I find it's best to try and work with them rather than against them. If you can get a couple of town councillors on board this is the best way to drive change, on your own you'll be treated like a crank (from reading your blog I know you're not and keep it up). Enniscorthy is a really beautiful town in a great setting, it could be a real gem in the centre of wexford for tourists.

Bearhunter · 24-01-2011 1:50am

UpHill, you're right about the residents having some pride in the place. There seems to be an attitude that "the council should be doing X", when people should be more bloody careful about tossing ****e everywhere. I despair whenever I go home and see rubbish clogging the gutters and blowing around the streets. Have people really got that little pride in where they live?

Judgement Day · 24-01-2011 10:28am

+100 Bearhunter but a lot of the problem lies in the schools. The lack of civic pride has to be drilled into kids from an early age or what sort of adult citizens are they going to make. As an example, every weekday I pass along St.John's Street and past the back of St.Mary's CBS and I'm always struck by the mess left there by the kids. At break times they make their way over to the the nearby shop to buy food, sit outside on the grassy areas and simply strew their rubbish behind them. Along come the council and clear it away only to have it back again after lunch. Only one person to blame here - the School Principal! He must either be blind or totally inept not to have taken steps over the matter. An occasional inspection by a staff member would note the situation and, if rubbish was present the next breaktime could be cancelled while a class would be sent out to clean-up. If the dimmest student would soon cop on and the situation would no longer occur. It does not take a quantum leap of imagination to see a student growing up in that environment seeing nothing wrong with dumping mattresses, black sacks etc. all over the countryside. Might take some pics today and will email the Principal.

Cantona's Collars · 24-01-2011 11:29am

Judgement Day wrote: »

+100 Bearhunter but a lot of the problem lies in the schools. The lack of civic pride has to be drilled into kids from an early age or what sort of adult citizens are they going to make. As an example, every weekday I pass along St.John's Street and past the back of St.Mary's CBS and I'm always struck by the mess left there by the kids. At break times they make their way over to the the nearby shop to buy food, sit outside on the grassy areas and simply strew their rubbish behind them. Along come the council and clear it away only to have it back again after lunch. Only one person to blame here - the School Principal! He must either be blind or totally inept not to have taken steps over the matter. An occasional inspection by a staff member would note the situation and, if rubbish was present the next breaktime could be cancelled while a class would be sent out to clean-up. If the dimmest student would soon cop on and the situation would no longer occur. It does not take a quantum leap of imagination to see a student growing up in that environment seeing nothing wrong with dumping mattresses, black sacks etc. all over the countryside. Might take some pics today and will email the Principal.

They could take a leaf from the local Vocational School, I have seen students wearing hi vis vests on clean up duty around the school and the road up to it.A good lesson,if you make a mess clean it up.