View From The Hills..
Sidheseeker
From The Galway Advertiser..
Date: 16-09-2004-
Stonewall country
A friend of mine who now lives in east Galway tells a story about
the time his neighbour and he set out to build a stone wall.
His neighbour had to go somewhere for a few hours so my friend
from Connemara began the job. It was a fairly short distance so
he decided that it would be best to crisscross the stones strongly
and build a double wall. When his neighbour came back,
he looked at the situation, drew his breath and said hesitantly:
"We cannot build a double wall". My friend looked up in surprise.
"Why", he asked. The answer was simple enough. "We'll never find
enough stones to finish it. You're not in Connemara now, a mac!"
Still and all, the people of east Galway found a lot of stones
somewhere at one time because myriad walls patiently put together,
stone upon stone, still weave their way across the countryside.
I have heard some of them further east across the midlands calling
east Galway “stone wall country"” now and then. Indeed, the stone
walls are a symbol of Galway's heritage, in many ways, and it would
be a pity if they were to fall to the advance of the wires and barbs
and electric fences.
One of the objectives of the county council's heritage strategy
is to put together an account of the stone walls of the county.
It would be quite an extensive project that would need a lot of
funding. An application has been made to the Heritage Council to
if the money for the project would be available from that source.
The walls would be mapped and measured and their significance in the
history and farming traditions in the different parts of the county
would be outlined. Stones are not the same everywhere and the style
of walls differed in many parts of Galway.
There is the Annaghdown style of stone wall building and there is
also a style of building that is more peculiar to the islands.
The Connemara style would also be different, where the stones would
often be less shapely and probably heavier. Now, the account that
the county council hopes to put together is more about the old style
of stone walls, where the structures were built for very practical
reasons - to keep livestock in, and to keep livestock out. Of course,
we have a new emphasis on stone wall building now; it is very much in
fashion and anybody who has the gift of building a good wall will not
have a minute to spare. However, the purists in the heritage world are
thinking more of the free-standing walls without the help of gelling
mortar to hold them in place over the passing years. How these walls can
be maintained in the future is difficult to say. But county council
heritage officer, Marie Mannion says it is vitally important that they
are mapped and logged forever.
Meanwhile, back at the doors of the new homes of Galway,
the modern day skilled stonemasons are moulding the shape of the
new countryside - smart stone walls well welded by strong mortar.
They will, undoubtedly, stand the test of time and weather better
than the structures of old. In Lettermullen in Connemara,
Paddy Beatty, a member of the Údarás na Gaeltachta Board says he
has noticed a goodly number of people coming into this trade.
"Some find work in Connemara and others are going east of Galway
city building walls", Paddy says. "It is a whole new business that has
grown up in the last half decade, or so."
Paddy is one of those who has promoted the idea of the new
stone-building training course that will start in Connemara before
the end of this year. The course is a joint initiative between
FÁS in Galway and Údarás na Gaeltachta. They will be looking for
18 trainees - men and women - who will participate in the 35 week
training programme. FÁS and the Údarás expect this field of
stone work will open-up even more in the future. The gift of putting
stone walls into shape may be in the hands, but a bit of instruction
will add to nature’s bounty. There will be more information about this
instruction course later.
The stonemasons of the present, and the stonemasons of the future,
will get their supply of stones from quarries that will produce
fairly well shaped rock - which makes the job easier. It cannot be
like the past when people had to dig and burrow and barrow stones
through rough country to build farm walls in single file - and despite
their best efforts, rows with the neighbours over trespassing animals
could sometimes not be avoided. All right, so the barbed wire and the
electric fence may not score highly as regards heritage, but they
are great inventions. However, in this stonewall county,
the stone fences are a link to our heritage and to our past.
I remember hearing about a man from my own townland who was out in the
field on the small farm lifting stones onto a wall the day before
he was due to leave for America sometime in the 1920s or 1930s.
Somebody passing the way asked him why he was bothering himself with
stone walls and him going to America - possibly forever - the following
morning. His answer was: "Tuige nach ndéanfainnÉ.an áit a thug beatha dom."
(Why wouldn't I - wasn't it the place that gave me life and food).
We might not need the old stone walls in the fields of Connemara
and east Galway any more ....but these structures are more than stones
and walls - they are the sweat of our ancestors, and a part of our
heritage and history.
--
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Doc Aay
"Sidheseeker" <sidhe...@ansidhe.gro> wrote in message
news:414d9b65$1...@news.boards.ie...
> We might not need the old stone walls in the fields of Connemara
> and east Galway any more ....but these structures are more than stones
> and walls - they are the sweat of our ancestors, and a part of our
> heritage and history.
>
The stone walls are very impressive to a person who comes from a place where
such walls would fall victim to the first hard winter. The walls are lovely
in themselves, on beyond their functionality. I am most fond of the walls
of Donegal as they look like lace trim along the quilt piecing of the
fields.
You all live in such a lovely place. Value it and keep it safe.
Doc
Sidheseeker
Sadly.. many will fall in the name of progress.. wider roads.. etc..
much like the disapearence of thatched cottages.. to be replaced
by those god-awful McMansions they are building in Ireland now..
GoldenArse
as they get, wit the wind and rain so don't tell us that walls won't stand
up in the winter. There's an old cabin in ruins out the front where the roof
was torn off during the famine. I've refused to tear it down. It'll be there
fer hundreds of years more I bet.
GoldenArse
SCI Stonewaller
"Doc Aay" <****docaye****@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:414d9edf$0$60638$a186...@newsreader.visi.com...
Doc Aay
"GoldenArse" <unli...@home.com> wrote in message
news:9uh3d.1796$qA6...@newsread3.news.pas.earthlink.net...
> I have a house on the shore in West Connemara. The winters are about as
hard
> as they get, wit the wind and rain so don't tell us that walls won't stand
> up in the winter. There's an old cabin in ruins out the front where the
roof
> was torn off during the famine. I've refused to tear it down. It'll be
there
> fer hundreds of years more I bet.
>
> GoldenArse
> SCI Stonewaller
>
wimmen to swoon in the face of the winters here.
Doc
telmey�@ntlworld.moc
>I have a house on the shore in West Connemara. The winters are about as hard
>as they get, wit the wind and rain so don't tell us that walls won't stand
>up in the winter. There's an old cabin in ruins out the front where the roof
>was torn off during the famine. I've refused to tear it down. It'll be there
>fer hundreds of years more I bet.
>
>GoldenArse
>SCI Stonewaller
Oh Ger, hey Ger, Ger where is you GER!!!
LOL
Tel.
I don't kill file, I like to mess with their minds