The Ice house , Woodstock Gardens , County Kilkenny
The Ice House,
Woodstock Gardens, Co. Kilkenny
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Woodstock Gardens, County Kilkenny – dates back to 1737.
The Gardens and the remains of the old house are one of county Kilkenny’s most popular locations, located above the River Nore and the small town of Inistioge.
The Ice house is most likely less known, as it is located on the banks of the river Nore on the very limits of the grounds, it is however one of the best preserved ICE houses you could wish to find.
The details on the information board nearby are a little unclear as to when this building was constructed but it is considered to be sometime in the 1800’s, it was used for visitors to the smaller river side lodge, named the “Red House”.
The ‘Red House’ was a hunting lodge that at the time could only be accessed via boat along the river, today however you can find this location via a half an hour walk from the town of Inistioge.
A General History of ice houses
The Romans were the first to build ice houses, though not very widely in the UK and Not at all in Ireland. Ice houses were usually built close to sources of winter ice, such as freshwater lakes. In the 17th century, grand country houses followed the fashion of having one built, and then ice houses fell from fashion until about the late 18th century.
—————–
Uses of ice houses
On country estates from about 1660, the ice was mainly used not to chill food, but for its own sake: for ice creams and increasingly popular desserts such as syllabubs.
Meat and fish did not need to be preserved on a large estate because they could simply be caught from estate lakes and ponds when needed. Ice was also used for medicinal purposes: to treat fever and inflammation. At one time, a common prescription for indigestion was being told to suck on ice.
—————–
Woodstock House,
now a ruin, was for generations the home to the Tighe family. In 1737, the twenty-six-year-old Sir William Fownes inherited the estate and commissioned an elegant mansion, completed in 1745. He hoped to establish himself with the gentry of the area and to impress the 2nd Viscount Duncannon, soon to become the first Earl of Bessborough, whose daughter Elisabeth he planned to marry. Over the next forty-five years, Woodstock was the background to a series of dramas that led to the deaths of William, Elisabeth and their son-in-law William Tighe.
Many gardens and walks were laid out between 1840 and 1900 by another William Tighe and his wife Lady Louisa Lennox.[1] The gardens contain many exotic plants from Asia and South America, including the Monkey Puzzle tree and the Noble Fir tree which form two of the walks in the gardens,[2] as well as specimens of the Coast Redwood.
In 1921, the property was occupied by the Black and Tans and Auxiliaries, which caused much local resentment, and then by troops of the Free State Army, who were withdrawn from the premises during the Irish Civil War, on 1 July 1922. The house, left unguarded, was burnt down the next day, and remains a derelict empty shell, overgrown with vegetation
The River Nore, County Kilkenny,
located below the Ice House.
Nigel Borrington
Three Poems , all with the Title “Morning star”
Morning Star, over Slievenamon , Co Tipperary
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Morning Star.
By : Connor Sean McMurrick Crow
A kingdom in ancient history,
long before man was thought to exist,
stood in Hyperborean heartland.
Ruled in peace by a woman of antediluvian
beauty and her King-Groom.
Leviathan, a queen of rare black hair and eyes of velt,
rose every morning to greet the sunrise.
On this particular day, she woke Archon.
With a trailing gown of violet, she led him
by hand through perfumed gardens of
exotic sights.
Sunna broke over the hedges and
burnt the mist from frail orchids,
and all that was left of that kingdom
of runic beauty were two lovers entwined in stone.
.
By : Scott Madden
Dec 22, 2014
The Morning Star
Have you seen the morning star?
It keeps it’s vigil in the East,
A prophet of the dawn.
It rises when the night is at its coldest,
The warmest light in the vast blackness.
It rises when the night is at its darkest,
The brightest light in the black vastness.
Have you seen the morning star?
.
By : Justinian
Feb 2, 2010
Morning Star
The sun wakes and stretches its rays over the horizon.
Embraced is my heart and my smile shines on.
In my dreams,
you I did miss.
When I awake,
your lips I shall kiss.
Monday Morning Poems – Dark Wood, Dark Water, by – Sylvia Plath
Dark Wood, Dark Water
By : Sylvia Plath
This wood burns a dark
Incense. Pale moss drips
In elbow-scarves, beards
From the archaic
Bones of the great trees.
Blue mists move over
A lake thick with fish.
Snails scroll the border
Of the glazed water
With coils of ram’s-horn.
Out in the open
Down there the late year
Hammers her rare and
Various metals.
Old pewter roots twist
Up from the jet-backed
Mirror of water
And while the air’s clear
Hourglass sifts a
Drift of goldpieces
Bright waterlights are
Sliding their quoits one
After the other
Down boles of the fir.
Last night as I was sleeping, Poem by : Antonio Machado
Last night as I was sleeping
Kilkenny Landscapes : Nigel Borrington
Antonio Machado
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous dreams
that a spring was breaking
out in my heart.
I said: Along which secret aqueduct,
Oh water, are you coming to me,
water of a new life
that I have never drunk?
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous dreams
that I had a beehive
here inside my heart.
And the golden bees
were making white combs
and sweet honey
from my old failures.
Last night as I was sleeping,
I dreamt—marvelous dreams
that a fiery sun was giving
light inside my heart.
It was fiery because I felt
warmth as from a hearth,
and sun because it gave light
and brought tears to my eyes.
Last night as I slept,
I dreamt—marvelous dreams
that it was life I had
here inside my heart.
Three Poems for Sunday, all with the title “Small town”, Images of Callan, Kilkenny
Callan, County Kilkenny
Landscape
Three Poems all with the title “Small town”
Small Town
By : Liz Anne
Jul 25, 2012
When I say I want more
Than this small town could offer
When I say I give more
Than this small town asks of me
When I say I’ve loved more
Than this small town could know
When I say I need more
Than this small town wants me to
I mean to say I am more
Than this small town would let me be
…
Small Town
By : Rebecca Hattaway
Oct 29, 2012
In her smile I can see something-
something like satisfaction,
or even pride?
that she has everyone fooled
but no one is falling for the bullshit.
Secrets don’t exist here.
It’s a back and forth game,
and she denies it until the end.
Most people play along,
laughing quietly
“Just humor her,
Let her think we buy it.”
…
Small Town
By : Silence Screamz
Oct 25, 2014
Small town people
Small town minds
Gossip turn sour
No secrets left behind
Small town girls
Small town boys
Turn off the lights
Lock up your toys
Small town crimes
Small town night
Light up the fires
Creeps into sight
Small town games
Small town sins
Newlywed murders
Takes it on the chin
Small town stories
Small town fairs
Drowning in the lake
Nobody cares
Images of County Kilkenny. Ireland – Tales from the river bank .
Irish Landscape Photography
Tales from the River bank
Nigel Borrington
A Gallery for Friday, images from the many river banks of county Kilkenny, Ireland .
Tales from the river bank, a Gallery
Kilkenny Landscape Photography : The Simple things – A line of trees.
Kilkenny Landscape Photography
Nigel Borrington
Most of the time when I am out taking Landscape pictures, its the simple things that catch my attention, like this simple line of trees at one end of a large woodland, set in the hills above Windgap, county Kilkenny.
When trees are young like these ones they are planted very close together. later this area will be thinned out and half these trees will be cut down so that there is space for the best trees to develop and grow, the cut trees will be sold as firewood so it is not wasted.
There are so many things we just don’t notice, I think this is one thing I love most about doing about Landscape photography, it makes you look at and see things so often lost in the bigger picture of daily life.
Winter in County Kilkenny, 4 landscape images from a Decembers day.
A Winters Day in December 2014
County Kilkenny
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
These last few winter days in county Kilkenny have been very changeable, some mornings frosty and others wet and misty, I just love capturing these days.
December here is just wonderful for Landscape Photography with moody skies and misty forest walks.
Four images from a winters day in December: Gallery
A morning walk in December.
December in Ballykeefe, County Kilkenny
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
So far the early mornings this week, the first week of December 2014 have been perfect , bright clear blue sky’s, an overnight frost that has melted away by 9am leaving the fields and woodland paths very wet and damp.
One walk with molly I love doing on mornings like this is in Ballykeefe woods county Kilkenny, this is a circular walk around the nature reserve that slowly claiming to a viewing point at the top of the hill, the view here is just wonderful. There is a bench to sit on after the walk and the landscape views below are of all the farms between the these woods and the mountain of Slievenamon just across the county border from county Kilkenny and into county Tipperary.
The images below are from this walk and the last image shows the landscape views from the wooden bench at the top of the hill
Only the Country Lane, Poem by : Adgray
The old Country lane, County Kilkenny
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Only the Country Lane Will Weep
by Adgray
I wander down the country lane
my old dog by my side
and I whistle merrily a tune
of how the view is wide
There are no hedgerows to crowd me in
or branches to block the sky
they’d have to use machinery
to bury me when I die
So don’t bother breaking your backs for me
I’d rather blow around with ease
just add what little goodness left
across the land upon the breeze
.
For this is where my heart is
this is my back yard
I’ve roamed it all my adult life
to leave it would be hard
No city house and airs for me
my graces rough and ready made
So lay me not in a neat little row
let my spirit fly and fade
I hitch my swag a little easier
and hunker to scratch his head
the billy boils as I wait with him
and then we both to bed
The stars sing lullaby’s to us
the wind sweeps us softly as we sleep
No debts no bills to leave behind
only the country lane will weep
Kilkenny Landscape Photography : The Killamery high cross
Killamery High cross Nov 2014
Kilkenny landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The Killamery high cross
The Killamery High cross is one of the most Iconic high crosses in Ireland, It is used as a model for many of the small high crosses sold across the world as an Irish symbol.
I am very lucky that it is situated in an old graveyard in Kilkenny at Killamery. The cross is one of the western Ossory group of crosses.
The cross stands at 3.65 metres high and the west face of the cross bears most of the figure sculpture. The east face pictured right, is decorated with three marigolds on the shaft and has a boss in the centre of the head surrounded by intertwining serpents with an open mouthed dragon above the boss. The cross is known as the Snake-Dragon cross. The cross has a gabled cap-stone and the narrow sides have double mouldings. At the end of the southern arm of the cross there is a panel depicting Noah in the Ark and the end of the northern arm features four scenes centered around John the Baptist. There is also a worn inscription on the base of the western side of the cross which is said to read as ‘OR DO MAELSECHNAILL’ a prayer for Maelsechnaill. Maelsechnaill was the High King of Ireland from 846 to 862.
The western face has a Sun Swastika at the center and has figure sculpture around the whorl, to the left is a hunting scene and to the right a chariot scene above the whorl is scene showing a figure holding a Baby with another figure to the right of them, below the sun disc is a crucifixion scene. The shaft of this face bears two ornate panels. The top one is a fret pattern and the lower panel is a key pattern.
Irish Landscape Photography : Moments on a woodland path in the heavy Autumn Rain.
Following the path, under the trees in the rain
Irish Landscape Photography
Nigel Borrington
This week is going to be very wet here in county Kilkenny, the forecast is for rain everyday, this is not the time however to put the camera away. These Autumn days in the Landscape can be just amazing for capturing wet and misty moments.
Yesterday While out walking our Dog Molly, the rain was falling in bucket loads (Very Heavily !!!), I stopped for a while under some trees that covered the path. These trees however stopped in just a few steps so I just waited to see if the rain slowed down a little before moving on. This was a great moment to capture so I took lots of images, trying to record just how wet it was with rain drops falling into puddles that had formed almost in no time at all.
It is so easy to say inside on days like this but walking in this weather is just amazing!
The images below are just some from these very wet moments.
On the path in the rain : Gallery
Jenkinstown, woodland park , County Kilkenny
Jenkinstown , Forest Park County Kilkenny.
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Jenkinstown Forest park in County Kilkenny is one of my most loved Local places, the walks around the Forest here are amazing at anytime of the year but just now the leaves are starting to turn golden yellow and fall after a frost or period of high wind.
The Jenkinstown estate has a long history and the below image shows the castle that once stood here until at least the time this image was taken during 1930.
.
Part of the castle still stands and acts as a home for a local musician.
The park contains some great old buildings such as the round store house and animal shelter that these days offers a great place to read or shelter from a shower on a wet day.
Jenkinstown woodland park , County Kilkenny : Gallery
The Elements : Air
Pagan Elements : Air
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
The pagan elements :
Air
The element of Air is vital to human survival, without it we would all perish, its aspects are Thinness, Motion and Darkness and its quality is Active. Air is the manifestation of movement, freshness, communication and of the intelligence. Sound is another manifestation of this element. As an element, it is invisible, but its reality can be felt in the air that we breathe in every day.
To connect with the power of this element, find a place with clean air and breathe deeply, touch a feather or inhale the fragrance of a heavily scented flower. Let yourself experience the energy of this element, and reflect that we also possess Air energy within ourselves.
In magical terms, Air is the power of the mind, the force of intellect, inspiration, imagination. It is ideas, knowledge, dreams and wishes. Air is the element of new life and new possibilities and is essential to spells and rituals of travel, instruction, finding lost items, some types of divination, and freedom. Air aids us in visualization, a vital technique in magic.
Air is a masculine element and governs the magick of the four winds. It is the vital spirit passing through all things, giving life to all things, moving and filling all things. Thus Hebrew doctors ascribe it not as an element but as a medium or glue that binds all things together.
Air
The first element of the alchemical tradition.
Air is the essence of intuition and learning, the element of the nature of the mind.
Astrological Signs: Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius.
Represented by: Feathers, Birds, incense, fans, flags, flowing garments and sheer material.
Season: Winter
Color: White
Chakra: Crown
Celtic air god and goddess:
Arianrhod
“The Silver Wheel”, “High Fruitful Mother”. Celtic Goddess, the sister of Gwydion and wife of Donn. Deity of element of Air, reincarnation, full moons, time, karma, retribution. The palace of this sky Goddess was Caer Arianrhold (Aurora Borealis). Keeper of the Silver Wheel of Stars, a symbol of time and karma. Her ship, Oar Wheel, carried dead warriors to Emania (Moon-land).
Arianrhod (Welsh pronunciation: [arˈjanr̥ɔd]) is a figure in Welsh mythology who plays her most important role in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogi. She is the daughter of Dôn and the sister of Gwydion and Gilfaethwy; the Welsh Triads give her father as Beli Mawr.[1] In the Mabinogi her uncle Math ap Mathonwy is the King of Gwynedd, and during the course of the story she gives birth to two sons, Dylan Ail Don and Lleu Llaw Gyffes, through magical means.
Ref:
GODDESSES: Aradia, Cardea, Nuit, Urania.
GODS: Enlil, Kheohera, Mercurym, Shu, Thoth.
Kilkenny Landscape photography – Grangefertagh Round tower, Co. Kilkenny
Grangefertagh Roundtower, near Johnstown, Co. Kilkenny
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Grangefertagh Round tower, Co. Kilkenny
I have passed the round tower at Grangefertagh many time but it is only in the last week that I had time to stop and get some images.
The Round tower at Grangefertagh, County Kilkenny stands some 31 metres tall and forms a striking image above the Kilkenny countryside.
The northeast facing doorway which is situated 3.3 metres above ground level has been badly damaged. A farmer removed the original stones and used them to form a fireplace, mistakenly believing they were fireproof. It contains nine windows in total , six angle headed and three lintel-led. Four of the angle headed windows are on the top storey facing the four cardinal points. The tower is complete to the cornice but only part of the cap remains.
A modern doorway has been inserted by the O.P.W. The round tower is the last remnant of the early monastery founded by St Ciaran of Seir in the 6th century. It was raided by vikings in 861 and in 1156 the high king Murtagh McNeale burned the tower with the lector inside. To the north of the tower is a church that belonged to the 13th century monastery founded by the Blanchevilles for the Canons Regular of St Augustine
Wikipedia : What are Irish Roundtowers
Gallery
County Kilkenny Landscape photography
Callan, County Kilkenny,
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
This image is of the Friary Green, Callan, County Kilkenny on an early Autumn walk.
Irish landscape photography and a Poem by : Edwin Arlington Robinson
Kilkenny photograher, Nigel Borrington
The old Mill on the river Barrow, Goresbridge, Kilkenny
The Mill
By : Edwin Arlington Robinson
The miller’s wife had waited long,
The tea was cold, the fire was dead;
And there might yet be nothing wrong
In how he went and what he said:
“There are no millers any more,”
Was all that she heard him say;
And he had lingered at the door
So long it seemed like yesterday.
Sick with a fear that had no form
She knew that she was there at last;
And in the mill there was a warm
And mealy fragrance of the past.
What else there was would only seem
To say again what he had meant;
And what was hanging from a beam
Would not have heeded where she went.
And if she thought it followed her,
She may have reasoned in the dark
That one way of the few there were
Would hide her and would leave no mark:
Black water, smooth above the weir
Like starry velvet in the night,
Though ruffled once, would soon appear
The same as ever to the sight.
Lyrath Estate and Hotel , County Kilkenny
Lyrath Estate and Hotel , County Kilkenny
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
Lyrath Estate and Hotel , County Kilkenny
I have shot a few wedding now at the Lyrath Estate and Hotel , County Kilkenny and got to know the grounds very well in that time. Its a wonderful estate that has the following history :
The history of Lyreth House dates back to the 16th and 17th century. During this time the lands were owned by the Shortall family of Rathardmore. The house was rented to Thomas Tobin until 1653 when they were evicted from the land by English republican Oliver Cromwell who was fighting against the English King ( Charles 1’st ), the Lyrath House being just one estate that Oliver Cromwell took control of.
The Tobin family history at Lyrath is as Follows :
The Tobins of Lyrath
The original townland of Lyrath, lay entirely within the parish of Blackrath (co. Kilkenny); so that it comprised but the western half of the modern townland of Lyrath, the eastern half being portion of Rathardmore. It belonged to the Tobin family, who held it at a certain rent of chiefry, from the Shortalls of Rathardmore. John Tobin, Rector of Callan, who died 1541-42, belonged to this family. Robert Tobin’s lands (of Lyrath), in the Barony of Gowran, were estimated at 5 pounds, about 1560. Thomas Tobin of Lyrath, was Constable of the Barony of Gowran, in 1608; he was still living in 1616. In 1653, Thomas Tobin forfeited Lyrath, containing 116 ac. and “a castle in repair.” Richard Tobin, of Lyrath, and 12 others, had certificates of Transplantation to Connaught signed for them in March 1653-54. Father James Tobin of Lyrath, founded the Poor House in Walkin Street, in 1682. By his last will, made at Lyrath, Oct. 29th, 1699, (with codicil of 10th of following month), and proved December 5th, 1700, he bequeaths his body to the earth, to be interred in his ancestors’ monument in St. John Evangelist’s Monastery in Kilkenny.
As I say this is a wonderful part of County Kilkenny and the estate makes a great visit on a sunny August afternoon.
Gallery
Evening light across the fields/Across the fields : Gallery and Poem
Evening Light across the fields, County Kilkenny
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Across the fields
Taken from a poem By : Imp y Celyn
I was just listening to songs from years gone by,
To make me feel the way I did then,
Does this count as masochism?
Gotta run till you drop
Run till you fly into the sunset
Walk for aeons to get to your door
To walk beside you and remember your skin, your hips
Your eyes are so dark, so dark now the sun’s on the horizon
So beautiful; does beauty negate honesty?
Honestly
How do I stand in your presence
Walk the fields with an invisible crown
Just to see what’s going on
Just to make it a little bit more in this life
Sunsets never mean the same
Each sun sets on a different you and me
I want to crown you in violets
So they’ll blaze blood glory in this light
As timeless spirits walk together
Through space, time always plays out the same way
Maybe ours will be a chaste attachment
Right,
And maybe tomorrow,
There you’ll be, leaning back on your throne
And grinning as you spin your fiddle in the air
I can watch the sunrise
But I’d rather lie down with you again
And see sunset paint your face in amber
So I can wash it away with my tears
Because I’ve just been touched by Ancient Gods
Did you know you make me Believe?
What grows on the old bridge at Ennisnag.
What grows on the bridge at Ennisnag, county Kilkenny
Nature and Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
What grows on the old bridge at Ennisnag.
Early yesterday evening while out Walking molly , our Golden retriever I crossed the old bridge at Ennisnag, county Kilkenny, the foot path goes down along side the kings river, below the bridge and looking up I noticed lots of herbs and plants growing out of the stone work.
The Sun was lighting these plants and they look fantastic with this light behind them.
These plants included (Herb Robert, wild Blackberry and Dandelion)
On the old bridge at Ennisnag, Gallery
Kilkenny, Ireland , 500 million years ago
Landscape view of the kilkenny/Tipperary boarders
Irish Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
Kilkenny, Ireland 500 Million years ago
During the week I posted an article about the area around the mountain of Slievenamon, County Kilkenny.
I hope over the summer to post many times about this area and show many of the foot hills along with the main mountain itself. A fellow blogger margaret, suggested that the formation of the mountain and the oval shape of the extending foot hills could be volcanic in their origins, I do think at some point in the long distant past this could be true.
I found the following summary of the geological history of county Kilkenny so I am going to share it here as I found it fascinating to think of some 500 million years of history of Ireland and its Geology.
Also a Gallery of images that show some of the amazing ice age rocks and landscape formations that can be found through out this great little part of the world.
Geologic History of Kilkenny
500 Million years ago – Sedimentary rock formed under parts of eastern Kilkenny, which was
under the sea.
400 Million years ago – the two parts of Ireland, the island, were fused together under the ocean.
400 Million years ago – the mountains at Brandon and the uplands at Tullogher were formed, again
under the sea.
350 Million years ago – Kilkenny was at a dry land stage with plant life that fossilized into the
yellow sandstones of Kiltorcan.
345 Million years ago – Kilkenny was submerged for about 20 Million years under a tropical shallow
ocean. Lime deposits from this era eventually became the limestone found commonly in
Kilkenny and Ireland. The polished limestone provides the famous Kilkenny marble.
320 million years ago – Kilkenny covered by a muddy delta and swamps, with deposits eventually
forming todays sandstones and coal.
250 Million years ago – a mountain building era resulting in the east-west mountains of Munster,
and the Walsh Mountain area between Millinavat and Slievenamon.
2 Million years ago – Ice age glacial periods intermixed with cold and warm periods begin.
500,000 years ago – A warm period known as the Gortian. Kilkenny is covered by forest of birch,
oak, pine, leder, fir, holly, yew, heather and grass.
200,000 years ago – A cold period lasting 70,000 years called the Munsterian. All of Kilkenny (and
Ireland) is covered by a sea of ice. Movement of Glaciers helped form the soil of today.
130,000 years ago – A warm period known as the Glenavian lasting about 60,000 years with climate
much like today.
70,000 years ago – A cold phase lasting about 60,000 years known as the Midlandian stage. Ice
sheets covered the northern half of Kilkenny, from Callan to Goresbridge. The southern have
would have included tundra grasslands and some woodland. Animal life is noted during this
time, including wooly mammoths, wolf, arctic fox, brown bear, the giant Irish Elk, reindeer
and lemmings.
10,000 years ago – The ice begins to melt, sea levels begin to rise and plants begin to reappear
in all of Kilkenny.
9,000 years ago – A birch dominated forest covers much of Kilkenny.
8,000 years ago – Hazel and pine become part of the forest population.
Landscape and Geological Gallery
Finding the Silver light of other days , Gallery and a Poem by : Thomas Moore
Memories of silver light, Glencommon, County Kilkenny
Landscape photography : Nigel Borrington
On the top of the hill at Glencommon, county Kilkenny is the Ghostly remains of an old farm.
Last Sunday morning I took a walk up the hill in the mist with my camera and took these images, it was a very haunting experience but one I really enjoyed.
The poem below by Thomas Moore came to mind as the mist of the day seamed to recreate the past of this wonderful old place, how many memories it must hold yet all of them lost in the mists of time.
The Light of Other Days
By Thomas Moore
1779-1852
Often, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Fond Memory brings the light
Of other days around me:
The smiles, the tears
Of boyhood’s years,
The words of love then spoken;
The eyes that shone,
Now dimm’d and gone,
The cheerful hearts now broken!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me,
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
When I remember all
The friends, so link’d together,
I’ve seen around me fall
Like leaves in wintry weather,
I feel like one
Who treads alone
Some banquet-hall deserted,
Whose lights are fled,
Whose garlands dead,
And all but he departed!
Thus, in the stilly night,
Ere slumber’s chain has bound me.
Sad Memory brings the light
Of other days around me.
Finding memories in the silver light , Gallery
The woodlands of county Kilkenny after the storm
The woodlands of county Kilkenny after storm Darwin, February 2014
Irish Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
On Wednesday last week Ireland was hit by one of the biggest Storm’s for many years .
We have had a series of them over this winter and over 262mm of rain this year to date, I have posted over the last week or so about the flooded local rivers which I spend a lot of time walking along and the effects of all this rain is clear to see.
The other locations I do a lot of walking in however is county Kilkenny’s Forests and woodlands, the images below are taken in one of our local forests Castlemorris woodlands.
On this visit however I was in complete Awe of Nature and the power it holds, The forest has lost many of its great trees and I feel that the images can only get some of the sense across of just how bad this last storm was. I can only imagine the noise and the almost complete mayhem that these woods contained during the storm that powered its way through these trees.
Many of the trees have fallen and had their branches ripped from them, the visit was one of the most amazing I think I will ever have, it was silent apart from the sound of trees creaking in the wind , the sound of broken branches resting against other trees, survivors of the days storm. It was an amazing feeling, a real lesson in the power that nature holds.
You can see in the images that the path into the woods is completely blocked with fallen trees and it will take many days to clear these woodlands and return them to normal, many gaps with be visible and many trees missed.
I will let these images tell the rest of the story!!
Gallery
After the storms , Poem By : Boris Pasternak
Storm clouds over County Kilkenny
Landscape Photography : Nigel Borrington
After The Storm
By : Boris Pasternak
The air is full of after-thunder freshness,
And everything rejoices and revives.
With the whole outburst of its purple clusters
The lilac drinks the air of paradise.
The gutters overflow; the change of weather
Makes all you see appear alive and new.
Meanwhile the shades of sky are growing lighter,
Beyond the blackest cloud the height is blue.
An artist’s hand, with mastery still greater
Wipes dirt and dust off objects in his path.
Reality and life, the past and present,
Emerge transformed out of his colour-bath.
.
The memory of over half a lifetime
Like swiftly passing thunder dies away.
The century is no more under wardship:
High time to let the future have its say.
It is not revolutions and upheavals
That clear the road to new and better days,
But revelations, lavishness and torments
Of someone’s soul, inspired and ablaze.
Nigel Borrington 
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