Athlone quays or Deja Vu again?
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We've been to Athlone quays before where the dead centre of Ireland connects to the Atlantic Ocean via the lovely Shannon River. I never visit Athlone without visualising the famous siege there when Sergeant Custume stepped out and broke the gangway across the bridge. He must have been some man?
Photographer: James P. O'Dea
Collection:James P. O'Dea
Date: September 17 1961
NLI Ref.: https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305737
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 4292
Photographer: James P. O'Dea
Collection:James P. O'Dea
Date: September 17 1961
NLI Ref.: https://catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305737
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
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Owner: National Library of Ireland on The CommonsSource: Flickr Commons
Views: 4292
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ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
17 September 1961 was a Sunday ... which we already knew from the catalogue title "Waterfront, Sunday AM, Athlone, Co. Westmeath."
O Mac
Streetview. The Quay maps.app.goo.gl/GbJiwcMpnsgDF5ik7
Foxglove
I see a Ford Anglia, memories of wee bare legs sticking to hot plastic car seats in summer....
Niall McAuley
1895 or so:
Niall McAuley
O'Dea again, 1962:
Niall McAuley
And again, 1968:
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
"The basic Anglia 105E featured a smaller, painted grille with a chromed reveal, rendering it easily identifiable from the De Luxe 105E." See - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Anglia#Anglia_105E_(1959%E2%80%931968)
Niall McAuley
This is shortly before the pretty lifting span at the West of the town bridge was replaced with a flat concrete section in 1963.
Niall McAuley
The Break Down That Bridge Six Warriors Rushed bridge was closer to the camera, being just downstream of the castle rather than up.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
That same Sunday, Mr O'Dea went to "Shanonagh Bridge, Mullingar, Co. Westmeath." in his trusty Morris Minor. About 41.2Km and 44 minutes away (thanks GoogleMaps) - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000305739
suckindeesel
Photo taken from outside the rear entrance to Sean’s Bar, claimed to be Ireland’s and Europe’s oldest bar, AD 900 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean%27s_Bar Drop in sometime and sample one of the best Irish Coffees around.
suckindeesel
The building behind the Anglia is described as the ‘Grand Canal Store’, which seems a bit odd. More likely built by the Shannon Navigation Co. who provided the mooring bollards (1840) still in use today
Paddywhack56
https://www.flickr.com/photos/foxglove We had a '64 Cortina...same seats. 😄
Niall McAuley
Ford Anglia (?) 7165 IJ is from Down. I think this sequence xxxx IJ was Oct 1958 – May 1961, so the car is relatively new here, maybe July 1960.
Deirge (Del)
My uncle swore by Ford for cars and Ferguson for tractors and had one or two Ford Anglia's before going to Cortinas. Rust could be a nightmare on the Anglia's but the local mechanic could fix almost anything. I remember having to drive him in his Anglia to Sligo Hospital after he misused caustic soda trying to clear the radiator of another vehicle and it got in his eye. He gave me grief as a back seat driver the whole trip. Those were the days ... no seatbelts ... seemingly endless people stuffed into cars and children sitting on the handbrake ... actually that reminds me I don't think the Anglia had synchromesh going from 2nd down into first. The Anglia looks so small compared to any car today, the mini was smaller, but I think the Hillman Imp was narrower; was in one of those in Donegal once.
Foxglove
old VWs Beetles had a "bucket" area (hension lined) behind the backseat and above the engine - perfect, yes ... for several infants.. before they learned to stand on the internal rise of central drive shaft to peer over driver and front passenger (usually holding a child on knee). three in the front, three in the back and two in the "bucket" ... years later only bested by 13 (excl driver) in a Belfast FTA taxi @ 25p each. FTA, Falls Road Taxi Assoc. they replaced and later complemented public bus transport from the 1970s..
suckindeesel
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/196366907@N03/] Here’s one I’ve seen locally, on display outside the pub maps.app.goo.gl/2GWFmPh9YVUxu27J9?g_st=ic
Deirge (Del)
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/184711311@N04] Goatstown? That far away from the Shannon Goat! ... hmm better end this with a suitable ceilidh
Deirge (Del)
Ah! Per Murtagh, Diarmuid. “Sergeant Custume and the Bridge of Athlone.” Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review, vol. 37, no. 148, 1948, pp. 463–74. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30100453. Accessed 19 May 2023. Does any man dream that a Gael can fear ? Of a thousand deeds let him learn but one The Shannon swept onwards, broad and clear Between the leaguers and broad Athlone. . -- Aubery de Vere
Niall McAuley
The Barracks (just out of sight behind the Castle in today's shot) is names Custume barracks after a sergeant who died defending the bridge. The barracks was founded in 1698, just 7 years after his death.
Deirge (Del)
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] Per ("An introduction to the architectural heritage of County Westmeath", 2007, p49) borrowable online from Open Library shows this Shannon Road Bridge was constructed in 1841-4 at the same time a navigation channel was dredged on the west bank. Custume's bridge would have been the 1566 bridge described on p.16. (O'Keefe et. al, "Irish Stone Bridges" 2016) gives a more in-depth background as to the civil engineering of the stone bridges in the 19th century and improvements to the Shannon navigation.
suckindeesel
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/196366907@N03/] www.indiatoday.in/auto/auto-news/story/liam-payne-buys-ha...