URBAN PHOTOGRAPHS

Urban Expression And Depression By Infomatique

Parks And Gardens

BISHOPS MEADOWS RIVER WALK – RIVER NORE LINEAR PARK

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BISHOPS MEADOWS RIVER WALK – RIVER NORE LINEAR PARK

This visit I was better prepared for the canal and river walks in Kilkenny. I also brought proper rain gear but it did not rain except for a twenty minute thunder storm.

I wakened up early on the first morning and as the weather was beautiful and because rain had been forecasted for the rest of week I decided that I should immediately visit Bishops Meadows Walk but this timed I returned to the city centre via Freshford Road.

On day two of my visit to Kilkenny in 2018 [my last visit to the city] I walked more than twenty miles over three sessions and I was exhausted because the weather was very hot even though the sky was overcast. At the end of the day my feet were in a very poor condition. I asked a local farmer how long Bishopsmeadows walk was and he responded by saying six fields. Having seen some really large fields on my way to Kilkenny by train I was afraid that this could be six miles but I assumed that it would be no more than two miles assuming about four fields per mile. I later discovered that it is 2.6km but of course the return journey was also the same distance [I often forget about the return journey].

TICKNICK PARK – NOT TICKNOCK

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TICKNICK PARK – NOT TICKNOCK [MY FIRST VISIT]

Note: Ticknock or Tiknock is a townland southwest of Sandyford in Dublin at the northeastern foothills of the Dublin Mountains

Today was beautiful so I decided get a LUAS tram as far as the Laughanstown tram stop and then walk along Lehaunstown Lane [spelling is a bit confusing] towards the Church at Tully. Unfortunately access to the ruined church and graveyard was blocked so I decided to continue on towards the M50 bridge and much to my surprise I arrived at the bottom of a stepped and ramped path which I had not seen before so I decided to explore and I ended up walking in a loop which returned me to the bridge.

On my return home further research revealed that I had explored what is to become one of three new public parks under development in Cherrywood. Below is a description by the developers:

Ticknick Park is primarily intended to provide formal recreational facilities in the form of grass playing pitches. The pitches will be constructed to a high level of functionality and will be suitable for use all year round, due to a high-capacity drainage system. A path circuit is proposed around the playing pitches, wide enough to accommodate maintenance and emergency vehicles. Adjacent to the pitches will be a changing facility with toilets and ancillary facilities, along with parking for up to 22no. cars (including 2no. universally accessible spaces), and turning space for coaches for team transport, as well as service vehicle access. These will be accessed by pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles via a route from the existing M50 Lehaunstown Lane bridge. Also included in the park layout is a maintenance facility for the whole of Cherrywood.

The importance of external and internal views within the park has been accounted for in the design. Appropriate planting and the management of existing trees and vegetation (crown-lifting and thinning, pruning of vegetation) are proposed to maintain and enhance certain important views and vistas.

Cherrywood SDZ is the single largest undeveloped land-bank in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, and is approximately 360 hectares in size, nestled at the foot of the Dublin Mountains, is strategically located between the M50 and N11 transport corridors approximately 1km north of where they fork from the M11 and approximately 8km south of Dún Laoghaire town centre. Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, in recognising the area’s strategic importance, applied to the Government for Strategic Development Zone (SDZ) status and the Government designated it as an SDZ in May, 2010.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown, in their role as the designated Development Agency for Cherrywood SDZ, had a statutory duty to draft and agree a Planning Scheme for the SDZ, which was approved by Council following a comprehensive public consultation in December 2012. This was then formally submitted to An Bord Pleanála who subsequently approved the Planning Scheme with modifications in April 2014.

The front-loading of significant transport and social infrastructure (parks and schools) outlined in the Planning Scheme will ensure that the SDZ area will be transformed into a new vibrant community, with approx. 8,700 homes including a minimum of 10% social housing units, spread over the new Town Centre and 3 smaller Village Centres with superior transport links including an enhanced bus service and 5 Luas stops throughout.

THE CLOCK TOWER IN THE WALLED GARDEN AT SAINT ANNE’S PARK

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THE CLOCK TOWER IN THE WALLED GARDEN AT SAINT ANNE’S PARK

Today I used a Sony A7RIV with a 24-70mm lens.

The clock tower was built in 1850, based on the date of its bell. It is not shown on the 1843 Ordnance Survey.

It is a 4-storey brick tower with a giant bell (nearly 1.2 metres across), inscribed with Benjamin Lee‟s name and family motto, ‘Spes Mea in Deo’ (My Hope is in God). The tower has three floors and access to the first floor was via an external staircase (now removed) with internal ladders to the other floors. There is no enclosed ground floor as the tower forms the entrance to the former walled gardens.

The clock has one dial facing eastwards towards the house, black and gold-leaf Roman numerals and skeleton hands. It was made by James Booth of Dublin and was privately commissioned by the Guinness family (Murray, 2006). It is listed in the DCC Record of Protected Structures (Ref. No. 7738).

THE IRISH SUZHOU CHINESE GARDEN IN ST. ANNE’S PARK

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THE IRISH SUZHOU CHINESE GARDEN IN ST. ANNE’S PARK – A PLEASANT SURPRISE

If you ever get the chance to visit St. Anne’s Park you should notice an old clock tower which is located in a walled garden. The walled garden, to which access is limited, contains a really big surprise in the form of an attractive Chinese Garden known as the “Ire-Su Chinese Garden”.

When I first visited this Chinese garden in August 2018 a lady who I had a chat with told me that it had been there for at least a hundred years and that surprised me as it appeared to be new. About ten minutes later she returned and told me that here friend told here that it was installed in 2012 [not 1912 as she had believed].

The garden was first shown at the Bloom Festival in 2011 and it was designed by workers from the Suzhou Garden Bureau, which looks after nine famous UNESCO-listed gardens in China. Parts of the garden were relocated to St Anne’s Park in Raheny after the festival as a gift to coincide with Dublin’s twinning with Beijing in 2012.