This photograph dates from my 2016 visit to the city and at the time this pub did not really catch my attention however I photographed it again in 2021 and it was still unoccupied and today I checked on Google Maps and it still appears to be unoccupied but of course Google might be out off date.
Penrose Lane was known locally as Dennys Lane and it was the scene of the 1896-67 Pig strike. Pig traders/buyers based in the Ballybricken area had a local monopoly on buying from farmers in order to supply local bacon producers but the factories began to buy direct from the producers.
By the middle of the 19th Century, around 75% of the Irish pork products imported into London were coming from Waterford. The City and its surrounds were at that point huge manufacturers of sausages and bacon, largely due to the Denny’s factory, a family business passed from generation to generation. Denny’s still exists today but the factory in Waterford shut in March 1972 .
As already mentioned there is a lot of unoccupied property or derelict sites in Waterford and the more I visit the more that I have become aware of. In October 2016 it was reported that the Showboat had been sold and that it would reopen in 2017.
In September 2019 local publications reported that Waterford City & County Council was set to act ‘aggressively’ on Waterford’s well-known vacant pub sites. The specifically mentioned The Showboat and the Halfway House and Grand Hotel Tramore sites.
As there was much activity when I arrived I decided that it was not appropriate to photograph this cemetery in greater detail, maybe I will visit again next year.
St Otteran is variously described as a son or a companion or a predecessor of St Columba on the island of Iona, where there is a graveyard in his honour, the “Reilg Odhráin”. He is also the principal patron of the diocese of Waterford, having been chosen for that honour by the Vikings. They had buried some of their dead on Iona and were the first occupiers of Waterford city.
St. Otteran’s Burial Ground, also known as Ballinaneeshagh Burial Ground, is operated by Waterford City & County Council. It was in use from the early 19th century but only enclosed and laid out in 1877. There were a number of burials prior to the attempt to provide a plan for the burial ground. There is no register for these earlier burials. The first 426 plots on the burial register were left blank in the hope that the ‘Burial Board’ could fill in the details later but this never occurred.
The first record from the burial register dates to 12th September 1862 and Waterford City and County Archive holds the original burial registers from 1862 until 1966 but there are some gaps. Unfortunately, burials did not always strictly adhere to the plan of burial plots laid out so further investigation may be required when searching for a plot found in the register.
You must be logged in to post a comment.