URBAN EXPRESSION ON STEPHEN’S STREET AND ALEXANDER STREET
My first visit to Waterford was in May 2016 and I was surprised to discover much really good street art and when I asked the staff back at the hotel why it was so good they told me that there was an annual event known as Waterford Walls. I decided that I would visit every September to visit to photograph what had been created during the festival but unfortunately I was unable to do so. Covid restrictions created problems for me, last year my hotel booking was cancelled and this year I cannot get a suitable hotel room at a price that I am willing to pay.
In August 2015 twenty two artists used the walls of Waterford city are their canvas. The Waterford Walls event had surpassed all expectations as locals and visitors flocked to the city to see the street artists in action. I was not certain if the hall was included in the programme but I am assuming that it was.
This building is an attractive and substantial composition of graceful proportions that, despite currently being disused, remains in very good condition. The building retains its original form and character, together with important original salient features and materials that contribute to the character of the site. The building is a prominent feature of the streetscape, and forms an important corner site linking Stephen’s Street with Alexander Street.
I first photographed this memorial in March 2021 but forgot to publish the resulting images.
In 2021 I used a Sony 7RIV with a Sony PZ 28-135mm Lens and in 2022 I uses a Canon 5D MkIII with a Sigma 24-105mm Lens.
Thomas was from Callan in Co Kilkenny, the son of Edward and Hanora Woodgate of Mill Street, and until recently it was assumed that he was 18 when he signed up to the Royal Air Force in late 1918. He died on board RMS Leinster on 10 October 1918, when it was torpedoed by a German submarine close to the Kish Lighthouse while on its way to Holyhead.
Altogether, 501 lives were lost in that incident, which occurred just a month before the end of the war.
In recent years, while research was being carried out into the hundreds of people from the Kilkenny area who died during that war, it was discovered that Thomas was actually 14 when he was killed.
Thomas is buried in Grangegorman military cemetery in Dublin.
The sculpture was created by CDS Architectural Metalwork. Martin Stapleton began his career working with his father Michael in the Farm Building Business. He began his apprenticeship in 1986 and in 1989 he represented Ireland in the World Skill Olympics where he finished 3rd behind China and Korea. After this intensive training, Martin realised that there was a market for quality metalwork in the construction industry which could be manufactured and installed to an extremely high standard, which was not an “off the shelf” product but instead crafted to suit each individual project requirement. This metalwork utilized mildsteel, stainless steel, copper, brass, glass etc and maximised the fabrication techniques and procedures to produce spectacular results.
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