Researched and compiled by Andrew Doherty. Tides and Tales Maritime Community Project. For Regina Fitzpatrick. Heritage Officer. Kilkenny Co Council.
Andrew would like to acknowledge the help of Joseph Freyne, Joe Phelan and Jim Cusack for providing interviews and information in researching this report. Also to acknowledge Ann Phelan Local Authorities Water Programme. Finally Mark O’Leary and Andy Kelly for use of images.
Introduction
The Blackwater River might be considered a backwater to the modern reader. Although in a navigable waterway sense it is certainly eclipsed by the river of the same name that acts as a boundary between Waterford and Cork, this in no way diminishes its historic role to the region of South Kilkenny which it drains. For this small river has a proud heritage, particularly as a location of early agricultural trade and commerce. A modest navigation, it certainly punched above its weight in the context of the quantity of traffic that used the waterway.
This paper explores the navigable waterway, the types of trade, cargo, and craft. It also delves into the existence of the word Pill. For this old word which has an association with local water bodies, and navigable tidal waterways have several connections with the Blackwater. In some cases, it is a placename, a description, and a general location.
The River
The Blackwater is a tributary of the River Suir in south Kilkenny. It is formed by the confluence of the Derrylacky River and the Poulanassy or Assy River at Mullinavat, from where it flows southwards through the village of Kilmacow. At Grannagh the Blackwater is joined by the Smartscastle Stream and they enter the River Suir just above the “Red Iron” Railway Bridge.[i]
“Red Iron” Railway Bridge(1906).
Historical context/development:
Three castles are associated with the waterway and from a historical perspective and in terms of prestige, Grannagh Castle dominates.
Grannagh Castle
Grannagh, Grenegh or Granny is thought to get its name from a gravelly spot. The site was once the location of Dun Bhrain, the Fort of Brien.
Writing about the Butlers of Ormond, Edwards describes the castle and the area thus:
In Iverk the earls possessed Norbane, Castletown, Kilmacow and the manor of Grannagh, substantial rural settlements containing what was then some of the best pasture land in the area. Grannagh was especially important. A large medieval fortress on the Kilkenny side of Waterford estuary, it had a commanding view of the boats and barges that plied across the Suir river between Waterford and Kilkenny…with its large circular and square towers and its great hall. Built originally in the fourteenth century by the Power family, it had passed to the earls of Ormond in 1375. In the 1490s Piers Ruadh and his wife, Countess Margaret renovated and extended it, and it subsequently became the main administrative centre of the Ormond lordship in south Kilkenny…It also controlled one of the main ferries from Kilkenny to Waterford… like other Ormond manors elsewhere in the county, Grannagh was a focal point of the feudal power of the earldom…”[i]
The castle fell into ruin after the Cromwellian invasion.
Dunkitt Castle
According to O’Kelly, it is in Irish Dun Ceit, Ceat’s Fort “This fort, locally known as the Raw (Rath) of Dunkitt gave its name to the parish which was appropriated to the Priory of Inistioge in 1210 …Dunkitt castle, in ruins, stands beside the railway line which intersects the townland. The Blackwater River flows on the western border. Part of a laneway here is named as Boisheen salach, a dirty boreen.[i]
Samuel Lewis (1837) described it as “…a parish in the Barony of Ida, connected to the River Suir via the Dunkitt Pill…great quantities [of limestone] are quarried chiefly for exportation to the county of Wexford by the river Suir, from which the pill is navigable to the quarries”[ii]
Dunkitt Castle from the air. ©Mark O’Leary
Dangan Castle
Recorded by Rev William Carrigan in 1905, he stated that Dangan Castle – also Danganaspidogy – is the “Fort or Strong Fence of the Robin Redbreast. The castle was once a seat of a branch of the Butler family, but only the foundations now remain”[i]
Earliest times
But of course, the area has a richer and deeper history than what these castles suggest. Based on recent excavations associated with the N25 Waterford city bypass the Blackwater River area and the surrounding parts along the Suir were surveyed. The findings are illustrative of the depth of human activity.
The report summary states that
“The results of this project push back the earliest evidence of human occupation of the Lower Suir Valley to 7000–8000 cal BC. The evidence for Mesolithic activity comes mainly from sites in close proximity to the River Suir and its tributaries and represents hunting and gathering activity. Farming was introduced into the Lower Suir Valley in the first half of the fourth millennium BC. The earliest Neolithic farmers cleared the natural forest, cultivated arable crops, and constructed rectangular timber buildings. At this time pottery was manufactured and used for the first time in the region. The end of the Neolithic period is marked by the occurrence of Beaker pottery; this type of pottery is associated with the first use of metal in Ireland, however, only a small number of Copper Age sites were identified on this project. The Bronze Age evidence from this project stands out due to the number of sites and the diversity of the evidence. It appears that the second millennium BC marks a period of expanding settlement and growing population. A programme of radiocarbon dating has shown that fulachtaí fia were used throughout the Bronze Age in the Lower Suir Valley. Early Bronze Age cremation burials occurred on two cemetery sites, one of which contained a ring-ditch. The Middle Bronze Age witnessed the construction of a number of settlements with round houses. A small number of sites have been radiocarbon dated to the Iron Age, including one where iron smelting was carried out. These sites appear to represent small-scale activity of apparently short-lived duration; none of them is associated with any identifiable material culture. There is a surprising lack of evidence for early medieval activity on the excavated sites, however, two sites stand out. In AD 612/613 a vertical watermill was constructed along a small stream at Killoteran, Co. Waterford; this is the earliest example of this type of mill identified to date in Ireland. It seems that the mill was not used for very long before it was abandoned. In the ninth century AD Vikings built an enclosed settlement on the banks of the River Suir at Woodstown, Co. Waterford” [i]
In her wonderful and detailed History of Kilmacow, the late Kathleen Laffan stated that Christianity came to the area in the late 5th Century. There are at least 7 Celtic or pre-Norman era churches in the area with several along the river – Lower Kilmacow, Kilcrony (now Greenville) (possibly Kiltogen, now Gaulskill) and Kilmoshkillogue (Charlestown).[ii]
It is highly likely the area was further developed on foot of the founding of the Viking Longphort and later town of Waterford, but it was the coming of the Normans that prompted vast changes to the political and social realities of life. These included new systems of law, government, church, land holdings and use. Castles were built to secure their holdings including at Grannagh on the Suir, adjacent to the mouth of the Blackwater, Dunkitt overlooking the Blackwater, Dangan, Ballinaboley and Gaulskill.[iii]
Under the Norman influence Waterford developed and enhanced both as a city but also in its trade, so much of this based on its geographical position both to Bristol and Europe. But one of its best advantages was a fine natural harbour and inland navigable rivers that allowed goods to flow far into the countryside. Waterford (and New Ross) had a flourishing trade importing wine, enhanced by the ability to distribute the cargo inland[iv]
But shipping thrives on fully laden ships. As wine came in, opportunities for the wealth of the land went out. Bill Irish quoting De Courcey states that “A valuable reciprocal export trade in corn to the Bordeaux region was established. Customs receipts at the end of the thirteenth century showed Waterford ahead of Dublin and Cork. Leather, wheat, cheese, flour, and hogs were the main exports and there is also evidence that timber- particularly barrels, planks, and ship boards – were traded from the port.[v]
Trade ebbed and flowed like the rivers, as shifting allegiances and different rulers forced change, some brutal such as the arrival of Cromwell. But there were internal challenges too, a dispute with New Ross for commercial shipping prominence and war with the Le Poer’s and their Cork allies the O’Driscolls. But despite the setbacks to commerce and trade in specific eras, the city found a way to endure. The hinterland, including the tidal rural areas, was intrinsically linked to this.[vi]
The connection with Kilkenny had been via ferry for centuries, the closest being Grannagh and Ferrybank. The growth in agriculture and the limitations of the ferries for transporting animals forced a response and plans were initiated for a new bridge, the only other alternative over the Suir at the time being at Carrick on Suir. A tolled timber made bridge opened in 1794, constructed by an American named Cox. Finally, “…whole flocks of animals could be driven into the markets and fairs of Waterford.”[vii]
Bizarrely, from a port city and shipping perspective, no opening span was allowed for with the bridge. Lighters (local name for flat bottomed barges) could negotiate through the spans, but larger vessels had to stay downriver. However, in 1800 a draw bridge was added near the Waterford shore, and this was moved and expanded to the centre of the bridge in 1854.[viii]
The toll added costs to trade however, and this functioned as an encouragement to using the river, allowing goods to move through it, or to either side, without the added cost. It was still a factor in business decisions into the first decade of the twentieth century.
Agriculture
The Norman era brought a major expansion in cultivation in terms of feeding the expanding Waterford city and export trade. They introduced the three-field system – a subdivision of ground allowing for two crops of grain with one fallow. This was a labour-intensive farming method from ploughing, harvesting, and processing.[i] Until the 1660’s a major export for Kilkenny was live cattle, a trade discontinued in 1665 as there were concerns that the practice was depressing prices in the west of England. This was replaced by sheep rearing – primarily for wool. Fifty years later this was superseded by a demand for processed beef – quartered and salted in beef which was increased further by animal disease on the continent and England.[ii]
In the mid eighteenth-century dairying became established in the area, particularly on the Walsh Mountains and the riverine water meadows, and there was a significant demand for butter both from England and the Newfoundland provisioning trade. Pig fattening was also important.[iii]
Mills
A related industry to this rich and productive arable land was milling[i]. We have already mentioned the finding of a 7th Century vertical watermill for milling grain at a small stream in Killoteran, Co. Waterford, which is just upriver from the area.[ii] It is surely possibly others may have existed, along the Blackwater or its related streams too?
A related trade: around 1740 the Green family introduced the linen industry to the area, bringing sixteen families from Northern Ireland to teach the local community the practicalities of growing, spinning and weaving flax.[iii]
Further opportunities for the growing and milling of grains came with the wars with France which was seized upon by local landlords. Using the Blackwater as a source of power, suitable soils, and proximity to the Port of Waterford the milling trade flourished.[iv]
In a careful and clever utilising of the river system numerous mills were in the area. Laffan[v] listed these which included:
- Paper Mill at the present Kilmacow Sports Complex
- Dangan Mill
- Scroders Mill
- Browns Mill aka Greenville Mill
- Cronin’s Mill at Dangan on site of an older mill
- Chandlee’s Mill
- Gooch’s Mill – built on the site of an earlier mill (note Loughlin Freeman leased it 1850-1883 info to link to blog story
- Loughry’s Corn Mill 1700’s to 1942
- Kelly’s Mill – ground corn up to the 1950s, built 1800’s on site of an earlier flax mill known as Smith’s.
- Pill Mill – built 1700’s, updated 1806 ran by James Chandlee 1850, later James McDonald. Flooded and refurbished in 1900, put up for sale 1942, machinery bought by Hammond Lane foundry Dublin.
- Newtown/Cappagh Mill
- Gaulsmill – local tradition has it that the Jacob family of the ship biscuit fame had a connection.
- Strang’s Mill- fed by a mill race from Holly Lake and operated towards the end of the 19th Later bought by Simon Foley and used as a sawmill. In 1913 he sold it to the railway who used the water for trains.
Strangs Mill presently. The old mill repurposed and strengthened to hold a water tank. Gravity allowed water run from the location to the railway yard at Newrath. According to Fred Hamond the water was used to clean cattle trucks at the goods yard.
The river network was an important aspect of this development – it obviously powered the machinery employed in the linen and grain mills but crucially it was also a means of transport. And not just in the import or export of material or finished product. It was also crucial in the delivery of the wheels required in grinding, wheels that were themselves quarried extensively in Waterford Harbour.
The importance of the river to navigation is illustrated in the wording associated with this advert from the Waterford Mail of Kilmacow Mill in 1859 – “To Be Sold…the lease of Kilmacow Mills, situate about three a half mile from Waterford, and within mile of a good navigable pill…”[ii]
A related river use was in the transport of mill stone. Quarrying operations in the harbour took place in areas with suitable stone and, crucially, proximity to waterways for transportation. The main locations included Creaden Bay, Dunmore East, Templetown and Great Graigue on the Hook Peninsula, Ballyhack Hill, Minaun Hill at Cheekpoint and at Drumdowney close to Ballinlaw in Kilkenny. Although Drumdowney is nearby to the Blackwater, the coordination of moving these millstones made water transport to at least the tidally accessible Lower Kilmacow favourable.
Waterford News – Friday 15 April 1859; Page 1
Source: British Newspaper Archive, Public Domain
The Pill Mill, Lower Kilmacow. Photo courtesy of Andy Kelly collection.
Although much of the grain could be sourced locally for the mills, it’s interesting to note that in 1895 a cargo of 2,800 tons of wheat arrived from South Australia aboard the Broderick Castle consigned to Mr Browne of Kilmacow Mills…the article however does not mention if the wheat will be transported by road or river…It had taken the ship 113 days to reach port.[i]
Quarry’s
The extent of limestone deposits in the area can be illustrated by a look at some of the early 19th Century maps of the area. Again, the late Kathleen Laffen lists and describes these.
The sheer number is hard to imagine.
- Blossom Hill
- Dunkitt quarries
- Grannagh quarries
- Gaulstown
- Grannyknock quarries – Roadstone
- Milltown quarries
- Newtown quarry
- Smartscastle (2 quarries)
- Strangsmill quarries
The transport of limestone was also a labour-intensive bulk cargo that lent itself to the river transporters. The uses were varied but included top stone that could be used as ships ballast or in burning in the lime kilns, not just in the area but along the river network including the River Barrow. The location of these burning kilns is, exclusively beside the tidal portions of the local rivers or tidal pills.[i] The best stone of course was also sought after for building. It is most likely a related fact, that many of the builders in Waterford City were found either off the quays or along John’s River.[ii]
The following story comes from the Schools Folklore collection:
The district around Dunkitt and Kilmacow is a limestone one. Limestone is found in abundance all over the neighbourhood. Several unused quarries dot the countryside. Some of these are still in use providing stones for steam rolling the roads.
These quarries were the source of a good deal of employment. Quarrymen came into the district from other parts of the country. Special cottages and houses were built for these men who settled down in the district. A special clubhouse was built for them too. This club- house was after wards changed into a schoolhouse, two years after National education commenced in Ireland in the year 1834 and this remained the school of the district until 1931, when a new school was built in the townland of Strangsmills.
Special tracks for iron lorries were built. Small ones were used to convey the limestone to the riverside. Barges waited here by the river side coming up the Blackwater from the Suir, of which it is a tributary. These barges were then towed to their various places where there was a demand for the limestone. The rails are still to be seen or the ground as they were first laid down.
Several lime-kilns are in the vicinity of the quarries. Each quarry had its own limekiln and lime was burned there also for building purposes and was sent off in the barges or carted away by those who wanted it. Fires were kept burning constantly and work went on night and morning. To start one of these fires most of a tree had to be cut down to start the coal burning and then to keep the limestone burning. People needed the lime also for putting on their land. Houses inside relied on this whitewash for a disinfectant and it was always a splendid one and is still today.
Mrs. Desmond, Gaulsmills, June 1938[iii]
Quarry roads or entrances are still in evidence to this day, such as here at the Milltown area on the Dunkitt to Kilmacow road.
Ships Ballast
From the time that ships sailed to or from Waterford, ships ballast was an essential commodity. Ballast can be defined as “Heavy matter (sand, stone, gravel, pig lead, water etc) placed in the hold of a ship to keep it steady when it has little or no cargo”[i] Ballast therefore is an extra weight placed in an empty vessel to lower the centre of gravity and increase stability. Ships with insufficient ballast tend to tip or heel excessively in high winds. Too much may result in the vessel capsizing.
Ships leaving the port of Waterford empty, therefore, needed to be ballasted for safety. Ballast was of a cheap or easily sourced heavy material. Sometimes this ballast was simply dumped when it arrived at the next port to collect freight. Alternatively, if the bulk weight was of commercial value, so much the better. Worthless rubble was sometimes used, as was river mud. But limestone was also used and was gathered from the limestone quarries and delivered to the Ballast Quay on the Ferrybank side of the river. Interestingly there was a higher charge placed on the limestone ballast as this excerpt about Waterford Port from The Ship owner’s and Shipmaster’s directory to the Port charges of Great Britain and Ireland (1863) highlights[ii].
I am speculating that this suggests that the limestone could be resold at the next port of call for building or lime burning purposes.
Limekilns
Looking at the making of lime in particular, Kathleen Laffen recorded six limekiln operations in the area; Ballykeogha, Bishopshall, Cappagh, Gaulstown, Newtown and Strangsmill.[i]
Historically lime may have a long association with the area by virtue of the rich deposits to be had from the ground. The N25 excavations found an early example of a lime burning site close to Grannagh.
“…it measured 4 m in internal diameter and 2.6 m in maximum depth and comprised a cylindrical walled structure, open to the south-west and cut into the slope (illus. 69). it was built of regularly coursed limestone with a lime-mortar bonding. The internal face of the wall was heavily vitrified with a blue-green glassy coat. Oxidised clay was apparent extending c. 1.2 m outside of the cut of the feature. There was evidence for two phases of construction. Originally the opening (draw-hole) to the kiln had been lower, however, successive use resulted in the gradual accumulation of lime material. This reduced the height of the original opening, so it was dismantled and raised in height to facilitate further use…
The limekiln is not depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of the area (1839).
It is possible that this kiln pre-dated the Ordnance Survey map and may have fallen out of use and been infilled prior to this date. It is assumed that the kiln was used to process lime from the quarry adjacent to the site. Limestone was crushed or broken to about an inch (25 mm) in size and placed in the kiln. There it was layered with fuel (most likely coal or peat) which was subsequently set alight. The heat reduced the limestone to lime powder which was removed from the kiln and spread as a fertiliser or used to make lime mortar or lime wash. It is likely that, after the kiln fell into disuse, stone from the structure was robbed and used in the construction of walls in the surrounding fields and nearby houses.”[ii]
A lime kiln is a structure that breaks down limestone rock using heat, to create quicklime powder. Many of the sites we have remaining in the area, the harbour and upriver at Carriganore for example are based on a similar design and date from the mid-18th century. Each kiln is of a uniform size 25–30-ton capacity. The type we have can be described as “Draw Kilns.”
Although there are examples of single kilns, double kilns were more efficient. A double refers to two separate fire chambers built into the same structure, which assisted the burning process, as the heat from the first burn was retained by the brick and stone, which aided a more efficient burn in the next chamber. Triple and quadruple kilns are not unknown.
The kilns are sited close to water, as the limestone, which was burned, was carried by river.
A kiln to all intents and purposes is an oven. The oven is within the overall structure and is called a chamber. These were egg shaped, with the top cut off. The chamber was loaded with a charge initially – something flammable such as furze or very dry timber which would get the fire going. Onto this the layers of limestone were added (generally fist sized to allow the fire and heat to rise, but not so big that it would not be heated through) with an extra layer of firing material to keep the chamber burning (three to five layers of stone to one layer of firing material). The fuel could be more timber, but coal or coal slack (calum) was also used – another material transported by water.
The fire was lit from the base through an eye or draw hole. The draw holes also allowed more air in if required or could be blocked to slow the burning down. Once lit the fire had to be monitored and controlled, A burn could take two or three days, and the lime had to cool before being drawn off.
The burnt lime was drawn out of the chamber and if required larger pieces of stone could be broken up before being barrelled or loaded into carts or lighters to be delivered to builders, farmers or used in homes[iii].
There is much by way of detail in this advert highlighting the importance of tidal transport and the rates charged– from the Wexford and Kilkenny Express – Saturday 15 May 1875: page 4. British Newspaper Archive. Public Domain.
By good fortune I happened upon the remains of these kilns when exploring the Strangs Mill recently with Joe Freney. Four kilns are on the site. Three are of similar shape and design whilst the fourth, closest to the bank is different in design and in a much more dilapidated condition. An imposing gate entrance still stands on the site, leading out into a trackway that concludes at the stream. The trackway leads back behind the kilns to the top of them, but also back towards the old quarries.
Brick Kiln
Another type of kiln discovered by the archaeologists on the N25 bypass dig was a brick making kiln. This was discovered on a site adjacent to Strangsmill Stream. The kiln was “…not depicted on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1839, but later maps show evidence for a possible clay pit which could have been the source of the alluvial clay for brickmaking.”[i]
The report goes on to explain that evidence for the first use of brick as a fashionable building material in Ireland can be traced back to the 16th century, when it was used in buildings such as the Ormond Manor house at Carrick on Suir. Brick was not commonly used here until the
18th century when brick kilns were introduced. Clamp kilns such as the example at Newrath continued in use into the 19th century. “The clamp kiln at Newrath 34 is consistent with a pattern of small-scale production for local use; its location adjacent to the Strangsmill stream would have facilitated the river-transport of the bulky finished product a 19th century brickyard with the remains of seven kilns was excavated at Knockhouse upper 3 on the south side of the Suir”[ii]
Fishing on the river
Although it is highly likely that earliest settlers to the area fished the Blackwater, no evidence as such can be found for this. Following the dissolution of the Abbey of Kilculliheen in 1540 it was noted that amongst their property included five fishing weirs, some of which may have been in the Blackwater catchment.[iii]
Anecdotally I was told of cot men sheltering in the river but not fishing the snap net. I was also told that eel was potted in the lower reaches, around the marsh at the mouth of the Blackwater but not commonly, eel preferring the deeper waters at summertime and usually fished for above Grannagh Castle.
In confirming this, a search of the newspaper archives yielded nothing but one mention of a court case in 1893. In what was described as an important fishery prosecution a man named John Dawson assisted by Michael Dalton were summoned for using a net in the freshwater section of the Blackwater near Kilmacow. The small, meshed net was used without licence and the men were observed by Constable Delandre fishing for trout. He later seized the net and the fish from Dalton. Both men were found guilty and fined £2. Two others, Martin Kelly and William Sweeney were likewise prosecuted, but pleaded guilty and fined £2.[iv]
Manure boats
One aspect of the Lightermen’s trade was transporting manure. The lighters were sometimes referred to as manure boats or other times called dung boats. The manure was used as an early form of fertiliser and had several sources. River mud, horse and animal waste or dung, and the discreetly termed “Night Soil” – the remains of human waste.
While researching the history of dredging at Waterford quays for my second book I came upon the grandly titled “Inspector of mud boats”. These men were in trouble with the Harbour Commissioners because mud which was being dredged up from the quaysides was being carelessly disposed. The earliest reference I could find to mechanical dredging was 1839, although there was extensive work completed in 1817 when the Ford channel was cleared between the Kilkenny shore and Little Island. The process of dredging described in 1839 was the use of a bucket dredge that scooped mud from the river and then deposited it into lighters to be ferried away. Much of this was used on land as a fertiliser, it was also used as ballast to be freighted as far as Wales by returning coal boats.
A lighter at the quay of Waterford c1900. Another is alongside a sailing vessel further down.
A related article from the Munster Express of 1950s is a recollection of the city quays. It recounts an era of an old hopper dredger (Most likely the Urbs Intacta or Sicily). The lighters took the dredged spoil and then journeyed up the river to areas such as Mooncoin or the Kilmacow Pill where the mud was bought and spread on the land. The article continues to claim that the mud, along with the limestone rich grounds, “made the district one of the richest in Ireland in agricultural produce”[i]
Millers Marsh on St John’s Pill in Waterford was base the manure boats. At the time, homes had dry toilets, animals were kept in back yards, horse draw carriages were the norm and so vast quantities of waste was created. This needed somewhere to go. Local gardens would absorb some, but the excess was taken to Millers Marsh by carts that went through the streets where it was stored. In the springtime, when demand was at its height the spoil was loaded onto lighters to be sold to farmers along the Suir. As you might imagine the people living in the vicinity were not best pleased with the trade but spare a thought for the lightermen who freighted it with the tides.
Although not clarifying which, Kathleen Laffan confirms that the arrival of the boats to Dunkitt or the Pill, Lower Kilmacow via flat bottomed boats called lighters from where it was carted to local farms. The cost of the manure was about nine to ten guineas in spring, four or five in the autumn. One lighter carried almost eighty cartloads, and she stated that it was believed that two boatloads were required for an acre of potatoes. River sand was also used and was carried as far as the Nore. This cost about £1.50s a load.[ii]
Pill as a placename on the Blackwater
Pill historically, is a name associated with small rivers, particularly on the Three Sister Rivers in the southeast of Ireland – the Barrow, Nore & Suir and the word can be found in the counties of Waterford, Wexford, Kilkenny, and Tipperary. Initial research suggests it is an imported word, possibly of Norman origin, to describe a tidal, winding river inlet. I now think that navigable waterways were also crucial to the name, or perhaps to its continued use.
Whilst many are incorporated into the local placename such as Piltown (we have three in the general area – nearby in Kilkenny, west Waterford and below New Ross on the Barrow in Wexford). Campile in Wexford is an obvious connection. Others are less discernible, however. These have slipped out of regular use but may enjoy local use and retention by river users.
The Blackwater is one that is less evident, at least to the modern generations. When I initially published a story on the placename, I was inundated with feedback. One such observation was from Yvonne Cooney who mentioned that her father, Lenny O’Neill (of the famous hobbler tradition in Waterford) would often refer to the Blackwater as the Blackwater Pill, or simply “The Pill”.[iii]
The word Pill is used in a geographic definition of the Grannagh Manor, the largest of the manors in the Kilmacow area. From the Calendar of Ormond Deeds it states that “The Manor of Grenagh extended from the Pill going to the mill of Kilmachow…”[iv] At the time of the Dissolution Waterford Corporation secured several properties on the north side of the Suir including “…a meadow at the ‘pyle of Dunkyt’ which was among the possessions of the Friars Minor of Waterford…”[v]
The proximity of the area to Waterford City and the ability to transport bulk goods by river most likely determined much of the developments that took place on and around the Blackwater.
Locally, the use of the word Pill in association with the river seems to be redundant and not part of the contemporary vernacular. However, a simple newspaper search of local papers highlights the fact that Pill was in common usage into the 20th Century. It is still in use by some locals and is retained as a local place name Pill Road, Lower Kilmacow. Locally I have been told this relates to the river, and not Pill Mill, which is also located on the road. Perhaps it is a moot point, but I find it fascinating, nonetheless.
Although the Blackwater Pill does not really feature in newspaper accounts, the word Pill is used, and so too are Kilmacow Pill, Dunkitt Pill and Grannagh Pill. And most commonly it is related to the comings and goings of the lightermen and their bulk carrying craft as they plied their trade along the waterways. What follows is a record of not just the word, but the life and times of these forgotten freight men.
Forgotten Freight Men – the Lighters and Lightermen
According to the Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft[vi] the lighter can be described as “any small vessel employed in lightening goods. Describing it as a “…strongly built rectangular craft, open and flat-bottomed; used for short haul work, especially for transferring cargo to and from a ship lying at anchor.” As to the origins it “…dates at least from the late 15th Century” In an Irish context it only names them in the SW of the country….” The River Shannon in the late 17th and early 18th Century were propelled by four men with two oars. Steered by a sweep. 12-16 ft. long”
Patrick C Power gives this description of the craft from Carrick on Suir. “The lighters were built of pitch pine with a frame of oak. They were constructed on oaken frames each set about 3ft in the boat…The lighter was 70ft long and 16ft in the beam, but with a square stern and pointed prow. The sides could be as much as 4ft high…flat bottomed…without a keel. The rudder was 16ft long. Forward there was a well-room for bailing and on deck a caboose…where a fire was kept lighting in a cast iron box-stove supplied by Graham’s of Waterford…[there was]36ft of useful cargo room…known to carry as much as 40 tons…distributed in two parts of the hold. There was no cargo in the centre of the lighter”[vii]
Photographic evidence suggests that the design in Waterford was uniform in general, but in terms of scale there seems to have been local distinctions. 40-ton loads are regularly referred to in newspaper accounts and elsewhere, but 20, 25 and 30 were also mentioned. Although Patrick Power gives seventy feet in length at Carrick, I have seen accounts of 50-foot boats in advertisements and elsewhere[viii]. I imagine local conditions and purposes may have had a significant role.
Lighter and Lightermen above Redmond’s Bridge in Waterford poling upriver.
Lighters were normally crewed by three men. The skipper managed the rudder from the stern while two deckmen worked the sweeps and iron shod poles. Such craft required skilful handling, as they could only work with the currents and tides. The tides change every six hours. So, on an incoming flood tide, the lighters could go up the Pill. On an ebb tide, the lighters would descend. A Lighter heading up the Pill would need to tie up securely on the ebb tide, sit out the outgoing tide, and recommence the journey on the following tide.
Newspaper sources for the word Pill
Searching local newspapers yielded interesting information. Both the Irish Newspaper Archive and British Newspaper Archive sees the use of the word Pill, specifically Kilmacow Pill, Dunkitt Pill and Grannagh Pill in that order of hits. Interestingly variations for the Blackwater, Smartscastle or Strangsmill Pill yielded nothing. One hit for Smartscastle Stream is included above. I use here whatever geographic expression that is recorded in the articles.
The earliest mention of the phrase for Kilmacow Pill was 1811, when some armed villains were waylaying people returning from the fair day in Waterford between Newrath and Kilmacow Pill. In the darkness of a November evening one man was robbed of twenty guineas, a boy of forty shillings and a Mr R Brown of Ballynern was struck with a musket butt having been ordered to stop but managed to gallop away with his wife behind.[i]
The following year, the bridge at the mouth of the Kilmacow Pill had collapsed into the river and road travellers were required to travel a mile further upriver to cross at Kilmacow.[ii] The bridge was obviously restored by 1819 because Alderman Morgan was accosted in his hay field in Newrath by a robber who struck him from behind and made off with his gold watch, some coins and a clasp pocket book supposedly containing a pound note. The thief made his escape over Mount Misery and was traced to the bridge over the pill. His description was circulated as far as Carrick and along the Dublin Road.[iii]
In 1822 lands were being sold and a selling point was the location – isn’t it always! In this case it was neither the view nor a good school, rather the lands were “convenient to limestone quarries, and within a moderate distance of the navigable Pill of Kilmacow, communicating with the City of Waterford”[iv]
Pill Road entering Kilmacow Lower
Three years later the navigable pill was the source of three deaths. For in January 1825, it was reported that three lightermen were drowned when their craft enroute from Kilmacow Pill to Kilmeaden was lost in the Long Reach between Grannagh and Mount Congreve. The lighter belonged to Mr James Phelan of Kilmeaden and the men were named as Patrick Hurley, Edward Keefe, and Thomas Butler.[i]
A body was found face down in the mud of the Kilmacow Pill in October 1829. At a follow up inquest, it was heard that the gentleman was found close to his drowned horse and wrecked carriage and had crossed the bridge of Waterford (Timbertoes) the night before his death in a drunken state. Although he had only a few pence in his pocket, no foul play was suspected.[ii]
Above and below – An overgrown and highly silted Blackwater at Lower Kilmacow, to the right is an old quayside. This is the Pill Quay area, just below the Pill Mill. Two quaysides are in evidence.
In 1835 the formation of the River Suir Navigation Company was advertised, the intention to bring an application to the next Session of Parliament to establish the firm and all the necessary river improvements which would cover the River Suir from the Pill of Kilmacow or Grannyferry to the Old Bridge of Carrick on Suir. Meanwhile the same paper carried an advertisement for the letting of limestone quarries “…situated on the banks of the navigable Pill, of Kilmacow…”[i]
In 1848 it was agrarian tensions that had the pill in the news, in a dispute over farm produce and fair prices. A coach with passengers was stopped at the bridge over the Kilmacow Pill by an armed party estimated to be about 250 men. They held the coach, explaining that they were going to blow up the bridge, but meant no harm to the party. Charges laid, the coach was allowed proceed, but before Waterford came into view a loud explosion was heard.[ii]
In 1865 Richard Walsh of Parliament St in Waterford was called to give evidence at an inquest in Newrath into the discovery of a man’s body found in the river. Walsh, described as a boatman, was bringing his craft “up the pill to Kilmacow…going to Loughea’s Mill” on the day of the discovery.[iii]
In 1887 Kilmacow Pill was the upper limit used in a description of rowing practice for the city boat club[iv] While in 1899 a number of buildings were being sold in Lower Kilmacow including a large store on the pill and a pub which is conveniently located beside the mill and the quays.[v]
In 1915 there was a camp for the Irish National Boy Scouts on the “Kilmacow Pill, adjacent to the Dunkitt limestone quarries. On Sunday last they attended mass at Kilmacow, and passed up and down the village accompanied by a piper”[vi]
In 1936 Mr William Hynes was congratulated on shooting an otter in the Kilmacow Pill. The mammal weighed 32lbs and was forty-six inches long and was the second he had shot in recent times. Otters were being linked to the destruction of fish in the river![vii]
Also of interest was that an advert for what was called the Grannagh Mill, Kilmacow makes no mention of a navigable river as a selling point in 1942.[viii] This suggests to me that the river was no longer relevant. I found other mentions in the 1950s and the last mention that I could locate was as late as 1989 when a party departed Waterford quays and journeyed up the Kilmacow Pill and “walked the short distance to Cook’s licenced premises in the pretty village. After an enjoyable singsong and dance, they returned to their punts and rowed homewards.[ix] Like the lightermen of years past, they used the flood and ebbing tides to beneficial effect.
Unfortunately, the word pill has a lesser association with Dunkitt. But the navigation and use of the river is clear. In 1821 a boat had left Dunkitt returning home to the Rower,(spelled Roer in the article) Co Kilkenny. The lighter had a cargo of limestone and was swamped in the river off Bellevue, (named after Bellevue House, from where the present Port of Waterford operates – Belview) during unseasonably sever weather. There seems to have been only two aboard, two brothers named Flinn, one of whom, Edward, drowned. His brother was rescued by a boat from the Bellevue estate manned by James Hinks Snr, James Hinks Jnr, and Thomas Dwyer. [x]
A small road that leads down to an overgrown access point to quarry and the river
Another dreadful accident occurred in 1829, but this time it was in the quarry. A widower named Thomas Ryan was collaborating with a colleague to lay a charge. It exploded prematurely and both men were hurt. Ryan was the more serious, he lost the sight in one eye and his two hands were later amputated. He was the father of two young children.[i]
In 1833 another quarryman died in the area, this time however it was an assault. James Walsh was stabbed by a cane sword by Samuel Watson Fayle of Strangsmill. In 1859 another fatality was recorded when a local farmer named John McGrath was working with his labourer in removing stone when the bank subsided. Although he was pulled free, he later died of internal injuries.[ii] Thomas Keneally of Dunkitt was employed as a quarryman when he fell from 20 feet and sustained a compound fracture of the thigh and was removed to the Leper Hospital, where it was reported he lay in a precarious state.[iii]
Although badly overgrown in parts with reeds encroaching, this view looking upriver towards Dunkitt gives some sense of the width of the river here. Photo from Granny Bridge see also below. Fred Hammond described this as once carrying the main Waterford to Thomastown road.
Fred Hamond described the evolution of bridges as starting out with semi-circular spans providing the simplest and most stable arch form. However as engineering theory advanced in the 1700s elliptical arches (as witnessed here) were employed to ford larger gaps. As roads became more widely used by larger vehicles however many such bridges needed reinforcement as in evidence here
Three limestone quarries in Dunkitt were advertised for lease in 1837 – a selling point being their situation “…on the banks of the Navigable Pill of Kilmacow…”[i]
The brothers Gaul had a major falling out in 1849 over the family lighter. Laurence, Luke John, William, and Edmund Gaul all had an interest in what seems to have been a family boat. William had gone to locate his boat at Dunkitt when his three brothers, Laurence, Luke, and John rushed him. He was protected by some carmen working in the area. In court it emerged that it was a complex case. Following previous arbitration between Edmund (the elder brother), the lighter ownership was found in his favour, however he had to pay a sum of money to his brother William. This did not happen, and the boat was sold by the sheriff and bought by William. In the meantime, Edmund sold the boat to his brothers. The court decided to dismiss the case, but the brothers were cautioned to cease all violence.[ii]
A dispute of another order arose in 1872 when at the monthly meeting of the Harbour Commissioners. Members were hotly disputing a decision that the ballast lighters could retain loads of limestone ballast at Dunkitt Quay and to only transport it downriver to the city quays when and where it was required. Other commissioners were perplexed by the decision and wanted the old system of supplying ballast to the ballast quay which was then located close to the Abbey Church at Ferrybank.[iii]
In December 1852, the Kilkenny to Waterford railway had reached Dunkitt. An advertisement was posted by the company announcing the extension and advising that all goods or parcels could be forwarded by boat or car.[iv]
At a coroner’s inquest in Dunkitt in 1865 evidence was given into the death of a lighterman named John Dwyer. The Kilmacow native was found drowned in the Pill and had been engaged in “polling” a lighter or gabbard full of stones from Dunkitt Quarry when he fell into the water. It was claimed that Dwyer suffered from epileptic fits and thus was not able to survive his fall.[v] The use of the word gabbard is interesting. It is sometimes used interchangeably for lighters as they were used for similar purposes but is associated with the River Slaney and occasionally on the River Barrow. Gabbards had a sail, and although lighters could too, it tended to be a jury-rigged sail.
The Waterford to Limerick railway announced that they were replacing the wooden bridge over the Dunkitt Pill with a “permanent bridge” in 1866.[vi] Presumably this refers to the metal bridge that is still in use to this day.
Lattice Girder Railway Bridge at Dunkitt(1866) crossing the river and connecting Waterford and Limerick. The line commenced at Limerick in 1848, reached Dunkitt in 1853 and Waterford a year later – 1854.
These timber beams are what remains of the previous bridge. I’m speculating, but I would imagine they were left in position as fenders to protect the bridge pillars from any potential damage caused by a fully laden lighter striking on an outbound tide.
At Dunkitt Pill a boatman named William Brett (the type of boat is not made clear so may not be a commercial operator) was run down by a motor car in 1902! The car was driven by a Captain Langrishe MFH of Knocktopher in the company of a Colonel Knox. Langrishe sped away to secure a doctor and Brett although suffering a fractured skull was removed to a local house. He was later transferred by ambulance to hospital. The article concluded in a hopeful manner that “…Though rather premature to venture a definite opinion, there are hopes that the injured man may survive”[i] A follow up report was positive about his progress.
Grannagh
Grannagh/Granny Pill has featured in previous reportage, but this is less common a phrase. One of the earliest I found was 1853 when the railway was seeking a tender for painters of the wooden railway bridge that crossed the “Granny Pill River”[ii]
All the other pieces I found related to tragedies, and the lightermen.
In 1858 an inquest was held into a case titled “Fatal effects of drunkenness” The crew of a lighter – Thomas Brien, Patrick Ryan and Maurice Power crossed Timbertoes to join their lighter which was moored at Grannagh Pill. Power was sober, the other two men were “…the worse for liquor….” At Ferrybank, Maurice Power continued towards the boat, but Brien and Ryan entered another public house. Later emerging, they slumped to the pavement and fell asleep. Brien woke sooner than Ryan and staggered away towards Grannagh. When Ryan woke, he went to the lighter. He arrived about 11pm. Maurice Power helped him across the narrow gangplank that bridged the gap between the lighter and the shore, and then both men went to bed in the small cuddy aft. At midnight Power heard someone calling. Going outside he heard a splash but could see nothing in the dark. Brien’s body was found the following day after the pill was dragged. The inquest attributed his death to his drunken condition.[iii]
Granny road bridge, Newrath (1790-1810) above and below. A wide portion of river here which narrows at the bridge
Michael Mullally drowned “in the river near Grannagh Pill” in November 1867. ( A later report clarified that they were dredging the pill, and this was to allow for coal bearing lighters to get up the river on behalf of the railway company who were paying for the work) Mullally was a lighterman, in this instance he was described as a bargeman. He was employed on a lighter moving mud away from the “bridge railway terminus” in the city. While rowing the fully laden lighter upriver, he lost his step and toppled over the side. Although a fellow crew member used one of the lighters steering poles to give assistance, Mullally lost his grip on it and sank below the river surface. Mullally was described as a middle-aged man who left a wife and six children to mourn his loss.[i]
That very same week Mrs Mullally appeared before the Board of Guardians to seek financial relief. Although there was some sympathy for her, the process of gaining financial aid was arduous and some of the Board were not happy with the evidence of destitution the bereaved woman had given. Eventually she received three shillings a week, on the clear understanding that she “…would do what she could to better herself.”[ii]
The mouth of the Blackwater as it enters the Suir. I was intrigued to be told that this was relocated upriver as the older maps show it flowing out below the Red Iron Railway Bridge. The older course is still visible but you would have to be looking for it (see image below).
Later that month the Harbour Commissioners discussed the loss of Mullally and the need to support the family. It arose after a letter was received from the Waterford and Limerick Railway offering to award a gratuity of £2 a week to the widow Mullally if the Commissioners would give £4 to match it. Although employed for the benefit of the railway company at the time of his death, it was accepted that as the Commissioners profited from the work by keeping the pill navigable, that they should do something to assist. Although there was a lengthy discussion about percentage of responsibilities, the gratuity was agreed to.[i] In December, John Mullally’s corpse was recovered, a later inquest finding that he died of “accidental drowning”[ii]
The last mention I found was in 1905 when a man named James Houlihan was found severely injured in the quarry at Granny belonging to William Cunningham. James was a quarryman who loaded the lighters at “Granny Pill.” He fell twenty-four feet and was found unconscious on the ground at 6am. Despite the best of care, he never recovered and was described by the paper as a “…quiet inoffensive man, and his death is deeply regretted”[iii]
Smartscastle/Strangsmill Pill?
Despite numerous searches I could find no mention of the stream here with an association with the word/phrase Pill. I used several different search options in the newspapers including Mullinabro and Newrath but to no avail. Journeying up the stream it is an obviously narrower and more twisting channel, however we know that both lime kilns and quarries used the stream, and that the mineral railway ended close to Mullinabro House adjacent to the stream. Anecdotally I heard several accounts of this connecting to the boats. Perhaps at a later point further information may emerge. At present we are just left with the tantalising prospect of knowing it was used and for many years too.
The narrowness of the stream was a challenge but I made it as far as the riverbed scraping the keel.
Beside the Smartscastle Stream here at the Strangsmill quarry and lime kilns. An old roadway leads down here, wide enough to take a horse and car. Anecdotally I was told that the boats could come this far as it was previously tidal, but that later road developments altered the reach of the tides.
Conclusion
The word Pill is retained locally in the Kilmacow area with the contemporary use of Pill Road and memories of Pill Mill. When discussing the River Blackwater with some locals, occasionally the word Pill is used naturally when discussing memories of the river. However the associations that I have captured for Dunkitt and Grannagh seem less common, and but for some newspaper reports may have completely eluded me.
What I can say following this project is that although the river is now a backwater, it was once a thriving highway of maritime transport. That it was used for this purpose comes as no surprise to me, although I have to admit I never would have dreamed of the scale of the trade on so small a tributary.
For generations the Blackwater was a vital conduit which was tamed and curtailed with the coming of rail and the arrival of motor transport. Eventually these methods would, like in so many other areas, completely replace the Lighters and Lightermen that knew these rivers so well. With it went many of their placenames and phrases and I imagine what I have captured here is just a glimpse of that past. An important glimpse nonetheless.
[1] Information supplied by email from Michael Nugent, Local Authorities Water Programme. April 12th 2024 [1] Edwards. David. The Ormond Lordship of County Kilkenny. 1515-1642. 2003. Four Courts Press. Dublin. P.69 [1] O’Kelly. O. The Place-Names of County Kilkenny. 1985. The Kilkenny Archaeological Society Boethius Press. Kilkenny p 105 Accessed from [1] Samuel Lewis – A Typographical Dictionary of Ireland 1837. Accessed from https://www.logainm.ie/download/logainm.ie-a-topographical-dictionary-of-ireland-samuel-lewis.pdf [1] Carrigan. Rev William. The History and Antiquities of the diocese of Ossory. Vol IV. 1905. P135 [1] Cois tSiure p.xvi Cois tSiúire – nine thousand years of human activity in the Lower Suir Valley. James Eogan and Elizabeth Shee Twohig Eds. 2011. The National Roads Authority. Dublin [1] Laffan. K. The History of Kilmacow: A South Kilkenny Parish. 2nd Edition. 2005. GK Prints. Kilkenny [1] Laffan Ibid p43 [1] O’Neill. T. Merchants and Mariners in Medieval Ireland. 1987. Irish Academic Press. Dublin. p 55 [1] Irish B. Ship Building in Waterford 1820-1882. 2001. Wordswell books, Wicklow. P 2 [1] McEneaney. E. Discover Waterford. 2001. O’Brien Press Dublin. See specifically pp33-49 [1] Power. P.C. History of Waterford City & County. 1990. Mercier Press. Dublin. p 110 [1] Laffan p 269 [1] See the following blog for an insight into the commercial realities of river freight at the time https://tidesandtales.ie/freighting-the-suir-clonmel-to-carrick-1906/ [1] Laffan P 269 [1] Laffan Pp274 – 276 [1] Laffan p 93-94 [1] Laffan p94-95 [1] For more information on milling and many other aspects from here on see Fred Hamonds report An Industrial Archaeological Survey of County Kilkenny. 1990. Kilkenny Co Council. Available from https://digital-archive.kilkenny.ie/collections/show/9 [1] For further information see pp37-48 Cois tSiúire [1] Laffan P 95 [1] Laffan p 95-96 [1] Laffan pp302-333 [1] Hamond, p65 [1] Waterford News – Friday 15 April 1859; page 1 [1] Waterford Mirror and Tramore Visitor – Thursday 30 May 1895; page 2 [1] See for example some previous research I published in 2016: https://tidesandtales.ie/lime-kilns-of-harbour/I have also started but not yet completed a research project into the other kilns along the Barrow and Suir, I hope to add images and locations on a google map site in time. All of these are on the rivers, or located close by
[1] See for example a piece of research completed for Waterford City & County Council on the St Johns Pill published this year at: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b2d72b35a8a3452fb6e9e6d7a1759dc8 [1] Cooke. J. Kilmacow Folklore 2: County Kilkenny, St. Joseph’s Presentation Convent Girls N.S., Upper Kilmacow, St. Patrick’s Strangsmills Mixed N.S., Dunkitt, Kilmacow Schools’ Scheme 1937-39, Irish Folklore Commission. 2015. Self published. p125 [1] Dunnage. J.A. Shipping Terms and Phrases. 1925. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons. London. p 6 [1] Daniel. J. The shipowner’s and shipmaster’s directory to the port charges of Great Britain and Ireland (1863)https://www.google.ie/books/edition/The_shipowner_s_and_shipmaster_s_directo/ accessed 3/8/2024
[1] Laffan. P336 [1] Cois tSiúire pp87 – 89 [1] For further reading I would highly recommend Williams. R. Lime Kilns and lime burning. 2004. Shire Publications. Oxford. UK [1]Cois tSiúire p127 [1] Cois tSiúire p128 [1][1] Cois tSiúire p237 [1] Kilkenny Moderator – Wednesday 17 May 1893; page 3 [1] Doherty. A. Waterford Harbour Tides and Tales. 2019. History Press. Stroud. See pp 138-146 [1] Munster Express, Friday, July 11, 1952; Page: 1 [1] Laffan. p 277 [1] Private correspondence with date? [1] Laffan Ibid p 44 [1] Cois tSiúire, p238 [1] Mariners Museum. A Dictionary of the World’s Watercraft from Aak to Zumbra. Chatham Publishing, London, 2001 [1] Power. Patrick C. The Lower Suir – boats and boatmen long ago. 1991. Tipperary Historical Journal. PP 149 -158 (see pp 154-5) [1] See for example – Waterford Standard – Saturday 03 July 1869; page 2 [1] General Evening Post – Tuesday 05 November 1811; page 2 [1] Limerick Gazette – Tuesday 24 March 1812; page 3 [1] Commercial Chronicle (London) – Saturday 06 November 1819; page 3 [1] Dublin Evening Post – Saturday 16 November 1822; page 4 [1] Freemans Journal 1763-1924, Friday, January 07, 1825; Page: 4 [1] Dublin Morning Register – Wednesday 21 October 1829; page 4 [1] Kilkenny Journal, and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser – Wednesday 18 November 1835; page 3 [1] Dublin Weekly Register – Saturday 16 September 1848; page 4 [1] Waterford Mail – Wednesday 08 March 1865; page 3 [1] Munster Express 1860-current, Saturday, June 18, 1887; Page: 5 [1] Munster Express 1860-current, Saturday, January 28, 1899; Page: 4 [1] Munster Express 1860-current, Saturday, July 31, 1915; Page: 5 [1] Munster Express 1860-current, Friday, May 29, 1936; Page: 8 [1] Irish Independent – Monday 03 August 1942; page 4 [1] Munster Express 1860-current, Friday, October 20, 1989; Page: 37 [1] Saunders’s News-Letter – Saturday 12 May 1821; page 1 [1] Waterford Mail – Saturday 13 June 1829; page 4 [1] Kilkenny Moderator – Wednesday 02 November 1859; page 2 [1] Waterford Citizen – Friday 10 February 1871; page 3 [1] Hamond. F. An Industrial Archaeological Survey of County Kilkenny. 1990 Kilkenny Co Council [1] Ibid p 71-72 [1] Waterford Mail – Wednesday 22 February 1837; page 3 [1] Kilkenny Moderator – Wednesday 24 October 1849; page 3 [1] Waterford Chronicle – Saturday 24 August 1872; page 2 [1] Kilkenny Journal, and Leinster Commercial and Literary Advertiser – Saturday 11 December 1852; page 3 [1] Kilkenny Moderator – Wednesday 21 June 1865; page 3 [1] Waterford Standard – Wednesday 29 August 1866; page 2 [1] Evening News (Waterford) – Wednesday 05 November 1902; page 4 [1] Waterford News – Friday 07 October 1853; page 3 [1] Waterford Mail – Tuesday 13 April 1858; page 3 [1] For more see https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/buildings-search/building/12404314/granny-bridge-newrath-kilkenny [1] Waterford Mail – Monday 04 November 1867; page 2 [1] Waterford News – Friday 08 November 1867; page 3 [1] Waterford News – Friday 29 November 1867; page 3 [1] Waterford Mail – Monday 02 December 1867; page 2 [1] Evening News (Waterford) – Wednesday 05 July 1905; page 2