Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2025: 71, Saturday 19 July 2025

The Prophet Isaiah depicted in the iconostasis in Arkadi Monastery in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V, 20 July 2025). The calendar of the Church of England in Common Worship today remembers Saint Gregory (ca 394), Bishop of Nyssa, and his sister, Saint Macrina (ca 379), Deaconess, Teachers of the Faith.

Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

‘He will not cry or lift up his voice, or make it heard in the street; a bruised reed he will not break’ (Isaiah 42: 2-3; see Matthew 12: 19) … reeds at the small lake by the North Beach in Arklow, Co Wicklow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Matthew 12: 14-21 (NRSVA):

14 But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him.

15 When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, 16 and he ordered them not to make him known. 17 This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:

18 ‘Here is my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased.
I will put my Spirit upon him,
and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles.
19 He will not wrangle or cry aloud,
nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.
20 He will not break a bruised reed
or quench a smouldering wick
until he brings justice to victory.
21 And in his name the Gentiles will hope.’

The Prophet Isaiah (right) and Saint John the Baptist … a window in Saint John’s Church, Wall, near Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflection:

As we continue our daily readings in Saint Matthew’s Gospel, we see how Jesus is becoming a figure of controversy. We saw yesterday how he was accused by Pharisees of condoning the disciples breaking the Sabbath on the part of his disciples (Matthew 12: 1-8). Immediately afterwards he went to a synagogue and, in spite of a challenge about healing on the Sabbath, he went ahead and cured a man with a ‘withered hand’ (Matthew 12: 9-13).

Following this, Matthew tells us that ‘the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him’ (Matthew 12: 14), because his is a severe threat to their authority.

Jesus, aware of this plotting, disappears from sight for a while. He does not go out of his way to confront people or to create trouble for himself and does not deliberately engineer his own suffering and death.

At this point, Saint Matthew compares Jesus’ behaviour with a Biblical and quotes a passage in Isaiah (42: 1-4) to portray Jesus as fulfilling of the Spirit of God campaigning for justice for peoples everywhere.

Second Isaiah, or Isaiah 40-55), often referred to as ‘Deutero-Isaiah’ or the Book of Consolation, was probably written during the Babylonian exile, between 540 and 515 BCE, offering comfort and hope to the exiled people. This section contains beautiful poetic passages, emphasising God’s mercy, faithfulness, and the promise of salvation. It foretells the coming of a ‘Suffering Servant’, the Messiah, who will bring salvation not only to Israel but to all nations.

This is the longest Old Testament citation in this gospel (verses 18-21), although it does not correspond exactly to either the Hebrew or the Septuagint reading of that passage.

Isaiah 42:1-4 describes God’s servant, chosen and empowered by God’s Spirit, who will bring justice to the nations. This servant will be gentle, not resorting to loud public displays, and will not extinguish even the smallest hope. He is going to establish justice on earth and be a light to the nations, guiding those in darkness:

1 Here is my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;
I have put my spirit upon him;
he will bring forth justice to the nations.
2 He will not cry or lift up his voice,
or make it heard in the street;
3 a bruised reed he will not break,
and a dimly burning wick he will not quench;
he will faithfully bring forth justice.
4 He will not grow faint or be crushed
until he has established justice in the earth;
and the coastlands wait for his teaching.

For Saint Matthew, Jesus is the servant whom God has chosen, ‘in whom my soul delights’. He is no demagogue and ‘will not cry out or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street’. Instead, he goes about quietly, tolerant and understanding of the weak, so gentle and kind in his behaviour that ‘a bruised reed he will not break, and a dimly burning wick he will not quench.’

This reading, then, emphasises the meekness of Jesus, the Servant of the Lord, and foretells the extension of his mission to the Gentiles. His message, demanding thought it may be, does not crush people. Justice comes through compassion – like care for the bruised reed – not through the exercise of power and violence.

Christ will always intervene on behalf of the weak, and in a way that is sensitive to them, and that takes the limelight away from himself. His concern for justice will bring hope to all people.

In these days, we are so in need of this assurance that Christ will patiently bring justice to victory.

The Prophet Isaiah (left) and the Prophet Jeremiah (right) in a window in Saint Michael’s Church, Pery Square, Limerick (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Saturday 19 July 2025):

The theme this week (13 to 19 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Shaping the Future: Africa Six.’ This theme was introduced last Sunday with a programme update from Fran Mate, Senior Regional Manager: Africa, USPG.

The USPG prayer diary today (Saturday 19 July 2025) invites us to pray

Lord God, we pray for Bishop Vicentia and Bishop Dalcy within the Anglican Church of Southern Africa. Thank you for their passionate leadership and trust in you. May many be blessed by their ministry.

The Collect:

Lord of eternity, creator of all things,
in your Son Jesus Christ you open for us the way to resurrection
that we may enjoy your bountiful goodness:
may we who celebrate your servants Gregory and Macrina
press onwards in faith to your boundless love
and ever wonder at the miracle of your presence among us;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table
and invited us to eat the bread and drink the wine
of the kingdom:
help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that we may come with Gregory and Macrina to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Trinity V:

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

‘He will not break a bruised reed’ (Matthew 12: 20), ‘a bruised reed he will not break’ (Isaiah 42: 3) … reeds in the breeze in Killarney, Co Kerry (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

Three former colleagues in Wexford die within a few months of each other

With Wexford historians and journalists Hilary Murphy (left) and Nicky Furlong (right) at a dinner in the Ferrycarrig Hotel on the banks of the River Slaney in Wexford

Patrick Comerford

Three friends and former colleagues in Wexford have died recently. I first got to know Hilary Murphy, Nicky Furlong and Gerry Breen 50 years ago, when I worked with them in the Wexford Peoplemonths. I also worked closely with all three of them on many local history projects.

Hilary Murphy, who died last week, was a former assistant editor of the Wexford People, a journalist, author, genealogist and historian.

Hilary Murphy, who lived at Parklands, Wexford, was originally from Tilladavins, Tomhaggard, with deep family roots in the Screen-Curracloe area. He began working as a journalist with the Free Press before joining The People Newspapers in 1965. He initially worked in Arklow, Co Wicklow, with the Wicklow People, before moving to New Ross.

He returned to Wexford town around 1971 to the People Newspapers head office to work as a sub-editor. Later he became the assistant editor.

For some years, Hilary edited the Journal of the Wexford Historical Society, to which I was a regular contributor. He was a founding editor of the Kilmore Parish Journal. He contributed annually to the journal for over 40 years before retiring in 2012.

Hilary had a keen interest in local history and family history, and took over from me in writing the popular family history column in Ireland’s Own in 1976. His interests in local and family history lead to the publication of The Kynoch Era in Arklow (1976) and Families of Co Wexford (Geography Publications, 1986).

Hilary died in the care of the staff at Knockeen Nursing Home last week. He was predeceased by his wife Bernadette, and is survived by a large family, as well his former colleagues at The People Newspapers.

With Peter Prendergast, Hilary Murphy and Celestine Murphy at the launch of the ‘Journal of the Wexford Historical Society 2014-2015’

Nicky Furlong, who died earlier this year (21 March 2022), was a farmer, journalist, author, historian and playwright and Vice-President of the Wexford Historical Society.

For many years he wrote a satirical column for the People Group under the pen name ‘Pat O’Leary,’ and was a columnist with Echo Group Newspapers in Co Wexford – the Wexford Echo, the Enniscorthy Echo and the New Ross Echo.

Some years ago, he managed to make me the victim of his April Fool’s prank in the Echo newspapers in 2009. On their front pages, the Echo newspapers carried reports and photographs of sharks spotted variously in Wexford Harbour, in the Slaney at Enniscorthy and in the Barrow near New Ross. The sightings were confirmed by no less an expert in large fish than one Mr Ray Whiting.

Inside, the 1 April editions carried a report by Nicky that the Pugin churches of Co Wexford were suffering a unique infestation that threatened the demolition of the Pugin churches – and only the Pugin churches.

Beneath the dateline on the page, Nicky also carried a preposterous report with the headline, ‘Wexford man’s church promotion,’ welcoming the news that claiming I, as his ‘colleague journalist in Wexford is to become Dean of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin.’

His prank news item mixed fact and fantasy. I had ‘spent [my] holidays in Greece, Armenia, Ethiopia and even Soviet Russia when religion of any kind was forbidden.’ And, he added, my ‘colleagues in these parts, being of an excitable nature, have already focussed eyes on a mitre. In any event, we are pleased.’

It was hard to know who was more upset that April Fool’s Day – the then Dean of Saint Patrick’s, or those who had ambitions to succeed him.

I was one of the contributors to The Wexford Man, a collection of 22 essays addressed to Nicky Furlong by distinguished scholars, colleagues and friends, all focussing on matters relating to Co Wexford. It was a long-standing tribute to Nicky Furlong for outstanding service to his native county.

It was edited by Bernard Browne and other contributors included John Banville, Billy Colfer, Monsignor Patrick Corish, Daniel Gahan, Diarmaid Ó Muirithe, Celestine Rafferty, Billy Roche, Eithne Scallan, Colm Tóibín, Dermot Walsh and Kevin Whelan.

The former editor of the Wexford People Gerry Breen died earlier this year at the age of 88 in January.

Gerry grew up in Davitt Road, Wexford, and later in Swan View, and left school at the age of 13. His , first job was ‘licking stamps and delivering parcels around the town’ with Huggard Brennan. He attend evening classes and night classes in Wexford Tech. Gerry and Marie were both singers in the Wexford Festival Opera chorus and they sang together on stage in 1952.

He joined the Wexford People as a young reporter in the mid-1950s, when it was a privately owned firm. He later became a sub-editor and then assistant editor to the late Tom Fane, before taking on the role of editor before Independent Newspapers bought the company in the early 1970s.

Gerry offered me my first job with the Wexford People as a subeditor 50 years ago, after only the briefest of interviews on a Sunday afternoon in the Talbot Hotel in 1972. I worked with him and Hilary and a team of wonderful colleagues and friends for almost three years before leaving for The Irish Times.

Hilary and Gerry worked closely together. During his years at the Wexford People, Gerry saw the transformation of the newspaper and print industry from the time of hot metal to computerisation, the switch from broadsheet to tabloid, and the then revolutionary replacement of advertising on the front page by news headlines around 1970.

In all, he worked for 46 years with the Wexford People. Later, he spent many years as editor of Ireland’s Own, and he continued writing articles for the magazine until late last year, only retiring only in December. He also edited the journal of Rosslare Historical Society.

He was a driver and volunteer for the oncology outpatients at Wexford General Hospital, was involved in fundraising for the scouts, the Faythe school board of management, and was a walking tour guide at Wexford Festival Opera. He is survived by his Marie and a large family, as well his former colleagues at the People Newspapers.

Hilary Murphy and Nicky Furlong were two among a group of Wexford historians who travelled to Dublin, along with King Milne and Rory Murphy, for my ordination in Christ Church Cathedral.

Over the years, I continued to keep in touch with Hilary and Nicky, meeting at book launches, lunches and a recent memorable dinner by the banks of the River Slaney in Ferrycarrig, where we regretted not being joined by Gerry Breen.

We have all contributed, in our own ways, to Wexford journalism and to telling the history of Wexford. Time moves on – in history, in life and on river – and each passing phase brings new opportunities and new blessings.

At the launch of the ‘Journal of the Wexford Historical Society’ in 2015 (right, back row) with Hilary Murphy (left back row), Jarlath Glynn, John Patterson and Tom Ryan; and (front): Celestine Raferty, Peter Prendergast, Nicholas Furlong and Brian Matthews

John Jackson, bookseller, author and the host at Zozimus Books in Gorey

John Jackson … the genial and erudite proprietor of Zosimus Books in Gorey, Co Wexford, since 2011

Patrick Comerford

Like many of my friends, I was saddened this week to learn of the sudden death of John Wyse Jackson.

After he moved back to Ireland, John set up Zozimus Books on the Main Street in Gorey, Co Wexford, in 2011. Zozimus Book was an integral part of the Book Café and played an important role in raising the cultural expectations of a north Wexford town that is too easily dismissed these days as a satellite or dormitory town of Dublin.

John’s passion for literature and books was known by all and there was no title he had not heard of, nor was there a book he could not source for a customer. Customers were always welcomed warmly by this friendly and courteous man of letters and author.

He recently told an interview with the Irish Examiner that he had been in business for about 10 years and had 40,000 titles in his Zozimus bookshop, both second-hand and antiquarian books.

John Robert Wyse Jackson was born in Kilkenny on 31 May 1953, when his father, Robert Wyse Jackson (1908-1976), was Dean of Cashel. His mother, Lois, was a daughter of John Phair, Bishop of Ossory.

Dean Jackson, who was also a barrister and a published historian, was elected Bishop of Limerick, Ardfert and Aghadoe at the end of 1960, when John was seven, and the family moved to Limerick in early 1961, and when they were still children he and his brother started a little public library for their friends in their national school in Limerick.

After a degree in English Literature at Trinity College Dublin, John worked as a bookseller in London. There, he became a director of John Sandoe (Books) Ltd, an independent bookshop off the King’s Road in Chelsea, wrote and edited several books, lectured and broadcast on a wide range of topics, and contributed to many journals and newspapers, including the Sunday Times, Hibernia, the Journal of Beachcomber Associatesand the Spectator, and to many collections of poetry.

He had a wide-ranging specialist knowledge of the works of Oscar Wilde, James Joyce and Myles na gCopaleen or Flann O’Brien. He was also one of the founders of the Chelsea Press, whose bestsellers included a facsimile edition of the Freeman’s Journal for the first Bloomsday, 16 June 1904.

I could have been lost for days in the Zozimus Bookshop in Gorey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

John came back to Ireland with his wife and children in 2003. He soon found himself helping out on a bookstall in Arklow, and was soon running it. The opportunity then came to run a bookshop in Gorey. He founded Zozimus Bookshop in 2011, naming his bookshop in honour of Michael Moran (aka Zozimus), the early 19th century Dublin street balladeer and poet.

He tried to have only one copy of a book at any one time, bought books individually and did not go to auctions. But with 40,000 titles it was difficult to find space.

It was a Labyrinth or Aladdin’s Cave of books, packed from floor to ceiling with the most eclectic collection of books from biography to travel.

Coincidentally, one of the first books I put my fingers on in the shop was 84 Charing Cross Road, Helen Hanff’s 1970 book, later turned into a stage play, television play, and film, about her 24-year correspondence with Frank Doel of Marks & Co, the antiquarian bookshop located at 84 Charing Cross Road in London.

Helen Hanff was searching for obscure books she could not find in New York. She and Doel developed a long-distance friendship and their letters discussed topics as diverse as the sermons of John Donne, how to make Yorkshire Pudding, the Brooklyn Dodgers, and the coronation of Elizabeth II.

Visiting Zozimus was as delightful as visiting David’s in Cambridge or the lamentably now-gone Staffs Bookshop in Lichfield – although, of course, Marks is long gone too, and 84 Charing Cross Road is now the site of yet another McDonald’s burger shop.

He had written a dozen or so books, including one about James Joyce’s father with Peter Costello, and a life of John Lennon.

I missed the launches in 2018 of Life in the Church of Ireland 1600-1800, a new edition of a book by his father, Robert Wyse Jackson, and which had been edited by John, who invited me to write the introduction to the book.

This enticing 250-page book, published by Ballinakella Press, Whitegate, Co Clare, was the result of painstaking research into the turbulent life of clergy and laity of the Church of Ireland during political upheavals, the influences of plantation and of ecclesiastical establishment.

John Jackson of Bolaney House, Bolaney, Gorey, and Zozimus Book Shop, died peacefully but suddenly at home on 19 February 2020. He is survived by his wife Ruth, his sons Eoghan, Daniel, Conor and Adam, and his sister, brothers, and a wider family circle. His funeral takes place on Tuesday (25 February) at 3 pm in Christ Church, Gorey, Co Wexford.

He will be missed by his family, friends and customers.

Woking Mosque and the Irish peer who almost became King of Albania

The Shah Jahan Mosque on Oriental Road, Woking … built in 1889, it is the first purpose-built mosque on these islands (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

Patrick Comerford

Back in the 1980s, there was an old joke among journalists that it was sure sign of folly to be the pretender to the throne of Albania; it was an even greater folly to go to Albania to claim that throne.

But did you ever hear of the Irish peer and engineer who lived in Woking, who went bankrupt almost a century ago and who was offered the throne of Albania, possibly on three occasions, in the 1920s?

Lord Headley was one of the most prominent early converts to Islam in England, generations before Muslims arrived in significant numbers from India and Pakistan, and was a leading member of the mosque in Woking.

The Shah Jahan Mosque on Oriental Road is a 10 or 15 minute walk from Saint Columba’s House, where I have been staying in Woking this week. It was built in 1889, and is now one of Woking’s great architectural treasures. But it is also known as Britain’s first purpose-built mosque.

The mosque was the inspiration of the orientalist Gottlieb Wilhelm Leitner (1840-1899). Leitner, who was born into a Jewish family in Budapest and died in Bonn, was a keen linguist and said to be fluent in 40 or 50 languages. At one time, he was prodigious interpreter for the British army during the Crimean War, reaching the rank of colonel at the age of 15.

He moved from Constantinople to London, and in the hope of becoming an Anglican priest and studied theology at King’s College, London. But he then then converted to Islam, and was instrumental in founding the University of Lahore and the Oriental College in Woking.

The mosque in Woking was built in the grounds of Leitner’s Oriental College, which gave its name to Oriental Road. It was funded mainly by Shahjehan, Begum of Bhopal (1868-1901), one of the four women to become the Muslim royal ruler of Bhopal between 1819 and 1926.

The mosque was designed by the architect William Isaac Chambers (1847-1924) in what was has been described as a ‘Persian-Saracenic Revival’ style and is built in Bath and Bargate stone. It has a dome, minarets, and a courtyard, and was described by the Pevsner Architectural Guides as ‘extraordinarily dignified.’

A prominent early members of the mosque in Woking was the Irish peer Rowland George Allanson Allanson-Winn (1855-1935), 5th Baron Headley, who was an early convert to Islam.

The title of Lord Headley, Baron Allanson and Winn, of Aghadoe in Co Kerry, dates back to 1797, when it was given to Sir George Allanson-Winn, a former Baron of the Court of the Exchequer and MP for Ripon, who married into the Blennerhassett family in Co Kerry. The third Lord Headley sat in the House of Lords as an Irish Representative Peer in 1868-1877, as did his son, the fourth Lord Headley (1883-1913). He was succeeded by his cousin, Rowland Allanson-Winn, as 5th Baron Headley.

Lord Headley was an Irish peer, took his title from Aghadoe, near Killarney, Co Kerry, and was once a Justice of the Peace for Co Kerry. He was born in London, and was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College Cambridge. He studied for the Bar at the Middle Temple, them switched to engineering and became a civil engineer.

For many years after qualifying as an engineer, he was engaged in foreshore protection work in Ireland and used the low groyne system and extending these groynes into deep water by means of chains, cables and concrete blocks. He superintended coastal defence works at Youghal, Co Cork, and Glenbeigh, Co Kerry, and carried out similar work on the coast to the north of Bray Harbour, Co Wicklow. He stood as the Conservative and Unionist candidate in South Kerry in 1892, but received only 86 votes. Later, from 1896, he worked on building roads in India, and in 1902 and 1903 he won the Silver Medals of the Institute of Civil Engineers of Ireland.

In 1906, the Arklow Harbour Commissioners appointed him the chief engineer for extending the south breakwater of the harbour, but his plans were abandoned the following year in favour of a different scheme proposed by John Purser Griffith.

He inherited his Irish peerage when his cousin Charles died in 1913, and with the title inherited the family estates in Co Kerry. His homes in Ireland were at Inseidin, Coliemore Road, Dalkey, and Glenbeigh, Killarney. In the year he inherited his family titles and estates in Ireland, he also converted to Islam on 16 November 1913, and adopted the Muslim name Shaikh Rahmatullah al-Farooq. He set up the British Muslim Society in 1914, was the author of several books on Islam, and twice made the Hajj to Mecca.

Headley was declared bankrupt in 1922. A year later, he was offered the throne of Albania in 1923, along with $500,000 and $50,000 a year, but turned down the offer. He claimed to have been offered the throne of Albania on three occasions, but turned down each invitation, saying ‘the only thing that goes with it is trouble and the almost certainty of assassination.’

Albania became, at least nominally, a parliamentary democracy in 1924. But President Ahmed Bey Zogu proclaimed himself King of the Albanians as Zog I in 1928, and tried to establish a constitutional monarchy.

When Fascist Italy invaded Albania in 1939, Zog fled the country, and King Vittorio Emanuele of Italy was proclaimed the new King. After the collapse of Ever Hoxha’s regime, Zog’s son, Crown Prince Leka (1939-2011), was the pretender to the Albanian throne until he died in 2011.

Meanwhile, Lord Headley died on 22 June 1935, and was buried in Brookwood Cemetery, near Woking. The reportof his funeral in The Times noted that his cousin, the Revd WN Manning, ‘was unavoidably prevented from being present.’ The Headley title became extinct when his younger son, Charles Allanson-Winn (1902-1994), died in 1994.

Inside the Shah Jahan Mosque on Oriental Road, Woking (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2019)

A day to enjoy the warm weather and sing about the Meeting of the Waters

Full colours in the flower beds at Avoca in Kilmacanogue, Co Wiclow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

I served as Deacon at the Cathedral Eucharist in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, this morning (6 April 2014), the Fifth Sunday in Lent, reading the Gospel (John 11: 1-45) and assisting with the chalice at the administration of the Holy Communion.

The celebrant was the Dean of Christ Church, the Very Revd Dermot Dunne, the Revd Robert Lawson assisted as sub-deacon, and the preacher was Canon William Deverell of Saint Maelruain’s Parish, Tallaght.

The setting for the Eucharist was the Messe en sol majeur by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963), sung by the Cathedral Choir.

Trees in flower at Avoca in Kilmacanogue, Co Wiclow, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Later, after coffee in the cathedral crypt, two of us went for lunch in Avoca in Kilmacanogue, near Enniskerry, Co Wicklow.

I know a publican in Lichfield who says people have natural, in-built thermostats because once the temperatures reach 16 they start to move outdoors to eat or drink.

The temperatures had reached 16 this afternoon, the sun was shining, the skies were blue, the flowers and the buds on the trees were in radiant bright colours, and people were sitting out on the tables on the terrace on Avoca, lingering over lunch and coffee.

Walking along the sea defences at the North Beach in Arklow, Co Wicklow, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Later, we drove on south through the Glen of the Downs, and our plan was originally to go for a walk on the beach at Brittas Bay. But we continued on instead as far as Arklow, at the southern edge of Co Wicklow.

Close to the Bridgewater Shopping Centre on the north side of Arklow Bay, we went for a walk along the sea defences above the North Beach, close to the Arklow Bay Hotel.

Reeds at the small lake by the North Beach in Arklow, Co Wicklow (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

There was a high tide, and the waves were beating strongly against the large rocks and boulders on the sea defences. The sun was still shining, and below us, on the other side of the defences, a small boating lake was filled with swans, geese and ducks and families were enjoying the walks along the nature trail.

Colourful and picturesque Avoca was the location for the television series Ballykissangel (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

From Arklow, we drove west into the Wicklow Mountains, and the village of Avoca, which had once been used as the location for the television series Ballykissangel … and once even had its own Greek restaurant.

We turned south to Woodenbridge, to photograph the hotel where John Redmond made a famous speech in 1914 urging Irish men to volunteer for the British Army at the beginning of World War I.

At the meeting of the Waters … an inspiration for the poet and songwriter Tom Moore (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

We then made our way back north through Avoca to the Meeting of the Waters, where the River Avonmore and River Avonbeg meet at a confluence that once inspired Thomas Moore. Here the two rivers join and flow on south as the Avoca River, though Avoca and Woodenbridge to the sea at Arklow Bay.

Ardavon House … once a Comerford family home in Rathdrum, Co Wicklow, but now in a sad state of decay (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Our last stop was in Rathdrum. Although it was long after 6, the sun was still shining and it looked deceptively like summer with people sitting outside the village pubs enjoying the exceptional weather.

We stopped briefly at Ardavon House, once home to generations of a branch of the Comerford family.

Ardavon House once occupied a prominent site at the northern end of the village, facing the junction of the Main Street with the roads to Lowtown and to Clara, Laragh and Glendalough.

This had been a Comerford family home until 1958, when it was acquired by the Wicklow County Vocational Education Committee (VEC). It was a school until the end of 1991 when it was superseded by the newly built Avondale Community College. The woodwork used in the construction of Ardavon was pitch pine, said to have been salvaged from a vessel wrecked off the Wicklow coast.

Ardavon House was badly destroyed in a fire in 1997. Despite local authority undertakings to rebuild it, the house stands derelict, a sad reminder of former days.

We turned back through the village, and returned through the Glen of the Downs and Kilmacanogue as the bright sunshine continued.