Hoping for a week of sunshine

Walking on a small cove below the walk between Malahide and Portmarnock (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

The hoped-for sunshine eventually arrived yesterday afternoon [8 May 2016]. Earlier in the day, I was back in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and served as sub-deacon at the Choral Eucharist, welcoming people at the cathedral door and assisting at the administration of Holy Communion.

Later, during coffee in the crypt, two of us were told that the rhododendrons were coming into bloom in Howth and were worth visiting. We headed out towards Howth, but the traffic was crawling at a snail’s pace from Clontarf.

At the Bull Wall and Dollymount, a number of sailors were out in small boats, and two crews were rowing, perhaps in preparation for the sea-rowing season.

But the traffic was still crawling, and many drivers were doing U-turns and giving up on their efforts to get to Howth. By the time we got near Sutton, we decided to turn off towards Baldoyle, and decided to take the road to Malahide.

At Malahide, we had lunch in the Gourmet restaurant near Robswall, and by the time we had finished lunch the sun was breaking through and the temperature was beginning to reach 20.

I still have a heavy cough and so our walk was short and crisp on the beach on one of the pebble coves below the path between Malahide and Portmarnock. The cliff walk above helped to create a suntrap below, but there was a hazy mist blocking the view across the estuary towards Donabate and Portrane to the north.

Later in the evening, back in Knocklyon, the clouds burst in a heavy thunderstorm. Perhaps that is going to clear the atmosphere for a week of sunshine.

Walking in the rain on Portmarnock beach as winter rains continue

Walking on the beach on my own in Portmarnock this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Patrick Comerford

Traditionally, Irish people regard 1 February,the feast of Saint Brigid of Kildare as the first day of Spring. The last of the great wandering bards, Antoine Ó Raifteirí (1779-1835), or Raftery the Poet, wrote about the coming of Spring with the coming of Saint Brigid’s day in words that most Irish schoolchildren can recite:

Anois teacht an Earraigh
beidh an lá dúl chun shíneadh,
Is tar eis na féil Bríde
ardóigh mé mo sheol.

Now coming of the Spring
the day will be lengthening,
and after Saint Brigid’s Day
I shall raise my sail.

Saint Brigid’s Day arrived last Monday without bringing Spring with it too, and it felt like winter as four of us went to lunch this afternoon in the Gourmet Food Parlour near Robswall in Malahide.

We had a table by a window looking out onto the coast road, and despite the heavy rain we could see across the inlet at Malahide, with the waves rolling in, as far as the Donabate peninsula, with the towers of Portrane Hospital barely visible in the distance.

Walking on the wet sands in Portmarnock this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Those winter rains were still tumbling down later in the afternoon when I went for a walk on my own on the sand at Portmarnock. The tide was still out, but the sands were wet with the rain, and the beach was deserted.

I was on my own for this short walk in the rain on a beach that is crowded on summer days. I could see as far as Howth, but only one, lone fishing boat from Howth was out on the sea.

On the way to Malahide, a crash on the M50 had closed off sections of the motorway for hours. The Google Maps app on my phone brought us off the motorway and through Blanchardstown, Tyrrellstown and Corduff.

Some months ago, while I was in a taxi to the airport in November, a crash closed one side of the M50 motorway for about seven hours. On that occasion a clever taxi driver ensured I caught my flight to Birmingham, but these crashes regularly expose the vulnerability of this ringroad at the most strategic point of the national infrastructure, and show us how vulnerable Dublin is.

Google Maps is a great app, but drivers ought not to have their phones on while driving. What we really need is to see the NRA develop a proper rapid response strategy for motorway incidents. It is one thing to be half an hour late for lunch, it is distressing, time-wasting and costly to miss a flight.

On the way back on the M50 the problems had been cleared and there were beautiful colours in the sky to the west with a slow and gentle sunset. As Raftery reminded his, when February arrives there is a “grand stretch in the evening.”

A grand stretch in the evening … a February sunset in Knocklyon this evening (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Anois teacht an earraigh
beidh an lá ag dul chun síneadh,
Is tar éis na féil Bríde
ardóidh mé mo sheol.

Ó chuir mé i mo cheann é
ní chónóidh mé choíche
Go seasfaidh mé síos
i lár Chontae Mhaigh Eo.

I gClár Chlainne Mhuiris
A bheas mé an chéad oíche,
Is i mballa taobh thíos de
A thosóidh mé ag ól.

Go Coillte Mách rachaidh
Go ndéanfadh cuairt mhíosa ann
I bhfogas dhá mhíle
Do Bhéal an Átha Mhóir.

Now coming of the Spring
the day will be lengthening,
and after Saint Brigid’s Day
I shall raise my sail.

Since I put it into my head
I shall never stay put
until I shall stand down
in the centre of County Mayo.

In Claremorris
I will be the first night,
and in Balla just below it
I will begin to drink.

To Kiltimagh I shall go
until I shall make a month’s visit there
as close as two miles
to Ballinamore.

Toasting the (non) arrival of Spring ... a glass of Pinot Grigiot in Malahide this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2016)

Taking Handel’s ‘Water Music’ to the beaches of Malahide and Portmarnock

The beach at Portmarnock. Co Dublin, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Patrick Comerford

Today is the Day of Pentecost [8 June 2014], and I was invited to celebrate the Eucharist and to preach in Saint Michan’s Church, Church Street, Dublin, at 10 a.m., and in All Saints’ Church, Grangegorman at 11.30 a.m.

These two churches, along with Saint Werburgh’s Church in Werburgh Street, are part of the Christ Church Cathedral group of parishes in inner city Dublin, and I am back in Saint Werburgh’s and All Saints’ next week to preside at the Eucharist and to preach on Trinity Sunday [15 June 2014].

It is a joy to be in normal parishes, with normal parishioners, on a normal Sunday, and it is a reminder of the underlying purpose of teaching theology with ordinands.

In both sermons this morning, I spoke of Pentecost as the day on which we celebrate the birthday of the Church. The rubrics for the Calendar in the Book of Common Prayer (2004) set out clear priorities for the three principal Holy Days in the Church – Christmas Day, Easter Day and the Day of Pentecost, stating unambiguously: “On these days the Holy Communion is celebrated in every cathedral and parish church unless the ordinary shall otherwise direct” (p. 18).

Yet, looking at the ‘Church Notices’ in The Irish Times yesterday [7 June 2014], it is mouth-opening to see how many churches ignore these rubrics year-after-year. Obviously, the parish rotas, such as Morning Prayer on the second Sunday of the month, take precedence over the provisions we have agreed as a Church in the Book of Common Prayer, and the second Sunday of the month takes precedence over the Day of Pentecost.

Already, I’ve noticed that the majority of parishes did not observe the Ascension Day on Thursday this year, but postponed the celebration until the following Sunday, even though the Book of Common Prayer advises that “liturgical provision” for these days “may not be displayed by any other observance.”

What next? Marking Good Friday on the next available Sunday? Changing the day for celebrating Christmas Day because it falls on a bank holiday?

I was in one parish on a Sunday some time ago (it shall remain unnamed) where the Holy Communion was celebrated with only one reading – and that was from the Acts of the Apostles ... there was no Old Testament reading, no Psalm (although it was printed on the notice sheet), and no Gospel reading; and the sermon barely referred to the one Scripture reading that was read.

Some incumbents argue that liturgy and the Church Calendar go over the heads of their parishioners, and they find them either irrelevant or outdated. But how can rectors who claim to give priority to the Gospel go without reading the Gospel or teaching the truths of the Ascension and Pentecost? Without the celebration of the full Easter cycle, Christianity soon becomes reduced to Arianism, and we then move on to creating a god who is in our own image and likeness.

In All Saints’ Church, it was a joy to be in a church where the parishioners appreciate liturgical tradition at its best, and where there is a robed choir anxious to learn and to expand and grow its capacity.

The Organ Trophy and a carving depicting 17 musical instruments in Saint Michan’s ... the Church is associated with Handel’s ‘Messiah’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Saint Michan’s also has a strong musical tradition: George Frideric Handel is said to have composed his Messiah on the organ which is dated 1724, or at least to have practised in advance of the first performance of Messiah on this organ.

In front of the gallery is the Organ Trophy, a piece of wood depicting 17 musical instruments, possibly carved by Henry Houghton or John Houghton, and installed in 1724.

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) became George Frideric Handel when he moved to London. In 1710, Handel became Kapellmeister to Prince Georg Ludwig, the Elector of Hanover in 1710; four years later, in 1714, Prince Georg became King George I. It is interesting that Handel prospered on the English-speaking world though the patronage of the House of Hanover and the accidents of birth and capriciousness of politicians that brought an obscure German princeling to the throne in London 300 years ago on 1 August 1714.

The site of the Music Hall in Fishamble Street, where Handel’s ‘Messiah’ had its first performance in 1742 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Later, as I walked from All Saints’ to Christ Church Cathedral, I passed along Fishamble Street, where Handel’s Messiah had its first performance in the Music Hall on 13 April 1742 before an audience of about 700 people.

The site of the Music Hall and the performance is marked by a plaque hidden by railings, and the hotel next door is called the George Frederic Handel Hotel – how many spelling combinations are possible for the name of one composer?

Looking across to Donabate and Portrane from the sands at Robswalls in Malahide this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Later, I was reminded of Handel’s Water Music when two of us went for walks on the beaches of Malahide and Portmarnock in north Co Dublin. The Water Music is a collection of orchestral movements, often published as three suites, composed by George Frideric Handel. It received its premiere on 17 July 1717 after King George I had requested a concert on the River Thames.

We drove out to Malahide for a late lunch in Cape Greko, the Greek-Cypriot restaurant in New Street, near the Marina in Malahide.

Later, carrying tastes and music and memories from holidays in Greece with us, we drove from Malahide along the coast at Robswalls, looking back towards the beaches of the Donabate Peninsula. Despite rains earlier in the afternoon, a small number of people were out on sailboards and small boats.

By the time we reached Portmarnock, there was a small number of families walking on the beach, but nobody seemed foolhardy enough to venture in for a swim.

There was no Mediterranean weather in Malahide today, but the sight of the beaches and the water was like music to our souls.

Hippocratic wisdom on the wall of Cape Greko in Malahide (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2014)

Lunch, castle latrines and lone herons in Malahide

Looking through the haze and the mist towards the beach at Portmarnock from the Coast Road in Malahide this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

Two of us returned to Malahide this afternoon – a mobile phone had been left behind after lunch on Friday, but its recovery provided a good excuse for lunch again in the MU Gourmet Food Parlour on the Coast Road to Portmarnock.

On second thoughts, there’s no need to find a good excuse for having lunch again in the MU Gourmet Food Parlour – the place stands on its own merits.

Once again we had a table looking out over Malahide Estuary and Broadmeadow Water and the bay of across towards Lambay Island and Portrane. Once again it was a hazy, foggy, rainy day, but lunch was wonderful and afterwards we decided to take a short walk in the mist and the light drizzle above the shoreline towards Portmarnock.

Carrick Hill Martello Tower in Portmarnock (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

We walked as far as Carrick Hill Martello Tower, which was built around 1805 and is now a private family home.

Turning back, we returned to have another look at Robswalls Castle – the tower house that butts out onto the main road, and that once had its own small harbour hewn out of the rocks below.

I had written about the castle yesterday [Saturday] after Friday’s walk. Robswall Castle has seen no battles, and has seen no sieges. But I had missed out on how Robswall had been farmed by the Talbot family of Malahide Castle until the 1980s the castle had been the steward’s house.

While I was photographing the castle on Friday afternoon, I also missed out on the tiny latrine projection corbelled out high up between the main block and the stair turret on the south side.

The projecting latrine high up on the tower of Robswalls Castle near the turret (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

We drove back through Malahide and through Yellow Walls out to the north shoreline on the Broadmeadow Estuary, east of Swords. The tiny, narrow, potholed road was waterlogged and packed tight with just the few cars that had come with people delighted to feed the swans.

A lone heron in the marshland on the north shore of Broadmeadow Estuary this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Rather than taking the treacherous coastroad on to Donabate, we decided to reverse. As we did there was a lone heron standing patiently in the marshland.

By the time we got to Portrane, darkness was closing in.

Castles, abbeys and the desolation of Priory Hall

Broadmeadow Water and the bay of Malahide Estuary in front of the Gourmet Food Parlour this week (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Patrick Comerford

As a busy week was about to merge into a busy weekend, I took Friday morning off and four of us went to lunch in the MU Gourmet Food Parlour about a half mile outside Malahide on the coastal path to Portmarnock.

The restaurant is beside the Malahide United Gym building on an elevated spot looking out over Broadmeadow Water and the bay of Malahide Estuary across towards Portrane. Although we could not see as far as Skerries on a hazy, foggy, rainy day, this was a truly beautiful backdrop for our lunch.

We are also looking out to Robswalls Castle is in the townland of Robswalls overlooking the Broadmeadow Water, also known as Malahide Estuary and only a few short minutes from the coast road footpath from Malahide to Portmarnock.

Robswalls Castle … a private house with a monastic and mediaeval history (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The castle stands on the side of a main road between Malahide an ordinary house with a square tower attached. But the two-storey house has a stone staircase that gives access to the watch tower and battlements.

The original tower was built over four floors, probably in the 15th century by the de Bermingham family.

The castle walls hang above the Coast Road from Malahide to Portmarnock (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

The castle is said to stand on a site once owned by the Cistercian Monks of Saint Mary’s Abbey in Dublin. At the dissolution of the monasteries during the reign of Henry VIII in 1540, Robswalls Castle was granted to Patrick Barnwall of Turvey, Solicitor General for Ireland.

At one time, the castle had its own small harbour hewn out of the rocks underneath and had a three-storied circular staircase.

I walked briefly along the shoreline before returning to work in the afternoon.

Father Collins Park stands on land once owned by Grange Abbey (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

But earlier in the day, I had a walk in the rain around Father Collins Park beside Donaghmede and Clongriffin. The park is on lands that were part of the original and extensive Grange of Baldoyle belonging to the Priory of All Saints, which stood on the site of Trinity College Dublin. The ruins of the chapel of Grange Abbey stand near the park.

At the dissolution of the monasteries, Grange Abbey also changed hands and was given to the Corporation of Dublin City.

Five 50 kW wind turbines provide power for the waterfalls and fountains in Father Collins Park (Photograph : Patrick Comerford, 2013)

Father Collins Park, which is administered by Dublin City Council, is named after a popular local parish priest, Father Joe Collins and was opened in 2009.

This is Ireland’s first wind powered and self-sustainable public park, and was designed by Argentinian architects Abelleyro and Romero. The park has won a number of awards for sustainability, public space, public parks and environmentally friendly initiatives.

The park’s five 50 kW wind turbines provide power for the waterfalls and fountains, draining the lake, public lighting, depots and sports facilities. Its 26 ha includes natural woodland, sports fields, a running and cycling track, a promenade, a concert amphitheatre and picnic areas.

The open lands of Father Collins Park host migrating birds during the seasons of migration. The undisturbed lands in park remain an important refuge and hub for Arctic and European migratory birds.

Right turn only … but Priory Hall is still blocked off (Photograph: Patrick Cmerford, 2013)

Outside the park, the road heading south towards Clare Hall has a junction where the lights are primed for a right turn only. But that right turn only leads into the blocked-off entrance to Priory Hall, an estate that is still fenced off while the people who bought homes there are left homeless.

How many children missed a Christmas at home in Priory Hall? How long is their agony and suffering going to continue?

Priory Hall … how many children were missed out on Christmas at home? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2013)

A walk on the Velvet Strand at Portmarnock

The long sandy beach, beautiful smooth sand, at Portmarnock is known as the Velvet Strand (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Patrick Comerford

It was a dull and overcast morning. After the Choral Eucharist in Christ Church Cathedral, two of us decided to go for lunch and a walk on a beach north of Dublin.

By the time we got to Dorset Street, there were heavy traffic jams, formed by people trying to get to Croke Park for the Closing Eucharist of the International Eucharistic Congress.


A dull but busy afternoon below Malahide Yacht Club (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Eventually, we made our way through Phibsborough, Cabra and Finglas, onto the M50, and on to Malahide. There was a lot of activity in the water below the club house of Malahide Yacht Club at Saint James’ Terrace, and Malahide looked like an attractive option for a beach walk later in the afternoon.

But as we left Cape Greko, the Greek and Cypriot restaurant on New Street, the rain began to pour down. We were not surprised – the rainfall in Dublin so far in June far has been more than 200% of the average.

We abandoned our plans for a walk on the beach, but still thought we might catch a glimpse of the sea, and headed south along the coast towards Portmarnock.


Walking through the sand dunes onto the beach at Portmarnock, Co Dublin, this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Portmarnock is 15 km north of Dublin city centre, south of Malahide and north of Baldoyle. Although Portmarnock has no harbour, the name means the Port of Saint Marnoch or Mernoc, a missionary bishop who is said to have arrived here from Iona in the fifth, sixth or even seventh century. Saint Marnock was associated with Saint Columba and also gave his name to Kilmarnock, Inchmarnock and Damrnock in Scotland. The ruins of his church are said to stand in the graveyard off the Strand Road.

We stopped at the Martello Beach in Portmarnock, where a narrow beach leads onto a sandy peninsula with sand-dunes and a lengthy sandy beach known as the Velvet Strand. Its beautiful smooth sand is popular with wind-surfers and kite-surfers, although this afternoon there were just some families, a few people walking their dogs and a small group playing volleyball.

From the Velvet Strand, there are views out to Lambay Island and Ireland’s Eye. At first, the low clouds and the grey skies made it difficult to make out the yachts sailing around Ireland’s Eye and Howth Head, but the sun started breaking through, and looking north past the Martello Tower it was possible to see the outline of the Donabate and Portrane peninsula and the Round Tower at Portrane sticking up above the horizon.


The ‘Eccentric Orb’ on Portmarnock Beach commemorates the first circumnavigation of the globe by a plane in 1930 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

Above the beach, the Southern Cross Monument or “Eccentric Orb” was erected in 1999 to commemorate the first circumnavigation of the globe by a plane in 1930.

Thousands of people were on the beach in Portmarnock to see the take-off at 4 am on 23 June 1930 to see Charles Kingsford Smith, an Australian pilot, and his crew take off in the ‘Southern Cross’ on the second west-bound transatlantic flight, first to Newfoundland and then on New York and to Oakland, California, completing a circumnavigation of the globe.

The sculpture recalling this flight is in the shape of the globe, marked with all the continents and the flight path. The monument, designed by Remco Dfouw and Rachael Joynt, is built from limestone, is 2.5 metres high, has a circumference of 2 metres, and weighs eight tons. The bronze needle points directly to the North Star.

In a second pioneering flight, the first solo west-bound transatlantic flight began from Portmarnock beach on 18 August 1932, when a British pilot, Jim Mollison, took a de Haviland Puss Moth from Portmarnock to New Brunswick.

By the time we were leaving Portmarnock, the sun was shining, and it was now a bright sunny afternoon as we drove through Baldoyle, Sutton, Dollymount and Fairview to the city centre.


The wooden bridge to Bull Island at Dollymount late this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)

A weekend wedding, but no walk on the beach

It was too wet for a walk on the beach in Portrane this afternoon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Patrick Comerford

I was back in Dublin on Friday to take part in my niece’s wedding on Saturday afternoon. Deirdre Donnelly and Ruaírí Higgins were married in the Roman Catholic Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist, Clontarf Road, Dublin.

The church dates to the appointment of the Revd James Callanan as Parish Priest of Clontarf in 1829. He bought a house that is now home the Holy Faith Convent, and approached Colonel Vernon of Clontarf Castle for a site for a new church. Archbishop Murray laid foundation stone on 16 June 1835, and it opened in 1838. The church was designed by the prominent Dublin architect, Patrick Byrne. The church was enlarged in 1895, with the addition of 17 ft at the chancel end, a new high altar, pulpit, altar rails, sacristy, bell and belfry.

Saint John’s Church, Clontarf... the venue for Saturday’s wedding (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

Father Terry Murray officiated at the wedding, and I was asked to read the Gospel and to bless the rings. The Gospel reading was John 15: 9-17:

Jesus says: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

The bride and groom, Ruaírí Higgins and Deirdre Donnelly, with their best man and bridesmaid, Dáire Higgins and Fionnghuala Donnelly, in the Parish Church of Saint John the Baptist, Clontarf Road, on Saturday afternoon

On to Portmarnock and Portrane

Saint Marnock of Portmarnock in commemorated in the new chapel and meeting room in Saint Andrew’s Church, Malahide (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

The reception was in the Portmarnock Hotel and Golf Links, which has sweeping views across the sand dunes and the lengthy sandy beach at Portmarnock, and which has its own historic and royal associations with weddings.

The hotel stands on land originally part of the Jameson family estate, and the house was called Saint Marnock’s House, remembering the early patron saint who gave his name to this area. King Edward VII often visited the Jameson family, and on his last official visit in 1907 he unveiled a plaque designed to mark the marriage between members of two great Jameson and Haig distilling families.

The Jameson family had a nine-hole golf course on the site over a century ago, and Portmarnock has interesting associations with Guglielmo Marconi, the inventor of the wireless, whose mother was Annie Jameson, and with the pioneering aviator, James Mollison (husband of Amy Johnson), who took off from Portmarnock Beach on 18 August 1932 for the first solo east-west crossing of the Atlantic.

Despite the cloudy weather this morning, there was a beautiful view of the sea and the shoreline this morning on the way from Portmarnock along the coast to Malahide, for the Parish Eucharist and a baptism in Saint Andrew’s Church, Malahide.

A window in Saint Andrew’s Church commemorating Richard Wogan Talbot, 5th Baron Talbot of Malahide, 2nd Baron Talbot de Malahide, who died in 1921 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2011)

The church has interesting stained glass windows in memory of members of the Talbot family of nearby Malahide Castle But the connections with ancient links with Portmarnock are not forgotten, and the new extension is known as Saint Marnock’s Chapel.

From there it was on to Portrane, to help out at the bookstall in the big marquee at the sale organised by my Lynders cousins in aid of Heart-to-Hand. This three-day sale takes place each year and raises funds for projects in Albania, Bosnia, Moldova and Romania.

By late this afternoon, thick clouds covered the whole Portrane area, and heavy rain was coming through the canvas of the large marquee and on all the stalls. There was no possibility of a walk on the beach. It was time to go home, in the hope that the fine weather returns for the last day of the sale tomorrow [Monday 1 August 2011].