A blog of sketches of historic buildings - Marks of Time

Sperrin giants - Nowanois: The Storytellers

12/1/2025

This is Nowanios; The Storytellers, located along the Glenelly Valley behind the former interpretive centre. The pair are on of three location for giants created by artist Thomas Tambo within the Sperrins. The sculptures are intended to symbolize the 'unifying essence of time', bridging past and future, where memories and stories converge. One giant is intended to represent the past, while the other is intended to embodiy the future. Tthe sculpture is a tribute to the tradition of storytelling. The elder Nowanois points to the sky, sharing tales with his younger self about the stars and ancestors who marveled at the heavens. https://giantsofthesperrins.com/giants/nowanois/

The sperrin Giants- Ceoldán the stargazer

5/1/2025

This is Ceoldán the Stargazer, located at the entrance to the Dark Skies observatory in Daragh Forest Park and one of the three Sperrins Giants created by artist Thomas Tambo. Ceoldán strives to capture the brilliance of ‘The Seven Sisters’ choir, a star formation that also represents the 7 guardians of Ireland: Oak, apple, hazel, ash, yew, alder, and elder. The constellation rises prominently above the southeastern horizon at the start of winter, lingering until late March. On a December day, there was still much to see. it is a great addition to this remote area. https://giantsofthesperrins.com/giants/ceoldan/

The Sperrin giants - Darach

1/1/2025

Happy New Year. A blustery day to get out ( between the showers) and get a bit of fresh air. This, is one of the Sperrin Giant's - Darrch the Guardian - who stands on top of Mullaghcarn Mountain, part of the Sperrins in Co Tyrone. There is a good path all the way up from Gortin Glen Forest Park and the walk is well worth the effort. The sculptures are by the artist Thomas Dambo and are part of a wider project he has initiated to create Trolls from recycled materials all over the world. 'As an eco-champion, Darach welcomes visitors with open arms, inviting them to gaze upon, reflect upon, and care for the land. Encircled by a ring of stones that she herself carried to the summit, Darach pays homage to the enduring local tradition of generations carrying stones to mountaintop cairns. This practice, celebrated annually on Cairn Sunday (the last Sunday in July), likely traces its origins back over a millennium, possibly rooted in pagan rituals.'giantsofthesperrins.com/giants/darach/

Strabane Convent Grammar School

1/11/2022

A dramatic and spiky gothic building which once stood to the west of the surviving Church of the Immaculate Conception creating a great composition of spires when seen from a distance. it was at once remote and removed from the town, yet an important part of it. This view is of the school's main facade with its carefully tended gardens in front. The main convent accommodation was to the right of the bell tower and the convent chapel with a separate bell tower was beside this. On the other side of the bell tower was a long perpendicular block which originally housed an orphanage and industrial school and from 1928 the Grammar School a prepatory school and accommodation for boarders. The convent opened on opened June 9th 1868 and the the church was consecrated in 1881. The school closed in 2007 and the buildings were completely demolished in 2009. The stained glass of the church was removed to St Patrick's church in Castlederg in 1995. A dramatic skyline lost.

January 18th, 2021

18/1/2021

Decorated cross base, Killoan, near Drumquin, Co Tyrone. Set near the boundary of an isolated field this is a very unusual structure thought to be the base of a cross. There is no recorded history of a church at this site but the townland name, combined with this structure, suggests that this was the case. A remnant of what once was.

Ardboe

6/1/2021

Ardboe Cross on the shores of Lough Neagh. Thought to date from the 10th or 11th century. Highly carved on both sides ,though weathered and open to interpretation. Eastern face Adam and Eve, sacrifice of Issac, Daniel in the Lion's Den, Arck of the Covenant, Funeral Urns (the resurrection) Christ in Judgement. great atmospheric location. Western face (shown here) from bottom: the Nativity, the Adoration, Last Supper, Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, Christ taken prisoner, the Crucifixion.

January 04th, 2021

4/1/2021

Killymoon Castle and demesne viewed from Tullaghoge Fort.

Killymoon Castle was constructed in 1802-3 for Col James Stewart, to the designs of architect John Nash, who famously laid out Regent Street in London. It was his first castle in Ireland, and reputedly cost £80,000 to build. It has much in common with a later Nash castle of 1807-10 in Caerhays, Cornwall.

The celebrated gardener and designer of the Crystal Palace, Sir Joseph Paxton wrote: "I have visited most of the celebrated country seats in the Kingdom and a very large number on the continent, and I have never seen one - for the extent of it - more compact, more perfect in itself, or where the highest natural beauties have been more aided by refined taste and judgment, than Killymoon".

While much of the demesne was sold off after 1922, the house and surrounding planting survives. It has been described by the eminent architectural historian Terence Reeves-Smyth as ‘the oldest surviving example of a ‘castle style’ building by Nash and one of his most successful houses, boasting among other things, a very early full essay in the revived Norman style, a striking port cochère, and a revolutionary and ingeniously planned interior.’

January 03rd, 2021

3/1/2021

Tullahoge Fort is a place full of atmosphere reinforced by sentinel like posts, installed in 2017, marching up the hill to the great inauguration site. This was the crowning point of the O'Neill's and, is a large circular earthwork on top of a hill that surveys all of the surrounding country. In 1602, the associated inauguration chair was smashed by the English as a symbolic act during the Nine Year's War .

January 01st, 2020

1/1/2020

Happy New Year. Why not get back to basics today and visit this wonderful site in the Co Tyrone hills? This is is Clogherny Wedge Tomb, which is located on high ground between Plumbridge and Donemanagh. It is s wet climb through the boggy slopes but well worth it . The tomb is thought to date from around the Early Bronze Age of 2,500 years ago and it is surrounded by a ring of probably later standing stones. These were shown in an excavation of 1937 to be linked to the monument by cobbles.

September 05th, 2017

5/9/2017

Looking forward to European Heritage Open Days this weekend. I will be giving a tour of Newtownstewart Co Tyrone on Sunday. It is a fascinating place with the remains of four castles. Clearly, it was a strategic place in medieval times.