Marks of Time
Historic Buildings as  illustrations of the past.
  • Home
  • Blog
    • Derry to Strabane
    • Derry to Limavady
    • Kilkenny to Derry
    • Dublin Visit
    • Inishowen Tour
    • Co Down Visit
    • Carrickfergus Tour
    • Stirling
    • Belfast to Derry
  • About
    • Links
    • Further Reading
  • Contact
  • Map Viewer
  • Counties

Strabane Convent Grammar School

1/11/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
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.
0 Comments

January 18th, 2021

18/1/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
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. 
0 Comments

Ardboe

6/1/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
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.
0 Comments

January 04th, 2021

4/1/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
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.’ 
0 Comments

January 03rd, 2021

3/1/2021

0 Comments

 
Picture
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 .
0 Comments

January 01st, 2020

1/1/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
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. 
0 Comments

September 05th, 2017

5/9/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture

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.

0 Comments

491

2/6/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
50. New Connections- Foot and cycle  bridge, Strabane
  Opened in 2016, the foot and cycle bridge picks up this challenge and brings modern civic architecture to the other end of town. Developed from an international competition held in 2006, it is supposed to be the first of two such bridges. Whether resources can be found for the second bridge or not, the ambition of current city fathers to bring modern quality investment to the town is very clear. Strabane and the surrounding area however, have much quality already, The key will be to manage this and new development well to make the most of future opportunities.

0 Comments

490.

29/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
49. Regeneration – the Alley Theatre and  Library 2008

The development of a new library and theatre in Strabane the late 2000’s was a significant investment in  its cultural life  but  also a statement of confidence in the regeneration of the town centre. The buildings are well designed and impart a sense of new civic life to the area. Their scale links them to the rest of the town and their quality sets a benchmark for future development.

0 Comments

487

17/5/2017

0 Comments

 
Picture
46.  St Teresa’s church Sion Mills 1963.
By 1963 the use of  decoration on modern buildings was becoming more acceptable again. Here, a  massive recreation of the last supper was commissioned from artist Oisin  Kelly and mounted as a screen across the front of the building. It is not as  much decorated building as building displaying artwork. The building is  designed to mimic a classical temple, a form used for many churches in the  past.

0 Comments
<<Previous

    Marks of Time

    Sketches of buildings in the North West of Ireland and further afield with a little information about their history.

    Search the Categories below for specific places .

    Go to the archives to follow the exploration from 2015

    Go to the  drop down to follow some of the routes explored.

    Categories

    All
    Co Antrim
    Co Armagh
    Co Carlow
    Co Cavan
    Co Clare
    Co Cork
    Co Derry / Co Londonderry
    Co Donegal
    Co Down
    Co Dublin
    Co Fermanagh
    Co Galway
    Co Kilkenny
    Co Limerick
    Co Longford
    Co Louth
    Co Mayo
    Co Meath
    Co Monaghan
    Co Offaly
    Co Roscommon
    Co Tipperary
    Co Tyrone
    Co Waterford
    Co Westmeath
    Co Wexford
    Co Wicklow
    Derry~Londonderry
    England - Bristol
    England - Carlisle
    England - Chester
    England - Liverpool
    England - London
    England - Nottingham
    England - Swindon
    England - Wirral
    France - Brittany
    France - Dordogne
    France - Picardy
    I Belgium - Louven
    I Belgium - Ypres
    I Netherlands - Amsterdam
    I Scotland - Argyllshire
    I Scotland - Drumfries
    I Scotland - Dunblane
    I Scotland - Glasgow
    I Scotland - Perthshire
    I Scotland - Stirling
    I Scotland - Stranraer
    I Scotland - Trossachs
    I Ukraine
    I US - New York
    I Us - San Francisco
    I Us - San Francisco
    I US - Seattle
    I Wales - Caernarvonshire
    I Wales Denbighshire
    I Wales Flintshire
    Local - Ardstraw
    Local - Armagh City
    Local - Ballycastle
    Local - Ballykelly
    Local - Baronscourt
    Local - Belfast
    Local - Buncrana
    Local - Burt
    Local - Carndonagh
    Local - Carrickfergus
    Local - Castlebar
    Local - Clady
    Local - Clonmacnoise
    Local Clonmany
    Local - Clonmany
    Local - Coleraine
    Local - Culdaff
    Local - Donegal Town
    Local - Donemana
    Local - Drumsurn
    Local - Dublin
    Local Dungiven
    Local - Dungiven
    Local - Eglinton
    Local - Galway City
    Local - Glenelly Valley
    Local - Gortin
    Local - Greysteel
    Local - Kilkenny
    Local - Kilmore
    Local - Leckpatrick
    Local - Lifford
    Local - Limavady
    Local - Maghera
    Local - Magilligan
    Local - Moville
    Local - Newtonstewart
    Local - Sion Mills
    Local - Strabane
    Local - Tramore
    Local - Waterford City
    Local - Westport
    World Heritage Sites

    Archives

    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.