Christian worship on this Co.Antrim site between Portrush and Bushmills has been taking place since the 14th century, but this derelict building is thought to date back to the early 1600’s when the area was being populated by the Protestant settlers from the Scottish Borders, which may account for its name, dedicated to the north English saint Cuthbert.
Apparently it is the only church in Ireland dedicated to Cuthbert.
Continue reading St Cuthbert’s Church, DunluceI met a friend at a recent athletics meeting, and he reminded me that he had ‘covered for me’ at an event while I was away on holiday recently. I thanked him, and he added, ‘Of course my photos weren’t as good as yours, I was just using an iPhone…’ That conversation reminded me of an apocryphal story I heard a while back. Permit me to share…
Continue reading Never Miss a Shot…Culcrow is a townland between Kilrea and Coleraine, in County Londonderry, and not far from the amazing Brown Trout Inn, where one can enjoy fantastic food. It has a lively Primary School, a handful of houses and farms, and a few old characteristics that always caused me to slow down as I travelled up the road between Kilrea and Coleraine, on route to Portstewart. Of course I never got around to stop and take a closer look because I was in a hurry, or it was raining, or someone was with me… whatever. But Culcrow has still got an old red phone box, and despite driving past it for years, I really wanted a closer look.
Continue reading Old CulcrowI use public transport – a lot. What I most like about it of course, is that for senior citizens of my vintage it is free to use here in Ulster. So, being a skinflint, I use it extensively.
Now, I don’t want to be over critical, – after all, our public transport in Northern Ireland is vastly superior to that in some other jurisdictions. We have clean modern trains that run on time and can usually get you to your destination without the risk of getting mugged. Buses that are punctual and clean and with reasonably polite and helpful drivers (speaking generally). But if there is one minor criticism that I hope I am allowed to offer on the subject of public transport it is this…
APOLOGIES TO THOSE WHO SPEAK PROPER ENGLISH. This post contains a lot of colloquial idiosyncratic diction. (Slang!) It’s just the way we spake over here, so it is…
It is PUBLIC. Too public for comfort. I know there’s little that Translink can do about the public nature of its public transport, but at least allow me the comfort of having a decent rant about it.
Continue reading What’s Wrong With PUBLIC Transport?A day spent around Belfast city centre can be quite boring for the dutiful husband who is required to take his ever patient wife to the city for a shopping trip – especially when that shopping trip involves what seems like endless browsing around the many clothing outlets!
The answer, of course is simple. Bring a camera, and leave her too it. That was my course of action a few weeks ago, when I left Janette in the care of the retailers, and wandered off on my own with the Fujifilm X-T50, and headed for Belfast’s touristy dockland, once the home of the coal boats, and the shady haunts of visiting seamen – now a venue for visiting cruise ship passengers and folk on city sightseeing bus tours. Safe access from the shopping area of the city to the docks is via an underground walkway, amply adorned with vivid graffiti.
Out for a walk in the spring sunshine a few days ago I noticed that the doors of the local RC Church, here in Portstewart were open, and no services scheduled, so I ventured inside with the Fujifilm X-T50 camera.
A visit to Kilcooley Estate in Bangor today, left me reminiscing about my teens and early twenties, when I lived with my parents and family on Owenroe Drive, – one of the main routes through this large social housing development, – the third largest in Northern Ireland.
A visit to the Co.Down town of Royal Hillsborough (The home of Hillsborough Castle – a Royal Residence) on Tuesday 30th September, gave me the opportunity to add another image to my collection of photographs of the town, made on a few earlier occasions.
The people I was visiting lived directly across the road from Hillsborough Presbyterian Church, and while on earlier visits I have been able to photograph the historic and beautiful Anglican Church building, this was my first chance to get up to the Presbyterian building.
Continue reading Royal Hillsborough ChurchesNo.2 Royal Avenue
I was wandering about Belfast City Centre, with the Fujifilm X-T50, and quite honestly, I was tired! It had been a busy week, and the old heart arrhythmia was playing up. I needed somewhere to sit down for a few minutes. It was then I came across No.2 Royal Avenue and being a public building, owned by Belfast City Council, I wandered in to see what was inside. It’s an open space inside, with lots of seating and a cafe, and a library and a piano, which someone was playing, – very nicely too. I took a seat, wondering how long it would be until someone came and asked me why I was there… But it didn’t happen.
The building, described by the City Council as an ‘Indoor Park,’ is for everyone to enjoy, and all are welcome. I sat inside the building for around 20 minutes, just to get my breath back, and rest my legs, and it was while I sat there that I noticed this truly magnificent dome, and as you’d expect, it was just asking to be photographed. (I did ask one of the staff members for permission – and they were most obliging, – there’s no problem with photos inside the building, so long as no-one else objects).
Continue reading No.2 Royal Avenue: A Community Hub in Belfast“The Watson”
Another gem of Belfast’s architectural heritage, this Grade B1 listed, triangular building (known locally as ‘the smoothing iron’) in Little Donegal Street, Belfast, was once the premises of Robert Watson’s furniture manufacturing company, suppliers of beds to the Royal family, and whose beds were installed in many luxury liners built in Harland and Wolff, the Belfast shipyard, including the Titanic. The building was designed by William J Fennel and built between 1898 and 1907, originally known as ‘Library House.’
Portraits2Go.co.uk 