The Ham Nomads

23 May 2014. <IE> Waterford, Co. Munster; Carrick-on-Sur, Co. Tipperary —

Coloured Waterford Crystal

The William
Maddock Clock

Today's action began with a guided tour of the Waterford Crystal Factory. We parked the van in the council carpark immediately behind the factory, giving ourselves 5 hours. The tour was amazing. We wandered the showroom beforehand — it's the largest collection of Waterford Crystal in the world, and is quite overwhelming. Then we went for the 50-minute guided tour. We had full access to the craftsmen, who were happy to answer questions along the way.

Blowing the Glass

Cutting the Glass

The Apprentice Bowl

The apprenticeship to become a glass cutter lasts 5 years, by which time the apprentice must have cut an "apprentice bowl", the design of which contains every type of cut, and takes about 3 years to complete — and if it gets broken or damaged in the process, the whole cutting process has to be begun again on a new piece! To become a master takes 8 years, and a sculptor 2 more!

We went through the glass blowing room, the first quality inspection, the cutting room and through to the sculpting room. Amazing! Any piece with the slightest flaw (that won't obviously be cut out in a later process) is simply crushed and returned to the furnaces. Waterford do not sell any factory seconds! The smallest piece of Waterford Crystal is hand made and has at least 2 hours of skilled craftsmanship involved. The larger pieces can take days to make by hand. Some of the pieces on sale in the showroom were €60,000 and up — and some pieces are simply not for sale at any price! Interestingly, any one-off order is produced at least in triplicate. That way, should any catastrophe occur in manufacture or in shipping, there is always a fall-back copy to go to. One the piece is successfully delivered, the backups are destroyed, or perhaps one is retained for showroom display, but never for sale.

After the crystal works we went down to the clock tower, on the riverbank. This is a Waterford landmark erected in 1861 for the princely sum of £200. We then walked up the hill and over to Ballybrickan (a secondary group of shops) before walking back via the main shopping drag to the "Viking Triangle", a historic section of the town. We went into Christ Church Cathedral, which has a rather different interior, rather reminiscent of Wedgewood pottery, and a superb Elliott organ, a replacement for an organ destroyed by fire in 1815. There is a beautiful stained glass window, dating from 1930, which has a somewhat pre-Raphaelite feel to it. Warren was intrigued by the Tetragrammaton standing in pride of place above the altar, right where most Christian churches have a cross or a crucifix.

Cathedral organ

Window

Tetragrammaton

We then went into the Medieval Museum, whose second floor concentrates on the religious history of Waterford from its origins as a Viking base Vadrarfjord ('Haven from the windswept sea', or perhaps 'Fjord of the rams') in 918AD through to the 13th century, and the third floor Waterford's history as a port through numerous English kings. Interesting displays! van

We then went round past Greyfriars, the remains of a 13th century Franciscan friary, and past Reginald's Tower, the original 914AD Viking tower built by Ragnall, a grandson of Ivar the Boneless (love the name!).

Returning to the van, we left for parts west.

Ormond Castle

We drove to Carrick-on-Sur (Carrag no Siuire) where we parked outside Ormond Castle, a Tudor fortified manor with parts dating back to the 1400s, but mostly constructed in the 1560s. We went in for a tour. It has been sadly neglected, and the ruined nature of the earlier back section is due entirely to lack of maintenance, not in any way due to attack. This last winter didn't treat the building kindly either, as the wet and the wind apparently entered and damaged some of the better preserved sections of the front manor house. But the OPW (Office of Public Works) are doing their best to rectify the situation,and in the next 2 years extensive restoration work will be carried out.

Our park for the night

We left Ormond Castle, but decided our parking space was too nice to leave before the following morning, and so that's what happened!

Distance driven — today, 20 miles ( 32 km ); to date, 1,428 miles ( 2,298 km )