World War II Eire sign unearthed in Wexford by group of dedicated volunteers
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Irish Post
2 days ago
- Irish Post
Delivered by lamplight in old rural Donegal
IN the shadow of empire and economic hardship, one Irish childhood spans the transition from thatched cottages to postwar council flats—and all the ghosts in between. James Harvey's memoir Grappling With Ghosts captures the strangeness and struggle of a lost world. Below is an extract from the book... THE world on both sides of the Irish Sea is so utterly changed today from what it was when I entered it eight decades ago, that it's hard to recapture it now. But recreating the strange and remote realities of that world is what I set out to do in the memoir of my childhood, Grappling With Ghosts, published earlier this year. Ireland, just 30 years removed from 700 years of British domination, had scarcely emerged from the 19th century. It remained a 'priest-ridden, God-forsaken race,' in James Joyce's acerbic description. London, meanwhile, shrouded in fog and greasy coal soot was the epicentre of an exhausted debtor nation, still clinging to an image of British exceptionalism. A young Queen Elizabeth took the throne, Winston Churchill took his second bite at the prime ministerial apple, and the Empire circled the drain. As my mother's contractions began on the day she delivered me, back in the 1940s, the only way to get her to Donegal hospital about ten miles away was by horse and cart. There were few cars in Donegal at the time. There was no taxi stand to turn to. Even if there had been, there were no telephones. For that matter, there was no electricity. The horse-drawn cart was the only option, its boxy body without springs sitting on an unforgiving cast-iron axle and large 4-foot-high wooden wheels, shod in steel. They never made it to the hospital. As the horse plodded along on Donegal's rough roads, my mother realized they had better stop at her parents' thatched cottage. My grandmother got busy preparing to deliver the baby. In due course I arrived, and my grandmother made a startling discovery. 'There's another one in there,' she declared to my mother's shock. Before they knew it, my twin brother Frank, made his appearance. And the two of us became the fourth and fifth children in the family. Frank earned the only crib in the cottage. I was unceremoniously dumped in a kitchen drawer. James Harvey's mother pictured at the Neeld Arms in Paddington, London Pregnant women and their families at the time had so little agency that professionals didn't think they needed to know that twins were on the way. Meanwhile, London, to which we moved three years later, was still marked by the destruction of World War II. Everywhere you turned you found armless and legless men in wheelchairs or on crutches. There were bombed sites all over the city—buildings that had been flattened during World War II. One of them was located right beside our home in St. John's Wood. Another was across Cirencester Street from the primary school I later attended in Paddington. The overwhelming sense of London in the early 1950s was of a grim and dark environment. Thousands of chimneys belched black coal smoke that congealed greasily on everything it touched—and in every lung it entered. Bronchial catarrh was a sort of universal affliction among London adults. After men hopped off busses, many of them performed a routine pantomime of coughing, hawking, and spitting to get rid of the discharge. Life was tough for working people. Work was hard. Wages tight. Spousal abuse was taken for granted. Newsagents sold cigarettes in packs of five, and even one or two at a time. And toughs known as Teddy Boys dressed in Edwardian clothes and terrorized some streets. Teddy Boys in 1950s London But shafts of light penetrated this gloom. Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. A British expedition scaled Everest. And Roger Bannister, an Oxford medical student, broke the legendary four-minute mile barrier. Locally, pubs provided a break from the tedium. The Neeld Arms in Paddington, where my mother worked as a barmaid, served as a social centre for the Irish community in and around Harrow Road. Life was a challenging struggle for the working-class Irish, whether farming in Donegal or living as labourers or domestics in London. But the bleakness and financial stress of those days could be relieved by the love and affection of close-knit families. The book is available now James Harvey's memoir, Grappling With Ghosts: Childhood Memories from Postwar Ireland and London, 2025 is available now. See More: Grappling With Ghoses, James Harvey, Memoir
Irish Independent
5 days ago
- Irish Independent
53 social homes to be part of historic Wicklow home redevelopment
The architects, Michael Stack and Emma Hickey, first presented the proposals for the 53 homes to the January meeting of Bray Municipal District. They are to be created across three blocks – nine three-storey town houses, with another 44 apartments in two separate blocks of 20 and 24 homes. In total, the plans are for a mix of 21 one-beds, 23 two-beds and nine three-beds, with Rockbrae House itself to become a five-storey building. The heights across the development will vary, with the lowest on the southside stepping from three to five storeys, and a playground is included in the development as it is over 50 units. There will be a total of 33 car parking spaces, including one for each of the three-beds. The Gothic-style two-storey house was first built in the 1870s on lands leased from the Pembroke Estate. The Defence Forces took ownership of the site following the outbreak of World War II and subsequently became the headquarters of the FCA. In 2005, when the FCA was amalgamated into the Reserves, the facility fell into disrepair and became derelict. The site was also subject to an increase in reports of anti-social behaviour. Following years of prolonged negotiations, it was finally handed over to the local authority in 2022. A fire gutted the building in April 2023, and, at the November meeting of the district last year, the council announced its intention to build homes on it for social housing, in an effort to address the growing housing needs in the town. After a preliminary examination, Wicklow County Council has concluded there is no real likelihood of significant effects on the environment arising from the proposed development. Therefore, an environmental impact assessment is not required. A screening of the proposed development has also taken place, with Wicklow County Council determining that it would not be likely to have a significant effect on a European site. Work has also taken place into clearing the site, with new fencing erected and cameras installed. Submissions or observations may be made in writing to David Porter, Administrative Officer, Capital Projects Office of Wicklow County Council on or before 12 noon Friday, August 22, 2025. Submissions and observations should be clearly marked 'Rockbrae House Part 8'. Submissions may also be made by email to part8@
Irish Independent
6 days ago
- Irish Independent
World War II Eire sign unearthed in Wexford by group of dedicated volunteers
A piece of World War II history has been brought back to light in Wexford after a group of volunteers unearthed an Eire sign at Cahore Point on Sunday, July 13. Sean O Brien along with members of the community began took the initiative to return the historical landmark to its previous glory.
