Object of the Week - Watercolour Painting of the Pier near Faithlegg House, County Waterford by Maud Power c. 1920s

Maud Power of Faithlegg House was an amateur artist who wrote and illustrated a book titled 'Wayside India' published in 1907.  The Spectator reviewed it as follows: 'Miss Power relates her Indian experiences in a lively fashion, not without a certain tone of satire when she comes to describe the manners and customs of the British.  On the whole, the pen and ink pictures are effective...the sketches which are by the same hand, show an elegance'.

The picture is a recent acquisition and is now on display in our art section in the museum.  We are hoping to build up a collection of works by County Waterford artists and would love to hear from anyone who has such works.

Annual Museum Fundraising Book Sale 2018

A massive thank you to all our volunteers who helped us to move thousands of books for our annual book sale, especially our younger volunteers who no doubt will eventually be members of the museum society.

Thanks to Tomás, Nioclás and Tara who volunteered their vehicles to transport the books in a last minute emergency and as always a big thank you to the Ryan family who continue to make themselves available year after year.

Annual Museum Fundraising Book Sale 2018

Our annual book sale will take place next week from Thursday the 27^th to Saturday the 29^th of September from 9am - 7pm each day.

The venue is next to the Allrounder Sports Shop in Grattan Square.

Thousands of books and great bargains. 

Our book sale gives a much needed financial boost to help with the running costs of the museum so please do consider coming along to buy lots of books!

Talk on the Hermitage, Abbeyside

A packed house for museum curator William Fraher’s talk on Wednesday the 19^th of September 2018 about the Hermitage in Abbeyside was expected and such was the case.

William shed new light on the history of this wonderful and historical building and attachments which no longer grace the landscape at Abbeyside.  His talk which was presented with his usual and occasional dash of humour was followed by an interesting and prolonged question and answer session which shed further light on the history of the happenings at the Hermitage.

The Dungarvan Harbour Sailing Club venue is proving to be an ideal location for our museum talks and we are very grateful to them for allowing us the continued use of their wonderful venue.

Talk to Mark the Sinking of RMS Leinster

On the 10^th of October 1918 the RMS Leinster was torpedoed and over 500 people were drowned.  Amongst those drowned were a number of Waterford people and their story has not previously been told in detail.

The Musgrave sisters of Tourin House were two of those drowned and they are commemorated on a monument at Affane graveyard.

Author and former county librarian Donald Brady has been researching the subject and the Waterford casualties.  To mark the 100^th anniversary we are delighted that he will deliver a public talk titled: 'The Sinking of RMS Leinster 10^th October 1918: The Waterford Victims' on Wednesday the 3^rd of October 2018 at 8pm in the Dungarvan Harbour Sailing Club, Davitt's Quay, Dungarvan.

Admission is €5 and all are welcome.

Object of the Week - Ink and Watercolour Drawing of a Funeral Monument at St Carthage's Cathedral Lismore c. 1799

This funeral monument was erected in the cathedral with some minor alterations.  It commemorates Julia Chearnley (nee Browne) the second wife of Anthony Chearnley (b. 1761) of Salterbridge.  She died on the 27^th of August 1799 aged 25.  His first wife was Isabella Newcome.

This drawing is currently on display in the museum.

Object of the Week - Hand Coloured Map of the Road from Carrick to Kilmacthomas and Dungarvan to Cappoquin, taken from Taylor & Skinner's Maps of the Roads of Ireland 1777

Marked on the map are the following country houses - Grey Rock (Carriglea), Coughlan; Mount Odell, Odell; Rockville, Healy; Bettyville, Power; Belmont, Keane; and Dromana, Lord Grandison.

This map (along with other examples) is currently on display in the museum.

Object of the Week - Etching by Power O'Malley (1877-1946) of Carberry's Lane, Dungarvan c. 1935

The Dungarvan born artist settled in America but returned every year to paint landscapes and portraits in locations in the West of Ireland.  He also returned to his native County Waterford and this etching is based on a sketch.

In 1939 he held a one man show in the Waterford Art Gallery and this image was probably prepared for that exhibition.  It is still recognisable as the arch is still there joining the supermarket to Dan McCarthy's shop.

The etching was once in the collection of the great Irish/American collector Alfred M Bender who loaned or donated it to the San Francisco Museum of Art.

Bender was born in Dublin to German parents.  In 1932 he donated hundreds of pieces of Asian art to the National Museum of Ireland which the museum put on permanent display at Collins Barracks in 2008.