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Thursday, July 29, 2010
Enniscorthy was front-page news
ENNISCORTHY WAS a different place in the days when Bobby Canavan could make a decent living by selling evening papers on the streets.
There was a choice too, The Evening Herald or The Evening Press.
Bobby’s work would begin in the early afternoon.
Armed with a bundle of newspapers under his arm, selling at about two pence each, people would buy from him on the street, of course, he would pop his head inside the pub doors too, and that was a valuable way of maximising his sales.
Bobby would never give up until the last newspaper was sold. It was all about the personal touch and the desire to read the news and digest the sports results.
Selling newspapers could be a difficult job, especially on wet days.
But in November 1965 it was particularly testing, so much so that the River Slaney was in such a raging flood that it was front page news on The Evening Press.
Despite the flooding and the dreadful weather conditions that engulfed the whole country that day, the newspapers were delivered on time from Dublin and they probably sent down an extra dozen or so!
Normally divided by the River Slaney, eastern and westerners had never seen an uncontrollable rush of muddy currents like this, but crossing the bridge was out of the question and large crowds gathered to watch the action.
Many made the journey from the country districts to witness for themselves an unwanted natural event that was making national headline news.
Every time it rains excessively the locals will readily recall November ’65 and recount the rescue of householders on Island Road where flooding to ceiling level meant engaging fishing boats to bring people to safety from their second-floor windows.
Templeshannon Quay was badly affected and for the first time the old coaching inn premises, then known as the Portsmouth Arms or Bennett’s Hotel, was closed for afternoon tea and hot whiskey service.
The amateur weather forecasters were quick off the mark in identifying the causes of this major catastrophe – no waiting months for an experts’ report or a scientific explanation.
Sitting at the head of tidal waters, the flooding of ’65 was caused by four coinciding factors – torrential rain over a period of days, a heavy snowfall melting in the Wicklow Mountains, spring tides, and a strong east wind that caused a back up tide in Wexford Harbour.
Townspeople of a certain vintage who could remember "Black ‘47" had an argument to settle. Which was the worst, ’47 or ’65? It is amazing how much debate we get from studying the weather in this country.
In 1947, a severe snow fall occurred that year and when it began to thaw the run off caused a swollen river that burst its banks and flooded large chunks of town property.
On both occasions it was the residential neighbourhood at Island Road and the commercial businesses on Templeshannon Quay that were worst affected.
In 1963, the snow was followed by a dense frost that brought the country to a standstill for many weeks and central heating hadn’t even been invented back then! We all survived.
We are a hardy race. We have to. We never know when the weather is going to become angry and a threat to property, home, life and limb.
An older generation used to talk about the "Night of the Big Wind", an event that I am trying to gather some information about, particularly in the way it affected Wexford.
On the night of January 6th 1839 Ireland was hit by a fierce storm. It is described as reaching "hurricane" force.
According to The Freeman’s Journal, "The storm with which this city (Dublin) was visited on Sunday night was one of the most violent which has blown from the face of Heaven within the memory of the oldest inhabitants."
The report describes "the roaring of the hurricane, the pealing of firebells, the sounds of falling chimneys, windows breaking and slates and tiles flying through the streets."
However, since the storm was blowing directly from the land, neither in the river or the harbour of Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) did any vessel suffer damage. That was an amazing escape from a maritime disaster.
The report said it was totally impossible for any steamer or other vessel to approach the coast, and any which might have been in the early part of the night must have been driven out to sea, where it remained unclear how they weathered the horrors of the night!
There was loss of life in Dublin, generally caused by falling chimneys. In Dawson Street, a house was completely shattered to pieces by the falling of a stack of chimneys.
The arrival of the mail coaches was greatly disrupted. The Wexford mail was four and a half hours’ late and was delivered by guards on horseback.
The storm came across the country from Mayo which took the brunt of the hurricane and suffered devastation. Nationally, 250-300 people died.
The nearest report I could get from the south-east was from Carlow where part of the church steeple fell down and a tower from the ancient castle crashed into rubble.
One clever Carlow native took advantage and turned loss into profit – he sold ten shillings worth of slates that he had gathered on the streets!
In rural Ireland "The Night of the Big Wind" extinguished lanterns and candles and some people were so scared that they ran out into the fields where they clung to bushes and rushes.
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