Waterford County Museum, Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, Ireland. Charity Reg: 17397
Tel: +353 (0)58 45960  Email: [email protected]
Articles    Photos
Table Of Contents
Epilogue
11.

Ardmore Memory and Story - Events and Changes

11. Epilogue
And so we have crossed the Rubicon as it were and we are in the new millennium. We hear so much discussion on it that we are inclined to forget what it really means. It celebrates the two thousandth anniversary of the coming of Christ and therefore the advent of Christianity. A mere four hundred or so years later, the news of Christ's coming had spread across thousands of miles of land and sea and had reached our little island. In Ardmore we pride ourselves on having been the first on this island to hear the amazing new message of Christianity, brought to us by St. Declan whose name is ever fresh here in the Deise.

The last century had been ushered in by midnight mass at the local church, the parish priest being Fr Walsh, more commonly known as 'Geallaim-se' as he prefaced so many of his sentences of his sermons by the remark "Geallaim-se dhaoibh-se a bhráithre" (I promise you brethern). Besides the celebration of Mass this century and millennium were ushered in by an astonishing concert in a packed church, a torch light procession to the Beannachán and Cathedral and a wonderful display of fireworks.

The village has changed enormously in the course of the years. There was a change of language from Irish to English, changed ways of thinking, of living conditions. I have tried to put before you a picture of life in Ardmore through the century by describing various aspects of it, how the village grew and continues to grow, the various houses and who lived in them, the more important buildings, the organisations and their functions in the parish transport and communications, interesting happenings such as the Eucharistic Congress, the Austrian Refugees, the war period in general.

Young people will perhaps find it difficult to visualise the different ways of life. Older people will perhaps look back with nostalgia while at the same time they realise the enormous changes for the better that have taken place.

Still these changes that have made life so much better have to be paid for in terms of pollution of the planet and we wonder what kind of a world are we leaving our children. However, let us step forward bravely together; some of us will be dropping out of the march soon enough and in the word of the traditional Irish blessing we say to all the people of our beloved of Ardmore "Slán is beannacht, is go n-éirí on bóthar libh".

Author: Siobhan Lincoln

Join Our Mailing List

Join our mailing list and get all the latest news for free via email. Simply enter your email address in the box below and press the 'Join' button.
Email:

Make A Donation

Waterford County Museum is a non profit voluntary museum. We would be grateful for any financial donation large or small.

Make payments with PayPal - it's fast, free and secure!

Social Media

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Blogger Follow us on Youtube
© Waterford County Museum 2014. All rights reserved. Please read our Terms of Use
Website By: Déise Design