I like to start a blog with a photograph and here is one I made earlier, literally!! I built these pillars a number of years ago and had the gates made in a traditional 'Ulster Style' by Walker Brothers of Ballyward. The round hoops are not only decorative but to add strength to the gate to stop it sagging. The hoops are made by the Walkers using a set of Rollers that have been in their black-smithing family for generations. The rollers are like an old fashioned 'Mangle' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangle_(machine) used to dry clothes except that in this case there are 3 rollers and the straight metal bar is fed in on it's edge, as the curvature of the hoop is increased the rollers are screwed in closer and the bar is fed in a second or third time. Like all these skills and traditions they are at risk of dying out, in mass production gate manufacture these hoops would be cut out of sheets of steel using Lasers I presume. I have taken this photo from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board Library and apparently we, ie people in the Tourism trade, are permitted to use these photos, but why then I wonder is the NITB logo still in the middle of the photo. I think it a bit of an irony that they claim copyright to the image but I had a major contribution in the formation of the image, funny I was aware of that when I was building the gate and pillars; that they would be used to frame photographs of the Mournes.
By the way, talking of gates sagging, the correct way to climb a gate, if it has to be done at all, is to climb it on the hinge or hanger side this avoids putting a strain on the gate and causing it to sag. The current advice in 'gate construction' is to cement a flat stone tightly under the locking side of the gate so that if it is climbed on that side the potential damage is limited.
I was checking out some material on the BBC website http://www.bbc.co.uk/ and came across a great resource based on a programme called 'Your Place and Mine' which is a local BBC Northern Ireland programme broadcast every Saturday morning from 8.00 a.m. to 9.00a.m. and has 12 regional reporters from towns and regions right across the country.
It appears that whatever story the programme covered they added it to their website with more information and audio clips of the original programme. One of the best of these is the feature on the tunnellers who formed the tunnel under the Mourne Mountains to divert the Annalong River to top up the Silent Valley Reservoir in order to maintain a supply of water to the ever avaricious City of Belfast. To view this material click on the link below and see where it takes you
