Eight Centuries by the Blackwater

“The warp and weave of
life that threads its way from
one generation to the next is
something that catches us all
in its mystery, binding us to
our forebears and linking us
to the wider consequences of
history.”
Barbara Grubb can trace her
family lineage back 26 generations,
to July 3rd 1215, to be
precise, when King John of
England granted the modern
day counties of Waterford and
Cork to her ancestor Thomas
Fitz-Anthony.
Among the lands granted
to Fitz-Anthony included the
magnificent site overlooking
the River Blackwater where
Dromana House, the centrepiece
of ‘Dromana 800’, still
proudly stands.
Running from Thursday,
July 2nd to Sunday, July 5th,
the ‘celebration of the FitzGerald
family’ shall see 21
events held in Villierstown,
Cappoquin, along with Tourin,
Ballyin, Salterbridge, Youghal
and on the Blackwater itself.
And following a hectic year
of planning, and with great
co-operation from the local
community, Waterford City
& County Council and Fáilte
Ireland, Barbara is looking
forward to the historicallythemed
festivities getting
underway.
“Eight hundred years represents
a pretty significant
anniversary, and we felt it was
only right to commemorate it,
hence ‘Dromana 800’,” Barbara
told The Munster Express over
a cup of tea in her kitchen on
Wednesday last.
“In the old days, my ancestors
would have built churches,
schools and bridges (as well as
Villierstown itself) and made
a positive contribution to the
area economically, and would
also have been big employers.
“Things have changed, of
course, and we’re not in a position
to make so wholesale a
contribution anymore, but this
event, thanks to the strength of
the family ‘brand’ so to speak,
and the opportunity presented
by the anniversary, that this
seemed like a logical way of
promoting the area from a
tourism aspect.”
Coming just a fortnight
after the Immrama Festival of
Travel Writing and a fortnight
before the Camphire Horse
Trials, ‘Dromana 800’ is sandwiched
in between two well
established events on the West
Waterford calendar.
With historic tours of the
locality’s houses planned,
along with a seminar on the
history, architecture and art of
the Blackwater Valley, a commemoration
of the 1565 Battle
of Affane, a Medieval Feast at
Dromana House, along with
music and dance, an eventful
four days beckon out west.
“I must admit, if I’d realised
the extent of what was
involved, I would have begun
planning a good deal earlier!”
Barbara added.
“We’ve got 21 different
events planned, so it’s a very
significant event and we’re
very excited about it. It’s all
been done on a voluntary
basis, it’s non-profit and we’d
just hope to break even at the
end of it all. We just hope the
weather is kind and that would
be the biggest natural element
we’d like to run in our favour.”
And Dromana 800 has
attracted international attention,
given that Councillor
Graham Pittock of Dromana
in Victoria, Australia, shall
attend the FitzGerald Rally
at Dromana House on Friday,
July 3rd.
Cllr Pittock is to perform
a ceremonial sod turning to
mark the planting of a new
cherry tree, a plant which has
enormous significance from a
FitzGerald perspective.
“Katherine FitzGerald, the
first Countess of Desmond (“a
frisky old girl” wrote Thomas
Moore), so it’s been recorded,
fell to her death from a cherry
tree at the reported age of
140 – and the tree itself had
originally been planted by Sir
Walter Raleigh, so it’s quite
appropriate to mark this celebration,
800 years precisely
to the day that Thomas Fitz-
Anthony was granted these
lands, with the planting of
another such tree.”
Barbara Grubb acknowledged
the support of Waterford
City & County Council,
Tourism Ireland and Fáilte
Ireland in promoting and supporting
Dromana 800.
“They’ve all been absolutely
fantastic,” she said. “The
Council, in particular, have
been incredibly supportive
and we’ve been told we’ll have
some new signage in place
to direct visitors to Dromana
House, which would also
be helpful from a long-term
tourism perspective.”
The Waterford Garden Trail
has represented one of the
Council’s major rural tourism
initiatives in recent years, an
innovation which Barbara
Grubb said has proven “very
beneficial” in boosting visitor
numbers to Dromana House
and Gardens.
“Our visitor numbers have
doubled over the past year,
which is obviously very pleasing,
and when you factor in
Mount Congreve, Curraghmore
and Lismore Castle
gardens into the equation,
along with Ballyin, Tourin
and Salterbridge which are all
nearby, it’s clear that Waterford
is tremendously well served in
that respect.”
As for the ‘Ancient East’
initiative? “I’m actually quite
pleased with the whole idea,
given that it’s all about built
heritage and if it’s given the
same push as the Wild Atlantic
Way has been given, then it
should work.
“On the River Blackwater
alone, we have a tremendous
amount of built heritage – in
fact there are 126 houses of
significance and great history,
located between the source and
the estuary, so the Ancient East
sounds to me like a very good
fit for this area. We’re hugely
rich in heritage.”
From a historic perspective,
the last private battle fought
in either Ireland or Britain
took place in nearby Affane in
1565, waged between the FitzGeralds
and Butlers, is bona
fide Ancient East territory.
And this conflict will be
marked at Dromana 800 on
Saturday, July 4th via a guided
tour of the battle site which
is due to run from 2.30pm to
5pm that afternoon and will
also be remembered in music
and song.
“That battle, between
the Earls of Desmond and
Ormond, was very, very important,”
Barbara Grubb stated.
“They met on the Finisk
River, just around the corner
from here and they both ended
up being taken to the Tower of
London, but I think Ormond
(‘Black Tom’ Butler) came
out of it slightly better than
Desmond due to his being a
cousin of (Queen) Elizabeth I.
“That of course was the
period in which Elizabeth
planted people such as Walter
Raleigh in Munster, and the
whole geography of the province
was influenced by that
battle, so it was a very significant
event in Irish history, let
alone the history of Waterford.”
One of the highlights of the
event is the Georgian Fete,
which will be held in Villierstown
on Sunday, July 5th
from 12noon to 5pm, when the
village “will be transformed
back to its origins” according
to the ‘Dromana 800’
programme.
“David Norris will be
joining us for the fete, as will
the 1st Earl Grandison John
Villiers, and that ought to be a
wonderful afternoon – fingers
crossed, the weather will be
very kind to us,” Barbara
Grubb continued.
“There will be a ‘food
village’ on the Main Street,
with stalls catering for all
tastes; we’ll have traditional
crafts on display such as lace
making, bee keeping and
blacksmithing, there’ll be
archery, tarot cards and, for
the children, there’ll also be an
opportunity to play Georgian
games, such as hoopla, skittles
and the coconut shy.
“Ticket sales are going well,
thankfully and we hope everything
will run smoothly. It
ought to be a very entertaining
and insightful four days.”
For bookings, log onto
www.dromana800.com or
call 087-4660921.