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Displaying items by tag: Story of Bicentenary Harbour

#DunLaoghaireBook - “You’d Be filled With wonder, The Story of Dun Laoghaire Harbour! is the title of a new publication to celebrate last year's Bicentenary of Dun Laoghaire Harbour.

The harbour which began construction in 1817, has caught the imagination of writers, playwrights and poets for two centuries. Countless books have been written recalling the stories of shipwrecks, storms and forgotten heroes to all, but children.

The Blackrock Education Centre, supported by Dun Laoghaire Harbour Company, has created a children’s book as a legacy to the future custodians, sailors and visitors to the harbour.

To mark the enormous impact of Dun Laoghaire Harbour which has had on the local area the first children’s book about the harbour is now in bookshops . The unique book was written by local historian Dr Seamus Cannon with support from Grainne O Malley and Colin Scudds.

The book was designed by Eliane Pearce as a series of 15 bite sized stories highlighting key events in the harbour’s history. Tales of heroism, genius, celebration, tragedy and how the harbour began with a tragic double shipwreck and became the largest construction project of its time in Ireland.

Dún Laoghaire Harbour was witness to some of the great historical events of the past two centuries and these moments are captured in vivid colour with remarkable illustrations.

The book will ignite the imagination of school children along with curious adults and tourists alike. Available for €9.00 in local bookstores and alternatively to acquire online click here.

The Rankin Dinghy of Cobh, Cork Harbour 

A Rankin is a traditional wooden dinghy which was built in Cobh, of which it’s believed there were 80 and of which The Rankin Dinghy Group has traced nearly half. 

The name of the Rankin dinghies is revered in Cork Harbour and particularly in the harbourside town of Cobh.

And the name of one of those boats is linked to the gunboat which fought against the Irish Volunteers during the 1916 Easter Rising and later for the emergent Irish Free State Government against anti-Treaty Forces during the Irish Civil War.

It also links the renowned boat-building Rankin family in Cobh, one of whose members crewed on the gunboat.

Maurice Kidney and Conor English are driving the restoration of the Rankin dinghies in Cork Harbour. They have discovered that Rankins were bought and sailed in several parts of the country.