Drogheda Memories.

One of our photographs of the Abbey Cinema in Drogheda stirred many memeries, so much so, it appeared in a column in this weeks Drogheda Independent (local paper). 

New website in development.

Just spent the last few hours playing with this website template from Wix.com in order to replace the college project website (it really is !!!) currently online.  So far so good.  I have a good template page set up and I even managed to complete another one on Drumcashel House, though couldn't get the map to work right though and the dot is in the wrong place, but right area.  Still, lots to do.  All I have to do now is buy the template so I can use it, but it will all be worth it in the end.

Did I mention we were planning a book out of this ?  Opps..... clearly not. 

A visit into childhood memories.

Abbey 2 viewed from the screen. 

The Abbey Cinema, Drogheda. 

For many years I have wanted to see the inside of the Abbey Cinema in Drogheda, to see what it looked like now but also to relive some childhood memories.  Many people can still recall the films they saw here, the charactors they met and buying popcorn at the shop.  It is, or rather, was a real part of the local community.  I remember it when it was run by a local family, but in the late 90s or whenever it was bought and run by the IMC group, who redecorated a little, hence the various curtains.  

A poster from 2006 is now all that remains outside the ticket office.

The cinema is private property and is owned by the same company that owns the Abbey Shopping Centre, but permission was granted by the owner and manager for us to enter and take some pictures of the inside.  What we found was  a remarkably intact interior, with only some damage/damp.  Needless to say the place was pitch black inside so tripods and torches were the order of the day and we tended to avoid parts of the upstairs that is now home to live, and not so live, pigeons.  

The projection room was a photographers paradise, and though the projectors themselves has long been removed, there was still lots there to fire the imagination.  The two screens, known as Abbey 1 and Abbey 2, were still there as was the shop where we used to buy tickets etc.  

The one memory that most people seem to remember is the lines of people who used to queue around the corner for a movie, with no quarantee of getting a seat.  As kids we used to wait impatiently on the four flights of stairs, my particular vivid memory, and get excited when we reached to top near the ticket office as we knew we were close, but sometimes we were disappointed and had to wait two hours or more for the film to come around again for our chance to see it.  'Star Wars' was obviously a popular one as was 'Santa Claus the Movie'  and the varoius kids films.  It was good to see the inside again.  Even the old wall mounted coin telephone still worked or had a tone !!!!.  

The memories.......  ..........

The famous stairs where we used to queue in hope.

Kilsaran House revist Saturday 5th July 2014.

 

Summertime is never a good time to visit old houses or derelict sites simply due to the fact that the undergrowth is enjoying its maximum growing season and usually its impossible to get far or to even photograph anything of note.

However, this being said, with a few hours to spare last Saturday we ventured a short distance for a short walk and revisited the nearby Kilsaran House and took this panorama image of the still intact Ballroom of the house.  Constructed in the mid 1930s for the building material of the day, concrete, the ballroom stands bunker like at the side of the house and is really the significant part of the house still standing.  The main part of the original house, just visible through the bay windows, has now fully collapsed into a heap and nothing remains but the external walls, and even those are beginning to fall outwards.  Abondoned in the early 1990s the house soon became a haven for 'Rave' parties, a bit different from the black tie balls that were once held there, and very soon afterwards fire and neglect finished it off.  Despite being sold in the late 90s, presumably for development, the house now stands an overgrown ruin.

The above photoshopped image incorporates an image taken of guests at one of the many balls superimposed over the same scene today.  The large circular window is still there, though the glass has obviously long gone, but is still impressive.  The dance floor has long decayed or been ripped up by vandals.

Where too next ???   Perhaps a return visit to Stephenstown house.  Always an impresive ruin with lots of detail still in situ.