larne

(a) you're very early this morning, obviously having eaten your wheat cereal with milk and raisins for energy! (b) You appear to have had a bad weekend as you are in cruel and inhuman form inflicting suffering on innocent people on a wet and dreary Monday. (c) the a foot the cataloguer mentions is of course "afoot" rather than "astride" or "aboard" but its a good title anyway! What a dreadful pose for a photograph? What did they think they were doing - showing their best side to the camera???

I could see a distinctive "notch" in the the background and felt that such a unique topographical feature would be relatively easy to identify. On closer examination it seems that this is one of those plates where the sky has either peeled or been scraped off and the "notch" is just a bad piece of scraping;-( When you look at the detail on what remains in the shot it is a very fine one with the two ladies peeking around the building near the church to look at the those crazy tourists and photographer. I'm thinking down near Connemara or West Clare and there is a similar castle near Doolin, could that be it???

Swordscookie (a) have had no breakfast yet - putting the needs of our Flickroonies before my own! (odour of singing martyr) But don't tell my mother I left the house with no brekkie, there'd be hell to pay... (b) Knowing you lot, one of you will announce in the next few minutes that you know exactly where this was taken...

Not a Lot to go on..... West of Ireland I would reckon. AND - way out there ----------- on the left are they cables?? something to do with Marconi?? Similar cables to ????

Reminiscent of Carrigogunnel Castle. www.flickr.com/photos/nlireland/7948253702/in/photostream/

Given its the "Weekly News" perhaps it is not taken on the day? (just to be persnickety)

www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001561167/ Edward Wm Mack - Photographer Not there in 1901

www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai001561165/ Matthew Gettenby in 1911 - Manufacturer Draper in 1901 and correct spelling!

At the time Larne had a booming incoming tourist trade as it was the gateway to the Glens of Antrim and with a variety of hotels. People from Belfast would go to Larne by train for days out but also there would be visitors on the ferries from Scotland on day trips - Stranraer was only 2 1/2 hours away. This explains the "Irish Souvenir Warehouse" branding which was aimed primarily at Scottish visitors.

Welch's Irish Views. The Robert Welch photographs in Birmingham Central Library form part of the Sir Benjamin Stone Collection; acquired by Benjamin Stone between 1904 and 1906. Archives and Heritage Service hold more than 400 of his photos. Robert Welch, born in 1859, had a photographic studio in Belfast. Though he never married he had many friends who spoke of his helpfulness and generosity, he was described as a 'friend to all the world'. He died in 1936. Robert Welch travelled all over Ireland taking photos of the people and their way of life; he advertised himself as an 'ethnographer'. As a commercial photographer, he sold copies to many different organisations. His photos were used as postcards, as illustrations for travel books, and to accompany scientific lectures www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagena...

There seems to have been extensive land reclamation since 1955. Google Satellite 3D view - www.google.com/maps/@54.8448983,-5.7937917,89a,35y,323.44...

[Aside] We visited the pale house near the Chaine Memorial Tower (see note right hand side) in 1899 - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaine_Memorial

beachcomber australia And excavation, it’s difficult to reconcile that view with any of the various vintage PRONI maps. The trip could have been worth his while as the fuel would have been tax free for a ‘foreign flight’

Two railways ran side by side to Larne harbour. The Ballymena and Larne railway, a narrow gauge railway and the Belfast and Northern Counties railway, a standard gauge railway. 1950 saw wholesale closures of railways following the formation of the Ulster Transport Authority in 1948. The Ballymena and Larne railway was one of many that were closed than year. The road on the right of the railway lines is still known as the Narrow Gauge Road.

Passenger steamer is the Princess Margaret, older sister of the well known Princess Maud.