Set on the confluence of the River Suir

River Suir

The River Suir is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Waterford after a distance of .Popular with anglers, it holds plentiful reserves of brown trout...

 and the River Barrow

River Barrow

The Barrow is a river in Ireland. It is one of The Three Sisters; the other two being the River Suir and the River Nore. The Barrow is the longest and most prominent of the three rivers...

 is Cheekpoint a village with a fascinating maritime history. Lying beneath the 150 metre high Minaun Hill (mountain meadow by a river) the village has panoramic views of Waterford Harbour

Waterford Harbour

Waterford Harbour is a natural harbour at the mouth of the Three Sisters; the River Nore, the River Suir and the River Barrow in Ireland. It is navigable for shipping to both Waterford and New Ross. The Port of Waterford is capable of accommodating vessels up to 32,000 tons dwt...

, the 2131 ft. Barrow Bridge, which was once the longest bridge in Ireland, and Great Island Power Station now owned by the power giant Endesa

Endesa

Endesa is the acronym of Empresa Nacional de Electricidad S.A.. Two electric utility companies in the world use this name:*Endesa *Endesa , a subsidiary of the former's Latin American investment arm Enersis...

. The village is also surrounded by the Malting Woods which were planted by Cornelius Bolton (see history).

The Irish name for Cheekpoint is "Pointe na Síge", or perhaps "Pointe na Sí" (in English, Point of the Fairies). It is also claimed to mean Point of the Streak,. Now it is thought that the name comes from a rock called Carraig na Síge out on the river near the low water mark which shows a trail of foam or streak with the ebbing tide.

Subsequently it was called Bolton but this name is now no longer used and the original is the only one recognised. Before the building of the pier at Dunmore East

Dunmore East

Dunmore East is a popular tourist and fishing village village in County Waterford, Ireland. Situated on the west side of Waterford Harbour on Ireland's southeastern coast, it lies within the barony of Gaultier : a reference to the influx of Norman settlers in the area.-History:Iron Age people...

, Cheekpoint was a thriving village, being the station at which the mail packets from England for Waterford stopped. In addition there were cotton, rope, and hosiery factories which disappeared when the mail packet station was transferred to Dunmore East on July 1, 1818.

History

Cheekpoint and the lands which surrounded it were owned of the Aylward family from Bristol, who had been granted 7000 acres of pastureland by King Henry II

Henry II

- King or Emperor :*Saint Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor , crowned King of Germany in 1002, of Italy in 1004 and Emperor in 1014*Henry II of England , reigned from 1154...

 in 1177. They held it until Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell

Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....

 dispossessed them in 1649 when they refused to renounce Catholicism. Cromwell then gave the property to one of his officers, a Captain William Bolton. In 1783 Cornelius Bolton(1751–1829) built Faithlegg House after he had inherited the Faithlegg Estate from his father in 1779.

Cornelius Bolton was a very progressive landlord and he was very interested in helping his tenants to progress. He built the pier at the nearby village of Cheekpoint and then he built a textile factory, a rope factory and a hotel. However these enterprises failed and he went bankrupt in 1819. This was largely due to the mail packet station to Milford Haven

Milford Haven

Milford Haven is a town and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, a natural harbour used as a port since the Middle Ages. The town was founded in 1790 on the north side of the Waterway, from which it takes its name...

 in Wales being transferred to Dunmore East in 1818.

Sleater's "Topography of Ireland" published in 1806 has the following reference:- "Bolton, formerly called Cheekpoint, cotton factory and hoisery, established by Mr. Bolton. A most commodious Inn for passengers in the packets to and from Milford Haven in Pembrokershire. An earlier writer refers to it - "Mr. Cornelius Bolton lives very retired in the country and has employed a considerable part of his fortune in building a large village where he has established several important manufactures, particularly looms. The industry which he encourages in his colony renders it probable that his expense will be repaid him, and that it will become an object of utility to the public and of profit to him although suggested by motives of humanity ".

It also mentions "that to the spirited exertions of Mr. Bolton the citizens of Waterford were said to be primarily indebted for the establishment of the packets from England, and that the diversion of these packets from Cheekpoint to Dunmore East would be a serious loss to the proprietor of Cheekpoint who had expanded a considerable sum of money on hotels and other accommodations, unless Parliament should take this loss into consideration".

The decision by the British Government to grant the money to build the harbour at Dunmore East in 1814 spelt the end for the Cheekpoint enterprise and when the transfer of the mail packet took place in 1818 Cheekpoint ceased to have the passenger business which kept the village alive. The change from sail to steam meant that it would now be possible to run a service between Milford Haven and Ireland to a reasonable schedule and the new harbour at Dunmore East facilitated this greatly.

Cheekpoint was then only used as a fishery harbour in the 19th and 20th centuries and became famous for a certain type of small fishing craft called the Cheekpoint Prong

Cheekpoint Prong

The Cheekpoint Prong is a fishing cot from the village of Cheekpoint which is situate on the River Suir and where it has a confluence with the River Barrow. It is a timber boat which is similar in shape to a Currach which is still used on the west coast or Ireland.The origin of the Prong is not...

 which was 17 ft.6in. long with a 4 ft.8in. beam and was normally rowed or paddled. They were used for long lining and salmon fishing with drift nets, snap nets and draft nets.

In 1995 a series of groins (or groyne

Groyne

A groyne is a rigid hydraulic structure built from an ocean shore or from a bank that interrupts water flow and limits the movement of sediment. In the ocean, groynes create beaches, or avoid having them washed away by longshore drift. In a river, groynes prevent erosion and ice-jamming, which...

) were built up to 200 metres out in the river to divert the Cheekpoint Bar which was a mudbank impeding large vessels from travelling to the Port of Waterford

Port of Waterford

The Port of Waterford is situated several kilometres downstream of Waterford City on the northern side of the Suir river in South County Kilkenny, and is called Belview...

. These groins resulted in the harbour at Cheekpoint silting up so badly that only small craft may now enter. The harbour is not used very often now by visiting craft because of this difficulty.

External links

Irish Railway Record Society *http://www.irrs.ie/Journal%20174/174%20SouthWexford.htm

River Cots of the South East *http://www.inshore-ireland.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=303&Itemid=143