JerPoint Abbey, The Dunbrody Famine Ship & Waterford Crystal

Jerpoint Abbey (Irish: Mainistir Sheireapúin)^[1] is a ruined Cistercian abbey, founded in the second half of the 12th century in County Kilkenny, Ireland. It is located 2.5 km south west of Thomastown on the R448 regional road. There is a visitor centre with an exhibition. It has been declared a national monument and has been in the care of the Office of Public Works since 1880.

It was constructed in 1180, by Donchadh Ó Donnchadha Mac Giolla Phátraic, the King of Osraige. It was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. Jerpoint is notable for its stone carvings, including one at the tomb of Felix Ua Duib Sláin, Bishop of the Diocese of Ossory. The abbey flourished until the Dissolution of the Monasteries by the English king Henry VIII.

Jerpoint Abbey gives its name to the civil parish of Jerpoint Abbey or Abbey-Jerpoint in the barony of Knocktopher. It lies near the anciently corporate town of Newtown Jerpoint.

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Photo credit By Andreas F. Borchert, CC BY-SA 4.0,

The Dunbrody was a three-masted barque built in Quebec in 1845 by Thomas Hamilton Oliver for the Graves family, merchants from New Ross in Wexford.

She operated primarily as a cargo vessel, carrying timber and guano to Ireland.

Passenger service

She was fitted with bunks and between April to September from 1845 to 1851, she carried passengers on the outward leg to North America. These passengers were people desperate to escape the Great Famine of Ireland at the time, and conditions for steerage passengers were tough.

An area of 6 foot square was allocated to up to 4 passengers (who might not be related) and their children. Often 50% died on passage (they were known as “coffin ships”). However, the mortality rate on the Dunbrody was exceptionally low, no doubt due to her captains, John Baldwin and his successor John W. Williams, with passengers writing home often praising their dedication. On one passage with 313 passengers, almost twice her normal complement, only 6 died.

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Photo credit By I, Suckindiesel, CC BY-SA 3.0,

Waterford Crystal is a manufacturer of lead glass or “crystal”, especially in cut glass, named after the city of Waterford, Ireland. In January 2009, the main Waterford Crystal manufacturing base on the edge of Waterford was closed due to the insolvency of Waterford Wedgwood PLC, and in June 2010, Waterford Crystal relocated almost back to the roots of glass-making in the city centre. The Mall location holds both a manufacturing facility that melts over 750 tonnes of crystal a year – although most Waterford Crystal is now produced outside Ireland – and a visitor centre with the world’s largest collection of Waterford Crystal. As of 2015, the brand is owned by the Fiskars Corporation.^[1]

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