Coolaney Train Station

Coolaney Train Station with Washing

I visited Coolaney Train Station in 2007.  It has been closed since 1963 and also used to be known as Leyny Station.  Coolaney Station is on the Collooney to Claremorris Line. 

The Platform

Train Station with Grass

When I visited the Station there was washing drying on the platform; it was nice to see that the Station still had some use.  I called into the house next door and asked if the Station belonged to their family.  It did indeed and the people in the house were very kind and let me in to take some photographs. 

Platform

Waiting

Ticket Office Bathroom

When Coolaney Station closed it was used as a home for a number of years.  The ticket office was converted into a bathroom, but the ticket hatch was never removed from the wall.

View from the Ledge

After visiting the Station I spent several weeks walking the line from Coolaney to Tubbercurry.  I had planned to walk the whole North Western Rail Corridor but I stopped the journey because I felt like I was trespassing.  Since the line has closed people have incorporated it into their gardens and farms; as I followed the line it seemed that I was on people's land.  A walk along an abandoned rail line is also a pleasant experience.  These spaces have become wonderful nature reserves.
Click here to view more about abandoned railways. 

Museum of Abandoned and Bereaved Objects: Solo Show at room @ The Model, Sligo

I am having a solo show at room @ The Model, Sligo during the month of July 2012.  

Museum of Abandoned and Bereaved Objects is a sculpture and photography exhibition that showcases domestic objects that have been left behind in derelict dwellings.  

Teapots, religious statues, candles, keys, rust, dead birds, pictures, rosary beads, diaries, glasses, clocks, teddy bears and barometers. The abandonment of once treasured possessions makes us question the whereabouts of their owners.  

Why were these objects left behind?

 

 

Animated Jesus

 

Forgive me Father for I have sinned!  It has been four months since my last post.  Looking at derelict spaces has become an impossibility the last while, but as I near the end of my pregnancy and begin maternity leave I intend to share what I have been up to.

I am currently experimenting with animating existing photos.  I am working towards an exhibition that will show in The Model (room gallery), Sligo in April.  The working title is Museum of Abandoned and Bereaved Possessions.  Any feedback on this Jesus animation is most welcome.

Museum of Bereaved and Abandoned Ornaments

Mary Barley Water

An Irish Blessing

Icon Corner

Photo

Fireplace with Mirror

Petticoat Tail Biscuits

Sewing Machine

Drawer

Pope Wheel

Derelict Views: The Mill, Ballisodare.

A short film about the derelict and vandalised apartment complex The Mill.  This development in Ballisodare, Sligo is beautifully situated to enjoy views of the Garavogue River, Knocknarea, Queen Maeve's Tomb and the Ox Mountains.  

Sligo Co. Co. use this video on their website.  

The Demise of the Roadside Cottage

Mantlepiece with Tea Towels

The roadside cottage is an historic feature of Ireland.  Often associated with a romantic view of a rural picturesque idyll, this idealised view is now outdated.  The roadside cottage is in decline.   Though some of these dwellings are inhabited, for the most part roadside homes have become abandoned and derelict. 

Bedroom with carpet plants

Roadside cottages are usually made up of three small rooms with a small flat roof extension on the rear.  As these spaces become empty they are rarely given new inhabitants.  There are two reasons for this; the first being that they are too near roads that have now become extremely busy.  The second reason is that they are too small to meet contemporary living standards.   Modern housing is built further away from the road and has become increasingly larger.  In some cases the floor space of the roadside cottage can be smaller than the living room of a modern house.  

Kitchen

Roadside cottages are often invisible within the local community.  With boarded windows and flaking paint, people would rather not look at them.  The interior of these spaces have often been left intact.  While nothing of worth remains, it is often disturbing to see the personal effects that are left behind.  Shoes sit waiting for an owner who will never come back, a biscuit tin holds odds and ends, a picture of Jesus looks into an empty room.

Ladies Shoes

Jacob's Biscuits

Jesus Waiting

These spaces are suspended in time and space.  As life moves by outside, inside, apart from the inevitable decay, things are very still.  The interiors of derelict cottages chronicle a way of living that is now lost.  The inhabitants must have been elderly and what is most unnerving is the thought that these people have probably now passed on.  It is saddening to see that their treasured possessions remain; this acts to remind us of the impermanence of life.  

Commode and Chair

Family photograph

It is often possible to date when a dwelling became empty by checking dates on cartons of milk and on newspapers.  In one derelict space I photographed nobody had been in there since 1997.  It took a hour to get through the brambles to the open back door. 

Tea and Coffee from the 90's

These spaces are museums of bereaved and abandoned objects.  They are a valuable resource because they show a pre-boom way of living that will never be repeated. 

Souvenir of Knock

Bread Bin

Shaver

Horseshoe with Fly

10 year old toothbrush

 It is important to record and document these museums because at some point in the future they will no longer be around to show us a forgotten way of life.  The roadside cottages shown here are all in north Co. Sligo.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE PHOTOS OF ROADSIDE COTTAGES 

The Mill Apartments, Ballisodare

Calcified Entrance Steps

View from the Ledge

Interior entrance into the apartments

I have been documenting the decline of The Mill, Ballisodare, Sligo for the past 3 years. In 2006 a large apartment complex was built, one person moved in; they didn't stay for long.  The apartments were not well built and there were problems with dampness.

Vandalised bathroom


In the past 6-8 months the extensive apartment complex has been completely vandalised.  In many apartments state of the art fixtures and fittings have been ripped out and taken.

Courtyard area with mountain view

 As The Mill continues to lie open, vandalised and decaying, nobody is currently taking responsibility for it's fate.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW MORE PHOTOS OF THE MILL