Restoring part of our heritage in Rockingham
A number of times previously this blog has referred to Kingston Hall in Rockingham and the need for some form of restoration on what is one of the last building’s in the Park associated with the King family. The famous building, which is located opposite Lough Keel Scout Camp, was home to the King family in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, before they moved to Rockingham House in 1817. Kingston Hall, which was built in the 1770’s then became the home of the Land Steward for the estate. While presently in ruins, we are lucky that Kingston Hall has not been demolished like Rockingham House and is still part of our heritage, be it in a decayed state. One unique part of the infrastructure that is still in existence but quickly decaying is the cylindrical shaped Dove Cote – something you do not see everyday. Kingston Hall is currently in a dangerous condition with open but not visible underground tunnels and sink holes in it’s grounds, hence why it is closed off to the public and should not be visited.
With a greater emphasis currently on heritage preservation, perhaps now is the time for some like minded people to come together to look at plans for the preservation and indeed the restoration of Kingston Hall. There are grants and assistance available nowadays that were not available heretofore that just could make this project achievable.
Unanimous approval for new street lights
The new street lights that were installed this week on Main Street have meet with unanimous approval. Their lantern capped style fits in nicely with the tone of the street as it leads to and from the historic King House. Funding for the lights formed part of an application made some time ago by Boyle Town Team and Roscommon Co Co. On top of the funding for the lights and the new footpath on Main Street, the Town Team/Council were also awarded additional Failte Ireland funding of €470,000 and that has yet to be spent on linking the end of the cycleway at the Garda Station with the Pleasure Grounds, upgrade works to the Pleasure Grounds and the work on improving the rear of Main Street along by the river. Unfortunately this work, like that on many other major projects in town, (including the old Royal Building) will not now start until after April 5th following the announcement by Government on Tuesday of the extension of Level 5 restrictions which includes non essential construction.
Why do people litter at the bottle banks?
There was a lot of reaction to our photograph last Friday of the overflowing bottle bank at the rear of St. Joseph’s Hall. Whither this was as a result of delayed collection of the bottles and cans or if there was an increases in alcohol consumption last week in Boyle is not known! For whatever reason, the fact that some people, who made the responsible effort to decide to recycle their bottles and cans, thought it was ok to leave them on the ground under the bins along with their boxes and bags is unbelievable. If the bottle banks are full, bring you empties home with you and come back later.
Breaking the 5k rule
A bone of contention with a lot of people during this lockdown is the 5k exercise limit. Since December 30th, “people are required to stay at home except for travel for work, education or other essential purposes, and will be permitted to take exercise within 5km of home”. Recent data from the Central Statistics Office show that here in County Roscommon, we have the second lowest number of people nationwide abiding by the 5k rule. This could be attributed to the low levels of urbanisation in the county and the need for people to travel further for essential services and shopping. Apart from exercise, for some in Boyle, a trip to nearby Carrick on Shannon is a necessity for certain items of shopping. Likewise, some have to travel to Roscommon or Sligo for other essential items that are not available here in Boyle.
Exercise is a different story and there is certainly no need for most people in this part of the country to travel outside their 5k to exercise. One wonders were the 12 or so lads who were using the astro pitch in the Forest Park on Thursday evening for a game of soccer ignoring the rule and outside their 5k limit?
Spot flooding could have been prevented
The skies above Boyle open up this morning week (Friday 19th) and the town had a torrential downpour sometime after 10.30am. Such was the level of rain that spot flooding took place within minutes, compounded by the fact that many of the storm water drains around the town were blocked. On St. Patrick Street, water cascaded down from the fields behind St. Joseph’s Terrace, and flowed down town (as seen on our Facebook page last Friday). And with debris and silt blocking the drains on St. Patrick Street and Mockmoyne, the water continued to flow onto Bridge Street. Once some locals cleared the excess debris from the drains, the flooding subsided. Granted we are in lockdown and the local authority are not fully operational, but there was plenty of advance warning about the heavy rain so surely drain cleaning should have been conducted earlier in the week to alleviated any flooding that may have arisen.
‘New’ N4 will bring great opportunities for Boyle
The updated video of the N4 upgrade between Castlebaldwin and Sligo that we carried on our social media channels earlier this week gave an insight into this super piece of infrastructure. Once completed there will be 30k of continuous Type 2 Dual carriageway, 8k of adjacent sideroads, 3k of off road cycleway and 12 new bridges. The road will be a ‘gamechanger’ and will ‘open up many benefits and will be a great asset for the region” according to Sligo Co Co. From a Boyle perspective, it will shorten journey time between Sligo and Boyle and lessen commute times for the many people who live in Boyle but who work in Sligo and those from Sligo who work in Boyle. The opportunities this road will provide for both towns is endless. The N4 upgrade is due to be completed before the end of 2021. You can view the video here
And Finally….!
Two elderly couples met up in the park.
The husbands got into a huddle.
One said, “June and I went out to a new restaurant last night and it was really great. I would highly recommend it to you and your wife”.
The other elderly man asked “What was the name of the place?”
The first man pondered for a bit and eventually said, “What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love ? You know, the one that’s red and has thorns?”
The second elderly man replied, “Er, do you mean a rose?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
He then turned to his wife and asked, “Rose, what was the name of that restaurant last night”?
