Ceramics Ireland Selected Members Exhibition + some history of Rathfarnham Castle
Ah, Rathfarnham Castle. Home of my childhood playground, as well as Ceramics Ireland’s currently ongoing ‘Selected Members Exhibition’. The castle itself has hundreds of years of history, which is palpable from the moment you enter. Before I begin talking about the exhibition, let’s have a quick look at the history of the castle, because it’s interesting- and I want to (scroll down a little to skip the history lesson if you want, but be aware that you’re missing out!).
Ceramics Ireland Exhibition: 13th-28th September. All pieces are available to purchase!
The site of Rathfarnham Castle was once an Anglo-Norman fortress (late 12th Century vibe), forming part of a ginormous chain of fortifications along the ‘Pale Ditch’. Back in the day, ‘Rathfarnham’ was considerably bigger than it currently is, covering basically everything from the foot of the Dublin mountains to Kimmage.
Rathfarnham Castle’s main entrance (photo taken from visitdublin.com)
Rathfarnham was particularly important as it ran along one of the principal roadways from the South of the country to Dublin City, keeping all those Wicklow savages behind the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, away from the (west) Brits of the Pale. This is a JOKE I’m JOKING, they weren’t savages. My girlfriend is from Wicklow and she said that I’m allowed to make one Wicklow joke per year. And it’s a bad joke anyway because the Wicklow clans were constantly attacking and stealing cows and corn and whatnot, and were generally very successful at everything. In fact, the Wicklonians were so successful with their attacks that by the 16th century, Rathfarnham was widely regarded as a pretty bad place to live, and both the village and the castle fell into decay.
Throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, the land at Rathfarnham was owned by the Harold family- yes, ‘Harold’ as in ‘Harold’s Cross’. In the 16th century, Elizabeth I gave the land to Adam Loftus- Archbishop of Armagh and then Dublin, the Lord Chancellor (most important judge / also basically Taoiseach) of Ireland and first ever Provost (dean/president) of Trinity College Dublin. It was this fella who built the castle as we know it today, including SECRET TUNNELS that were only discovered in the 1980s, leading from the castle to Ely’s Arch, as well as to the Rathfarnham Protestant Church. Very cool.
In the year 1880, the skeleton of a young woman was found in the cavity of a wall upstairs at the castle. Now, I’m not saying that this is absolutely true, but the story of how she ended up there is as follows: about 130 years previously (circa 1750), during a ball at the castle, two suitors were arguing over a fair young maiden. In order to solve their argument, instead of maybe asking the woman who she would prefer to go out with, the two suitors decided to lock her into a secret compartment and have a duel, with the winner then coming back to rescue the woman. Unfortunately, BOTH men died during the duel, and because they were idiots they kept the whole thing secret, so the poor woman was trapped in the wall forever. Again, I’m not sure I totally believe it, but tis’ a good story nonetheless.
OKAY NOW ONTO THE POTTERY
Not only do I LOVE making pots (wink check out my store x) but I also absolutely ADORE seeing other people’s pottery! I love holding pots, feeling their weight and how they sit in your hands, and figuring out how it was made. Okay maybe I am a little bit obsessed, sue me.
Ceramics Ireland is a voluntary, non-profit organisation. If Medieval ‘Guilds’ were still a thing, they’d be the Potters’ Guild. They usually have two big exhibitions per year- the first being the Clay/Works exhibition that was on in the Botanic Gardens during the summer, and the second is the Ceramics Ireland Selected Exhibition- being held in Rathfarnham Castle until the 28th of September.
During the first week of the exhibition, I spent a day volunteering to look after the pots and chatting to the visitors. I also spent some time photographing the exhibition, which you’ll see here.
As a relative newbie to the Irish Ceramics scene, I’m really interested in seeing what other Irish Potters are up to. This exhibition featured some names that I already knew, as well as some that I didn’t know, and I really enjoyed getting to know everybody’s work.
Okay here are the pots, I’m sure you’re tired of reading x
Obviously, I’m giving this exhibition 3 pots out of 3 (on the world renowned ORLAWITHAFADA pottery-related-event-scale). G’wan and have a look, it’s well worth the visit.
xoxo -Ó
