Geographical – Page 10 – Journeys of Heart and Mind

Image of the day – 81

These are known as ‘pin trees’ and historically pins and nails were used, but when I was a child it was always the big, bronze penny coins.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

We visited the village of Coagh in County Tyrone where my Mum grew up. We came here for holidays when I was a child and I remember a lot about those times, the people (now mostly gone) and the places (changed a good deal but still recognisable).

And among many of the places I remember, one has always been the Lough shore with its little harbour at the end of Battery Road just north of Ardboe. There are changes here too, of course, but the place still has very much it’s old character. The photo looks out across Lough Neagh at more or less its narrowest point, and you can see distant mountains along the horizon. Here’s a zoomable map if you want to see the location and layout.

I remember an old beech tree at Ardboe, where people had pushed pennies into the bark; I don’t know how the tradition began, but it must go back a very long time indeed. Apparently these are known as ‘pin trees’ and historically pins and nails were used, but when I was a child it was always the big, bronze penny coins. Read more about the Ardboe pin tree.

The pennies were very large, 31 mm in diameter. There were two kinds, the United Kingdom penny with the heads of various kings and queens, and the Eire pingin of the same size, weight and value with a harp on one side and a hen on the other. I loved those old coins!

Images from our Irish holiday 2024

For convenience, here’s a list of all the Irish holiday images:

28th Jul – Welsh Botanic Garden, Robin, Fishguard
29th Jul – Wicklow Mts, Glendalough, Powerscourt, Rose, Greystones
30th Jul – Liffey, Temple Bar, St Patrick’s Cathedral
31st Jul – Newgrange, Battle of the Boyne
1st Aug – Monasterboice, Mourne, Thrift, Window
2nd Aug – Spelga Dam, Hydrangea, Pipework, Lough Neagh
3rd Aug – Coagh, Springhill, Portrush
4th Aug – Beach at Portrush
5th Aug – Giant’s Causeway, Carrick-a-Rede, Portrush

Themed image collections

The links below will take you to the first post in each collection

Cirencester, Favourites, Irish holiday 2024, Roman villa

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Image of the day – 80

Hot water rose in the system and the returning pipes contained cooler, denser water that flowed down, re-entered the boiler and warmed up again.

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What’s in an image? Sometimes quite a lot, more than meets the eye.

I’m posting an image every two days (or as often as I can). A photo, an image from the internet, a diagram or a map. Whatever takes my fancy.

The Montalto Estate in County Down had an extensive fruit and vegetable garden to supply the house year round with freshly harvested crops. Greenhouses were an important feature, providing out-of-season crops and exotic fruits like pineapples and citrus. These greenhouses needed heating in the winter months and this was supplied by wide-bore cast iron pipes below the plant benches.

The remains of some of these pipes are visible in the photo. They usually ran in pairs; there were no circulating pumps, instead the boiler would be below ground in a stokehole and the hot water would rise and flow by gravity acting on the changes in density. Hot water rose in the system and the returning pipes contained cooler, denser water that flowed down, re-entered the boiler and warmed up again.

I remember greenhouse heating systems just like this from my childhood, my father had a role in the family business at that time, a nursery with greenhouses full of cuttings and seedlings and houseplants that needed heating during the winter. There was a wonderful smell of greenery, the pipes were always warm, yet never too hot to touch, delicate maidenhair ferns grew wild around the pipework below the benches and these were allowed to remain because the fronds were always useful in making bouquets and buttonholes for sale in the shop in town, or for weddings and other occasions. Even on cold, frosty days you’d want to take off your coat, hat and gloves if you went into a greenhouse!

Modern glasshouses are very different, they have oil or gas fired systems controlled automatically on demand by thermostats, and the heat may be distributed by water pipes or by fan-blown air circulation.