The refurbished French ambassador's residence on Ailesbury Road
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Tuam is a microcosm for Ireland's history of discarded bones
Ireland often seems surreal. But it is also, if I may be permitted to coin a word, subreal. We share the island, not just with what is above ground but what it under it. Our reality is not just experienced – it is exhumed. As Seamus Heaney put it in Bogland, it keeps 'striking/ Inwards and downwards,/ Every layer they strip/Seems camped on before'. The subsoil of the grounds of the former Bons Secours Mother and Baby home in Tuam is described as a 'yellow-grey silty gritty layer'. And it is being stripped now , down to where, between 1925 and 1961, perhaps 796 tiny human beings were stuffed in a disused sewage system. This non-resting place is, as the technical report published in 2017 has it, 'an elongated structure, comprising 20 chambers, with juvenile human remains identified in 17 of those chambers'. These chambers of horror are 'deep and narrow'. Indeed – this is a kind of reality that has been buried very deep and confined to a very narrow strip of Irish consciousness. It is weirdly apt that Tuam in its original form is Tuaim, a tumulus or burial mound. It has become a microcosm for all that has been interred with Irish history's discarded bones. In the grounds of the home, there are many layers of yellow-grey oblivion. There have been, in modern times, three distinct cycles of shameful burial and exhumation just in this small patch of Irish earth. READ MORE Family members of children believed to be buried at the former mother and baby institution in Tuam have spoken to the media ahead of the excavation of the site Before it was the Mother and Baby home, the complex was the Tuam workhouse. It opened in 1846, which meant that it was immediately overwhelmed by desperate victims of the Great Famine who died, not just of disease and hunger, but as Eavan Boland put it in her poem Quarantine, 'Of the toxins of a whole history.' They were initially buried just beside the workhouse, until the authorities objected that the 'burying ground ... is in such a state as to be injurious to the health of the occupiers of premises in ... the entire town of Tuam'. [ Tuam families can see 'light at the end of a very long tunnel' Opens in new window ] In 2012, during works on the town water scheme, 18 pits containing 48 bodies of famine victims were uncovered. It seems probable that many more bodies lie in and around the grounds. Interestingly, even in the midst of that unspeakable catastrophe, these people had at least been buried in coffins – a dignity not afforded to the children who later died in the care of the nuns. The second episode of burial and exhumation on this same patch of land occurred during and immediately after the Civil War. Between its periods as a workhouse and a Mother and Baby home, the Tuam complex had another brief life that also involved hidden burials. It was occupied during the Civil War by the Free State Army. In March 1923, six anti-Treaty prisoners were executed in the workhouse and buried in the grounds. In May, two more prisoners suffered the same fate. These bodies were exhumed and reburied in 1924. It again seems interesting that these dead men were given a memorial on the site: there is a commemorative plaque on the only preserved section of the wall of the Mother and Baby home. The famine and the Troubles at least occupied enough space in official memory for coffins and commemorations to be afforded to their victims. The children who died in the Mother and Baby home were not part of history until the extraordinary Catherine Corless made them so – thus they got neither coffins nor memorials. The operation to identify so many now-jumbled bones of infants using DNA analysis and other cutting-edge techniques will, if successful, set a new benchmark for the rescue of the unwanted dead from the contempt of silence and anonymity What makes the forensic excavation that began in Tuam yesterday even stranger is that it fuses an old Ireland with a new. It is both deeply atavistic and startlingly innovative. It is something that seems never to have happened before in human history. There have been thousands of archaeological explorations of tombs and burial chambers. There have been numerous grim excavations of bodies dumped in mass graves after massacres or battles. (Daniel MacSweeney, who is heading the Tuam operation, gained his expertise in the Lebanon and the Caucasus. Oran Finegan, its leading forensic scientist, worked on 'large-scale post conflict identification programmes' in the Balkans and Cyprus.) There are also many cases of babies and other inmates being buried in unmarked or poorly recorded graves on the grounds of institutions – at, for example, the Smyllum Park boarding home in Scotland , the Haut de la Garenne boarding home on Jersey , the Ballarat Orphanage in Australia, and the Duplessis Orphans' home in Canada . Here in Ireland, we had the hideous exhumation in 1993 of the graves of women buried at the High Park Magdalene home in Dublin – so that the nuns could sell the land for property development. But the situation of the remains in Tuam – neither a grave nor a tomb – has, according to the technical group, 'no national or international comparisons that the group is aware of'. And the operation to identify so many now-jumbled bones of infants using DNA analysis and other cutting-edge techniques will, if successful, set a new benchmark for the rescue of the unwanted dead from the contempt of silence and anonymity. This is making history in a double sense – doing something that has never been done before while simultaneously reshaping a country's understanding of its own recent past. [ Tuam mother and baby home: 80 people come forward to give DNA to identify buried children Opens in new window ] And, hopefully, of its present. The digging up of the bodies of people disappeared by the IRA has helped us to grasp the truth that the Troubles themselves cannot simply be buried. Revenants like Jean McConville return, not just to remind us of the past but to warn us of what it means when people become, even after death, disposable. While the Tuam excavation continues, we have, in the corner of our eyes, a peripheral awareness of the undead. Since they were not allowed properly to rest in peace, we cannot do so either. Since they were so contemptuously consigned to oblivion, we are obliged to remember. Since they were sacrificed to a monolithic tunnel vision, we must tunnel down to bring buried truths to light and hidden histories to consciousness.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Auction house treasure hunters: one attic had a Paul Henry painting that sold for €50,000-€60,000
Maybe you're looking to downsize and reduce your belongings. Maybe someone close to you has died, and it's time to clear out the house. Or maybe you have inherited something and have no idea of its value – or even whether it's worth something at all. Step forward the valuers. Sara Kenny of Sara Kenny Fine Art has been offering valuation advice for some 30 years now, covering antiques, paintings, furniture silver and general household effects. 'I'm always delighted to see new things. My job allows me to pry, to be nosy. It's always great to see into other people's houses,' she says. READ MORE And sometimes there are items of value. 'In every house, you don't know what's behind the front door,' she says. She has had some memorable experiences offering household contents valuations, such as the time she was called to a house on a prominent road in Dublin 4. 'The executor got a skip in advance and I remember seeing Irish 18th century furniture in it!' The furniture was quickly taken out and sold. Ian Whyte, of Dublin auction house Whyte's, has spent a lifetime in the business, and recalls one notable find. Some time ago he visited a home where the owner had a painting up in the attic. 'Her father bought it a long time ago and said it was valuable, but her mother didn't like it, so it was kept in the attic.' He duly went up the stairs to investigate, only to find a Paul Henry painting, which was subsequently sold for about €50,000-€60,000. 'That was a nice find,' he recalls, but adds that such discoveries are 'a very, very rare occurrence'. Kenny agrees. 'It can be hard to find those little treasures. Houses are more minimalist and nothing is hidden away'. But how best to go about sorting through the rubbish to find the cash in the attic? [ How to bid wisely at auctions: 'An emotional decision is rarely a wise decision' Opens in new window ] Make a list of contents Kenny is a big fan of lists and suggests this should be the first step when clearing a house. 'The start is to quantify what you have,' she says, adding that as a first step, people should prepare an inventory of items in the home, 'whether of value or not'. In practice, this means going into each room and writing down what is in it. Such an approach can also stop family members taking certain items from the property, without anyone else being aware of it. 'Before you disperse [contents] amongst family, you want to have it all balanced and fair,' she says. Keeping a list also helps to formulate a plan – what should go to the skip, what should go to the charity shop, what might be kept and what might be sold. 'There are a number of different categories when you're clearing out a house. Knowing where to go and what to do is half the battle,' says Kenny. Value – at least in sentimental terms – can be subjective. 'Treasures might be memory treasures; they mightn't necessarily be hugely valuable,' says Kenny. But how do you know whether what is in your home has some monetary value? Keeping an eye on what's selling in auction rooms around the country (see our weekly fine arts column ) can help inform you what might sell, and how much it might sell for. Auction houses will also give you preliminary valuations for free, and advice on selling. For an off-the-cuff valuation, which is subject to inspection, it's unlikely you'll be charged. The same is typically true if an auctioneer visits your house -although they will probably want some assurance that you will use their services to sell the items. You could also check out valuation days the various auction houses hold, at which you can bring along your item for a preliminary valuation. 'What makes it a lot easier these days is the internet, and mobile phones to take photographs,' says Whyte. He suggests taking some shots of things that might be of value and sending these on to an auction house. 'Just take photos on your phone and send them in via WhatApp or email,' says Whyte. You won't be the only one. 'Every day is like the Antiques Roadshow,' he says, laughing. His auction house gets about 20-40 such emails a day, wondering if some item is of value. 'And some of them are.' People will often have an idea if something is of value if there is a name on a painting, for example. 'But if they don't know a lot about the artist or we don't have a signature and don't have an idea who they are, then a value can be difficult to pin down,' he says. 'Art is like fashion,' says Whyte, adding that a lot of so-called brown furniture is of little value these days. 'But if it's Georgian, you could be on to a good thing'. Kenny agrees about brown furniture. 'Houses now aren't built for that brown bulky furniture,' says Kenny. 'And people's needs are different.' Is there any upset when someone is told their beloved Staffordshire figurines have little value, for example? 'Sometimes they're disappointed, but nowadays people are fairly realistic,' says Kenny. The contents of this home on Royal Terrace West in Dún Laoghaire takes place this week Where to sell These days, few house contents are sold in one sale – an exception is the Sheppard's sale of the contents of a home on Royal Terrace West in Dún Laoghaire, which takes place this week. 'The cost is too prohibitive,' says Kenny. Instead, you may have to spread out your items among various auction houses to get the best price. 'Auction houses are limited in what they take, so you need to know what goes where, and what sells best where,' says Kenny. 'Definitely certain items suit certain auction rooms.' Whyte says your first step should be to get a list of auction houses from the regulatory body, the PSRA . You can then check out auction houses' websites in advance, so you know what they sell, how they sell and what prices they get, says Kenny. Opting for a local auction house – particularly in the case of heavy furniture, which can be expensive to move – might be a good idea. 'You don't want to be down in Tipperary and sending stuff to Dublin if it's not worth it,' says Whyte. There is a cost to be aware of when selling at auction, covering the cost of carriage of the item to the auction house as well as the auctioneer's fees. Kenny puts commission at about 17-27 per cent of the sale value of the item. So a painting selling for €1,000, could cost you as much as €270. 'It's pretty hefty,' she says. But, depending on what you have, there might be room for negotiation. Bonham's, for example, charges a buyer's premium of 28 per cent on the first €40,000 of the hammer price – but this falls to 21 per cent of the hammer price for amounts of more than €800,000, up to and including €4.5 million. On top of this, you will have to pay VAT at 23 per cent on buyer's premium and charges. And bear in mind, it might take a while to sell your treasures. 'The process of selling is quite long,' says Kenny, adding that you should factor in two to eight months. 'And hopefully nothing will come back to you then!'
Irish Times
13 hours ago
- Irish Times
Inside 'the Titanic', Donegal's sinking abandoned housing estate
Family members of children believed to be buried at the former mother and baby institution in Tuam have spoken to the media ahead of the excavation of the site.
