Mount Sandford Castle

Mount Sandford Castle, also known as Sandford Castle, is a very well hidden historic castle seen only by those studying the surrounding woods of the peaceful village of Inistioge, Co. Kilkenny. The castle itself takes a bit of walking to get to but the serene walk through the woods is well recommended. To see the castle from the village you will have to navigate your way along the little walkway under the right-hand side of the bridge in the center of the village and peer into the high surrounding woods as fig.1 and fig.2 shows.

“This folly probably dates from the late 18th Century. It consists of a fanciful rubble Gothic castle. It is situated on the riverside drive just south of the main demesne. The site affords views over the river Nore and valley and the Inistioge Bridge.” – [www.askaboutireland.ie]

Click here to view the full post which includes directions, more information and more images.

How to get there:

To get up to the castle will take a small amount of footwork but it is certainly recommended for the views alone.

To get there you will have to use the road located beside O’Donnells pub in the main square of the village. You will meet a sign recommending that you don’t use the road by way of vehicle but during the summer months it certainly should be okay for driving. You will come to a small clearing with picnic benches, a great view of the river and a great place to park your car. There will be a small entrance into the woods and you can use this to access the trail to the castle.

On the main trail there will be two ways you can access the castle trail – the short way and the long way! When you approach the Y turn in the trail as in fig.3, you can either keep going on the main trail or turn right onto the smaller trail upwards and use this to access the castle the short way. If you choose the long way you will get fantastic views of the river and many fallen trees from the river bank. After about ten-fifteen minutes walking you will come to a trail leading off to the right, you can use this trail to bring you back around to the castle.

Depending on which trail you choose you will come across either entrances as captured in fig.4 and fig.5 and this will indicate you are in the castle grounds. The castle will be about four-five mins away from either entrance. Mount Sandford Castle on Google Maps – Visit.

Fig.1

Fig.2

Fig.3

Fig.4

Fig.5

Views from the castle:

The view from the castle are amazing – offering fabulous panoramic views of the village of Inistioge.

Mount Sandford Castle View

Mount Sandford Castle View

Mount Sandford Castle View

Castle and surrounding area images:

Mount Sandford Castle

Mount Sandford Castle

Mount Sandford Castle

Mount Sandford Castle

All images copyright protected – www.jmcdermott.ie

TIM DAVIES

KILKENNY SHIFT

May 2 – June 14, 2009

The Butler Gallery is delighted to host an exhibition of the multi-media works of Welsh artist Tim Davies.

Tim Davies’ practice deals with the relationship between power, politics and architecture, and often results in temporary and ephemeral works which are site-specific. At the centre of his process is the issue of identity and the means we use to identify ourselves as having value… Place, as it is with many artists in Wales, is of great concern to Davies. His places are invariably inhabited by people distinguished by their absense. They have shifted. The allegorical objects that develop are confirmation that they once existed.

In this instance, for one of his exhibits, the ‘place’ is Kilkenny Castle. Davies spent time exploring the castle, and delved into issues around its social, historial, geographical and cutural location. A DVD work entitled ‘Kilkenny Shift’ – also chosen as the title for the exhibition – resulted from this research, and has been made especially for the Butler Gallery. Davies photographed one of the servant’s staircases in the Castle, taking a static shot of each individual step. These images are edited together in a walking pace dissolve, followed by a dashed, chaotic and blurred descent, with the sound of hurried footsteps. These cold, grey, stone staircases were ‘hidden’ from the sight of the wealthy inhabitants, who had their own splendid carpeted mahogany stairs to enter and exit.

… Tim Davies … in the work based on the staircases of Kilkenny Castle, unerringly puts his finger on a pulse – a visual manifestation of a fundamental, political set of power relations, between masters and servants.<!–[if !supportFootnotes]–>[2]<!–[endif]–>

Also among the exhibits is ‘Between a rock and a hard place’, a work that employs postcards, a form that he has used in the past. Davies has scratched away the surface of the cards to leave only a bridge hovering in an empty space. He says of this body of work “I remove the landscapes or terrains that these constructions are built to connect. They are amongst the first

bits of architecture that get destroyed in conflict, their removal celebrated as a moment of triumph. They are a major coup. Amongst this first group of the series is the bridge at Mostar which was blown up during the Bosnian war in 1993. It has since been rebuilt. Several bridges have been bombed in recent conflicts. It’s a physical and symbolic act. Break a connection and you break a spirit”.

Tim Davies lives and works in Swansea, Wales. He received a M.A. in Art and Architecture from the University College for the Creative Arts in Canterbury and a B.A. from the Norwich School of Art, in the U.K. Davies has exhibited widely and was an exhibiting artist and curator of Strata in Kells, Kilkenny in 2005. He has been the recipient of many awards including a Major Creative Wales Award in 2008. His work can be found in many public collections including the Hayward Gallery, London, the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff. Tim Davies is represented by Tom Rowland Fine Art, London.