The tragic torpedo attack of RMS Leinster on the 10th October, 1918, is recorded as the biggest loss of life in the Irish Sea. Out of 680 souls, 501 souls lost their lives (with 66 more discovered since the official record was submitted.) Many of the crew were made up of residents from Holyhead, including Captain Birch himself, who had moved his family to the town as a base from which sail. Compared to their male colleagues though, there were very few female crew members. Tragically, the Holyhead stewardesses onboard, Louisa Parry and Hannah Owen, did not survive the attack, but their Irish chief stewardess, Mary Coffey, ensured she told their heroic story, as they lost their lives in an attempt to save other women and children onboard.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Gillian Brownson - Mary's Monologue

Dr Elizabeth Edwards, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth, retraces writer Virginia Woolf's circular tour of the Irish Sea in 1934, sailing from Fishguard to Cork and returning to Holyhead from Dublin.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Elizabeth Edwards - Virginia Woolf in Ireland

Dr Joanna Hofer-Robinson of University College Cork discusses the cultural impact of Binden Blood Stoney's Dublin Diving Bell, a feat of 19th-century industrial maritime engineering that featured in playwright Dion Boucicault's 1872 play Babel and Bijou.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Joanna Hofer Robinson - Dublin Diving Bell

Dr James Louis Smith of University College Cork speaks about the intricate composition of Dublin Bay throughout history, exploring how this 'water-based membrane' mediates between Ireland and the rest of the world.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

James Louis Smith - Dublin Bay

Dr James Louis Smith of University College Cork speaks about the Irish Sea as a watery space that is 'roiling with stories'.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

James Louis Smith - Watery Spaces

Prof Mary-Ann Constantine of University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth, describes her 2021 visit to the Last Invasion memorial stone at Carregwasted, reflecting on the processes of memorialisation and the embodied experience as a researcher.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Mary Ann Constantine - The Last Invasion

Dr Martin Crampin, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth, describes the life of St Cybi, and the connections between Welsh and Irish saints through the centuries.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Martin Crampin - St Cybi Prints

Dr Rita Singer, Aberystwyth University, details King George IV's visit to Holyhead, en route to Ireland, in 1821, which was thwarted by poor weather and the death of his wife Caroline.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Rita Singer - King George IV in Holyhead

Rita Singer, Aberystwyth University, talks about the links between Pembroke Dock and Japan, which stretch back to the time of Lt Heihachiro Togo in the late nineteenth century.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Rita Singer - The Gingko Tree in Pembroke Dock

Dr Elizabeth Edwards, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, Aberystwyth, outlines the excitement brought about by the technological advancement of travel by hot air balloon, and details the attempts to cross the Irish Sea in the early nineteenth century.  

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Elizabeth Edwards - Hot Air Balloon Crossings

Prof Claire Connolly, University College Cork, reflects on the hidden stories of ports, and the tragic deaths of eight Turkish and Syrian people in a shipping container found in Wexford Business Park.

Ports, Past and Present is a project led by University College Cork in partnership with Aberystwyth University, the University of Wales Trinity St David and Wexford County Council examining the cultural heritage of the ports in the Irish sea basin. Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Cooperation programme.

Claire Connolly - The Wexford Container Tragedy

The Irish Sea basin forms a distinct node of histories, economies, and identities. The Ports, Past and Present project considers five very different ports and their communities on either side of the sea: Dublin Port, Rosslare Harbour, Holyhead, Fishguard and Pembroke Dock. Project partners are University College Cork, Aberystwyth University, University of Wales Trinity Saint David and Wexford County Council.

The project seeks to enhance engagement among port town communities with their own rich heritage and that of the Irish Sea, and to use that heritage in promoting tourism and deepening a sense of shared identity. 

This is being done through the co-production, with communities, of online heritage stories (over 200 and counting), high-quality documentary films, 12 creative commissions, community-focused events, tourism networks including free heritage tourism training, and a heritage tourism app.

Funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Ireland Wales Co-operation Programme

Ports, Past and Present

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