Book on the history of the Mourne Wall

[suspectmonkey]

So when I got home I looked out the book we have on the Silent Valley, and it is indeed "The Dam Builders - The story of the men who built the Silent Valley Reservoir" by W. H. Carson.  It was first published in 1981 by Mourne Observer Press, Newcastle, Co. Down and my dad has inscribed the inside cover with his name and the date August 1983.  That was the year I was born incidently.  Thought I would post a small excerpt from the inside sleeve:

The construction of the Silent Valley reservoir in the Mourne Mountains of County Down is acknowledged by civil engineers throughout the British Isles and abroad to be one of the most remarkable achievements in the history of dam building.

Before the first sod was cut by Lord Carson of Duncairn on 10th October, 1923 a 22 mile long wall of rough granite slabs was cut by hand across the mountains to enclose the catchment area.  Some of the stone-men who toiled for 18 years on this back-breaking job went on to work in the Valley when the wall was finished, and it is the strength of the author's research that he suceeded in tracking down and talking to four of the original mountain wall builders, and 36 of the men who worked on the construction of the reservoir.

Interspersed with fascinating character studies of leading personaliies, and illustrated with a wealth of historic and contemporary photographs, the human story of the men who built the Silent Valley reservoir moves in step with the history of events in the Valley recorded between the years 1923 and 1933.

Indeed, the first chapter of the book is entitled "The building of the mountain wall".  In an appendix there is also a "Roll of the Mourne Wall Builders" with names of men known to have built the Mourne Wall.  There are two Patterson's on the list which I believe are related.  Will have to find out more.

Here is a photo of the jacket sleeve for those interested:

[blokarter]

Sound very interesting. At 150 notes I doubt I will ever own a copy. Second hand book shops my get a rattle mind you. My two from amazon have been dispatched already.

[LandyLiam]

popped into the silent valley vistors centre yesterday, has gone all modern and hi-tech since i was last there but also seems to have lost a lot of information  although was dragging 4 small kids around so may have missed something, there was more info on water conservation than the damn or wall.

didn't see any stuff for sale other than food 

[surfnscenic]

I was there on June 7th and was disappointed that cafe was not operating and the display exhibition seemed to focus on water treatment rather than on the construction and history of the dam. 

I have a vague recollection of being there many years ago and there was more information and displays about Watertown and how the dam came about.  Maybe I'm wrong though?

It's a shame that the Water Service don't promote the park and visitor centre more as I believe there is and would be much interest locally as well as from visitors from other countries.  I'm told that the lack of facilities is causing tour coaches to drive on to elsewhere rather than remaining at the park.

[blokarter]

My books arrived into work this morning.
A bit of reading to be done on my holidays.

[surfnscenic]

I've taken a notion to learn more about the Mourne Wall and am wondering if anyone has information on suitable books.

[paulocon]

I've walked around the wall on a couple of occasions. Following on from posting an account of it at http://www.walkingandhikingireland.com/?p=980, I was contacted by a guy who put together a short history of the wall including a history of the Mourne Wall Walk.

I don't have it to hand at the moment but it was published by the Hostel Association of Northern Ireland.

Paddy Dillon's book as mentioned is also well worth a read.

Done the walk again a couple of weeks ago and I'd recommend anyone who is interested in the wall give it a go to get a real appreciation of the scale of the task that was building the wall.

[whoRya]

I'd really love to see the wall restored at the sections were it has come down.  Three of them between the Saddle and Donard.  They are mighty looking stones, not even sure you could lift them between two.  Perahps I am just a wuss.  Anyone reckon it is possible to fix or does it require a professional outfit to do the job?

[Wolf_Larson]

Is this a rare book