A simple park and grab.
Portmarnock Raceway
With caching I now often look at satellite maps giving aerial views – and this stood out to me.
Info was a little sparse – it seems Portmarnock Raceway was founded in 1969 as a home for Irish Harness Racing. It is home to the sport and is busiest racetrack in Ireland for the sport. It’s a form of horse racing in which Standardbred horses race at a specific gait usually pulling a two wheeled cart called a sulky. They can reach speeds of about 30mph! It’s not a Jockey but a driver. The land encompassing the Raceway is on sale for 550,000 euro! It was previously for sale before and it seems the site has planning for apartments/housing – possibly shrinking the greenbelt and reflecting the growth of Portmarnock. The Raceway has a lease until December 2019….Then we will see what happens.
St Marnocks Church
Some ten years ago we actually looked at buying the house that this cache is close to! (Thought we were far more interested in the cottages just up from it). If you bought the house it came with the church! The house dates from 1785 – though you can’t really see it there is a modern extension which had the nicest rooms….the original front room faced Chapel Road and it was quite off putting seeing cars speed towards the house lights blazing. The church dates from the same time and was closed in 1960. At the time we viewed it there was a mezzanine in the church and it was used as a games room with a snooker table in it. The architectural style is contemporary gothic – with the high stepped tower (with its’ battlemented pararpet) providing a local landmark.
St Marnock
St Marnock (or Memoc/Mernoc) was a disciple of St Columba. He resided on the Island Of Iona for a while and died circa 625 in Annandale in Scotland. As well as giving his name to Portmarnock he also gave it to Kilmarnock.
The Black Arch
Adjacent to the cache is an old building with a prominent black arch…..Blacksmith? Barn? Stable?
The FTFer
Congratulations to Shenmen - signing the log 13mins after publication!
The Cache
This is a very very busy road – so be careful. And please be discreet