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Arts Community Film Outcomes Pilgrimage

Pilgrim Fayre

Community

Pilgrim Fayre

Ancient Connections, held a spectacular outdoor community event in St Davids Bishop’s Palace on Monday 29 May supported by local communities, artists, traders, visitors and project partners. The sun shone and over 4000 people enjoyed the lively occasion.

Highlights of the day included guided walks with Wexford-Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way and St Davids Cathedral, a beautiful choir concert and performance by Span Arts and members of Côr Pawb, and demonstrations by the Tywi Centre’s master builders and makers.

Cardigan-based festival organisers and performers Small World Theatre, also created a spectacular Pilgrim Parade with pupils from Ysgol Penrhyn Dewi. Their two giant puppets of Saint David and a sea monster led a crowd through the town and into the heart of the festivities.

Film documenting the day’s activities:

“It was a sight to behold!” said Ancient Connections project manager Rowan Matthiessen. “We’ve been so fortunate to work with amazing Welsh & Irish artists, volunteers, partnering organisations and community groups throughout the 3-year project. Over 12,000 volunteer hours have contributed to making the project a success.”

 

Siobhan McGovern, Co-project manager continued, “The Pilgrim Fayre was a genuine celebration showcasing some of the finest talent, produce and crafts produced in West Wales. We wish to thank St Davids Cathedral and the Bishop’s Palace for supporting and hosting us, and everyone who took part and joined us.”

 

Cllr Thomas Tudor, Chair of Pembrokeshire County Council, who was at the event to greet delegates over from Ireland said, “We were delighted to welcome our Irish colleagues and friends to an event that truly represented the creative collaborations this project has achieved.”

 

Click here for more info on the event as well as similar events in the area.

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Arts Community Film Outcomes

Festival of Ferns

Community

Festival of Ferns

The Festival of Ferns was a community festival, led by Wexford based events company Lantern. The festival celebrated Ferns’ unique heritage as the site of St Aidan’s monastery, ancient capital of Leinster, seat of Diarmuid Macmurrough, the Gaelic king who is said to be responsible for the Noman invasion of Ireland.

During April and May 2023, Lanterns artist Caoimhe Dunn worked with schools and community groups to create beautiful puppets and costumes for the parade. She coordinated 12 fantastic workshops which had over 300 local participants.

The festival itself took place in Ferns on the bank holiday weekend of June 4th and 5th 2023. The Sunday had a music trail around the pubs in Ferns with over 15 bands playing throughout the day and night and a beautiful concert in St Edans Cathedral by traditional singer-songwriter Melanie O’Reilly.

Monday’s festival was launched by a parade from the cathedral to Ferns Castle with 85 participants from various local groups. The event continued with a festival in the castle grounds and performances from local musicians, choirs, dancers and medieval jousting from the Horse Men of Eire. The event was attended by around 2500 people from the local area.

The event could not have happened without the contributions of:

  • Fearna Mens Shed
  • Ferns Comhaltas
  • Helena Dunbar’s School of Music
  • Deirdre Furlong’s School of Irish Dance
  • Edan’s National School & Scoil Naomh Maodhóg
  • Ferns Community Development Association
  • Ferns Heritage Project
  • Ferns Medieval Experience
  • Small World Theatre
  • Enniscorthy Historical Re-enactment Society
  • Chord on Blues Choir

In addition we would like to thank Small World Theatre for bringing their giant Dewi Sant puppet over from Wales to join the parade.

The community of Ferns hope to fundraise in order to make the festival an annual or bi-annual event.

 

Categories
Arts Outcomes

Holy Wells of Wexford and Pembrokeshire Chapbooks

History

Holy Wells of Wexford and Pembrokeshire Chapbooks

A reliable and clean source of water is essential for any community, so it is easy to understand how important wells were for pre-modern peoples. More complex is the mystical relationship humans have developed with these sites, which are imbued with a sacredness that predates Christianity.

 

Holy Wells of Wexford and Pembrokeshire is a series of five chapbooks celebrating holy wells in two regions with common ancestry and history. Since at least the Bronze Age, sea travel between these two lands has meant cross-fertilisation of traditions and common names associated with wells of both regions. Of significance is the long-standing friendship between two early Christian saints: David, who became the first Bishop of St Davids; and Aidan, born in Ireland, who spent time in Wales and then founded monasteries in Ireland, including at Ferns. In Oilgate, Wexford, there is a well dedicated to David and, at Whitesands near St Davids in Pembrokeshire, there is one named after Aidan. Each of the five books approaches the subject from different perspectives and mediums, including fiction, poetry and essays as well as photographs and prints.

 

Volume 1: 

The Oldest Music, has been compiled by Phil Cope, a photographer and author based in South Wales who has several published works on the subject of holy wells. It explores and celebrates how holy wells have inspired poets for hundreds of years and includes a selection of old and new poems, in Welsh, English and Irish, including by Lewys Glyn Cothi, Gwynfardd Brycheiniog, Ieuan ap Rhydderch, Angela Graham, Tony Curtis, Grace O’Reilly, Eirwyn George, Dafydd Williams, Julian Cason, Lorraine O’Dwyer, Brian Jackson, Phil Carradice and Phil Cope. The Volume is illustrated by Phil Cope’s compelling photographs.

 

Volume 2:

 The Bright Plain contains two short stories by Michelle Dooley Mahon; ‘The Deacon’ and ‘The Meadow of Women’, in which ritual devotions are placed in contemporary contexts. She writes of illness, suffering, devotion and healing with startling simplicity and a dose of humour. These are not metaphors or coincidences, but real events, requiring neither explanation nor justification. Alongside are toned cyanotype prints by Caitriona Dunnett of St Anne’s well, Lady’s Island and the surrounds of other wells in South Wexford; ethereal, uncanny images that conjure up the past or even the Otherworld, whilst also being here and now.

 

Volume 3:

St Aidan of Ferns is written by Christopher Power, a historian and librarian living in Ferns. He has tracked the story of St Aidan, the founder and first bishop of the diocese of Ferns, through the places named after him, the archaeological remains and the literature that recounts his miraculous works, based on the hagiographies of the early Saints. There are two holy wells dedicated to St Aidan: St Mogue’s Well in Ferns, Co. Wexford and St Maedhog’s well at Whitesands, Pembrokeshire. Additionally, there are a number of churches and cathedrals including St Edan’s Cathedral in Ferns, St Aidan’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy, St Mogue’s at Haroldston West, Pembrokeshire and St Aidan’s Church at Llawhaden, Pembrokeshire. The locations of these sites correspond to Aidan’s life’s journey, in particular the two regions where his impact was most keenly felt: Wexford and Pembrokeshire.

 

Volume 4:

Song of Water, presents two stories set in the time of the early saints by Diana Powell. In ‘Gift’, we are submerged into the birth of St David in a visceral and watery account seen through his mother’s eyes. It is said that Non, a powerful saint in her own right, gave birth to David on a clifftop in a terrible storm. In ‘A Pilgrim’s Wife’, we meet St Gwenonwy ach Meurig, a welsh noblewoman who married St Gwyndaf, an aristocrat and native of Brittany. St Gwyndaf was a contemporary of David and Aidan, and it was a falling out with the latter over a holy well that led to his settling at Llanwnda, at least for a while. Of Gwenonwy, we know very little. Did she embrace this ascetic lifestyle on the bleak and wild coastline of North Pembrokeshire, or did she long for her old life of relative luxury or did she pursue a different path all of her own? The two stories are illustrated with fluid and earthy etchings by Flora McLachlan.

 

Volume 5:

 Drawing from the Well takes us on a personal journey; a pilgrimage from West Wales to Wexford seeking a deeper understanding of ancestry, roots and inheritance. What is passed from generation to generation? A photo, a song. And what gets left behind or lost along the way? In Drawing from the Well, Rowan O’Neill travels with water collected from a well next to the Church where she was baptised, looking for a place to pour it, a place of connection and meaning.

 

The series of books is available to purchase retail from St Davids Cathedral Gift & Bookshop (in Wales) or the ferns Medieval Experience (in Ireland).

The books are published by Parthian Books, click here for their website.

Please get in touch with them if you wish to become an outlet or if you have any other enquiries about the books.

 

Categories
Arts Outcomes

VOW Voice of the Wells

album

VOW Voice of the Wells

In ancient times, wells were cherished and honoured, not only as vital sources of water, but throughout the Celtic lands as portals to the Otherworld. It is thought that these watery gateways were guarded and tended by Well Maidens, who were believed to walk in both worlds and maintain the sacred respect between mankind and the Earth.

VOW Voice of the Wells is a cross-border concept album, imagining the story of ancient wells and sacred spaces, with particular focus on the untold feminine, created by artists Jo MacGregor and Dan Messore.

 

Jo grew up in St Davids, West Wales and has been submersed in music, folk songs and stories her whole life. She is drawn to the many holy wells that spring up in the landscape near her home and this project gave her the opportunity to give voice and song to these special places.

 

In Jo’s own words, “There is voice in everything, it’s just a case of tuning in long enough to decipher it… I have always sung in sea caves and rocky crevices, chapel ruins and wells. The stony parameters of these spaces give a raw resonance to the human voice….and something more…It feels to me as though the very walls of a cave, or stones of an arched well, are joining in and beginning to sing their story, their sorrow, their joy into the notes…For me, as a singer, this [album] is a small way that I can say ‘our lands are important, they have stories locked inside them. These places have names which are written deep in our bones, which we would do well to remember, and give attention to’.

 

The full album is available for listening and download on all major streaming platforms.

Brigante, is one of the tracks on the 11 track album:

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Arts Community Film Outcomes

Ferrytales by Ceri Ashe

playwright

Ferrytales by Ceri Ashe

Ferrytales is a one woman show about people in Fishguard with Irish heritage, written and performed by playwright and actress Ceri Ashe of Popty Ping Productions. The piece was commissioned by Ancient Connections in 2020 as part of our arts commissions programme and explores themes of identity, heritage and connection.

As part of the research and development of the show Ceri sought out and interviewed a number of Irish ‘immigrants’ living in Wexford and incorporated their stories into the play. It also delves deep into Ceri’s own story; brought up in West Wales by an English mother and Irish Father in a village where most people were Welsh Speaking.

How did this shape her and how she views the world?

 

The show was performed at Theatr Gwaun in 2021 as part of the first “On Lands Edge” Festival, another Ancient Connections initiative.

Click here for more information on Ceri’s work or to get in touch.

The following film is a showreel for the play:

Categories
Community Outcomes Pilgrimage

Pilgrim Product Development

PILGRIMAGE

Pilgrim Product Development

As part of Ancient Connection’s business support strand, we worked with a number of businesses in Pembrokeshire to develop new bespoke tourism products that linked in with the new pilgrimage route. Five businesses were supported to develop and test the following products:

Pilgrim Tokens

St Davids Cathedral designed and produced beautiful pilgrim tokens, pendants and pilgrim bags with the with the bee of St Aidan and the dove of St David forming the basis of their design. These are now for sale in St Davids Cathedral shop and the Ferns Medieval Experience.

 Click here to visit the St Davids Catherdral Online Shop.

Art Photography Book

Karel Jasper’s art photography book documenting her Creative Camino 2022 experience is now printed and distributed to local gift and bookshops in North Pembrokeshire.

To buy a copy of the book, Click here to visit Karel’s website.

Pilgrim Merchandise

Ditsy Puffin Designs have created a catalogue of pilgrim merchandise for a more budget market (e.g. mugs, pin badges, water bottles etc.) for sale in various outlets in Pembrokeshire and Wexford as well as online.

These are now on sale. Click here to visit Ditsy Puffins website.

International Walking Tour Product

Waterford Camino Tours have now developed a new guided pilgrimage product ‘St Davids Way’, along the Pembrokeshire section of the route, marketed to Irish and North American tourists.

Click here to see Waterford Camino Tour’s offering.

Pilgrimage On Wheels

North Pembrokeshire Trade and Tourism have developed a mini-bus pilgrimage aimed at cruise ship visitors and those who, for whatever reason are unable to access the new pilgrimage route on foot. It starts in Goodwick and ends at St Davids and visits many of the important spots along the pilgrimage route in between.

The product is now publically available and bookable on their website. Click here to view.

Categories
Community Outcomes Pilgrimage

Wexford Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way

PILGRIMAGE

Wexford Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way

The new pilgrim Route between Ferns in County Wexford and St Davids in Pembrokeshire is a major legacy of the Ancient Connections project. 

Click here for more information on the route, guided pilgrimages, accommodation, transport and pilgrim passports.  

In addition an Outdoor Active app was developed that includes an interactive digital map which runs using GPS technology, route content, turn-by-turn guide, and audio interpretation guide produced for 18 locations.

Click here to view the route on the Outdoor Active App

Categories
Film Outcomes Pilgrimage

Post Creative Camino Films

FILM

Post Creative Camino Films

The Creative Camino was a 7-day artist pilgrimage, which took place in May 2022 along the Wexford Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way; the new walking route created by Ancient Connections, linking Ferns in County Wexford to St Davids in Pembrokeshire. Filmmaker Will Philpin of When It Rains Creative, documented the experience of the four artists and the community pilgrims along the route.  

Will created a series of short episodes capturing moments along the route and made a short documentary film, which can be found at the bottom of this page.

Pilgrimage Chapters: Pilgrim Departure from Ferns

Pilgrimage Chapters: Our Lady’s Island

Pilgrimage Chapters: In the Woods

Pilgrimage Chapters: Artist Pilgrims Rehearsal along coast path Trefin to Blue Lagoon, Abereiddy

Pilgrimage Chapters: Wearable Map Kate's Dress and Johnstown Castle

Pilgrimage Chapters: Tulach a’ tSolais

Pilgrimage Chapters: St Davids Cathedral Arrival and Welcome

Pilgrimage Chapters: St Non's & Whitesands

Pilgrimage Chapters: Carreg Samson

Creative Camino Full Film:

Categories
Film Outcomes Pilgrimage

Pre Creative Camino Films

FILM

Pre Creative Camino Films

The Creative Camino was a 7-day pilgrimage along the new walking route, the Wexford Pembrokeshire Pilgrim Way, linking Ferns in County Wexford to St Davids in Pembrokeshire.  Two artists from Pembrokeshire, Ailsa Richardson and Suzi McGregor, and two artist from Wexford, Bonnie Boux and Kate Powell, took part along with a number of community Pilgrims. It was led by Journeying’s Iain Tweedale. In the lead up to the Creative Camino, filmmaker Will Philipin of When It Rains Creative created a trailer of the forthcoming pilgrimage, short film entitled ‘Who is a Pilgrim?’ and interviews with the four artists capturing their expectations of the pilgrimage that lay ahead of them.

Trailer

Artist and Pilgrim Ailsa Richardson

Artist and Pilgrim Suzi McGregor

Who is a Pilgrim? What is a Pilgrimage?
Looking ahead to the Creative Camino short film

Categories
Archive Pilgrimage

The Pilgrims from the Sea Pilgrimage

PILGRIMAGE

The Pilgrims from the Sea Route

The Pilgrims from the Sea route connects early Christian coastal settlements and religious sites from Pontfaen to Llanrhian, taking in significant places of interest along the way, such as the holy well at Llanllawer, which is enclosed in a vaulted chamber, and the Church of St Gwyndaf at Llanwnda, the site of the last invasion of Britain.