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Photo: George Griffin
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Photo: George Griffin
Dalkey 7 is now visible as a result of a significant amount of work done by Dalkey Tidy Towns. The restoration jobs of these signs are huge undertakings, and usually involve a massive amount of volunteer effort.
I’m grateful to Dalkey Tidy Towns for these photographs and also some background as to their project. I think they have done a fantastic job.
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In October 2018, a past Dalkey resident contacted Dalkey Tidy Towns, Orla de Cogan. She had an old Irish Air Corps reconnaissance photo of about 1950. They could see the remains of some stone formation buried at Hawk Cliff, just below the Vico Road in Dalkey. They contacted historian, Dr Michael Kennedy. Were these the remains of a long-lost EIRE No.7 sign below the surface?
What followed over a six-month period was the unearthing and lifting and cleaning of an estimated 100 tons of stones laid out in trenches in the precise shape of EIRE. Over 60 volunteers committed 1,692 hrs to the project. Once lifted and cleaned, each stone was replaced and coated with four tons of a special Roadstone Flo Mix to bind the stones together. Carried by hand in rotas of seven wheelbarrows by a further 35 volunteers during a two-day blitz in April, this Flo Mix was brought from the Vico Road down the narrow path to the Hawk Cliff site. Once in place and dried, Sika Ireland Ltd provided 170 litres of high-grade white masonry paint to finish the WW2 restoration. Over a period of one month, 48 volunteers completed the painting. Finally, having earlier removed 8 sacks of litter and household rubbish from this neglected site, DTT rebuilt the old picnic table and benches, landscaped the surroundings for the public to enjoy and planted a wide area with Irish Wildflowers.
Credit: Dalkey Tidy Towns.
I also have some stunning photographs from George Griffin.
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Photo: George Griffin
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Photo: George Griffin