Standing, looking at the pitiful sight of the badly wounded body of the Fountain on Sunday, a memory of the late Anthony Cronin standing there immediately hit me with force.
I remembered him standing there over a decade ago with a glass of water on the very day on which then Cllr. Danny Healy Rae made the fountain flow again.
Anthony was over the moon on that day that his beloved fountain was back in action after being sentenced to a prolonged drought.
1840s Built Water Provider
A stab of sadness hit me to see the metal furniture of the fountain in smithereens around my feet.
The damage to the mid 1840s built water providing facility and meeting place seems to have gone unnoticed and without witness.
There is evidence of a vehicle mounting and tearing along the kerb or plinth and scraps of a smashed grill on the ground with the shattered fountain parts.
Stonework Also Damaged
The fluted stonework of the structure itself is also damaged and will need to be realigned as part of a restoration.
As one of our most important local heritage sites, the fountain’s importance to generations past can’t be overstated.
It was a lifeline. And it held that status right up to the late 1970s and was often re-instated when the Dooneen water supply was dodgy for one reason or another.
Donkey Drowned in Reservoir
Like the time the donkey fell into the reservoir and drowned and reposed there for a few days and people thought the taste of the tea wasn’t what it used to be.
I’ve heard that some local people wanted to start a fund to get the fountain rehabilitated and that route is being explored.
As far as finding out who did the damage, Castleisland Garda Station had no information on the incident earlier this week when contacted and it’s thought unlikely that the incident would have been picked up on security cameras in that area of the town.
Light Standard Knocked Sideways
Then, at the other side of the town, on Tuesday night / Wednesday morning one of the tall, black street light standards was knocked sideways.
Ordinary cars, motorbikes, push-bikes, skateboards are being ruled out as it is believed locally that something big and powerful must have hit this pole to do that much damage.
It’s odd that these two mysterious incidents of vehicular inflicted damage on street furniture should happen within a few hundred yards and a couple of days apart.
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