Rich maritime history of lough

Rich maritime history of lough

19 March 2014

PORTAFERRY is the venue for an impressive new maritime exhibition. Organised by the Portaferry and Strangford Trust, the exhibition entitled Sailors and Sailing Ships, Shipbuilders and Sea Captains has opened to wide acclaim.

Based at the old candle shop in Castle Street, the exhibition recalls the great maritime past of the ports of both Portaferry and Strangford when ships built there sailed all over the world.

In addition to artefacts, models, photographs and paintings, there is historical information and details of the residents of these ports over a century ago.

The exhibition is open over the two next two weekends between 11am and 5pm, with organisers hoping there could soon be a permanent maritime exhibition in Portaferry.

Mr. James Elliott, of the Portaferry and Strangford Trust, said everyone is delighted with the response to the exhibition and the number of people who attended the event over the weekend.

“There have been lots of people coming along for a variety of reasons, including genealogy, as we have a lot of Census data from 1901 and 1911. There are also a variety of vessel models which have created a lot of interest.

“We also have a huge collection of tremendous photographs from decades ago, largely of individuals who are known to some of the locals and these are generating lots of stories. There has been a very positive response and the things people have been writing in the visitors’ book have been very complimentary.”

Mr. Elliott said the Strangford and Portaferry Trust has been buoyed by the success of the new exhibition and explained its ultimate ambition is to open a maritime centre in Portaferry.

“This would be an expanded version of the temporary exhibition we are currently running in space which has been lent to us,” he continued.

“The ultimate aim is to have a maritime centre in our own premises or indeed a number of buildings to mount events such as the current exhibition and other things. A new maritime centre would deal with things in the future as well as the past, for example, tidal energy at Strangford Lough.”

Mr. Elliott said the Trust is looking to secure funding, but recognises that money to restore listed buildings which was previously available has been frozen.

He continued: “This would hopefully imply that the funding will be thawed in the future and we would be able to apply for funding to restore buildings in Portaferry.

“Our desire would be to make admission to any exhibition in a new maritime centre free, but to do that we would need to generate revenue streams and depend on a lot of volunteers being used to staff the building to minimise costs.”

Mr. Elliott said providing a new centre to 21st century standards would cost a lot of money, but it’s a goal the Strangford and Portaferry Trust is working towards.

He added: “The aim is to have the new centre in Portaferry,

but it will not be dealing exclusively with the village. It will focus on the wider area including Strangford and The Narrows. The whole idea is to integrate any new centre with other activities around Portaferry such as Exploris, if it can be retained.

“The current exhibition has enjoyed a great response and we hope to have an event pretty well on average once a month. The intention is to get people used to the idea of there being various maritime activities around the place.”