Concrete Barges - Rainham

It seems hard to get a full story regarding these barges. They are of reinforced concrete construction and date to World War 2. They are Tank Lighters, commonly used for carrying fuel or water and it is likely they were constructed as support vessels for the D-Day landings of 1944 but it seems that they were not robust enough and were never used as part of the landings fleet. The barges were war surplus and were towed here in 1953 and sunk to shore up the estuary flood defences which had been damaged by severe storms and have remained there ever since. There are 16 barges on the shore line and visibilty depends on tide level which was quite high when I visited today on the way home from Hornchurch but you still get a good idea of what remains of these historic vessels.

Rock of Cashel

The Rock of Cashel is in County Tipperary, Ireland. It was the traditional home of the Kings of Munster prior to the Norman invasion but in 1101 the fortress on the rock was gifted to the church. Little remains from this time although the round tower does date to around this period. Other building work was spread over subsequent years, notably the cathedral betweem 1235 and 1270. During the Irish Confederate Wars Cashel was sacked by English Parliamentary troops and less then 100 years later, in a much critisized move, the Archbishop of Cashel destroyed the cathedral roof. This naturally led to further decline but today Cashel is a National Monument of Ireland and a very popular tourist attraction, with good reason as we saw last month.