Margaret Rossiter's Column: Walking the walls - a youthful impression that lasted a lifetime

Our five minute walk to primary school in Morton Street every morning was via the church path in Old St Mary’s. Our walk home every afternoon took much longer, from 45 minutes to an hour. We, a group of friends, walked slowly, stopping and starting, talking and gossiping and laughing. Loitering, our disapproving mothers called it, and probably saw in it a strategy for avoiding tasks we had to do at home. As such, it never worked for me - the tasks had to be done anyway.
We were so involved in the gossiping and so completely unaware of our surroundings and of the fact that we were in a very special place, which was enclosed by the medieval walls of Clonmel. While we could have recited, as Gaeilge, the story of Brian Ború and the Battle of Clontarf, local history, the story of the place in which we lived, did not then have a place in our curriculum. But sometimes we would climb on to the parapet of the tower on the north eastern junction of the walls and look down at our homes in the nearby streets. From that height we could identify what was happening at home. If it was a Monday, sheets flapped on the clotheslines in the backyards, and we knew that in those pre-electric washing-machines times, our mothers were up to their elbows in tubs of soapy water.
If, however, we saw Old Mag we went quickly past the tower. She, an old homeless woman, wrapped in a shawl, sometimes found shelter in the open basement and we were afraid of her. She was often taunted by “bold” boys and would wave her fists and shout at them. We did not then understand the tragedy and poignancy of this poor woman’s life.

Margaret Rossiter Column: A fortnight of fun with our beautiful great-granddaughter

However, despite the apparent aimlessness of those dawdling walks home from school, some of the quiet ambience of the church grounds and the ancient walls and towers, left a lasting impression and in adulthood this columnist developed an interest in “old ruins,” so what follows are some memories of a few of the more memorable walls walked on, or by, here and there, wherever circumstances have taken me.
Medieval walls were built essentially for defence, to withstand sieges by enemies, but also to define jurisdiction and power. Clonmel walls withstood Cromwell’s siege for a few weeks in 1650 until a breach was made in the northern wall. It was his last battle in Ireland, leaving the remainder of the Irish conquest to his son-in-law. It is said he was already a sick man, having “contracted the ague in Irish bogs.” Because of archaeological research carried out on some sensitive planning sites in recent decades, and the identification of a few sections of the wall in other parts of the town, we now know the location of the walls and the size of the medieval town.
In Tipperary, and indeed in the entire country, Fethard is a town which still retains a very substantial section of its fortifications and in recent times considerable work was carried out in conservation. The splendid display of the walls as a backdrop to the walk by the river makes for a very attractive amenity in the centre of the town.
I have walked on the walls of Derry, which were so important in the history of the city. While walls were basically for military defence, they can also divide, often defining the political loyalties of those who live within or without. The great wall which still marks the entire border between England and Scotland was built by the Emperor Hadrian, with the objective, it is said of “keeping the Scots out.” It is well maintained and bordered by tracks beloved of marathon walkers.
But walls are not confined to ancient times. They facilitate power structures which keep people apart. The post World War II division of Europe, was described by Churchill as The Iron Curtain. In Berlin, in BernaurStrasse, I walked on the site of the wall which marked the division between totalitarian East and the Democratic West. Small brass plagues on the footpath carried the names of people who were shot by the authorities on the eastern side as they tried to escape to the west. A section of the original wall has also been retained in the same area, visually telling the story of recent history. It is a medium for graffiti writers.
Southwards, walking the walls of Nuremberg is a most attractive way to see that beautiful city. These walls and the city itself were severely damaged in World War II, not only because of the heavy industry produced there but because the city was chosen by Hitler as the site for the display of the huge Nazi demonstrations in the nearby Zeppelinfeld. The city and its walls have been restored. The Zeppelinfeld and its viewing area have been retained. Lest we forget!

Marking a special birthday - December 6, 1921

But can we forget the internecine troubles of recent times? “I recall the modern very high walls where I sat in a tourist bus at a fortified entrance gate from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Our passports were quickly checked and we moved on, while queues of Arab people stood waiting for entrance.”
Then, shortly afterwards, and back on my own island, I walked by the long wall which separates areas of east and west Belfast, and where two communities of ordinary people are still tragically divided. This wall is, too, a medium for graffiti writers.