Portrush East Strand
Coleraine Borough Council and its funding partners have invested almost £1.1 million in a major environmental improvement scheme to provide a high quality public realm along Portrush's East Strand area. The development includes a high quality, community engaging piece of public sculpture - To the People of the Sea by West Cork-based sculptor Holger Lönze. The 13ft high public sculpture project is funded by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Coleraine Borough Council (links open in new windows).
Portrush, its community and its heritage, are intrinsically linked with the sea. Whether crafting vessels to face its fury, fishing its depths, saving lives from its reaches or riding its crests, the people of Portrush face the sea. The concept for the sculpture To the People of the Sea is based on Portrush's rich maritime culture and the boat building history of the East Strand site. It celebrates not only one of Ireland’s famous boat builders but also the elements that have determined the daily life of generations of the local community: local boats and the sea.
Three generations ago, Portrush's East Strand area provided the base for one of the finest boat builders of the Northern Atlantic seaboard: James Kelly. His exceptional skill, combined with an excellent understanding of the sea created boats that served the needs of the courageous boatmen of the Northern seas. Portrush is now one of Ireland’s prime surfing locations, answering the needs of a new and different generation of ‘people of the sea’. In the winter season, northerly winds in combination with the shallow sandy bay and great Atlantic swells create a fast succession of hollow beach breakers of up to 10ft height. These challenging waves and the exciting surf has brought a whole new industry to Portrush with a generation of surfers and body-boarders claiming the sea for themselves - as courageous as the working boatmen in their tackling of the elements and confirming Portrush’s emotional link with the sea.
The Drontheim
Located almost half-way between Malin Head and Fair Head, Portrush established itself as a central fishing and trading harbour in the middle of the 19th century. This provided the economic base for the development of a regional boat building industry alongside those at Moville and Greencastle. Local boat building enterprises became known for their fine clipper-bowed trawlers of the late 19th century, resembling sophisticated yachts rather than the working boats they are. The most iconic boat built in the area, however, remained the Drontheim. Its distinct double-ended clinker hull with the unique sandstroke made it a safe and well-performing seaboat. Its manœuvrability and seaworthiness made it the choice of boat for generations of fishermen along the Northern seaboard of Ireland. Developed from Norwegian style double-ended boats which were introduced in the late 1700s, the art of Drontheim building in Portrush peaked and came to a close with the work of James Kelly. Until the second world war, his yard was based at East Strand, in fact very close to the proposed site of in very close proximity to the sculpture. Kelly’s boats were the choice of fishermen as far away as the Hebrides where it was known as an Sgoth Eireannach - the Irish Skiff.
James Kelly
While all traces of both James Kelly’s and James Hopkin’s yards have disappeared, the Drontheim’s distinct red spritsails can now be seen again as a result of the recent revival in traditional boat culture. Portrush has been at the heart of this with active community groups including the Causeway Coast Maritime Heritage Group and the Causeway Coast Kayak Association which have both commissioned and promoted the use of wooden Drontheims and GRP replicas as modern day leisure craft.
Reference Material
The proposal was informed by advice and research from:
Loughie McQuilkin, artist's recording 2006, Kilnagrock, Rathlin Island
Robin Ruddock, from discussions in 2009/2010
Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh, Delargy Centre of Irish Folklore, UCD
Traditional Boats of Ireland Project
Mac O’Neill, Portrush, from a discussion in 2006
Dónal MacPolin from a discussion in 2007
Críostóir Mac Cárthaigh (ed.); Traditional Boats of Ireland, 2008
Dónal MacPolin; The Drontheim - Forgotten Sailing Boat of the North Irish Coast; 1999
Harry Madill; essays on the fishing industry on the North coast
James Kelly letterhead courtesy of Robin Ruddock.
Click here for a PDF booklet of the sculpture (opens in a new window).
Access the Environmental Impact Study for the project (200KB PDF file; opens in a new window).
