1.
Republic of Ireland
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Ireland, also known as the Republic of Ireland, is a sovereign state in north-western Europe occupying about five-sixths of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, which is located on the part of the island. The state shares its land border with Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom. It is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the Celtic Sea to the south, Saint Georges Channel to the south-east, and it is a unitary, parliamentary republic. The head of government is the Taoiseach, who is elected by the Dáil and appointed by the President, the state was created as the Irish Free State in 1922 as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty. It was officially declared a republic in 1949, following the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, Ireland became a member of the United Nations in December 1955. It joined the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the European Union, after joining the EEC, Ireland enacted a series of liberal economic policies that resulted in rapid economic growth. The country achieved considerable prosperity between the years of 1995 and 2007, which known as the Celtic Tiger period. This was halted by a financial crisis that began in 2008. However, as the Irish economy was the fastest growing in the EU in 2015, Ireland is again quickly ascending league tables comparing wealth and prosperity internationally. For example, in 2015, Ireland was ranked as the joint sixth most developed country in the world by the United Nations Human Development Index and it also performs well in several national performance metrics, including freedom of the press, economic freedom and civil liberties. Ireland is a member of the European Union and is a member of the Council of Europe. The 1922 state, comprising 26 of the 32 counties of Ireland, was styled, the Constitution of Ireland, adopted in 1937, provides that the name of the State is Éire, or, in the English language, Ireland. Section 2 of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 states, It is hereby declared that the description of the State shall be the Republic of Ireland. The 1948 Act does not name the state as Republic of Ireland, because to have done so would have put it in conflict with the Constitution. The government of the United Kingdom used the name Eire, and, from 1949, Republic of Ireland, for the state, as well as Ireland, Éire or the Republic of Ireland, the state is also referred to as the Republic, Southern Ireland or the South. In an Irish republican context it is referred to as the Free State or the 26 Counties. From the Act of Union on 1 January 1801, until 6 December 1922, during the Great Famine, from 1845 to 1849, the islands population of over 8 million fell by 30%
2.
Grand Canal (Ireland)
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Its sister canal on the Northside of Dublin is the Royal Canal. The last working cargo barge passed through the Grand Canal in 1960, there are a number of branches off the Grand Canal, some of which have been closed and of these, some subsequently restored and reopened. The original main line to Grand Canal Harbour near St. Jamess Gate in Dublin City (most of the route is now used by the red line Luas. While this section was in use, the canal from Crumlin to the Liffey in Ringsend, by 1759 he reported that 3 km in the Bog of Allen and 13 km of canal from the River Liffey near Sallins towards Dublin were complete. By 1763 he had completed 3 locks and 6 bridges towards Dublin and was concentrating on establishing a water supply from the Morell River near Sallins. At this point the Corporation of Dublin realised that the canal could be used to improve the supply to the city. But when the canal was filled, the gave way. By 1768, £77,000 had been spent on the project and this was a new venture for canals. The company invited John Smeaton and his assistant William Jessop to Ireland for two weeks to advise them. Smeaton made a recommendation to skirt round the bog but to build the canal at the height, in contrast to Omers efforts which attempted to drain parts of the bog. The canal from Sallins was finally opened to traffic in 1779, the canal was extended to Robertstown in 1784, including the Leinster Aqueduct across the Liffey, constructed by Richard Evans, and to a junction with the River Barrow at Athy by 1791. The circular line through Dublin from Portobello to Ringsend, where large docks adjacent to the Liffey were constructed, was started in 1790, the company had by then turned its attention to completing the link with the Shannon. Getting across the Bog of Allen took more than five years of struggle under the guidance of Jessop, though the canal was opened to Daingean in 1797, serious breaches occurred and Jessop was forced to abandon this method. The continuation to the Shannon then continued under the leadership of John Killaly, the work was substantially completed in 1803, but because of leakages and a dry summer the official opening had to be delayed until April 1804. The whole work had cost in the region of £877,000 and it was years before it began to make a profit. Trade increased from 100,000 tons in 1800 to double that in 1810, revenues from passenger boats also increased to £90,000 by that date. At present the Grand Canal begins at the River Liffey in Grand Canal Dock and continues through to the River Shannon with various branches, including a link to the River Barrow waterway at Athy. From Grand Canal Dock it passes through Ringsend and then traverses the southside, delineating the northern extremities of Ballsbridge, Ranelagh, Rathmines, Harolds Cross and this section is the Circular Line and has seven locks
3.
Ferbane
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Ferbane is a town on the north bank of the River Brosna in County Offaly, Ireland, between Birr and Athlone at the junction of the N62 National secondary road and the R436 regional road. The name of the town is said to come from the white bog cotton which grows abundantly in the surrounding Bog Of Allen, Irelands first milled-peat fired power station was commissioned by the Electricity Supply Board at Ferbane in 1957. Since the stations closure in 2001, the Shannon Development agency, a new playschool was also built on the site which opened in September 2006. Ferbane Business and Technology Park Ltd is a non profit making company with charitable status owned by the community, phase one was ready in January 2005 Since its establishment, Ferbane Enterprise Group has worked non-stop to develop a unique Business & Technology Park in its region. That work is now bearing fruit in terms of jobs, investment, over 10,000 square metres of office -Industrial units were completed since the park was opened with an additional 10,000 square metres approved -in the planning process. Trivia On 27 October 2007 Ferbane assembled officially 142 area residents to participate in a globally simultaneous dance to the music of Michael Jacksons Thriller, awaiting the official word from Guinness World Records, this would be the world record, surpassing Torontos 2006 record of 62. Pre-School, Bright Beginnings Childcare Centre, Ferbane Bright Beginnings opens from 7. 45am until 6. 00pm and it closes for 1 week over the Christmas period. These hours may expand as demand for the services increases, All of Ferbanes primary and secondary schools have a Catholic ethos and are regulated by the Department of Education and Skills through the national curriculum. These are, Primary level, St. Cynocs National School – St. Cynocs National School was founded in 2007 through the amalgamation of St. Marys Boys NS and St. Marys Girls NS. Secondary level, Gallen Community School – Gallen Community School has been in existence since 2004 following the amalgamation of two schools in the town of Ferbane. The school was rebuilt in 2011 under the DES Public Private Partnership scheme. Ferbane GAA is the local Gaelic Athletic Association club, tony McTague is Ferbanes most famous sportsman. He won two All Irelands with Offaly in 1971 and 1972 and he lifted the Sam Maguire Cup as captain in 1972. Ferbane railway station opened on 29 May 1884, closed for traffic on 27 January 1947. Bus, Ferbane is on the Bus Eireann Route 72 running between Athlone and Limerick, train, The closest train stations to Ferbane are Clara and Athlone Taxi, Local Taxi services are not available. In Clara and Athlone there are taxi operators who will service Ferbane, Local Buses, Local bus routes may come into being. Refer here, www. transportforireland. ie/ Sir John MaCoghlan built Coole Castle on the banks of the Brosna in 1575 and it was the last of the MacCoghlan castles to be built. He erected it as a present to his second wife Sabina ODallachain, the whereabouts of the mural is unknown at present
4.
Tullamore
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Tullamore is a town in County Offaly, in the midlands of Ireland. It is Offalys county town and is located in the centre of the county, Tullamore was designated a gateway town, along with Mullingar and Athlone, in late 2003 by the Irish Government, making it eligible for increased infrastructural investment. The town retained Gold Medal status in the National Tidy Town Awards in 2015, the Tullamore Show is held near the town every year. The towns most famous export is Tullamore Dew – an Irish whiskey distilled by Tullamore Distillery – that can be traced back to 1829, the original distillery shut down in the 1954, with the brand later being resurrected and produced at the Midleton Distillery, in Cork. However, the new owners, William Grant & Sons, invested in a new distillery near Tullamore. In ancient Gaelic Ireland, Tullamore was located in what was known as the landfill territory of Firceall ruled by the OMolloy clan. Firceall was then part of the ancient Kingdom of Meath, following the plantation of Offaly in the 16th and 17th centuries, Firceall was divided into the baronies of Ballycowan, Ballyboy and Eglish, with Tullamore located in Ballycowan. Tullamore was part of the first English plantation of Offaly in the 1570s, by the mid-1500s the lands that were originally ruled by the OMolloy clan were securely planted and in the hands of the Moore family. From this point on a dynasty was established which endured into the nineteenth century, commencing with the grant of the Tullamore area, comprising some 5000 acres. At that time the Tullamore estate included a castle, ten cottages. Sir Robert Forth, who leased the lands from Thomas Moore, Charles Moore, Lord Tullamore, grandson of Thomas, eventually regained possession of the estate and when he died in 1674 it went via his sister to Charles William Bury. Charles William was later created the 1st Earl of Charleville in a creation of the title. To this day, the shield depicts a phoenix rising from the ashes. The event is commemorated by the Phoenix festival which celebrates Tullamores resurrection from the ashes following the accident. The Grand Canal linked Tullamore to Dublin in 1798, during the Napoleonic Wars, a clash between troops of the Kings German Legion and a regiment of British Light Infantry who were both stationed in the town, became known as the Battle of Tullamore. Tullamore became county town of County Offaly in 1835, replacing Daingean, Tullamore has a long history of whiskey distilling, with two distilleries known to have operated in the two in the 1780s, though closed some years later. Subsequently, a new distillery, was established by Michael Molloy, when Molloy died, the distillery first passed to his brother Anthony, before eventually making its way into the hands of his nephew, Bernard Daly. When Daly died, his son, Captain Bernard Daly took ownership of the business, Williams brought electricity to Tullamore in 1893
5.
Bog
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A bog is a wetland that accumulates peat, a deposit of dead plant material—often mosses, and in a majority of cases, sphagnum moss. It is one of the four types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, quagmire, and muskeg and they are frequently covered in ericaceous shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink, Bogs occur where the water at the ground surface is acidic and low in nutrients. In some cases, the water is derived entirely from precipitation, water flowing out of bogs has a characteristic brown colour, which comes from dissolved peat tannins. In general, the low fertility and cool climate results in relatively slow plant growth, large areas of landscape can be covered many metres deep in peat. Bogs have distinctive assemblages of animal, fungal and plant species, Bogs are widely distributed in cold, temperate climes, mostly in boreal ecosystems in the Northern Hemisphere. The worlds largest wetland is the bogs of the Western Siberian Lowlands in Russia. Large peat bogs also occur in North America, particularly the Hudson Bay Lowland and they are less common in the Southern Hemisphere, with the largest being the Magellanic moorland, comprising some 44,000 square kilometres. Sphagnum bogs were widespread in northern Europe but have often been cleared and drained for agriculture, a 2014 expedition leaving from Itanga village, Republic of the Congo discovered a peat bog as big as England which stretches into neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. There are many highly specialised animals, fungi and plants associated with bog habitat, most are capable of tolerating the combination of low nutrient levels and waterlogging. Sphagnum moss is generally abundant, along with ericaceous shrubs, the shrubs are often evergreen, which is understood to assist in conservation of nutrients. In drier locations, evergreen trees can occur, in case the bog blends into the surrounding expanses of boreal evergreen forest. Sedges are one of the more common herbaceous species, carnivorous plants such as sundews and pitcher plants have adapted to the low-nutrient conditions by using invertebrates as a nutrient source. Orchids have adapted to these conditions through the use of fungi to extract nutrients. Some shrubs such as Myrica gale have root nodules in which nitrogen fixation occurs, Bogs are recognized as a significant/specific habitat type by a number of governmental and conservation agencies. They can provide habitat for mammals, such as caribou, moose, the United Kingdom in its Biodiversity Action Plan establishes bog habitats as a priority for conservation. Russia has a reserve system in the West Siberian Lowland
6.
Peat
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Peat, also called turf, is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation or organic matter that is unique to natural areas called peatlands, bogs, mires, moors, or muskegs. The peatland ecosystem is the most efficient carbon sink on the planet because peatland plants capture the CO2 which is released from the peat. Sphagnum moss is one of the most common components in peat, soils that contain mostly peat are known as histosols. Peat forms in wetland conditions, where flooding obstructs flows of oxygen from the atmosphere, Peatlands, particularly bogs, are the most important source of peat. That said, other less common types, including fens, pocosins. Landscapes covered in peat are home to specific kinds of plants including Sphagnum moss, ericaceous shrubs, because organic matter accumulates over thousands of years, peat deposits also provide records of past vegetation and climates stored in plant remains like pollen. This allows humans to reconstruct past environments and study changes in land use. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world, by volume, there are about 4 trillion cubic metres of peat in the world, covering a total of around 2% of the global land area, containing about 8 billion terajoules of energy. Over time, the formation of peat is often the first step in the formation of other fossil fuels such as coal. This is also the commonly used in the peat industry. At 106 g CO2/MJ, the carbon dioxide emission intensity of peat is higher than that of coal and natural gas, lastly, peat fires have been responsible for large public health disasters including the 1997 Southeast Asian haze. Peat forms when plant material does not fully decay in acidic and anaerobic conditions and it is composed mainly of wetland vegetation, principally bog plants including mosses, sedges, and shrubs. As it accumulates, the peat holds water and this slowly creates wetter conditions that allow the area of wetland to expand. Peatland features can include ponds, ridges, and raised bogs, most modern peat bogs formed 12,000 years ago in high latitudes after the glaciers retreated at the end of the last ice age. Peat usually accumulates slowly at the rate of about a millimetre per year, using Carbon-dating, scientists found that Peat in peatlands started forming 360 million years ago based on it currently containing 550 Gt of carbon. Peat material is either fibric, hemic, or sapric, fibric peats are the least decomposed and consist of intact fiber. Hemic peats are partially decomposed and sapric are the most decomposed, Phragmites peat is one composed of reed grass, Phragmites australis, and other grasses. It is denser than other types of peat
7.
Brick
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A brick is building material used to make walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Traditionally, the term referred to a unit composed of clay. A brick can be composed of clay-bearing soil, sand, and lime, Bricks are produced in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region and time period, and are produced in bulk quantities. Two basic categories of bricks are fired and non-fired bricks, block is a similar term referring to a rectangular building unit composed of similar materials, but is usually larger than a brick. Lightweight bricks are made from expanded clay aggregate, fired bricks are one of the longest-lasting and strongest building materials, sometimes referred to as artificial stone, and have been used since circa 5000 BC. Air-dried bricks, also known as mudbricks, have an older than fired bricks. Bricks are laid in courses and numerous patterns known as bonds, collectively known as brickwork, the earliest bricks were dried brick, meaning that they were formed from clay-bearing earth or mud and dried until they were strong enough for use. The oldest discovered bricks, originally made from shaped mud and dating before 7500 BC, were found at Tell Aswad, in the upper Tigris region, ceramic, or fired brick was used as early as 3000 BC in early Indus Valley cities. In pre-modern China, bricks were being used from the 2nd millennium BCE at a site near Xian, the carpenters manual Yingzao Fashi, published in 1103 at the time of the Song dynasty described the brick making process and glazing techniques then in use. He also had to know when to quench the kiln with water so as to produce the surface glaze, Early civilisations around the Mediterranean adopted the use of fired bricks, including the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The Roman legions operated mobile kilns, and built large brick structures throughout the Roman Empire, during the Early Middle Ages the use of bricks in construction became popular in Northern Europe, after being introduced there from Northern-Western Italy. An independent style of architecture, known as brick Gothic flourished in places that lacked indigenous sources of rocks. Examples of this style can be found in modern-day Denmark, Germany, Poland. A clear distinction between the two styles developed at the transition to Baroque architecture. In Lübeck, for example, Brick Renaissance is clearly recognisable in buildings equipped with terracotta reliefs by the artist Statius von Düren, production of bricks increased massively with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the rise in factory building in England. For reasons of speed and economy, bricks were increasingly preferred as building material to stone and it was at this time in London, that bright red brick was chosen for construction to make the buildings more visible in the heavy fog and to help prevent traffic accidents. The transition from the method of production known as hand-moulding to a mechanised form of mass-production slowly took place during the first half of the nineteenth century. His mechanical apparatus soon achieved widespread attention after it was adopted for use by the South Eastern Railway Company for brick-making at their factory near Folkestone, the Bradley & Craven Ltd ‘Stiff-Plastic Brickmaking Machine’ was patented in 1853, apparently predating Clayton
8.
Charcoal
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Charcoal is a lightweight, black residue, consisting of carbon and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis- the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen, the whole pile is covered with turf or moistened clay. The firing is begun at the bottom of the flue, the success of the operation depends upon the rate of the combustion. The operation is so delicate that it was left to colliers. They often lived alone in small huts in order to tend their wood piles, for example, in the Harz Mountains of Germany, charcoal burners lived in conical huts called Köten which are still much in evidence today. The massive production of charcoal was a cause of deforestation. The increasing scarcity of easily harvested wood was a factor behind the switch to fossil fuel equivalents, mainly coal. Charcoal made at 300 °C is brown, soft and friable, and readily inflames at 380 °C, made at higher temperatures it is hard and brittle, in Finland and Scandinavia, the charcoal was considered the by-product of wood tar production. The best tar came from pine, thus pinewoods were cut down for tar pyrolysis, the residual charcoal was widely used as substitute for metallurgical coke in blast furnaces for smelting. Tar production led to deforestation, it has been estimated all Finnish forests are younger than 300 years. The end of tar production at the end of the 19th century resulted in rapid re-forestation, the charcoal briquette was first invented and patented by Ellsworth B. A. Zwoyer of Pennsylvania in 1897 and was produced by the Zwoyer Fuel Company. The process was popularized by Henry Ford, who used wood. Ford Charcoal went on to become the Kingsford Company, Charcoal has been made by various methods. The traditional method in Britain used a clamp and this is essentially a pile of wooden logs leaning against a chimney. The chimney consists of 4 wooden stakes held up by some rope, the logs are completely covered with soil and straw allowing no air to enter. It must be lit by introducing some burning fuel into the chimney, if the soil covering gets torn by the fire, additional soil is placed on the cracks. Once the burn is complete, the chimney is plugged to prevent air from entering, the true art of this production method is in managing the sufficient generation of heat, and its transfer to wood parts in the process of being carbonised. A strong disadvantage of this method is the huge amount of emissions that are harmful to human health
9.
Power station
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A power station, also referred to as a power plant or powerhouse and sometimes generating station or generating plant, is an industrial facility for the generation of electric power. Most power stations contain one or more generators, a machine that converts mechanical power into electrical power. The relative motion between a field and a conductor creates an electrical current. The energy source harnessed to turn the generator varies widely, most power stations in the world burn fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas to generate electricity. Others use nuclear power, but there is an use of cleaner renewable sources such as solar, wind, wave. There is some debate within utility and engineering circles over whether a solar array, or wind farm, should be referred to as a power station, in 1868 a hydro electric power station was designed and built by Lord Armstrong at Cragside, England. It used water from lakes on his estate to power Siemens dynamos, the electricity supplied power to lights, heating, produced hot water, ran an elevator as well as labor-saving devices and farm buildings. In the early 1870s Belgian inventor Zénobe Gramme invented a powerful enough to produce power on a commercial scale for industry. In the autumn of 1882, a central station providing public power was built in Godalming and it was proposed after the town failed to reach an agreement on the rate charged by the gas company, so the town council decided to use electricity. It used hydroelectric power that was used to street and household lighting, the system was not a commercial success and the town reverted to gas. In 1882 a the worlds first coal-fired public power station, the Edison Electric Light Station, was built in London, a Babcock & Wilcox boiler powered a 125-horsepower steam engine that drove a 27-ton generator. This supplied electricity to premises in the area that could be reached through the culverts of the viaduct without digging up the road, the customers included the City Temple and the Old Bailey. Another important customer was the Telegraph Office of the General Post Office, Johnson arranged for the supply cable to be run overhead, via Holborn Tavern and Newgate. In September 1882 in New York, the Pearl Street Station was established by Edison to provide lighting in the lower Manhattan Island area. The station ran until destroyed by fire in 1890, the station used reciprocating steam engines to turn direct-current generators. Because of the DC distribution, the area was small. The War of Currents eventually resolved in favor of AC distribution and utilization, DC systems with a service radius of a mile or so were necessarily smaller, less efficient of fuel consumption, and more labor-intensive to operate than much larger central AC generating stations. AC systems used a range of frequencies depending on the type of load, lighting load using higher frequencies
