SWEET WATER ARCH

Because of the really heavy rain, which lasted all day, I had to abandon my visit to the Stranmillis area of Belfast shortly after photographing this metal sculpture. I was really disappointed as I was enjoying myself. If you are a visitor to Ireland you really do need to be prepared for rain.This is not my favourite piece of public art in Belfast but it was worth a visit. When I saw the Sweet Water Arch sculpture I was certain that I had seen it before and because I have a very large collection of photographs I soon discovered that a very similar installation by Denis O’Connor is located in Cork and if you wish to find it look for ‘Lost Industries’. My favourite sculpture by Denis is located on Grattan Quay in Waterford.I always learn something new every time I photograph an area and today I learned why the area is known as Stranmillis. The name of the sculpture, Sweet Water Arch, derives from the Irish for the area ‘An Srúthan Milís’ or ‘sweet stream’.