DUE TO THE difficulty of extracting its road metaling material, a remote limestone quarry lying near the Tipperary border at Ballykeeffe, Kilmanagh, was abandoned by Kilkenny Co Council in the 1950s. Bereft of practical purpose, the quarry, like many others nationwide, then became an egregious dump for car wrecks, furniture, and other rubbish. It also acted as a convenient winter repository for sugar beet. Nothing further happened for almost three decades, until in 1981 a new mountain climbing organisation was established in Kilkenny. Soon, members of Tyndall Mountaineering Club were out seeking local crags on which to sharpen their climbing skills.
Eventually, Tyndall member Don Roberts discovered that startlingly vertical cliffs existed at Ballykeeffe. Scaling this unforgiving rockface required more than square-jawed determination, however, it also demanded a staunch insouciance, since it was first necessary to scramble over abandoned cars and decomposing sugar beet.
Kilkenny man Kevin Higgins was among the pioneering rockclimbers at Ballykeeffe. “When we first came in the 1980s, the quarry was a mountain of rubbish and we kept a low profile since technically we were trespassing,” says Higgins. “It was great fun, though, even if it was often necessary to first scare away the rats by tossing rocks before climbing could begin.” In a county where the camán is king, rockclimbing was a new and unaccustomed kettle of scary fish – so initially the Ballykeeffe pioneers ploughed a lone furrow.
Higgins believes, however, it was the efforts of the Tyndall members that first drew attention to the quarry and the idea that it could be used for leisure purposes. Slowly the seed corn planted by the early climbers took root and the quarry became a popular climbing venue year round, since it is south facing, sheltered and something of a sun trap.
Traditionally rockclimbers in Ireland have protected themselves from falling by inserting jamming devices into cracks in the rock. But the crinoidal carboniferous limestone at Ballykeeffe has few such breaks for protection devices with the result that a falling climber would inevitably “deck out”, ie hit the ground. So, a pragmatic decision was made for safety reasons to place permanent bolts in the rockface to which a security rope could be attached.
This decision made Ballykeeffe the only extensively bolted area in the Republic and meant that almost by accident it became Ireland’s first sports-climbing venue. Sports-climbing is a hugely popular pastime on the continent, because it allows participants to climb at the top of their ability while clipped into bolts that ensure relative safety. It wasn’t long before considerable numbers of Ireland’s new immigrants from Eastern Europe were to be seen gracefully ascending the imposing crags at Ballykeeffe.
With the venue now an increasingly busy place, the local community woke up to its potential as a recreational resource. At the end of the last century plans were unveiled by KBK, the local enterprise group, to turn Ballykeeffe into a multi-purpose amenity while safeguarding its role as a leading rockclimbing venue.
According to Padraic Flaherty, treasurer of KBK, several ideas were considered until landscape architect Desmond Fitzgerald suggested an amphitheatre to take advantage of the spectacular setting.
“Some of us were already aware of the Minack Theatre, a successful cliff top amphitheatre in Cornwall, so we readily accepted the idea and you could say that Ballykeeffe is modelled on Minack,” says Flaherty. The rubbish, the sugar beet and the car wrecks were removed and then with grant aid from State agencies and funding from the locality the once decrepit quarry was transformed into an auditorium representing one of Ireland’s most innovative community projects. And last year KBK unveiled a new, innovatively designed, permanent outdoor stage costing €100,000 – the first of its kind in Ireland – with a performance of Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Rebranded as Ballykeeffe amphitheatre, the venue now offers woodland walking in the attached nature reserve, traditional and sports rockclimbing, along with a summer programme of concerts and theatrical events that has attracted such well-known artists as Andy Irvine, Anúna, Kila, Cora Lunny and Nóirín Ní Riain. Moya Brennan was one of those to extol the amphitheatre atmosphere after her performance. “There can’t be anywhere else like Ballykeeffe in Ireland. Playing here was a pleasure – it’s intimate and easy to connect with the audience but at the same time there’s a sense of grandeur and drama beneath the magnificent rockface.”
And the fun continues this summer.
The Saw Doctors break their English tour to perform an exclusive show tomorrow. Then Maria Doyle Kennedy, Liam Ó Maonlaí and Rónán Ó Snodaigh join forces for a special concert on August 18th. A programme of events continues throughout August and September, with guided walks, music and a festival aimed specifically at rockclimbers and music lovers. Visitors can appreciate the rich sounds of the Bavarian Youth Orchestra while as a backdrop rockclimbers ascend the austere cliff face. Full details at www. ballykeeffeamphitheatre.ie.