Friends
who have recently moved to Ireland from Malaysia
have come across mysterious doors , hidden
cavities and even part of a nun’s habit
while carrying out extensive
renovations on their 1840s
residence in Enniscorthy , which has celebrated its 1500th anniversary .
In an email from Alan and Pat Jones they sent a colourful account, with photographs, of their discoveries in the first three weeks' of occupation . In the living room there was an odd L-shaped section which sounded hollow . Pat , an imaginative Irish colleen
, suggested there could be skeletons, bags of gold and chalices
inside . Pulled apart
, it revealed a narrow staircase with
no rails
and a dark shadow on the wall, where
bodies could have hung ; instead , there was part of a nun’s habit...nuns having once lived in the
building .
A real surprise was the
tiny door ,
pictured left, being closely examined by Pat , which
raised the possibility that there had been an order of midget nuns . Fragments of a 1924 newspaper were found behind the door. Alan , a longtime
antique dealer in Melbourne and Adelaide
, had vowed and declared that
a lot of the old
wares , paintings and photos
they
had carted about
for years would be auctioned , cleared away, and no more "old stuff " purchased . Indeed,
a modern Ikea kitchen is being installed- revealing four layers of floor coverings and at least six lots of wallpaper .
However , a trip to the nearby market at Wexford resulted in Alan
buying a spectacular
old art nouveau cabinet with a touch of Chinese in its design and a
Victorian standard brass lamp
with large lion’s feet. Their china will be displayed in the cabinet . In the event their renovations reveal a serial killer-Paddy the Ripper - has been in action , especially in that bricked in area behind another door , rest assured we will notify our readers and CSI.
A second email from Pat and Alan contained this shot of the nun's clobber in situ at the foot of the very steep stairs , not far from that mysterious tiny door . Alan put forward the theory that the nun fled down the stairs and escaped -crawled- out the door .
Alan has many amusing stories from his days in the antique business in Australia , which will get a run in this blog from time to time . One beaut such yarn involves him buying a pre-loved coffin from a man in Adelaide and strapping it to roof of his car to take home , causing motorists to stare . He sold it to a collector who had a skeleton with a deformed foot kept in a cupboard in his daughter's collection cluttered bedroom ,with a machine gun from WW1 under her bed .
A second email from Pat and Alan contained this shot of the nun's clobber in situ at the foot of the very steep stairs , not far from that mysterious tiny door . Alan put forward the theory that the nun fled down the stairs and escaped -crawled- out the door .
Alan has many amusing stories from his days in the antique business in Australia , which will get a run in this blog from time to time . One beaut such yarn involves him buying a pre-loved coffin from a man in Adelaide and strapping it to roof of his car to take home , causing motorists to stare . He sold it to a collector who had a skeleton with a deformed foot kept in a cupboard in his daughter's collection cluttered bedroom ,with a machine gun from WW1 under her bed .
