If you go down to the National Maritime Museum Cornwall today…you’ll find it closed, as it plays host to the world’s press for the G7. More pertinently, there’s a fascinating photographic exhibition of traditional wooden boatbuilding at the legendary Hegarty’s Yard in Ireland by documentary photographer Kevin O’Farrell, which runs from when the museum reopens on Friday 18th June until Sunday 5th September.
Hegarty’s Boatyard, near Skibbereen in County Cork, was established by Paddy Hegarty just after the Second World War. His grandson, also Paddy Hegarty, is now the third generation of boatbuilders to work at the yard. The last surviving traditional wooden boat builders in Ireland, Hegarty’s has built a wide range of wooden boats over the last couple of decades, including the once-lost West Cork Mackerel Yawls. Alongside wooden fishing trawler repair work, one of the biggest restorations of recent years at the yard was the rebuild of the 56ft (17m) 1926 Baltimore ketch ILEN, relaunched in 2018.
