Cashel legend Johnny Fogarty is making works of art

Looking around Johnny Fogarty's workshop one can't help but be amazed at the creations of the skilled craftsman creating beautiful models of landmark buildings across Tipperary. 

“I enjoy it,” he says when he shows me around his fantastic workshop with some pieces that show amazing attention to detail and are replicas of some of the most beautiful buildings in the county. 

Word began to spread several years ago when a good friend of Johnny’s, Seamus King, took a photo which appeared in the Nationalist newspaper.

Those overseeing the Rock saw the picture and got in touch then to know if they could get the piece of ‘the Rock’ to put on display to show visitors and so it remains there until this day. The interest lit a spark that has gone from strength to strength.

“I can thank Seamus for that,” he says. “After he put the photo on the Nationalist it really took off from there.”

That first piece was the catalyst for this progression over the years. Johnny explained how he went about it on day one: “I said to myself I will have a go at making a model of it and I went up to the Rock and took measurements of the Rock and everything I could see there.

“I got Aidan and Brian to take photos then I went down to Centenary and got all the tools I needed then got a sheet of plywood and it took off from there seven years ago.

“Now I have 36 of them made. The first one was the Rock then Hore Abbey, Chez Hans, my own house, Johnny Dwyer the Chemists and then Olive’s house. Others include the two churches in Cashel, Dansies pub, Mother Hubbards, Devitt’s funeral parlour, the Town Hall, the Palace hotel, Bailey’s hotel and I am still at them!

“My daughter Olive is the best help I could have. She takes photos of them  and then I scale them down,” he says. 
The talented Johnny is inundated with requests and stays busy with different pieces: “I tell them all they have to go back to the end of the list!”

A new piece of St. Patrick’s in Cashel is currently under construction and it is the biggest piece so far: “It is nearly ready, it just needs to be painted,” says Johnny. 

“It is one of the biggest along with Acorn Lodge. The construction of Acorn Lodge is on display there and there is a glass dome over it so people can look down on it and get the full image of what it is. 

“There is another one of Copperfield House where there is a veranda and I made the veranda of six-inch nails as well,” he says. 

The pieces are stunning. The new one is nearing completion while others are still on display. He has made two models of Che Hans. One is on display there and the other shows all the hallmarks of a master construction. 

One of a funeral parlour is made of six-inch nails while other household items are often used and repurposed. He is celebrating a big birthday very soon. “I will be 94 on the 28th of August so it is just around the corner!”

He says being interested in things keeps him going: “Plenty of work!

“Don’t stop just keep on going so I'm at it every day. I think you have to stay active,” says Johnny.  In his earlier years he had a garage in Cashel: “I served my time in McCloskey’s garage on the Cahir Road in 1948.

“At that time you would have to give seven years training with six years as an apprentice and a year as an improver which was ridiculous,” he says, thinking back.

“Then I went down to Cork to the OK Garage. They were one of the leading garages for diesel so I gave a year down there and came back and worked at O’Connors in Ladyswell.

“After that McCloskeys garage came up for sale and Tommy Halpin, who was the head when I went there, was there so we went into partnership.

“We bought the garage and we never looked back. I had the garage then on the Cahir Road until mam died and then I sold it to Patsy O'Neill. He had it for years and has it sold on now."

The work has changed now for Johnny into something new. If you get a chance check out these works of art.