Category Archives: Landscapes

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 8 January 2015

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes

774a. Walled Town of Cork , c.1575 from Pacata Hibernia

Article 774 –8 January 2015

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 5) –Tales of Two Cities

 

      With the Irish Channel being a type of maritime motorway in its day, the connection between Cork and Bristol was close during the early thirteenth century. I think sometimes, we view the historic development of Irish cities as self contained but settlements such as Cork have always drawn on ideas of place making put forward elsewhere in western Europe.

     Continuing on from just before Christmas, in the early 1200s, the number of religious and charitable establishments in Bristol and Cork grew rapidly. From the earliest times of the Anglo-Norman conquest of England and of Ireland, they were interested in exercising control over the Church (for use in assimilation purposes and for its land). General history books in Bristol library such as Peter Aughton’s book, Bristol, A People’s History (2003), detail that a Dominican Priory was established in 1227-9 while a Franciscan Priory in 1234. Both were founded to the influence of Anglo-Norman family of Berkely who possessed territory near St. Mary’s Church, Redcliffe. Other church associated institutions established at the time included St Mark’s Hospital, St Bartholomew, St Lawrence, St John’s Hospital for sick poor, St Catherines, St Mary Magdalene for lepers And Brighbow for male lepers located outside the town’s eastern boundaries.

    In 1250s, the order of Augustinians was founded near Temple Gate while in 1267 a Carmelite Friary was founded. In Cork, a Dominican and Franciscan Friary were both established in 1229 while an Augustinian abbey was founded much later between the years 1275 and 1285. The Cork establishments still have very elaborate and beautiful churches in our city.

    In Bristol, the early 1200s marked conflict between the Berkelys of Redcliffe and the civic administrators over accessibility to the town. The Berkelys felt that they were discriminated against. Consequently in 1239, a new bridge was built which connected Redcliffe to the walled settlement. By 1247, the Redcliffe area became part of the town when it was walled in. In addition, a new harbour was dug at the junction of the River Froom and the larger River Avon. Between 1275 and 1300, Bristol’s seal or Coat of Arms was created, Bristol castle with a ship seeking refuge under its gates and walls and a sailor. My own gut is that Cork’s coat of arms is linked to Bristol’s one. I cannot prove it with historical detail but the close links and similar culture of development between the two cities do point to it.

    The late thirteenth century coincided with Cork expanding rapidly as a municipal centre. In 1273, the first Mayor named Richard Wine was appointed. This was a sign that Cork was taking its place amongst other up and coming English settlements. As a city we are also lucky that historical developments of the thirteenth century have survived the test of time. Concerning trade links, the oldest and richest in historic research and detail is the insightful Economic History of Cork by William O’Sullivan (1937). The historical evidence describes that the port at Cork was a wealthy earner. The customs returns of Irish ports in the period 1276 to 1333 show that Cork was the third most important port in Ireland, after New Ross and Waterford and that it was estimated that Cork possessed 17 % of total Irish trade. In addition, it is recorded that the main export duties were paid on wool, wool-fells and hides. These figures highlight Cork’s growth as a premier North Atlantic port.

    In 1284, the townscape of Cork’s walled settlement was critiqued by King Edward I. He authorised the collection of additional murage tolls or taxes on the land so that walls of the southern island i.e. around South Main Street area could be improved. He described the bridges of the town to be ruinous and the port as being so deteriorated that a swift response was needed to revamp it. The monarch also detailed that there was a vacant place, Dungarvan or the northern island, which should be built on and that it would be of great advantage to the citizens of the town. In time this area was built upon and North Main Street emerged.

    In 1317, paving and the repairing of facets of Bristol’s walled town began. In the same year in Cork it was decided to enclose with stone walls, the southern and the northern island (Dungarvan) of Cork. Hence a 16 acre settlement site across two marshy islands was created. Access into this town was via three entrances – two drawbridges and an eastern portcullis gate which lifted up and down on water. A channel of water was left between both islands; the western half was dominated by a millrace, the eastern half by an interior dock within the walled town.

    As the thirteenth century progressed, commercial leaders in Bristol and Cork began to hold chief places in civic government. For example John de Bristol became Mayor of Cork in 1336. After the extension of the wall circa 1300, several taxes are listed in subsequent royal charters granted to the city which refer to numerous traded articles. In the thirteenth century, Bristol was to open up trade with France in the form of the Gascony wine trade. Subsequently links between Ireland and other French ports through Bristol’s contact grew steadily.

 To be continued…

 

Happy New Year to all readers of this column

 

Caption:

 

774a. Pacata Hibernia view of the walled town of Cork, c.1575 (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 18 December 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized

773a. Cork Coat of Arms, Custom House, Cork

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 18 December 2014

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 4) – The Bristol Connection

 

      As Cork developed in the twelfth century, from historical and archaeological perspectives, one of its earliest known connections to another port city was with Bristol. Bristol Ham Green Pottery has been found in large numbers beneath our old medieval core; our coats of arms are similar – Bristol has one tower and a ship; Cork’s first English charter in 1185 refers to similar privileges. It was these issues that encouraged my visits to England’s largest western city, Bristol in recent years.

       On first approach, topographically, Bristol is a city of hills with sharp slopes but no great altitudes. The outskirts of the settlement cover a series of low ridges. Indeed, the approach from the south is similar to the approach from Cork Airport to Cork City, involving panoramic views of a large connurbation. Bristol grew initially as a Roman bridging point and this is reflected in its original name, Bristow. The growth of its port occurred in the middle of the first millennium AD. By 1,000 AD an Anglo-Saxon town was well established. The advent of the 1060s coincided with conflict in Anglo-Saxon England in the form of the Anglo-Norman invasion and their famous historical victory on the battle-fields of Hastings in 1066. By 1069, it is argued that many Saxons were unprepared to accept the Anglo-Norman conquest as final and fled England to Ireland to regroup. From Dublin, they made two attempts to re-establish themselves in England. Bristol was the main focus of this attack. As a result circa 1087, a motte and bailey structure was built by Anglo-Normans in Bristol. This was restructured in the 1110s by a more substantial stone structure. Surrounded by the River Froom, the castle itself has been described as a large fortified manor. By 1083, Bristol was in Royal possession.

     The 1086 Domesday Book regarded Bristol as not unlike medieval London, an area thinly peopled and unfertile in itself, but containing a settlement of some size which rendered a substantial revenue from its surrounding hinterland. Economically, the city was ranked as been on par with York, Lincoln and Norwich. Indeed, from the twelfth century onwards, many western European cities experienced rapid urban growth. In most cases, the growth of towns was in conjunction with a mercantile class and the growth of internal and external trade. Indeed, the growth of maritime trade was a general European trend (of which Cork was also part of).

      As the Hiberno-Norse developed towns in places in Ireland such as Cork, the 1100s in Bristol coincided with conflict and change. In the 1130s and 1140s further rebellions against Anglo-Normans by Anglo-Saxons occurred while the first of the royal charters to Bristol was granted in 1155. Primarily, a grant was given towards creating toll toll-free passage through King Henry’s dominions in England, Wales and Normandy. Between 1164 and 1170, another charter was given in favour of those who dwelt in the marsh by the bridge of Bristol. A new parish church was also created in the form of St’s Mary’s Redcliffe. From here Redcliffe pottery was created, some of which is found in Cork’s medieval layers. Pottery is still made in Redcliffe today.

       In 1169, Bristol was to become the staging point of the Anglo-Norman Invasion of Ireland under the direction of Henry II. Such was the swiftness of this invasion that by 1171, documentary evidence shows Bristolians living in Dublin. However, it is noted by Bristol historians that the city used to engage in slave trade with Viking ports in Ireland. Perhaps, the Irish connection was already strong and maybe slave ships came into Cork Harbour to shelter. An Anglo-Norman charter was also granted to Dublin in this year. Though London was developing as the principal city in England, Bristol became the main key to Anglo-Norman boroughs in the west. In 1188, Bristol became the model for the civic constitution of the Anglo-Norman boroughs and trading centres in Ireland. Indeed, it could be said that it was these places that Bristol had more links with than with London. Anglo-Norman Lords were quick to see that the major Danish Viking trading ports had the potential for large financial success. Consequently, Dublin, Waterford, Limerick and Cork in time became royal boroughs.

         In the case of Cork, the Hiberno Norse settlement was taken for the Anglo-Norman King by Milo De Cogan and Robert Fitzstephen and fortified. In time a large, stone wall, on average eight metres high enclosed the South Main Street area, a circa six acre site. Bristol was chosen by the Anglo-Norman Monarchy as the model to be followed by these Irish towns regarding liberties, privileges and immunities. The year 1185 has been accepted as the date of Cork’s first charter. All customs and rent structures in the initial years of Anglo-Norman Cork were the same as what the citizens possessed in Bristol’s walled town. Dublin received its second Bristolian charter in 1192 while Limerick received its first Bristolian charter in 1199 and Waterford in 1205. These settlements were to prosper with similar privileges as English Anglo-Norman Towns. They were also to become centres of political and administrative control but also provided defence and security. It was a combination of both political and economical factors that promoted growth of these towns.

To be continued…

 

Happy Christmas and happy new year to all the readers of this column

Caption:

 

773a. Cork Coat of Arms, Cork Custom House (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Cork Harbour Through Time

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

Cork Harbour Through Time

Ten Historical Items about Cork Harbour

(extracted from Kieran McCarthy’s and Dan Breen’s New Book)

 

 

  1. Dating back over 1,000 years to Viking times, from the Anglo-Norman time of a walled town to the present day, boats of all dimensions have been travelling through Cork’s riverine and harbour region, continuing a legacy of trade.

 

  1. Cork’s Marina, originally called the Navigation Wall, was completed in 1761. In 1820, Cork Harbour Commissioners formed and purchased a locally-built dredger. The dredger deposited the silt from the river into wooden barges, which were then towed ashore. The silt was redeposited behind the Navigation Wall. During the Great Famine, deepening of the river created jobs for 1,000 men who worked on creating the Navigation Wall’s road – The Marina.

 

  1. At one time, approximately fifty mansions in the south-eastern suburbs of Cork City overlooked Cork Harbour. One of the largest was that of Lakelands, owned by the Crawford family. By 1792, William Crawford Snr had moved from County Down to Cork, where he co-founded of the successful Beamish and Crawford brewery. He occupied a fine residence – Lakelands at Blackrock – to the east of the city, overlooking the widening River Lee.

 

  1. The imposing Blackrock Castle is the third structure on the site. The original fort (or castle) was built in 1582 by the citizens of Cork to safeguard ships against pirates, who would come into the harbour and steal away the vessels entering the harbour. In 1722 and 1827, the old tower was destroyed by a fire and a new one built.

 

  1. The history of fishing and fishermen in Blackrock dates back to the early 1600s. In 1911, sixty-four fishermen, ranging in age from fourteen to seventy, are listed in the census as living in Blackrock village and operating in and around the castle, Lough Mahon and harbour area.

 

  1. The District of Douglas village takes its names from the river or rivulet bearing the Gaelic word Dubhghlas or dark stream, which enters the tidal area nearby. As early as the late thirteenth century, King John of England made a grant of land to Philip de Prendergast near the city of Cork. On 1 June 1726, the building of the Douglas Factory commenced. Samuel Perry & Francis Carleton became the first proprietors.

 

  1. The Cork, Blackrock & Passage Railway opened in 1850, and was among the first of the Irish suburban railway projects. The original terminus, designed by Sir John Benson, was based on Victoria Road, but moved in 1873 to Hibernian Road (as shown above and now built upon). The entire length of track between Cork and Passage was in place by April 1850 and, within two months, the line was open for passenger traffic.

 

  1. With the establishment of a dock and shipyard in Passage West in the nineteenth century, many merchants became shipowners, and carried on an extensive trade in their own vessels. Three of these individuals were well-known entrepreneurs – William Parker (who engaged in foreign speculations in shipping), Thomas Parsons Boland and the Brown family.

 

  1. During the nineteenth century, many merchants in Passage West built their own big houses and terraces. This town recorded upwards of 100 covered cars called jingles engaged almost daily in the transport of people between Passage and Cork. Steamboats and several small boats also ploughed the waters between Cork and Passage several times daily.
  2. A letter from Vice-Adm. Thornborough of Trent, Cork Harbour, dated 28 August 1813, was read to the Ballast Board on 2 September 1813. In this letter he pointed out the danger vessels frequenting Cork Harbour were put in, as a result of the lack of a lighthouse at the entrance to the harbour. This small lighthouse was working by June 1817, but its tower was not conducive to a major harbour of refuge and port and, in 1835, it was replaced by the present larger tower.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 11 December 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized

772a. Carved toy boat, found at archaeological excavations on South Main Street

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 

Cork Independent, 11 December 2014

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 3) – Recovering the Vikings

    The recent publication Archaeological Excavations at South Main Street 2003-2005, edited by Ciara Brett and Maurice Hurley, brings many nuggets of information to the public realm on early to mid twelfth century Cork. Amongst several objects found was a little toy boat (p.202), about 10cm in length (with one half missing), with one side grooved out and the other having a very elaborate tracery design. Here is an object lost in the fragmented timber wreckage found on South Main Street, found at the old seeping and reclaimed edges of a marshy island. One can almost imagine a young person playing with the boat at the water’s edge – and the bobbing up and down action in the water of this cherished object.

    The boat, small though it is, was once a part of someone’s daily landscape, their life, and their surroundings. Perhaps, the owner regularly played with it; perhaps there was a mini fleet of toy boats. It inspired someone to think differently about their surroundings. The young owner may have envisioned the immediate meeting of land, river and sea as a space of recreation, of possibilities, of dreams and a place of re-imagining old and new worlds. Perhaps the long rushes and reeds created a hiding space for imagined enemies. The boat may have meant so much to someone and held their ideas, future prospects and hopes when they played with it.

     However for us, in the present, the memory of the boat is beyond our personal memory. The knowledge of living in twelfth century Cork has not survived the test of time. This fragment of an artefact from their landscape offers us a way to identify with them, their perception and their lives. We can broaden, narrate and animate more parts of their story. It’s like a window into the past but it is also a looking glass because it innately tells us something about ourselves. It also allows us to contrast and compare cultural evolution through time and space, centuries ago children were plying with model boats. That being said with all the developments, the cultural transformations, the changes to the landscape, to our identity, taking all of this into account, it’s amazing that children still play with model boats. So much is different yet some things remain unchanged.

      The toy boat is rooted culturally in wider European Viking age settlements. This year coincided with a large exhibition on their life and legacy in the British Museum during the summer and which now is on display in Berlin. Entitled Vikings, Life and Legend, the exhibition brings together the various strands of thought on Viking colonisation a thousand years ago in north west Europe and beyond. What is revealed is the depth of their culture, their interest in arts and crafts, their ability to practically own the ‘sea highways’ of their day. Ships on the seas were central to how their culture spread, was maintained and framed for their ancestors. In the exhibition, the organisers detail that the first Viking campaign in England took the form of scattered attacks, but in 865AD the Vikings arrived, and in successive years conquered almost all of eastern England, the Dane-law. In France and Germany the Vikings met a strong monarchy. Nevertheless they attacked the Frankish coastal areas in the early ninth century.   

    Around 920AD they controlled much of Britain disparate parts of Ireland. By the eleventh century, they had conquered enormous tracts of England and founded and built towns. Cork was part of these networks of flows of knowledge between different Viking ethnic towns in north-west Europe. The extent of the networks of Cork’s Hiberno-Norse society (Viking ancestry and Irish Viking relationships) is relatively unknown though.

     The other remarkable aspect of the toy boat object is its ‘clinker style’ look and the carved Celtic like tracery on its base. Ongoing re-construction work at Roskilde Ship Museum in Denmark reveals that Viking Age ships were clinker-built. Characteristic of this construction technique of that the ship’s shape is created as an empty shell of strakes or longitudinal strips of timber, after which internal stiffening beams are added. The overlapping planks are caulked with wool and tar and are riveted together with iron nails. Over the last 1,000 years the Scandinavian clinker technique has been preserved in the traditional Danish, Norwegian and Farose boats used for fishing and transportation and the construction technique has left traces in the French, German and British and Irish boatbuilding culture.

    Three re-used timbers, interpreted as possible ship timbers from clinker-built vessel, were revealed at excavations at 40-48 South Main Street. The tree ring and scientific analysis of one of these timbers reveals that it was “derived from a mature oak felled after 1037 AD from southeast England, probably in the London area” (Nigel Nayling, p.203). The presence of iron fastenings securing oak planks at an overlap with luting of animal hair and tar were also present. The timbers had been reused as a base pad for one of a number of large upright posts, possibly part of a timber-framed house – the very first settlement foundations of Cork City are sitting on ship’s timbers and link to stories and culture further afield.

    The publication Archaeological Excavations at South Main Street 2003-2005 is available in Liam Ruiseal Bookshop, Cork and Waterstones Bookshop, Cork.

 

Caption:

772a. Carved toy boat, found at archaeological excavations on South Main Street (Illustration by Rhoda Cronin and Courtesy of Cork City Council)

 

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager/ CE and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 8 December 2014

Arts, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized

 

To ask the CE about issues in Fitzgerald’s Park:

What were the tender details and process for the cafe behind the Museum?

What happened to Seamus Murphy’s sculpture ‘Seasons’, which was on the old band stand?

Can Seamus Murphy’s ‘Dreamline’ be turned around or placed elsewhere; one side of its face is weathering very poorly?

What are the 2015 projects for the Lord Mayor’s Pavillion?

 

Motions:

That the plans for the extension of the Ceili platform at the Lough be examined and accelerated (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

That a plan be implemented for the replacement of fallen trees in the Marina and Atlantic Pond area (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 4 December 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized

771a. Archaeologists from Sheila Lane & Associates digging at the Grand Parade City Car Park 2004

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 4 December 2014

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 2) – The Wreckage of the Past

 

   The amount of boats that have plied Cork Harbour is immeasurable. The large volume of extant admiralty charts from different periods of time point to negotiation around rocks, shallows and islands, and show carved out navigation routes. Whereas today, every metre of the harbour is mapped, what about those who rowed around it thousands of years ago exploring its corners and niches, hunting and fishing, and where the stars and landmarks were their mental maps.

    The names of two islands, Haulbowline and Foaty Island, hark back nearly a thousand years to the first know group of sailors – the Vikings and their ancestors, who harnessed the harbour for survival. The name Haulbowline may come from the Old Norse áll-boeli meaning an ‘eel dwelling’ whilst Foaty may comes from the Irish fód te, meaning ‘warm soil’; it could also comes from Old Norse fótey, meaning ‘foot island’, maybe referring to its location near the end of the river.

    The recent publication Archaeological Excavations at South Main Street 2003-2005, edited by Ciara Brett and Maurice Hurley, brings the reader back to a time where the natural environment of forests, the River Lee’s estuarine silt and the sheltered harbour were explored and mined for their resources. It is the eighth carefully researched and thought provoking book on the archaeology and history of Cork to be published by Cork City Council. This publication outlines the results of two large-scale excavations which took place at 36-39 and 40-48 South Main Street. Both sites are located in close proximity to the South Gate Bridge, one of the main entrances to the medieval walled town of Cork. The results of the excavations are significant as they have added to our knowledge of the formation and development of the City.

   There are many fantastic revelations in this book about reclamation from the swamp to outlining in detail the material culture from pottery to the use of wood for housing to gaming pieces.  The excavations were undertaken by Sheila Lane and Associates and the Department of Archaeology, UCC. Cork City Council. The various contributors work hard to paint a picture of their respective sites across several centuries. In particular in this book they place a large focus on Cork in the early twelfth century, a period before the Anglo-Norman invasion. By that time, the Hiberno-Norse, those living in Ireland with a Norse ethnic background, were rooted and settled in places such as Cork, Waterford, Wexford, Limerick and Dublin. Indeed, in all the latter places, excavations have taken place and the role of the Hiberno-Norse society debated in books and articles. The role of their early ancestors in piracy is much portrayed in the nation state’s Irish history books but their role in creating early towns not as much. The general collective memory within Cork’s history has, over several centuries, reduced them to the date of the first attack on Cork’s monastery (820AD) and an almost passing nod to the fact that they built a settlement on a swamp. The new book by Ciara and Maurice continues the pursuit of putting the Vikings on the academic history map and also implanting them into the popular imagination of Cork’s past – the latter perhaps being a harder task when it comes to changing the present day collective memory of a city.

    For whatever reason, the people of Cork, through several centuries, chose to forget the Vikings, their history and ultimately their legacy. For all intensive purposes, the excavated South Main Street sites and everything found from the twelfth century, belongs to the wrecking ball of time and to the wreckage of forgetting. On troweling back the earth, the archaeologists pealed back different temporal contexts. Two to three metres underneath our present day city, they exposed the remains of timber structures lingering, intrusive and protruding through the mud – these were ruinous, abandoned, broken, segmented, mixed up, rotting, crumbling, and aged on the edge of a swamp. The timbers were the sinking roots, cultural products and ideas of a long lost settlement – an enigmatic space where no written documentation existed for bar the variations in the rings of the timbers. The rings alluded to growth and resilience, an age before use and being part of a woodland at one stage in their life. Despite their decaying image, the intensity of construction and some details in the skilled carpentry work remained for all to see.

           At this crossroads of time, according to expert David Brown (p.525 in the book) there is an indication from the dendrochronological dates of the timbers found on the site that there was a continuous felling of trees and construction of buildings and reclamation structures from just a few years before 1100AD to 1160AD. So here on a swamp 900 years ago, a group of settlers decided to make a real go at planning, building, reconstructing and maintaining a mini town of wood on a sinking reed ridden and wet riverine and tidal space. One has to admire their intent, vision, tenacity and of course their legacy is the eventual reclamation of other marshy islands and the creation of the city of Cork.

    The publication Archaeological Excavations at South Main Street 2003-2005 is available directly from the City Archaeologist Ciara Brett (ciara_brett@corkcity.ie, 021-4924705) and is also available in Liam Ruiseal Bookshop, Cork and Waterstones Bookshop, Cork.

More on this next week…

Captions:

771a. Archaeologists from Sheila Lane & Associates digging at the Grand Parade City Car Park 2004; in the picture from the top right, South Gate Bridge Debtor’s Gaol (c.1713), thirteenth century town wall (centre), thirteenth century house foundations (right of centre), and twelfth century revetments (bottom right) [picture: Kieran McCarthy, 2004]

Christmas CD, Our Lady of Lourdes NS, Ballinlough

Cork City Events, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized, Ward Events

Christmas CD, Our Lady of Lourdes NS, December 2014

Our Lady of Lourdes National School,

School Choir Cd, 2 December 2014,

Speech, Cllr Kieran McCarthy

 

“The Music Box”

   Well done on a really cool and thought provoking cd – John Gibson and the girls have done an amazing job in bringing this project together. What is before us this evening is soothing music crafted by great teamwork between John and the girls. Music has immense power to stop people, fire their imagination, encourage wonder, inspire confidence, motivate people, make people ask questions, and even put people on another track.

Listening to the songs, there is a great sense of journeying in them.

 

Music Box

    The first piece is called Music Box – A box is always an intriguing object, at Christmas time, it’s bound to be full of surprises, which this cd imparts

   The piece is about the opening of one of those old magical, spell like and hypnotic music boxes – the music is a reminder of something special found on an old dresser with a smaller mirror and a box full of random objects such as pins, necklaces, combs and pieces of memories like old photos – both the pins and the other objects and the memories hold the world together, to keep us together in a world where there are many random objects and memories to stop us in our tracks.

 

Track two is called The Light of the World

  Track two is called The Light of the World. And on the path of this cd we’re met with the idea of Christ as a lighthouse, whose rays we are all encouraged to embrace. In the song, there are wider ideas as play, the sense of freedom, not to be imprisoned by life, to raise ourselves and others up, the lonely, the orphan, the widow. We have all the potential to be great lighthouses, lighting up paths around us, and each one of us have different talents and different lighthouse shapes, casting different and important lights.

 

Christmas Carol

  The third piece we are brought to a stable to a beautiful Irish piece entitled Christmas Carol – and yep it’s about Baby Jesus in a crib – a story that has crossed centuries, a truth held in many people’s hearts – the story of two proud parents with their new born baby – in that stable they were alone for a time, worried about the health of the child, worried by the politics of the day and probably worried were they doing the right thing – yes there was the unknown but for all that they loved without question that baby boy…for you, parents here this evening, you worry, about many aspect of your children’s lives but you love without question. So perhaps the song calls for more people to love, full stop, love without questioning.

 

The Lord is my Shepherd

    The fourth piece brings us to a valley I think – it is entitled, The Lord is my shepherd, based on that very old but well known psalm, we are presented with many images, one is about travelling in a dark valley seeking leadership, seeking fresh pastures, we need to be comforted, we are thirsty, our drooping spirit needs to be revived, our cup of goodness and righteousness needs topping up. The song keeps coming back to the idea of seeking out what is good for the soul and that we constantly travel that road.

Lullaby Baby

   The fifth piece perhaps brings us to a rocking chair where we are met with the rocking and lullabying of a small baby to sleep– we are met with images of calmness, peace, and love and of a child – perhaps after a manic day of tearing around – I think pieces 7 and eight lead us back to a space beyond the lullaby – Christmas Lullaby and Codladh Samh leads us to a dreamworld – a space of endless possibilities, where anything is possible – maybe we all need to dream, find quietness in our lives, to reflect on the most important things in life.

 

Memorare

    The sixth piece brings us to Memorare – John’s work, Mrs Holland’s excellent piano playing invoke the image on going for long walks in the streets – this well known prayer about seeking protection from the Virgin Mary has many key words running through it. The piece opens with the wod “’remember”, an action can make you stand tall or reduce you to tears, such is the power of remembering – the song calls for clemency, its asks for help, it acknowledges faults and failings; this song encourage the listener to look at those around them, that we are not alone in our struggles but sometimes a walk does offer some solice.

 

Sleigh Bell

    Perhaps the last piece Sleigh Bell leads us to this school – the composition has that feeling yes of a sleighing but also the busyness of this school – how anytime you walk through the door you are blown away by the artwork on the walls, the whispers and loud noises behind the classroom doors, the determination and energy of the staff here, the leadership of Mrs Lucey, the passion of John Gibson in this project, the enthusiasm of the pupils, the concerns and love of parents and the parents council. We are very lucky to have such energy in our community. In a way this school is one big music box, full of the most random things and memories,

   May your new cd make people stop, fire their imagination, encourage wonder, inspire people, motivate people, make people ask questions, and even put people on another track.

   I look forward to hearing the live version here shortly, I’m delighted to be able to officially launch it, Best of luck with and thanks for inspiring us all.

Ends

CDs available from the schoool office at E5.

Kieran’s New Book, Cork Harbour Through Time, November, 2014)

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

Cork Harbour Through Time By Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen

 

   How do you capture a harbour in all its beauty? Being the second largest natural harbour in the world brings a focus and energy that Cork Harbour has always been open to. The ebb and flow of the tide through the ages has carved a unique landscape of cliffs, sand and gravel beaches that expose an underlining geology of limestone and sandstone. Invigorating this landscape are multiple monuments from different ages, many of which the postcards in Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen seek to capture.

  Colourful villages provide different textures and cultural landscapes in a sort of cul-de-sac environment, with roads ending at harbours and car parks near coastal cliff faces and quaysides. The villages are scattered around the edges of the harbour, each with their own unique history, all connecting in someway to the greatness of this harbour. Walking along several junctures of fields, one can get the feeling you are at the ‘edge of memory’. There are the ruins of old structures that the tide erodes away. One gets the sense that a memory is about to get swept away by the sea, or that by walking in the footsteps trodden by photographers 100 years ago, one could get carried away by their curiosity. This new book tracks the space and historical context of 100 postcards in Cork Harbour, many of which were taken c. 1900–20.

Cork Harbour Through Time can be bought in many Cork bookshops.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ireland-Europe-Countries-Regions-Books/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=node%3D279716&field-keywords=cork+harbour+through+time&rh=n%3A279716%2Ck%3Acork+harbour+through+time&ajr=1

Kieran’s New Book, Cork Harbour Through Time, 20 November 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

Cork Harbour Through Time By Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 20 November 2014

Kieran’s New Book – Cork Harbour Through Time

 

     How do you capture a harbour in all its beauty? Being the second largest natural harbour in the world brings a focus and energy that Cork Harbour has always been open to. The ebb and flow of the tide through the ages has carved a unique landscape of cliffs, sand and gravel beaches that expose an underlining geology of limestone and sandstone. Invigorating this landscape are multiple monuments from different ages, many of which the postcards in my new book with Dan Breen seek to capture.

     Colourful villages provide different textures and cultural landscapes in a sort of cul-de-sac environment, with roads ending at harbours and car parks near coastal cliff faces and quaysides. The villages are scattered around the edges of the harbour, each with their own unique history, all connecting in someway to the greatness of this harbour. Walking along several junctures of fields, one can get the feeling you are at the ‘edge of memory’. There are the ruins of old structures that the tide erodes away. One gets the sense that a memory is about to get swept away by the sea, or that by walking in the footsteps trodden by photographers 100 years ago, one could get carried away by their curiosity. This new book tracks the space and historical context of 100 postcards in Cork Harbour, many of which were taken c. 1900–20.

     Many of the sites have been written extensively on over centuries, while others await proper exploration and critique. Chapter 1 begins in the city and takes the reader from Ireland’s southern capital of Cork City eastwards into the River Lee’s tidal estuary. This city is built on a shifting landscape of sand, gravel, rushes and reeds, a wetland knitted together to form a working port through the ages. In Cork City Through Time (2012), we showcased the old postcards of Cork City. Moving eastwards past the port, the river begins to spread in width, creating vast scenic vistas along areas like the marina, extending to the late seventeenth-century structure of Blackrock Castle and beyond, to the reed beds of Lough Mahon and Douglas Estuary. All are hidden places of beauty, much of which may be explored by the amenity walk along the old Blackrock & Passage Railway Line. When the line opened in 1850, it hosted 200,000 people in the first six months. In 1903, this line was later extended to Crosshaven. The resonances of such a venture are echoed along the walkway as old platforms, ivy clad stone-arch bridges provide legacies to admire. Passage, the first terminus for the railway, was once a shipbuilding centre of the south of Ireland. Nowadays, old quaysides and eerie, abandoned warehouses haunt the area. One can almost hear the hammers and whispers of workers’ repairing and patching together ocean-going ships. Further along the river, Monkstown provides insight into the past with its colourful Victorian mansions.

     The same can be said about the scenic wooded village of Glanmire, the iconic Father Mathew Tower and Fota House. All exist as rich storehouses of memory and are awe-inspiring to walk around at any time of the year. Chapter 2 takes the reader on a journey through some of the landscapes on Great Island, and naturally Cobh is a central focus. Drawn through several centuries and photographed since the invention of the camera, it is difficult not to be drawn to the town’s rich architectural steeple and exterior artwork on the late nineteenth-century construct of St Colman’s Cathedral. Cobh has stunning scenic quay vistas and a colourful selection of buildings. The town is also known for its stories of emigration and the legendary Titanic. One can feel its journey across the ocean and the role the town played in its part in the North Atlantic’s human history.

    The sites and spaces seen from Cobh’s specifically constructed building parapets are explored in Chapter 3. The harbour islands such as Spike Island and Haulbowline have histories dating back over 400 years. They were first fortified by star-shaped forts and secured for the expanding British Empire. Two more forts exist near the entrance to the Harbour, Camden Fort Meagher and Fort Davis. Originally built in the 1780s, one can explore the town’s military history and connections to a far-flung British empire through the harbour’s role in securing its might and power. However, one is humbled by stories of the Irish War of Independence and how these forts in time were secured by the Irish Government as Ireland’s last lines of defence. Today, these represent large community-based tourism projects.

    Chapter 4 explores the eastern shores of Cork Harbour. Here lies the great market town of Midleton, the old large malthouses of Ballincurra, the ancient tower at Cloyne, the quaint spaces within villages at Rostellan and Whitegate, and the ruins of old houses. Connect these with industrial projects such as Whitegate Oil Refinery, and family holiday centres such as Trabolgan, and all reveal rich stories. However, standing overlooking all within the harbour is the great lighthouse at Roches Point, warning ships of imposing rocks and providing a grand entrance gateway to the harbour. On a clear day, the views show a canvass of stories and memories.

Caption:

769a. Cork Harbour Through Time by Kieran McCarthy & Dan Breeen (published by Amberley Press, November 2014)

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 30 October 2014

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, Uncategorized

766a. Sunset at Cork Docks, October 2014

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 

Cork Independent, 30 October 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 92) – Wisdom and a Real Spirit”

 

 Cork’s Regional Technical College, the biggest in the country, representing a public investment of nearly £3 ½ million, was officially opened today by An Taoiseach, Mr Lynch three years after parts of the college began to be used. Since its unofficial opening the number of day students had risen to 3,000 with almost 1,000 evening class students and a teaching staff numbering almost 200 (Evening Echo, 31 December 1977, p.1).

   With the wheels of education moving, and the Cork School of Art in the process of relocating to the Crawford Tech, attention turned to having an official opening of the Cork Regional Technical College. On 30 December 1977 three years on since its first enrolments, Cork born Taoiseach Jack Lynch received an enthusiastic reception on arrival at the college. The Irish Press, Cork Examiner and Evening Echo all record a large attendance. The college was blessed by the Bishop of Cork and Ross, Cornelius Lucey. A plaque made by Cork sculptor Ken Thompson commemorating the opening was unveiled by the Taoiseach after the tape-cutting ceremony. Among the large attendance were the Lord Mayor of Cork Cllr Gerald Goldberg and the principal Mr J P Roche. At a luncheon in Blackrock Castle later many tributes were paid to the retiring CEO Patrick Parfrey and among the presentations made to him was an illuminated address by Cork graphic artist Tadhg Lehane and his portrait painted by Frank Sanquest.

   Lynch in his speech at the RTC noted that the public expenditure of nearly £3 ½ million on the college was a confident investment in the future which it had to serve and to attempt to reshape. Its success would depend on “wisdom, teamwork and real spirit of teaching and leadership”. Without that vision and leadership, he pointed out, the college would not have come into existence at all. There had been the sterling work of the City of Cork VEC and its sub committee and the Board of Management. The Taoiseach paid a special tribute to the City VEC Chief Executive Patrick Parfrey who retired on the day of the opening; “His period in that post would be remembered for the earnestness, thoroughness and perseverance of his work, for the many innovations which he had inspired in a period of rapid change and for the buildings and plans which would survive as monuments to his endeavours”.

   The RTC brought technical education together into one complex. The Taoiseach made reference to the history of the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute of Crawford Tech. A number of extensions were made to the building over the years to accommodate extra classes. As far back as 1963 saturation point had been reached and in that year all junior day classes were transferred to premises in Sawmill Street and Parnell Place. In addition all apprentice classes in building and furniture trades moved to the Sawmill Street complex. Other premises acquired were SS Peter and Paul’s Primary Schools, for electrical trades; the Deanery in Dean Street, for mechanical engineering and civil; and in 1972 some rooms were hired from the community centre at Greenmount for the use of mechanical block release classes.

   Mr Lynch continued by saying there would be great pressure to ensure the relevance of what the college provided for the changing needs of society and of the region. This demanded close links with industry, research, business, development agencies and, of course, with other educational institutions. Courses tailored to industrial needs were increasingly being structured by the college. Courses were put on for Chemiotic Brinny, An Foras Forbartha, the Institute of Public Administration and the accounting profession. In the late 1970s, the college undertook courses in food hygiene for the bacon industry and developed a joint course with Marathon Petroleum for the training of its personnel on the Kinsale Head production platform.

    In a wider context, the region was in a good position, economically and socially. Cork Corporation’s Development Plan Review for 1977 reveals a city with a varied industry. It had well developed commercial centre generating almost a quarter of all Munster retails sales and a concentration of important education and professional services. The Port of Cork was the major distribution centre for the south of Ireland. In 1971 Cork Port handled an estimated 40 per cent of the total port traffic of the whole State. Developments of the Corporation’s housing holdings at Hollyhill, Bishopstown and Mahon were being pressed ahead. These developments were to provide industrial sites, ancillary social facilities such as schools and shopping and residential areas with a combined population when complete of about 12,000. The City and County Authorities, CIE, the Cork Harbour Commissioners and other development agencies had come together under the aegis of the Regional Development Organisation to undertake a Land Use Transportation Study of the Greater Cork Area.

     In an Irish context, on 1 January 1978 Ireland advanced its membership of the EEC a day later after RTC’s opening. The country’s cheaper food prices were to be finally brought into line with those in the original six community countries. The New Year marked the end of a five year transitional period and the beginning of a new era in Ireland’s international relations and markets.

To be continued…

Caption:

766a. Sunset at Cork Docks, October 2014 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)