Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 

Cork Independent

Blackrock Historical Walking Tour, Saturday 22 September

13 September 2012

Earlier this year, I ran a walking tour of Blackrock village. On Saturday 22 September 2012, I will run this venture again (meet 2pm, Blackrock Castle, approx two hours). One of the themes I presented during my recent heritage week tours is that within every space in Cork, there is an interesting story to tell about the legacy of a former piece or way of life.

There is much to discover within a short space about Blackrock and its role in the wider city. Dealing with the human experience in this corner of the city, there is a strong legacy in terms of its sense of place and identity; how that was constructed and what clues remain are objects of this tour. Within the story of Blackrock and its environs, one can speak about a myriad of topics from its connection to the river and the harbour to its former mini demesne type landscape in the nineteenth century to its heart of a small village of hard working labourers and fishermen whose struggled to survive.

Within the heart of Convent Avenue, there is a lovely stone wall, which has always impressed me and which separates higher ground from the avenue itself. Random rubble in its nature, it is impressive and adds to the aesthetics of a once very populous area. Around it is a series of modern day houses, but amidst these are a series of cottages, their present day paintwork belying their true nature of times gone by. With more and more British government reports and antiquarian accounts of Ireland, coming online, recently I stumbled across a report from 1843, which focussed on this area and helps to reconstruct life there at that time. The report entitled the “Physical and Moral Condition of the Working Classes in the Parish of St Michael Blackrock near Cork” was read by North Ludlow Beamish, President of the Cork Scientific and Literary Society, before the statistical section of the British Association of the Advancement of Science at Cork August 1843. Of course, this data describes the pre-famine world of Blackrock.

In 1845, the British Association was invited by the Royal Cork Institution, to hold its thirteenth meeting in the Imperial Hotel in Cork. Its comprehensive programme for Cork is now in pdf form on the Association’s website. The Blackrock paper was one of several papers that were read. Some of the science topics included the action of air and water, whether fresh or salt, clear or foul, and of various temperatures, upon cast iron, wrought, iron, and steel, experiments on steam-engines, a series of observations on tidal movement, the physiological action of medicines and even a report on the fauna of Ireland.

North Ludlow Beamish’s paper is full of insights into the area surrounding Convent Avenue. He notes that population of Blackrock and its immediate environs in April 1843 was 2,630 consisting of families living in 413 houses. A total of 61 houses were uninhabited and 9 were in the progress of building. Of the population 2,181 are Roman Catholics and 443 Protestants including dissenters. There were 557 families. Ninety families were living in one roomed houses, 260 in two rooms and 207 in three or more rooms.  The whole number of the gentry was 372 leaving that of the working classes numbering 2,258, and of these 1,125 were males and 1,133 females.

The trades Beamish listed were varied; brick makers (numbering 56), cabinet makers (2), carpenters (15), coopers (3), farmers (53), fishermen (111), gardeners (32), gingle drivers (13, generally owners), lime burners (18), masons (14),  male servants (79), shoemakers (14), slaters (12), smiths (9), tailors (10). Male children numbered 426.  As for females, their total was 1133 with 372 employed as servants in work in fields. Female children, aged and infirm numbered 453 whilst 305 were unemployed.

Beamish further described that 113 of the working classes hold land varying from a quarter of an acre to seven acres each. They pay an average yearly rent of £3 per acre exclusive of poor rate and county rate. The soil was generally excellent and capable of bearing the ‘finest’ wheat crops. The course of tillage was potatoes and wheat alternately, the former being manured. However, the general preparation of the land was not performed well by the working farmer, so that the potato crop seldom yielded more than seven tons or the wheat more than six barrels of 20 stone or about 3 ½ English quarters per acre. This amounted to about two thirds of the same produce that could be produced if the same description of land was under a proper system of tillage. Beamish noted that wages for tradesmen’s were on average 20s per week; labouring men received 5s 10d; women 3s and children 2s per week but many able bodied men worked for 5s a week. In time of harvest, good reapers could be got at the ordinary wages of 1s a day. The Beamish report goes on for pages. A further breakdown is given on the walking tour!

Caption:

658a. Blackrock Castle (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Thanks to everyone who turned out for the first outing of the Blackrock Village historical walking tour.

Did you know? Some interesting insights into Blackrock History:

·         The Galway family marked their presence in Blackrock by constructing Dundanion Castle, a tower house, which was built circa 1564 and lived in by various occupants until 1832. Blackrock Castle was built circa 1582 by the citizens of Cork with artillery to resist pirates and other invaders.

·         By ancient priviledge and jurisdiction, under various charters granted many centuries ago, the Mayor of Cork, as well as the mayors of other cities, including Limerick and Waterford, enjoyed Admiralty jurisdiction to the mouth of their respective harbour.

·         Samuel Lewis, 1837: “The scenery is of the most varied and pleasing character, exhibiting numerous elegant villas and cottages, with lawns, gardens, and plantations reaching down to the margin of the Lee, which is here a noble expanse of water more than a mile broad, constantly enlivened by steam-boats and other vessels”.

·         The Seat of the Chatterton family, occupied by Sir James Chatterton in 1814 and Sir William in 1837 and at the time of Griffith’s Valuation when it was valued at £47. The building now houses a youth centre run by the Redemptorist Order.

·         Blackrock Coastguard was one of 56 Coastguard stations in Co. Cork.

·         The Hot and Cold Salt Water Baths was operated initially by Michael O’Brien of Tuckey Street, who lit his shop with gas on Tuckey Street. It was Advertised as early as 1803. The fee for a single person was 1/- but four persons could have a bath and a car for 5/6 to and from Blackrock and Cork City.

·         A report on the “Physical and Moral Condition of the Working Classes in the Parish of St Michael Blackrock near Cork” was read by North Ludlow Beamish FRS, President of the Cork Scientific and Literary Society before the Statistical Section of the British Association at Cork August 1843.

·         In Beamish’s Report, Blackrock village had 557 families; Ninety families were living in one room to each family, 260 in two rooms and 207 in three or more rooms to each family, the average number of persons to a bed three.

·         The men of the sea, Coughlans, O’Learys, Kidneys, John Cashman, Buckleys, Norbergs, Deleas and Ahernes, were all outstanding hurlers. The Coughlans were skilled salmon fishers in the Lee Estuary and owned five or six oar boots specially built for river work When they weren’t hurling they rowed with Blackrock Boat Club.

·         Prior to the foundation of the County Board in 1886. A committee organised a competition called the Challenge cup. Twelve teams took part in what was to become the forerunner to the present day County Championship. Blackrock was known as the Cork Nationals in those days, first recorded competitive match in this competition was a semi-final against Macroom.

·         On 25 March, 1899 a bunch of young men, all of them members of Dolphin Swimming Club, took the decision to form a Rowing Club. They even decided on the club colours Chocolate and White. The Cork Boat Club was founded.

·         On Wednesday September 28th 1960, Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto on Blackrock Pier was officially opened and blessed by Rev Fr Aherne, ably assisted by Fr Cummins and Fr Crowley. It took two and half years from start to finish and one hundred and five meetings were held by the committee in the Blackrock Rowing Club during this time.

·         Samuel Lewis, 1837: “The R. C. chapel, erected in 1821, is a large and handsome building, and is a chapel of ease to the parochial chapel of St. Finbarr, or the South chapel: it was begun at the private expense of the late Dean Collins, aided by a subscription of £300, and was complete and elegantly fitted up by means of a bequest of £1100 from the late T. Rochford, Esq., of Garretstown, part of which, in 1834, was expended in the erection of a house for the officiating priest near the chapel.”

·         Thomas Deane of Dundanion House was to the forefront of the development of the arts and sciences in his native city. He served on Cork Corporation for many years. He was Mayor of Cork in 1815, 1830 and 1851, and was knighted in 1830.

·         The Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway line opened for public service on Saturday 8 June 1850. The traffic was enormous over the first weekend. 6,000 people were carried on the Sunday.  One train carried 460 people.

·         Samuel Lewis. 1837: “The church, dedicated to St. Michael, serves as a chapel of ease to the cathedral church of St. Finbarr, Cork, and was built in 1827, at an expense of £2100, of which £900 was given by the late Board of First Fruits, £100 by the corporation of Cork, and the remainder, with the exception of a few local subscriptions and the sale of pews, was defrayed by the dean and chapter, who appoint and pay the curate.

Kieran’s Speech, Blackrock Community Association AGM, 13 March 2012

Madame Chairperson, members of the committee

On the 1 October 1962, the Cork Examiner ran the following key headline,

“Kennedy’s troops mass for race war showdown”.

The first paragraph of the report read:

“The First US Federal marshals began arriving at Oxford (Mississippi) Airport yesterday to enforce court orders that a 29-year negro ex-serviceman be admitted to the all-white University of Mississippi. What began as the refusal of Mississippi officials to obey court orders to admit the negro, Mr. James Meredith into the university has grown into a full trial of strength between the US government and the southern state.

It is the most serious clash between the Government of and a state of the Union since the American civil War of a hundred years ago. From various neighbouring segregationalist states have come pledges of support totalling ‘tens of thousands’ of volunteers to assist Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett.”

Many students harassed Meredith during his two semesters on campus but others accepted him. According to first-person accounts, students living in Meredith’s dorm bounced basketballs on the floor just above his room through all hours of the night. Other students ostracized him: when Meredith walked into the cafeteria for meals, the students eating would turn their backs. If Meredith sat at a table with other students, all of whom were white, the students would immediately get up and go to another table.

On the same page, another headline ran “All set for US Space Flight”.

“A huge task force of ships, aircraft and men were assembling throughout the world yesterday in preparation for Walter Schirra’s six-orbit space flight due to be launched at Cape Canaveral, Florida on Wednesday. If the flight goes off to plan, Commander Schirra will become America’s fifth spaceman and holder of the US long-distance space record.“

On October 3, 1962, Schirra became the fifth American in space, piloting a rocket on a six-orbit mission lasting 9 hours, 13 minutes, and 11 seconds. The capsule attained a velocity of 17,557 miles per hour (28,255 km/h) and an altitude of 175 statute miles (282 km), and landed within 4 miles (6.4 km) of the main Pacific Ocean recovery ship.

If anything, the 1 October 1962 showed a world of change from questions of equality to questions of ambition – new foundations of change swept across society yet again.

In headlines that showed but a weariness of change and an excitement of discovery, the headlines indirectly point out that nothing remains the same and the world keeps turning.

Caught between the main headline “US Crisis Nears Climax and “All Set for US Space Flight” was a more local story that read “Laid Foundation Stone”.

Beneath a central picture, the caption read;

“His Lordship Most Rev. Dr. Lucey, Bishop of Cork and Ross, laying the foundation stone of the new parish church of St Michael the Archangel at Blackrock, Cork. The new building will replace that destroyed by fire about eight months ago.”

On page 7 inside, a headline ran, “Redoubled Effort urged for new Cork Church”.

In a statement after the ceremony, Bishop Lucey said that:

“The blessing at Blackrock like the burning was something to remember….it is only just eight months since the old church was destroyed. In a matter almost of days the site was being cleared and plans for the new church drafted, the money for the building was being collected within and without the parish…we have a good architect for it in Mr. Boyd Barrett and I am satisfied that in line and design it will be beautiful”.

Cork’s Fold Magazine in April 1962 noted of the church:

“It had been one of the most distinguished and attractive churches in Cork for more than 130 years since 1819. It had acquired an atmosphere of intimacy and continuous devotion, which appealed greatly to visitors, as well as to the large local congregation, who have become much more numerous than its founders had ever foreseen. Its total destruction in broad daylight, within an hour of the outbreak of the fire, was a disaster that could not have been imagined. In fact the sudden conflagration quickly filled the church with such dense smoke that the firemen could not operate inside. Their efforts to play water on the roof were unavailing until it had collapsed into a blazing furnace.”

Walking around the present St Michael’s it is a beautiful building.

I like the location of the church, the way it seems to be nestled into a wooded area as seen from Montenotte.

Its high spire is reminiscent of an earlier age of architecture reaching for the heavens but also reminiscent of the new age of space rockets and reaching out beyond technology.

The lofty and colourful stained glass windows, which cast beautiful colours across the church perhaps remind one of the importance of colour.

I like the beautiful carved altar and its craftsmanship.

The location, its reaching for something higher, its colour and craftsmanship have transcended time to our time.

The church is soulful and purposeful – something motivating and ambitious. Something that has a voice. For the visitor, regular who sits on the same pew every Sunday, explorer, or geographer like me, this human built fabric creates a sacred landscape of encounters, experiences, connections, journeys, ideas and re-interpretations.

The story of this church shows us much – talent, confidence, self pride, self belief and innovation. And ladies and gentlemen, in the Ireland of today, we need more of such confidence, pride and belief and innovation– we need to mass produce these qualities and step by step approaches to pursue them.

And perhaps the idea of community is a process more than something static

But certainly the process becomes positively charged when the metronome of time veers from the weariness of change to the excitement of discovery.

I wish to congratulate you on the year gone by and your efforts and endeavours in that time. I would like to thank you for your courtesy and welcome shown to me at the summer céilí, which were great craic. Indeed anytime I appear in this community haven, I am challenged to either speak or sing or both…

I would also like to thank the people of Blackrock for their interest and support in my own community projects, the enterprise workshops, artist residency programme, the community talent competition, the make a model boat project on the Atlantic Pod, the Design A Public Park, Art Competition and the walking tour down the old Rail line, which is also now in lecture form.

My new walking tour of Blackrock I have set May leaving from Blackrock Castle and exploring the myriad of memories in this area from the 400 year castle to the fishing village, the Victorian houses, the two churches, the graveyard to name just a few.

Best of luck in the year ahead,

Go Raibh Maith Agaibh

Cllr. Kieran McCarthy will lead a historical walking tour of the Old Cork, Blackrock and Passage Railway line on Tuesday 5 July 2011. The walk starts at 7pm. at the entrance to the line on The Marina side adjacent the Main Drainage station. The Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway, which opened in 1850, was among the first of the suburban Cork railway projects. The walk will discuss the evolution of the line and also some of the historical sites which overlook it.

Cllr. McCarthy will also lead a historical tour of Ballinlough on Wednesday 6 July 2011, starting at 7pm at Ballinlough Pitch and Putt car park, opp. Pairc Ui Rinn, Cork, duration: 1 ½ hours, finishing around Ballinlough Church. With 360 acres, Ballinlough is the second largest of the seven townlands forming the Mahon Peninsula. The area has a deep history dating back to Bronze Age Ireland. In fact it is probably the only urban area in the country to still have a standing stone still standing in it for over 5,000 years. The walk will highlight this heritage along with tales of landlords, big houses, rural life in nineteenth century Ballinlough and the evolution of its twentieth century suburban history. Cllr. McCarthy noted: “South east Cork City is full of historical gems; the walks are not only talks about the history of suburban sites but are also forums for people to talk about their own memories and knowledge of local history in the ward. All events are free and are open to all.