Category Archives: S.E. Ward Local History
Autumnal Sunshine at Ballinlough Community Park, 19 September 2019
Autumnal Sunshine at Cork’s Marina, 18 September 2019
Cllr McCarthy: Moves afoot to Re-open Douglas Library
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has highlighted that re-opening Douglas Library is a must in the short term for Douglas Village. At the recent Culture, Community and Place-making Strategic Policy Committee (SPC) of Cork City Council Cllr McCarthy noted; “Douglas Library is a focal point in the village and has a high membership with adults and in particular younger people using it. It also hosted a large number of weekly community events, which attracted a lot of interested local people”.
Cork City Council officials fear the damage caused to Douglas library following the recent shopping centre fire is worse than first imagined, with over 40,000 books and other items covered in soot from the blaze. The local authority is working on creating a replacement service for the library, but staff do not yet know the amount of the damage to computers and other electronic equipment in the library.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “Information given to me at the recent SPC and to those present noted that currently a cost analysis is being done to see what books can be saved and cleaned and what books need to be destroyed. The Library Service is also seeking advice from the Department of Local Government and sought an urgent meeting to see what rescue funding mechanisms are available”.
Mr Liam Ronayne, City Librarian, has articulated that the library’s position on the first floor of the Douglas Village Shopping Centre put it in close vicinity to where the blaze commenced on 31 August, meaning the facility has also suffered damage from the thousands of litres of water poured into the car park to extinguish the fire. The contents of many books are covered in a film of soot throughout the Library, worse in the northern side of the building nearer the car park. All of the stock, over 40,000 items, has been covered in soot, both along the edges and inside the individual books. Unfortunately, the delay in getting access meant that it is going to be more problematic to try and alleviate the situation.
Fortunately, Mr Ronayne has said there are no items of high value in Douglas Library, and that all stock was for borrowing by local patrons meaning there are no irreplaceable books there. The Chief Executive of Cork City Council Ann Doherty has given a commitment to have a replacement service as soon as is physically possible.
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 12 September 2019
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 12 September 2019
Launch of Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project 2019-20
The advent of the new school year coincides with the seventeenth year of the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project. Brochures have been sent to all Cork City schools including the schools within the newly extended city areas. Launched again for the 2019/20 school term, the Project is open to schools in Cork City at primary level to the pupils of fourth, fifth and sixth class and at post-primary from first to sixth years. There are two sub categories within the post primary section, Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate. The project is free to enter. A student may enter as an individual or as part of a group or a part of a class entry. The County edition unfortunately has been discontinued temporarily.
Co-ordinated by myself, one of the key aims of the Project is to encourage students to explore, investigate and debate their local heritage (built, archaeological, cultural and natural) in a constructive, active and fun way. Projects on any aspect of Cork’s rich heritage can be submitted to an adjudication panel. Prizes are awarded for best projects and certificates are given to each participant. A cross-section of projects submitted from the last school season can be gleamed from this link on my website, www.corkheritage.ie where there are other resources, former titles and winners and entry information as well.
Students produce a project on their local area using primary and secondary sources. Each participating student within their class receives a visit and free workshop in October 2019. The workshop comprises a guide to how to put a project together. Project material must be gathered in an A4/ A3 size Project book. The project may be as large as the student wishes but minimum 20 pages (text + pictures + sketches). Projects must also meet five elements. Projects must be colourful, creative, have personal opinion, imagination and gain publicity before submission. These elements form the basis of a student friendly narrative analysis approach where the student explores their project topic in an interactive and task-oriented way. In particular, students are encouraged to attain material through visiting local libraries, engaging with fieldwork, interviews with local people, making models, photographing, cartoon creating, making DVDs of their area. Re-enacting can also be a feature of several projects.
For over seventeen years, the project has evolved in exploring how students pursue local history and how to make it relevant in society. The project attempts to provide the student with a hands-on and interactive activity that is all about learning not only about heritage in your local area (in all its forms) but also about the process of learning by participating students. The project is about thinking about, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our heritage, our landmarks, our oral histories, our environment in our modern world for upcoming citizens. So, the project is about splicing together activity on issues of local history and heritage such as thinking, exploring, observing, discovering, researching, uncovering, revealing, interpreting and resolving. This year as well there is a focus on the theme, The Past and its Legacy, which ties into the centenary commemoration of the Irish War of Independence in Cork.
The importance of doing a project in local history is reflected in the educational aims of the history curricula of primary and post-primary schools. Local heritage is a tool, which helps the student to become familiar with their local environment and to learn the value of it in their lives. Learning to appreciate the elements of a locality, can also give students a sense of place in their locality or a sense of identity. Hence the Project can also become a youth forum for students to do research and offer their opinions on important decisions being made on their heritage in their locality and how they affect the lives of people locally. I know a number of students who have been involved in the project in schools over the years who have took their interest further and have gone on to become professional tour guides, and into other related college work.
The project is open to many directions of delivery. Students are encouraged to engage with their topic in order to make sense of it, understand and work with it. Students continue to experiment with the overall design and plan of their work. For example, and in general, students who have entered before might engage with the attaining of primary information through oral histories. The methodologies that the students create provide interesting ways to approach the study of local heritage. Students are asked to choose one of two extra methods (apart from a booklet) to represent their work. The first option is making a model whilst the second option is making a short film. It is great to see students using modern up todate technology to present their findings. This works in broadening their view of approaching their project.
This project in the City is free to enter and is kindly funded by Cork City Council (viz the help of Niamh Twomey, Heritage Officer) Prizes are also provided by the Old Cork Waterworks Experience, Lee Road, Learnit Lego Education, and Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill (www.seankellyhorse.com). Overall, the Schools’ Heritage Project for the last sixteen years has attempted to build a new concerned generation of Cork people, pushing them forward, growing their self-development empowering them to connect to their world and their local heritage. Spread the word please with local schools. Details can be found on my website, www.corkheritage.ie.
Captions:
1014a. Project page on the local history of St Patrick’s Bridge from Our Lady of the Lourdes NS student 2019.
1014b. Model on the Shaky Bridge from Our Lady of the Lourdes NS student 2019.
Kieran’s September 2019 Historical Walking Tours
Saturday 21 September 2019, Stories from Blackrock and Mahon, historical walking tour with Kieran, meet at entrance to Blackrock Castle, 11am, (free, 2 hours, finishes near railway line walk, Blackrock Road).
Sunday 22 September 2019, The Battle of Douglas, An Irish Civil War Story, historical walking tour with Kieran, from carpark and entrance to Old Railway Line, Harty’s Quay, Rochestown; 2pm, (free, 2 hours, finishes near Rochestown Road).
Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project 2020 Launched for New School Term
The Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project is entering its seventeenth year and is open to all schools in Cork City. The new areas of the City are especially welcome (including Douglas, Rochestown and Frankfield and beyond). The project encourages students to compile a project on any aspect of Cork history. It is about exploring and investigating local heritage in a constructive, active and fun way. Interested students can pick any topic on Cork’s local history to research and can participate as individuals, groups or as a class. Students produce a project using primary material such as fieldwork, interviews, making models and short films of their area.
Project books may be submitted on any aspect of Cork’s rich past. The theme for this year’s project is “The Past and its Legacy”.
FREE and important project support in the form of funded workshops led by Cllr Kieran McCarthy in participating schools will be held in October 2019. This is an hour workshop to give participating students ideas for compilation and resources.
FREE Workshop support is also available to schools who have never entered before and wish to have a workshop to see how the project works.
The fourth-class level is open to fourth class students. The primary senior level is open to students of fifth and sixth class. Post primary entrant/s will be placed in Junior Certificate or Leaving Certificate levels. The post primary level is open to any year from first to sixth year. A student may enter as an individual or as part of a group or as part of a class project.
Co-ordinator and founder of the Schools’ Heritage Project, Cllr Kieran McCarthy noted that “The project is about thinking through, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our local heritage – our local history, our oral histories, our landmarks in our modern world for upcoming citizens. The annual workshops involve visiting circa 20 schools in Cork City with hours of workshops given overall to over 800 students. The workshops comprise showing students projects from previous years and providing a framework to work to and to encourage colour and creativity”.
The City Edition of the Project is funded by Cork City Council. It is also sponsored by the Old Waterworks Experience, Lee Road, Learnit Lego Education, Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill and Cllr Kieran McCarthy. Application forms to express interest and participation have been sent to all principals and history teachers in Cork. Unfortunately, due to back surgery for Kieran last year, the County Cork edition of the project has been discontinued. Contact Kieran at kieran_mccarthy@corkcity.ie for details or log onto Kieran’s heritage website www.corkheritage.ie under the Discover Cork Schools’ Heritage Project section to learn more and download the brochure.
Kieran’s Speech, Part 8, Docklands & Albert Road, Cork City Council, 9 September 2019
Lord Mayor,
The large number of public submissions is most welcome and to accommodate a good tract of public comment is also welcome.
I will be voting for this proposal.
I’m happier with this Docklands part 8 report than I was on the Morrison’s Island plan Part 8. There is more consultation than ever before on such a project.
For me the heritage of this area is important – the built and cultural heritage.
Albert Road and the Hibernian Buildings complex – dating to the mid-1880s – was a product of the Cork Improved Dwelling Company – an employer organisation who had the vision to build 420 houses for their workers in the city – apart from Hibernian buildings, the other blocks being around Friar Street-Evergreen Buildings and Rathmore Terrace at the top of St Patrick’s Hill. The company, which set up in January 1860 and ran to about 1960 had its heart the importance of provision of affordable housing for workers in the city but also neighbourhoods with architectural character, where families could be brought up safely and a sense of place could be built – which this Part 8 is also about today.
Hibernian Buildings was lucky in its opening in the 1880s that Jewish refugees from Lithuania rented out some of the properties and within twenty years there were 300 Jews living in the area.
Today knocking on the doors of the area, the Jewish family legacy is gone and perhaps 20 old stock families have survived in the area, many of whose relatives worked in the docks. Much of the housing stock in Hibernian Buildings is rented – so I constantly fear for the fleetingness of its neighbourhood. Some who live in the area have shared with me their passion for the neighbourhood and worry about its future and the looming new buildings overlooking the area.
I am happy with this part 8 that through the public realm regeneration that the character of the neighbourhood will be regenerated and enhanced.
I am also happy that the quay project itself does not destroy heritage but takes an ugly concrete structure – rebuilt after its 1975 collapse – to create where the public can come and appreciate the story of Docklands through seating, trees and soft public realm measures for cyclists and buses, and a pontoon in the river.
My main worry with this area is the creation of a bland-placeless environment, where glass box design with no architectural detail rules and street development takes a back seat.
I am reminded of the 1780 Cork Corporation plan for the area where they wanted to great an Oliver Plunkett Street complex with side streets in docklands.
And when I talk about vision, I am quite worried that our South Docklands plan is taking time to come out. The Council needs this plan as soon as possible as the piecemeal development of South Docks continues apace. Developing a place with character and a sense of place is crucial for me.
Pictures, Blackrock Village Festival, 7 September 2019
Always a great annual festival; well done to the organisers and volunteers.
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 5 September 2019
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 5 September 2019
Tales from 1919: A Fire at Donnybrook Mill
This week, one hundred years ago on 5 September 1919, the mill of Messrs Morrogh Brothers and Company – woollen and worsted manufacturers in Donnybrook in Douglas – suffered a devastating fire with much damage and loss. The Cork Examiner detailed that the fire raged with intensity and except for the warehouse, offices and stables, nothing remained of the magnificent set of buildings except the skeleton walls. The mill employed circa 300 people, covered an area of three acres and were fitted with all the most modern machinery. The products of the Douglas Mills had gained a world-wide reputation. Among the orders in hand were those from Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, as well from various parts of the United Kingdom.
The fire broke out about one o’clock in the afternoon, when the mill hands had gone to their dinner. The moment the alarm of fire was raised several employees hurried back to the scene to try to save some of the stock. Mr John O’Brien, junior, and Mr Dermot O’Brien, whose mills were distant about a quarter of a mile at the other end of Douglas Village suspended work, and together with all their employees co-operated with those of Messrs Morrogh’s hands in salvaging a large quantity of tweeds. The goods, which were in the unfinished stage, were piled up on the ground and policemen placed in charge of them.
The origin of the fire lay in the bottom floor of the five-storey high main building – the cause being the overheating of one of the bearings of the machinery. This set timber alight and the flames worked their way through the shaft of the hoist, setting the roof ablaze. Fanned by a strong wind from the south-west, the conflagration spread with rapidity, and aided by the machinery oil, which was stored on the premises, the engine room and other departments of the mills were quickly enveloped.
The Cork Fire Brigade with steam engine and other appliances, and military with hose reel, immediately set about the work of fighting the fire. Lines of hose were laid on from the local mill stream. Such were the seething mass of flames that the fireman spent much of their work trying to stop the fire from spreading at its edges. The concentration was mainly in the direction of the offices, wareroom and stables, and to their untiring efforts may be attributed the saving of those portions of the premises. The firemen worked in the face of much personal risk, as it was feared the boiler located in the engine-room might explode at any moment. However, precautions were taken to ensure a sufficient supply of water to avert an explosion.
Thick volumes of smoke shot out from the building, while the flames could be seen a considerable distance away. A large local crowd congregated at the fire and a detachment of soldiers from the military, assisted by the local police, rendered assistance in forcing back the people from the danger zone. The noises occasioned by collapse of the floors in the main building with all the machinery was terrifying as highlighted by passing observers. The destruction could be clearly viewed the following day as the Morrogh family walked the smouldering ruins. Committing to rebuilding the mills, they were up and running within two years and played a key role in the area for over another 50 years till their closure.
Industrial archaeological studies by scholars such as Dr Colin Rynne and the National Archaeological Inventory record that the mill building was designed and built in 1866 by the Cork architect and antiquarian, Richard Bolt Brash, for Hugh and James Wheeler Pollock (flax-spinning merchants of Belfast). The mill’s design was modelled closely on contemporary Belfast mills. Walking around the remaining mill site today one can view that the main enclosing walls were built with Youghal brick and were externally faced with Ballinhassig (Ballinphellic) Brick. Engine beds and most of the cut stone was supplied by a quarry in Foynes, County Limerick, some quarried at Carrigacrump quarries near Cloyne.
The Wallis and Pollock’s Douglas Patent Hemp Spinning Company was the largest ropeworks in the south of Ireland. However, in 1883 the mill building was bought by John and Patrick Morrogh and R A Atkins, the High Sheriff of Cork. John Morrogh had made his fortune in South Africa in his early life after becoming one of the directors of the De Beers Mining (Diamond) Company. After his return to Ireland he invested his wealth to any attempt at industrial revival in and around the city. He was also elected to Parliament for the South-East Cork-Division on two occasions.
The Morrogh Brothers converted the mill to serve woollen manufacture. They engaged the Cork architect William Henry Hill to make the necessary modifications to the existing structures for their own customised mill – the creation of a 170 feet long weaving shed from an existing annexe to the main five-storey building. The mill engine was built by Hick, Hargreaves and Company of Bolton, was an Inglis Corliss engine with 40 nominal horse power and a Spencer-Corliss valve gear (up-to date textile mill technology). The preparing and spinning machinery were supplied by Belfast foundries.
Captions:
1013a. Advertisement for Morrogh Brothers & Company Mill, Donnybrook, from Cork: Its Chamber and Commerce, 1919 (source: Cork City Library)
1013b. Former site of Morrogh Brother & Company Mill, Donnybrook with retail units, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
