Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 29 May 2014

“Historical Walking Tour of the Old Cork Workhouse,

 St Finbarr’s Hospital”

On Saturday, 7 June at 12noon in association with the Friends of St Finbarr’s Hospital and their summer garden fete, I will conduct a historical walking tour of the hospital (free; meet at gate) and in particular its workhouse past. I have always admired the view from the entrance gate onto the rolling topography extending to beyond the southern boundaries of the City. Here also is the intersection of the built heritage of Turners Cross, Ballinlough and Douglas. These are Cork’s self sufficient, confident and settled suburbs, which encompass former traditions of market gardening to Victorian and Edwardian housing on the Douglas Road. Then there is the Free State private housing by the Bradley Brothers such as in Ballinlough and Cork Corporation’s social housing developments, designed by Daniel Levie, on Capwell Road. Douglas Road as a routeway has seen many changes over the centuries from being a rough trackway probably to begin with to the gauntlet it has become today during the work and school start and finish hours.

Standing at the gate of St Finbarr’s Hospital reflecting on all the above histories and memories above begs the question on how do you even blend these in to a tour without leaving your audience behind. With mid nineteenth century roots, the hospital was the site of the city’s former workhouse but as such here is one of Cork’s and Ireland’s national historic markers. Written in depth over the years by scholars such as Sr M Emmanuel Browne and Colman O’Mahony, what has survived to outline the history of the hospital are many in-depth primary documents. What shines out are the memories of how people have struggled at this site since its creation in 1841. Other topics perhaps can also be pursued here such as the history of social justice at the site, why and how society takes care of the vulnerable in society and the framing of questions on ideas of giving humanity and dignity to people and how they have evolved over the centuries.

The key feature of this tour or trail is the story of the hospital and an attempt to unravel its memories. The Hospital serves as a vast repository of memories, symbolism, iconography and cultural debate. It has plaques, ruins and haunted memories. Standing at the former workhouse buildings, which opened in December 1841, there is much to think about – humanity and the human experience. The architect to the Poor Law Commissioners in Ireland from 1839 until 1855 was George Wilkinson. George was born in 1814, a son of W.A. Wilkinson, carpenter and builder of Witney, Oxfordshire. His younger brother William Wilkinson was also an architect.  In 1835, following the Poor Law Amendment Act of August 1834, which provided for the construction of 350 workhouses in England and Wales, Wilkinson won the competition for designing the workhouse at Thames, Oxfordshire. During the next three years, while he was still in his early twenties, he designed many other workhouses in Oxfordshire and elsewhere in England and Wales.

In July 1838 with the passing of the Act for the More Effectual Relief of the Destitute Poor in Ireland the workhouse system was extended to Ireland. According to the provisions of the act, 130 workhouses were to be built. Whereas different architects had been able to compete for workhouse commissions in England and Wales, the Poor Law Commissioners proposed that in Ireland the Board of Works should be given sole responsibility for all the workhouses. When this proved impossible for legal reasons, they invited Wilkinson and two other architects to submit designs for a prototype Irish workhouse. On the strength of his experience in Wales “under circumstances, and with materials not very dissimilar from what exist in Ireland”, in January 1839 Wilkinson was appointed the Commissioners’ architect in Ireland, responsible for the design and erection of all 130 Irish workhouses. He was to be paid a salary of £500 per annum and provided with a full-time assistant and a clerk, to be paid £150 and £100 per annum respectively.

Nearly all the workhouses, accommodating between 200 and 2000 persons apiece, were designed in a Tudor domestic idiom, with picturesque gabled entrance buildings which contracted the size and comfortlessness of the institutions which lay behind them. New workhouses opened at a steady rate, and in April 1843 Wilkinson reported that 112 were finished. By this time his staff had increased to seven assistants and two clerks. By 1842, Wilkinson reported that his team had drawn up 5,200 sheets of large drawings. By April 1847 all 130 workhouses were complete in 130 Unions.

With its association with the memory of the Great Famine, there are also many threads of the history of the Douglas Road workhouse to interweave – the political, economic and social framework of Ireland at that time plus the on the ground reality of life in the early 1800s – family, cultural contexts, individual portraits. In the present day history books in school, the reader is drawn to very traumatic terms. The recurring visions comprise human destruction, trauma, devastation, loss. One can see why the Great Famine is more on the forgetting list than on the remembering one. More on the walking tour…

Caption:

743a. Sunset rays on the memorial plaque and boundary wall of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Douglas Road (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Blackrock Historical Walking Tour, Sunday 25 May 2014

As a contribution to marking the jubilee celebrations of St Michael’s Church in Blackrock Cllr Kieran McCarthy will conduct a historical walking tour of Blackrock Village on Sunday 25 May, 2pm (starts at Blackrock Castle, two hours, free). Officially blessed on 7 June 1964 by Bishop Lucey, the church replaced the first edifice which had been burnt down in 1962. The architect of the new church, Mr James Rupert Boyd Barrett by 1964 had nearly half a century of practice under his belt and had designed many major buildings throughout Ireland, including the Department of Industry and Commerce in Dublin, four new churches in Cork and ten new churches in the Diocese of Kerry by the early sixties. At the official opening he was bestowed upon by Papal Order the Knight-Commandership of the order of St Sylvester. The contractor Mr John Sisk, the foreman Joe Murphy and the quantity surveyor Mr Coveney all worked hard to create as Bishop Lucey alluded to an edifice of huge skill and art and “a monument of faith”. The firm of Sisk alone had experience in church building over a period of 110 years previously and had built 60 churches including two cathedrals.

Cllr Kieran McCarthy notes: “A stroll in Blackrock is popular by many people, local and Cork people. The area is particularly characterised by beautiful architecture, historic landscapes and imposing late Georgian and early twentieth century country cottages to the impressive St Michael’s Church; every structure points to a key era in Cork’s development. Blackrock is also lucky that many of its former residents have left archives, census records, diaries, old maps and insights into how the area developed, giving an insight into ways of life, ideas and ambitions in the past, some of which can help us in the present day in understanding Blackrock’s identity going forward.”

Cllr Kieran McCarthy’s ‘Make a Model Boat Project’, 1 June 2014

Cllr Kieran McCarthy invites all Cork young people to participate in the fourth year of McCarthy’s ‘Make a Model Boat Project’. All interested must make a model boat at home from recycled materials and bring it along for judging to Cork’s Lough on Sunday afternoon, 1 June 2014, 2pm. The theme is ‘legends’ and is open to interpretation. The event is being run in association with Meitheal Mara’s Ocean to City, Cork’s Maritime Festival and the Lifetime Lab. There are three categories, two for primary and one for secondary students. There are prizes for best models and the event is free to enter. Cllr McCarthy, who is heading up the event, noted “I am encouraging creation, innovation and imagination amongst our young people, which are important traits for all of us to develop”. See www.kieranmccarthy.ie under community programme for more details.

Former Workhouse Site, St Finbarr’s Hospital, Saturday 7 June 2014

On Saturday, 7 June at 12noon in association with the Friends of St Finbarr’s Hospital and their summer garden fete, Cllr Kieran McCarthy will conduct a historical walking tour of the hospital (free; meet at gate) and in particular its workhouse past.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 15 May 2014

“Historical Walking Tour of Ballinlough”

Next Sunday, 18 May, I conduct a walking tour of Ballinlough (2pm meeting outside Beaumont National Schools). With 360 acres, Ballinlough is the second largest of the seven townlands forming the Mahon Peninsula. If you think of its geographic location on a limestone ridge over-looking the river and harbour and the name Baile an Locha – settlement of the lake – that is where the name could come from, a settlement overlooking the nearby Douglas estuary. There is alot of early history in Ballinlough from the standing stone in Ardmahon Estate to the Knight’s Templar church and graveyard site to the former big houses of the area, the last remnants of the market gardens. Then there is the sporting heritage such as Flower Lodge and Cork Constitution.

Walking through Ballinlough, people talk about their affinity for the place’s tranquillity and its green areas. They speak about how Ballinlough sits on a suburban ridge overlooking the river and harbour area and faces further afield to the architectural beauty of Cork’s Montenotte and St Lukes. Ballinlough also has the view of County Cork’s southern ridges and troughs. Perhaps it was the view and good land that led the area’s first recorded resident Patrick Meade to settle in the area. In records from 1641, Ballinlough was written as Ballynloghy and Patrick, a Catholic, had 144 acres of profitable land. The Meades were originally from the west coast of England. On arrival in Cork, they built themselves into the fabric of the key merchant families of the city along with families such as the Roches, Goulds, Coppingers, Sarsfields, Galways and Tirrys. The history books note that the Meade family had a castellated mansion near the present day Clover Hill House.

During the Cromwellian wars, Patrick Meade was dispossessed of his property. William Tucker had the caretaker’s lease on the property through Oliver Cromwell. Subsequently, the 144 acres were given to Alexander Pigott. The Pigotts came from Chetwynd in Shropshire and initially came to Ballyginnane beyond present day Togher. In time, they re-named this area Chetwynd. Colonel William Piggott was in Oliver Cromwell’s army and was rewarded further with land across Cork’s southern hinterland. Indeed in the early 1660s, the population of Ballinlough was recorded in a census as having 30 souls (more on the tour).

In 1792, when Beamish & Crawford was first established, William Beamish resided at Beaumont House, which was then a magnificent period residence situated on Beaumont Hill. During their tenure at Beaumont House the philanthropic spirit of the Beamish family was well known. The name Beaumont is the French derivative of Beamish meaning a beautiful view from the mountain or a beautiful view. Ballinlough House, one of several large mansions in the area, was built c.1860 by George Gregg. The house had 21½ acres of parkland and the adjoining crossroads were named after the family. In time 15 acres of the land were sold off to create Silverdale. In 1850 Griffith’s Valuation of property in Ballinlough, 49 individual land holdings are listed. The surnames included McGrath, Dennis, Hare, Pigott, Angleton, Barrett, Barry, Callaghan, Coughlan, Delany, Donovan, Hayes, Keeffe, Keohane, Lavallin, Love, Lyons, O’Mahony, Meade, Noonan, Reid, Regan, Riordan, Silke and Smith. Quarrying, lime-burning, brick-making, and market gardening were the most frequent occupations in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the 1901 census Ballinlough townland had 17 market gardeners.

In the 1930s Ballinlough, at the western end of the Blackrock Parish, had grown in population to the point where could no longer be sustained by St Michael’s Church in Blackrock.  Bishop Cohalan in addressing this situation decided a second church was needed in this part of Ballinlough. The result was the building of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Ballinlough which was built in the townland of Knockrea and was opened and blessed in September 1938. In 1958, it was accorded parochial status.

Up to 1966, the parish was in the jurisdiction of Cork County Council but from the extension of the county borough of Cork in that year, it has been in the jurisdiction of Cork City Council. Over the 20^th century the area of Ballinlough parish experienced a transition from largely rural settlement with open fields to suburban sprawl, from solitary housing to extensive parks and estates. Southview, Lee’s Terrace, Cogan’s cottages and lower Ballinlough village were the earlier examples of terrace houses. In the 1920’s Haig Gardens, Bryan’s Terrace and Douglas terrace were provided for the families of ex-servicemen who had fought on the British side in World War I. Bradley Brothers Builders built Carrigeen and Pic-du-Jer in the 1930s. These were followed by the parks of Browningstown, Belmont, Sundrive, Somerton and Hettyfield. The 1950s coincided with the construction of Beechwood, Ardfallen, Glencoo, Seamus Quirke and Our Lady of Lourdes Parks. Ardmahon, Lakelawn and South Lodge were constructed in the 1960s and Shrewsbury and Carrigmore in the 1970s. To give an idea of the growth that occurred: In 1911, there were 10 houses in Browningstown, in 2013 there are 515 houses – that is enormous growth for the area, which also makes it a great area to try and research and understand.

More on the walking tour… (also check out my book, Journey’s of Faith, Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Ballinlough, Celebrating 75 Years, available in the Church office)

Caption:

741a. Aerial view from roof of Our Lady of Lourdes Church roof of bell tower and Ballinlough Road (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 8 May 2014

“Historical Walking Tour of Mahon”

     Next Sunday afternoon, 11 May at 2pm, I present a historical walking tour of Mahon (start Blackrock Garda Station, Ringmahon Road). The walking tour explores the rich heritage of the Mahon Peninsula.  John Windele’s Guide to the South of Ireland in 1844 notes that the grounds between the Castle and the Douglas River are called the ‘Ring’ because of the Irish word “Reen” which means a promontory. He attributes Ringmahon Castle to a branch of the old Irish sept of the O’Mahonys, who anciently held large possessions in the vicinity and left their name Mahony or Mahon to the present day area.

The first documented evidence for a settlement in the area of Ballintemple-Blackrock relates to the medieval order of Knights Templars, who established a large and ornate church in the district in 1392. This church was taken down in the 1540s during the reign of King Henry VIII. In addition, from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century, three mercantile families, who traded within the medieval walled town of Cork, the Galway, Coppinger and Roche families possessed large tracts of land in the vicinity. Those latter families were but three of several very important and influential families in Cork who were closely involved in trade with Britain, the European Continent and in the 1600s in the Americas. The Galway family in particular 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. Ringmahon Castle is depicted on a map of Mahon about 1660 as well as the Castles of Blackrock and Dundanion.

        In the early 1690s, the Galway, Coppinger and Roche families had their lands forfeited during the Williamite wars in Ireland. Their lands in the Ballintemple area were placed under the ownership of the English Parliament in association with the Corporation of Cork. In 1750, an account of the Blackrock district by Charles Smith, historian, detailed that there were several suburban retreats comprising large houses with elaborate gardens and plantations and occupied by the merchant class – gentry. Smith compared the banks of the River Lee as having very similar features but on a smaller scale to the banks of the Seine in Paris and the Thames in London. This is reflected in 1779 in Taylor and Skinner’s Road Maps of Ireland where several houses are marked as well as naming their owners – the Allens, the Sweets, the Busteeds, the Hairs and the Tavis family. Blackrock Road was shown as the principle thoroughfare.

In the early nineteenth century, large numbers of middle class citizens working and living in the overpopulated inner city decided to separate their place of work from their place of residence. For example in the Mahon Peninsula, the construction of Ringmahon House was part of this trend. It was symbolic of the aspirations of the original owner James Murphy and of the flexibility of the standard Georgian design. A great book by Donal and Diarmuid Ó Drisceoil on Murphy’s brewery alludes to the Murphy family being merchants in the City of Cork as well as being authors, brewers, distillers, inventors and parliamentarians. The profits generated by the various enterprises were invested in bricks, mortar and land. Apart from Ringmahon, the Murphys also built the grand residence of Ashton in Blackrock. Northside locations that were built by the Murphys consisted of Clifton at Montenotte, Belleville and Hyde Park on Glanmire Road; Vosterburg, Montenotte. Suburban locations comprised Lauriston, Glanmire, Myrtle Hill House, Tivoli Road; Annemount, Glounthaune. Harbour locations comprised Tivoli House, Bellevue in Passage West, Little Island House, Inchera House in Little Island and Norwood in Rushbrooke.

       James Murphy (1769-1855) built Ringmahon House. He was the eldest son of Jeremiah (1745-1802). Jeremiah was a Cork based merchant who achieved much success in the leather industry in the late eighteenth century. At that time tanning became an important industry in the late 1700s and early 1800s. In the early nineteenth century, there were forty-four tanyards employing over four hundred people in the City of Cork.

        James Murphy was born in 1769 at Coolroe in the parish of Carrigrohane. James married Mary Galway in 1792 and resided at Morrison’s Island, Cork where his twelve children were born. James was a merchant, an importer and a ship-owner. In partnership with his brother Nicholas, they were handling teas, pepper, coffee, indigo, rum and both raw and refined sugar. All were imported from their relevant countries of origin.  In 1825, James Murphy with his brothers set up Midleton Distillery. Two years later, he took over the business interest of his brothers and changed its name to James Murphy & Co. James Murphy had twelve children, Jeremiah, John, Edward, Nicholas, Henry, Francis James, Daughters Kate and Anna Maria. They were all born on Morrison’s Island. James Murphy moved to Blackrock sometime after 1818. The move coincided with James attaining a 21-year lease of Ringmahon Castle and grounds from William Crawford, the brewer in 1820.

More on the historical walking tour…

Caption:

740a. Section of Grand Jury Map of Cork City, 1811 (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 1 May 2014

“Historical Walking Tour of Ballintemple”

The first of three walking tours I wish to present in early summer takes place on Sunday, 4 May and is of Ballintemple (2pm, meet inside Ballintemple graveyard, opp. O’Connor’s Funeral Home, Boreenmanna Road, two hours, free). Ballintemple as a settlement hub is one of the earliest in the city that came into being. Urban legend and writers such as Samuel Lewis in 1837 describe how the Knight’s Templar had a church here, the first parish church of Blackrock: “At the village of Ballintemple, situated on this peninsula, the Knights Templars erected a large and handsome church in 1392, which, after the dissolution of that order, was granted, with its possessions, to Gill abbey. At what period it fell into decay is uncertain; the burial ground is still used”. The graveyard is impressive in its collection of eighteenth century and nineteenth century headstones. It has a series of low uninscribed gravemarkers in its south east corner. There are also many inscribed headstones with smiling faces with one inscribed with ‘Remember Death’. The graveyard remains an undiscovered corner of the city with much of its family histories unresearched and unpublished.

The earliest references to the Knight’s Templar church are shrouded in myth in Ballintemple. Perhaps all is known a rough date of dissolution. Michael J Carroll’s book “The Knights Templar and Ireland” describes some of their background in Europe and in Ireland. The Knights Templars or The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon were one of the most controversial organisations in medieval European history.  Formed in the early 12^th century in obscure circumstances they were shrouded in secrecy for their 190 year history.  Their initial aim was to break with traditional non violent ethos of religious orders and take up arms to protect the recently captured city of Jerusalem. They also vowed to protect Pilgrims visiting holy sites in the Middle East.  They became famous initially due to their military exploits but during the crusades but in 13^th century they gained more fame and in some cases notoriety for creating a medieval Banking empire.

The Knights Templars are said to be in Ireland before 1177, the Anglo-Norman invasion.  In time it is reputed that they gained lands in Clontarf in Dublin, Carlow, Louth Kilkenny, Sligo and several other locations where they built houses or preceptories.  By 1308, they possessed Irish lands worth over £400 per annum. They had tenants on their lands who ploughed, planted crops, created pastures, cut down trees and cleared wooded areas.  The right to cut down a forest was a special privilege granted by the English King at that time, so the Templars had special privileges. Workers were paid in goods or in kind for their work but later were paid two pennies per week.

In the main base in Dublin, the Templar master was an officer of the English crown and one of the auditors of the Irish exchequer. He sometimes acted as mediator in disputes between the Anglo-Normans and the Irish chiefs. He travelled to London once a year to make a full report to the English Master of the Temple at which time proceeds of the various estates were handed over. The high respect that Templars were held in resulted in circa 1220, the government of Henry III giving instructions to the English Viceroy of Ireland that all taxes, duties and income from Ireland should be handed over to the Templars and Hospitallers. They were also required to take up military posts if called upon.

The Templars could not partake in warfare against other Christians – so avoided war with Irish Chieftains. They were free from many legal customs. They were free from military duties and Irish feudal customs. They were immune from customs to support infrastructure, free from export duties, free from all tolls at every market, bridge, roadway and sea, free from tolls for their own markets. They had complete criminal and civil jurisdiction over their tenants and vassals and the power to punish those found guilty of carrying out a criminal act against them. They had use of pits and the gallows.

Their dress in peace consisted of a long, white robe, having the cross of St. George on the left shoulder, and worn after the manner of a cloak or mantle; a cap, turned up, such as heralds call a ‘cap of maintainance’, covered the head; and the staff or abacus of the order, having at its extremity an encircled cross, was borne in the right hand. Their dress in war did not differ materially from that of the knights of that period, except the distinctive cross, the badge of the order being emblazoned on the cuirass, and the Agnus Dei was displayed on their banners.

Their superior, elected for life, chosen by the order and styled the grand master, took rank as an independent prince. Immediately under him were the preceptors or priors, each ruling over his peculiar district, and subject to the grand master and the statutes of the order. The number of the knights’ companions were unlimited; they were each attended by two esquires, who were usually candidates for admission into the order, into which none were enrolled but those who could prove their nobility of descent for two generations.

More on the walking tour…

Caption:

739a. Grand Jury Map of Cork, 1811 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)