This month St Finbarr’s Cemetery in Glasheen marks its 150th anniversary of its opening for public burials. Since mid-November 1867, this beautiful cemetery has become an iconic space of reflection, art and architecture. Its back story is a long and complex one and this article attempts to shine some light on it.
The Burial Ground Act of 1856 gave great legal and financial powers to Cork Corporation for attaining cemetery ground. A growing population and limited cemetery space in graveyards such as St Joseph’s in Cork City led the Cemeteries Committee of the Corporation in late February 1863 to seek new burial ground. The Committee publicly sought in newspapers like the Cork Examiner tenders for forty acres of ground in or adjacent to the northern suburbs of the City, and a similar acreage on the south side. Sealed proposals were to be lodged on or before 28 October, to the town clerk, Alexander McCarthy, whose office was at 33 South Mall. Some ideas were received but a lack of momentum existed to pursue the matter.
Nearly seven months later, a meeting at the Mayor’s Office at no 20 South Mall on Saturday 25 May 1864 was held for the purpose of considering the defective state of burial accommodation in the City. The Mayor, Sir John Arnott in the chair, resolved that a company be formed, on the principle of limited liability, with a capital of £10,000 in 2,000 shares of £5 each, with power to increase it if it was necessary. It was decided that when the company was formed, sites should be advertised for and the most suitable should be selected for shortlisting. The committee consisted of the Mayor, Sir John Abbott, C J Cantillon, J P Booth, Thomas Jennings, Dominic O’Connor, Alderman Hegarty, Alderman Keller and M J Collins.
In late June 1864, daily advertisements by the Cork Cemeteries Company in the Cork Examiner sought twenty acres of land to purchase, to be situated within three miles of the City. Sealed proposals, stating particulars of title and cost, were to be lodged at Alexander McCarthy’s office on the South Mall. In the autumn of 1864, three sites were discussed at length in the Cork Examiner. The present site St Finbarr’s Cemetery on Glasheen Road was pitched but there was initially limited support for it within Cork Corporation. In late September 1864, Fred G Deverall, County Surveyor inspected the lands called the Commons, part of the Corporation’s lands, situated on the north side of the City, He examined the ground and found three sites, which could be made available for the purpose, one of which. contained twenty acres held by one tenant. His team dug six trial pits to ascertain the nature and depth of the soil in different places, and found an average of over seven feet of dry clay and gravel.
The third piece of ground proposed was close to Wellington Square, comprising six acres. It was not supported by those living and working within the vicinity. The Jennings estate was nearby as well as 31 inhabited cabins within a radius of 100 yards, and 55 within a distance of 200 yards. It was also in the immediate vicinity of the County Gaol and the Queen’s College. In Wellington Square there was a well or pump, which was the source of water used by the residents of the locality, and would be within twenty-three yards of the cemetery. The Professor of Geology in Queen’s College, Cork testified that the ground in some places was deficient in depth of soil.
By spring 1865, the Cork Cemeteries Company failed to get the public investment it needed and the company folded. The search for a burial ground continued for another year into early 1866. However, a sum of finance was acquired from the Westminster Treasury on favourable terms through the intervention of Cork MP John Francis Maguire.
By late November 1866, the Corporation’s cemetery committee and the Corporation selected 15 acres of flat and rectangular ground at Glasheen. The cost would be £600 to the occupying lease-holder and £125 to the tenant who was growing crops on the site. The Cemetery Committee prepared to receive proposals for building a boundary wall, to enclose the land taken by the Corporation for the cemetery. The ground combined the various qualities required for a cemetery as the soil was dry, sandy and deep. A plan of the intended cemetery was prepared by Sir John Benson, the city engineer. The ground was to be laid out much on the plan of Glasnevin in Dublin, and planted with ornamental shrubs, and divided by walks.
A fourth of the entire new cemetery space was to be allotted for the burials of persons of the poorer classes who would not be able to pay the charge to be made for interments. Two thirds of the cemetery were to be reserved for Roman Catholics and one third for Protestants. Each religion was to have a mortuary chapel for its separate use. By mid-January 1867, the Cemetery Committee sought tenders from competent parties for the erection of two chapels on the grounds of the new cemetery. In late April 1867, the Committee sought proposals from competent parties for the building of a registry office at the entrance to the cemetery.
Captions:
920a. St Finbarr’s Cemetery, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
920b. Ornate statue, St Finbarr’s Cemetery, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
The Wheels of 1917: Prepare for the Jobs of the Future
To draw the attention of the Westminster Government to the great need for the provision of increased funds for technical instruction in Ireland, a public meeting was held on 31 October 1917 in the Council Chamber in Cork City Hall. The outcome of the debate was recorded in the Cork Examiner the following day. The general calls made were similar to calls in Irish society today for a focus on creating the jobs of the future and that an educational system be put into place to prepare students for them.
At the meeting Lord Mayor T C Butterfield presided, and the large attendance included Bishop Cohalan, UCC President Sir Bertram Windle. M Healy MP, E Crean, the City High Sheriff, and Arthur Sharman Crawford. The Lord Mayor noted it was essential that they should be prepared for conditions after the war, and that it was necessary for them to be “up and doing, and not to be caught napping”. To him technical education was one of the essentials to which the youth of Ireland would need to prepare for and meet after the war concluded. It was therefore necessary for them to get an increased grant from the Government for the purpose of technical education.
Sir Bertram Windle of UCC spoke and wished to remind the Westminster Government of the fact that the local authorities in Ireland voluntarily raised rates for the maintenance of the technical instruction schemes. He based his demand for extra funding not only upon the right of Ireland to an equivalent to the increased expenditure on education in England and Scotland, but also upon the fact, that technical education in Ireland had advanced so rapidly since its inception. Windle stressed that it had long since outgrown its original endowment, which had been actually reduced since the commencement, of the war. In addition to the existing grants, he strongly appealed for the active cooperation of the public bodies and public representatives in bringing pressure to bear on the Government to secure for technical education in Ireland the funds required.
Arthur Sharman Crawford, Vice-Chairman of the Borough Technical Committee, remarked on the success of the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute but there was a need for more technical education colleges. He highlighted that the School of Commerce, which began in Cork in 1908 at the Cork School of Commerce on Jameson Row on the South Mall, held its classes in premises totally unfit for its 500 students. The rooms were few, small, and quite unsuited for class purposes. He deemed it essential that the Chamber of Commerce must offer full and adequate day courses of instruction in commerce. A new building was urgently necessary for the development of commercial education. He highlighted that the School of Art was built by a private individual, and was, therefore, the only one of the city’s four school’s that was free of a charge for loans or rent. The extension of day trades preparatory instruction was clearly necessary. Cork had an excellent day trades school at the North Monastery, but another school was urgently required in view of the industrial developments such as the Ford plant that were taking place He noted that the Technical Institute had apprentice classes, workshops and laboratories in the daytime but night course could also be run there. However, a lack of funds limited this vision.
According to Mr Sharman Crawford, teachers should be properly prepared for their work through special training, such as that given in the Irish Training School, and he claimed that an extension of this work was urgently necessary. He appealed for the creation of a central bureau where manufacturers and trader, could chat with experts on difficulties of production and marketing. It was necessary that teachers should be experts in their respective branches. He requested that teaching posts should have a sufficient salary attached to them. He argued that in many cases their training encompassed long and expensive course of education. He noted; “To attract these teachers the present rates, of remuneration are entirely inadequate. It is absolutely necessary, if the right type of teacher and officer is to be secured; that there should be a guarantee of pension in reward for-services rendered during the best years of their lives”.
In a Cork Chamber of Commerce publication entitled Cork: Its Trade and Commerce (published in 1919), commercial classes began in Cork in 1908 at the Cork School of Commerce on Jameson Row on the South Mall and these were given to 550 students. The business methods department was particularly well equipped containing the latest filling systems, duplicating apparatus, specimens of various types of loose leaf ledgers, and other examples of modern saving appliances.
Courses could be studied for four or five years and comprised: commercial arithmetic, book-keeping, accountancy, auditing, commerce including commercial practice, commercial English, salesmanship, insurance, banking and finance, railways, home and foreign trade, economics, French, German, Irish, Russian, Spanish, commercial geography, commercial and industrial law, company law, shorthand, typewriting, and manifolding (or carbon copying). Introductory course subjects were English, mathematics and drawing. In addition to the course of study above, the School arranged each term for a number of public lectures for Cork citizens.
Captions:
919a. Cork School of Commerce as pictured in 1919 on Jameson Row, South Mall (source: Cork: Its Trade and Commerce available in Cork City Library)
919b. Photograph of Bertram Windle (picture: UCC Library)
Local historian and Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has described Daly’s Bridge or the Shaky Bridge as a significant cultural asset and has called for repairs to its fabric to be fast-tracked. Cllr McCarthy got reassurance from the Director of Roads, Gerry O’Beirne, at the recent Cork City Council meeting that “the bridge is safe for pedestrians”.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “The bridge affectionately called the Shaky bridge is an important historical and national asset and needs continued maintenance due to its engineering fabric. For too many years, this bridge has not seen any investment into its fabric. The bridge is celebrating its 90th birthday this year. The bridge in 1927 was a co-funded project between Cork Corporation and James Daly who was a butter merchant in the city. The bridge is of a suspension type, which is supported at intervals across the river with the aid of anchored cables, which need annual maintenance. The building contract in 1926/27 was awarded to a famous London based steel company owned by David R Bell”.
Cork City Council recently made an application funding to the Department of Transport, Tourism and Sport for the repair and rehabilitation of Daly’s Bridge as part of the annual application process. An assessment of Daly’s Bridge was undertaken in December 2016 by an external Consultant Engineering firm with grant funding from the Department of Transport Tourism and Sport. The assessment established the nature and extent of the repair and rehabilitation works required. The information gathered was subsequently used to develop an initial design for the necessary works.
Cllr McCarthy continued; “The bridge is currently the subject of planned inspection following recent severe weather related closure from Friday 20 to Wednesday 25 October. The updated information gathered will be submitted in support of the funding application. Subject to grant approval, rehabilitation works could commence in April 2018. The Department of Transport Tourism and Sport have funded extensive repair/renewal works for a number of bridges in recent years including Clontarf Bridge and Curaheen Bridge. It is important we get funding to repair our great and historic Shaky Bridge”.
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 26 October 2017
The Wheels of 1917: The North Mon Perspective
This week, 100 years ago, on Wednesday 24 October 1917 Bishop of Cork, Daniel Cohalan, visited the North Monastery School to make the annual presentation of prizes and awards to the successful pupils of the schools. He was received at the Monastery by Brother McNally, Superior. On his arrival he was greeted by a guard of honour of pupils, drawn up with staffs from which flew blue and white pendants, the School’s colours. As the bishop stood on the steps of the six-year-old Brother Burke Memorial Building the gymnastic team went through a series of flag and scarf drills.
The Christian Brothers opened their Cork School in 1811. The system of Secondary Education was introduced in 1879. All secondary schools were fitted with fully-equipped Laboratories for the teaching of Science, and special workshops for Manual Instruction. However, the North Monastery pioneered science instruction early in the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1857 Br James Dominic Burke arrived at the North Monastery and under his guidance the students began the study of natural philosophy (science). Br Burke is widely acknowledged as the father of vocational education in Ireland and made the ‘Mon’ a centre of excellence in scientific and technical education. At this time Br John P Holland (inventor of the submarine) studied in the ‘Mon’ under the guidance of Br Burke. Brother Burke established an Industrial Museum, bringing together materials for nature study, collecting Scientific Instruments, acquiring Manual and Mechanical Equipment, and gradually building up a Laboratory, all tending towards a fully-equipped Day Trades Preparatory School.
The North Monastery were also proud of an ex pupil D Madden, who since November 1916 was head of the Chemistry department in the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute. During his time at the North Mon he pursued a remarkably brilliant secondary course, carrying off first class exhibitions and medals for highest place in all of Ireland in mathematics and science. He played with great success an important part in the Centenary Pageant 1911. He was awarded the Harrington gold medal for highest score in chemistry, for which so many keen young scientists at Our Lady’s Mount competed. At the conclusion of his course at North Monastery, Mr Madden carried off in open competition a science and technological scholarship (value £275), tenable at Royal College of Science, Dublin. His four years course at this institution was marked by the highest honours, especially in chemistry and mathematics, and after specialising in the Faculty of Applied Chemistry under such distinguished teachers as Professors G T Morgan and A Farrelly, he obtained the Associate Diploma of the Royal College of Science, being placed first of his year in chemistry, appointed demonstrator in chemistry at University College, Galway, in February, 1916, Mr Madden obtained by examination in July 1916, the Associateship of the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland, a hall mark in the domain of practical chemistry, and was appointed by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland instructor in advanced chemistry for teachers’ summer courses.
The Cork Examiner records that during Bishop Cohalan’s visit in 1917 he was conducted through the different laboratories, technical rooms, and the different classrooms. When he took his seat in the large hall-the choral class under Professor Joseph Curtis, sang in the mother tongue “A Cead Mile Failte. There were also present a number of pupils from the Sullivan’s Quay schools, as well as very many past pupils of the North Monastery.
Joseph Curtis, was a well-known teacher of singing. In his obituary in the Cork Examiner on 28 April 1942, he is noted for teaching singing in Cork Schools, notably in those of the Christian and Presentation Brothers and was considered an expert in the Tonic Solfa system. One of his notable achievements was the training of the boys for the North Monastery Pageant in 1911 In this the singing was no less a triumph than the pageant itself. He was also choir master at Holy Trinity Church for about forty years, where the choir consisted of adult men and boys. He also inspired his nephew Bernard Curtis to take up the music mantle. He nephew went to be Director of the School of Music. When his uncle Joseph retired from Holy Trinity Bernard also took up the reins, teaching and conducting the choir.
Brother McNally, in his October 1917 speech, noted that the students maintained the record of the schools in all departments, religious, intermediate, technical and physical. Pupils in 1917 had secured less than 29 intermediate distinctions. Scholarships included a Honan one to the UCC, worth £150, one entrance, and an exhibition entrance to the same University, a Cork County scholarship, and two science research scholarships. The intermediate included nine exhibitions, two medals, twenty-three prizes (five for Irish and English composition), and 111 passes. There were two Ballingeary scholarships, one Brother Burke Memorial gold medal, and 20 matriculation passes. The choral class received the highest reports that could be got, and in this Brother McNally paid a tribute to its teacher and conductor, Joseph Curtis.
One of the managers of the Ford Company had paid a visit to their classes and expressed his admiration at his facilities and expressed his admiration at the facilities and equipment afforded physical development, too. The athletic success of their pupils was recounted including the junior school championships of Cork city and county in football and hurling for the Cloyne hurling. In field sports they were equally successful.
Captions:
918a. Photograph of entrance to North Mon’s 1911 Brother Burke Memorial building (source: Kieran McCarthy)
918b. Photograph of North Mon, 1919 from Cork, It’s Trade and Commerce (source: Cork City Library)
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 12 October 2017
Walking Tour of Our Lady’s Hospital Complex
Etched into the northern skyline overlooking the Lee Fields is Ireland’s longest and one of its most atmospheric buildings. The old Cork Lunatic Asylum was built in Victorian times. As part of the last set of public free historical walking tours for this season and in association with the owners of Atkins Hall, I have a new walking tour telling the story of the old Asylum and what emerged in time as Our Lady’s Hospital complex (Saturday 21 October, 12noon, meet at main gate on Lee Road). The complex closed in the late 1980s and in recent years, parts of the main grey building have now been redeveloped into apartment units.
The first asylum for what contemporary Cork society deemed “insane” in Cork was founded under the Irish Gaol Act of 1787/8. The Cork Asylum was the second of its kind to be established in Ireland and was to be part of the South Infirmary on Blackrock Road. The Cork Asylum in the late 1840s lacked finance and space to develop a proper institution. A Committee of the Grand Jury of Cork County (leading landlords and magistrates) examined the existing asylum and began a verbal campaign for its replacement. In 1845, a Westminster Act was enacted to create a District Asylum in Cork for the City and County of Cork.
In April 1846, a Board of Governors of the Asylum at the South Infirmary purchased and commenced work at a new site in Shanakiel. The Board set up a competition of tender for an architectural design. Mr William Atkins was appointed, with Mr Alex Deane as builder. Work commenced in mid-1848.
The asylum was located on a commanding location on a steep hill, overlooking the River Lee. The building was three floors high and was divided into four distinct blocks. Three blocks were located at the front and were designed to contain the apartments for patients, along with the residences for the physicians, matron and other officials of the Asylum. The building materials were reddish sandstone rubble, obtained near the site, and grey limestone quarried from sites from the opposite site of the River Lee. Internal fittings such as fireplaces were said to be of marble supplied also from the southside of the city. The fourth building block was located at the rear of the central block, and comprised the kitchen, laundry, workshops, bakehouse, boiler house and other rooms of an office nature. Heating was steam generated in a furnace house.
The new Asylum was named Eglinton Lunatic Asylum after the Earl of Eglington, and was opened in 1852. The principal types of people admitted which made up the highest number comprised housewives, labouring classes, servants, and unemployed. Forty-two forms of “lunacy” were identified from causes such as mental anxiety, grief, epilepsy, death, emigration to “religious insanity”, nervous depression, want of employment and desertion of husband or wife.
Plans for an extension to Eglington Asylum were put together in the 1870s. The aim was to accommodate over 1,300 patients. The three blocks were connected into a single building. In 1895, the Cork Asylum described as one of the most modern asylums in Western Europe. Conditions in the institution were deemed good by critics. Making up staff, there were 72 men and 56 women. Lectures were given to staff by lecturers of mental illness at Queen’s University College Cork now University College Cork. A Church of Ireland chapel was completed in November 1885 with William Hill as architect. In 1898, a Roman Catholic Church was designed by Hill and St Kevin’s Asylum was also constructed. In 1899, a new committee of management for the Asylum was established under the newly formed Cork County Council. In 1926, the Asylum became known as Cork District Mental Hospital. In 1952, The Hospital’s name was changed to Our Lady’s Psychiatric Hospital.
Like everyone else on Cork’s Lee Fields last July, I watched with great sadness the burning of the old St Kevin’s Asylum (built c.1895-1899) and had that deep sense of shock and loss, not just at one level but across a number of levels – Yes – St Kevin’s Asylum had a harrowing past but it’s future should not have played out this way.
Chatting to Corkonians they expressed their sadness and frustration that a part of Cork’s social history was burning and being destroyed; they were sad to see a burnt scar of a landmark emerging on the cityscape in one of the city’s scenic spots, dismayed that it was a potential arson attack out resulting out of someone’s boredom, frustrated that campaigns over the years by resident community groups and public representatives did not gauge muster with the owners of the site, sad that the owners of the site, the HSE, did not get to pursuing a plan for the site (despite having completed some really tasteful renewal works in the old Cork workhouse at St Finbarr’s Hospital), upset for the memory and almost forgotten memory of former patients and former staff members, frustrated that in the national context, there are many other old asylum buildings that are decaying and not being utilised for a myriad of potential uses. The new walking tout is an attempt to re-awaken interest in the heritage of the site and revalorize its importance to the city.
Next historical walking tour with Kieran: From Our Lady’s Hospital to Atkin’s Hall, the story of the Cork Lunatic Asylum (new tour), Saturday 21 October, meet at gates of former Our Lady’s Hospital, Lee Road, 12noon, free.
Captions:
916a. View of Our Lady’s Hospital from top of County Hall, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
916b. Burning of Our Lady’s Hospital, 4 July 2017 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
Cork’s iconic Shakey Bridge may be one ‘shake’ from collapse
Written by Eoin English, Published in the Irish Examiner, Wednesday, October 11, 2017
There have been calls for an urgent health-and-safety audit of Cork’s iconic Shakey Bridge amid fears it could be one shake from collapse, writes Eoin English.
Historian and city councillor Kieran McCarthy said it was shocking to see one of the city’s best-known landmarks and tourist attractions — the city’s only suspension bridge, famous for its wobble — decay to such a dangerous state“.
Urgent action is required before we have to make the sad call to close it off to the public completely,” he said. “That would be a shame.”
As talks continue over the city’s 2019 budget, he plans to ask the city council’s chief executive, Ann Doherty, to urgently identify and set aside funding to repair the bridge which was officially opened 90 years ago.
Daly’s Bridge is a 48m-span wrought-iron suspension pedestrian bridge which was built by a London-based company over the northern channel of the River Lee in 1927 to a design by former Cork City architect Stephen Farrington.
Its construction at the site of an ancient ferry crossing was funded by butter merchant John Daly, who was asked to provide money to help build a bridge to facilitate increased pedestrian traffic coming from the Sunday’s Well area of the city to cross the river to the Mardyke.
It was officially opened in April 1927 and quickly became known locally as the Shakey Bridge, because of the movement or wobble in its wooden slat platform caused as pedestrians cross.
This quirky feature made it one of the city’s must-see tourist attractions.
It is in constant use by people visiting Fitzgerald’s Park and by students crossing from the northside of the city to the Mardyke to access UCC’s sports facilities, its Western Gateway building, and its main campus.
Rust on Daly’s Bridge means the ironwork at key joints crumbles at a touch.
An inspection report over five years ago highlighted corrosion to its iron latticework, prompting calls for repairs. Those calls have been repeated over the years, but funding was never secured.
The corrosion has steadily worsened and the rust has eaten through several bars on the bridge’s railings, exposing dangerous gaps. The ironwork at key joints crumbles to the touch.
Mr McCarthy said it has now become a serious health-and-safety issue.
“Cork has many bridges, but Daly’s Bridge is celebrated in the city’s historical life. People have a strong affection for it,” said the Independent councillor.
“It’s very disappointing to see how it’s been left to decay like this. I wouldn’t like to see the bridge closed, but from a safety perspective, we may have no option.”
He said UCC has invested millions in developing its Mardyke sports campus, and that the city council has invested millions in revamping nearby Fitzgerald’s Park and revitalising the Mardyke area.
“As the economy picks up, and as funding becomes available, we must prioritise investment in Daly’s Bridge,” said Mr McCarthy. “It would be a terrible shame if the bridge was closed off for lack of investment.”
Last week, city officials unveiled major restoration and repair plans for St Patrick’s Bridge, which will be funded by Transport Infrastructure Ireland, and they said they are trying to identify funding streams to carry out the necessary repairs to Daly’s Bridge.
There have been tentative discussions with Failte Ireland to develop a heritage unit at the old Butter Exchange site. But nothing has been discussed in a concrete way. The building needs serious investment to re-roof it (e2-3m). It has been a very frustrating slow process in putting a plan to raise the money and move forward with the site. From walking tours in the area of Shandon, disappointment is consistently expressed by groups such as the Shandon Area Renewal Association, Tidy Towns, Shandon Street Festival and managers of the Firkin Crane, Butter Market Museum and St Anne’s Church, Shandon. The building is so iconic in its nature that is a lynchpin in opening up and telling the story of this corner of the city. But the building is also an iconic piece of Irish architecture, which is also overlooked. The building’s story connected, through butter, to the four corners of the known world in its day.
The city tour bus stops outside the Firkin Crane. Those who embark only find the imposing Exchange building closed.
I feel very angry especially when you meet the members of local groups who have enormous ideas for the site and the area. The array of ideas by local community activists in Shandon is striking. They always renew my continued interest in the quarter and I would strongly argue that City Hall needs to listen more to their ideas. The Council’s ideas on developing a Diaspora Centre or a technology hub have fallen through in recent years.
Such has been the growth of the festival activity in Shandon, the area also perhaps needs a summer co-ordinator to bring together the publicity of the festivals, showcase summer events and meet and greet large tour buses in the area. In fact, more and more I am being pulled to the idea that perhaps the best function for the old Exchange building is to develop community facilities in there; At least that would bring locals into the area and serve as a platform for tourists to learn about community activities and the strong sense of place, which exists in the area. The more the building remains undeveloped, the more structural problems the site will develop. The clock is ticking on the old Butter Exchange Building.
To ask the CE for an update on last year’s proposal by TEAM to erect new signage for tourist sites in the city – the legible city plan? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
Motions:
That the Council create a Coal Quay Stakeholders forum bringing together the various traders and residents on this historic street. It is clear that some plans by different stakeholders are similar but others are not aligned (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
Is there any possibility of improvements to the footpath and a safe crossing to the Mahon greenway from St Luke’s Nursing Home? St Luke’s Nursing Home in Blackrock has been fortunate to acquire a trishaw thanks to the huge generosity of PFH. This trishaw, which will be piloted by volunteers, will allow senior members of the community the opportunity to enjoy the Mahon greenway. At present there are four trishaws in Ireland with eight pending. Wheelchair access to the greenway from St Luke’s requires crossing the road four times, whereas one crossing would be possible – this would also be of benefit to nearby sports clubs (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).
The Wheels of 1917:Checking the Public Health of a City
One hundred years ago, issues of housing, homelessness, public health and fair wages for women prevailed in media debates just like today. The Cork Examiner for early October 1917 describes the response by Cork Corporation to the Sanitary Officer’s report concerning the poor condition of houses in the West Ward and the need to rehouse people. The Chairman noted that it was impossible for many citizens to rent good housing, and asked that the Corporation could not throw people out on the side of the road. The only thing he believed they could do was to leave the people in their ‘insanitary condition’. Commenting the chairman noted; “they in Cork should do something to house the people”.
The City Law Agent, present at the meeting, highlighted that there were too many generalities spoken about the housing question. He suggested that the Housing Committee should formulate a scheme and then approach the Local Government Board and show how they had done their part; “We should present a watertight scheme and ask the Local Government Board to give us a loan, or if they would not do that, to pitch Cork on the top of the list for a grant in aid after the war is over”. The Committee requested the Medical Officer of Health and the Executive Sanitary Officer report on the issues for next meeting. The Committee decided to ask the Lord Mayor to call a meeting of the Housing Committee.
At the Public Health Committee meeting, the Vice-Chairman, Mr J Horgan, presided. A letter was received from the Commissioners of National Education, Ireland stating representations had been made to them as to the desirability of school children in Cork being afforded opportunities of learning to swim. The letter inquired whether the Corporation of Cork would be prepared to grant similar privileges to children attending the primary schools in the city as those granted by the Belfast Corporation. The Chairman asked as to the feasibility of putting the matter into operation, and whether it involved the Corporation in any cost. Mr Goggin said the only expense was the price of bathing costumes. In London, he observed it was compulsory to teach boys and girls attending the County Council schools to swim. It was regrettable so many lives were lost owing to not being able to swim. They had a fine-equipped baths in the form of the Eglantine Baths in Cork; he commented: “the expense would be very little, and the advantages would be very great”.
Coroner McCabe wrote to the Public Health Committee regarding a financial settlement with the owners of the horses who were contracted to engage in the scavenging system of collecting rubbish and depositing it in suburban sites. The owners decided to accept the sum of 13s a day for the horses, which had been offered at the last meeting of the Public Health Committee. They desired that the Corporation holidays, save bank holidays, should be abolished, as it was a loss to them. As to the men who led the horses, they were also contractors. The Corporation had been prepared to pay the men 28s a week, which Mr Houston, the representative of the men, had declined to accept. The employees wished to get 31s per week, the same as Corporation men. Corporation Solicitor Mr Galvin said the Corporation were obliged to pay the standard rate of wages, but in the making of the last contract the contractors refused to sign any form, so they had no written contract with them on improving employment matters.
A special meeting was also held at the Carnegie Library Committee at the Library on Anglesea Street. Its purpose was to appoint a juvenile female assistant to children using the library. Cork City pioneered children’s library services in Ireland. It was the first public library in Ireland to introduce a collection specifically for children, in 1893, at the premises which were then located at Nelson Place now Emmet Place. The foundation stone of the Cork Carnegie Library was laid by Andrew Carnegie in 1903 with the building opening in 1905. The new library included a dedicated children’s department and reading room.
Miss Hosford, of 2 Cotter Street, having secured a clear majority over the other candidates, was declared elected to the assistant post at 7s a week. Over the ensuing few weeks, the four female members of the library initiated a request for wages similar to men. It was not granted in the immediate term.
The report of the Cork Carnegie Library for 1917 reported that the collective issue of the books in the library increased by over ten thousand over the figures for the previous year, and stood 334 higher than the issues for the year before the war. The number of borrowings from the lending library was up by 9,873 whilst the consultations of volumes in the reference library increased by 320. Fiction and juvenile literature accounted for about eight-ninths of the increased issues. There was a slight decrease as regards works on sociology, which was a very popular branch the previous year. The attendance at the newsrooms showed further slight falling off, and it was expected that this would not return to the pre-war number until sometime after the close of the war.
Next historical walking tour with Kieran: From Our Lady’s Hospital to Atkin’s Hall, the story of the Cork Lunatic Asylum (new tour), Saturday 21 October, meet at gates of former Our Lady’s Hospital, Lee Road, 12noon, free.
Kieran’s new book, Secret Cork (2017), is now in Cork bookshops.
Captions:
915a. Postcard of Cork Carnegie Library adjacent Cork City Hall, c.1900 (source: Cork City Through Time by Kieran McCarthy & Dan Breen)
915b. Cork Carnegie Library in Ruins 1920 (source: Cork City Library)
In the wake of the Easter Rising, British Prime Minister Lloyd George summoned a convention of representative Irishmen to try to solve the ‘Irish question’. The Convention was first suggested by Lloyd George in May 1917 as a way to break the deadlock around the issue of Home Rule for Ireland. Its membership comprised of the following categories; Government nominees (15 members), Irish episcopate (7), Irish Party (5), Ulster Party (5), Irish peers (2), Southern Unionists (5), Lord Mayors and Mayors (6), County Council delegates (32), Urban district councils (8), Chambers of Commerce (3) and Labour delegates (7) Sinn Fein (members did not attend). From the outset, intentions, reservations and expectations differed considerably. The Nationalist MPs T P O’Connor and Stephen Gwynn came to the conclusion that a Conference might be the Irish Party’s only hope of salvation.
The Irish Convention was invited to Cork by the Lord Mayor, Thomas C Butterfield. The Cork meeting, the first to be held outside Dublin, was held on Tuesday 24, Wednesday 25 and Thursday 26 September 1917. The debate was held at the Crawford Technical Institute at Sharman Crawford Street. The majority of the delegates reached the city on the evening of 24 September by a special train which left Kingsbridge, Dublin at 2 o’clock, and completed the journey in three hours. Between Dublin and Cork one stop was made – it was at Thurles, where Bishop Harty, Archbishop of Cashel, joined the train. At the Glanmire terminus in Cork the delegates were received by the Lord Mayor and members of the Cork Reception Committee, and escorted to motor cars in waiting outside the main building of the railway station. The delegates were motored to their lodgings during their stay in Cork.
MPs John Redmond and J Devlin did not travel by the special train but reached Cork by motor car shortly after six o’clock. Though no public announcement had been made regarding the delegates’ arrival in the city, a large crowd assembled inside and outside of the station, and extended to the distinguished visitors a very cordial welcome. Three days were allotted to the Cork Convention, and hopes ran high that the visit would help delegates acquire a grasp of political leanings and its challenges in the south of Ireland.
Every effort was made by the public boards of the city to impress the visitors. Indeed, one of the recreational activities was heading down the harbour and viewing the Lord Mayor engage in the Throwing of the Dart ceremony. One hundred years ago, the ceremony was performed every three years, and was always regarded with interest by Corkonians. A distinguished company always joined the Lord Mayor in asserting the ancient rights of the Mayor as admiral over the port.
The City of Cork Steam Packet Company’s fine steamer, SS Inniscarra left the Custom House quay about l pm. The Inniscarra, which had a gross tonnage of 1,412, was built at Newcastle by Wigham Richardson, and Co. in 1903. In making the journey down the river the visitors admired the scenery of the river and the buildings and histories on each river bank each with their own narrative of the ancient past, change, struggle and opportunity within the Cork region.
Spectators noted with interest the preparation work ongoing for the Ford Factory, passed through the sweeping spaciousness of Lough Mahon, admired the big houses and woodlands at Glanmire on the one side and Rochestown on the other. They were inspired by the dockyards at Passage, Rushbrook, and Haulbowline. It was 2pm when the steamer, decked with flags, passed by Queenstown, and the visitor enjoyed the beautiful peal of bells in St Colman’s Cathedral. American and English destroyers, and various other craft moored in the harbour, were also objects of discussion.
As the ship journeyed out past Roche’s Point, the civic procession made its way to the bow of the ship. There the Lord Mayor, in his robes of office, and wearing the Mayoral Chain, took the Dart in his hand, and saying: “In assertion of the ancient rights of the Lord Mayor and citizens of Cork over all places in and to which the sea ebbs and flows between Cork Head and the Western part of the Port of Cork, and Poer Head on the Eastern part of the, same port, and as far as the Castle of Carrigrohane on the western side of the City of Cork. I now cast this Dart,” he threw the javelin into the sea.
Ironically eight months later, on 28 May 1918, news broke that the SS Inniscarra bound from Fishguard to Cork had been sunk by a German submarine. All on board were lost except the captain the chief engineer and three seamen who were landed at Queenstown. The captain was injured. The remaining 37 men who were on board went missing. The vessel sank within a very short time after being torpedoed and some of the ropes attached to one of the boats got entangled and the occupants were thrown into the water. One of the survivors succeeded in getting into a boat and was taken on board the submarine. Another reached a raft.
Captions:
914a. SS Inniscarra berthed at Penrose Quay, c.1915 (source: Cork City Library)
914b. Participants of the Irish Convention on board the SS Inniscarra, 1917 (source: Irish Life, 1917)
Upcoming Walking Tour: Saturday 30 September 2017, Blackrock Village, historical walking tour with Kieran, meet at Blackrock Castle, 12noon (free, duration: two hours, ends near the village)
