Category Archives: Cork History

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 18 June 2015

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

797a. Plan of Dominican Abbey with section of walled town of Cork

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 18 June 2015

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 27)

Stories from St Mary’s of the Isle Abbey

 

   Carew’s Map of Cork, c.1600 shows the Dominican Abbey on a marshy island to the south-west of the walled town. The map illustrates a church with a large steeple with an adjacent water mill built next to the river. The name of the island was Sancta Maria de Insula or St. Marie’s of the Isle, the area of present day Crosses Green. This marshy island like the islands on which the adjacent walled town was built on, would have been subject to constant flooding at high tide. Therefore it can be assumed that when the abbey was being built, the unfavourable local ground conditions would have been taken into account.

    An insightful book by Tomas Flynn (1993) entitled The Irish Dominicans, 1536-1641 reveals that in 1216, the Dominican order received papal approval. Due to its universal teaching mandate, it was not long before they established priories in towns and cities in medieval Europe. In addition due to their native French beginnings, it was only natural that the Anglo-Normans in Britain and Ireland became their first patrons. On arrival in Ireland in 1224, the first priories were established at Dublin and Drogheda. In general, initially the Dominicans were viewed as part of the spiritual wing of Norman civilisation and colonisation, but they quickly distanced themselves from that image and became highly favoured and respected by the leading Gaelic families as well.

    Within thirty years, the Dominicans had established over ten friaries geographically spread adjacent to urban settlements such as Anglo-Norman Walled Towns. Among these were among the Dominican Abbey at Cork in 1229 under the patronage of Lord Philip de Barry. Antiquarian Charles Gibson in his History of Cork in 1861 details that the abbey reputedly held a bronze equestrian statue of the De Barry, which was kept in the abbey’s church up to the 1540s.

    As the Dominicans were establishing themselves in Cork, the Franciscans on the North Mall were doing the same. An unfortunate by-product of Dominican success was rivalry with the Franciscans. This included conflict over theological opinions, the making of foundations, sources of alms and benefactions, and recruits. To attract vocations, both orders claimed closer resemblance to the work of the Twelve Apostles. However, arising out of this came strong ambition to succeed and a lot of self seeking in medieval times. They did though over time after numerous quarrels come to acknowledge mutual respect between their orders.

    The early historic references detail the respect that the upper classes in medieval society had for the Dominican order. This is evidenced by a reference in a royal charter in 1317 that tells of free passage for the Mayor of Cork, bailiffs and the Dominican friars into the walled town over South Gate Bridge. The charter goes on to describe that the friars were to be let in for the sake of the good town peoples. Without doubt, the spiritual and educational contributions by the friars would have been invaluable to the quality of urban life within the town. In general, historical works on other Dominican abbeys in Britain and Ireland have shown that the Dominicans helped with social problems such as literacy in a walled town, professional guilds and other devotional organisations.

   Royal respect, in the form of money offerings or alms, was also granted to the Dominican Abbey during the late thirteenth century and in the fourteenth century and fifteenth centuries. Regarding the nobility, many of them with religious connections to the abbey are recorded as been buried on the grounds of the property itself. It is recorded in the late fifteenth century that the Dominican Order at Cork was involved in a reform of the Dominican rule of observance or rules of the order. It is stated that some monks elsewhere in Ireland and Britain had strayed from the typical strict observance of the Dominican rules. The new rules of observance came into effect in Cork in 1488.

   As with the Franciscan Abbey on the North Mall, the mid 1500s was also a turbulent time in history for the Dominican Abbey. During King Henry VIII’s reign the property of the abbey was confiscated. The list of the physical properties of the abbey give an indication of how large the Dominican order was in Cork. It is recorded that Abbey possessed three small gardens containing two acres, a watermill, a fishing pool, thirteen acres of arable lands and twenty acres of pastural land (in County Cork).

    It is also recorded in the medieval period that the monks at the Dominican abbey had two prized relics, the images of St. Dominick and the Blessed Virgin Mary and child. The images of St Dominick were unfortunately publicly burnt due to religious conflict between the Dominicans and the English Garrisons’ orders at the high cross in the walled town on North Main Street in 1578. The blessing Virgin Mary was a small carving in ivory and can be seen today preserved in a silver case now in the possession of the friars at St Mary’s Dominican’s Church, Pope’s Quay.

 To be continued…

 

Captions:

795a. Plan of Dominican abbey with section of walled town of Cork from Map of Cork, late sixteenth century as depicted in Sir George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, or History of The Wars in Ireland (1633), vol. 2, opp page 137.

797b. Crosses Green, former site of Dominican abbey (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

797b. Crosses Green, former site of Dominican Abbey

Kieran’s Upcoming Historical Walking Tours, 27 June-3 July 2015

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

Saturday afternoon, 27 June 2015, 12noon, Historical Walking Tour of St Finbarr’s Hospital, Meet at gate, Douglas Road, in association with the Friends of St Finbarr’s, (free, duration: 1 ½ hours).

 

Wednesday evening, 1 July 2015, 6.45pm, Historical Walking Tour of Blackrock, Meet at Blackrock Castle (free, duration: 2 hours).

 

Thursday evening, 2 July 2015, 6.45pm, Historical Walking Tour of Ballintemple, Meet in Ballintemple graveyard, Templehill (free, duration: 2 hours).

 

Friday evening, 3 July 2015, 6.45pm, Historical Walking Tour of Docklands, Meet at Kennedy Park, Victoria Road (free, duration: 2 hours).

Farewell to Lord Mayor, Cllr Shields, AGM, Cork City Council

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

Comments by Cllr Kieran McCarthy

12 June 2015

Forever Summer

  Lord Mayor, can I add to the congratulations on a successful year and to your focus on building community capacity and topics such as equality and social inclusion.

  I met you last week on The Marina, opening the new slip of the Lee Rowing Club.

  We are blessed to live in a very beautiful city, especially now as the new leaves are appearing on our trees.

  I am always impressed by the city’s blossom trees and As each summer rolls around, those trees in places such as the gorgeous Marina and places such as Pearse Road. The summer offers warmth, which your own personality abounds in and offers as well renewal, re-birth, growth, hope, re-imagination and inspiration. The dark evenings end as the daylight lengthens. It’s hard not to romanticise about the blossoms and their effects on all those who drive and walk the local roads.

  They add immensely to the sense of place and identity of this area…their roots spreading into the undulating topography of the city. . It’s as if the blooms want to say ‘remember us’, ‘wonder in us’ be inspired; they are in their own way, part of the city’s cultural DNA, a piece of life, a way of life, the trees are always in flux just like politics and the essence of the chain you hold.

  Cork songwriter John Spillane writes of the cherry blossoms “as putting on the most outrageous clothes and they sing and they dance around”.

 The Vita Cortex workers in their struggle in 2012 commented on the cherry blossoms on Pearse Road;

“They stand tall like us, magnificent in their beauty. They sway in the wind and bend with it but remain unbroken. They have been there lining the street as long as any of us can remember.  For everyone in Ballyphehane they are part of the local landscape and history, The cherry blossom trees on Pearse Road are like sentries guarding the road to the factory; our home, our workplace,

But the trees were no accident in their original planning but part of a wider renewal plan in this area way back in time.

  The stories of Turners Cross & Ballyphehane and other suburbs are also one of re-birth, renewal and experimentation, the creation of new architecture and housing – which defined the ethos of making a Modern Ireland – a Chicago architect’s design for a modern church that of Christ the King – and the planning for the future of new communities, building on successful social housing models in Capwell Road, in the Congress Road area and in Gurranbraher, and just like the framed branches of the blossom trees, creating different scenes, ideas framed the idea of what community should be.

 

A Re-New-ed Republic:

  A number of the roads in the area are named in honour of famous people. These included the names of the signatories of 1916, Pearse, Connolly, Kent, Clarke, MacDonagh, McDermott, Plunkett. All of whom we will commemorate next year, which the new Lord Mayor will have to negotiate. The line of the blossom trees exaggerate the boulevard-esqueness of Pearse Road just like the edginess of the 1780s Lord Mayor’s chain. Pearse, the first President of the Irish republic, founded the Gaelic league at an early stage and acquired a fluent Knowledge of Irish. In 1903 he became the editor of An Claoimh Solais, the official organ of the Gaelic League. He wrote many stories and poems in Irish.

   The country looks forward to the 1916 commemoration activities, which will ignite renewed interest in the essence of our country, our cultural heritage, our common past, our inheritance and let us aspire to hope, re-birth, re-imagination and inspiration.

  Ireland is trying to emerge a very tough economic phase in its evolution. And much effort is being put into rebuilding the economy whereas less effort is being put into rebuilding society

The country, yes, badly an economic plan but so do Irish communities.

 Lord Mayor you headed up the passing of our development plan over the last few months, which will go along way in pushing this fair city forward

  Our communities need a plan to create a better society, something that is better that what we left during the now mythic Celtic Tiger days. During your year, you and your colourful and energetic Deputy Lord Mayor, Cllr O’Flynn, espoused the need to take responsibility for part of this plan.

 Society leaders like yourself are like giant spotlights in the sky; they can and will continue to uphold human values for all to see and replicate, they can send out the message that we do need to care – care about something… to do something purposeful…to move ourselves forward… to hone our personal talents, which we all have or even seek advice.

 Today’s Society needs all of those traits in abundance.

 Lord Mayor I welcome you back to the benches and thank you for a great year of inspiration. 

Go raibh maith agat.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 4 June 2015

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

795a. Plan of Augustinian Abbey with South Gate Bridge from Map of Cork

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 4 June 2015

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 25)

Stories of Red Abbey

 
    George Carew’s Map of Cork, c.1600 also places an emphasis on the Augustinian Abbey. The central bell tower of the church of Red Abbey is a relic of the Anglo-Norman colonisation and is one of the last remaining visible structures, which dates to the era of the walled town of Cork. Invited to Cork by the Anglo-Normans, the Augustinians established an abbey in Cork, sometime between 1270 A.D. and 1288 A.D. The uncertainty of the date is due to an absence of records for this medieval order in Cork and the information we do possess primarily appears in the work of Sir James Ware, an Elizabethan antiquarian who highlights the history of Red Abbey in his writings in 1658; ‘De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus Eius’. In addition, nineteenth century Cork antiquarians such as John Windele in 1844 and Charles Gibson in 1861 relate in their publications on Cork, stories of archaeological discoveries and folklore about the area.

    It is known that in the early years of its establishment, the Augustinian friary became known as Red Abbey due to the material, sandstone, which was used in the building of the friary. It was dedicated to the Most Holy Trinity but had several names, which appear on several maps and depictions of the walled town of Cork and its environs. For example, in a map of Cork in 1545, it was known as St. Austins while in 1610, Red abbey was marked as St. Augustine’s. In medieval times, an abbey comprised a church, which was divided in two by a central tower. The tower divided the altar area from the public area and connected to the church area were religious and domestic rooms. In the case of religious rooms, these included a sacristy, a reading room or chapter room. In the case of the domestic rooms, these took the form of a kitchen, refectory, cellars and a dormitory. Apart from been connected to the church these rooms would also encompass the abbey’s central garden and walking area known as the cloister garth.

    Sir James Ware, the Elizabethan antiquarian, in 1658 noted that an interesting event in the Augustinian diary for Cork occurred in the year 1313. It is known that the population size of the community was growing and a problem arose when a decision was made among the group to extend the buildings of the abbey. The extension entailed closing part of the Kings highway, which is the vicinity of the adjacent Douglas Street today. Proceeding before the local authorities, the friars explained that they would replace the portion of the highway, they sought with another route. Their plea was heard and approved locally by the King’s Justiciar of Ireland, one Edmund le Botiller.

  The Augustine Abbey occupied an area now bounded by Dunbar Street, Margaret Street, Mary Street and Douglas Street. The nearby neighbourhood of Friars Walk in Turners Cross echoes that the area was once used as a walking area and eighteenth century maps of Cork show the former gardens belonged to the Augustinian monks. Their lives were bound by strict religious discipline and devotion to God. With an absence of definite sources, it can be speculated that a hierarchy existed within the Augustinian order at Red Abbey and the order was quite large in size with at least fifty monks living in the abbey. During King Henry’s suppression of monasteries in the 1540s, surveyors of the King came in February 1541 to the silent prayful Red Abbey, accompanied by local Jurors: Water Galwey, John Skiddy, Richard Gould and Patrick Coppinger. These family names played a major part in the economic, civic and social history of medieval Cork. These were the names of some of Cork’s great Mayoral families. They described that the Augustinians had a church, gardens including self-sufficient vegetable gardens, cemetery, an old and new dormitory, cloister and other usual structures of a religious house. They also noted for the King, that salmon fishing was carried on nearby and that the friars possessed a half share in a local water-mill.

  In 1541, Henry VIII ordered the closure of Red Abbey and the Augustinians were forced to leave their abbey for a short time. It is known that they did remain in the local area and aimed to stay established. As soon as monarch pressure eased, conventual life was resumed at Red Abbey. Sometime in the years 1687 to 1690, Ignatious Gould, Merchant and property owner bought a portion of Red Abbey from the friars while the rest of the portion was given to Othowell Hayes of Ballinlough in the southern suburbs of Cork. Hayes owned a thatched cabin and garden with half an acre of land in Coulin on the south side of the abbey itself.

   The friars left at this point and in 1690, Red Abbey was used as a base by the English to fire cannon balls into the City during the siege of Cork. It is unknown if the English troops damaged Red abbey during the siege but it is known that the Augustinian order in Cork was affected by the penal laws which outlawed open public worship among Catholics and condemned Catholic religious orders.

 To be continued…

 Captions:

795a. Plan of Augustinian Abbey with South Gate Bridge from Map of Cork, late sixteenth century as depicted in Sir George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, or History of The Wars in Ireland (1633), vol. 2, opp page 137.

795b. Red Abbey, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

 

795b. Red Abbey, Present day

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 21 May 2015

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

793a. Franciscan Well Brewery Entrance, North Mall

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article

Cork Independent, 21 May 2015

 Cork Harbour Memories (Part 24)

 Ruins of the North Abbey

    Perhaps, the most known remaining feature of the North Abbey is its water well. The well is situated at the foot of a rock face, on the grounds of the Franciscan Well Brewery and is located within a stone-built well house. At one time, the entrance had a wooden panel with the date of 1688 in iron numbers on it. The well is said to be holy in nature but is not dedicated to any particular saint and at one time is reputed to have been used by Corkonians as a cure for sore eyes, consumption and other ailments.

    Next to the well on its west side, there is a second stone walled room, which is partially cut out of the domineering sandstone rock face. The purpose of this room is unknown but the rockface forms the end wall after a number of metres into this space. Legend has it that beyond this end wall is an underground passage leading up into the environs the Gurranabraher. However, the same legend does not relate any stories of its usage. 

   Two other architectural stone pieces from the North Abbey exist. The first was presented to a Rev. Brother Leonard, a Christian Brother and was built into the garden wall of his monastery at Peacock Lane at Sunday’s Well. Its subsequent history though is shrouded in mystery and its remains are lost. A sketch was drawn of it in 1894 by John Dalton, a city historian, and he describes the piece as a broken fragment of a larger piece. The G of the word Gloria is broken off, the letters I.M. represent the initials of Jesus and Mary. The date on the stone was 1590.

    The second stone is a cut stone head of one of the abbeys window. In architectural terms, it was a double ogee-headed piece. The letters S. B. M. C. stand out on the piece. It was argued in the 1890s by John Dalton who drew a sketch of it that these latter letters stand for ‘Santa Beata Mater Christi’ or ‘Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ’. This stone can still be seen today and is preserved in the distillery wall of Wise’s Distillery (established 1779) at the foot of Wise’s Hill where the hill itself meets the North Mall.

   This stone piece at the foot of Wise’s Hill is said to mark the spot of another holy well named Tobar na Bhrianach translated the well of learning or eloquence. This well, now long gone may have also belonged to the abbey at one stage as it is mentioned in a Franciscan deed in 1588 as in possession of the abbey. It is reputed that people used to come from around the country in the early 1700s to this well, which was adjacent to Wise’s Distillery. Urban folklore has it that this became troublesome as on one or two occasions, the excise authorities caught some persons bringing out buckets of whiskey instead of water out of the adjacent distillery. The owners, the Wise family, were forced to stop the practice of visiting the well and the well was closed and an architectural stone of the Franciscan Abbey was placed on the site to mark where the well was located. Indeed, another well known as ‘Sunday’s Well’ was only a mile to the north west of the walled town. It is said that this well was located in a small circular building, capped with stone and surrounded by trees. The well disappeared under road widening in 1946 and a plaque outlining its location now marks the spot. The surrounding area is named after the monument – Sunday’s Well.

    Apart from the well and associated room of the North Abbey, which can be seen, several of the garden walls behind the buildings, which front the North Mall possess several architectural features of a medieval abbey. In several gardens, stone corbels can be seen jutting out from the wall. These would have been used to support timber roof beams. The same design can be seen in the more complete Franciscan Abbey at Kilcrea in the Lee Valley, Co. Cork.

    Due to political circumstances in Britain, it was only in the mid to late 1600s that a Franciscan chapel and house were built on the site of the abbey. These buildings still existed in the early half of the 1700s but did disappear over time under eighteenth and nineteenth century housing on the North Mall. In 1688, King James II arrived in Cork, and stayed in the house of the North Abbey. He was attended to by two Franciscan Friars and attended by many others in their habits.

    In the years 1730 to 1750, evidence shows that the Franciscan order had moved from the North Mall to three main areas in the city. The first site was adjacent to Shandon, the second in Cotner’s Lane situated in the city centre, between North Main Street and the Coal Market and the third location was near the present area of Oliver Plunkett Street where it meets the Grand Parade. By 1750, the Franciscans had moved from this location and set up a central friary in Broad Lane, which today is part of the present site of St. Francis Church on Liberty Street.

 To be continued…

 

Captions:

793a. Franciscan Well Brewery Entrance, North Mall (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

793b. Well House, Franciscan Well Brewery, North Mall (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

793c. S. B. M. C. could stand for ‘Santa Beata Mater Christi’ or ‘Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ’. This stone can still be seen today preserved in the former distillery wall of Wise’s Distillery (source: Cork City Library).

 

793b. Well House, Franciscan Well Brewery, North Mall

 Copy of 793c. 793c. S. B. M. C. could stand for ‘Santa Beata Mater Christi’ or ‘Blessed Virgin Mother of Christ’.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 14 May 2015

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

792a. Plan of Shandon Abbey, from Map of Cork, late sixteenth century

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent,  14 May 2015

 Cork Harbour Memories (Part 23)

 Franciscans at the North Abbey

   Depictions of the walled town of Cork in George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, c.1600 emphasises a Franciscan Abbey on what is now the North Mall. By 1600, it is to have at least a church with a belfry but with an unknown number of bells. The belfry separated the altar area from the congregation area. The friary was set against a rock face dedicated to Our Lady and early records show that the church was markedly divided in two by high columns and had an excellent choir or altar area in the church. Depictions of the abbey do not show a wall around the whole complex.

    In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, a number of religious houses were established in the suburbs of the walled town of Cork and further out into the region. On the northern hillside, large tracts of land were owned by the Franciscans who also established an associated abbey on what is now the North Mall. The abbey was founded in 1229 by the Irish chieftain, Dermot McCarthy, King of Desmond who was loyal to the English monarch at the time, Henry II. It was one of the first Franciscan structures to set up in Ireland. An abbey at Youghal had been set up in 1224 whilst one in Timoleague was established in 1240. It became commonly known as the North Abbey or Shandon Abbey and flourished for nearly three centuries in particular in terms of the constant population size of its occupants and the financial support of the surrounding lay community in Munster. From early available Franciscan records, it is clear that provincial chapters or National gatherings of the Franciscan monks also took place at the abbey. The years included 1244, 1288, 1291, 1521 and 1533. Indeed, the first Franciscan provincial chapter in Ireland was held at the North Abbey in 1244. Other accounts come from Sir James Ware, an Elizabethan antiquarian who highlights the history of the North Abbey in his writings in 1658; De Hibernia et Antiquitatibus Eius.

     In April 1540, a royal survey under the instruction of the English monarch, Henry VIII detailed that the site of the abbey comprised one hall, one kitchen, one cloister, six large dormitory chambers which could hold a number of monks (number unknown), six cellars, a water mill, a fishing place for salmon, a salmon weir, and several plots of land in the townland of “Teampal na mBrathar” or “Church of the Monks”. Also belonging to the abbey, a dole house or a dwellling existed, which tended to the impoverished people of the Cork area. This stood just to the east of the main complex and in a present day context was located in the vicinity of North Abbey Square on the North Mall. Placename evidence also suggests that the friars possessed a chapel in the northern hills overlooking the walled town known as “Cilleen na Gurranaigh” or “The Little Church of the Groves”. In time, this placename changed to “Gurradh na mBrathair” or “Friars’ Grove”, which is highlighted in the present day northern suburb of Cork City known as Gurranabrahar.

    In 1540, the lands of the abbey were confiscated under King Henry VIII. The royal survey which apart from detailing the buildings and possessions of the contemporary abbey also highlighted that the church and belfry were to be demolished and that the rest of the buildings were to be used for non-religious functions. The abbey was taken for King Henry VIII and be let out to a David Sheghan, who had been a merchant of Cork for 21 years. By 1562, the land belonged to a John Brown and Edmond Gould who were forced to hand it back to the Catholic Church under Queen Mary. However, Queen Mary’s sister, Elizabeth I suppressed monasteries again during her reign and the lands were passed to a wealthy merchant named Andrew Skiddy.  It is unknown if Skiddy took up residence in the Abbey complex but by 1626, much of the buildings had been demolished except the walls of the church.

     John Windele, an eminent Cork antiquarian related in his History of Cork in 1844, that on digging foundations for the current red brick houses in 1804, a number of stone coffins belonging to the Franciscan abbey were discovered. Amongst these was a stone coffin, sculptured with the figure of a sceptre with an incomplete inscription on the lid. The partial inscription was in Norman French and comprised of the following “Sa Alme hait merci”, which translated into English means “his generosity dislikes thanks”. The location of these stone coffins today is unknown.

   Robert Day, an eminent antiquarian, related that on digging the foundations of present day Herbert’s Square on the North Mall in 1896, a stone was discovered with the date 1567 etched on it. In addition, a small plate of metal was found on which was etched a representation of the Nativity and a long inscribed description in Dutch. In addition, a font and a silver chalice were discovered. Both the font and chalice were sent to Whitechurch Chapel just north of the City.

 To be continued…

 

Captions:

792a. Plan of Shandon Abbey, from Map of Cork, late sixteenth century as depicted in Sir George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, or History of The Wars in Ireland (1633), vol. 2, opp page 137.

792b. Shandon Abbey from A description of the Cittie of Cork/ Plan of Cork, circa 1602 by George Carew (source: Hardiman Atlas, Library of Trinity College Dublin)

792c. North Mall, present day (source: Kieran McCarthy)

 

792b. Shandon Abbey from A description of the Cittie of Cork Plan of Cork, circa 1602

792c. North Mall, present day

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 30 April 2015

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

790a. Depiction of Shandon Castle, c.1603

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town,

Cork Independent, 30 April 2015

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 21)

Shandon’s Old Castle

 

      George Carew’s map of Cork, c.1600, places an emphasis on a two towered structure called Shandon Castle. Aligning old maps with newer ones of the city through the ages the Castle was on the site of what is now the Firkin Crane. Between 1599 and 1600, Carew, Lord President of Munster, having undertaken his suppression of rebellion, took up his quarters at Shandon Castle, overlooking the walled town of Cork and its adjacent hinterland which he wished to watch over. It was a building of great physical and symbolic strength. Courts for criminal cases were frequently held here by the Lord President and the judge on circuit. Persons who rose up against the Munster Plantation were likewise imprisoned there.

     Urban myth pitches Shandon Castle as standing on the verge of a precipice overhanging the Lee. It has been depicted as a kind of medieval castle keep with a large portcullis gate. Steep stairs called the Giant’s Steps leading to the nearby river Lee were cut through this precipice. An article by Rev James Dwyer in the Journal of the Cork Historical and Archaeological Society in 1897 notes that the steps were removed in the 1860s (possibly to create the laneways that now exist in the area, for example Rowland’s Lane and surrounds). The street adjoining the castle was popularly known by the name of Shandon Castle Lane, which is now Dominick Street.

     The castle is originally is said to have been built initially by the Prendergasts. It passed to the De Cogans and the Barrys and served as a manorial feudal centre until Carew’s arrival. Kenneth Nicholls argues in Cork: History and Society (1993) that in the early fifteenth century that Shandon Castle and its vast territory which at one time was controlled by the Cogans, Barrys Rochfords and the Earls of Kildare.

    Woulfe’s Irish Names and Surnames (1923) highlights that the Barry surname occurs in the earliest Anglo-Irish records, and has always been specially associated with the County of Cork. In the year 1179, Robert FitzStephen granted to his nephew, Philip de Barry, the three cantreds of Ui Liatháin, Muscraighe-trí-máighe, and Cinel Aodha, represented in time by the baronies of Barrymore, Orrery, and Kinalea. This grant was confirmed by King John in 1207 to William de Barry, son and heir of Philip.

   In the course of centuries the Barrys became one of the most numerous and powerful families in Munster. They divided into several branches, the heads of which were known respectively as An Barrach Mór (the Great Barry), Barrach Ruadh (Red Barry), Barrach Óg (Young Barry), Barrach Maol (Bald Barry), Barrach Láidir (Strong Barry); and one branch adopted the Irish patronymic surname of Mac Ádaim. The territories of the Barrys were vast. Settlements now situated in the old barony of Barrymore include Bartlemy, Castlelyons, Carrignavar, Carrigtohill, Cóbh, Glounthaune, Bridebridge, Midleton, Rathcormack, and Watergrasshill. Settlements in the old barony of Barrymore today extend from Kanturk through Mallow, Ballyhea and Buttevant. Settlements existing in the old barony of Kinalea extend from Inishannon to Belgooly, Carrigaline, Nohoval, Minane Bridge and Tracton.

    The Barrys originally settled around Buttevant in north Cork, named after the family motto, boutez en avant, meaning ‘strike forward’. With the approval of King John, they built a great castle on the banks of the Awbeg River. A settlement developed around the castle. In recent years, much local work has been pursued in creating historical walking tours of Buttevant’s old medieval spaces. Plaques around the town records that David de Barry I was responsible for the development of Buttevant as a borough for which Henry III granted him rights to hold a market and fair in 1234. In 1229 the Barrys built Ballybeg Abbey for the Augustinians, which has is regarded as the finest columbarium (dove house) in Ireland. In 1251 Buttevant Friary was built by David Óg Barry for the Friars Minor of St Francis. The control by the Barrys over their land manifested itself through the foundation of a number of other boroughs and religious houses. Members of the family were associated with the Franciscan and Dominican foundations in Cork city, the Franciscan friary of Timoleague (c. 1312), and the Carmelite friary of Castlelyons (1307-9).

   Barryscourt Castle remained in ownership of the most powerful branch of them all, known as the Barrymores. However, the Barrymore lines died out and were passed onto a distant cousin by the name of James Fitzgerald of the Barryroes in 1556. The present tower house of Barryscourt Castle is said to be constructed in the fifteenth or sixteenth century and became a principal seat of the Barrys. The Barrys supported the Desmond rebellions of 1569 and 1579, and in 1581 they destroyed or severely damaged their family castles to prevent English forces from capturing them, including Barryscourt, which was threatened by an army led by Sir Walter Raleigh. After the suppression of the second rebellion, the Barrys were pardoned by Queen Elizabeth I and Barryscourt was repaired, with an outer wall or bawn surrounding an inner courtyard being added, including 3 corner towers. Barryscourt ceased to be main residence of the Barry family in 1617.

To be continued…

 Captions:

790a. Depiction of Shandon Castle, c.1603 (source: Cork City Museum)

790b. Barryscourt Castle, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

790c. Buttevant Friary, built in 1251 by David Óg Barry for Friars Minor of St Francis and dedicated to St Thomas A Becket (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

 

790b. Barryscourt Castle

790c. Buttevant Friary, built in 1251

Rooted in Community, Kieran’s Comments, Ballinlough Community Association AGM, 21 April 2015

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

Trees and Roots:

 Madame chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, thank you for the invite this evening.

 If there was ever a corner of the world, whereby nature always stamps its unique identity it is this corner of the Rebel capital. As each Spring rolls around, the cherry blossom trees in Ballinlough appear as if in defiance of our damp and cold winters and are proof that spring has finally arrived. Spring offers renewal, re-birth, growth, hope, re-imagination and inspiration. The dark evenings end as the daylight lengthens. It’s hard not to romanticise about the blossoms and their effects on all those who drive and walk the local roads.

  They add immensely to the sense of place and identity of this area. It’s as if the blooms want to say ‘remember us’, ‘wonder in us’ be inspired; they are in their own way, part of the city’s cultural DNA, a piece of life, a way of life, the trees are always in flux…their roots spreading into the undulating topography of Ballinlough, pushing up, dislodging the footpaths and roads in the park below and in the Japanese gardens.

   Cork songwriter John Spillane writes of Cork’s cherry blossoms “as putting on the most outrageous clothes and they sing and they dance around”.

   The Vita Cortex workers in their struggle in 2012 commented on the cherry blossoms on Pearse Road;

“They stand tall like us, magnificent in their beauty. They sway in the wind and bend with it but remain unbroken. They have been there lining the street as long as any of us can remember… they are part of the local landscape and history, The cherry blossom trees are like sentries guarding the road to the factory; our home, our workplace”.

   The blossom trees offer a fleeting beauty every spring, where you do nod and look in passing. And all too soon the blossoms fall and are relegated to another season passing. And with each bloom, another year comes around and that sense of renewal hits in again.

 

 Casting Shadows:

    But the blossoms in a place such as the Japanese Gardens were not always there. They cast shadows over the now fading memory of Douglas Nurseries, run by Atkins. Sixty years ago, a Welsh accent wafted in the air at this site as the site Manager Mr Jones went about his work. Mr Wolfe, enthusiastically looked on heading up the operation – the acts of making and nurturing something to grow and sowing seeds. There were 12-14 people working there. One of the lads was an old gentleman, Con O’Sullivan from Ballinlough. Where now St Anthony’s School is, there was a wall across there and that was the boundary of the nurseries. Inside that wall were the fruit trees. The premises extended all the way down to Douglas Road. There were several greenhouses in which tomatoes and flowers were grown. Outdoors, shrubs and fruit trees were also grown. One of the biggest jobs in Atkins was to make the compost. John Innes was a very famous brand in its day and we used to make it from various ingredients.

   As the late fifties developed the extent of Wolfe’s acreage lessened. Dave Bradley of Bradley Brothers was also making and sowing seeds in a sense. They were turning one house a week at one stage in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It was amazing how fast they moved. It’s amazing what they created. By the time they were finished one house they were moving onto the next. They built almost 1,500 houses in Ballinlough from Browningstown East, Ardmahon and Ardfallen estate, all the estates with Somerton; they did Beechwood Park and Belmont Avenue. At the top of Atkins, they developed what was deemed the good building land, which became Beechwood by the mid 1960s, fifty years ago. Dave Bradley’s mother liked trees and thought Beechwood would be a nice name for the estate.

 

Educational and Social Needs:

    Meanwhile the local clergy of the new parish of Ballinlough, just five years old in 1960 had their work cut out to embrace their new parishioners, mostly young and white collar workers, who in time gave Ballinlough a youthful population, who kicked ball around Ballinlough’s new roads, sat with Derry Cremin in Jock’s Murphys and discussed tactics for the next hurling match. In its demise, they harnessed the eventual ruins of Atkins for adventures, slocked apples from the various orchards from here, that of Hennerty’s to Kelly’s orchard on the site of The Orchard Bar to further afield and created landscapes of cowboys and Indian across the vast market gardens of Ballinlough.

    Fifty years ago, Ballinlough was a relatively young parish and community. It had the usual needs of a young growing community, which are educational, recreational and social. The parish priest of the time, Canon Eddie Fitzgerald, with the help of his priests and people, courageously faced those challenges. Indeed, amongst those young priests who came under the wing of the Canon Fitzgerald was Fr now Canon Michael Crowley.

   There were three schools in the parish, Ballinlough old boys school at the Silver Key, and Our Lady of Lourdes in Ballinlough and Crab Lane off Boreenmanna Road. These schools were totally inadequate to cope with the growing numbers of young boys and girls. Thornhill House was bought by the parish to provide temporal classrooms for the overflowing number of boys.

   Then Eglantine House on the Douglas Road was bought and converted into a school, opening in 1959. It was seen as a temporary solution to the growing number of girls in Ballinlough and surrounding areas. So great was the demand for places that stables in the yard belonging to Eglantine House had to be converted into classrooms. In time this temporary school was replaced by a new beautiful Eglantine school and the beautiful tree, which beset the ground was removed.

 

St Anthony’s School:

    The local Canon Fitzgerald, who was an elderly gentleman, had multiple interests especially in education. He became the first parish priest in 1955. His grandfather was Lord Mayor of Cork, Sir Edward Fitzgerald. He was the key instigator of the Cork International Expedition on the Mardyke in Cork City in the years 1902 and 1903. Energy and foresight ran in the Fitzgerald family. On one morning in the early 1960s, he and his curate, Fr Jeremiah Hyde set off searching for a new site for a boys school. They agreed that perhaps the upper half of the property of formerly Atkins Nursery could be built on. By the early 1960s the property had become that of Cork Corporation. Fr Hyde drove the Canon to Cork City Hall where he had a chat with city planners and the idea for the site of St Anthony’s School was born. People got together and raised funds for this new school, which we all now know as St Anthony’s. The rest is history with school celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year.

   By the late 1960s, Ballinlough National School for boys as such was spread out in different buildings. You had the new building of St Anthony’s, Thornhill House, and there was the old national school near the Silver Key bar. Jack Corkery was the principal and his wife was principal in Eglinton School, which had opened in 1959. With the St Anthony’s complex, there were about eight or nine on the teaching staff. Vice-Principal Bart Whooley was also a respected teacher.

   Fifty years ago, the more relaxed confirmation process we enjoy today was more formal with Bishop Lucey sweeping through putting the sixth class to the test on all matters Godly. A stern man but ambitious for the city’s new suburbs with his amazing and architecturally exciting Rosary churches, coupled with schools and community centre. In the late autumn of 1959 while in the United States, Bishop Lucey, Bishop of Cork and Ross, impressed by the work of many Parish credit unions he saw in operation. During the visit he collected as much information as possible on the principles and practices of credit union. On his return to Cork, Bishop Lucey used every opportunity to promote the concept of a credit union.

    Fifty years ago, in the late summer of 1965 Fr John Ryan of Our Lady of Lourdes Church called a meeting with John Corkery, Dermot Kelly, and Paddy Hennessey in Thornhill House to sound out the idea of forming a credit union in Ballinlough. All agreed that it was an excellent idea and an immediate start was agreed upon. A working group consisting of five members attended a further meeting in September of 1965. The credit unions already established in the city, had initially started up study groups to explore the possibility of introducing the philosophy of credit union to their parishioners. It was agreed to follow this formula in Ballinlough, and that membership of the group would be by invitation only.

   The first meeting of the study group (by invitation only) was held at Thornhill House on 16 November 1965. There were twenty-two people, all male, in attendance and there was a pretty wide representation consisting of tradesmen, factory employees, clerical workers, a clergyman, school principal and a member of the legal profession. This represented a well-balanced reservoir of talent. Fr Ryan was proposed as group chairman and Paddy Hennessey as secretary. Fr Ryan agreed to act as chairman if the position rotated at each subsequent meeting.

 

The Weight of History:

   The roots of all these seeds from fifty years ago – the houses, estates, schools, the credit union – like the roots of the blossom trees run deep. The weight of history, past events, glory days, the voices and stories of thousands of individuals who have come through the driveway gates of houses, our schools, our Credit Union are all important to this area’s identity and sense of place – their roots remain strong fifty years on this year and needs to be continued to celebrated, explored and the lessons and messages of the past brought to bear in forging a future. The energy and aspiration of fifty years has survived into our time inspiring many community leaders in our time and they have the potential to inspire more.

    As we enter the lead –up to the commemoration of 1916, I think there are messages concerning inspiration will appear more and more in the next year. Just like the power of the blossom trees, threads such as renewal, re-birth, growth, hope, re-imagination and inspiration will spread through the nation’s psyche in the next few months.

  Thank you for your continued courtesy towards myself. You always learn something new about yourself in Ballinlough, indeed here is a place where you get stopped on the road for a chat, are challenged, encouraged, supported, helped and always pushed!

I would also like to thank the people of Ballinlough for their interest and support in my own community projects over the last six years now.

The Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage or Local history project

The local history column in the Cork Independent, in the books I have been lucky to publish.

the community talent competition, which I have audition for

The Make a Model Boat Project on the Atlantic Pond, which is on 31 May,

and the walking tours through this ward; there are now ten of these – developed over the last number of years –

   As a new project to this great city, I have set up a musical society, Cork City Musical Society, so I’m directing and producing my first musical in early June in the Firkin Crane in Shandon. Also recently I have been appointed by the Minister of Environment as an Irish delegate to the EU’s Committee of the Regions, which meets in Brussels every six weeks for two days. The 350 member committee gives advice to the European Parliament on local authority issues. So hopefully there will be something there I’ll find that will benefit Ballinlough or share the positive community projects that go on here with other EU countries. I sit on two committees or commissions, the EU budget assessment committee, and the culture and youth unemployment one, so there is alot there to debate and bring about change in the wider picture again.

   I think as an area in the Council Ballinlough was lucky before the economic crash in attaining as much as it could in physically making it a great place – In the last five years the Council’s coffers have been slashed by 45 million euros– something that can be seen visibly on our streetscape – roads decay and crumble, hedges become overgrown, Douglas Pool has not been dealt with to make it into the place that this area needs; these are uphill battles as a Council we face and we must find solutions. All the old parks are rebooting with young families, our schools are packed to capacity, you can see that with the traffic chaos every morning and afternoon. I think as an area we need a proper playground and a multi-use games arena, which is something I continue to fight for in City Hall.

   I found last year in the canvass that the older people are being looked after by family and neighbours but do yearn to have a chat to people. The feedback I am getting is that there is certainly a need for a drop-in centre once a week or fortnight – perhaps in this building or in the church. There is certainly a need to hold and continue the work of the Meals-on-Wheels, the bowls Club, our tennis club, and the work of our youth club. The lack of volunteers coming forward is always apparent; we also need to have a chat to the secondary schools on the parish’s borders to build a new audience as such of interested volunteers.

   We have been fortunate with the top table’s leadership over the past 7-8 years. That been said I would like to see a change of the guard – keep the organisation moving in a fresh way. I think it has been great to see many organisations getting their chance at holding the chairperson position; I would like to see someone from the Youth Clubs getting a go and seeing what they can muster as the association climbs through renewal in our country. I think new blood would renew the association’s partnership with the community as well. I say this in a respectful manner and not to offend people.

   I’d like to thank the various organisations represented here for all their hard work. It is no easy task but one I know you deem important to pursue.

   Best of luck in the year ahead – the more optimism and solutions that are radiated from this hallowed community space and grounds the better in these times. In these AGMs, there should always be the sense of thanks and just like the blossom trees a renewal of spirit. Thank You.

Ends

 

Reference:

McCarthy, K, 2013, Journeys of Faith, Celebrating 75 Years, Our Lady of Lourdes, Ballinlough, Cork.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 23 April 2015

Cork History, Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

789a. Museum image of abandoning ship, Mary Rose, 1545

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent,  23 April 2015

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 20)

Living on the Tides

 

   George Carew in his Map of Cork, c.1600 gives a representational focus on Tudor style ships. To the viewer of Carew map, they are meant to be symbolic of a strong empire and a well protected port such as Cork. For all intensive purposes they were floating fortresses. They were highly structured communities, large in population numbers, under a chain of command. Large numbers worked and lived on such small structures under the command of officers. Dependent on the tides and winds, these ships were part of a wider maritime identity that defended the islands of Great Britain and Ireland from attack. They were always on standby to protect and defend.

   There is no evidence that the early sixteenth century Tudor ship the Mary Rose (discussed last week) ever arrived into Cork. Its example does shine a light on the communities who worked on the open seas and how these seas were the highways of their day, which connected the north-western European cities together. The findings during excavation and research of the Mary Rose provide insights into the workings of a ship’s community. Apart from almost half a ship, approximately 19,000 artifacts have been recovered from the wreck site. Excavations of the 1545 wreck have also found the personal remains of many of the crew members. The information I supply here can be found in the special museum created around the ghostly and ruinous ship wreck in Portsmouth.

   Records say that the ship carried 200 mariners, 185 soldiers, 30 gunners and the officers. Everyone on board the Mary Rose was male. She also carried the captain, and his attendants, a master, a pilot, a purser, a surgeon and his assistant, and carpenters. There may have been over 500 men on board when the ship sunk. Of these no more than 35 survived. Of the 500 men, only three of their names are known – a Sir George Carew (not Cork’s map maker) who was the Captain and the king’s vice admiral. The pieces of a fine set of pewter tableware are all marked with the initials ‘GC’. Roger Grenville was on board, probably commanding a group of soldiers. The cook may have been called NY Coep.

   Below decks, it was cold in the winter and stiflingly hot in summer. All year round, it was damp, with a strong smell of tar, stagnant water and sweating unwashed men. For the most part it was also dark. On the main deck, the only light came from openings in the centre of the deck, from ventilating hatches above each gun, or from the gun ports when the lids were open. Otherwise light came only from candles. Officers and professional men like the Master Carpenter and the pilot slept in cabins. The crew had only the hand deck. Only some elite soldiers may have had uniforms, the rest wore their own clothes. Not all of the men had a change of clothing, so if it was stormy or raining when they were on the open decks or in the rigging, it would be a long time before they could get dry. On the excavation, they found no evidence of toilets. Studies of the skeletal remains of at least 179 individuals revealed that most of the men were in their 20s. The youngest was around ten years old and the oldest over 40. On average the men were 1.71 metres tall, only slightly smaller than Irish and UK men today.

   The compasses from the Mary Rose are the earliest known steering compasses on gimbals – pivots – in the Western world. Each sat in a case suspended on gimbals, which allowed the compass needle to stay level whatever the motion of the ship. The gimbals were made of brass strips so they did not affect the magnetised iron needle. The needle was fixed underneath a card marked with the points of the compass, so that both the card and needle moved when the ship changed direction. The sixteenth century saw tremendous advances in the science of navigation. Seamen had evolved rule of thumb methods of using the sun, stars and moon for direction finding since time out of mind, but now the scholar and the pilot were to work in unison in Portugal. The pilot was taught to use instruments and it is interesting to note that Sir Francis Drake used Portuguese pilots.

    The Mary Rose carried both wrought iron guns and bronze guns – products of two very different methods of manufacture. Wrought iron guns could be made in any village blacksmith’s forge by heating, hammering and welding. Bronze guns had to be made in special foundries, where up to three tons of molten metal were poured in a single casting. Bronze guns were much more efficient and could fire their shot much further than wrought iron guns. But the copper needed to make the Bronze was very expensive and Henry encouraged attempts to mass produce small guns cast in iron. In the first decade of his reign, Henry encouraged continental gun founders to open workshops in London. All were decorated with a royal emblem, a metaphor of an empire.

To be continued…

 

Caption:

789a. Museum image of abandoning ship, Mary Rose, 1545 (source: Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard)

789b. Museum image of Mary Rose, c.1540 (source: Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard)

789c. Pewter plates from the wreck of the Mary Rose (source: Mary Rose Museum, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard)

789b. Museum image of Mary Rose, c.1540

789c. Pewter plates from the wreck of the Mary Rose

Kieran’s Our CIty, Our Town, 16 April 2015

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

788a. Conserved remains of Mary Rose, Tudor ship, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard 2014

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 16 April 2015

Cork Harbour Memories (Part 19)

Tudor Ships on the Lee

 

      George Carew’s Map of Cork or plan of the walled town of Cork is different to that of Muskerry. Dated to the late sixteenth century, sometime in the 1590s perhaps, the map depicts numerous structures, which emphasise Cork as a port and a place to be protected as an English outpost of trade. The town walls, the Tudor ships, and the suburban features such as abbeys and watch towers show a town prepared for any potential attack and the difficulties of an attack. The river is presented as an integral feature around which the plan is defined. Like the Map of Muskerry, it is an English-made map to control territory. Here a militarised maritime zone is depicted.

     At the heart of the map is Watergate, Cork’s central maritime gate with its associated port, dock and custom house. It would have been impressive in its mechanism in opening to leave ships in. The gate allowed access into a private world of merchants and citizens. The masts of ships moored would have creaked as they knocked against the stone quays. Built between two marshy islands, in the middle of a walled town, its entrance was between the two castles – King’s Castle and Queen’s Castle. Castle Street now occupies a section of the interior dock.

     Carew in his map places an emphasis on two Tudor style galleons at the base of his plan – one revealing its starboard side and the other its port side – both have their sails filled with wind – lines, ropes and ladders are almost frozen in an action to move; canons appear through the port holes as if ready for attack. The depiction of the two ships like this can only be speculated upon. Certainly the ships symbolise the link to the protection of the waters of the town and the wider harbour and the role of the English and local navy in its protection. They were symbols of Cork’s presence in a north-west European maritime culture. They were a reminder that to enter the River Lee estuary you would be met by force. Your ship was probably watched from the harbour mouth all the way up the Lee Estuary to the walled town.

   The reality of these galleons was far from comfort. The map does not show the enormous amount of crew needed to manoeuvre such ships. These vessels were large ocean going ships, four times as long as they were wide. They had a special deck for cannons. They were broad, slow and not very manoeuvrable. All year round, the interior of a galleon was damp, with a strong smell of tar, stagnant water and sweating unwashed me. For the most part, they were also dark. On the main deck, the only light came from openings in the centre of the deck, from ventilating hatches above each gun, or from the gun ports when their lids were open. Other light came only from candles.

   In an attempt to find out more about the workings of and symbolism surrounding Tudor ships, in recent months I travelled to Portsmouth to explore their historic dockyard and heritage complex. One of their purpose-built museums gives public access to view the ghostly timber ruins of the Tudor ship Mary Rose. Half of the ship was lifted from the sea-bed in October 1982, and is now undergoing conservation, as well as over 22,000 artefacts found on board, at Portsmouth. This major project provided opportunities to understand the ship, her essence, her weapons, equipment, crew and stores.

    The interpretative panels there reveal that the Mary Rose was built at Portsmouth between 1509 and 1511. Named for Henry VIII’s favourite sister, Mary Tudor, later queen of France, the ship was part of a large expansion of naval force by the new king in the years between 1510 and 1515. Warships, and the cannon they carried, were the ultimate status symbol of the sixteenth century, and an opportunity to demonstrate the wealth and power of the king abroad. The Mary Rose remained the second most powerful ship in the fleet and a favourite of the king. She was deemed to be a fine sailing ship, operating in the Channel to keep up links with the last English landholdings around Calais. She was a carrack, equipped to fight at close range.

   The Mary Rose was rebuilt in the 1530s. Her 1536 rebuild transformed her into a 700-ton prototype galleon, with a powerful battery of heavy cannon, capable of inflicting serious damage on other ships at a distance. The high castles (combat structures above deck) were cut down, decks strengthened, and she was armed with heavy guns, with 15 large bronze guns, 24 wrought-iron carriage guns and 52 smaller anti-personnel guns. The Mary Rose now had the firepower to engage the enemy on any bearing, and conduct a stand-off artillery battle. Some of the guns were mounted on advanced naval gun carriages, which made them far easier to handle and move on a crowded gun deck. The new emphasis on artillery reflected the mastery of gun founding in England, another development pushed by Henry VIII. It also reflected the need for a naval force to defend the kingdom against European rivals.

 To be continued…

 

Captions:

788a. Conserved remains of Mary Rose, Tudor ship, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, 2014 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

788b. Map of Cork, late sixteenth century as depicted in Sir George Carew’s Pacata Hibernia, or History of The Wars in Ireland (1633), vol. 2, opp page 137.

788b. Map of Cork, late sixteenth century