Evening Echo is a public artwork by New Zealand artist Maddie Leach. It is sited on old gasometer land gifted by Bord Gáis to Cork City Council in the late 1980s. This site was subsequently re-dedicated as Shalom Park in 1989. The park sits in the centre of the old Cork neighbourhood known locally as ‘Jewtown’. This neighbourhood is also home to the National Sculpture Factory.
This year the last night of Hanukkah is Thursday 17 December and offers the only opportunity to see the tall ‘ninth lamp’ alight until next year. The cycle begins 10 minutes before sunset, which occured this year at 4.13pm, and continued for 30 minutes after sunset when the ninth lamp was extinguished.
Evening Echo, Shalom Park, 17 December 2020 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)Evening Echo, Shalom Park, 17 December 2020 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)Evening Echo, Shalom Park, 17 December 2020 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy
has welcomed the reopening of Douglas Library in Douglas Village Shopping
Centre. The library will be a transformed space both in design and enhanced
services. The refurbished library includes a complete transformation of the
children’s space, including a new children’s fiction area, a larger children’s
story time area and a new personalised kiosk for the children and families to
use.
The Listening Lounge is new to the
adult area and will be a space for the public to listen to audio books and
music on cd and vinyl. It will be a relaxing and calm space. My Open Library
will be part of Douglas Library early in the new year and will significantly
increase the opening hours for the public.
Plans are also being finalised to
support those with dementia in the community, including a new Tovertafel magic
table and memory café which will be a great addition to our Age Friendly
Libraries initiatives.
A Per Cent for Art Commission has
been awarded to two Cork based textile artists as part of the reopening of the
refurbished Library. Taking its inspiration from the historic textile industry
of the Douglas area the proposal includes a strong community engagement element
with nursing homes and local schools. The end piece will be a textile wall
hanging, a focus for discussion of the local history of the area for many years
to come.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “The staff of Cork
City Libraries put in extra hours adding new items to ensure the stock of
Douglas Library will be second to none, providing the most up to date titles
available to the people of Douglas and the surrounding areas. The library will
continue to host many activities, book clubs, writing groups and craft
activities for all ages within the community. The City Council’s intention is
that the library will continue to proactively support learning, diversity and
social and cultural inclusion”.
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy
has welcomed the reopening of Douglas Library in Douglas Village Shopping
Centre. The library will be a transformed space both in design and enhanced
services. The refurbished library includes a complete transformation of the
children’s space, including a new children’s fiction area, a larger children’s
story time area and a new personalised kiosk for the children and families to
use.
The Listening Lounge is new to the
adult area and will be a space for the public to listen to audio books and
music on cd and vinyl. It will be a relaxing and calm space. My Open Library
will be part of Douglas Library early in the new year and will significantly
increase the opening hours for the public.
Plans are also being finalised to
support those with dementia in the community, including a new Tovertafel magic
table and memory café which will be a great addition to our Age Friendly
Libraries initiatives.
A Per Cent for Art Commission has
been awarded to two Cork based textile artists as part of the reopening of the
refurbished Library. Taking its inspiration from the historic textile industry
of the Douglas area the proposal includes a strong community engagement element
with nursing homes and local schools. The end piece will be a textile wall
hanging, a focus for discussion of the local history of the area for many years
to come.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “The staff of Cork
City Libraries put in extra hours adding new items to ensure the stock of
Douglas Library will be second to none, providing the most up to date titles
available to the people of Douglas and the surrounding areas. The library will
continue to host many activities, book clubs, writing groups and craft
activities for all ages within the community. The City Council’s intention is
that the library will continue to proactively support learning, diversity and
social and cultural inclusion”.
17 December 2020, “We got a sneak-peak into the new-and-improved bridge earlier this week, and chatted to Cllr Kieran McCarthy about the work that went into the historic and culturally significant structure”, WATCH: First glimpse at the new-and-improved Shakey Bridge, WATCH: First glimpse at the new-and-improved Shakey Bridge – Cork Beo
17 December 2020, “Historian and independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy, who campaigned for years for the investment in the project, said he thinks people will be pleased. “I think people will be very happy that it still shakes. I would invite people to come down to test it out. Don’t come in large numbers but do come down to see the refurb job”, Cork’s ‘Shakey Bridge’ to reopen on Saturday with its shake intact, Cork’s ‘Shakey Bridge’ to reopen on Saturday with its shake intact (irishexaminer.com)
17 December 2020, Cllr McCarthy, who described the bridge as being “infused in the city’s DNA”, explained that it got its nickname “due to the fact that a large number of people used the bridge to go to GAA matches in the Mardyke. Consequently, the bridge would shake with the masses of people walking across it”, Cork’s ‘Shakey Bridge’ reopens after €1.7m refurbishment, Cork’s ‘Shakey Bridge’ reopens after €1.7m refurbishment
14 December 2020, “Following a question posed by Independent councillor Kieran McCarthy, who requested an update on the progress of the reopening of the library”, Reopening date of Douglas Library revealed; refurbished library to offer new services, https://www.echolive.ie/corknews/arid-40190784.html
The section 38 on the proposed pedestrianisation of
the Marina is most welcome. The public consultation process of 250 submissions
has shown that 90 per cent are for the plan, with 5 per cent with specific
issues on carparking and access, which are also resolved in the Directors
response leaving 5 per cent against the proposal.
So we are dealing with 95 per cent of those who
wrote in wanting this pedestrianisation to happen and I wish to support this
democratic call this evening.
I see within the arguments of the 5 per cent –
several referred to The Marina’s function as a road in modern times and several
have called for a review of the heavy traffic on Blackrock Road – and that
thorn is something the Council will have to grasp – especially around traffic
speeds and pedestrian safety.
What we have seen down The Marina – in terms of the
temporary pedestrianisation and the investment into Marina Park, phase 1 is
probably the first time in several decades that investment has filtered into
renewing this area as one of the City recreation destination area –
not just a local recreational landscape.
October 2022 will mark 150 years since the name
change of the New Wall to The Marina – a proposal at the time by ex town
councillor Denis O’Flynn – at that time – the Council saw the Marina as a key
recreational site and the debate within the Cork Examiner of the summer and
autumn of 1872 shows the Council’s ambition to put an extra focus on the old
Navigation Wall dock – a proposal by one Cllr was Slí na hAbhann, which wasn’t
adopted – the lofty name The Marina was chosen as a reference to a gorgeous
Mediterranean garden in Palermo, Sicily.
Dedicated funding was followed up by the Council of
Corporation of Cork in the 1870s and new structures appeared– an elaborate
care-taker’s lodge, decorative drinking fountain, a flag post symbolic of
shipping, two canons mounted from the Crimean War, a bandstand, the support of
placing rowing clubs on the Marina, and the continued support of the Cork
Passage Railway Line and Cork City Park Racecourse.
Almost 150 years later, one can visibly see the
effect of the car as being king on this history and heritage.
– the Cantillon family sponsored Drinking fountain is now just pieces of metal up on a mound up by Shandon Boat Club,
– the Captain Hanson donated flag
post is cut in half,
– on the Crimea War guns – one is missing and one is almost thrown on the grass,
– The Caretaker’s Lodge is gone,
the removal of Gunpowder Pier and the Crinoline Railway bridge,
and one now has the tree ridden Barrington’s Folly.
The Marina as a pedestrianised space has a great
future ahead of it – there is much to do on its place-making vision and to
enhance the vision of the Council for the Marina, that has been around for
almost 150 years.
My hope is that Marina Walk 2.0 would be worked at – I certainly would like a refocus to be placed on some of the heritage assets both built and natural – and also that we become bold in beginning to look at river front of ESB Marina and the Marina Commercial Park in terms of extending the western end of the Marina Walk and extending it to Cork Docks. That right of way was there 150 years ago when The Marina name was fashioned”.
Aftermath of the Burning of Cork on St Patrick’s Street photograph by W Hogan (source: National Library of Ireland).
Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,
Cork Independent, 10 December 2020
Remembering
1920: The Burning of Cork
It
was a night like no other in Cork’s War of Independence. The Cork Examiner
records that about 7.30pm on Saturday night, 11 December 1920 auxiliary police
were ambushed near Dillion’s Cross on the way to Cork Barracks. Bombs were
thrown at the lorry and several of the occupants were injured, some badly.
Reprisals began in the locality of the ambush, and during the night several
houses in the district were burned. Buttimer’s Shop and Brian Dillion house
were targeted. The latter House, which had a tablet on it dedicated to Irish
Fenian Brian Dillion, was completely gutted. Rifle shots rang out and the
crackling burning of timber was heard.
Between
8pm and 10pm volleys of revenge gunfire from auxiliary police and Black and
Tans reverberated through the flat of the city and created considerable alarm
as people stampeded away in various directions. Many people elected to stay in
hotels and others sought the hospitable shelter of friend’s houses in the
neighbourhood in which they happened at the time. The people sought their
homes, extinguished all lights, and then passed through many hours of fear.
Passengers
on the last tram to St Luke’s Cross, which left the Statue at 9pm had an
eventful journey. The car had got about 60 to 70 yards beyond Empress Place
Police Station on Summerhill North when a number of armed men in police uniform
carrying carbines, and accompanied by auxiliaries, held it up. They ordered all
the passengers off at the point with revolvers. Male passengers were ordered to
line up for searching. Some tried to run and a voice rang out, “I’ll shoot
anyone who runs”. Shots were fired in the air while the searches were being
conducted.
The
tram car was smashed up and was brought back by the conductor to the Fr Mathew
Statue, who at that point was ordered off. It was set on fire and completely
destroyed.
It
was hoped that when curfew hour was reached there would be cessation of the
firing and explosions, but such hopes were not realised: in fact as the night
advanced the situation became more terrifying, and the people especially women
and children were rendered helpless amidst fire and shots by Black and Tans
stalking the streets with rifles and revolvers. About 10pm, following
explosions, Messrs Grants’ Emporium, in St Patrick’s Street, was found to be
ablaze.
The
Superintendent of the City of Cork Fire Brigade, Alfred Hutson,received
a call at 10.30pm to extinguish the fire at Grants. He found that the fire had
gained considerable headway and the flames were coming through the roof. He got
three lines of hose to work—one in Mutton Lane and two in Market Lane,
intersecting passages on either side of these premises. With a good supply of
water they were successful in confining the fire to Grant’s and prevented its
spread to that portion running to the Grand Parade from Mutton Lane, while they
saved, except with slight damage, the adjacent premises of Messrs Hackett
(jeweller) and Haynes (jeweller).
The
Market – a building mostly of timber – to the rear of Grants was found to be in
great danger. Except for only a few minor outbreaks in the roof the fire
brigade was successful in saving the Market and other valuable premises in
Mutton Lane. The splendid building of Grant’s though with its stock was reduced
to ruins.
During the
fire-fighting at Grants Alfred Hutson received word from the Town Clerk that
the Munster Arcade was on fire, just some doors from where he was. This was
about 11.30pm. He sent some of his men and appliances available to contend with
it. Shortly after he got word that the Cash’s premises were on fire. He
shortened down hoses at Mutton Lane and sent all available stand-pipes, hoses
and men to contend with this fire as well.
Hutson’s men found
both the Munster Arcade and Cash’s well alight from end to end, with no
prospect of saving either, and the fire spreading rapidly to adjoining
properties. All the hydrants and mains that they could possibly use were
brought to bear upon the flames and points were selected where the fire may be
possibly checked and their efforts concentrated there.
The
flames ranged with great intensity, and within an hour, buildings were reduced
to ruins. Owing to the inflammatory nature of the materials in these premises,
or as the result of petrol having been sprinkled within the buildings, the
conflagrations became most fierce and the blocks of buildings running between
St Patrick’s Street and Oliver Plunkett Street on one side and Cook Street and
Merchant street on the other side became involved. It was impossible to subdue
such outbreaks.
In
the early hours of Sunday morning at 2.50am in the upper end of Dublin Hill in
Blackpool the Black and Tans encroached on the houses of the Delaney family.
IRA members Joseph Delaney, aged about 24, was shot dead and his brother,
30-year old Cornelius and his 50 year old uncle, William Dunlea, were wounded,
the former very dangerously. All were shot at point blank range by uniformed
soldiers. The two wounded men were removed to the Mercy Hospital where
Cornelius succumbed to his wounds.
It
was approaching 4am when it was discovered that the work of destruction
continued. At that time the City Hall and Carnegie Library became ablaze. Both
of these buildings were gutted, only the walls left standing. The upper portion
of City Hall including the clock tower fell in. Such was the intensity of the
fires the firemen were driven out of the buildings.
As
dawn broke on Sunday morning, 12 December, residents of Cork were then able to
see the picture of Saturday night’s work of devastation. Fine buildings, with
highly valuable stock, had been wiped out, and thousands of people were to
become unemployed.
In
one twenty-four period, over
four acres of Cork City’s Centre had been reduced to ruins – 2,000 people had
lost their jobs, and an estimated three million pounds of damage had been
inflicted on Cork’s City Centre building stock. Nearly one hundred businesses
and homes had been destroyed or badly damaged by fire and looting.
Kieran’s latest book Witness to Murder, The Inquest of
Tomás MacCurtain is now available to purchase online (co-authored with John
O’Mahony 2020, Irish Examiner/www.examiner.ie).
Caption:
1078a.
Aftermath of the Burning of Cork on St Patrick’s Street photograph by W Hogan
(source: National Library of Ireland).
Beaumont Park, Cork, 8 December 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)Beaumont Park, Cork, 8 December 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)Beaumont Park, Cork, 8 December 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)Beaumont Park, Cork, 8 December 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)Beaumont Park, Cork, 8 December 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)Beaumont Park, Cork, 8 December 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)Beaumont Park, Cork, 8 December 2020 (picture: Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
5 December 2020, “This week coming marks 100 years since the Burning of Cork. The Black and Tans destroyed homes, dozens of businesses and buildings. To take a look at this a bit more we’re joined by a local Cork historian Cllr Kieran McCarthy”, The Burning of Cork, 1920, The Business (rte.ie)
Title page from Who Burnt Cork City, 1921 (source: Cork City Library)
Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy has welcomed the positive news that
Douglas Village is to receive its first parklet. The National Transport
Authority (NTA) provided Cork City Council stimulus funding to implement a
suite of initiatives to support mobility across the city. This included
the provision of 10 parklets to enhance greening of the city and to
improve the attractiveness of the city to pedestrians. Partners in
businesses and communities were sought to maintain and manage the
parklets.
Cllr McCarthy
noted: “A public call was issued to communities and businesses and as a
result the parklet initiative was significantly oversubscribed, which
highlights the enthusiasm of residents, businesses and communities to see
greening projects of this nature in the city. In line with the objectives
of the stimulus, prioritised areas in the city centre and villages / towns
throughout the Council’s administrative area were chosen.
“An assessment
of the suitability of areas was conducted to accommodate parklets, in
terms of health and safety and access to essential services. Ten parklet sites
with partners were chosen. All parklets must encourage a pollinator friendly
approach. The Douglas Village Parklet will be managed by Douglas Tidy Towns who
have an excellent track record in the roll out of community biodiversity
programmes”.
“Cork City
Council also engaged with Benchspace, a social enterprise, to deliver the
timber-clad parklets. The parklets, which occupy a traditional car space,
will be installed over the next number of weeks/months as they are available
from Benchspace”.
“The parklets are
installations in the midst of busy streets with the focus on important
issues such as the environment and biodiversity. They also offer people
an alternative place to sit down for a few minutes and to reflect on their day or
to meet friends”, concluded Cllr Kieran McCarthy.