Category Archives: Ward Events

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 19 March 2015

Arts, Cork City Events, Improve Your Life, Kieran's Council Work, Landscapes, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized, Ward Events

784a. Page from a project on Innishannon National School history from students of fourth class, Innishannon NS

Kieran’s Our City, Our County Article, 

Cork Independent, 19 March 2015

Heritage Awards for Cork Schools 2015

     This year marks the twelfth year of the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project, which is co-ordinated by myself. This year’s Project culminates with an award ceremony on Friday 20 March for best projects for city-based schools. The Project is open to schools in Cork City and County – at primary level to the pupils of fourth, fifth and sixth class and at post-primary from first to sixth years. A total of 48 schools in Cork (city and county) took part this year. Circa 1550 students participated in the process and approx 220 projects were submitted on all aspects of Cork’s history.

     The subject of local history for many is spoken about at the dinner table in a sense every day as the lives of past family relatives are recounted. Hence the emphasis in the schools is on the personal engagement with the project, what can the student bring to the interpretation of a topic and vice versa, what’s within the topic that can inspire the student to think about it in a different way? Students are challenged to devise methodologies that provide interesting ways to approach the study of their local history. Submitted projects must be colourful, creative, have personal opinion, imagination and gain publicity. In particular students are encouraged to attain primary material through engaging with a number of methods such as fieldwork, interviews with local people, making models, photographing, cartoon creating, making DVDs of their area.

    Students are to experiment with the overall design and plan of their projects. Much of the work could be published as local heritage / history guides to people and places in the region. For example a winning class project this year focussed on the aspect of Cork, now and then. They mapped out several changes to Cork’s built heritage using old postcards and interviewing older people. Students are encouraged to compare and connect the past to their present and their immediate future. Work needs to involve re-imagining what life may have been like. One of the key foundations in the Project is about developing empathy for the past– to think about attitudes and experience in the past. Interpretation is also empowering for the student- all the time developing a better sense of the different ways in which people engage with and express a sense of place and time.

    Every year marks go towards making a short film or a model on projects to accompany history booklets. Submitted DVDs this year had interviews of family members to local historians to the student taking a reporter type stance on their work. Some students also chose to act out scenes from the past. Another group created a short film on University College Cork and Fota House.

    The creativity section also encourages model making. The best model trophy in general goes to the creative and realistic model. This year the best model in the city went to a model of St Anne’s Church, Shandon, complimented by Westminster. The project told the story of the rise of the career of eminent painter Daniel Maclise. In the county, the top model prize went to students from St Columba’s Girls National School who re-created different monuments in their area such as the beautiful 200-year old St Columba’s Church and the fingerpost complete with paper mache flowers.

    Every year, the students involved produce a section in their project books showing how they communicated their work to the wider community. It is about reaching out and gaining public praise for the student but also appraisal and further ideas. Some class projects were presented in nursing homes to engage the older generation and to attain further memories from participants. Students were also successful in putting work on local parish newsletters, newspapers and local radio stations and also presenting work in local libraries. This year the most prominent source of gaining publicity was inviting parents and grandparents into the classroom for an open day for viewing projects or putting displays on in local community centres and libraries.

    Overall, the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project attempts to provide the student with a hands-on and interactive activity that is all about learning not only about your local area but also about the process of learning by participating students. The project in the city is kindly funded by Cork Civic Trust (viz the help of John X Miller), Cork City Council (viz the help of Heritage Officer Niamh Twomey), the Heritage Council. Prizes are also provided in the 2015 season by Lifetime Lab, Lee Road (thanks to Meryvn Horgan), Seán Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre Watergrasshill and Cork City Gaol Heritage Centre. The county section is funded by myself and students. A full list of winners, topics and pictures of some of the project pages for 2015 can be viewed at www.corkheritage.ie and on facebook on Cork: Our City, Our Town. For those doing research, www.corkheritage.ie has also a number of resources listed to help with source work.

    For the Lifelong Learning Festival Week, I will give a talk on Cork Harbour through old postcards at the meeting room of Church the Real Presence, on Wednesday 25 March, 2.30pm. I will also give a talk on Cork in the 1920s and 1930s in the Cork City and County Archives in Blackpool at 2.30pm on Friday 27 March (all free, all welcome).

 

Caption:

784a. Page from a project on Innishannon National School history from students of fourth class, Innishannon NS (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

784b. Creative project book holder in the shape of the old Farnashesheree Grain Mill, Bandon from students of Ahiohill NS, Bandon (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

784b. Creative project book holder in the shape of the old Farnashesheree Grain Mill, Bandon from students of Ahiohill NS, Bandon

 

Christmas CD, Our Lady of Lourdes NS, Ballinlough

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

Christmas CD, Our Lady of Lourdes NS, December 2014

Our Lady of Lourdes National School,

School Choir Cd, 2 December 2014,

Speech, Cllr Kieran McCarthy

 

“The Music Box”

   Well done on a really cool and thought provoking cd – John Gibson and the girls have done an amazing job in bringing this project together. What is before us this evening is soothing music crafted by great teamwork between John and the girls. Music has immense power to stop people, fire their imagination, encourage wonder, inspire confidence, motivate people, make people ask questions, and even put people on another track.

Listening to the songs, there is a great sense of journeying in them.

 

Music Box

    The first piece is called Music Box – A box is always an intriguing object, at Christmas time, it’s bound to be full of surprises, which this cd imparts

   The piece is about the opening of one of those old magical, spell like and hypnotic music boxes – the music is a reminder of something special found on an old dresser with a smaller mirror and a box full of random objects such as pins, necklaces, combs and pieces of memories like old photos – both the pins and the other objects and the memories hold the world together, to keep us together in a world where there are many random objects and memories to stop us in our tracks.

 

Track two is called The Light of the World

  Track two is called The Light of the World. And on the path of this cd we’re met with the idea of Christ as a lighthouse, whose rays we are all encouraged to embrace. In the song, there are wider ideas as play, the sense of freedom, not to be imprisoned by life, to raise ourselves and others up, the lonely, the orphan, the widow. We have all the potential to be great lighthouses, lighting up paths around us, and each one of us have different talents and different lighthouse shapes, casting different and important lights.

 

Christmas Carol

  The third piece we are brought to a stable to a beautiful Irish piece entitled Christmas Carol – and yep it’s about Baby Jesus in a crib – a story that has crossed centuries, a truth held in many people’s hearts – the story of two proud parents with their new born baby – in that stable they were alone for a time, worried about the health of the child, worried by the politics of the day and probably worried were they doing the right thing – yes there was the unknown but for all that they loved without question that baby boy…for you, parents here this evening, you worry, about many aspect of your children’s lives but you love without question. So perhaps the song calls for more people to love, full stop, love without questioning.

 

The Lord is my Shepherd

    The fourth piece brings us to a valley I think – it is entitled, The Lord is my shepherd, based on that very old but well known psalm, we are presented with many images, one is about travelling in a dark valley seeking leadership, seeking fresh pastures, we need to be comforted, we are thirsty, our drooping spirit needs to be revived, our cup of goodness and righteousness needs topping up. The song keeps coming back to the idea of seeking out what is good for the soul and that we constantly travel that road.

Lullaby Baby

   The fifth piece perhaps brings us to a rocking chair where we are met with the rocking and lullabying of a small baby to sleep– we are met with images of calmness, peace, and love and of a child – perhaps after a manic day of tearing around – I think pieces 7 and eight lead us back to a space beyond the lullaby – Christmas Lullaby and Codladh Samh leads us to a dreamworld – a space of endless possibilities, where anything is possible – maybe we all need to dream, find quietness in our lives, to reflect on the most important things in life.

 

Memorare

    The sixth piece brings us to Memorare – John’s work, Mrs Holland’s excellent piano playing invoke the image on going for long walks in the streets – this well known prayer about seeking protection from the Virgin Mary has many key words running through it. The piece opens with the wod “’remember”, an action can make you stand tall or reduce you to tears, such is the power of remembering – the song calls for clemency, its asks for help, it acknowledges faults and failings; this song encourage the listener to look at those around them, that we are not alone in our struggles but sometimes a walk does offer some solice.

 

Sleigh Bell

    Perhaps the last piece Sleigh Bell leads us to this school – the composition has that feeling yes of a sleighing but also the busyness of this school – how anytime you walk through the door you are blown away by the artwork on the walls, the whispers and loud noises behind the classroom doors, the determination and energy of the staff here, the leadership of Mrs Lucey, the passion of John Gibson in this project, the enthusiasm of the pupils, the concerns and love of parents and the parents council. We are very lucky to have such energy in our community. In a way this school is one big music box, full of the most random things and memories,

   May your new cd make people stop, fire their imagination, encourage wonder, inspire people, motivate people, make people ask questions, and even put people on another track.

   I look forward to hearing the live version here shortly, I’m delighted to be able to officially launch it, Best of luck with and thanks for inspiring us all.

Ends

CDs available from the schoool office at E5.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 25 September 2014

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

761a. Recent sunny days in Fitzgerald's Park

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent

Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project 2014-15

25 September 2014

 

Founded in the school year 2002/ 2003, the year 2014-15 coincides with the 12th year of the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project. Now launched for the new school term, The Project is open to schools in Cork; at primary level to the pupils of fourth, fifth and sixth class and at post-primary from first to sixth years. There are two sub categories within the post primary section, Junior Certificate and Leaving Certificate. A student may enter as an individual or as part of a group or a part of a class entry.

 

One of the key aims of the project is to allow students to explore, investigate and debate their local heritage (built, archaeological, cultural and natural) in a constructive, active and fun way. Projects on any aspect of Cork’s rich heritage can be submitted to an adjudication panel. Prizes are awarded for best projects and certificates are given to each participant. A cross-section of projects submitted from the last school season can be gleamed from www.corkheritage.ie plus there are other resources and entry information as well on this website.

 

 Students produce a project on their local area using primary and secondary sources. Each participating student within their class receives a visit and workshop from myself, the co-ordinator in October 2014. The workshop comprises a guide to how to put a project together. Project material must be gathered in an A4/ A3 size project book. The project may be as large as the student wishes but minimum 20 pages (text + pictures + sketches).  Projects must also meet five elements. Projects must be colourful, creative, have personal opinion, imagination and gain publicity before submission. These elements form the basis of a student friendly narrative analysis approach where the student explores their project topic in an interactive and task oriented way. In particular students are encouraged to attain primary material generating primary material through engaging with fieldwork, interviews with local people, making models, photographing, cartoon creating, making DVDs of their area. Re-enacting is also a feature of several projects.

 

 Since 2003, the project has evolved in how students actually pursue local history. The project attempts to provide the student with a hands-on and interactive activity that is all about learning not only about heritage in your local area (in all its forms) but also about the process of learning by participating students. The project is about thinking about, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our heritage- our landmarks, our oral histories, our scenery in our modern world for upcoming citizens. So the project is about splicing together activity on issues of local history and heritage such as thinking, exploring, observing, discovering, researching, uncovering, revealing, interpreting and resolving.

 

The importance of doing a project in local history is also reflected in the educational aims of the history curricula of primary and post-primary schools. Local heritage is a mould, which helps the student to become familiar with their local environment and to learn the value of it in their lives. Learning to appreciate the elements of a locality, can also give students a sense of place in their locality or a sense of identity. Hence the Project can also become a youth forum for students to do research and offer their opinions on important decisions being made on their heritage in their locality and how they affect the lives of people locally. Over the years, I know a number of students that have been involved in the project in schools over the years who have took their interest further and have gone on to become professional tour guides, and into other related college work.

 

The project is open to many directions of delivery. Students are pressed to engage with their topic -in order to make sense of it, understand and work with it. Students continue to experiment with the overall design and plan of their work. For example in general, students who have entered before might engage with the attaining of primary information through oral histories. The methodologies that the students create provide interesting ways to approach the study of local heritage. Students are asked to choose one of two extra methods (apart from a booklet) to represent their work. The first option is making a model whilst the second option is making a DVD. It is great to see students using modern up todate technology to present their findings. This works in broadening their view of approaching their project.

 

This project is kindly funded by Cork Civic Trust (viz the help of John X. Miller), Cork City Council (viz the help of Niamh Twomey), and the Heritage Council. Prizes are also provided by the Lifetime Lab, Lee Road and Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill (www.seankellyhorse.com). Overall, the Schools’ Heritage Project for the last twelve years has attempted to build a new concerned generation of Cork people, pushing them forward, growing their self-development empowering them to connect to their world and their local heritage. Spread the word please. See my website, www.corkheritage.ie for more details and application forms.

 

 

Caption:

761a. Recent sunny days in Fitzgerald’s Park (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project, 2014/15

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

 

Cllr Kieran McCarthy is encouraging students in the Cork area to enter the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project, which has been launched for the 2014/ 15 school season. The Project, which is celebrating its twelfth year allows students to explore, investigate and debate their local heritage in a constructive, active and fun way. Interested students can pick any topic on Cork’s heritage to research and can participate as individuals, groups or as a class.  Students produce a project using primary material such as fieldwork, interviews, making models, DVDs of their area. 

Co-ordinator and founder of the project, Cllr Kieran McCarthy noted that “The project is about thinking about, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our heritage- our landmarks, our oral histories, our scenery in our modern world for upcoming citizens. So the project is about splicing together activity on issues of local history and heritage such as thinking, exploring, observing, thinking, discovering, researching, uncovering, revealing, interpreting and resolving. The Schools’ Heritage Project also focuses on motivating and inspiring young people, giving them an opportunity to develop leadership and self development skills, which are very important in the world we live in today.”

 

The City Edition of the Project is funded by Cork Civic Trust, Cork City Council, The Heritage Council, Evening Echo, Lifetime Lab, Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill and Cllr Kieran McCarthy. Application forms to enter the project can be viewed on Cllr McCarthy’s heritage website, www.corkheritage.ie.

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 18 September 2014

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

760a. Summer rays, Fitzgerald's Park

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 18 September 2014

“Notes on a Park”

 

 

Finding myself sitting in Fitzgerald’s Park, creating a walking tour for culture night is engaging (Friday, 19 September, 5pm, at park stage, free). I observe my fellow but unknown companions, a woman reading a book while her young child plays with an imagined friend in the area by the Michael Collins statue, a man doing yoga by the river. In the distance two men sit on a bench by the pond chatting about aspects of life and children use the trees and bushes to create an imagined play world. Passing the Cork Museum there is the avid tourist with a map in her hand, entering to explore the wonders of Cork’s past.

 

On reflection the tourist’s map does not show the imaginary landscapes created in the mind of the people in the park. Indeed, the tourist’s map does not tell the real truth about the place. The reality is completely different. I recall reading once that maps are supposed to be an accepted part of everyday life and are a graphic representation of space. Maps have symbols – line spacings representing the lie of the land, perhaps the everydayness of a place – topography, water, road lengths, junctions, spot heights. In reality, those spacings are much different. Looking at a map of Fitzgerald’s Park, you never get that sense of sacredness, tranquillity, people coming and going, change and continuity, the whispered conversations to the outburst of laughter – a living place created by the human experience.

 

On my visit, I walk on, acknowledge and chat to a colleague about his research and travels in New Zealand. The pond with its Fr. Mathew Memorial fountain is imposing as the ducks hypnotically paddle around in a circle. My mind conjures up a memory, the trips with my parents, sister and brother to Fitzgerald’s Park, a haven of rest for many Corkonians and a familiar place of my childhood. Indeed, now growing older, thinking about jumping on the Shaky Bridge, feeding the birds in the pond and falling in, playing on the swings and slides and watching the world go by could be metaphors for time turning, a type of enjoying the moment but growing up and moving on. I have no doubt that I’m not the only Corkonian who has taken time out to appreciate the sacred composure of Fitzgerald’s Park and to use it to solve some of life’s problems.

 

With engaging with the historical development of the city, part of the process involves dealing with the familiar places like Fitzgerald’s Park that people know but also unravelling the narrative of the forgotten. Cork has many forgotten places that exist adjacent to well known cityscapes. Exploring these angles, I find that the notion of Cork as a city has always been reinvented. Exploring the architecture of Fitzgerald’s Park, there are elements that Cork has always been a cosmopolitan city within Western European culture, always staying in touch with aspects of modernisation, its history in a sense creating a worthy former European Capital of Culture. Looking at the physical landscape of the Park, there are clues to a forgotten and not so familiar past. The entrance pillars on the Mardyke, the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, the museum, the fountain in the middle of the central pond dedicated to Fr Mathew and timber posts eroding in the river were once part of one of Cork’s greatest historical events, the Cork International Exhibitions of 1902 and 1903. Just like the magical spell of Fitzgerald’s Park, the Mardyke exhibitions were spaces of power. Revered, imagined and real spaces were created. They were marketing strategies where the past, present and future merged, Aesthetics of architecture, colour, decoration and lighting were all added to the sense of spectacle and in a tone of moral and educational improvement. The entire event was the mastermind of Cork Lord Mayor Edward Fitzgerald, after which the park got it name.

 

The wandering of my mind is broken by the crying of a child passing pining for an ice cream. It’s time to ramble on again. Passing by the famous swings and slides, they look so small to me now, as the parents and guardians nearby sit on the benches. Some stare into mid space, others chat and laughing, others shout and perhaps others remember their youthful spell within the Park. High above, the imposing Shaky Bridge stands as a testament of strength as a mother leaves her screaming children loose to jump on this great Cork institution. The River Lee, like the park’s pond, is hypnotic as it flows steadily towards the city centre past the familiar, forgotten, real and imagined spaces of one of Cork’s greatest landmarks Fitzgerald’s Park.

 

Other tour: I will also conduct a tour of the city side of the old line on Saturday evening, 20 September starting at 6.30pm (free) at the entrance on The Marina side adjacent the Main Drainage station of the Amenity Walk (as part of Cork Harbour Open Day). The Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway, which opened in 1850, was among the first of the Irish suburban railway projects.  Sir John Benjamin MacNeill, the engineer of the Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway, was appointed engineer-in-chief of many projects in Ireland including plans for 800 miles of railway.

 

Caption:

760a. Summer rays, Fitzgerald’s Park (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Historical Tours of Fitzgerald’s Park and Old Line

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

 

As part of Cork’s Culture Night on Friday 19 September, Cllr Kieran McCarthy will conduct a walking tour of Fitzgerald’s Park and its environs (new tour, 5pm, free, meet at Park stage, approx 1 hour). The park’s entrance pillars on the Mardyke, the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion, the museum, the fountain in the middle of the central pond dedicated to Fr Mathew and timber posts eroding in the river were once part of one of Cork’s greatest historical events, the Cork International Exhibitions of 1902 and 1903. Just like the magical spell of Fitzgerald’s Park, the exhibitions were spaces of power. Revered, imagined and real spaces were created. They were marketing strategies where the past, present and future merged, Aesthetics of architecture, colour, decoration and lighting were all added to the sense of spectacle and in a tone of moral and educational improvement. The entire event was the mastermind of Cork Lord Mayor Edward Fitzgerald, after whom the park got its name.

 

Interested in finding out more on the Old Cork-Blackrock and Passage Railway Line and its connection to Cork Harbour? Cllr Kieran McCarthy will conduct a tour of the city side of the old line on Saturday evening, 20 September starting at 6.30pm at the entrance on The Marina side adjacent the Main Drainage station of the Amenity Walk. The tour is free (approx 1 1/2 hours, as part of Cork Harbour Open Day) and is open to all. South east Cork City is full of historical gems; the walk not only talks about the history of the line but also the history of the villages and harbour that surround the old line itself.

 

The Cork Blackrock and Passage Railway, which opened in 1850, was among the first of the Irish suburban railway projects. The original terminus, designed by Sir John Benson was based on Victoria Road but moved in 1873 to Hibernian Road. The entire length of track between Cork and Passage was in place by April 1850 and within two months, the line was opened for passenger traffic. In May 1847, low embankments, which were constructed to carry the railway over Monarea Marshes (Albert Road-Marina area), was finished. In Blackrock, large amounts of material were removed and cut at Dundanion to create part of the track there. Due to the fact that the construction was taking place during the Great Famine, there was no shortage of labour. A total of 450 men were taken on for the erection of the embankments at the Cork end of the line. Another eighty were employed in digging the cutting beyond Blackrock. These and other stories feature on Kieran’s tour.

Kieran’s Heritage Week, 2014

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

          Cork Heritage Open Day, 23 August, www.corkheritageopenday.ie

–          Kieran’s tours for heritage week:

·         Sunday 24 August 2014 – Eighteenth century Cork historical walking tour, Branding a City-Making a Venice of the North, with Kieran; meet at City Library, Grand Parade, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

·         Monday 25 August 2014 – Shandon Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, meet at North Gate Bridge, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

·         Tuesday 26 August 2014 – Blackpool Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, meet at the North Mon gates, Gerald Griffin Avenue, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

·         Thursday 28 August 2014 – Docklands Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, meet at Kennedy Park, Victoria Road, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

·         Saturday 30 August 2014,  Douglas Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, meet at St. Columba’s Church Car Park, Douglas, 2pm (free, duration: two hours).

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, Heritage Week, 21 August 2014

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

756a. Painting a future, Members of Mayfield Community Arts in Bishop Lucey Park, 22 June 2012

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 21 August 2014

Heritage Week, 23-31 August – Carved from a Swamp

 

Cork Heritage Open Day and Heritage Week are looming – a kind of Christmas week – for a heritage fanatic like me. It is great to see the city’s local history and natural heritage being focussed on. Indeed as a city, we need to celebrate it more publicly and more regularly. This city’s growth on a swamp is in itself a story on which a whole series of talks and walks can be based. I am always in awe at the geologists’ reports on beneath this urban space – that below the swamp are multiple tree stumps of a broken down forest flooded out through sea level rise from over 20,000 years ago. The city’s buildings continue to sink into this space -20,000 years in the making – with each generation struggling to carve its own ‘safe harbour’. 

This city is built on a shift-shaping landscape – sand and gravel, rushes and reeds – a wetland knitted together to create a working port through the ages. It is also the multi-faceted narratives that knit this place together. Standing in Bishop Lucey Park, for example, are multiple monuments – remnants of the blocks of the town walls, the arches for the old Corn Market gates (once behind City Hall), the smiling shawlie within Seamus Murphy’s statue, and the swans of the fountain representing Cork 800. The fountain was placed there in 1985, a nod to the city’s celebration of  800 years since the city’s first charter in 1185. Then there is the imposing sinking tower of Christ Church and its ruinous graveyard to the ghostly feel of the buildings that once stood at the park’s entrance. Along the latter stretch, living memory has recorded Jennings furniture shop, destroyed by fire in 1970; the toy shop of Percy Diamond who was cantor (a singer of liturgical music) at the Jewish synagogue; and the Fountain Café over which the famous hurler Christy Ring had a flat for a time. Of course when I mention just these strands, there are other layers I have not mentioned. The layered memories at times and their fleshed out contexts are endless and often seem timeless.

The presence of all these monuments in the Park often play with my own mind on every walking tour – there is so much one can show and say. These urban spaces seem to slide between the past and present, between material and symbolic worlds. The mural by Mayfield Community Arts on the gable end of the shop next door to the park, entitled “connecting our imagination, how do we imagine a positive future” is apt. The past does play on the imagination; it interconnects between spaces and times into our present and future. It creates at many times, when studying this city, partial memories that the scholar can only reconstruct in part and tentatively in the mind. Memories flow and bend across the story of the development of this North Atlantic big hearted small city.

The kept town walls are a space as a city we need to keep even better. Sometimes we don’t mind these spaces enough. The green rusty plaque on it indicates its age of thirteenth century. During its excavation shards of pottery from Normandy, from the Saintonge region of France, from England, and from other parts of Ireland were also found during the excavation of the wall. For nearly 500 years (1170s to 1690), the town wall symbolised the urbanity of Cork and gave its citizens an identity within the town itself. The walls served as a vast repository of symbolism, iconography and ideology, as symbols of order and social relationships. Indeed the same can be said of all the buildings and spaces the public learn about on this Saturday and next week across talks and walks.

The former town walls like this city were rebuilt in parts by inhabitants through hundreds of years. The river and the tide eroded at their base taking away the various sandstone and limestone blocks and perhaps re-shaping the more resistant ones. The surviving section in Bishop Lucey Park invites the visitor to reflect on life and resistance within the town and how layered the city’s story is. There is wear and tear on the stones presented, which cross from the era of the walled town to the modern city. It invokes the imagination and if anything the wear and tear on our built heritage allows our minds to wonder and reflect about the life and times of people of the past and offers us ideas to take into our future world.  

–          Cork Heritage Open Day, 23 August, www.corkheritageopenday.ie

–          Kieran’s tours for heritage week:

·         Sunday 24 August 2014 – Eighteenth century Cork historical walking tour, Branding a City-Making a Venice of the North, with Kieran; meet at City Library, Grand Parade, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

·         Monday 25 August 2014 – Shandon Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, meet at North Gate Bridge, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

·         Tuesday 26 August 2014 – Blackpool Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, meet at the North Mon gates, Gerald Griffin Avenue, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

·         Thursday 28 August 2014 – Docklands Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, meet at Kennedy Park, Victoria Road, 7pm (free, duration: two hours).

·         Saturday 30 August 2014,  Douglas Historical Walking Tour with Kieran, meet at St. Columba’s Church Car Park, Douglas, 2pm (free, duration: two hours).

Caption:

756a. Painting a future; members of Mayfield Community Arts in Bishop Lucey Park, 22 June 2012 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)