Monthly Archives: October 2013

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 31 October 2013, Docklands Historical Walking Tour

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

715a. Docklands, Rebel Cork Week Concert, October 2013

 

Kieran’s Our City Our Town Article,

Cork Independent,  Thursday 31 October 2013

 

Docklands Walking Tour

 

 

 

On Saturday 9 November, at 2pm I will conduct a historical walking tour of Cork Docklands (free), meet at Kennedy Park, Victoria Road. The tour will take in the city’s docks, Albert Road/ Jewtown/ Hibernian Buildings and speak about the development of Centre Park Road. One aspect of this area are the old Cork Showgrounds, located there since 1892. In 2010, I was involved in penning a book with the Munster Agricultural Society on its heritage, its old name in the nineteenth century being the County of Cork Agricultural Society.

 

From 1857 till 1890 the shows of the County of Agricultural Society were held in the ground of the Corn Market (now the site of Cork City Hall). In the early months of 1890, the informality of attaining the Corn Exchange premises from the trustees turned to formality. There was a concern over finances and responsibility over outstanding costs arose between the County of Cork Agricultural Society and the Corn Market Trustees. That was resolved by the Society’s AGM of 22 March 1890 but uncertainty of using the space remained. Those issues were also coupled with lack of space for development. There was sufficient room for an ordinary Cattle Show but when the Society, following the lead of other cities, increased its operations and adopted the idea of holding horse-jumping contest, the enclosure in the Corn Exchange was too limited.

 

In late February in 1891, double booking occurred at the Corn Exchange on the days of the annual show. As work was already being carried out in terms of advertising and organisation, the committee decided not to move the time but investigate another location. A letter was read from Mr Daly, secretary from the Cork Park Race Committee who stated that their committee would be happy to give the society the use of their premises for which they would charge £25 and that they would even give a donation of £10 toward the show fund. The motion was proposed by Sir George Colthurst and seconded by Captain Newenham. Permission was received from the trustees to open an office at the Corn Exchange to receive entries. A series of temporary buildings were constructed at the Cork Park Racecourse.

 

At a post show discussion on 1 August 1891 at a general meeting led Mr A Ferguson, former chairman proposed that a permanent show yard be erected in a portion of the Cork Race Park with grounds 20 acres in extent. The general committee agreed to appoint a deputation to discuss the matter with the Corporation of Cork. The deputation comprised General Davies, Sir George Colthurst, A Ferguson, D Ahern, L Beamish, Crawford Ledlig, R.L. Longfield, Jason Byrne and A.J. Warren. The Corporation of Cork was approached as the site was on their land.

 

Initially, there was no immediate response from the town clerk by mid-September 1891. By October there was some formal discussion between parties. Mr. Bass, the society’s solicitor was instructed to write to the town clerk and inform him that on no account would the society take a lease unless they were given a free hand to use the ground as they sought fit. By early November 1891, there was still no lease forthcoming from the corporation. By 14 November 1891, Mr Bass recommended that the society should form themselves into a limited liability society in order to raise the money required for the erection of the new buildings. A sub-committee was subsequently formed to investigate the matter and reported back on 28 November 1891. By early December 1891, the society decided that the clause with reference to the loan fund should be altered and that the society should not undertake to pay back any part of the money raised by voluntary contribution.

 

By mid-December 1891, all society members were sent a circular with a copy of the scheme and a request asking for a subscription. A deputation was sent to the Royal Dublin Society asking for a grant towards the new buildings. There was no success there. The secretary was further directed to write to the secretary of the North East Agricultural Society for some information as to the new buildings which they were erecting. Mr S French proposed on 23 January 1892 that a premium of £10 for the best plans for the new show yard be given. The idea was accepted.  The three gentlemen nominated to adjudicate on the plans for the new show yard reported that eight plans were submitted for the competition. They selected two marked respectively – “Native Industry” and “Fiat Pistetia Ruat Coelum”. The second (‘Fiat’) was adopted. The author of the successful design was Mr John Leslie O’Hanlon, Darmouth House, Upper Leeson Street, Dublin. He was subsequently invited down to meet the directors of the new company.

 

On 3 March 1892, the memorandum of agreement between the limited company and the society was adopted and in early 1892, the company obtained a lease from Cork Corporation of 27 acres of reclaimed land and the first stages of the show yard was built. More on the above can be got from my 2010 book on the Cork Showgrounds (available from the Munster Agricultural Society, 021 480 1919).

 

 

Captions:

 

715a. Recent Rebel Cork Week Concert, Cork Docklands, October 2013 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 24 October 2013

Cork History, Landscapes, Uncategorized

714a. October light at St Finbarre’s Cathedral, Cork

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, Cork Independent, 

Eighteenth Century Cork Walking Tour

Thursday 24 October 2013

 

The weather is still relatively mild, so the next historical walking tour is on Saturday 26 October 2013 –Making a Venice of the North, Exploring Eighteenth Century Cork City, explore a world of canals, and eighteenth century Cork society, meet at Cork City Library, Grand Parade, 2pm (E.5, duration: two hours).

The tour is bound with the demise of the walled town of Cork in the early 1700s. For nearly five hundred years (c.1200-c.1690), the walled port town of Cork, built in a swamp and at the lowest crossing point of the River Lee and the tidal area, remained as one of the most fortified and vibrant walled settlements in the expanding British colonial empire. However, economic growth as well as political events in late seventeenth century Ireland, culminating in the Williamite Siege of Cork in 1690, provided the catalyst for large-scale change within the urban area. The walls were allowed to decay and this was to inadvertently alter much of the city’s physical, social and economic character in the ensuing century.

By the mid-eighteenth century, Cork was a prosperous, wealthy city. In 1732, Edward Lloyd, an English travel writer, wrote that the population of the city was 40,000 and that the shops were ‘neatly fitted and sorted with rich goods’. In addition, there were a lot of new buildings being constructed and many others being reconstructed. Lloyd detailed that the city had a large export trade with almost 59,000 barrels of beef exported from Cork per annum – half the full total for Ireland.

A report by two unnamed touring Englishmen in 1748 noted that the economy of Cork was booming and that provisions of all kinds were available at reasonable prices. These included meat, fish, fowl, fruits such as strawberries, and tubers. The main fish sold in the city market was salmon, turbot and crayfish. The main trading exports comprised beef, hides, butter and tallow (animal fat), which were been sent to all parts of the known world. The gentlemen mention that during the previous slaughtering season, between mid-August and Christmas 1747, a total of 90,000 black cattle were killed. Restrictions on exports such as wool were easily circumvented through illegal black-market trading. Their closing remarks on Cork are very interesting – they noted Cork people had no recognizable accent, which points to a great mix of nationalities residing and trading in the city.

Whereas the merchant classes were enjoying the profits of growing trade links, life for the lower classes was not as easy. In 1730, the population was 56,000; by 1790 the population of the urban area had increased to 73,000. This was a significant increase in a relatively short period of time; 100 years earlier, in 1690, the population had been just 20,000.

This population explosion caused many social problems. Crime was a serious issue for the city. In the early 1740s Mayor Hugh Winter employed fifteen watchmen to walk around the city at night between eleven o’ clock and sunrise to protect the citizens. Eleven o’clock was the city’s curfew, and any person caught outdoors after that time faced prosecution or expulsion. Robbery was common, with money and clothing often reported missing. Items such as silk, lead, swords were targeted by thieves too, and the raiding of cellars for food was also common. There were two gaols in the eighteenth-century city, one overlooking South Gate Bridge and the other overlooking North Gate Bridge. These gaols housed debtors and malefactors.

Another huge problem was the number of destitute children left homeless on the streets. On the western side of the south suburbs was a long row of cabins called the Devil’s Drop. Here, the doors were thronged with children with little or no food. The origin of the name Devil’s Drop is unknown, but probably refers to the degrading conditions in which the inhabitants lived. On 12 March 1747, a poor house was opened on what is now Leitrim Street.

Floods were common in the city and caused great damage. Rare high tides and flooding forced the inhabitants of the city to pass from house to house in boats. This had even happened even in the middle of North and South Main Street. Houses and warehouses on the quays had to be protected from flooding every winter by blocking up doors.

In stark contrast to these descriptions of misery, Smith also detailed the expansion of the city in previous decades. In particular, he highlighted the building of the many quays, the most notable being the Custom House Quay (now Emmett Place), the Coal Quay or Ferry Quay, Kyrl’s quay and the North quay (now Pope’s Quay). The largest canal in the city was that which is now covered by St Patrick’s Street – picture the footpaths on this street as the location of the old quaysides and the road as a canal. The Grand Parade was made up of three quays: Tuckey’s Quay (outside Argos), Post Office Quay (outside the City Library) and the Mall (on the site of the old Capital Cineplex).

 

Caption:

714a. October light at St Finbarre’s Cathedral (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

Eighteenth Century Cork Walking Tour, Saturday 26 October 2013

Cork City Events, Cork History, Landscapes, Uncategorized

 

The weather is still relatively mild, so the next historical walking tour is on Saturday 26 October 2013 –Making a Venice of the North, Exploring Eighteenth Century Cork City, explore a world of canals, and eighteenth century Cork society, meet at Cork City Library, Grand Parade, 2pm (E.5, duration: two hours).

The tour is bound with the demise of the walled town of Cork in the early 1700s. For nearly five hundred years (c.1200-c.1690), the walled port town of Cork, built in a swamp and at the lowest crossing point of the River Lee and the tidal area, remained as one of the most fortified and vibrant walled settlements in the expanding British colonial empire. However, economic growth as well as political events in late seventeenth century Ireland, culminating in the Williamite Siege of Cork in 1690, provided the catalyst for large-scale change within the urban area. The walls were allowed to decay and this was to inadvertently alter much of the city’s physical, social and economic character in the ensuing century.

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 17 October 2013

Cork City Events, Cork History, Uncategorized

713a. Perkin Warbeck

 

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, Cork Independent

Rebel Cork

Thursday 17 October 2013

 

Cork Rebel Week, the most talked about event in recent months, is upon us. One of the national flagship projects of The Gathering it focuses on what defines Cork as a place. There are many answers to that and even more questions. The collective memory of the city has many stories that are constantly republished, narrated amongst individuals and communities from legends such as St Finbarr to famous buildings to Cork’s GAA prowess. However perhaps it is the concept of being rebellious in its dealings through the ages that defines the essence of Ireland’s second and always ambitious city. But what does rebel Cork actually mean?

 I always think that it’s a city that does not overly market its past despite its role in everything from early Christian Ireland to eighteenth century butter and beef markets to the Irish War of Independence. It always seems that the history of the city is either not ready for public consumption or that as a city we hold back from celebrating it. That being said the sense of place of Cork, a city built on a swamp with steep hills hosting its suburbs, built in the middle of the river adds to the charm of what Cork is all about.

When all is taken into account, perhaps the sense of rebelliousness in the city is bound up with its sense of charm which is written about much in tourist literature and also tends to be a foundation pillar in its history – a city whose keen interest in economics through many centuries created merchants who continually honed their skills to be the best they could and to be imaginative and ambitious in their aims convincing others that this small city had something to offer in the Atlantic corridors of business and empire building and in time empire destruction. Creating a port infrastructure on a swamp, one can still admire buildings like the Port of Cork, the timber wharves, some intact, some crumbling – but for all that heritage, the city is very picky in what should be remembered – the river and the harbour still call for a new sense of re-imagining – rowers and swimmers have shown how the water determines some of the sense of place of the city. I say this maybe because I do feel the city has turned it back on the waterways and the second largest natural harbour in the world.

Many of city’s old buildings, which are derelict, also call for a new re-imagining especially those located in areas where the local history itself is rich.  We have all passed areas in our respective neighbourhoods where you’d pass and go I’d wish someone would do that place up and celebrate what an area stands for. Despite the city’s failings, a walk through its different suburbs reveals a place of different layers of history and exciting connections to not just the City’s local history but Irish and European as well.

If a sense of charm is one key pillar, the search for the historic origins of the term Rebel Cork is rooted in a city legend that in 1493 Perkin Warbeck, the Pretender for the English throne, came to Cork. He was well received by the Mayor and then allegedly was crowned as Richard IV of England in Christ Church on South Main Street. The story is bound up with the Wars of the Roses, (1455–85), in English history i.e. a series of violent dynastic civil wars. Fought between the Houses of Lancaster and York for the English throne, the wars were named many years afterward from the supposed badges of the contending parties: the white rose of York and the red of Lancaster. Both houses claimed the throne through descent from the sons of Edward III. In the English magazine History Today, several contributors through several publications note that in the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses, Henry’s position remained precarious, as doubts persisted over his questionable claim to the throne taken after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth. Perkin Warbeck’s web of deception began when he arrived in Cork, the seventeen-year-old servant of a Breton merchant. His confession alleges that after modelling the elegant silks that his master was selling, some locals insisted he must be Richard of York, the younger of the two princes Richard III was believed to have slain in 1483. Warbeck embarked on a conspiracy against the incumbent Henry VII to take back the crown.

On 5 October, 1497, Perkin Warbeck’s capture in Beaulieu by Henry VII’s troops marked the end of his ‘reign’ as the self-proclaimed Richard IV and revealed him as the imposter he really was. It was then that he finally confessed that he was not Edward V’s brother, as he had declared for six years, but was in fact descended from a Tournai boatman. By pursuing a number of conspiracies intended to oust Henry, Warbeck had been a major thorn in the king’s side ever since he was mistaken – deliberately or otherwise – for the Duke of York in 1491. Where did it all start – Cork and that just one of several intriguing stories that the citizens have woven through the ages.

 

Caption:

713a. Perkin Warbeck (source: History Today)

 www.corkrebelweek2013.com

Kieran’s Question and Motions and to the City Manager, Cork City Council Meeting, 14 October 2013

Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

Double motions this evening due to the meeting cut short on 23 September

Kieran’s Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 14 October 2013

 

Motions:

That the embankment on Convent Avenue, Blackrock be cleaned-up and replanted (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

That this Council calls for action from the government on Section 9 of the 2008 Intoxicating Liquor Act and that it be signed into Law; if signed into law it would prevent children from shopping in their local Off Licence to purchase sweets if there is no physical barrier between sweets and alcohol Cllr Kieran McCarthy).

.

 

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 23 September 2013

 

Question to the City Manager:

To ask the manager when public submissions for the Draft Tramore Valley Park Plan will be made available to councillors plus when is the likely timescale for the park to open (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

Motions:

That the City Council extend its Jobsbridge programmes to provide internships in the City Library and City Museum (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

 That a “Welcome to Cork” sign, be provided adjacent the tourist bus stop on St Patrick’s Quay, as well as an interpretative panel – guide to Cork City and map (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 10 October 2013, Ballintemple Historical Walking Tour

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

712a. Ballintemple Graveyard

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Ballintemple Historical Walking Tour

Thursday 10 October 2013

 

With the autumnal weather quickly coming in, change can be seen on The Marina’s trees with a mirth of colour beginning to form. I have been researching a new walking tour of the adjacent Ballintemple area for a while (Saturday, 12 October, 2pm, meet at Ballintemple graveyard, opp. O’Connor’s Funeral Home, Boreenmanna Road, two hours, free).

It forms part of a set of ten tours I’ve developed in this side of the city, an experiment in one way in one corner of the city before beginning to look at other suburbs. There are several suburban local history books within the local studies in Cork City but there a feeling on the ground that much of the history remains unexplored. Each tour I try to focus on the significance of landmarks, such as big houses, modern housing, graveyards, monuments, churches and in Ballintemple’s case convents as well but also telling the story through archives such as government reports, diaries, census reports, statistical reports, sketches, maps oral histories and even headstones.

Ballintemple as a settlement hub is one of the earliest in the city that came into being. Urban legend and writers such as Samuel Lewis in 1837 describe how the Knight’s Templar had a church here, the first parish church of Blackrock: “At the village of Ballintemple, situated on this peninsula, the Knights Templars erected a large and handsome church in 1392, which, after the dissolution of that order, was granted, with its possessions, to Gill abbey. At what period it fell into decay is uncertain; the burial ground is still used”. The graveyard is impressive in its collection of eighteenth century and nineteenth century headstones. It has a series of low uninscribed gravemarkers in its south east corner. There are also many inscribed headstones with smiling faces with one inscribed with Remember Death. The graveyard remains an undiscovered corner of the city with much of its family histories unresearched and unpublished.

There is also much to discover within a short space in Ballintemple and its role in the wider city as an architectural conservation area. Various architectural styles can be noted Norman, Gothic, Renaissance, Georgian, Victorian, Italianiate, French, and Oriental. The houses can boast such architects such as Bro Michael Riordan, Sir John Benson, Deanes, Morrisons, Richard Brash, Hargraves, Walkers and the Hills. The architectural DNA comprises local stone, sand, brick, slates from Killaloe, Rosscarbery and Wales, timber from Canada and Scandinavia, cement from Portland in England and ironwork for railings obtained from Scottish foundries. 

In the nineteenth century there was an increasing tendency in Cork for the middle classes to live in suburban homes and for the work-place to be separate. Your social circle saw your house a lot. It was important that the house was impressive that is was designed in the latest fashion. The house of a successful Victorian family was more than merely a home. It was a statement of their taste, wealth, and education. The Victorians drew deeply from history, nature, geometry, theory, and personal inspiration to create their designs. At the top end of the market, builders employed employ a reputable architect. Private Houses were an important status symbol – detached house allowed privacy, comfort, convenience, spaciousness, order and warmth. There was an increasing diversity in house styles, a detached big house to a row of terraced houses. Many interiors were done in the grand manner reflecting their owners and builders. Interiors of the Renaissance mode included smooth plastered walls often in light colours, marble fireplaces usually with heavy gold mirrors above, elaborate ceiling cornices, elaborate pediments over doors, frescoed ceilings, and chandeliers.

West of Ballintemple on Blackrock Road, the area also has the presence of personal monuments. For example Daniel McCarthy erected the McCarthy Monument near the former Diamond Hill quarry (a quarry of white quarts or rock crystal. It was built in honour of his brother Alexander McCarthy in 1871.  Alexander was a junior, Butter Merchant plus was an MP for Cork in 1846 and became High Sheriff of the County in 1856. McCarthy was a fine public speaker and a supporter of Daniel O’Connell’s Repeal movement. He died on 2 January 1868. The memorial, a column of limestone, 25 feet tall, was designed by William B Atkins. Richard Evans built the monument and the sculptor was Samuel Murphy. Bronze plaques, showing scenes from the history of the McCarthy clan, have been lost from the monument over the years.

As for the architect William Atkins, he was was born at Firville, near Mallow, circa 1812. Between 1845 and 1869 Atkins entered at least thirteen architectural competitions, gaining first place in five of them. In time he became a prominent architect in Cork and further afield in Co Kerry. Some of his prominent works include The District Lunatic Asylum on Lee Road (1847-1852),  the priory at Mary’s Dominican Church on Pope’s Quay (1861), the completion of the interior of Holy Trinity Church (1850), St Marie’s of the Isle Convent of Mercy (1850), St Patrick’s Orphanage, Greenmount (1855), and the Lindville Private Lunatic Asylum (1855 and which is part of the walking tour) and the base of the statue of John Hogan’s Fr Mathew Statue on St Patrick’s Street (1864).

 

Caption:

712a. Ballintemple Graveyard (picture: Kieran McCarthy)

 

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 3 October 2013

Cork City Events, Cork History, Improve Your Life, Uncategorized

711a. Project model from Derryclough NS, Drinagh, Co Cork, 2013

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, Cork Independent

Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project 2013-14

3 October 2013

 

Founded in the school year 2002/ 2003, the year 2013-14 coincides with the 11th 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 the co-ordinator in October 2013. 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 ten 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 www.corkheritage.ie for more details.

 

 

Caption:

711a. Project model from Derryclough NS, Drinagh, Co Cork, 2013 on multiple heritages in the local area from vernacular houses to stone arched bridges (picture: Kieran McCarthy)