Stories from 1918: Analysis of a Port Trade, September 1918
The Irish Sub-Committee of the Parliamentary Committee on Inland Transport sat in Cork City Hall on Saturday morning, 14 September 1918 to examine evidence on economic interests in southern Ireland. The sub committee was sent to investigate and report upon the facilities for transport offered by the port and canals of Ireland, and to make suggestions for their development. The members of the committee comprised high ranking politicians with commercial background, which included Sir Arthur Shirley Benn, M.P., Chairman Colonel John Gretton M.P., Mr William Field M.P, Mr W. A. Lindsay M.P., Mr M. Keating M.P., Mr Walter Hudson M.P. and Mr P. J. Hannon.
The Lord Mayor Councillor Thomas Butterfield welcomed the members of the committee, especially the chairman Sir Arthur Benn (1858-1937). Sir Benn was a Corkman from Eglantine House on Douglas Road. Arthur was the Eldest son of the Rev. John Watkins Benn, rector of Carrigaline, and Douglas, County Cork. Arthur had a prominent career in commerce and politics. For many years he lived in the United States and Canada, and was Vice-Consul at Mobile, Alabama, from 1898 to 1902. Arthur became a member of the London County Council in 1907. During the First World War he acted as honorary treasurer of the National Committee for Relief in Belgium and was made a Commander of the Order of the Crown of Belgium in recognition of his services.
The core statement at the Cork meeting was taken from Mr James Fawsett who was representing the Council of the Cork Industrial Development Association. He summarised the monthly bulletin of the Association for February 1918 which set out the challenges and known data concerning the future of shipping in the region but in particular (1) the situation of Cork Harbour, (2) the harbour’s facilities for shipping, (3) the character of the trade and commerce that passed through the harbour and (4) the advantages which it offered for the successful conduct of international trade, especially after the war.
James Fawsett outlined that for very many years before the war Cork was the North Atlantic mail port, and as such served the commerce of Western Europe and North America. In pre-war days the port accounted, for two-thirds of the foreign shipping using Irish ports. It was popular with ship-owners. It was served by railways with sidings along the deep-water quays both at Queenstown (now Cobh) and Cork. The railway lines connected with other trunk lines of the country. The harbour’s spaciousness and security for shipping made it stand prominent among western European ports. Some of the largest ships afloat, at the outbreak of the war availed regularly of its safe anchorages, entering and leaving at low water spring tides. In addition to the Admiralty Dockyards at Haulbowline, the ship-repairing yards at Passage and Rushbrooke operated by Messrs Furness Withy and Co., Ltd, a firm eminent in international shipping, were doing well. Reconstruction of ships and their equipment especially of vessels up to 620 feet in length and of 80 feet in width, were completed with efficiency.
Thinking towards the future, with vision and the continual development of proper facilities, James Fawsett saw Cork as being the leading largest ship port region in Western Europe. Within the city’s docks, he deemed that the contemporary equipment of the port for handling cargo and the transport of goods was inadequate. For the quick, cheap, and efficient loading and discharging of vessels, the port and harbour required the aid of modern powerful machinery, fixed but flexible. Larger and more powerful cranes were necessary on the quays for the handling of heavy and bulky cargoes and to encourage shipbuilding. The expansion of the trade of the city called for additional wharfage and storage accommodation, in particular extending from the new Ford factory complex eastwards to the Marina.
James Fawsett laid stress on the financial losses sustained by traders owing to the congestion of goods for Cork in certain English ports, notably those of Liverpool and Fishguard. Foreign goods, for example from America, intended for Cork producers and distributors, passed by the port of Cork and were taken on to Liverpool. There the ships discharged, and the goods were transhipped to Cork.
Mr Fawsett also dealt with the fishing industry and its challenges in the coastal region. The great bulk of the fish consumed in the country came to Cork from British fishing ports. He highlighted that Cork Harbour was admirably situated to be the home base for a large fleet of trawlers, equipped with all modern appliances. Facilities for the handling, curing and packing of the fish on a large scale should be provided at Queenstown, from which it could be distributed quickly to the different markets. The fisheries at Youghal, Ballycotton, and Kinsale were in a decaying condition, due mainly to antiquated boats and gear, and to the lack of proper transit facilities for the fish at the landing places in such centres.
To James Fawcett, Berehaven in West Cork was capable of very considerable development, and, provided it be linked up with the main trunk line of railway, for example to Mallow Junction, it could play an important part in the commercial future of the country.
Kieran’s new book, Cork in Fifty Buildings (2018, Amberley Publishing) is now available in Cork bookshops
Captions:
965a. Bere Island Ferry from Castletownbere, c.1900 from West Cork Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen (source: Cork Public Museum).
965b. Postcard of Passage West and Glenbrook, c.1900 from Cork Harbour Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen (source: Cork Public Museum)
After prolonged discussion with local residents, I support their call for voting no to the material contravention before us this evening. I agree with several of their views on the problem of increasing traffic which the development will bring to local roads. Two hundred car spaces are planned within the development.
I don’t agree with the narrative out there that the Skehard Road works are a cure to all traffic problems in the area or at the Dunkettle Roundabout. The whole area has a serious traffic problem at several times in the day. The ongoing road works give some alleviation but are not a miracle cure. Plans to build further houses in Bessboro is just not sustainable in my view. The local road infrastructure cannot take anymore cars. The development itself does not promote the use of sustainable transport.
I am on record that I have huge concerns about the existing Mahon Local Area and the plan to pack more housing into this corner of the city despite the road infrastructure not being in place.
There is also an issue with the apartment blocks, a section of this Bessboro proposal, overlooking local resident back gardens.
I am all for building houses but in a sustainable way. The public narrative out there that I am presenting some element of Not in My Back Yard syndrome is clearly misplaced. We cannot just build houses for the sake of housing without the proper infrastructure being in place. I read with interest over the weekend that a similar call was well made in the north west by several cllrs that the proposal at the Good Shepherd is also detrimental to the roads infrastructure of the area.
For me building houses in an industrial estate is just not sustainable. It is either an industrial estate or not.
Ends
Irish Heart, Coventry Home is an exhibition, which is currently being exhibited in the new building foyer of Cork City Hall for the next three weeks. It is a project I have been involved with the last year in a small way offering heritage management support and advice on behalf of Cork City Council. The exhibition is curated by Ciaran Davis at the Coventry Irish Society. It is about Irish people who made Coventry their home between 1940 and 1970. It is based on the experiences of Irish people who have lived and worked in the city.
Many Irish people emigrated to Coventry from Cork and they have contributed richly to the culture, economy and character of the city. These links were celebrated in 1958, when Cork and Coventry were twinned with each other. The exhibition has travelled to Cork to celebrate the enduring relationship that exists between the two cities. During the Second World War, many Irish men and women came to work in Coventry’s factories and hospitals. After the war, Irish migrants were among those who came to help with the city’s reconstruction following the devastation caused by air raids. Their labour was vital, not just in construction and industry but in education, civic life and the newly established National Health Service. By 1961 there were 19,416 Irish-born people in Coventry and they formed 6% of the city’s population, which made them the largest ethnic minority in the city.
The majority of Irish people who migrated to Coventry after the Second World War were usually young people who came from Roman Catholic, working class, rural backgrounds and the majority were women. They often stayed with family members already in Coventry who paid for their ticket and helped them find employment. Men usually arrived alone and found work by applying to adverts in newspapers or through speaking to fellow Irish people. Irish people were employed in a variety of jobs, working on the buses and in hospitals, factories and schools. They were involved in the building of the ring road, housing estates and the new cathedral, supporting the city’s post-war recovery and contributing to its economy. The money that Irish migrants sent home was relied on by families who remained in Ireland. Between 1939 and 1969 the Irish economy received almost £3 billion in remittances from Irish workers.
As people settled in the city, they opened social clubs and pubs, which became vital community spaces. Irish people arriving in Coventry often headed straight to the clubs where they learnt where to find work or accommodation. A few venues even had their own lodgings. Some landlords promoted Irish welfare and held charity nights or lent money to people who were struggling. Many of the clubs were established in the 1950s, which coincided with the rise of the Irish showbands, who were renowned for their high-energy performances. In the 1960s, singers such as Joe Dolan and Brendan Bowyer toured Coventry and were popular with the Coventry-Irish community. By 1967, the Banba Club had a membership of over 1000 and on a Saturday night, an average of 650 people would come through the club’s doors. There were also people in the community who vowed never to drink alcohol. In 1964 some of them set up the Coventry branch of the Pioneer Association, an organisation originally set up in Ireland. They held dances, sporting events and dinners at the Pioneer Hall in Coventry. Few of the Irish clubs remain in the city, but their legacy endures because many Irish people met their future spouses at the dances
A number of Irish sports clubs were established in Coventry, offering sports such as hurling, Gaelic football and camogie – a sport similar to hurling played by women. Priests and other members of the community helped to set up these teams because they were concerned that young people were forgetting their Irish roots. There was sometimes competition between the clubs to recruit the best Irish sportspeople in Coventry. Gradually, the teams expanded and some purchased clubhouses where they could socialise after matches. Players often brought their families to watch the games and their children sometimes went on to represent the same team. The clubs held exhibition games featuring Irish teams. In 1966 St Finbarr’s Sports and Social Club held a hurling match between Galway and Meath, which was watched by around 10,000 spectators. The clubs initially ran male-only teams, but in 1971 a group of women established their own camogie team in Coventry.
Most Irish people who came to Coventry belonged to the Roman Catholic faith. A smaller number of Protestants also migrated, and for both groups religion played an integral role in their lives. Irish Protestants often joined pre-existing parishes, but the higher number of Irish Catholics meant that new churches needed to be built. In 1913 there were two Catholic churches in Coventry. By 1983 this had grown to 17, many supported by donations from the community. In the 1950s and 1960s a number of Catholic schools were also built to accommodate the expanding Irish Catholic population. For many Irish migrants it was important that church attendance was continued by the next generation. Couples got married in local churches and their children received their first sacraments in the same parishes.
To learn more (and to contribute to the project) Irish Heart, Coventry Home is currently on display in the foyer of the new building in Cork City Hall. The curator Ciaran Davis from Coventry Irish Society will be present at the space for Cork Culture Night, Friday 21 September.
Captions:
964a. Irish Heart, Coventry Home exhibition at Herbert Gallery, Coventry in March 2018 (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
964b. Coventry Irish Society stalwarts Simon McCarthy and Kay Forrest with Cllr Kieran McCarthy at the launch of Irish Heart, Coventry Home last March 2018 (source: Coventry Irish Society)
964c. Irish Emigrant Travel Permit Card between Britain and Ireland, 1946 (source: Coventry Irish Society)
Launch of Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project 2018-19
The advent of the new school year coincides with the sixteenth year of the Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project. Brochures have been sent to all Cork City schools. Launched again for the new school term, the Project is open to schools in Cork City 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. The County edition unfortunately will not run this year due to my recent surgery and recovery ahead.
Co-ordinated by myself, one of the key aims of the project is to encourage 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 this link on my website, www.corkheritage.ie where there are other resources, former titles and winners and entry information as well.
Students produce a project on their local area using primary and secondary sources. Each participating student within their class receives a visit and workshop in October 2018. 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 material through visiting local libraries, engaging with fieldwork, interviews with local people, making models, photographing, cartoon creating, making DVDs of their area. Re-enacting can also be a feature of several projects.
For over sixteen years, the project has evolved in exploring how students actually pursue local history and how to make it relevant in society . 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. This year as well there is a focus on the theme, The Past, An Inspiration.
The importance of doing a project in local history is reflected in the educational aims of the history curricula of primary and post-primary schools. Local heritage is a tool, 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. I know a number of students who 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 encouraged 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, and 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 short film. 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 in the City is free to enter and is kindly funded by Cork City Council (viz the help of Niamh Twomey, Officer) Prizes are also provided by the Old Cork Waterworks Experience, Lee Road, Learnit Lego Education, and Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill (www.seankellyhorse.com). Overall, the Schools’ Heritage Project for the last fifteen 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 with local schools. Details can be found on my website, www.corkheritage.ie
Kieran’s new book, Cork in 50 Buildings (2018, Amberley Publishing) is also now in Cork bookshops.
Captions:
963a. Project page on the local history of Albert Road from Our Lady of the Lourdes NS student 2018.
963b. Model on the local history of Albert Road from Our Lady of the Lourdes NS student 2018.
“A promised design to the public must be carried through. The Blackrock village playground is part of the Blackrock Pier redevelopment. The current plans seen by local residents need to be carried through by the City Council”, according to Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy.
In response to an recent motion by Cllr McCarthy on the Blackrock playground, Director of Services of Cork City Council Valerie O’Sullivan has highlighted the most suitable location for a state of state of the art playground to serve Blackrock, Ballintemple and the South Docklands is Marina Park. A site has been identified within the park. Development of the playground, which is identified for Marina Park Phase 2. Phase 1 works are scheduled to commence in October. Detail design for phase 2 including the playground will commence when the necessary resources are available.
According to Ms O’Sullivan, Cork City Council is committed to the enhancement of the Ursuline Convent Ground and will explore options to finance same under the Urban Regeneration Development Fund. City Council is still awaiting final transfer of the lands from the receiver of this development.
Cllr McCarthy noted:
“In recent months the narrative from the Council has been for just one major playground for the area in Marina Park in Docklands. However, the original plans for Blackrock Village included a small playground and a park on the Old Ursuline Convent front lawn, which slopes down to the regenerated pier area. It is crucial that agreements are honoured with local residents. The Pier area has become a great central focus but is only part of a bigger picture proposed”.
“I am excited about Marina Park and the proposed playground. The more the Council provide family foci like playgrounds the better. I will continue my lobbying for the Council to finish the Blackrock pier project. Marina Park is another super planned space, which needs lobbying for too”, noted Cllr McCarthy.
Audley Place green at the top of St Patrick’s Hill could be easily landscaped to provide more flower beds around the seats with interpretative material of views, according to Independent Cllr Kieran McCarthy. The green has become more popular with locals and tourists the last year. It appeared regularly in the recent The Young Offenders series and appears regularly in tourist literature and social media on Cork.
Cllr McCarthy noted: “for me the top of the hill it is one of the core viewing spaces of the city- for me I honesty feel that the green is taken for granted with rusty seats, graffiti, neatless paths, no information panels. The old Fever Hospital Steps are in a poor state as is Our Lady’s Well. The tourist offices and the branded Victorian Quarter are bringing more of a focus to lower St Patrick’s Street and St Patrick’s Hill. Everyday visitors to the city are making the climb to the top. It has the making of a great visitor attraction using flower beds and story telling the view. This area is the equivalent to the Spanish Steps in Rome. It should be given the landscaping it deserves”.
Question to CE:
To ask the CE for an update on the opening of Tramore Valley Park? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
Motions:
That the Council put in place a significant tree planting programme within the 2019 budget (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
At the meeting of the passing of the Morrison’s Island Part 8 it was tentatively agreed by some Party Whips that a review of the overall proposed OPW Lower Lee scheme be implemented. I am calling that a review be discussed again at a Party Whips meeting with a view to possible implementation (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)
My new book Cork in 50 Buildings aspires to celebrate some of Cork’s built heritage. The sunshine rays this summer lit up many of the city’s grey limestone and red sandstone buildings. Cork’s topography is made up of a series of alternative east-west limestone and sandstone strata. The limestone elevations of the St Anne’s Church Shandon face ‘limestone country’ to the south and west while the northern and eastern facades face traditional ‘sandstone country’. The colours of these materials have long been recognised as the colours of Cork.
Whilst researching the book, it struck me that much more research needs to be conducted on the nature of the quarries, the masons, on the architects, their work, and the symbolism they deployed on the outside and inside of buildings (much kudos to the Cork Mason’s Historical Society on their work).
Old geological studies of the city and region from the early twentieth century exist in local studies the City Library. These do offer insight into some of the quarries. The sandstone quarried had two varieties. The first and widely utilised was the Kiltorcan formation, green, grey and red at Brickfield Quarry, Sunday’s Well, and the Lee Road. A minor fine-grained sandstone was quarried at Richmond Hill and the Back Watercourse Road. The ordinary grey limestone that constitutes the chief building stone of the city, especially for public buildings was worked in numerous quarries around Ballintemple and Blackrock and at Little Island and Midleton. They were also quarried for lime burning to create fertiliser and road mending.
In 1792, when Beamish & Crawford was first established, William Beamish resided at Beaumont House, which was then a magnificent period residence situated on Beaumont Hill. During their tenure at Beaumont House the philanthropic spirit of the Beamish family was well known. The name Beaumont is the French derivative of Beamish meaning a beautiful view from the mountain or a beautiful view. The mansion house continued to have an association with the Beamish family until the 1850s. The house was eventually demolished and since 1968 Beaumont National boy’s and girl’s school (Scoil Barra Naofa) stands on its site.
In the Beamish estate, the famous 120-acre Carrigmore Quarry was opened sometime between 1830 and 1850. The particular high grade of limestone associated with this quarry meant it was widely used in the construction of quay walls, bridges, churches, banks and other public buildings within Cork City. This rock is filled with minute fossils, and these, on account of their crystalline character, weather more slowly than does the amorphous material surrounding them, and thus one gets a beautiful veined appearance.
There is quite an extensive network of caves at the eastern face of the quarry. These caves were first explored in the 1960s by the Cork Speleogical Group and a further survey was conducted by the British Cave Research group in the early 1970s. Some of the cave wall passages were found to be abundant in lower carboniferious fossil sea shells and crinoid steams.
In Cork in 50 Buildings, it intentionally opens with an account of St Finbarre’s Cathedral to reflect on its myriad of stone types and symbolism. In early December 1865, the Cathedral Committee adopted limestone in place of red sandstone in the walling. Red sandstone from the Brickfield quarry in Glanmire was used for invisible walling and for the foundation while limestone quarried from Ballintemple was used in the main structure. Bath stone was used for the rest of the internal dressings. The reddish columns are of Cork red marble. Robert Walker, the appointed contractor for St Finbarre’s Cathedral visited Storeton, in Lancashire, UK, and selected the stone of that quarry for the great piers.
The architect of the present cathedral William Burges was born in London on 2 December 1827. He was the son of a successful civil engineer. He was educated at King’s College London, where he spent five years. At the age of seventeen, he entered the office of Edward Blore as a pupil where he remained for three years. Edward Blore was an avid student of medieval architecture and was involved in the design of the Houses of Parliament of the time. By the end of his time with Blore, William Burges possessed a reputable knowledge and respect for medieval architecture.
The mosaic pavement of the apse was designed by William Burges and made by Burke & Co from Lonsdale’s cartoons in Paris. It is interestingly to note that Italian artists from Udine were employed, using marble segments, reputably mined in the Pyrenees Mountains, between France and Spain.
There were 1,260 pieces of sculpture planned for the cathedral and Burges personally designed each one. Mr Nicholls modelled everyone in plaster, except for the figures in the western portals and the four Evangelistic emblems around the rose window. Everyone was also sculptured insitu by R McLeod and his staff of local stone-masons. Great care was taken to make sure that every piece was of a high standard. This was a process that was to take a decade.
Steeped in folkore, the golden angel, the gift of William Burges adorning St Finbarre’s Cathedral is also an impressive addition. Put there to make one think of the heralding of the end of the world, it also highlights the deeply rooted connection with rich ecclesiastical history on the site.
Cork in 50 Buildings (2018, Amberley Publishing) is now available from Cork bookshops.
Captions:
962a. Beaumont Quarry, present day (picture: Kieran McCarthy)
962b. Postcard of St Finbarre’s Cathedral, early twentieth century (source: Cork City Museum)
962c. Cover of Cork in 50 Buildings by Kieran McCarthy
The Discover Cork: Schools’ Heritage Project is entering its sixteenth year. It encourages students to compile a project on any aspect of Cork history. It is about exploring and investigating local heritage in a constructive, active and fun way. Interested students can pick any topic on Cork’s local history 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 and short films of their area.
Co-ordinator and founder of the Schools’ Heritage Project, Cllr Kieran McCarthy noted that “The project is about thinking through, understanding, appreciating and making relevant in today’s society the role of our local heritage – our local history, our oral histories, our landmarks in our modern world for upcoming citizens. The annual workshops involve visiting circa 20 schools in Cork City with 25 hours of workshops given overall to classes. The workshops comprise showing students projects from previous years and providing a framework to work to and to encourage colour and creativity”.
The City Edition of the Project is funded by Cork City Council. It is also sponsored by the Old Waterworks Experience, Lee Road, Learnit Lego Education, Sean Kelly of Lucky Meadows Equestrian Centre, Watergrasshill and Cllr Kieran McCarthy. Application forms to express interest and participation have been sent to all principals and history teachers in Cork. Unfortunately due to recent back surgery for Kieran, the County Cork edition of the project will not run this coming school year. Contact Kieran at kieran_mccarthy@corkcity.ie for details or log onto Kieran’s heritage website www.corkheritage.ie
