Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article, 9 January 2014

Cork History, Uncategorized

723a. Artists impression of Inniscarra Dam, Early 1950s

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 9 January 2014

“Technical Memories (Part 66) – A Model of French Industry”

 

Before Christmas, the column noted that the courses of the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute responded to industrial needs in the late 1940s and 1950s. Driven by the aspirations of the Marshall Aid fund, the Interparty government invested part of this money in technological projects. The Cork area witnessed a number of projects, the first of which was the Lee Hydro Electric Scheme. 

The Lee Scheme was 40 kilometres in length and over 22 kilometres wide. This was a colossal task, and necessitated years of minute planning, geographical surveys and preservation orders on. Detailed land acquisition records and newspaper documentation afford a fascinating glimpse into what must have been an enormous upheaval for the 200 families involved, many of whom relocated elsewhere as the valley was flooded and their homes were submerged. The archives of the ESB, which include documents and photographs from the time of construction, show the original valley and the processes of construction and transformation. There was significant interaction with the natural world of the Lee valley. At low water levels in the reservoirs, the ghostly remnants of a farming community can be viewed including ruinous houses, collapsed stone walls, half standing bridges, roads leading to the edge of the reservoirs, gate pillars, tree trunks and even the ruins of a paper mill.

The Lee hydroelectric scheme was to significantly change the face of mid Cork on a regional scale, creating new cultural and physical landscapes. The success of the enterprise depended on the effective deployment of manpower (650 personnel, many of them highly trained or skilled), both from home and abroad. The sheer scale of the project required a sophisticated infrastructure of housing, lodging, catering and entertainment as workers were drafted in from not only the Cork region but from all over Europe. The Lee Hydroelectric Scheme transformed the Lee valley by opening up new tourism opportunities for fishing, waterskiing, sailing and rowing, and by securing the future supply of clean and economical electricity and water throughout the Cork area and beyond.

In general the Lee Hydroelectric Scheme came twenty years after the start of the Irish Free State’s hydroelectric schemes on the River Shannon. The Irish schemes aimed to address the ever-growing need to provide an improved level of electricity service for existing customers, as well as the new demands created by an ambitious national programme for rural electrification.

An excellent book entitled, Ireland, Design and Visual Culture, Negotiating Modernity, 1922-1992 by editors Linda King and Elaine Sisson has a chapter by Sorcha O’Brien on technological progress in the Irish Free State. In the 1920s, the then government placed a huge level of focus on technology, specifically electrical technology. The harnessing of ideas of technology was a physical demonstration of the government’s nation-building efforts. It showed as Sorcha O’Brien notes “their political, legislative and organisational agenda, part of an ongoing ideological re-imagining of Irish national identity”. This was localised for the citizens of Ireland and found expression in local and national sites and objects plus patterns of engagement with such sites as hydroelectric schemes. With the Shannon Scheme it was decided to break away from British technical ideas and to use German approaches. German technology was seen as an agent of nation state building and as a model to create as Ms O’Brien argues the “Irish national interpretation of modernity”. Ardnacrusha is a typical example of German industrial building techniques in the interwar period. It is known for its pitched vernacular structures as well as the latest glazing techniques and steel frames as well as its qualities of progressiveness and construction.

Daniel Morrissey TD was appointed to the Irish Government Cabinet under John A Costello in 1948 as Minister for Industry and Commerce. Driving the Lee Scheme as an industrial project forward, the Minister sanctioned the scheme in 1949. The acquisition of land went ahead side by side with the other site prepara­tions. In December 1952, the ESB announced that the contracts for the main civil works in connection with the river Lee hydroelectric develop­ment had been placed. On the back of over 20 years using German engineers, that connection was changed as the horrors of German involvement in World War II were felt across Europe. The Irish State now adopted the French national industrial model as an agent of nation state building. However, the German connection was maintained as the firm of Voiths were contracted to complete the electrical engineering parts of Inniscarra and Carrigadrohid Dams.

From the early nineteenth century, France had grown as a significant industrial power. There was a dramatic industrialization expansion in the 1920s but this was torn apart by German occupation in 1940. At the liberation of France in 1944, the French economy lay in ruins after the Nazi occupation as well as the affects of Allied bombing and invasion. Much of its infrastructure (ports, roads, rail) was destroyed and unusable. There was a chronic housing shortage and industrial output was low. The future strategy for their government, in terms of structural reforms of certain areas of the economy, was a nationalisation of resources including its aerospace industry, its coalmines, Air France, gas, electricity and the main deposit banks.

To be continued…

Generations: The Story of the Lee Hydroelectric Scheme (2007) by Kieran McCarthy and Seamus O’Donoghue is still available in local Cork bookshops and on Amazon.

Caption:

723a. Artists impression of Inniscarra Dam, early 1950s (source: ESB Archives, Dublin)

Elizabeth Fort Heritage

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

I was delighted to be involved with the push to handover Elizabeth Fort from the OPW to Cork, which happened today.

Info below from my heritage website, www.corkheritage.ie

The star shaped fortification of Elizabeth Fort named after Queen Elizabeth I once protected an English garrison in Cork and became a distinct landmark in the immediate southern suburbs of seventeenth century Cork. Constructed in 1601, the fort protected the walled town of Cork from attack from Gaelic Irish natives and foreigners. It was a series of historic incidents that led to the building of such a structure. Firstly, the defeat of the Gaelic Irish Earl of Desmond in South Munster by English colonialists in 1583 and the subsequent forfeiture of his lands removed a primary keystone of the political system in Munster. Indeed, it is argued that it left Munster wide open to re-colonisation by Irish clans. Consequently, this led to the Queen Elizabeth I’s formulation of the plantation of Munster in 1585. ‘Planting’ Munster with English colonists provided a catalyst in increasing threats to security by Irish natives.

Plan of Elizabeth Fort, c.1603

By the late 1580s, there were calls throughout Munster for reinforcements to protect planters, which resulted in the arrival of several thousand English soldiers to the province itself. The plantation area comprised 600,000 acres, which were divided into plots of between 4,000 and 12,000 acres. In the late 1500s, several thousand English families arrived in Munster especially to avail of higher profits, which the plantations created. These families though were serving a higher landlord class. Among the most eminent landlords securing land in Munster at this time included Burlington, Cuffe, Boyle, Fenton, Perceval, and Orrey.

 

However, the security of the inner landscape was not the only problem, English colonialists had to deal with. A fear of a Spanish invasion gave priority of security to the coastal regions, particularly the southern coast. In the sixteenth century, a new type of improved fortification was developed to deal with changes in conducting warfare. Gunpowder had been in Europe since the fourteenth century but it was only in the mid 1500s that musket guns were developed. No longer was a large castle the safest place to be in warfare. Instead star-shaped fortresses were deemed the best defence. The distinctive star shaped plan was designed to provide flanking fire and to position artillery pieces. ‘Angle bastions’ were constructed at all of the enclosing walls of the fortress at the main corners. This enabled the fort’s garrison to concentrate its firepower on any attacking force in a thirty metre wide area immediately in front of the fort.  This art of fortification was rapidly developed in Italy in the first three decades of the sixteenth century and was based on initial designs by Giuliano Sangallo, an Italian military engineer in 1485.

In January 1590, the order was given by Queen Elizabeth I to construct star-shaped forts outside the town walls of each major Irish coastal walled town, in particular Waterford, Limerick, Galway and Cork.  In Cork, the harbour was deemed important to defend but the construction of any new forts was delayed by the continuous rebellions of native Irish against English conquest and colonisation in Ireland. In 1599, a new Lord President of Ireland, Sir George Carew was appointed to quell the native rebel Irish factions and he was well known for his ability to deal with such situations. After the Spanish attack on Kinsale in 1601, it was decided by Carew that Cork harbour would have to be immediately defended. A new star-shaped fort was constructed on Haubowline Island in the harbour and a new fort was constructed called James Fort (after James I) in Kinsale Harbour. In addition, in 1601, a star shaped fort was constructed at Cork, which was located just outside South Gate Drawbridge on a cliffside that overshadowed and protected the southern road leading into the walled town, now known as Barrack Street. The first fort was called Elizabeth Fort (after Elizabeth I), a name, which has remained to the present day. In 1601, the fort was an irregular work of stone, timber and earth. This fort was garrisoned by October 1602 even though it was unfinished.

Plan of Elizabeth Fort, c.1626

The fort was erected on top of a rock outcrop and early representations of the fort show that it was an irregular fortification in design with stone walls on three sides and an earthen bank facing the walled town. To enter into the interior, one had to cross a drawbridge through a portcullis gate and past a gate-house. Facing the walled town, a natural cliff provided protection whilst the other three sides, a dry moat cut into the rock and was crossed only by a drawbridge at the entrance. The entrance was further protected by a gate tower and portcullis and a gate tower. None of the original fort can be seen today.

In 1603 as a result of Cork’s refusal to honour the crowning of the Catholic King James I, the fort was attacked by an unnamed faction of rebel Irish figure, who considerably damaged the main structure, stole its guns and brought these arms into the town. Nevertheless due to the presence of the Lord Deputy of Cork, Lord Mountjoy and his forces, they seized the city and made the citizens unwillingly rebuild the fort. The new structure received the name “New Fort” and was more improved than the last edifice. The building began circa 1624 and the old drawbridge was substituted with a causeway, a mound of earth and a more elaborate gateway on the eastern side, most of which was replaced. None of the second fort can be seen today.

In 1649, the ramparts or the defensive walls were made higher to what can be seen today; a height of nearly eight metres above the ground level. The extra height was in order to deal with the rebellious factions of Irish. By 1690, about two hundred English soldiers were employed to run the garrison. Twenty-one cannons were located around the top of the fortification, which meant that at least eight men had to man one cannon.  In 1690, there were five distinct out-shots or bastions that could be seen associated with the high limestone walls. Four men had to operate the firing of the cannon while four men had to guard its artillery such as cannon balls.

In the seventeenth century, the English government classified Elizabeth Fort as a defence work of great strength. It was designed for all round defence, while each of the bastions was capable of acting independently as a “last ditch” strongpoint. The bastions on the southern side were considerably stronger and larger than those bastions on the northern side, indicating that the designer was well aware of the vulnerabilities of the fort. A strong effort had also been made to strengthen the entrance side. Here a double wall, double gateway and associated tower, fifteen metres in height could be seen. Today, the double walls and entrance can still be seen with the tower long gone. The foundation of the fortress, which was solid rock also ruled out undermining.

Reconstruction of Elizabeth Fort, c.1690

Reconstruction of Elizabeth Fort, c.1690

 The Siege of Cork in September 1690 tested the strength of the fort immensely. In short, Irish rebels, supporters of James II, possessed Elizabeth Fort and the English had to dominate at least two tall adjacent buildings, Red abbey and St. FinBarre’s Cathedral to rain down shots on the Irish in the area in order to attain a surrender. It is unfortunate that much of the documentation describing the layout and rebuilding of the fort from 1719 to the present day has been lost. All that is known is that the encompassing star-shaped bastion remained unchanged. It is known that in 1719, Elizabeth Fort became a British military barracks and catered for seven hundred men. This caused the ramparts to be thinned, in order to make extra space for a new barracks to be built. In 1806, due to the construction of a new Barrack’s to the north east of the city (now Collin’s Barracks), the barracks within Elizabeth fort altered to that of a Female Convict Prison. Samuel Lewis, an Irish historian in the early half of the 1800s related in1837 that there were 250 inmates, brought from all parts of the country. Many of these were housed here until ships became available to convey them to other British colonial outposts, in particular New South Wales.

Eizabeth Fort and environs, 1759

In the late nineteenth century, Elizabeth Fort was used as a station for the Cork City Artillery Militia. In 1920-21, the fort was occupied by the Royal Irish Constabulary and handed over to the Irish government. A year later in 1922, it is known that the existing interior buildings of the fort were burned down by Anti-Treaty forces during the Irish Civil War. The walls and bastions of the fort were undamaged. A few years later, a Garda Station was set up in the interior of the fort and today is still in operation. Elizabeth Fort remains one of Cork’s most historic gems. Never been excavated, Elizabeth Fort has a wealth of stories waiting to be discovered and to be told.

 

Plan of Elizabeth Fort, 1869

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 19 December 2013

Cork History, Uncategorized

 722a. European Marshal Aid poster, c.1950

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 19 December 2013

“Technical Memories (Part 65) – Marshalling a Future”

 

In 1949, the principal J F King retired at the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute. He had reached the 66 age mark. He was replaced by James Barry for a short time. At the annual inaugural mass to mark the opening of the Cork City Vocational Schools at St Finbarr’s Church of the South Chapel, Mr Barry was in attendance. The Cork Examiner lists the members of staff present by their surname – Cornelius Murphy, P J Hurley, J C Aherne, J A Kerrigan, Miss M O’Mahony, Miss H Hennessy, Miss K O’Sullivan, T Glavin, P M McDonald (Mechanical and electrical engineering), S J Bennett (Elect. Eng.), T O’Sullivan, T Murphy, T E Urell, P Lane, W Cleary, P J Cleary, P J McSheehy, C J O’Mahony, Terry Layton, M Kelleher, P McCarthy, C O’Riordan, W Beecher, Mrs A Quinn, S Clayton, E Mansfield, R Hurley, Miss J Kelly, E F Casey, J O’Beirne, Miss M O’Halloran, Miss H M Healy, Mrs H J Hill, C Collins, Miss E Barrett, Miss M F O’Farrell, Miss E Buckley, Mr M Black (If anyone knows more about these individuals, give me a call, 087663389).

The following year, 1951, Mr Ted Murphy was appointed principal. The archives of the VEC remark that he was from Montenotte Park. He received his early education at St Patrick’s National School and at the North Mon. He subsequently was a student of the Crawford Tech. In 1927, he became a part time lecturer at the Tech and a senior whole-time one in 1932. In 1935 he obtained the Ceard Teastas Gaeilge whilst in 1940 he entered the Physics Department in UCC pursuing a four year course in a BSC Honours degree. He took experimental physics as his major honour’s subject with mathematics. After graduation, Murphy helped as a part time demonstrator in experimental physics at UCC. He was also an examiner in engineering for the Cork Harbour Commissioners, the Department of Education, Lockeed Aircraft Corporation and Irish Shipping Ltd.

Between 1949-1951 Ted Murphy and his staff witnessed a change in Irish government twice, which altered the educational needs of the country. Although World War II had ended several years earlier, rationing continued and massive inflation plagued the economy. Fianna Fáil’s defeat in 1948 came because the other parties in the Dáil, led by Fine Gael, joined together to form an Inter-Party Government (1948-1951). Led by John A Costello as Taoiseach, his government declared Ireland as a Republic and will be remembered for the controversy surrounding the Mother and Child Scheme, designed by the Health Minister Noel Browne. Significantly during their short time in office, they did take over the negotiation from Fianna Fáil to attain funds from the Marshall Plan. Bernadette Whelan’s book, Ireland and the Marshall Plan, 1947-57, elaborates that The United States initiated the Marshall Plan, or the European Recovery Program, in 1947 to try to foster growth in the postwar European economy to make it self-sufficient. The American vision for Europe was multilayered. It was in America’s self-interest to support its best customers to recreate enough prosperity to be able to buy American goods again.

By the time the program was ended more than $13 billion had been sent to Europe in grants or loans. The coalition government headed by John A Costello, which came into office in early 1948, seemed to regard the aid program as a way to finance purchases and improvements not otherwise affordable – that this was a way to create a modern, out-ward-looking, export led economy. Seán MacBride, the Minister for Foreign Affairs saw the numerous meetings in Europe and the United States as opportunities to procure international support for ending the separation of the Six Counties from the rest of the country. The end result was that Ireland obtained $128 million in loans, $18 million in grants, and $1.25 million in technical assistance, as well as appropriating “counterpart funds” through its own budget to parallel the monies received. These funds were used both to purchase American goods, otherwise not obtainable because of the dollar shortage, and for costly capital improvements within Ireland.

An examination of Dáil Éireann records released on 6 July 1950 reveals that the goods received from the United States of America under Marshall Aid during the year ended 31 December 1949 totalled $63,929,000 in value. A sum of $14, 351,000 was spent on foodstuffs from wheat to tobacco (408,331 tons of food) and $49, 518,000 spent on non edible materials. Top of the latter list iron and steel materials and products amounted to $1,645,000, electrical apparatus at $429,000, construction equipment at £514,000, industrial machinery at $979,000 and motor vehicles and parts at $899,000.

Where the Marshall aid didn’t provide all monies for industrial development, it did kickstart the country in developing industrial policies and related jobs education programmes. The Cork City and harbour region in the 1950s witnessed the creation of four large industrial projects, two developed by the ESB – the Lee hydroelectric scheme and the Marina plant; then there was Whitegate Oil Refinery and fourthly Irish Steel Ltd on Haulbowline. 

 

To be continued…

Kieran’s new book (with Dan Breen), West Cork Through Time, is now available in shops and on Amazon. Happy Christmas and New Year to all readers of the column.

 

 

Caption:

 

722a. European Marshal Aid Poster, c.1950

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town 12 December 2013

Cork History, S.E. Ward Local History, Uncategorized

 

721a. Poster advertising the Innisfallen, c.1950

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 12 December 2013

“Technical Memories (Part 64) – Electrifications and Emigrations”

 

Opportunities in engineering materialised further in the late 1940s, notably through rural electrification. In County Cork it was introduced officially on 23 December 1947. The Cork Examiner related that by throwing a switch at Curraheen, Henry Golden, a director of Electricity Supply Board, brought light to 100 houses in the Inniscarra area. This was the first rural electrification scheme to be put in operation in County Cork. Rural electrification had become a reality in Kerry a day earlier at Ballymacelligottt, four miles from Tralee.

When Mr Golden operated the Cork switch (which was on a pole), a lamp on the pole was lit and bulbs in nearby houses glowed in the “gathering darkness”. Thirty-two more houses were to receive their electric current supply soon after Christmas, and by March 1948, the 750 houses, which had contracted to take the supply in this area had the benefits of electricity. The switching-on ceremony at Curraheen followed a function at Inniscarra Hall, where the Inniscarra Branch of Muintir na Tíre, sponsors of the electrification scheme in this area, were hosts. Professor J Lyons, UCC, Chairman of the Regional Council of Muintir na Tíre, presided and extended a warm welcome to Mr Golden and Mr J Ware, district engineer of the ESB. He noted that “they had learned from history books and ballads of the dark and evil days in Ireland in the past. Freedom and liberty had come to Ireland in our time, and now the darkness was being removed from the lives of the people who lived in the rural areas”. Professor Lyons continued to highlight that electricity would make life “in the home more enjoyable and enable the farmer to get more work done in the short winter days”.  It would also bring the necessary power needed for rural industries.

Great credit, Professor Lyons noted, was due to Muintir na Tíre for what it had done in paving the way for the ESB. He praised the work of the Mr P Moriarty, a national school teacher, from Clogheen, and Honorary Secretary of the branch. In addition, William Roe, national engineer-in-charge was praised as the man who had selected this area to be one of first to be electrified in rural Ireland. The final speaker was Mr Moriarty of Muintir na Tíre who stressed that the whole effort had been a co-operative one. They hoped in the future to get a scheme for rural craft going and intended to start a rural industry. They were in communication with a firm, which was interested and which might supply materials, and the people to train home workers, as well as selling the finished products.

The end of the war also led to new engineering opportunities for ship owners. On Friday 12 December 1947, Mrs F P Hallinan, wife of the Chairman of the Cork Harbour Commissioners, launched the new MV Innisfallen for the Cork-Fishguard at Dunbarton. She noted; “I name this ship Innisfallen, May God care and keep all who travel in her”. A bottle of champagne then hit the bow of the new vessel, with the tricolour on the foremast.

According to the Cork Examiner, the new passenger-cargo vessel had been built at the yards of Messrs Denny and Brothers, Ltd, Dumbarton, Firth of Clyde, for the British and Irish Steampacket Co., which operated the City of Cork Steam Packet Co. (1936) Ltd. This was the third Innisfallen. Her predecessor sunk at the mouth of the Mersey in 1940 after she had given excellent service between Cork and Fishguard for over ten years. The first Innisfallen was lost during World War I.  The new vessel was built expressly for the direct Cork-Fishguard service. She took up her station in the early summer of 1948, a thrice-weekly run in each direction. A unique feature of the new vessel was a stabiliser, which would prevent rolling in bad weather. This would be the first vessel running between Britain and Ireland to have a stabiliser. In addition as World War II caused the loss of more than B & I vessel, it hastened developments in ship construction and aids to mariners. One of the most important of these was radar which the new vessel possessed.

The new Innisfallen had a green coloured hull and cream upper works, departing from the old black and white colour scheme of the City of Cork Steam Packet Company. The Innisfallen had accommodation for 950 passengers, with first class berths for 193 passengers and third class berths for sixty passengers. The cargo capacity was in the neighbourhood of 700 tons, and for the conveyance of perishable goods there was refrigeration between decks aft plus space for the conveyance of motor cars aft. Another feature of the design was that in the lounge and smoke room the lighting and ventilation fittings were combined, leading to a simplification of the architectural treatment of the ceilings. In the deluxe cabins and the forward sections of the first class accommodation, thermostat control was installed for individual adjustment of room temperature.

To be continued…

Kieran’s new book (with Dan Breen), West Cork Through Time, is now available in shops and on Amazon.

 

Caption:

721a. Poster advertising the Innisfallen, c.1950 (source: Cork City Library)

Kieran’s Question to the City Manager and Motions, Cork City Council Meeting, 9 December 2013

Kieran's Council Work, Uncategorized

 

Question to the Manager:

 

To ask the manager when will the Fireman’s Hut, formerly on St Patrick’s Street, be located in Fitzgerald’s Park? (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

 

 

Motions:

 

To fix the faulty lights at the junction of Skehard road and Church Road Blackrock. When pressing the button for walking across the road and when the green man indicates it is safe to cross on the chemist side of the junction, there is still a green light showing on the Skehard side of the junction allowing cars to carry on, which has caused a couple of near misses (Cllr Kieran McCarthy).

 

To seek a second ‘lollypop’ warden for Eglantine National School on Eglantine Park due to the large numbers of children crossing over the road at that location (Cllr Kieran McCarthy)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 5 December 2013

Cork History, Uncategorized

720a. Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, Blackpool, 1940s

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 5 December 2013

“Technical Memories (Part 63) – Graceful Places of Beauty”

 

If anything in 1945 there were opportunities that existed in the city for potential builders, architects and engineers who were studying at the Crawford Municipal Technical Institute. For example on 8 October 1945, the solemn blessing of Cork’s new Church, the Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin took place. It was a gift of William Dwyer TD of Sunbeam Wolsey to the North Cathedral Parish.

Affectionately known as ‘Dwyer’s fire escape’ (from hell), the dedication ceremony, as described in the Cork Examiner, was performed by Bishop Daniel Cohalan and was followed by Solemn High Mass at which there was an overflow congregation. Following the blessing of the outer walls, there was a procession of the clergy into the church, where the ceremonies included the blessing of the surrounding of the High Altar and the interior walls. The foundation stone had been laid previously in the year on 10 January. A special choir of eighty voices under the conductorship of Philip Ó Laoghaire, gave a highly praised rendering of Palestrina’s Miss Brevis. The Choir was composed of the some of the workers of Sunbeam-Wolsey, assisted by the Gaelic choir of the Cork Municipal School of Music. The sermon was delivered by Fr R J Dalton CC of SS Peter and Paul’s who spoke about its “architectural grace and beauty” and a church where one “may come to rest and pray, to forget the worries and the hates that embroil this turbulent world”.

Addressing the congregation at the close of the church ceremonies, Bishop Cohalan recalled that the older church of St Nicholas, which the 1945 structure replaced had been built by the late Nicholas Mahony of the well known Blarney Woollen Mills. St Nicholas’ was constructed in 1895 by adapting the Blackpool National School building, which then moved to Brocklesby Street. Bishop Cohalan noted that this was the second occasion on which thanks to the generosity of “an industrialist”, the people of Blackpool had been presented with a new place of worship. He also referred to the presence of the Lord Mayor and City manager and the creation of new housing by the Corporation in Spangle Hill, which created a growing population who used the new church.

A luncheon was given afterwards in the Presbytery of the Cathedral of the North Cathedral.  The health of William Dwyer was proposed by Bishop Cohalan who noted that William “was one of the city’s great figures who because of his own talents, push and flair for business created a wonderfully successful industry in the city. Mr Dwyer in reply said that a great deal of the credit was due to the large numbers of people of Blackpool who were his employees; there were three essentials to church-building he noted –“a bag of money, a bag of nails and a bag of patience; it was due to the people of Blackpool that he had the first of these”.  Mr Dwyer then paid tribute to Seamus Murphy, the sculptor and E P O’Flynn, the builder. He also thanked Mick O’Callaghan, the general foreman.

A later Cork Examiner article describes how the Church of the Annunciation is constructed of concrete blocks, stipple plastered inside and out. There is an 80 ft bell tower and two smaller towers that form the transepts. The stained glass, including the impressive crucifix, sanctuary windows and the picture gallery of Our Lord (Nave windows) are by Harry Clarke Studios in Dublin. The tabernacle, lamp, candlesticks and other brasses were designed by Seamus Murphy and made by Gunnings in Dublin.

The design of the stonework in the church is mostly by Seamus Murphy. His other works include: The Annunciation panel over the front door; The Annunciation tablet on the exterior side wall; the Dwyer plaque in the porch; The baptismal font originally at rear of the church, now near the altar; The holy water fonts in polished black limestone; The Main Altar depicting corn and grapes; The Children’s Altar depicting the Holy Family; and Our Lady’s Altar depicting a crowned angel and foliage. The most striking stonework in the church includes the Madonna and Sacred Heart Statues on either side of the main altar. The Sacred Heart is in Portland stone with a marble base and was added to the church in 1947. It is 6ft high. The Madonna was in the church in 1945 but was located on Our Lady’s altar and is signed “Seamus Murphy 45”.

Meanwhile in the city centre, fundraising was ongoing at St Augustine’s Church. A bazaar to raise funds was held on the 19 December 1947 in the Clarence Hall in the Imperial Hotel. The new church replaced an earlier one built on a back street in Penal times. The present church structure was dedicated in 1944 but took several years to build due to World War II. The lack of raw materials such as steel and stone for building existed. Stone had to be attained from the blown up remains of a stone viaduct in Mallow. The church was designed by Dominic O’Connor and it took seven years to construct, but when work discontinued in 1944, the planned 250 ft (76m) tower to the east was excluded.

To be continued…

Kieran’s new book (with Dan Breen), West Cork Through Time, is now available in shops and on Amazon.

 

Caption:

720a. Church of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin, Blackpool, 1940s (source: Crawford Art Gallery, 2007)

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town, 28 November 2013

Cork History, Uncategorized

719a. The Viaduct, Ballydehob, c.1900

Kieran’s Our City, Our Town Article,

Cork Independent, 28 November 2013

“Technical Memories (Part 62) –Engineering Success”

 

Following on from my recent column on Cork in 1945 and promoting the new book West Cork Through Time book, the announcement of the re-opening of the branch railway lines in the winter of 1945, which were closed during the war was received with positivity.  Providing access between West Cork and Cork City for the general public including visitors and farmers was the Cork Bandon and South Coast Railway line. The Cork-Bandon line opened to the public on 6 December 1851. The Cork terminus was on Albert Quay, which had three passenger platforms, a carriage storage area, and sidings into the Cork Corporation’s stone yard and into the corn market. The Cork-Bandon Railway Project was an enormous undertaking. The main parts included; the longest railway tunnel in Ireland at Goggins Hill; the Chetwynd Viaduct; a short tunnel bridge under old Blackrock Road near the Albert Quay Terminus; 21 cuttings, 19 embankments and 15 road bridges. The Bandon terminus is now the offices of the Bandon Urban District Council. 

Between 1852 and 1894, a further 25 engines were acquired by the railway company.  Between 1851 and 1893, the mileage of the West Cork line, extended from 25 to 94 miles. Many West Cork towns attained their own railway stations; Kinsale (1863), Clonakilty (1866), Dunmanway (1866), Drimoleague (1877), Skibbereen (1877), Bantry (1881),  Timoleague and Courtmacsherry (1890), Bantry Bay (1892), and Baltimore (1893). Several of the stations and platforms such as those in Drimoleague have survived since the closure of the line in 1961 (due to faster modes of travel such as buses and cars). Opened in 1886, the Skibbereen to Schull line had numerous problems from geological to mechanical issues. The terrain was a constant problem. The gradients and rough land meant that locomotives could only pull three of four times their own weight. This meant that engines like the “Gabriel” named after a mountain to the north of Schull, which started work in 1906 could only attain a maximum speed of 15 miles an hour.

An article on 1 December 1945 in the Evening Echo describes the re-start of the Schull and Skibbereen Light Railway whose re-opening was welcomed by many local people and visitors to the region. The journalist remarked of the scenery; “It is a charming country, which retains a quality of remoteness that is not due to its distances. Off the track of arterial traffic, it by no means suffers from isolation, but at the same time, gives an impression of being self-contained and self-reliant. This quiet distinctiveness and air of placid content constitute a good deal of the charm which visitors find there”.

The journalist writes about an efficient service but “unhurried, free of all business and very sociable”. He recalls his first trip over the line on a crowded summer’s day when an excursion ran the whole length of the line from Skibbereen to Schull, where a regatta was being held. The town of Skibbereen contributed its hundred passengers, and the small stations along the route added their own numbers. Beside the expanding Ilen river, the train went slowly and with “much gentle puffings”, enabled the passengers to have a fine panoramic view of the waters that host ‘Carbery’s Hundred Isles’. As the train gathered more passengers along the way, the little engine “panted more heavily, but made a brave, carefree, vigorous sprint wherever the line offered freewheel facilities”. At Ballydehob, the wide expanse of Schull harbour, Dunmanus Bay and the farther waters of Bantry and Berehaven could be viewed. On this heavy excursion train, every available unit of the passenger carrying rolling stock was pressed into service. Even the guard’s van was filled to overflowing and scores of passengers carried scores more, in terms of children, on their knees. Gallantly the train tried and gallantly it failed.

Determined to take a steep gradient after Ballydehob, the crowd on this day cheered and then a tense silence followed as the “heavily labouring locomotive, ground its way upwards, its puff-puffs becoming slower and more sobbing in tone”. “She’ll do it!” some of the passengers noted hopefully; others shook their heads. Heaving nearly reached the crest of the gradient, there came to the strained ears of the crowded coaches “one mighty sobbing puff that failed to double itself into a puff-puff, and with a hissing of futile steam the train came to a standstill. There were no bitter comments, no reproaches, and if there was disappointment, it was softened by a sympathy for the engine that had tried and failed”. It was agreed that the gradient and the trainload created a position that was unreasonable and unfair to any engine. The train reversed back into the station. A couple of coaches at the rear were swiftly uncoupled and left behind, while the rest of the train went off, taking the gradient “without one faltering breath”. Later the locomotive retraced its journey, gathered up the rest of the train, and after warning blasts of the whistle proceeded with any lingering and remaining patrons to Schull.

West Cork Through Time by Kieran McCarthy and Dan Breen is available in any good Cork book shop and on Amazon. It is published by Amberley Publishing, UK.

 

Caption:

719a. The Viaduct, Ballydehob (source: Cork Museum)