PHOTOGRAPHED DECEMBER 2023
The light was fading rapidly as I walked along Manor Street and it was almost dark by the time I got to Blackhall Place.
At its peak in the 1950s the Dublin Cattle Market, located on Prussia Street in Stoneybatter (nicknamed ‘Cowtown’), was the largest weekly livestock sale in Europe.
Apart from the striking artisan dwellings, the area is also known for its prominent Viking street names. For example, there is Viking Road, Olaf Road, Thor Place, Sitric Road, Norseman Place, Ard Ri Road, Malachi Road, Ostman Place, Ivar Street, Sigurd Road and Harold Road. At the time of the Norman invasion, the Vikings, Ostmen or Austmenn (men of the East) as they called themselves, were exiled to the north of the Liffey where they founded the hamlet of Ostmenstown, later to become Oxmantown.
The northern end of Stoneybatter derives its name of Manor Street, bestowed in 1780, from the Manor of Grangegorman in which it was located. During the reign of Charles II (1660-1680), the Manor was held by Sir Thomas Stanley, a knight of Henry Cromwell and a staunch supporter of the Restoration. The short thoroughfare in Stoneybatter called Stanley Street is named after him.