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ST FINBARR’S CEMETERY IN CORK

May 13, 2023 by infomatique

THE MAIN STRUCTURES

I made three attempts to visit and photograph this cemetery. The first time I got the wrong bus and ended up miles away and had to wait an hour for a return bus. The second time I had to abandon the session because of a thunder storm. The third time the rain held off for about forty five minutes.

St Finbarr’s Cemetery, which opened in 1868, is the largest cemetery in Ireland outside of Dublin. The keeper’s house (office) is inside the gate to the left. Inside the graveyard there are two small churches (Catholic and Protestant) that were built when the cemetery was first opened and were used for funeral services for a time.

The freestanding cruciform Roman Catholic mortuary chapel was consecrated in 1867. This chapel, designed by Sir John Benson, has a Hiberno-Romanesque influence, most evident in the round tower to the north elevation. The use of basalt stone for a building is very unusual in this part of the country and the polychromatic use of the paler limestone with the basalt results in a distinctive character and appearance. The scalloped slate to the roof and decorative cast-iron rainwater goods are examples of the type of architectural ornamentation favoured during this period. Although very similar to the Protestant chapel in the cemetery, this building displays subtle differences such as the location of the entrance porch and round tower.

SOME OF THE DERELICT BUILDINGS REMAIN

May 7, 2023 by infomatique

RICHMOND STREET SOUTH

I refer to the street as South Richmond Street rather than Richmond Street South. In case your are wondering about it there is a North Richmond Street but it is on the North Side of the city (O’Connell Secondary School is located there).

When I was young I visited the street once a week as it was home to the Caroline Record Shop a few years later I opened my own record shop in Bray County Wicklow and then moved on again to work for Memorex (magnetic tapes) in California.

A number of years ago I mentioned South Richmond Street was at the same time interesting and ugly mainly because there were so many buildings that are derelict or in very poor condition. Some of the derelict buildings have gone but the street has not become less ugly.

The 1837 Ordnance Survey map showed one building on the western side of Richmond St. (excluding property belonging to the Portobello Hotel), which corresponds to no. 34, which was the Caroline Records shop (closed in 2003).

The hotel at the nearby harbour was opened in 1807 (the architect was James Colbourne). In 1858 it was taken over by a Catholic order of nuns, who used it as an asylum (St. Mary’s) for blind girls. A few years later they successfully appealed to the Guardians of the South Dublin Union for some finance (it cost £10 to keep a girl for a year), though the Irish Times in an editorial frowned upon this proselytising by “Romanists”, while they lauded the efforts of the Protestant-run “Home for Orphans” at 7 South Richmond Street (which advertised frequently for “fresh souls to save” in the same newspaper).

Ten years later the Asylum was sold to a Mr. Isaac Cole, who renovated it and returned it to its original function as a hotel, to accommodate 100 persons. It was popular among officers visiting the nearby Portobello Barracks (who would occasionally pop across South Richmond Street to the Grand Canal Tavern for a drink) and claimed it was the nearest hotel to the Royal Dublin Society grounds. However, it was slow in providing catering facilities – in 1871 a Rathmines businessman, in a letter to the Irish Times, lamented the absence of restaurants in the neighbourhood, and enjoined upon Mr. Cole to provide same, preferably a two-course meal for two shillings (the price to include beer and punch).

A WALK ALONG WEXFORD STREET AND CAMDEN STREET

May 6, 2023 by infomatique

ALSO PHOTOGRAPHED THE BLEEDING HORSE PUBLIC HOUSE

ABOUT THE BLEEDING HOUSE PUBLIC HOUSE

Camden Street links Ranelagh/Rathmines (Dublin 6) to the southern city centre of Dublin via Wexford Street. It is divided into Camden Street Upper (southern end) and Camden Street Lower (northern end).

The name is likely derived from the Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden (1714-94). The fact that the street name first appears on maps in 1778 would rule it out as originating from his son John Pratt, Marquess Camden (1759-1840) who became Lord Lieutenent of Ireland in 1795. An attempt to connect the name to Saint Kevin (Old Irish Cóemgen) is regarded as spurious.

A prominent company located on Upper Camden St for over a century was Earley and Company (1861–1975). They were ecclesiastical furnishings and stained glass manufacturers and retailers. The firm was one of the largest and most prestigious ecclesiastical decorators both in Ireland and the U.K.

An intact Edwardian shop interior existed at number 39, Carvill’s Off Licence until the early 21st century. The Bleeding Horse pub is also a notable building, with a public house sitting on the site since 1648. It is mentioned in the work of Sean O’Casey, and both James Clarence Mangan and Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu were patrons.

There were two cinemas on the street: The Camden Cinema and the Theatre De Luxe. The Camden Cinema was located at 55 Upper Camden St., where the headquarters of Concern Worldwide is now located. It closed around 1912. The Theatre De Luxe was opened in 1912 by Maurice Elliman, a Jew who escaped the pogroms in Eastern Europe. The first building was designed by Frederick Hayes, MRIAI, and built by George Squire & Co. It was enlarged and rebuilt in 1920. The exterior was remodelled in Art deco style in 1934. It closed in 1975. The building is now a hotel, Hotel De Luxe, and a night-club.

I WALKED ALONG NEW STREET SOUTH AND CLANBRASSIL STREET

May 4, 2023 by infomatique

6 APRIL 2023

In 1953 all residents of Clanbrassil St. received a notice from Dublin Corporation that residences on the west side of the street would have to have 16 feet (4.9 m) removed from the frontage of the properties to make way for a new road. This proposal was constantly changed or deferred, so that in the 1960s and 1970s the street fell into ruin. One by one businesses, public houses and retail outlets closed up or were demolished, and that side of the road became a wasteland. By 1980 the road engineers had increased the amount of space needed to 60 feet (18.3 m), in order to run a 6-lane dual carriageway through the street, past St. Patrick’s Cathedral on to Christ Church Cathedral.

After protests and demonstrations by locals and sympathisers against the road, and intervention by the Taoiseach, Charles Haughey, work on the road eventually began in 1989. A 4-lane dual carriageway was constructed, flanked by new houses and apartments. The cost of the road was estimated to be £2 million.

Among the features destroyed by the road construction was the crossing known locally as the “Four Corners of Hell” (the junction of Patrick St., Dean St., New St. and Kevin St.), because there was a public house on each corner; and the well-known hostelry The Bunch of Grapes (formerly Fitzpatrick’s, constructed in 1739).

LEONARD’S CORNER

May 4, 2023 by infomatique

A PUB AND A LOCATION

Leonard’s Corner at the junction of the South Circular Road and Clanbrassil Street

Several notable junctions in Dublin city in Ireland still carry the name (usually unofficially) of the pub or business which once occupied the corner.

While this practice is not unique to Dublin, the pace of recent development in the city has meant that the original source of the name is more likely to have disappeared.