CORK CITY AND COUNTY

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Cork City And County

EXAMPLE OF RED METAL SCULPTURE ON THE CORK UNIVERSITY CAMPUS

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A RED METAL YOKE

Is it my imagination or is there a certain ‘sameness’ about much college campus sculptures.

About twenty years ago I heard a young child refer to a red metal sculpture as a “red metal yoke” and I decided to use the term myself. In Irish slang, the word ‘yoke’ doesn’t have anything to do with eggs. Instead, it’s another way of saying ‘thing’. So if someone in Ireland sees an object that they’ve never seen before, they might ask, ‘What’s that yoke there?

In 2015 I spent three days in Cork and it rained most of the time and I had to abandon my plans to photograph the University campus because the rain got so heavy that I ended up photographing raindrops.

In 2016 I decided to spend five days in the city assuming that that it was unlikely that it would rain for five days without stop. As you may have guessed, it did rain every day but as there were many extended dry spells the weather did not impact on my photography. I did, however, have a problem with dust on my sensor. I discovered that there was a large object attached to the sensor and I was unable to remove it but it only obvious under certain conditions. Further investigation leads me to believe that the debris was there since my 2016 visit to Belfast.

Previous years I walked from location I walked from location but 2016 was the year that I began to use the bus service which I found to be good. I got a lot advice from the bus drivers as to what I should photograph and how best to get to the locations in question.

My most recent visit was May 2023 and it did rain every day but there were many extended periods of really pleasant weather which allowed my to explore and photograph parts of the city that I had never visited before.

GEOWAVE VOYAGER LATER RENAMED EAGLE EXPLORER IMO 9381299

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AT CUSTOM HOUSE QUAY IN CORK JULY 2016

I photographed this in July 2016 but in November 2018 Oslo-listed seismic acquisition specialist SeaBird took took delivery of the Geowave Voyager seismic vessel, fully rigged with 40 kilometers streamer and dual source. SeaBird had agreed to buy the vessel and equipment from $17 million from CGG.

Geowave Voyager is a 2009-built seismic survey vessel. It has a length of 90 m, a beam of 24 m and a dwt of 2,879 tonnes. It has capacity to tow up to 10 streamers and can undertake 2D, source and niche 3D, and node-laying work.

KENNEDY QUAY SECONDS BEFORE A THUNDER STORM ARRIVED

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EVERY TIME I VISIT CORK IT RAINS

I had planned to visit and photograph Custom House Quay after visiting Kennedy Quay but when I arrived at Kennedy Quay I had to shelter under some industrial equipment for about an hour because of an extreme thunder storm.

During its 400 year history, Kennedy Quay and its associated docklands have been the seat of commerce and trade for the City of Cork however the area has been in decline for many years.

Kennedy Quay still operates commercially and has a number of interesting features including a number of old buildings but there has been a lot of demolition work in the area since I first visited about twelve or thirteen years ago.

Last month Cork developer Brian O’Callaghan announced that a major development in the docklands area will include offices, apartments, healthcare facilities and retail outlets. The plans include the repurposing of the iconic red-brick Odlums building on Kennedy Quay, dating to the 1890s and extended in the 1930s.

OLD PHOTOGRAPHS OF CUSTOM HOUSE QUAY IN CORK

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AS IT WAS IN MAY 2011

The Custom House is located at the eastern extremity of Cork City’s centre island, where the north and south branches of the River Lee reconverge.

As you can see this area could be derelict back in 2011 and unfortunately there was no sign of any improvement when I visited in May 2023.

In March 2021 it was reported that planning permission had been granted for €150 million development incorporating Ireland’s tallest building. The 34-storey tower on the site of the former Port of Cork building on Custom House Quay will include a five star 240 bedroom hotel as well as food and beverage outlets along with a distillery in the accompanying commercial development. The planning decision followed an appeal by three parties of a decision by Cork City Council to grant planning for the project on October 13th 2020.

The Custom House is an early 19th-century building in Cork, Ireland.[7][8] Originally developed as a custom house and opened in 1818, the Cork Harbour Commissioners (later reorganised as the Port of Cork Company) took over the building in 1904. The Port of Cork Company vacated the building in early 2021.[10] The Custom House is, together with a number of other buildings on the same site, listed by Cork City Council on its Record of Protected Structures.

The Custom House is attributed to designs by Abraham Addison Hargrave, the eldest son (and partner in the architectural practice) of Abraham Hargrave the Elder.[12] Built between 1814 and 1818, the building was used initially by the Inland Revenue, having replaced an old custom house on Emmet Place, now part of the Crawford Art Gallery. It was built on “slob” land, which was reclaimed at a cost of £10,000; the building itself cost £70,000. In 1904, it became the headquarters of the Cork Harbour Commissioners, who took over the building on a 999 year lease.

The building was extended in 1906, with additions including a new boardroom, designed by William Price the then Harbour Engineer. This boardroom, with semicircular tables and upholstered chairs, was described in the Irish Examiner as “one of the finest examples of the commercial interior design of the time”. Originally the royal arms were on the building’s pediment, being replaced by the city arms in 1957.

As of 2021, the Harbour Commissioners had vacated the building, and a number of developments were proposed for the site. Aspects of the proposed developments, including the proposal to “largely demolish the Revenue Building” (a protected structure on the Custom House Quay site), have been the subject of some opposition, including by the Irish Georgian Society and An Taisce Corcaigh.

These photographs are old as they date from my 2011 visit to Cork City. I used a Sony NEX-5 which was my very first Mirrorless camera and it was the beginning of my switch over from Canon to Sony. The lens that I used was the 18-200mm supplied with the VG10E camcorder and it was much better than the kit lens supplied with the NEX-5. As a matter of interest I still have the NEX-5 and the VG10 which I still use.

The software available was primitive so I decided to se if the original files could be reprocessed and published online.

SAINT FIN BARRE’S CATHEDRAL IN CORK CITY

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PHOTOGRAPHED MAY 2011 AND REPROCESSED 15 JUNE 202

The church grounds are south of the River Lee on Holy Island, on one of the many inlets forming the Great Marsh of Munster. Saint Fin Barre’s is on the site of at least two previous church buildings, each dedicated to Fin Barre of Cork, patron saint of Cork city and founder of the monastic hermitage at Gougane Barra.

Finbarr was born in about 550. He was, by legend, given Gougane Barra as a place of contemplation, and visited Cork city to lay the foundation stones for the “one true Christian faith”. According to tradition, after Finbarr died his remains were brought to Cork to be enclosed in a shrine near the site of today’s cathedral.

Archaeological evidence suggests the first site at Fin Barre’s probably dates from the 7th century, and consisted of a church and round tower that survived until the 12th century, after which it fell into neglect, or was destroyed during the Norman invasions.

These images date from May 2011 and I used a Sony VG10E with a Sony E 18-200mm lens. The NEX-VG10 is a camcorder and while I like it (and still use it today in 2023) it does not offer RAW as an option which is a great pity.

I had planned to photograph the interior of the church but when I arrived I discovered that there was no public assess (because of repair work) and despite visiting the area at least once every year I never did get to photograph the interior.

I already visited Cork in May 2023 and as a backup had booked a hotel for four nights in August. I asked if I could change my August booking [which cost Euro 434] to May 2024 and was informed that it would cost an additional Euro 500 so I will not be visiting Cork in 2024. I have already failed to secure affordable accommodation in Belfast, Limerick, Waterford or Galway for 2023 or 2024 which is disappointing.

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