CHURCH STREET DISASTER

MEMORIAL - CHURCH STREET DISASTER

PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART ON NORTH KING STREET PAWEL JASINSKI BROADSTONE PLAZA - GRANGEGORMAN GATE SAINT MICHAN'S CHURCH A WIDE-ANGLE VIEW MY NEW IMAC ARRIVED ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH STREET LIGHTING AS REPAIRED BY THE CITY COUNCIL WHEN IT RAINS LOOK FOR RAINBOWS WHEN IT'S DARK LOOK FOR THE PUB LADIESMAN HAIR AND BEAUTY SALON OPERATED FROM HERE PAINT-A-BOX TRIBUTE TO IMELDA MAY LOST 99 - STREET ART BY ARTOFASBESTOS SAINT PATRICK'S PARK BESIDE THE CATHEDRAL ICON FACTORY AND ICON WALK CONSTITUTION HILL IS NOT AS ATTRACTIVE AS IT SHOULD BE TODAY I VISITED THE TU CAMPUS - WAS GRANGEGORMAN COLLEGE CAMPUS CHURCH STREET DISASTER TWO STYLISED FIGURES WITH THE OLYMPIC FLAME - SPECIAL OLYMPICS MEMORIAL BY JOHN BEHAN A QUICK VISIT TO DUBLIN CASTLE SAINT AUDEON'S PUBLIC PARK - A QUICK VISIT ON A SUNNY DAY A 3D PRINTED PINK SCULPTURE IN DUBLIN CASTLE GARDENS - THE ARTIST IS JAM SUTTON BACK LANE NEAR CHRIST CHURCH CATHEDRAL FRANCIS STREET SEPTEMBER 2020 CROSSTICK ALLEY - CATHERINE STREET IN THE LIBERTIES OF DUBLIN LAMB ALLEY - WHERE THERE IS A SECTION OF THE OLD CITY WALL STRANGE COMBINATION OF IMAGES - RELIGION AND STREET ART CARMAN'S COMMUNITY HALL- AT CARMAN'S HALL IN THE COOMBE AREA OF DUBLIN ALL IS LOST - ALL IS NOT LOST KINGS INNS AT CONSTITUTION HILL - A JAMES GANDON BUILDING STATUE OF LUKE KELLY ON SLOUTH KING STREET - BY JOHN COLL ST STEPHENS GREEN 26 SEPTEMBER 2020 MAYBE SOMEONE DOES NOT LIKE GOOGLE STREET ART AT LIBERTY LANE - ONE OF THE LAST REMAINING GRAFFITI LANES CHARLEMONT PLACE - FROM THE TRAM STOP TO THE BOARDWALK AT LEESON STREET BRIDGE PENCIL SHAPED BOLLARDS AND THE FRANCIS STREET SCHOOL ZONE THE BRONZE COW DECIDED TO MOVE FROM WOLFE TONE SQUARE TO WOOD QUAY WHERE THE GRASS IS GREENER THE COOMBE MEMORIAL - THE DUBLIN LIBERTIES DUBLIN CASTLE IS LIKE A GHOST CASTLE - WHERE HAVE ALL THE PEOPLE GONE WELCOME TO THE COOMBE 29 SEPTEMBER VISIT TO NEWMARKET THIS WINDOW DISPLAY CAUGHT MY EYE - THE TIMBER YARD IN THE COOMBE EXAMPLES OF PAINT-A-BOX PHOTOGRAPHED 13 SEPTEMBER 2020 ST KEVIN'S CHURCH AND GRAVEYARD - CAMDEN ROW UNIVERSAL MUSIC GROUP AUNGIER STREET DUBLIN THOMAS STREET SEPTEMBER 2020
O'CONNELL MONUMENT IRISH VOLUNTEERS MONUMENT GARDEN OF REMEMBRANCE JIM LARKIN STATUE VERONICA GUERIN MEMORIAL MONUMENTS GARDA MEMORIAL GARDEN AT DUBLIN CASTLE CONSTABLE PATRICK SHEAHAN MEMORIAL KING GEORGE IV MEMORIAL STATUE OF COUNTESS MARKIEVICZ CHARLES STEWART PARNELL WELLINGTON MONUMENT IN PHOENIX PARK DUBLIN DIED AS THE RESULT OF ONE OF THE FIRST CAR ACCIDENTS PIANO MONUMENT MARINE TERRACE SPANISH CIVIL WAR MEMORIAL PLAQUES AT LIBERTY HALL HANLON'S CORNER DESTROVED IN AN EXPLOSION IRISH AMERICAN SCULPTOR 1874 - 1943 TALLEST STONE OBELISK IN EUROPE SEAN HEUSTON BY LAURENCE CAMPBELL 1916 MEMORIAL TREE IN MAYNOOTH GHOSTBIKE MEMORIAL AT CLANBRASSIL BRIDGE IN MEMORY OF DICKIE BIRD - A HORSE THAT SERVED THE CRIMEAN WAR STATUE OF LORD ARDILAUN IN ST STEPHEN'S GREEN WOFE TONE MONUMENT IN ST STEPHEN'S GREEN FAMINE MEMORIAL BY EDWARD DELANEY THE EARL OF CARLISLE - THERE WAS A STATUE HERE UNTIL JULY 1958 IRISH NATIONAL WAR MEMORIAL GARDENS ISLAND BRIDGE DUBLIN HENRY GRATTAN IN MERRION SQUARE PARK - BY PETER GRANT GEORGE WILLIAM RUSSELL Æ IN MERRION SQUARE PARK THE VERONICA GUERIN MEMORIAL BUST AT DUBLIN CASTLE ÉIRE 1798 MEMORIAL St. MICHAN'S PARK MEMORIAL PLAQUE AR THE RORY O'MORE BRIDGE WILLIAM CONYNGHAM - ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN THOMAS DAVIS STATUE AND FOUNTAIN BY EDWARD DELANEY - NO WATER TO BE SEEN CHURCH STREET DISASTER MEMORIAL - FATHER MATTHEW SQUARE ON CHURCH STREET WATER SUPPLY HAS BEEN RESTORED - THOMAS DAVIS MONUMENT DR ISAAC USHER MONUMENT - THE DOCTOR WAS ONE OF THE FIRST PEOPLE IN IRELAND TO DIE IN A CAR ACCIDENT MEMORIAL - FATHER MATHEW SQUARE THE COOMBE MEMORIAL - THE DUBLIN LIBERTIES SHEEHAN MEMORIAL ON HAWKINS STREET MEMORIAL FOR PAUL - ZU ZHANG WONG HE MADE THE FIRST HOT AIR BALLOON FLIGHT IN IRELAND FROM RANELAGH - MEMORIAL TO RICHARD CROSBIE
FATHER MATTHEW SQUARE [CHURCH STREET DISASTER MEMORIAL]

I suspect the few Dubliners are aware of what happened on Church Street in September 1913.

There is a little park in Church Street at Father Matthew Square which contains a plaque with details of "The Church Street Tenement Collapse" as well as an attractive monumental street-lamp which I like.

Father Mathew Square is a housing scheme for Dublin Corporation by the City Architect on site bounded by Church St, Beresford St, Mary’s La & N King St consisting of 4-roomed houses, 3-roomed houses and 2-roomed houses. Tenders invited, Dec 1914. Work started in August 1915.

Tuesday 2 September 1913. At about 8.45pm two houses, Nos 66 and 67, collapsed. The rubble fell across the width of the street as far as the door of the Father Matthew Hall on the other side.

Later evidence to the coroner’s inquiry stated that there had been a rumbling noise, after which No. 66 collapsed suddenly, followed soon afterwards by the fall of No. 67. All seven who died in the tragedy had lived in No. 66, a four-storey building in which 26 people had lived. One of the inhabitants, Mr Sammon, who survived the collapse, told reporters the heroic story of how his son Eugene had died: ‘Eugene took the youngest child (Josephine), aged one year and eight months, and brought her out safely. Then he went back for the other children, and got out with them alright, but it was when he was coming away with Elizabeth that they were struck by the falling masonry and killed’.

Hugh Salmon worked at Jacob’s biscuit factory and was a member of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ and it should be noted The Church Street Disaster happened only days after some of the worst disturbances of the labour strikes of 1913, which saw the deaths of two men during a baton charge by the Dublin Metropolitan Police.

It appears that the chimney gave way, crashing through the house as it fell and pushing the front wall out into the street. Immediately following the collapse of the two houses, a great cloud of dust enveloped the scene, and for some time it was not possible to see the magnitude of what had just occurred. Soon units of Dublin Fire Brigade arrived at the scene and took control of the rescue work. By now the street was dark, except for some dim street lamps. Numerous lighted lanterns and candles were held aloft by a body of willing assistants. Throughout the night rescue workers pulled the bodies of the injured and dead from the rubble. The next morning the sun shone brightly, and only then could the full magnitude of the damage be appreciated.

Fifteen people were trapped in the rubble: six died, and at least seven were seriously injured.

Those killed were Hugh Sammon (17), Elizabeth Sammon (4½), Nicholas Fitzpatrick (40), Elizabeth Fagan (50), John Shiels (3), Peter Crowley (6) and Margaret Rourke (55).

An inquest held into the collapse revealed that the Dangerous Buildings Inspector had examined the houses at the beginning of August, and ordered that immediate renovation work be carried out. In a follow-up visit on 15 August, the Inspector passed the buildings as safe, although he admitted to the Coroner's Court that he could not see whether a new supporting beam had been fitted because it was blocked at the time. The Church Street disaster was not the first time tenements had collapsed, but the numbers killed and injured were unparalleled.

MEMORIAL - CHURCH STREET DISASTER 001
MEMORIAL - CHURCH STREET DISASTER 002
MEMORIAL - CHURCH STREET DISASTER 003
MEMORIAL - CHURCH STREET DISASTER 004

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

You will find links to buy products from Amazon, Google and other partners. If you click on these links, you’ll find that the URL includes a small extra piece of text which identifies that the click came from my websites. This text is an affiliate code, and it means that I get a small percentage of the money you spend if you choose to buy that product, or, in some cases, other products from the site soon after. These affiliate links help pay the costs of producing my websites and ensure that the content is free to you.