A short bus journey in Dublin 1966

This is an interesting video of a short bus journey that thousands take each day, except no shortcut down Grafton street!. The year is 1966 and  we travel from Stephen’s Green, through Suffolk Street on to Dame Street and College Green, up Westmoreland Street, across O’Connell Bridge and on to O’Connell Street.

http://www.euscreen.eu/play.html?id=EUS_63FC62EE4FFA43C48A7F4A9EE0A4DCCC

Nicknames for Dublin Statues and monuments

Recently the sculpture of Anna Livia designed by Eamonn O’Doherty has found a new home facing the Ashling hotel near Heuston station. It reminded me of some of the nicknames for it and others attached to various statues dotted around the city.  The excellent storymap video details some of these funny tags but some I can think of that are not included are:

Anna Livia: the whore in the sewer.

The Monument of Light(yep, real name for the Spire/Spike!): 1. The pin in the bin.  2. The stiffey at the Liffey 3. The stump in the dump 4. The poker near Croker

Molly Malone: 1. The trollop with the scallop. 2 The dish with the fish. 3. The flirt in the skirt.

Patrick Kavanagh: Banal at the canal.

If you think of any not included here or in the video do please contact me and I’ll put them up. Honourable mention to the nickname for the Dublin port tunnel, “the hole to the toll”.

Richmond Tower, Kilmainham Hospital

I always direct tourists looking for Kilmainham Gaol to take the more scenic route via the historic grounds of the old Royal Hospital. At the western entrance across from Kilmainham courthouse and gaol stands the impressive entrance, Richmond Tower. This structure was initially stationed at the foot of Watling Street bridge(or Rory O’More bridge,  Victoria Bridge, Eucharist Bridge, Congress bridge, Bloody bridge etc., take your pick!). Built in 1812 and designed by the architect Francis Johnston(1760-1829), it remained at the foot of Watling Street until the opening of Kingsbridge(Heuston) station and the southern railway in 1846. It was decided that due to increased traffic to remove the bridge to its present location at the expense of the railway. The tower includes the coat of arms of the Earl of Richmond and the Earl of Harrington but there was a curious discovery of another set of armoreal bearings! The architect Johnston had secretly incorporated his own family coat of arms behind a wooden box that was painted in colour to match, in the hope that in time they would be revealed as the wood would eventually rot. The Royal Hospital immediately requested a coat of arms promised to them by Sir William Betham(Ulster King-at-arms) and these were in place from 1847.

ref: http://hdl.handle.net/10599/3635

Dublin 1988

This film was narrated by Lar Redmond(author of Emerald Square), and involved two of the nicest Dubliners I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. Mick Mooney(R.I.P.) directed and produced this interesting video for the millenium in 1988,  with stills photography by the great Arthur Browne. It’s fascinating to look back on something that’s not that old to view the changes to Dublin since then:

The Story Of Dublin

I’ve found some nice books  online(out of copyright) and this one has some nice illustrations and information about many buildings and places in Dublin. “The story of Dublin” bu David Alfred Chart was published in 1907 as part of a medieval city series. It can be downloaded as pdf, on Kindle or other various formats. Available here:

http://www.archive.org/stream/storyofdublin00charuoft#page/n7/mode/2up

St Catherine’s of Alexandria, Meath Street

On Jan 1st 2012, I attended this church for the very first time, for a remembrance mass, and sadly the next day this historic church in the heart of the Liberties was extensively damaged due to fire. The present building on Meath Street dates from 1852 although there was a church foundation there from the late 18th century. In recent times the church remained open to the public every day from 7.30 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. and afforded elderly parishioners a warm place to go during the day as much as a place to worship. The church has long been associated with the commendable work of The Little Flower penny dinners. The church organ was incinerated in the blaze. It was one of the oldest working in Dublin and as early as 1873 there was a performance there of Haydn’s mass, The Imperial, featuring  Signors Urio and Perkin,  Mdll. Titiens and Madame Bettini.

The building was renovated in the 1930′s and around the church several busts of saints were placed, and unable to find a suitable impression of St. Kevin of Glendalough it was decided, rather strangely,  to place one of the republican martyr Kevin Barry(ref: rabble.ie)

The extent of the fire damage, estimated to take years to repair, can be seen in this picture by Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland.

Blanchardstown Flour Mills

Not straying too far for the next post. 119-122 Thomas Street is currently a mixed development of mainly apartments and retail units, and most people will know it as a Lidl supermarket. The buildings were redeveloped in the mid 1990′s to their present form. Archaeololgical finds from the site clearance at the time included medieval pottery, a ring brooch and a leather scabbard. Number 119 was said to have been one of the numerous addresses  which Lord Edward Fitzgerald used on Thomas Street in hiding before being finally captured at No. 151, which is now the I.A.W.S. building. 119 was formerly the site of the “Yellow Lion Inn” in the 19th century. Meetings were also held there when a new road was proposed to link the south circular road with thomas street but this never materialised. In the 1870′s the buildings were a gardening wholesalers(Messrs. Fay & Co.) before becoming the Blanchardstown Flour Mills, owned by Joseph Delany. Products included flours, wheatmeals and indian meals. The buildings narrowly avoided being destroyed in 1876 when a fire broke out at Messrs. Mercer, Kerr & Co., tea merchants housed at No.115. The fire brigade based at Winetavern Street had to borrow the fire escape from St. Catherine’s church across the road. By the 1920′s and 30′s a popular poultry product had emerged called Karswood Poultry Spice, which included ground insects in its ingredients. An advertisement from the time claimed a Mrs. Briggs “obtained over 4,000 eggs from 40 hens in 6 months”. Also in the 1930′s No. 119 was used as the St. Catherines’ branch of the Catholic Young Men’s Society from which trips to Lourdes were organised. The front facade of the building in the picture above still remains as seen from this recent street view:

http://g.co/maps/693aq

The Blanchardstown Flour Mills remained on Thomas St. throughout the 1940′s(workers there received an increase of 11 shillings in 1948 after a Labour Court Recommendation), and 50′s before Boileau & Boyd, wholesale and manufacturing chemists, took over the building in the 1960′s.