James Street and The Cork Examiner, 1850 - 1860

As previously discussed, the street was an active, if poor, one, in the period from the establishment of the Cork Examiner to the beginning of the Great Famine, and on until the mid-point of the 19th century. In today's post we will have a look at the newpaper evidence for the activity going on there in the next decade: 1850 to 1860.

1850s...

August 1853: Encumbered Estate of the Landers sold

James Street plays but a minor role in this 1853 excerpt from The Cork Examiner, but it is a nonetheless interesting insight into the real and tangible effect of the 1849 Encumbered Estates Act (the first of Ireland's Land Acts). This act allowed for the sale of estates in Ireland which were mortgaged...in an effort to ease unrest among the Irish population in relation to absentee landlords and high rent in the wake of the Great Famine. In this instance, the large estate, centred at Grange near Douglas, of the Lander family, was to be auctioned. This estate also included premises elsewhere, including a lot at James Street. It is unclear which James Street premises this advert refers to, at this juncture.

October 1853: Disposal of property including a piece at James Street

Perhaps as a result of the same Land Act and the rising rent and land price that it created in some areas, another absentee landlord with interests at James Street and the surrounding areas, looked to sell on in October 1853.

31st October 1853: Catherine Thomas throws out night soil on to James Street, up in court

 In one of my personal favourite records of James Street, a Catherine Thomas, living at the corner of James Street (so no. 1 or no. 12), was up in front of the judge for throwing out 'night soil' on to the street at the hour of 9am. Presumably the throwing out of the offending substance was not the issue, but rather the time, and the fact that 'the men' (presumably Corporation workers) had to clean the street twice since 9am. Such laws seem to have been similar to those from other parts of the British empire at the time. More info on this in an Australian context can be found here.

31st January 1855: Horgan packs up the cornmeal business

 Having been declared insolvent some ten years previous (see previous blog post), it appears that Daniel Horgan gave the corn-brokering business one more shot at nearby Great George's Street (now Washington Street), but by January 1855, he was ready to pack it in for good, selling his premises as a going concern. He is already listing himself now as a coach-maker, so has found another calling in life, a calling which we will see further on in this decade gets a boost from those in high places.

19th February 1855: The melancholy demise of Mr Kelly, of James Street

 A tragic incident of a former resident of James Street, a Mr James Kelly. It appears that he was 'let go' from Mr John Steele and Sons Vulcan Iron Works on Great George's Street (now Washington Street) sometime during this year, and died as a result of the hypothermia/exhaustion experienced by him while walking back from Limerick in the snow. He was within ten miles of his former home. It appears that Mr Steele's works were associated with a type of foundry movement well-known across Britain and the United States, having originated with the Industrial Revolution: Wiki. Located originally on Lapps Quay, it appears that Mr Kelly worked at a subsidiary at Washington Street.

25th April 1855: Sullivan vs Sweeny - a theft at a James Street boarding house

 A sad case all around really here: a young  woman by the name of Catherine Sullivan, from Baltimore in West Cork, was residing in a lodging house at James Street in April 1855 (of which there were many at the time), while waiting on a passage to Liverpool and on to the US with two children to whom she was related. While there, she alledged, and was upheld, that the money in her possession for the passage to America was stolen from her by Sweeny, the owner of the lodging house. We can only hope that she made her way to the US, as the number of Catherine Sullivans going through Castle Garden immigration centre in the US is so large, and without a ship name or date of departure, we can only speculate on their records.

19th April 1858: Jeremiah Madden praised for carpentry work for the Corporation

30th April 1858: Madden wastes no time in advertising his new specialisation!

 The above two notices in the Cork Examiner show a change in fortune for the enterprising Daniel Horgan of 2 James Street. After leaving the corn-brokering industry, likely due to draconian laws and lack of demand, he is now being touted by the Corporation as the go-to coach-maker in Cork City. He appears to capitalise on this endorsement by taking out his own advertisement some eleven days later, to boldly declare his intention to commercially manufacture such carts from his premises at James Street (near the new Court-house!).

4th August 1858 - Mrs Nash's estate gives bequest to local policeman for maintaining sanitary conditions

An act of benevolence on behalf of the late Mrs. Nash, presumably a widow from the street (not recorded in the street directory of the time), to the policeman Morrissy in gratitude of his attention paid to the sanitary conditions of the street (I can't help feeling this is connected back to poor Catherine Thomas and her ilk, for throwing out their night-soil!).

25th July 1859: Complaints of the state of the pathways around James Street

From the 1850s, it appears the conditions of the poorer areas of Cork City were more regularly spoken of on record and discussed at committee level in the Corporation, subsequently being published in the Cork Examiner. This instance refers to the allegation made by Mr Daly, the member of Corporation for St Peters parish, with a cutting remark inferring that should the area be wealthier, they would be allowed much speedier attention (he is clearly right, as the works needed at South Mall were promised for the next Monday). Alas, the situation has not much changed!
Another interesting point about this excerpt is the reference to Goggin's Hill Stones....this refers to the stones quarried from the Goggin's Hill area of Ballinhassig, and brought in to be used in the city. Brickworks and quarries were numerous in Ballinhassig and neighbouring Ballygarvan since the 18th century until the mid 20th century, with the stone and brick used worldwide (particularly that from Ballinphellic).

In 'De Paper': James Street at its worst and best, through the pages of the Cork Examiner

Although the civil, religious and other state records which make up the backbone of James Street's history tell us so much about the inhabitants, workers and businesses present on the street during the last few centuries, sometimes the everyday happenings can be lost. One main way of trying to fill in this important gap in our knowledge of the street is through newspaper articles, and where better to look for such articles than Cork's own newspaper, what was then The Cork Examiner, now the Irish Examiner.

Much of the entries into this newspaper include court reports, police notices, and advertisements, all small pieces of a larger jigsaw, microcosms of Irish society at the time of writing. In this post, they will be discussed chronologically and set in context, where possible, with the civil records.

1840s 

20th September 1841: A political assault

The article concerns an assault during which a Conservative, Mr Exham, is chased down James Street by a number of people and attacked. Presumably this is the court report for an incident which happened during the general election of July 1841, in which the Whigs gained a narrow victory in Cork City (Wiki Link). A history of the Exham family in Cork is available from this source.

26th December 1842 - Two men at court for indecent assault at James Street

Another assault case is reported on here, in this case a pair of men and brothers, Thomas and Hugh Ruby, who set upon one Hannah Nagle on James Street as she was approaching her own lodgings. A horrific tale, it also hints at the somewhat unsavoury nature of at least one of the buildings on James Street at the time being of 'ill repute'.

2nd April 1845: Daniel Horgan, James Street, declared insolvent.

This record for one David Horgan's insolvency is an interesting one - perhaps a reflection of the onset of the Famine, and/or the impact of the eroding Corn Laws. These Laws protected local producers from cheaper imports by not imposing trade tarriffs on corn. However, by 1844/45, opposition to this had grown and many called for the repeal of the law. In early 1846, the law was repealed: Wiki on the subject of Corn Laws. It seems Horgan was not declaring insolvent with no money, as he can be found in the trade directory of 1844/45 as a coach maker, and continued trading on the street, being a tenant there still in 1853.

14th October 1844: A letter to the Wide Street Commissioners

This impassioned plea to those involved in the Wide Street Commission in Cork to address the condition of the footpaths and streets around James Street. His point on social classes resident on the street is interesting - he implies that those living on James Street are semi-abandoned by the City Corporation due to their economic status and somewhat lower-paid workers.

8th March 1847: Corn again on the menu at James Street!

Just three years after Horgan had bowed out of corn brokerage at James Street, a Mr Burke is found to be advertising corn for sale at a premises at Great George's Street (now Washington Street) and James Street. Note that this fare now includes imported, Indian meal, as a result of the repeal of the Corn Laws!

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to be continued....

Populating the past, getting to know the neighbours....who lived on James Street?

At the core of this project are the people: the owners, businessmen and women, the traders, the lodgers, the children...all of whom have made up the community of James Street since the late 18th century.

In order to find these people and trace their origins, inward and outward movements to and from the street, and to track their fortunes, we must firstly look to the historical documents. Much of these have been digitised and available online. Patience, and much time, will yield the researcher the reward of a snippit of historical information. All of these snippets merge to forma the bog picture of life on this street, indeed in this city, during the 18th, 19th and 20th centuries.

Below is a collation of references within historical documents...with noted continuation highlighted in coloured format. The documents used include:

1787 - Lucas' Cork Directory link
1809-10 - West's Cork Directory link
1824 - Pigot & Co's Munster Directory link
1844-45 - Aldwell's County and City of Cork P.O. General Directory link
1853 - Griffith's Valuation link
1863 - Laing's Cork Merchantile Directory link
1871 - Fulton's City of Cork (& Queenstown) Directory link
1875-76 - Guy's County and City Directory link
1901 - Census of Ireland  link
1911 - Census of Ireland link
1913 - Guy's County and City Almanac and Directory link

This collection represents the raw civil data for the street, and provides a research framework to build on. Further information is to be gathered from religious and other sources, in order to enrich the picture, and a 'zooming in' of several interesting findings will be detailed in forthcoming blog posts. In the meantime, here is the current progression chart.

 


Link to progression sheet as a .pdf file

Mapping the street

Before we delve into the occupants, tenants, businesses and activities which have shaped James Street since its inception, it is worthwhile considering the street as a geographic, cartographic entity. The first representation of the street is much different than what we see today, or even by the 1840s. Beaufort's 1801 map of Cork records James Street only three decades after its establishment. Prior to the laying-out of Washington Street (then Great George's Street), and the establishment of the courthouse nearby, Anne Street and the then-named Coburn Lane (now Courthouse Street) extended south as far as Hanover Street, and indeed this block of streets and lanes looked much different.

Beaufort's 1801 map of Cork (c) Cork Past and Present/City Library

James Street is but a small piece of the Cork urban jigsaw, a side-note in the annals of Cork city. This is reflected in its rudimentary entry in the 6" Ordnance Survey map of the 1840s, where the shaded block denotes occupied buildings for James Street , some of Courthouse Street, Anne Street and Nile Street:

6" O.S. Map (c) O.S.I.

Around ten years later, the Griffiths Valuation, a land survey conducted throughout the country, included James Street in its maps. Here we see a somewhat changed urban landscape: the plots between James Street and Washington Street (then Great George's Street) have extended, narrowing the Anne Street junction and regularising the main thoroughfare. The top numbers in each plot denote the number which corresponds with the valuation, and the bottom numbers denote the actual house/premises number, i.e. the street numbers for James Street begin at its north-east corner, at the junction with Courthouse Street.

Griffiths Valuation map (c) AskaboutIreland

The 25" Ordnance Survey map of the late 19th century shows James Street retained much the same layout since the Griffiths Valuation map, the only tangible difference being the addition of pavements in the surrounding streets, likely a result of the increasing market trade and subsequent growth in traffic from incoming carts and horses. This led to the need to separate pedestrians and keep them safe from collision.

25" O.S. Map (c) O.S.I.

...and to the present day. Below is a modern street map of the area, with James Street denoted simply by the term 'street'...clearly an error, that unfortunately makes the street appear to be a part of Gravel Lane. When compared directly to the 25" map above, little change can be observed, except some alterations of inner yards.

Modern street map (beta) (c) O.S.I.

Previous maps, with the area in which James Street is located marked as 'Fenns Marsh', as well as other maps related to Cork City can be viewed at Cork Past and Present.

Historical O.S.I. maps can be viewed at www.osi.ie.

Why James Street?

A stroll through this small street, located in Cork City's Marsh area, may not immediately inspire you to imagine this place as a well of historical information on life in Cork since the late 18th century. Nowadays, this narrow street serves as home to a number of individuals, and as an access area for much of the retail units which front onto Washington Street, which runs parallel, to the immediate south.

However, scratch the surface of this city thoroughfare, and there is a wealth of information regarding the local history and heritage of the area. The most obvious evidence for this is probably the date plaque (above), located at the south-east corner of the street, at the Courthouse end. This stone plaque indicates a date for the establishment of the street as being 1767, a time which correlates with a general period of improvement and street creation in Cork (more info).

Restored stone facing

   

Apart from this date plaque, a number of interesting features of the buildings and street found at James Street can reveal a number of trends in local and regional architecture from the 18th century to the present day.

These features include original and renovated stone walling and brickwork, individual quirks of design and engineering.

Original stone facing, with ornamental brickwork

A particularly interesting entrance way at no.6, with ornamental iron-work.

A mixture of old and new - restored stonework and more modern concrete facing.

A recessed ornamental house number tile

Decorative wrought iron work

An example of 19th century roofing - with a curved top line

19th or 20th century brickwork evident underneath the modern pavement - likely as part of a street drain