Thirty years ago in 1985, Ireland was gripped by the summer of moving statues. From Ballinspittle in County Cork to suburban Dublin, people gathered at religious monuments in the hope or belief that they would witness statues physically moving before their very eyes. While this story is well-known now, one aspect of the story has largely been forgotten. At Ballinspittle, where huge crowds and sections of the international media gathered over several months, the monument of the Virgin Mary was attacked with axes and hammers by a fundamentalist religious group from Dublin, leading to a high-profile court case, media appearances and a few broken windows in Clondalkin (more on that below!)

Irish Press (5 May 1986)

1985 in Ireland is perhaps best remembered for the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement at Hillsborough, as a year of much violence in the North and for the founding of the Progressive Democrats by Des O’Malley in the South. For many reading this however, it is perhaps a year best remembered for standing at roadsides and roundabouts.

Ballinspittle in Co. Cork, the centre of much of the media attention in 1985. (Image: Copyright Richard Webb and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence, via http://www.geograph.ie)

Ballinspittle, about 5 miles southwest of Kinsale, was to find its way into the pages of the New York Times and papers right across the world as a result of events there in July 1985. The first reports in the Irish media began to appear around 26 July, with reports of two local women claiming to have seen the statue of the Virgin Mary in the town moving, at a shrine that had been there since the 1950s. What was interesting is that the local Parish priest was in no hurry to endorse the claims being made, remarking that he had no comment to make. From small groups of local people, word spread throughout Munster in particular, and by 31 July the press were reporting that 5,000 people had shown up at the monument on a single night. The media jumped on all of this, but there had been claims earlier in the year, by schoolchildren in Kerry, that they had witnessed a Marian statue in their local church move. Fintan O’Toole, as a journalist with Magill, travelled to Kerry and interviewed some of those who had claimed to witness the Marian statue there moving, in a feature which was published before events at Ballinspittle. Now however, with what was allegedly happening in Cork, people took those claims more seriously too and this was seen as a chain of events.

Magill reports on the claims of a moving statue in Kerry. (Source: http://politico.ie/magazine/magill/1985-05-16)

The Bishop of Cork, Michael Murphy, issued a statement informing people that “direct supernatural intervention is a very rare happening in life, so common sense would demand that we approach the claims made concerning the grotto at Ballinspittle with prudence and caution. Before a definite pronouncement could be made by the Church all natural explanations would have to be examined and exhausted over a lengthy period of time.” This approach was similar to that which had been taken in Kerry by the church.

For the local economy at Ballinspittle, The Irish Times reported that “the shops and the two local pubs have been given an unexpected boost in an otherwise quiet tourist season.” One woman wrote to the newspapers noting that bus companies seemed to be making a killing bringing the curious and the faithful from right across Ireland, while it was reported one man got a telling off from the gathered crowd for opening his chip van directly opposite the shrine, something one journalist noted was found to be “unsuitable to the solemn nature of the occasion.” A local told a visiting American journalist that “Knock spawned souvenir shops and a partially-completed airport, why can’t we do the same?”

The story made the pages of the Wall Street Journal, and the paper quoted the Government press secretary Peter Prendergast as saying “three-quarters of the country is laughing heartily. In Dublin, the citizens are anxiously watching James Larkin on O’Connell Street to see if it will move.” The BBC sent a reporter from Newsnight (above) and a team of cameramen to Ireland. In the weeks that followed, people began claiming that similar scenes were occurring at shrines at Dunmanway and Courtmacsherry, while in Kilkenny, there were reports of over half a dozen locations where statues were ‘moving’, and there too the church urged caution and scepticism. There was an academic intervention from staff at the Department of Applied Psychology in UCC, who claimed that “people sway when standing still for a period of time and what they are looking at appears to move.” They called it the ‘Ballinspittle Phenomenon’. They claimed that it was an issue of light, as “the statue appeared to move only when it is dark.” In the North, Unionist Jim Wells of the DUP told the media that:

We find much of Roman Catholic doctrine repugnant… [we find it repugnant] that the Virgin Mary is regarded as a deity that can be prayed to, who can forgive sins and heal the sick and all that, that shrines which can supposedly move in Ballinspittle or wherever it is can delude thousands into believing that there are some magical powers. That is superstition of almost African tribal levels.

“Moving Statue No. 76.” A cartoon from Freedom News, a radical newspaper in Cork at the time. (Credit: Irish Left Archive, https://cedarlounge.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/freedom-news-cork-irsp-october-1985.pdf)

In October the statue at Ballinspittle was attacked in very dramatic fashion. In front of dozens of praying onlookers,three men wielding axes and hammers went to work against the monument.During the attack, one of those praying shouted that “you must be Satan to do something like this”, while one of the vandals shouted back “you are worse to be adoring false gods.” The men were arrested by Gardaí and the ensuing court case grabbed the headlines. The three men had travelled from Dublin with the aim of smashing the monument, and it was revealed that they were essentially evangelical Protestants of an extreme bent. The men called it ‘Operation Zero’, stated that their aim was “elimination of all false idols from Ireland.” One of the three stated “The statue at Ballinspittle only moved once – when I hit it. If it moves again I’ll be back.”

Magill magazine found the humour in events, noting that:

An angry local councillor, Dennis O’Reilly, who is a founder member of the Grotto Committee, said: ‘If we caught them they wouldn’t walk again. We should take the law into our own hands’.” – Irish Press, November 1, on the Ballinspittle massacre. Should the councillor make good on his threat of violence this would be the first known example of people coming away from a shrine on crutches. Also, why were the alleged perpetrators of the massacre not charged under the Offences Against The Person Act?

In court, it became clear that the leader of the men was Robert Draper. He described himself as a preacher of the Christian Faith Centre of Ireland, and a follower of Dr. Gene Scott, an American pastor and religious broadcaster. Draper was living in Clondalkin at the time, as was one of the other men, while the third was a CIE worker from Ballymun. Draper used the platform provided to put forward his own religious beliefs, telling those gathered that “all false idols must go”, and newspaper reports noted that he boasted that since attacking the monument he had “slashed the face of the statue of the Blessed Virgin outside the Catholic Church in Ballyfermot. As a Christian, Mr. Draper says his convictions force him to act against these images, which offend God.” The Irish Times noted that:

At his home in Clondalkin, the front windows has been boarded up since someone put a brick through them following the Ballinspittle incident. He has been getting some hate mail, but is unmoved by public opposition to his campaign against holy statues.

One of the three men covers his face leaving the courts (Irish Press).

Despite openly boasting of smashing the monument, and threatening to do so again, the men were not sentenced. Draper later went on Irish television and explained his actions in front of a hostile audience and a bemused Gay Byrne. In the United States, Dr. Gene Scott publicly disassociated himself from the actions of the men, describing Draper and his allies as “the most ridiculous association I have ever heard in a lifetime of confronting ridiculous things.” While Draper was acquitted in the Ballinspittle case, further attacks on religious monuments in the capital, including one at Quarryville in Clondalkin and another in Ballyfermot, saw him back in the courts. He was probably the only person surprised when he was sentenced in January 1987:

Irish Press, January 1987.

In 1990 The Irish Times said that “not a twitch has been observed in any statue recently”, though curiously it was claimed in 1997 that the statue at Ballinspittle was allegedly moving again, though it failed to draw the same numbers. On that occasion, it seems nobody from Dublin took it upon themselves to travel south with a hammer.

The summer of moving statues was parodied by the cult television series Brass Eye in the 1990s, where a statue of the Virgin Mary was said to be driving a car around rural Ballakreen:

(This was originally featured on our Facebook page which may have been missed by some of our readers. It was hugely successful with 372 likes, 60 comments and 114 shares)

There are close to 1,000 pubs open today in Dublin city and county. Of these, around 15 are part of an exclusive club. Known as Early Houses, these are public houses that were granted and still avail of a special licence (dating back to 1927) which allows them to open from Monday to Saturday at 7am. Regular pubs can start serving from 10.30am.

We’ve previously looked at the all-hours drinking culture of Bona-Fides, Kips and Early Houses in this article.

Originally these places catered for dock workers, market traders, fishermen, night workers and those attending early-morning fairs. Today the clientele is a little more varied and depending on where you go, you are likely to rub shoulders with wired shift-workers (postmen, nurses etc.), thirsty early risers, tourists who have landed into Dublin early and all-night revellers who have no intention of going to bed yet.

Brand New Retro recently scanned up a hilarious 2003 article on Early Houses from the legendary and must missed Slate magazine.

The Chancery featured in The Slate (2003). Scanned by Brand New Retro.

Since 1962, no new pubs have been added to the list and they are considered a dying breed. In 2008, the government put forward legislation to revoke Early House licences but they eventually decided to leave them as they are. For the time being anyway.

The 12 Early Houses left in the city centre are clustered on the Northside around Capel Street close to the old Markets and on the Southside around the Quays and Pearse Street area which would have the ports of call for dockers and sailors. See map below.

The Fisherman’s Bar, attached to The Waterside pub, in the Northside coastal village of Howth is the only early house in the Dublin suburbs as far as we know. There were early houses in Dun Laoghaire and in Bray Dart Station but they’ve since closed their doors.

Slattery’s on Capel Street is the only one that offers food and is unquestionably the place to go if you want a Full Irish breakfast and a pint at 7am.

The Dark Horse (which hosts a monthly ‘Breakfast Club’  for early morning ravers), The Chancery and The Capel are the most popular spots for the mad-out-of-it crew.

M. Hughes, due to its location, probably attracts more members of the legal profession than the other pubs.

Similarly the Galway Hooker in Heuston Station would be the natural spot for a thirsty traveller before he jumps on an early-morning train.

The rest of the pubs would normally be full of locals and regulars so a better place if you are looking for a quiet early morning pint but they probably won’t be too hospitable to Ebenezer Goode and a large group of his mates.

We’ve put together this handy map for locals and tourists who might find themselves looking for an early morning tipple :

Map of Dublin Early Houses. Credit – Sam (CHTM!)

Great find from the Irish Student Movement Research Project who originally uploaded the scanned document onto their Flickr page.

It’s a poster for three benefit gigs in September/October 1983 in aid of the Anti-Amendment Campaign. This wide reaching group unsuccessfully fought against the Eighth Amendment which introduced a constitutional ban on abortion in Ireland. Thirty-two years later and we are unfortunately still fighting to repeal it.

Anti-Amendment Music – Rock against the Referendum (1983). Uploaded by Student History Ireland Project.

The leaflet indicated that the ‘Anti Amendment Music’ sub-group had the support of many of the country’s leading musical acts including Bob Geldof, Paul Brady, Christy Moore and the Tokyo Olympics.

Ringsend’s finest The Blades also backed the fight and played a benefit gig for the campaign in September 1982. They, along with the Rhythm Kings and Some Kind of Wonderful, headlined the annual The Lark in the Park concert in Saint Anne’s Park in Raheny in July 1983. Illustrating the point well that these ‘on side’ bands were really at the top of their game when they helped the campaign out.

The poster offers an interesting snapshot into the Dublin music scene of a time featuring some of the leading gigging bands in three iconic venues. The first of which is now demolished, the second one completely unrecognisable and the last renamed.

On 30th September, Dublin funky reggae band Some Kind of Wonderful headlined the first gig in McGonagles (now demolished) on South Anne Street off Grafton Street. Support came from Max (featuring former members of the Soulmates and the New Versions) and pop music luminary BP Fallon. Other enticements to get punters through the door included food, wine and “video” (!)

Some Kind of Wonderful (nd). From ‘U2: Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every Song’ by Niall Stokes (2005)

On 9th October, pub-rock group the Rhythm Kings featuring Ferdia MacAnna (aka Rocky de Valera) played The Baggot Inn. The venue, which along with McGonagles was a crucial cornerstone in the Dublin live music scene for decades, has been completely refurbished and was reopened recently as a Mexican-themed bar called Xico.

On 14th October, stand-up comedian Billy Magra hosted a night in The Sportman’s Inn (now known as Kiely’s) in Mount Merrion. The Club Comedy nights, along with others that Billy ran in the Project Arts Centre and the Mansion House, helped develop the live stand up comedy scene in Dublin and played host to amongst others the late Dermot Morgan, Kevin McAleer, Michael Redmond, Ian MacPherson and Mannix Flynn (today an independent Dublin City Councillor).

If anyone has any more posters from ‘Anti Amendment Music’ gigs or related memories, please get in touch or leave a comment.

Thanks to Darragh Doyle and others, we now know more about the rumoured closing earlier this week of two landmark Dublin 8 pubs – The Lord Edward and Fallon’s.

Both floors of The Lord Edward pub will remain open but the upstairs seafood restaurant is closing its doors after 47 years in business. Fallon’s has recently been sold and may shut temporarily for refurbishment but they’re definitely not closing.

It’s as good a time as any to briefly look at the history of these two pubs.

Perched on the corner of Christchurch Place and Werburgh Place, the Lord Edward is a five-storey over-basement building, once part of a substantial terrace. Built in 1875, the former dwelling house was refurbished and reopened as a public house in 1901 by the Cunniam family. However, it is said that there has been a licenced premises on the site since the late 1600s.

The Lord Edward, August 1979. Credit – sergios56.

The ground floor lounge bar features gas lighting, a “confession box” snug, a mahogany and granite bar and a selection of antique bar fittings. The first floor cocktail lounge has a traditional beam ceiling and extensive stained glass. It was formerly the Cunniam’s dining room while the rooms above were bedrooms.

We can see from the 1901 census that 1 Werburgh Street was occupied by Thomas Cunniam (40), a “Licensed Grocer”, from Co. Wicklow, his wife Margaret (31) from Dublin and her mother Elizabeth Kenny (60), a “Green Grocer” from Wicklow. They had two children – Hugh (4) and Elizabeth (3) – and employed two Grocer Assistants, a cook and a nurse.

In the 1911 census, it would appear that the same Cunniam family are living in the house but there are some discrepancies in ages and names. Thomas Cunniam (47), a “Licensed Grocer”, from Co. Wicklow is listed along with his wife (now named) Anastasia (38) from Co. Wicklow. They have four sons and two daughters including Hugh (15) and Elizabeth (14) which match. The family employed two Vintners Assistants, a cook and a general servant.

The Lord Edward, nd. Credit – Fintan Tandy (Old Dublin Pubs FB group)

When the famous Red Bank restaurant on D’Olier Street closed in April 1969, the smart-thinking Tom Cunniam poached a lot of the now-jobless staff for his new Lord Edward seafood restaurant which opened in September of that year. Some of the staff that made the switch include chef Eamonn Ingram who trained in the old Russell Hotel and waiter Tom Smith who were both still working in The Lord Edward until 10 years ago at least.

The Lord Edward, c. 2014. Credit – Flickr user ‘fhwrdh’ via dailyedge.ie

In 1989, the Cunniam family sold the pub to Dublin-born businessman David Lyster and his wife Maureen who still own it today.

So while it’s sad to see the restaurant closing, we’re more pleased that the pub is unaffected.

Fallon’s, otherwise known as The Capstan Bar, has recently changed hands. As a result, the vast majority of the wonderful memorabilia (relating to football, local history etc.) has been removed from the now-bare walls. Staff expect the pub may shut temporarily for refurbishment (hopefully they’ll redo the toilets and little else) but they’re definitely not closing.

On a side note, we believe the Capstan in question refers to the British brand of cigarettes and not the nautical rotating machine.

Fallon’s, nd. Credit – Willie King (FB)

The premises occupies a prominent corner trading location fronting Dean Street and New Row South opposite St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It is a three storey red brick traditional style licensed premises which dates back to 1911 and is presented in its original form with many original features intact.

The history of a public house at 129 The Coombe certainly pre dates the 20th century as the legendary Irish boxer Dan Donnelly (1788 – 1820) was proprietor at one stage. Above the door today as you’re facing the entrance from Dean Street, the year ‘1620’ is written beside the Fallon’s name. Does this refer to when they believe the first pub was opened on the site?

Fallon’s and Paddy’s Ice Cream and Sweets, 1980. Credit – Dublin City Photographic Collection.

A recent property brochure describes the current premises as having a:

a ground floor bar with porch entrance, mahogany bar and back bar, snug and feature wood burning stove. The upper two floors contain the former residential accommodation which are in need of capital expenditure.

Fallon’s, 1991. Credit – Dublin City Council Photographic Collection.

Looking at the house (129 The Commbe) in the 1901 census, we can see that it was occupied by Agnes O’Gara (32), a “Grocer” from Dublin, John Groome (28), a “Grocer’s Manager” from Edenderry, Kingscounty (Offaly) and John O’Kelly (19), a “Grocer’s Assistant” from Monasterevin, Kildare.

Ten years later, the house was no longer a Grocer’s shop but the private home of the Brennan family.  Widow Bridget (46) with no occupation from Co. Mayo lived with her sons (both Office Clerks in  Dublin Corporation) and two school-age daughters. Two German workers employed as “skin cleaners” (aka skinners) , with very un-German names Paul Powell and William Hank, boarded in the house. They presumably worked in one of the nearby tannery or leather factories.

Fallons, 2012. Credit – FlickR user William Murphy.

It’s a wonderful little pub and we sincerely hope the renovation isn’t too drastic.

Any historical information or anecdotes about either pub? As always, please leave a comment.

Sources:
Lord Edward feature by Rose Doyle (The Irish Times, 02 Apr 2003)

The Proclamation first read aloud by Pearse on the steps of the GPO on Easter Monday is a document synonymous with Easter Week and the birth of the modern Irish State. Widely accepted to have been composed by Pearse himself, there remain very few physical copies in existence.

Though it was intended for 2, 500 copies of the Proclamation to be printed in Liberty Hall and distributed around the country, it is likely that fewer that 1, 000 actually were, and these were entrusted to Helena Moloney for transport to the GPO. Seán T. O’Kelly, the second President of Ireland would from here take these and billpost them around the north and south inner city. The paper upon which they were printed was of poor quality, so very few remain. Fewer still exist of a facsimile of the Proclamation issued by the Irish Citizen Army for the first anniversary of the Rising in 1917 of which there is believed to be a sole surviving copy.

The Proclamation in full, from typefoundry.blogspot.ie

The responsibility for printing the document lay with Michael Molloy and Liam O’Brien, two Volunteers, and Christopher Brady who had until now overseen the printing of ITGWU Weekly, “The Worker’s Republic.” Compositor’s and printers by trade, these men were approached by James Connolly in the run up to Easter week and asked to forego the planned parading of Volunteers in St. Anne’s Park on Easter Sunday morning and to instead meet him in Liberty Hall for a task he had prepared for them. Upon arrival, Connolly and Thomas MacDonagh, also present, handed them a sheet of paper with the words of the Proclamation inscribed upon it and remarked “Do if you wish to, and if not we won’t be the worse friends.” All three accepted the job.

As the men launched into their work, it became obvious that they would not have enough print to finish the job. The machine upon which they were to perform their task, an old Wharfdale Double- Crown machine upon which the Irish Worker was printed was wholly inadequate for the task at hand, the paper of an inferior quality, and print for the machine severely lacking. Different fonts had to be used, (the wrong font for the letter ‘e’ is used in over twenty instances,) many letters had to be fashioned out of others (in several cases, a capital ‘E’ was made from fashioning the type out of a capital ‘F’ and adding wax,) and eventually the men realised they would not have enough type and would simply have to borrow some more.

Irish Press, Tuesday April 24th, 1934.

The type was borrowed from an Englishman named William Henry West, a printer whose premises were located on Stafford Street. Following the tradition of Wolf Tone, the protestant revolutionary who Stafford Street would eventually be named after, West appears to have been sympathetic towards the cause for Irish Freedom. Census returns for 1911 list West as 41 years of age, with an address at Brigid’s Road Upper, Drumcondra. His job title is “Letterpress Printer” and his religion is given as “Cooneyite.” Cooneyism was an offshoot of a home based church movement known as the “two by twos” which gained some traction in Ireland in the late 19^th and early 20^th Century in Ireland. It was known as an “itinerant” religion and its lay people called “tramp preachers” due to the homeless and destitute nature of their calling.

West was printer of choice for the ITGWU and appeared twice in the courts alongside Jim Larkin. In January 1913, he appeared as a co-defendant with Larkin in a case in which Mr. William Richardson was claiming a sum of £500 after allegedly having been libeled in the Irish Worker. In September of that year, he appeared in a bankruptcy case involving himself, with the creditor bringing the case again him the same Mr. William Richardson, still looking to eek out punishment for his alleged libeling. In examination of his firms accounts, William Henry West had listed the ITGWU’s debt as a “bad debt,” or one which he deemed unrecoverable. West’s examination by the prosecution is below:

Mr. Larkin owes you £227 for the printing The Worker- isn’t Mr. Larkin the proprietor of The Worker?

He is, and he owes me £227.

Have you put that down as a bad debt?

Yes, because it is a bad debt.

Why?

Because I cannot get it.

Can you not recover it from Mr. Larkin?

I wish you could show me how. (laughter)

Has Mr. Larkin refused to pay the amount?

Well, he cannot pay.

He refused to pay?

No.

Did you ask him for it?

Of course, often. But he can’t pay what he hasn’t got.

You know that Mr. Larkin is Secretary of the ITGWU?

Yes, I have heard so.

And can you not recover this amount by suing him for it?

Do you think I would do that, when he’s my best customer? (laughter)

The case also makes reference to debt owed by other organisations, including the Labour Party and a drama class at Liberty Hall, and asked whether he could not sue for payment, to which he replied “I don’t believe in suing, I’ve never sued anybody in my life,” again to laughter.

The Witness Statement of Commandant Liam O’Brien states that on Easter Sunday, upon realising their shortage of type, Michael Molloy was ordered by Connolly to West’s printers along with a messenger and Citizen Army man employed by the Worker’s Republic who was known to him by the name ‘Dazzler.’ West provided the type, under the auspices that it was to be returned to him intact or compensated if lost- it was his livlihood after all. Of course, this wasn’t to be as Liberty Hall was first, pounded by shells from the Helga, and gutted by fire. When entered by British soldiers after the fighting had died down, they found the second half of the type still on the machine.

What happened to West after Easter Week, I can find no reference. But his is another story of the many from the Rising. The English protestant printer who supplied the type for the Irish Proclamation.

McGarvey’s tobacco shop, popularly known as ‘An Stad’, was a guesthouse and meeting place at 30 North Frederick Street. It was a popular meeting place for the Irish nationalist and cultural movements in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and was described in the press in 1903 as “the centre of Dublin Gaeldom.”

Michael Cusack, founder of the GAA. He was a familiar sight in An Stad. (Image: NUI Galway Archives, http://archives.library.nuigalway.ie/cusack/)

Amongst others, it was frequented by James Joyce, Major John MacBride, Oliver St. John Gogary and GAA founder Michael Cusack. Harry C. Phibbs, who was a member of the Celtic Literary Society, remembered that “McGarvey’s place was truly a stopping place for anyone interested in the Irish Revival Movement to drop in, meet some other people, know what was going on. It was conveniently located to Rutland Square where many of the societies and branches of the Gaelic League had meeting places.” Cathal McGarvey, who founded the business, was a well-known humourist and song writer, indeed he penned the words to ‘The Star of the County Down.’ Oliver St. John Gogarty, who lived conveniently close to An Stad, recalled of him and his establishment:

There was a great atmosphere of nationality gathered about the Stad. It was a good place to slip out to at night, for one who lived about fifteen doors away, and to talk about the revival of Gaelic. Even if few people talked to me there was always Cathal, who was too civil and too much of a business man not to talk to anyone while waiting for a revival of the nation.

Phibbs remembered years later that Michael Cusack cut something of an unusual shape in the establishment, and that “one of the people who would occasionally wander in was ‘old man Cusack’, a bearded old stalwart who called himself ‘Citizen Cusack’. He always carried a green muffler around his neck and Wielded a heavy blackthorn stick.”

Major John MacBride, whose presence in An Stad was noted by intelligence police (Image Credit: South Dublin County Council Libraries)

Police intelligence files from the early twentieth century reveal that McGarvey’s was closely monitored by intelligence. When Major John MacBride returned to Ireland from Paris, having fought in the Second Boer War with the ‘Irish Brigade’, it was noted by police intelligence that he frequented McGarvey’s, in the company of known ‘Secret Society’ men, a reference to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. MacBride was a well-known figure in Irish society for his exploits in South Africa, and had lectured in America to enthusiastic audiences on his fight against the British there, telling the media in New York that “‘Winston Churchill may say what he likes about the war in South Africa being over, but I tell you the war is not over. The Boers will fight just as long as there is a man, woman or child alive.” Following his U.S speaking tour, he had married Maud Gonne in Paris, but the marriage was a brief and unhappy one, leading him back to Dublin. Among the men spotted with MacBride at An Stad were Arthur Griffith (founder of the Sinn Féin party)  and veteran Fenian John O’Leary.

At the time of Cathal McGarvey’s passing, it was noted in the press that the  visitor books would surely become a hugely important historic resource. Having begun in 1990, and continued until about 1905, the books “contain entries of interest by every Irish-Irelander of note who lived in Dublin between those dates.” 30 North Frederick Street today is the building shown below, though a building further down the street at 43 operated under the name ‘An Stad’ in more recent times. We’d be interested in hearing more on that, if street number changes historically are at play here or if these were two separate institutions.

The decay of 30 North Frederick Street today.

The name ‘An Stad’ on no.43 in 2007. (Image: http://derelictdublin.blogspot.ie/2007/12/43-north-frederick-street-dublin-1.html)

In the years that followed independence, it remained a popular meeting place with republicans. It was managed for some time by Maire Gleeson, an active participant in the War of Independence who was a member of Cumann na mBán, as well as being active in the intelligence network of Michael Collins. With the coming to power of the Fianna Fáil government in 1932, republican prisoners were released from Arbour Hill, Portlaoise Prison and Mountjoy, with Frank Ryan among the twenty IRA men released by the new government. The Irish Press reported that many of the prisoners made by the well known meeting place, and that “An Stad Restaurant in North Frederick Street having been reached, the prisoners found the streets literally black with people to clasp them by the hand. Cinema apparatus was installed in front of the restaurant, and Mr. Frank Ryan was persuaded to address the microphone.” Five years later, in 1937, it was again the location for a celebration in honour of released republican prisoners, which included Moss Twomey, who had been IRA Chief of Staff prior to his arrest.

In 1938, there was an abortive attempt by some members of the IRA to attack the Nelson Pillar on O’Connell Street. Tim Pat Coogan has noted that the plan lacked the sanction of IRA Chief of Staff Sean Russell, but that the plan had been “to set the explosives, withdraw and notify the police, giving them time to cordon off the area.” Coogan interviewed an IRA member of the time who told him that men had actually walked down O’Connell Street with wads of gelignite on their person, before the mission was abandoned. The men had set off, naturally enough, from An Stad!

An Stad itself was raised by the authorities on several occasions in this period, who clearly regarded it as an institution affiliated to the republican movement. While it remained an active guesthouse in the decades that followed the 1930s, its affiliations with the advanced nationalist movement seem to have weakened. It seems a real shame that such an important meeting place of the early twentieth century is unmarked by any plaque.

A scene from ‘Insurrection’, broadcast in 1966, showing Patrick Pearse (played by Eoin O Súilleabháin)

Next Monday sees RTE’s huge ‘Road to the Rising’ event on O’Connell Street, with vintage carousels, restored trams and historical walking tours among other attractions. The aim is to transform the street into Dublin 1915, when the city was on the eve of rebellion and many of its men were fighting in the trenches of Europe. There’s a very varied line up of talks too, but for me the highlight of the event will be the screenings of ‘Insurrection’, an eight part television series from 1966, which was commissioned for the 50th anniversary of the Rising and which left a lasting impression on many who saw it. It will be shown in eight separate parts in Liberty Hall as part of the event. The blurb notes:

On the 50th anniversary of the Easter Rising, Telefís Éireann produced a range of programmes about the events of 1916. Among these was ‘Insurrection’, an ambitious and groundbreaking television drama that has been stored in the RTÉ Archives for the past 50 years.

This eight-part series, broadcast nightly in 1966, told the story of the Rising as it might have unfolded had television existed in 1916. As part of RTÉ Road to the Rising, a charity screening of the restored series of ‘Insurrection’ will be shown at Liberty Hall Theatre over a single day.

Information on the screenings can be obtained from the links above, and there is no need to book in advance. The images in this blog post are taken from the 1966 RTE guide, and my thanks to Martin Thompson of the Fire Service Trust for providing CHTM with the publication, which is much appreciated.

Thomas Clarke and James Connolly on the steps of Liberty Hall.

Hugh Leonard, who wrote the script for Insurrection, would recall that:

From the point of view of a dramatist, my favourite character turned out to be James Connolly – bow legged, fiery, an unquenchable optimist; cheering his men on with ‘Courage boys, we are winning!’ while the GPO roof blazed overhead; or lying wounded, a cigarette in one hand and a detective novel in the other, announcing with sybaritic satisfaction that this was ‘revolution de luxe.’

Patrick Pearse reading the 1916 Proclamation.

The production was certainly lavish, involving 200 extras and 300 members of the defence forces, and historian Diarmaid Ferriter has noted that ‘Insurrection was broadcast twice in 1966 and never since, not, it has been maintained, due to the Troubles or political correctness, but because of the cost of repeat fees, an explanation that appears far-fetched.’ Journalist Fintan O’Toole would contend that Insurrection had ‘huge’ influence on Sinn Féin’s revival in the north of Ireland, while Harvey O’Brien has written in his study on the evolution of Ireland in documentary and film that ‘though it saluted the bravery of the Irish, it was unnusually evenhanded in its portrayal of the British armed forces. It depicted, for example, a growing respect between a British medic trapped in the GPO and wounded rebel commander James Connolly.’

The wedding of Grace Gifford and Joseph Mary Plunkett in Kilmainham Gaol.

Along with the key figures of the insurrection who were well known to the general public, the series looked also as events like the bloody and brutal Battle of Mount Street Bridge, where a small band of Irish Volunteers inflicted huge casualties on the Sherwood Foresters, who were among the very first British regiments to arrive in the city to suppress the uprising.

Fighting at Clanwilliam House/ Mount Street Bridge.

Apologies for the absence of posts on the blog of late, it is a hectic time! Things are slowly returning to normal.

This is something of an on-going series on the blog, with our full thanks to Luke Fallon. You can see the first post in the series here, and the second here. Luke was the illustrator responsible for our book cover in 2012, and his images of the city on film capture the city in all its glory. My thanks to Luke for continuing to contribute this more unusual dimension to the blog.

Fusiliers Arch, Stephen’s Green.

Easter, 2015.

George Salmon, Provost of Trinity College Dublin remembered for his opposition to female admissions.

Michael Mallin House, named after executed Irish Citizen Army leader.

In the shade.

Pigeons.

16 Moore Street.

Preachers in the city centre.

Theobald Wolfe Tone.

Dublin’s famine memorial, Custom House Quay.

Just a brief notice.

I’ve always had a great love for the famine memorial at Custom House Quay, even managing to shut out the surrounding IFSC setting in my mind when I stop there. Like many people, I was horrified by the stories in recent weeks of people losing their lives in the Mediterranean, fleeing from war and starvation in search of better lives in Europe. According to the UN and the International Organisation for Migration, 1,776 people are dead or missing so far this year already, a staggering figure when compared to 56 for the same period last year.

Between 1845 and 1849, the population of this tiny little island decreased by about 25%, as a million people starved and a million fled in coffin ships. On some of these ships, the mortality rate rose above 30%, while one brig, the Hannah actually sunk in 1849 with the loss of dozens of lives. A brief history of the Hannah‘s tragic sailing can be found here.

The brig Hannah failed to skirt the pack ice on the harsh gulf. Its hull was crushed by an iceberg. Passengers, jolted from their sleep, were bruised and cut in the scramble off the ship. Others perished in the chilling waters, unable to gain the ice, or were lost in rescue attempts.

As historians, and with our blog, we have always believed that the past isn’t just a serious of quirky anecdotes, but that there are important stories and lessons in history too. Approaching friends who work with migrants in Ireland today, through the European Network Against Racism, we decided that on Friday at 1pm we would lay a wreath at the Famine memorial for those who have died in recent months, making the connection with the history of this city and country, while also highlighting the difficulties migrants face today. It will be a very short little event, with ourselves and the European Network Against Racism, while we hope to have a singer on hand to sing a fitting song before we disperse. You’re more than welcome to come along.

Event page: ‘Wreath laying at the Famine Memorial Custom House Quay, Dublin, to honour the countless souls lost in the Mediterranean.’

‘We are starving’ – Illustration from Library of Congress online.

UPDATE: Thank you to the dozens of people who attended what was a very moving event. In particular, thank you to the speakers from various migrant rights groups and campaigns.

Despite occurring so far from home, the Second Boer War (1899-1902) had an incredible effect on Irish society, with huge demonstrations in the city of Dublin and widespread coverage of the war in the Irish media. GAA clubs around the country were renamed in honour of Boer Generals and political leaders, while William Butler Yeats would comment that “the war has made the air electrical just now.”

The entrance to the Green prior to the unveiling of the Fusiliers’ Arch in 1907.

While this war has been largely forgotten in Ireland today, the Fusiliers’ Arch memorial at the entrance to  St Stephen’s Green is a reminder of the Irish participation in this foreign conflict. Irishmen, Dubliners among them, would fight on both sides of the conflict. A small band of Irish nationalists, under the command of Irish-American military leader John Blake and Westport native John MacBride, fought alongside the Boers in opposition to what they saw as British colonial aggression in the Transvaal. On the other side of the conflict, about 28,000 Irishmen fought within the ranks of the British Army during the war. On occasion, these two very different bands of Irishmen found themselves in direct conflict in the Transvaal.The manner in which Irishmen were firing upon Irishmen was commented upon and joked about at the time, with a 1902 song noting:

On the mountain side the battle raged, there was no stop or stay;
Mackin captured Private Burke and Ensign Michael Shea,
Fitzgerald got Fitzpatrick, Brannigan found O’Rourke;
Finnigan took a man named Fay and a couple of lads from Cork.
Sudden the heard McManus shout ‘Hands up or I’ll run you through’
He thought he had a Yorkshire ‘Tyke’ – twas Corporal Donoghue
McGarry took O’Leary, O’Brien got McNamee
That’s how the English fought the Dutch at the Battle of Dundee!

(Image: Donal Fallon)

Five years on from the war, the Fusiliers’ Arch was unveiled in the heart of Dublin, as a testament to the actions of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers in South Africa. While the war ended in a British victory, it was a bloody and costly one. In financial terms, a war that would supposedly be over by Christmas 1899 by 1902 had cost the British taxpayer in excess of £200 million, while in excess of twenty thousand British soldiers died in South Africa. One of the leading historians of the war,Thomas Pakenham, would write that “in money and lives, no British war since 1815 had been so prodigal.”

The 1907 unveiling ceremony. (Thanks to Neil Moxham for bringing this image to our attention)

At the time of the unveiling of the Arch in August 1907, The Freeman’s Journal newspaper poured scorn on the monument, condemning its “false dedication, to the dead Fusiliers, while the living are left to starve.” The paper commented that “From first to last Dublin believed, and believes, the war in which those men were engaged to be unjust and disgraceful. From such a war no glory is to be gained; such a war deserves no memorial.” While the Freeman’s Journal may have felt that “from first to last” Dubliners were unified in their objection to the war, the huge crowd that gathered at the monuments unveiling would suggest otherwise. The monument was inaugurated by the Duke of Connacht, and in the aftermath of this a luncheon was held in the nearby Shelbourne Hotel. There, the following (very enthusiastic!) speech was delivered by the Earl of Meath, one of those who subscribed to the memorial fund:

The toast list to-day is short, and contains but one toast, that of The King (applause). His Majesty King Edward occupies a position amongst rulers which is absolutely unique. He not only rules over twelve million square miles, one-sixth of the earth’s surface, and governs four hundred millions of subjects of all races, colours, creeds, and conditions of civilisation, from the most advanced to the most backward, but he is a Monarch whose personal qualities are of so distinguished an order that he has come to be regarded as a statesman of the first rank (applause). The world watches His Majesty’s movements with breathless interest. Under his masterful touch international difficulties which seem insuperable are solved, political sores are healed. His presence seems to breathe the spirit of peace and of goodwill, so that when he undertakes a journey it needs no strong imagination to picture to oneself the Angel of Peace hovering over his footsteps with healing in her wings (applause). King Edward is no stranger to Ireland; certainly not to Dublin. (renewed applause)

Major John MacBride, one of those who fought alongside the Boers in South Afric,a clutching a prized possession – the captured sight of a British cannon from Colenso. Colenso is one of the battles listed on the Dublin Fusiliers’ Arch.

Walking around the Arch today, a few things will be observed. Firstly, it lists the battles in South Africa at which the Royal Dublin Fusiliers participated. Colenso, Talana and Ladysmith all feature. Ladysmith was a brutal affair, where British forces under Field Marshal Sir George Stuart White were besieged for several months by Boer forces. White’s son, Jack, was also fighting in the Boer War in a British Army uniform, though he would later become a republican-socialist and a founding member of the Irish Citizen Army, quite the transformation! The Arch is loosely based on the Arch of Titus in Rome, and within it one finds the names of the two hundred plus members of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who ultimately gave their lives in the conflict.  Notice also the presence of the elephant and tiger, emblems of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers which appeared on the regimental cap badge.

(Image: Donal Fallon)

The Arch was damaged during the Easter Rising, as a result of the use of machine guns by British armed forces. The monument is peppered, as machine guns on the rooftop of the Shelbourne Hotel and the United Services Club were utilised to shift a garrison of Irish Citizen Army volunteers from the Green, which was occupied under the command of Michael Mallin, himself a British Army veteran who had served in both India and Afghanistan. The ICA retreated from the park to the Royal College of Surgeons early in the insurrection, meaning the bullet marks today most likely came from the machine guns at the United Services Club, as the Arch was in its line of sight towards the Royal College of Surgeons.

(Image: Donal Fallon)

That the monument became popularly known in the city as Traitors Gate is not particularly surprising, owing to the strong anti Boer War sentiment that existed in nationalist circles. One nationalist would recall that:

In the last years of the last century the Boer War dominated every other topic. Outside town and country politics, the Boer War provided the only other excitement that then stirred citizens in any degree. In that issue the populace was divided into pro-Boer and anti-Boer, the divisions, of course, corresponding to those on either side of the traditional gulf – Catholic and Nationalist, and Protestant and Unionist.

Fusiliers Arch, Stephen’s Green. (Image: Luke Fallon)

Donal Fallon’s ‘John MacBride’ will be published later in 2015 by O’Brien Press as part of their Sixteen Lives series. For more on the Irish involvement in the Boer War see Donal P. McCracken’s excellent Forgotten Protest: Ireland and the Anglo-Boer War

This footage aired on ABC Australia in 1996, a year which witnessed a significant re-emergence of anti-drugs activity in working class Dublin suburbs, leading The Irish Times to write in December of that year that “for all the talk of government action against ‘drug barons’, 1996 was the year when the people forced change.”

André Lyder was penned a definitive account of the anti-drugs movement in Dublin historically, entitled Pushers Out: The Inside Story of Dublin’s Anti-Drugs Movement. In it, he describes the atmosphere of 1996, writing that, “You could be at a march of three thousand people in Crumlin on Monday night, at a packed meeting in the Cabra Bingo Hall on Tuesday, in East Wall or Pearse Street on Wednesday, at a meeting of thousands in the Macushla Hall in the north inner-city on Thursday, out in Tallaght or Clondalkin on Friday.”

In September 1996, thousands marched through the streets of Dublin with the Coalition of Communities Against Drugs, with Tony Gregory informing the crowd that “if the Gardaí did not take effective action, communities would.” A ten year old boy from Ballyfermot carried a baby coffin shoulder high through the streets, “with the solemn face of a chief mourner”, while the Irish Independent reported that “Dublin’s addicts are getting younger by the day, it seems. The marchers didn’t look the slightest bit shocked when Cecil Johnston from Killinarden told the protesters of a 10 year old who had been on the treatment books for the past eight months.”

One feature of the anti-drugs movement, in both the 1980s (the time of ‘Concerned Parents Against Drugs’) and the 1990s was the tactic of marching communities onto the homes of known drug pushers. One such march is shown in the above footage. The marches were often controversial, denounced by politicians, Gardaí and in the press. Yet a survey commissioned by Cabra Communities Against Drugs in the late 1990s found that ninety-eight per cent of residents asked were in favour of anti-drugs patrols in the area, while ninety per cent supported marching onto the homes of known dealers. The campaign stated that:

Time and time again we hear people such as journalists and professional social workers describe activities such as marching on drug pushers and anti-drugs patrols in the area as ‘vigilantism’, and the people involved as ‘thugs’ etc. The support of over ninety percent of those surveyed for both these tactics show that the Cabra community recognises the necessity of this aspect of our campaign. As usual those who do not have to live in the areas affected by drugs are only to willing to denigrate those in the community who are striving to make the area a better place to live for all.

While it may feel like only yesterday, it is important to remember that this is now important Dublin social history, and such news reports at this one serve an important function for those researching street politics in Dublin or broader issues around addiction or vigilantism.

Still from news report, showing an interview with ‘Tallaght Against Drug Dealers’.

Still from news report, showing a banner in Tallaght proclaiming ‘No Heroin Here’

Still from news report showing an anti-drugs march in Tallaght.

After nearly 130 years of production, the anarchist newspaper Freedom moved its operations online last year. Sadly unable to sustain a regular printed publication in this era, the East London-based Freedom Press now publishes its news and opinions on the web accompanied by a quarterly freesheet and a monthly email digest. From 1886 to 2014, it was the stalwart organ of the English-speaking Anarchist movement and could boast of links with some of the world’s foremost Anarchist thinkers including Peter Kropokin, Marie-Louise Berneri and Colin Ward.

Front cover of Freedom Newspaper (March 1916) – Libcom.com

While reading a copy of Freedom (sub-titled the “Journal of Anarchist Communism”) from March 1916 on the Libcom website, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that along with major cities like London, Manchester, Glasgow and smaller ones such as Plymouth, Yeovil and Falkirk – names and addresses of Freedom newspaper sellers are listed for Dublin and Belfast.

Sellers of Freedom Newspaper (March 1916) – Libcom.com

They were:

“Belfast – W. Robinson, 167 York Street
Dublin – J.C. Kearney, 59 Upper Stephen Street”

Jospeh C. Kearney (c. 1887 to 1946) was a bookseller and stationer who lived above his shop at 59 Upper Stephen Street his whole life. There are a small number of fleeting references to him and his family online. I think it could be assumed that he had some sympathy to socialist or anarchist politics he was happy to both stock Freedom and let the newspaper publicly advertise the fact.

In 1901, Joseph C. Kearney (14) was living at home with his widow mother Lilly Kearney (38) nee Walsh and two younger brothers Thomas (11) and Alfred (10). Lily was a tobacconist and employed an assistant, Mary Callaghan (19) from Cork, in the shop downstairs. Obviously reasonably financially well off, the family also enjoyed the services of a servant Ellen Byrne (16) from Carlow.

On the first anniversary of her death, a notice was put into The Freeman’s Journal (4 December 1891) in memory of a Mrs Anne Walsh of 59 Upper Stephen Street . I suspect this was Lilly’s mother.

Map showing the looping Stephen Street, 1912. Credit – swilson.info

The Kearney family put an advertisement in the Freeman’s Journal (8 March 1902) looking for a “respectable, strong, young country girl” to work as a general servant. They inserted similar notices in 1904 and 1911. The family were decidedly middle-class.

By 1911, Lily (50) had re-married a Royal Dublin Fusiliers Army Pensioner by the name of Vincent Walter (60). Her three sons Joseph (24), Thomas (22) and Alfred (20) all still lived at home with her and listed their profession as “News agent shop men”. Lily’s brother Alfred Walsh (52), an “Engine Fitter”, and a cousin Louie Wilson (16), a “Drapers Shop Assistant” from Liverpool also lived in the house at that time.

In August 1918, Joseph C. Kearney was fined after his wife Louisa Kearney illegally sold matches to a customer. It was the first prosecution, according to the Irish Examiner (28 August 1918), under a new act which “provided that matches must be sold in boxes and not in bundles under any circumstances”.

On 23 February 1922, a notice was put into the Irish Independent by Lily Kearney-Walter who then living in California, San Francisco to mark the 5th anniversary of the death of her brother Alfred. Lily obviously moved back home as she died in Harold’s Cross Hospice on 6 June 1924. The notice in the Irish Independent (9 June 1924) mentioned her late husband V.B. Walter was late of the SMRASC which I think stood for Service Member (?) Royal Army Service Corps.

Kearney had another brush with the law but this time for more interesting reasons than selling matches. In April 1928, Joseph C. Kearney was found guilty and fined a total of £60 for selling two “obscene” publications entitled “Family Limitation” and “The Married Women’s Guide”. It could be concluded from this that Kearney was still politically inclined.

Joseph Kearney arrested. Irish Times, March 06, 1928.

In court, the state prosecutor Carrigan was quoted in the Irish Times (20 April 1928) as saying:

The theories contained in the publications might find support in England or in large communities, but in a comparatively small community, like that in Ireland, he did not think that they would find favour, not that the Irish were superior people, but they, happily, were more old-fashioned than were people elsewhere. The public good in Ireland would not be served by the circulation of these books.

Joseph C. Kearney tragically lost his wife and two children in the 1920s and 1930s.

His wife Louisa Kearney died on 8th October 1923. Emily Lousia, his second daughter, passed away on 10 March 1939 aged 22 and was buried in Glasnevin cemetery. His youngest son Vincent Joseph Kearney died on 24th February 1936 aged 15 after a short illness.

Joseph C Kearney himself died on 29 January 1946 and was buried in Glasnevin with his family.

After his death, the newsagent at 59 Upper Stephen Street was taken over  by a P. Smyth. This house and that whole row at the corner of Upper Stephen Street and South Great George’s Street was demolished and replaced by a modern office block (Dunnes Stores head office) in 2007.

Dunnes Stores Head Office – sligotoday.ie

Gentleman of Letters, Kevin Freeney (Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gentlemanofletters/3384870546/in/album-72157615807509238/)

Sign-painting, sadly, is an industry in decline in Dublin. They said that Brendan Behan was the son of one of the finest sign-painters in Dublin, though Stephen Behan was by no means alone in the industry. Brendan himself dabbled in the field, before discovering other talents. Kevin Freeney, born in 1919, painted “at least 700 pubs and shopfronts” in the capital, and was a frequent sight on the streets of Dublin once upon a time, carrying his paint and brushes everywhere. The Freeney story was brilliantly told in the short firm ‘Gentlemen of Letters’, which brought the story right up to the present day through artists like MASER.

The Freeney family have continued a family tradition for generations now, always maintaining a great pride in their history. An archive of Kevin Freeney’s work, available to view on Flickr, is testament to that. A new book, entitled The Art of Painting Buses, demonstrates that the family continue to make their mark on the city.

The first bus painted by the Freeney’s. From ‘The Art of Painting Buses.’

1988 was the year of Dublin’s Millennium. Well, it wasn’t actually the Millennium (the Vikings were here long before 988, we’re sorry to tell you), but 1988 is remembered in Dublin today for the festival and celebrations of all things Dublin and old. There are lasting monuments in the city today to 1988, for example the mosaic tiles on the side of St. Stephen’s Green Shopping Centre, the Molly Malone statue and the milk bottles in your attic. There are also plenty of memories, and readers may remember seeing the above bus driving around the city. Painted by the Freeney’s, it marked their first foray into, the art of painting buses. It was not to prove the last.

From ‘The Art of Painting Buses’.

The sheer labour involved in the art was immense, and sometimes the work tedious. In an interview with the Irish Independent, Tom Freeney remembered that “Some buses were tougher than others. In 1993 we had to hand paint 38,652 garden peas onto a Hak Produce bus. It was very hard to motivate yourself knowing you were facing into another day of peas.” For me, some of the most interesting images in this collection are those advertising Dublin businesses no longer with us, while others remain familiar names.

Bad Bobs. From ‘The Art of Painting Buses’.

From ‘The Art of Painting Buses’.

Today, Freeney’s Graphics continue family traditions. With the day that is in it, it’s only right to draw attention to this recent wrap on a Hailo taxi! Few families in Dublin have remained as firmly rooted in a family tradition as the Freeney’s, and The Art of Painting Buses is a fine record of a job well done.

Image via ‘Freeney’s Graphics’ Facebook.

For more information, see The Art of Painting Buses website.

Recently, we were approached by man about town Johnny Moy regarding the possibility of a Come Here To Me themed night in The Sugar Club. While we’ve tried our hand at events before, we felt it necessary to get the venue right, to find a place where we wouldn’t be competing noise wise or otherwise with anything else, and a place where music, spoken word and visuals could all come together in right way.

Pieta House is a charity very close to our hearts, and undoubtedly the same for many of you. We have decided then to throw our weight behind a forthcoming night in The Sugar Club. The line-up we’ve put together between us is eclectic, with a variety of talks and sets followed by boys and girls we know spinning tunes. This night takes place June 4th, ‘Dublin Songs & Stories’, with doors opening from 7.30pm in The Sugar Club. Tickets cost €10, and every cent we take in will go to Pieta House. Please support it and please spread the word.

You can get tickets in advance from here. Owing to the limited capacity on the night, you may want to!

Line Up:

MASER. Live and Love.

MASER:

Dublin and Ireland’s favourite street artist is back in on home turf after a two year working trip around the globe doing exhibitions and large scale installments. His work has taken him all over the planet. Maser started out as a graff artist in the 90’s and quickly rose up the ranks, he now has an international reputation for his ultra large outdoor works, he has also progressed to full scale exhibitions over the last few years. Readers of the blog may remember his ‘They Are Us’ collaboration with Damien Dempsey, which raised huge sums of money for the homeless in Dublin. His recent work can be seen in Hawaii, Sydney, New York, Las Vegas, Berlin, Milan to name a few. Back in Ireland now for a 6 week residency in the prolific Graphic Studios, Dublin. Maser has spoken in the past about his work at Offset and Sweet talk and he will join us on the night to get us up to speed on his international rise and his Dublin roots.

‘Che’ by Jim Fitzpatrick.

JIM FITZPATRICK:

Jim should be no stranger to anyone with a remote interest in the arts, as his most famous piece of work is the iconic VIVA CHE – the internationally famous portrait of Che Guevara. This image went on to become a global symbol of resistance to oppression. Jim never made (nor wanted) to make money from this work as long as people used it respectively and in context. In Sep 2011 after several miss usage (without rights) in crass global marketing campaigns Jim decided enough was enough and took the image rights out of the public domain. That same year he met with El Che’s daughter (Aledia Guevara) and arranged a legal transfer of the image rights himself to her family to benefit the people of Cuba. Jim has also worked extensively with Irish bands and musicians, most notably Thin Lizzy and he was very close to the former singer Phil Lynott, Jim will give a good insight into what Dublin was like back then.

Una Mullally’s study ‘In The Name of Love’

UNA MULLALLY:

Journalist, broadcaster and author, we’re delighted to have the involvement of Una Mullally in this event. In 2014, she published her first book In The Name of Love, an oral history of the movement for marriage equality in Ireland through the ages. One of the busiest people in Dublin it seems, she presents Ceol ar an Imeall (Music on the Edge), an alternative music TV show on TG4, and has also organised the popular Come Rhyme With Me spoken word nights in the city. Given the talk around marriage equality in recent times, we wanted to invite Una to talk about the movement for marriage equality and gay rights in Irish society.

An image from the ‘Where Were You’ Facebook page. “Skins…Specials…Madness” – Kilbarrack – Early 80s. ( Photo Joe Behan.)

GARRY O’NEILL (WHERE WERE YOU):

We’re great fans of Garry O’Neill’s book Where Were You, and the ever-expanding Facebook page that came along with it. The book is a visual social document of young Dublin. A photographic journey through five decades of the city’s youth cultures, street styles and teenage life. All the material was sourced over four years or more of constant advertising to the general public through posters and flyers, and also from photographers, newspapers and books. The book covered the youth subcultures of Dublin’s past, including Punks, Teddy Boys, Skinheads, Hippies, Mods, Rockers, Goths, Bikers etc. Now, Garry is looking at the record shops of Dublin, which are slowly vanishing from the streets of the capital, and we invite him to tell us a little bit more about all of that.

‘No Ordinary Love’ – Aidan Kellly.

AIDAN KELLY:

Dublin born Aidan Kelly has been taking photographs for over 15 years building a solid archive of mainly documentary, fine art and portrait work. He’s worked for clients such as U2, and renowned playwright Martin MacDonagh, while he was also involved with the ‘They Are Us’ Project with Maser and Damien Dempsey. He has collaborated with Dublin street artist DMC in recent times, and his work often draws on the streets of Dublin as a central influence. He is a true Dub with with good knack for a story.

Pete Holidai. (Image: https://thetroublepilgrims.wordpress.com/about/)

PETE HOLIDAI:

A Radiator From Space, a Trouble Pilgrim, we had to invite Pete Holidai to join us once again. The Radiators From Space produced two classic albums in the 1970s, in the form of TV Tube Heart and Ghosttown. In 2012, 35 years after the release of their classic single ‘Television Screen’, Come Here To Me chatted to Phil Chevron. Today, Pete and Steve Rapid of the original Radiators are back on stage as the Trouble Pilgrims, joined by long term member Johnny Bonnie along with bassist Paddy Goodwin and rhythm guitarist Tony St Ledger. In 2014, they released ‘Animal Gang Blues’, a 7″ record full of the stories and lore of the notorious ‘Animal Gangs’ of 1940s Dublin.

Costello.

COSTELLO:

Working Class Records have released some brilliant slices of Irish hip hop in recent years. The label first came to our attention through the Street Literature album ‘Products of the Environment’, and in recent years performers like Lethal Dialect, GI and Costello have gone from strength to strength in the Irish hip hop scene. In 2013, the documentary Broken Song told the story of just what the lads at Working Class Records have been trying to do, with The Irish Times describing it as “Dublin’s first hip-hop street opera.” Costello’s Illisophical has been one of the most played albums around here in recent times and we’re delighted to invite him to take part.

Lewis Kenny

LEWIS KENNY:

Bohs man in the stanza, Cabra native Lewis Kenny has been attracting a lot of attention in recent times, and deservedly so. At the start of the year, Bohemians appointed Kenny as the first ever Poet In Residence at a League of Ireland club, a brave departure! But, there’s much more to Kenny than just The Beautiful Game, and as our friends at Rabble have noted “The work of poet Lewis kenny takes in everything from skagged out MDMA session victims and urban gentrification, right up to the importance of cherishing your ma.”

And then, to play it all out, we’ll be inviting people to take to the decks as we all relax and enjoy some music. We’ve roped in soul music extraordinaire and Anseo regular Shane Walsh, we’ll force Johnny Moy into it too, and we’ve invited other boys and girls from the CHTM circle to give it a go.

More tba.

Nelson model at The Little Museum of Dublin.

168 steps were all that kept Dubliners from the viewing platform of the Nelson Pillar, or Nelson’s Pillar as it became known locally.

Francis Johnston’s Doric column, topped with Thomas Kirk’s statue of the famous Admiral, was ever-controversial. Everyone from Saint Patrick to John F. Kennedy was proposed as a suitable replacement for the top of the monument over the years by campaigners shocked by the presence of a British naval hero, and not an Irishman, in the centre of O’Connell Street.

Regardless of who was on top of it, the pillar itself became a part of the Dublin streetscape, and buses and trams made their way for ‘Nelson’s Pillar’ for many years. On the eight of March 1966 a bomb destroyed the core of the monument, and the English Admiral was gone, with pieces of the pillar destined to become a mantelpiece staple in Dublin. Some celebrated his demise, others mourned Horatio. The Senator Owen Sheehy-Skeffington went as far as to say that “the man who destroyed the pillar made Dublin look more like Birmingham and less like an ancient city on the River Liffey”.

The Little Museum of Dublin have recently added this great model of the monument to their collection. Meticulous in detail, right down to the gates and the inscriptions detailing Nelson’s victories, it is worth a visit for anyone who climbed the 168 steps – or indeed those who never made it. For an idea of scale, see this tweet.

The entrance to the Nelson Pillar.

Nelson himself (via @dublinmuseum)

NCAD students with the ‘liberated’ head of Nelson, 1966.

We’re delighted with the poster for next weeks event in The Sugar Club, which draws inspiration from the work of both MASER and Jim Fitzpatrick:

The central inspiration for the piece is Thin Lizzy’s iconic Black Rose LP cover, which was designed by Fitzpatrick. We’re great admirers of Fitzpatrick’s work, from his political posters of figures such as Che Guevara and Joe McCann to his Celtic influenced designs. Jim comes from fine stock too, being the grandson of Thomas Fitzpatrick of The Lepracaun, who also contributed cartoons to the Weekly Freeman.

‘Black Rose’ via http://www.jimfitzpatrick.com

Further information on the event and tickets can be found here.

We’re very pleased to announce that Barry Gleeson has joined the bill for our Pieta House fundraiser next Thursday in The Sugar Club.

The blog celebrates Dublin’s very rich musical heritage, which has involved everything from compiling (and often uploading!) a timeline of Dublin punk and new wave 7″s to providing a spotlight to new and emerging acts, across a range of fields. It has also involved looking at Dublin talents like Frank Harte and the wonderful Liam Weldon, traditional singers who knew how to carry stories through the medium of songs. Liam Weldon was once described as being “as Dublin as the Easter Rising, and as Irish as the Love Songs of Connacht or the Limerick Soviet that got clobbered.”

The line-up we have assembled for Thursday is varied, spanning all from street artist Maser to young hip hop artist Costello, and reflecting the broadest possible range of Dubliners. Tradition is hugely important to us however, and nowhere is it more evidently found in Dublin than in institutions like the Góilín Singers’ Club. Barry Gleeson is a fine Dublin singer, and a voice that may be familiar to readers of Come Here To Me having shared the stage with our favourite “folk miscreants” Lynched in the past. From Artane in Dublin, his song subjects range from the brilliantly humorous (hear his ode to nightclub Tomango’s!) to songs which examine Irish political and social history.

Remembering the early days of the Góilín Club in The Thomas House, Gleeson recalled “There’d often be only about seven of us on Thursday nights in Thomas House. I really enjoyed it. Our names would be called out at the end of the night – fame at last!” Clubs like the Góilín, and institutions like the Irish Traditional Music Archive, have proven invaluable in preserving a most important oral tradition. Gleeson is a joy to listen to, and we hope you’ll join us on Thursday to enjoy it.

Niall ‘Hano’ Hannigan was a well-known figure not only at Saint Patrick’s Athletic but right across the League of Ireland community. A committed volunteer at the club he loved so much, he gave much of his time to the youth sides at the club and to issues which involved supporters, such as organising away buses. His sudden death last week was a heartbreaking moment for so many at Saint Pat’s, and his trademark white cap will be missed in Richmond Park. Luke Fallon captured these photographs on Friday as Saint Pat’s fans remembered one of their own. As ever with Luke’s images on this site, they were captured on film.

RIP Hano.

Not so long ago, we looked at the chains of the Lord Mayor of Dublin on the website. Readers of the blog might have been surprised to learn that King William of Orange is depicted upon the ceremonial chains,and it was hoped that “in everlasting memory of the great services of William III to the Protestant inhabitants and as a mark of his royal grace and favour” he would bestow the chains upon the city.

But if King Billy is out of place in Dublin, so too is the city motto: Obedientia Civium Urbis Felicitas. Translated, it essentially proclaims that the happiness of the city depends upon the obedience of its people. It has been argued that the flames depicted within the city coat of arms represent “the zeal of the citizens to defend Dublin”, though looking at the course of Irish history the zealof the citizens to destroy Dublin may seem more fitting!

Recently, Dublin street artist ADW had a bit of fun with the city coat of arms as part of the  All City Tivoli Jam, which sees the walls at the Tivoli Theatre carpark redecorated on an annual basis. ADW’s art may be familiar to some readers of this blog, for example his redecoration of a dull city centre powerbox. ADW has taken the coat of arms and placed the people of the city within a turning cog of a machine. Justice and Law still feature!

Image Credit: ADW Art.

As a work in progress.

Variations of the city coat of arms are to be found all over Dublin today, on street lamps and above buildings. You’ll find a beautiful mosaic tile in City Hall which is well worth taking the time to visit. While you’re there, check out the murals around it.