The Urban Cartographer Likes Cork

THE REAL CAPITAL CITY

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PHOTOGRAPHED IN MAY 2019 NOT LONG BEFORE IT WAS REPAIRED AND RESTORED

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DALY’S BRIDGE BUT LOCALLY IT IS THE SHAKEY BRIDGE

The formal opening of Daly’s Bridge took place on Saturday 9 May 1927.

As I did not know that it was officially named Daly’s bridge I was unable to locate this bridge and then I entered a laneway hoping for a short-cut and there was a pedestrian bridge that was in very poor condition.

This unusual and dramatically sited bridge is an important pedestrian crossing over the River Lee and replaced an earlier ferry crossing. Named Daly Bridge, it is better know locally as the Shaky Bridge due to the movement of its carriageway. Designed by Cork City Engineer S.W. Farrington with steelwork by the London-based David Rowell & Company of Westminster, it is the only suspension bridge in Cork city. Spanning 160 feet, it represents a significant technical and engineering feat.

THE SKY GARDEN BY DIARMUID GAVIN

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WON AN AWARD AT THE CHELSEA FLOWER SHOW IN 2011

The Sky Garden won an award at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2011 and it was planned for the Sky Gardens to come to Cork. The ‘pink pod’ element of the Sky Garden makes a stunning viewing point on the banks of the river next to the museum. It is also the centre piece of a state of the art gallery garden incorporating a cafe terrace, beautiful planting arrangements, a new impressive glazed canopy and an incredible series of stainless steel spheres and domes set amongst paths and planting arrangements.

Diarmuid Gavin (born 10 May 1964) is an Irish garden designer and television personality. He has presented gardens at the Chelsea Flower Show on nine occasions from 1995 to 2016, winning a number of medals, including gold in 2011. He has also authored or co-authored at least ten gardening-related books.

In May 2011 Gavin returned to Chelsea after a three-year gap, with his “Irish Sky Garden”, which attracted funding of more than €1.7 million from Fáilte Ireland, the Irish tourism body, and was also supported by Cork City Council. Gavin described the garden as inspired by the Oscar-winning animator Richie Baneham (who drove visual effects for Avatar), as well as by the “suspended table” novelty restaurant concept, and by the Midsummer Festival of the Senses at Cork, the landscapes of Capability Brown, Charles Jencks and the some Italian Renaissance figures. The garden was built in an ovoid container suspended more than 25 metres above the ground. Twenty-five reflecting and flowing pools on the ground showcased the garden, which could be visited by show-goers in groups of up to eight. This garden won the gold medal at the show.

The Sky Garden attracted controversy when Cork City Council in Ireland agreed to put the garden on permanent display at Fitzgerald’s Park in the Mardyke area of the city – at a cost of at least €300,000 to the cash-strapped council. The decision attracted widespread criticism including that of a number of Cork city councillors with Councillor Ted Tynan pointed out that there were over 500 boarded up local council houses in the city and demanded clarification from the council as to what the exact cost of the garden would be. In the end, the garden was not set up in its full form, but aspects of its design were used in a reworking of Fitzgerald’s Park.

THE SHAKY OR THE SHAKEY BRIDGE

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PHOTOGRAPHED MAY 2022 REPROCESSED IN OCTOBER 2023

Daly’s Bridge is a pedestrian bridge spanning the River Lee in Cork, Ireland. Known locally as the Shakey Bridge, it joins Sunday’s Well on the north side to Fitzgerald’s Park in the Mardyke area on the south.

In some of the images you should see pink Cast-iron railings. They were erected c.1900 and are described as cast-iron fluted bollards with domed floral caps and connecting tubular railings. There are also roughly dressed limestone blocks to quay walkway edge with steps to western end leading to river. The subtly detailed railings are a fine example of nineteenth century metal work, and contribute positively to the streetscape. The railings and steps at their western end mark the landing place of the ferry which preceded Daly’s Bridge as a means of crossing the river at this point.

Completed in 1926 and opened in 1927, it is the only suspension bridge in Cork City. It was constructed by the London-based David Rowell & Company to the design of Stephen W. Farrington, the Cork City Engineer. Constructed primarily of wrought iron, the bridge spans 160 feet (49 m), and the timber-planked walkway is 4+1⁄2 feet (1.4 m) wide.

The bridge takes its official name from Cork businessman James Daly, who contributed to the cost of the bridge. Its colloquial name (the “Shakey Bridge” or “Shaky Bridge”) derives from the movement of the platform when running or jumping on the bridge.

In August 2019, work began on restoration of the bridge. It was dismantled into four sections and removed so that repair of the bridge structure could be carried out. In July 2020, it was reported that while the structure of the bridge had been reinstalled, “several weeks of work” were required before it would reopen. It was reopened to the public in December 2020. I got my first opportunity to photograph the restored bridge in August 2021

The bridge is listed on Cork City Council’s Record of Protected Structures.

I visited Cork City in May 2022 and the city had not yet fully recovered from Covid-19 travel restrictions so I had the opportunity to visit many locations where I was the only person and tis gave me the freedom to photograph without people appearing in my photographs. I still have about 4000 photographs that have yet to be published so I decided to reprocess them using more recent tools upload them when I am happy with the results.

BLUE COAT MEWS IN CORK CITY

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AT THE JUNCTION OF ST KEVIN’S STREET AND STEPHEN STREET

This area is complicated to explore and even more to describe.

Eachlann na gCótaí Gorma is the Irish for Blue Coat Mews and it should be noted that local authorities are responsible for the provision of the correct Irish and English forms of the street names in each area.
This street gets its name from St. Stephen’s School, whose pupils wore a uniform in this ‘bluecoat’ style. There are still a number of private schools in England bearing the same nickname

St Stephen’s Hospital, also known as the Blue Coat Hospital, was a charitable school founded in 1699 by William Worth, merchant, of Dublin, for the benefit of poor boys belonging to the Established church, the Church of Ireland. The Mayor and Common Council of the City of Cork were appointed governors of the school and its endowments. The Church of Ireland Bishop of Cork, Worth and his heirs, and the Provost of Trinity College Dublin, together with the Governors, nominated and chose pupils for the school. By the late 19th century the school and its endowments had been placed under a scheme by the Commissioners of Charitable Donations and Bequests for Ireland, under the Educational Endowments (Ireland) Act, 1885 [the Commissioners as a public body were created in 1845]. In 1916 this scheme was amended and the school was closed, with arrangements made for funding of pupils elsewhere. St Stephen’s was located in the parish of St Nicholas [near Barrack St/Douglas St].

FLANNERYS OF GLASHEEN

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CORK CITY AND COUNTY MAY 2023

I had not planned to photograph this pub but I was photographing the nearby cemetery and it began to rain so I decided to get a bus back to the city centre and the bus stop was directly across the street from Flannerys.

I was hoping to visit Cork again at the end of this month but I decided that the the hotel was way too expensive so I cancelled and I hope to visit Limerick instead in September and possibly Waterford in October.

Glasheen is a suburb in south central Cork city in Ireland. The area earned its name from the stream that flows through it, under the Glasheen Road. Glasheen means small stream in Irish. After the Siege of Cork in 1690 and the demolition of the city wall, prominent families started to move out of the congested city to the peacefulness of the countryside to make their homes — including the Sheares family, who were noted bankers. In 1729, they built their home, which is still standing today, in the village on a hill opposite today’s popular Flannery’s Pub. Two sons of the house, John and Henry Sheares were executed in Dublin on 14th July 1798 on the charge of treason for their part in the United Irishmen movement.

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