Sinéad O’Connor was a truly unique and iconic artist, and her death is a great loss to the world. In her memory there have been a number of memorials.
I visited Phoenix Park on Friday and at the bandstand near the Zoo I came across what I would describe as an impromptu memorial to Sinéad O’Connor … sorry about the quality of the photographs but my camera was giving me problems and I did not want to reposition any of the items.
Impromptu memorials to the deceased have become a common feature of the national and international landscape and they have greatly increased in frequency here in Ireland and especially in Dublin. They take many forms and represent various types of deaths; nonetheless, they have in common the expression of mourning for the deceased, regardless of whether or not the mourner personally knew the deceased. The site of the impromptu memorial may be located by the roadside, as in the case of a motor vehicle fatality, or outside a building associated with the deceased. In this instance it was a bandstand which may have been chosen as Sinead was a very popular musician.
The Bandstand at Phoenix Park is a freestanding octagonal-plan cast-iron bandstand, built c. 1890. It is located in the Hollow, a natural amphitheatre in the park, near the People’s Garden.
The bandstand was manufactured by Musgrave & Co. of Belfast, as marked with an ornamental escutcheon on one of the pillars flanking the steps. It is surrounded by tarmcadam hard standings, with grass and mature trees beyond.
The bandstand was originally used for military bands, but it is now used for a variety of events, including concerts, recitals, and dance performances. It is also a popular spot for weddings and photo shoots. The bandstand is a beautiful and historic landmark in Phoenix Park. It is a reminder of the park’s rich history of music and entertainment. It is also a popular spot for people to relax and enjoy the outdoors
DUBLIN STREET ART IT COULD WELL BE A WORK IN PROGRESS
This is located on Capel Street and as this was my first time to see it one can assume that it is recent as is the chair chained to the railings.
Thomas Dudley, better known as “Bang Bang”, was a well-known street character in Dublin in the mid-20th century. He was known for carrying a large church key around with him and pretending to shoot people with it. He would often shout “Bang Bang!” as he did this.
Dudley was born in Dublin in 1906. He was raised in an orphanage and had a difficult childhood. He was also blind in one eye. Despite his challenges, Dudley was a charismatic and outgoing person.
Bang Bang became a popular figure in Dublin in the 1940s and 1950s. He was often seen riding the buses and trams, pointing his church key at people and shouting “Bang Bang!”
I photographed this War Memorial in August 2021 but upon processing the images I discovered that the inscriptions were unreadable. I now have a different workflow and the text should be readable but that may depend on your device.
At the South Mall is a memorial to those Irishmen who died in the First World War. It was erected in 1925, and is one of the few example Irish examples of its type. Carved in relief on a modest limestone obelisk, sitting on a plinth, is the profile of a Munster Fusiliers soldier in full military uniform, head down, gun at rest. Each November wreaths are laid here to mark the anniversary of the armistice of 1918 at the end of the War.
LEAST WE FORGET
erected by public subscription under the auspices of the cork independent ex-servicemens club, in memory of their comrades who fell in the great war fighting for the freedom of small nations
1914 – 1918
“Greater Deed Hath No Man Done
“They Shall Grow Not Old, As We That Are Left Grow Old. Age Shall Not Weary Them, Nor The Years Condemn. At The Going Down Of The Sun, And In The Morning We Will Remember Them.”
1939 – 1945
“When you go home, Tell them of us and say For your tomorrow we gave our today
This memorial commemorates the residents of Cork who were killed or missing in World War I and World War II. Many such memorials were erected after the First World War. After the Second World War, the names of those who died in that war were also added to the memorial.
The Royal Munster Fusiliers was a line infantry regiment of the British Army from 1881 to 1922. It traced its origins to the East India Company’s Bengal European Regiment raised in 1652, which later became the 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers). The Royal Munster Fusiliers were formed in 1881 by the merger of the 101st Regiment of Foot and the 104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers). One of eight Irish regiments raised largely in Ireland, it had its home depot in Tralee and served as the county regiment for Cork, Clare, Limerick and Kerry. At its formation the regiment comprised two regular and two militia battalions.
The Royal Munster Fusiliers served in India before the regiment fought in the Second Boer War. Prior to the First World War, the regiment’s three militia battalions were converted into reserve battalions, and a further six battalions were added to the regiment’s establishment during the war. The regiment fought with distinction throughout the Great War and won three Victoria Crosses by the conflict’s conclusion in 1918. Following establishment of the independent Irish Free State in 1922, the five regiments that had their traditional recruiting grounds in the counties of the new state were disbanded and the Royal Munster Fusiliers ceased to be as a regiment on 31 July 1922.
It has taken me many years to establish the story behind this memorial which has 1881-1961 on the base instead of 1881-1962.
Such was his reputation for curing speech impediments that the BBC producer Hywel Davis made a half-hour documentary based on his life entitled ‘It happened to me’, broadcast in June 1961. As a result, O’Flynn received hundreds of letters from all over Ireland and abroad from people seeking his advice and assistance. The programme won second prize at the international conference of catholic television at Monte Carlo in March 1962.
O’Flynn, James Christopher (1881–1962), priest and Irish language activist, was born 12 December 1881 in Mallow Lane, Cork, son of Cornelius O’Flynn who was employed in the butter market and his wife, Catherine Uppington, who was of protestant stock. O’Flynn was from a musical background and had a good singing voice. He received his earliest education in the national school in Blackpool, Co. Cork and afterwards in the North Monastery CBS. After two years as a clerk in a warehouse he decided to enter the priesthood. From 1899 to 1902 he studied in St Finbar’s Seminary, Farranferris. Subsequently he entered St Patrick’s College, Maynooth where he was ordained on 20 June 1909. While a student there he was a member of Cuallacht Cholm Cille and developed an interest in Shakespeare and elocution under the guidance of Professor Mac Cardie Flint. He was appointed to Farranferris to teach elocution in 1909 and spent fifty years teaching there on a weekly basis. The following year he was appointed chaplain to the asylum for the mentally ill in Cork until becoming curate at north cathedral, Cork in 1920. He was appointed parish priest of Passage West, Co. Cork in 1946 and remained there until his death.
The sunken Garden of Remembrance surrounds a Stone of Remembrance of Irish granite symbolising an altar, which weighs seven and a half tons. The dimensions of this are identical to First World War memorials found throughout the world. During the construction phase in order to provide as much work as possible the use of mechanical equipment was restricted, and even granite blocks of 7 and 8 tonnes from Ballyknocken and Donnelly’s quarry Barnaculla were manhandled into place with primitive tackles of poles and ropes. On completion and intended opening in 1939 (which was postponed) the trustees responsible said: “It is with a spirit of confidence that we commit this noble memorial of Irish valour to the care and custody of the Government of Ireland”.
The Stone of Remembrance is a standardised design for war memorials that was designed in 1917 by the British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens for the Imperial War Graves Commission (IWGC).
It was designed to commemorate the dead of World War I, to be used in IWGC war cemeteries containing 1,000 or more graves, or at memorial sites commemorating more than 1,000 war dead. Hundreds were erected following World War I, and it has since been used in cemeteries containing the Commonwealth dead of World War II as well. It is intended to commemorate those “of all faiths and none”, and has been described as one of Lutyens’ “most important and powerful works”, with a “brooding, sentinel-like presence wherever used”.
The geometry of the stone structure was “based on studies of the Parthenon”. According to the Australian Government Department of Veterans’ Affairs each stone is 3.5 metres long and 1.5 metres high.
It was designed using the principle of entasis. This involved incorporating subtle curves into the design, so that the stone does not have straight sides, but has circular lines that if extended would form a sphere 1,801 feet and 8 inches (549.15 metres) in diameter. The effect of the stone monument has been attributed to its geometry: “…its curious power and symbolic strength derive from its careful proportions and the application of a subtle entasis to all its surfaces.”