Stoneybatter, historically known as Bohernaglogh, is a neighbourhood of Dublin, Ireland, on the Northside of the city between the River Liffey, the North Circular Road, Smithfield Market, and Grangegorman. It is in the Dublin 7 postal district.
It is often referred to as Dublin’s “hipster quarter” and was in TimeOut magazine’s list of ’40 coolest neighbourhoods in the world’ in 2019.
James Collins’ 1913 book Life in Old Dublin notes that “Centuries ago (Stoneybatter) was called Bothar-na-gCloch”. In Joyce’s Irish names of places we find the following interesting information as to the original name of the place: “Long before the city had extended so far, and while Stoneybatter was nothing more than a country road, it was — as it still continues to be — the great thoroughfare to Dublin from the districts lying west and north-west of the city; and it was known by the name of Bothar-na-gCloch (Bohernaglogh), i.e. the road of the stones, which was changed to the English equivalent, Stoneybatter or stony road”.
Stoneybatter is the main location for events in the Tana French novel “The Trespasser” and the area is mentioned in the Irish folk song “The Spanish Lady”.
THIS IS COWTOWN BY JOSEPH O’CONNOR … PAINT-A-BOX STREET ART ON MANOR STREET PHOTOGRAPHED JANUARY 2021
The last time I photographed this was with an iPhone XR and I was not happy with the results as there was a lot of annoying lens flare. This time I used an iPhone 12 Pro Max and the result was much better.
I first heard the expression “cowtown” four or five years ago but I did not, at the time, appreciate its relationship with the area and it was only when I came across the Cowtown Cafe on Manor Street that the penny dropped.
Back in the 1950s the Dublin Cattle Market, located on Prussia Street in Stoneybatter (nicknamed ‘Cowtown’), was the largest weekly livestock sale in Europe. Some people have found memories of the cattle sales and associate activities.
My recollection is totally different, because of British cheap food policy prime cattle were shipped live to the UK where the profits were made by wealthy dealers and the treatment of livestock was terrible. Also as a result of the markets the area was plagued with rats … I know because I had friends who lived in the area.
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