URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION

Street Photography That Highlights Urban Life

mother redcaps

A BACK LANE NAMED BACK LANE

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A BACK LANE NAMED BACK LANE

Dublin has an amazing network of laneways and back lanes and many will be unaware of most of them and I am willing to bet that very few are aware of Back Lane near Christ Church Cathedral.

Tailor’s Guild Hall has an historical connection with Back Lane. It was meeting place of the Guild of Merchant Tailors but it was also used by the Catholic Committee during the campaign against Penal Law in 1792, becoming known as the ‘Back Lane Parliament’. It was used later by the Society of United Irishmen, illustrating its long associations with Irish history and political issues.

Mother Redcaps is located on Back Lane but there are rumours that it is to be demolished. The current building is officially described as a terraced four-bay two-storey former factory, dated 1875, subsequently in use as public house and market, having shopfront and integral carriage arch to front (north-east) elevation. Archaeological excavations held on the site in 2006 revealed deposits ranging from Hiberno-Norse to post-medieval, indicating the long history of occupation at this location. The carved keystone over the door provides contextual interest, bearing the initials of James Winstanley, for whom the building was erected as a shoe factory in 1875. This building forms part of the Mother Redcaps complex, in which a substantial indoor market was held from the late 1980s until 2005.

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MOTHER REDCAPS – BACK LANE

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BACK LANE SEPTEMBER 2012 [MOTHER REDCAPS]

This building is in much worse condition now in 2021 than it was when I photographed it in 2012.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/dublin-markets-owner-martin-keane-faces-vacant-site-levy-on-mother-redcaps-hk7kc7lhj

This building forms part of the Mother Redcaps complex, constructed as a shoe factory for James Winstanley c.1875 and remodelled for use as a large indoor market and public house complex in 1988. Archaeological excavations held on the site in 2006 revealed deposits ranging from Hiberno-Norse to post-medieval, indicating the long history of occupation at this location.

A friend of mine described Back Lane as just another ugly backstreet but it features buildings of interest such as Tailors’ Hall, after 300 years, the oldest surviving Guild Hall in Dublin.

The building It is protected under Section 12 of the National Monuments (Amendment) Act, 1994 and is a designated Heritage site under the Heritage Act 1995.

Building began in the first decade of the eighteenth century. It is of considerable architectural and historical interest. It had a variety of different uses, including a meeting place for the Tailors’ Guild and other Guilds, it was used for entertainment, teaching, as an army barracks and a court house.

Tailors’ Hall is best known for the series of important meetings held there in 1792 organised by the Catholic committee. These came to be known as The Back Lane Parliament.

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