THE GRAFFITI WALL AT WINDMILL LANE – CHRISTMAS 2014
A year later the Movember Foundation announced that they were going to sell sections of the iconic Windmill Lane graffiti wall to raise funds for charity. Having been on location while the wall was being demolished I must admit that I was more than surprised that any of the wall was available because I was under the impression that it had been reduced to little more than dust during the process.
LOCKDOWN ON PRUSSIA STREET – STONEYBATTER AREA OF DUBLIN
Because of Covid related restrictions a walk along the streets of Dublin can be somewhat depressing because nearly every business is closed and it is possible that many may never open.
CAMDEN ROW AT NIGHT – URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION
Camden row features a number of pubs and restaurants and there can be some excellent street art on display but at times there can be many examples of urban decay and depression. Off the street is Liberty Lane which features many examples of street art the quality of which has declined over the last year or two. I think that it might best to avoid the lane late at night,
There was a St. Kevin’s Church in what is now St. Kevin’s Park, Camden Row, Dublin, Ireland at least as far as the 13th century. After the Reformation, it became an Anglican Church. The original church was replaced around 1750 by a new one, closed in 1912 and now in ruins.Both churches were dedicated to Kevin of Glendalough.[2] There is also a Catholic St. Kevin’s Church a short distance away on Harrington Street.
THE GARFIELD BUILDING 2105 – LOWER GARFIELD STREET IN BELFAST
One thing that I have noticed over the last ten years is that there is a lot of derelict sites and buildings in Belfast.
As I have not visited Belfast since March 2019 I have no idea if the condition of the Garfield building has changed but hopefully I might be able to visit in 2021.
Despite the fact that I overheard a tourist guide claiming that the Garfield Bar Building was named after Garfield the comic character created by Jim Davis the reality is that the street dates from 1896 and was named after US president James Garfield who was assassinated in 1881.
Every time I am in Belfast I visited North Street and Garfield Street and in general I book a room in a nearby hotel. In 2018 I stayed at the Bullitt Hotel but normally I stay at the Ramada.
The Garfield Bar Building has been in decline since the about beginning of the century but the last tenant moved out as late as 2014. As each month passed the unusual listed building, which gently curves along the line of the street, fell deeper into decay with vegetation sprouting from the rooftops. What interested me was that the street often hosted interesting street art and graffiti but those days are now gone because the area is now being redeveloped as are many other parts of the city.
FATHER MATTHEW SQUARE – CHURCH STREET DISASTER MEMORIAL
I suspect the few Dubliners are aware of what happened on Church Street in September 1913.
There is a little park in Church Street at Father Matthew Square which contains a plaque with details of “The Church Street Tenement Collapse” as well as an attractive monumental street-lamp which I like.
Father Mathew Square is a housing scheme for Dublin Corporation by the City Architect on site bounded by Church St, Beresford St, Mary’s La & N King St consisting of 4-roomed houses, 3-roomed houses and 2-roomed houses. Tenders invited, Dec 1914. Work started in August 1915.
Tuesday 2 September 1913. At about 8.45pm two houses, Nos 66 and 67, collapsed. The rubble fell across the width of the street as far as the door of the Father Matthew Hall on the other side.
Later evidence to the coroner’s inquiry stated that there had been a rumbling noise, after which No. 66 collapsed suddenly, followed soon afterwards by the fall of No. 67. All seven who died in the tragedy had lived in No. 66, a four-storey building in which 26 people had lived. One of the inhabitants, Mr Sammon, who survived the collapse, told reporters the heroic story of how his son Eugene had died: ‘Eugene took the youngest child (Josephine), aged one year and eight months, and brought her out safely. Then he went back for the other children, and got out with them alright, but it was when he was coming away with Elizabeth that they were struck by the falling masonry and killed’.
Hugh Salmon worked at Jacob’s biscuit factory and was a member of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ and it should be noted The Church Street Disaster happened only days after some of the worst disturbances of the labour strikes of 1913, which saw the deaths of two men during a baton charge by the Dublin Metropolitan Police.
It appears that the chimney gave way, crashing through the house as it fell and pushing the front wall out into the street. Immediately following the collapse of the two houses, a great cloud of dust enveloped the scene, and for some time it was not possible to see the magnitude of what had just occurred. Soon units of Dublin Fire Brigade arrived at the scene and took control of the rescue work. By now the street was dark, except for some dim street lamps. Numerous lighted lanterns and candles were held aloft by a body of willing assistants. Throughout the night rescue workers pulled the bodies of the injured and dead from the rubble. The next morning the sun shone brightly, and only then could the full magnitude of the damage be appreciated.
Fifteen people were trapped in the rubble: six died, and at least seven were seriously injured.
Those killed were Hugh Sammon (17), Elizabeth Sammon (4½), Nicholas Fitzpatrick (40), Elizabeth Fagan (50), John Shiels (3), Peter Crowley (6) and Margaret Rourke (55).
An inquest held into the collapse revealed that the Dangerous Buildings Inspector had examined the houses at the beginning of August, and ordered that immediate renovation work be carried out. In a follow-up visit on 15 August, the Inspector passed the buildings as safe, although he admitted to the Coroner’s Court that he could not see whether a new supporting beam had been fitted because it was blocked at the time. The Church Street disaster was not the first time tenements had collapsed, but the numbers killed and injured were unparalleled.
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