The rain became really intense and I had to take shelter in a archway at the New Timber Yard complex on Weaver’s Street.
Cork Street runs from the junction of The Coombe to Donore Avenue.
It was named after the first Earl of Cork and once formed part of the ancient highway “An Slighe Dála” connecting Dublin with the west of Ireland. On old maps it was described as “The Highway to Dolfynesberne” (Dolphin’s Barn).
The street was once a centre of fine wool and silk hand-loom weaving. The woollen industry was killed off around 1700 by the English government, who wanted to keep the wool monopoly in England, although a minor revival was started around 1775. Despite problems, silk spinning and the manufacture of poplin, supported by the Royal Dublin Society, continued into the 19th century.
The Tenter House was erected in 1815 in this street, financed by Thomas Pleasants. Before this the poor weavers of the Liberties had either to suspend work in rainy weather or use the alehouse fire and thus were (as Wright expresses it) “exposed to great distress, and not infrequently reduced either to the hospital or the gaol.” The Tenter House was a brick building 275 feet long, 3 stories high, and with a central cupola. It had a form of central heating powered by four furnaces, and provided a place for weavers to stretch their material in bad weather.
In 1861 a Carmelite priest bought the Tenter House and opened it as a refuge for the homeless. He ran the hostel for ten years until 1871 when the Sisters of Mercy came to Cork Street. In 1873 they built a convent and in 1874 a primary school, which closed down in 1989.
The Cork Street Fever Hospital (also known as the House of Recovery) was a hospital that opened in Cork Street on 14 May 1804. The hospital was extended in 1817-1819 to help cope with a national typhus epidemic. In 1953 the Cherry Orchard Hospital in Ballyfermot replaced the old Cork Street hospital, which was renamed Brú Chaoimhín and became a nursing home.
Across the road from the hospital is the James Weir Home for nurses, built in 1903. The site had once been a Quaker burial ground.
In 1932 the Maryland housing development off Cork Street was constructed by Dublin Corporation. 1932 was a Marian year, hence the name Maryland.
During the mid 20th century, there were plans to widen the road into a dual carriageway, leading to buildings being left to fall into decay while the threat of compulsory purchase orders seemed possible. The street was totally reconstructed towards the end of the 20th century. It is now a mostly residential area.
St Luke’s Church was closed to the public in 1975. The church was built between 1715 and 1716 but suffered a fire in 1986.
Behind the church was a small cemetery. Among those interred there was Mr. Justice Hellen, second Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in Ireland, who died in 1793. Also buried here were the family of famous publisher Alexander Thom. The relief road leading to Cork St., built 1980-2000, cut through the old cemetery.
In 1994, Dublin City Council purchased the site and the graveyard was divided in two by a new road. What is now St Luke’s Avenue cut through the “Northern Graveyard” of the church. In November 2017, JJ Rhatigan completed a €3.25m 13-month restoration and repurposing of the 17th century Huguenot Church into a three-storey modern state of the art office, with two floors suspended from the roof truss structure within the walls of the 300-year old Church.
I MAY HAVE FOUND ANOTHER MARIAN STATUE ON NEWMARKET STREET – WEAVER’S STREET
I had to shelter in an archway at the new Timberyard Building, featuring a religious statue, on Weaver’s Street for about an hour because of really heavy rain but when it stopped what I photographed was much more interesting because of the strong light and dark skies.
When I returned home I decided to check if there was a story associated with the statue which struck me as being unusual. After much time and effort I discovered that it replaced a statue that was located on what had been derelict site, the old timber yard, for more than a decade before the current complex was built.
Apparently the planning permission required the original statue to be retained within the new complex but, as is usually the case, it went missing so a replacement was found and installed behind a window with a kneeling step outside. I could not establish if the original had been a 1954 Marian statue of which there are about thirty throughout the city. Someone kindly supplied me with a booklet showing most of them but this one was not included.
Weaver’s Hall was located on The Coombe Dublin and although the building is long gone, there is still a lot of evidence of the once major industry that existed in the area over a 1,000 year timespan. The most obvious are various place-names. Weavers Street, Weaver’s Square off Cork Street, and the adjacent Ormond Street commemorated both the Huguenot weavers who settled here in great numbers from the late 1600’s and the man who invited them over, the Duke of Ormond. Nearby Newmarket was constructed in the 1670’s by the Earl of Meath in response to this rapidly growing industry, to facilitate trade in wool, hides and flax and also the finished products. The Earl also included space for his own market, and this added to the unique shape and layout of Newmarket, still with us today.
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