Further extracts from Kieran’s new book

‘A-Z of Cork, Places, People, History’ and published by Amberley Publishing (2025) is my latest publication on the rich history of Cork city. Below are extracts from the new book, which is available in any good bookshop in the city as well as online. Below are extracts from the letter P.

Partnership

The first Quakers settled in the walled town of Cork in 1655 when Elizabeth Fletcher and Elizabeth Smith arrived to take up residence. The first church was on a laneway off North Main Street near the Town Cross on North Main Street. Cork Quakers possessed a large amount of capital along with a trade or skill that could maintain it. They were people of wealth and thus of status. In particular, they specialised in the manufacture of clothing, but did venture into other businesses in other manufacturing industries as well, such as sugar refining.

By the late 1690s, the Quakers were able to consolidate themselves further in Cork society when the Corporation of Cork accepted and acknowledged the religion’s presence. This was due to the fact that the Quakers could financially aid the Corporation out of debt – hence, between 1690 and 1700, several prominent members of the Cork Quaker community were made freemen by the Corporation and were accepted into trade guilds.

In 1696, Joseph Pike, linen draper, became one of the first Quakers in Cork to pioneer the investment of capital into reclaiming marshland, just west of the walled town, in order to create residences. In that year, he purchased a large portion of an unnamed marshy island just to the west of the walled town. Other Quaker families soon followed the Pike investment. These included the Fenn family, Haman family, Devonshire family and the Sleigh family.

Patent:

Henry & Coughlan’s Directory of Cork in 1867 in particular highlighted the large Patent Carriage Works of Mr Johnston on Nelson Place, now Parnell Place. This carriage builder attracted much attention at an exhibition in 1865, where the universally known model Brougham carriage was showcased. Mr Johnston only used the best quality timber in the manufacturing process. The rejected timber was put into a large furnace erected in the smithy for the purpose of heating the wheel tires. Commentary is also made on Johnston’s efforts to make the wheels of his carriages higher and closer together than other builders, which gave the fore-carriage more sturdiness and control than was ordinarily obtained. Check out Cork Public Museum for a carriage display of Johnson and Perrott.

Philanthropy:

William Horatio Crawford, a prominent city merchant, decided to donate the necessary finance to complete a renovation and extension of the existing School of Art into what is now the Crawford Art Gallery. The cost was £20,000. The renovated building and extension was designed by Arthur Hill of the firm Hill & Company, architects. They were renowned in the city for their use of good-quality Victorian building work.

It was originally proposed that the extension and additions would include a School of Art and Science and the wrought-iron gates still visible today at the entrance to the Crawford Art Gallery still bear the inscriptions ‘Art’ and ‘Science’. The roof was to be complete with several turrets.

The initial intention was to have art and technology taught under the one roof with both an art museum and a science museum. However, due to the cost, many of Arthur Hill’s designs were scaled down. The wrought-iron gates at the entrance to the new School of Art and gallery building bear the date 1884, the year the extension and renovation were completed. The official opening ceremony was not held until 15 April 1885.

Pieces:

Unfortunately, Cork cannot boast Roman origins. However, Rome and Italy have inspired the myriad of architects working in Cork throughout the centuries. San Paolo Fuori le Mura, one of the four basilicas of Rome, possesses a beautiful apse mosaic of Christ flanked by the apostles Peter, Paul, Andrew and Luke.

This mosaic, comprising of small pieces of marble and glass, influenced the thinking Professor Umberto Noni, an eminent Italian artist, working on the mosaic design of Cork’s St Francis Church. In the late 1940s, he was asked by the Cork Franciscan community to create the mosaic templates for their proposed new church in Liberty Street (opened 1953). Commendatore Marco Tullio Monticelli and his team of crafts people worked Noni’s Cork apse. They laid more than 5.5 million individual pieces of mosaic.

Post:

In 1875, owner James Scanlan sold the Cork Theatre Royal on Oliver Plunkett Street to the post and telegraph authorities as part of the authorities’ elaborate building project. Four years later in early May 1879, a new building opened. At a cost of £8,000, the building, which still stands, comprises limestone, sandstone and cement. It was the design of James Higgins Owens, architect of the Board of Works, his assistant Enoch Trevor Owens, and the contract was carried out by Richard Evans, Cork.

The division walls, sets of stairs, arches and floors are made of concretes. It was one of the first buildings in Cork to use concrete as a building material. The building still stands as the General Post Office for the city.