W extracts from Kieran’s latest book on Cork

‘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 W.

Walkway

In 1719, a large section of marshy land, now the area of Fitzgerald’s Park, was bought by then town clerk Edward Webber, a Dutchman. Edward decided to build a raised walkway across the marshes at his own private expense. This consisted of a bank walled on both sides and filled up. He named the walkway after a promenade in Amsterdam called the Meer-Dyke, which means an embankment to protect the land from the sea. While constructing the walk he also built a tea house of red bricks, which was the first of its kind in Cork. Fruit gardens and pathways of gravel were put down as well as stone seats for the convenience of the public. This formed the early origins of Cork’s famous Mardyke Walk.

War

During the First World War, over 2,000 Corkmen were killed on the front lines, with 1,100 of them from Cork city alone. Many of the dead lie buried with hundreds of thousands of other British soldiers in the cemeteries of northern France and Flanders. At the western end of the South Mall is a memorial to those Irishmen who died in the conflict. It was erected in 1925 and is one of the few Irish examples of its type. Carved in relief on a modest limestone obelisk, sitting on a plinth, is the profile of a Munster Fusiliers soldier in full military uniform, head down, gun at rest.

Warning

Life in medieval Cork was harsh and difficult. Various plans of the walled town show menacing symbols of power at the top of the drawbridge towers. Dismembered heads of executed criminals were placed as a warning to the other citizens contemplating crime. The severed head was placed onto a spike and this was slotted into a rectangular block of stone. Legend has it that one of the stone blocks still exists and today can be seen at the top of the steps of the Counting House in the former Beamish and Crawford Brewery site on South Main Street.

Watch

In mid-eighteenth-century Cork, a population explosion caused many social problems. Crime was a serious issue for the city. In the early 1740s Mayor Hugh Winter employed fifteen watchmen to walk around the city at night between 11 pm and sunrise to protect the citizens. Eleven o’clock was the city’s curfew, and any person caught outdoors after that time faced prosecution or expulsion. Robbery was common, with money and clothing often reported missing. Items such as silk, lead and swords were targeted by thieves too, and the raiding of cellars for food was also common. There were two gaols in the eighteenth-century city, one overlooking South Gate Bridge and the other overlooking North Gate Bridge. These gaols housed debtors and malefactors.

Water:

In 1762, an Act of Parliament was passed to establish the Cork Pipe Water Company. In 1768, a Nicholas Fitton was elected to carry out the construction work needed for the new water supply plan. A foundation stone today commemorates the building of the first pump house, which was itself constructed on the Lee Road. The stone bears the inscription: Cork Pipe Water Company Established 1768. The pumping house was built in a position on the river whereby tidal water would not be able to reach it.

The waterwheel and pump sent the river water unfiltered to an open reservoir called the ‘City Basin’ which was located on an excellent elevated level above the Lee Road. This water was then pumped from here to the city centre through wooden pipes. Archaeological excavations over the years also recognise the work of the Pipe Water Company. Indeed, in April 1970, roadworks on the South Terrace revealed part of an old wooden water main. In all, 18 metres of the main were uncovered.

Wound:

In early 1891 on St Patrick’s Street, opposite St Patrick’s Bridge, a pillar clock was erected. It is a large double-faced drum perched upon a wrought-iron pillar 23 feet high. On the premises of the Mangan business was the turret clock machinery which, by means of a rod underneath the pathway, and rising through the centre of its supporting pillar to the drum, worked the hands.

By this system the clock was easily wound and regulated.

The Mangan company was founded in Cork in 1817 by James Mangan, clockmaker (who was born in Caroline Street, Cork, in 1793). In the mid-nineteenth century, there was a growing need for telling the time, especially in an age where everyone did not have a watch. Mangan’s other great commission was the clock on St Anne’s Church, Shandon.