[johnny_doyle]

nice little snippet re a "munitionette" in Dublin

http://www.historyireland.com/volume...res/?id=113762

[arnhem44]

Cheers lads.I just had a look and saw it's on the other side of North Main St. so close enough to the dock area.I've probably passed there a thousand times not knowing anything about it,I'll have a look for some more on it but here's a snippet from the History of the Bodega,St.Peter's Market



The First World War began in August 1914, and the Irish Market became one of its casualties. In April 1916, the month of the Easter Rising, Cork corporation, which was then controlled by a Redmondite majority who supported the British war effort, handed St Peter’s over to the Ministry of Munitions which established a National Shell Factory there. The remaining stallholders were accommodated in a specially adapted section of the Bazaar.
After the war’s end in late 1918 the St Peter’s site returned to the corporation. Following independence in 1922 most of it was leased out, first as a garage and subsequently to the shoemaking firm Dwyer & Co, but a small portion at the North Main Street end was retained as a meat market by the corporation

http://www.bodegacork.ie/history/

[Victor]

St. Peter's is here: http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,567142,572028,7,9 given its central location, I'm not sure it was the best place for such an enterprise. http://maps.google.ie/maps?q=cork&hl...37.13,,0,-4.93

The Bazaar (actually a nice enough building) is a few doors down. http://maps.google.ie/maps?q=cork&hl...278.8,,0,-11.6

[arnhem44]

Maybe with the selection of different buildings to be found down along the quay's it could of been better suited somewhere else,still it's only about a mile either side of the river to the main dock areas at the same time and based near the quay's itself.However was such manufacturing suited to such an area given the dangers involved,probably not.

[johnny_doyle]

not quite munitions but it would appear that the Dublin Dockyard Co was involved in the construction of pontoons and bridging equipment for the Army.

This Dockyard also built 2 fishery vessels modelled on the Helga which were used by the Canadian Navy in WW1. One of these vessels was the only one lost by the Canadians during WW1

http://www.gwpda.org/naval/galiano.htm

http://www.warmuseum.ca/cwm/exhibiti...A&id=49&page=2

Her sister ship was the HMCS Malaspina

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dr_gorham/6112627116/

[cliveocr]

Hi,

Do you know when the Dublin National Shell Factory started production ?

I am trying to close the gap between it being a woollen factory and becoming a munitions factory.

The IWM pictures are dated 1914, but the official board of management of the Dublin National Shell Factory was appointed in October 1915.

The Ministry had opened an office in Dublin in 1914, so I don't know how the factory could be as productive so quickly (as appears in the IWM pictures).

As Captain Fairbairn Downie arrived in July 1915, I had assumed there was not much activity in 1914.

Any help appreciated,

Clive

[johnny_doyle]

a progress report from 5th Jan 1916

[Victor]

Originally Posted by cliveocr

The Ministry had opened an office in Dublin in 1914, so I don't know how the factory could be as productive so quickly (as appears in the IWM pictures).

A few factors.

Back then, there were few administrative obstacles.

The buildings were largely present (save the leaky roof) and at least some of the machinery was taken from elsewhere.

There was a war on.

[cliveocr]

Hi,

Thanks for the newspaper article - just what I was looking for.

Would that suggest that the IWM pictures of the Factory were taken in 1916 rather than 1914 ?


Clive

[Jawgap]

'Bullets, Boots & Bandages' on the BBC looked at the production of materiel.

There's an article on munitions production on bbc.co.uk that discusses the significant increase in artillery shell production round about the time the factory in Dublin was set up (presumably as part of the effort to expand production).