Cork Facts or Myths

Duke Leonal Felmet

Ok, things you have heard but can't confirm.

I heard there is an underground tunnel that leads from the North Cathedral to that nice red brick house on Pope's Quay.

refusetolose

theres a tunnel going from coburg street to collins barracks

this is true as far as i know

tommy21

Go to this tonight and you might hear more - http://corkskeptics.org/2011/10/14/ghost_hunters_inc_october_21st/

Duke Leonal Felmet

tommy21 wrote: »

Go to this tonight and you might hear more - http://corkskeptics.org/2011/10/14/ghost_hunters_inc_october_21st/

Nah, I don't hang out with losers.

tommy21

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

Nah, I don't hang out with losers.

.

deRanged

Duke Leonal Felmet wrote: »

Nah, I don't hang out with losers.

don't be insulting please.

Owen

There's evidence in the Cork archives of a tunnel which ran from the old period houses near blackrock castle to close to the South Infirmary. I was shown it a while back by a guy researching it for some book he was writing, but the book never made it to print.

beer enigma

I'd say there's loads of undiscovered - Dublin has loads of tunnels & underground structures - churches etc - why not cork

Papa_Lazarou

There's a tunnel under the road and houses on the atlantic homecare side of the Lough community centre.

charlemont

refusetolose wrote: »

theres a tunnel going from coburg street to collins barracks

this is true as far as i know

That's true.

ResearchWill

Considering that cork is a bog is it really probable that so many tunnels exist.

Milly33

tommy21 wrote: »

Go to this tonight and you might hear more - http://corkskeptics.org/2011/10/14/ghost_hunters_inc_october_21st/

Ah pants I just saw this would have liked to go...Never knew there were so many tunnells around the place..Should have a group to go explore them

Milly33

Milly33 wrote: »

Ah pants I just saw this would have liked to go.........

+1

tommy21

RoverJames wrote: »

+1

But doesn't that also make you guys ... losers?

iliketeaandcake

Are there really tunnels around the city? One of my classmates told me there were tunnels near the docks and that we were going to organise an art exhibition there. I got really excited and told all the rest of my class and spread the news. Turned out he made it all up just to make a fool out of me, I was well pissed off!
Are there any links to pictures or the history of them or anything like that?

Duke Leonal Felmet

I also heard it is possible to scuba through some of the old canals.

Ainu

on a less tunnel related note. Did you guys ever hear that the architect who designed Trinity Presbyterian Church killed himself after the building was finished because the spire is crooked? Heard that story on the sightseeing bus

tommy21

Ainu wrote: »

on a less tunnel related note. Did you guys ever hear that the architect who designed Trinity Presbyterian Church killed himself after the building was finished because the spire is crooked? Heard that story on the sightseeing bus

Wait - he killed himself for some other reason and the guy who finished it off did a bad job, or he killed himself because he couldn't get the spire right himself?

Ainu

tommy21 wrote: »

Wait - he killed himself for some other reason and the guy who finished it off did a bad job, or he killed himself because he couldn't get the spire right himself?

Im not sure tbh. By the sound of it he was just so embarrassed that the spire was crooked that he committed suicide. i think. reputation and the likes....

tommy21

Ainu wrote: »

Im not sure tbh. By the sound of it he was just so embarrassed that the spire was crooked that he committed suicide. i think. reputation and the likes....

Actually some ancient memory in me tells me it was that, heard this before.

Owen

There's a similar story about the architect and the church in Turner's Cross.

tommy21

Owen wrote: »

There's a similar story about the architect and the church in Turner's Cross.

You know what, that's what I was thinking of, thanks!

Ainu

Owen wrote: »

There's a similar story about the architect and the church in Turner's Cross.

Why did that guy kill himself? What was wrong with the church?

tommy21

Ainu wrote: »

Why did that guy kill himself? What was wrong with the church?

Exactly your story.

Ainu

tommy21 wrote: »

Exactly your story.

alright. never looked at it that closely

Andrew33

Ainu wrote: »

Im not sure tbh. By the sound of it he was just so embarrassed that the spire was crooked that he committed suicide. i think. reputation and the likes....

Should have got a Dub down to do it;)

evilivor

Owen wrote: »

There's a similar story about the architect and the church in Turner's Cross.

The architect of Christ the King in Turners Cross was killed after being struck by an automobile driven by William Harridge, the former president of Major League Baseball's American League. He designed Christ the King almost 35 years before.

It is considered to be the first modernist building in Ireland and is one of my favourites.

Fromthetrees

evilivor wrote: »

The architect of Christ the King in Turners Cross was killed after being struck by an automobile driven by William Harridge, the former president of Major League Baseball's American League. He designed Christ the King almost 35 years before.

It is considered to be the first modernist building in Ireland and is one of my favourites.

and is one of the largest suspended-ceiling churches in Europe

Funsterdelux

Our Lady's Hospital has tunnels too I heard, so they could ferry patients from one end to the other, without the public seeing them.

Our Ladys in Abandoned Ireland

CHealy

I know a tunnel runs under the buildings on the river side of McCurtain Street, the whole lenght of the street. My Dad bought me down to it when he used to work in a buisness on the street but was a bit dangerous and freaky to go all the way, he said he has though

Balmed Out

Christ the king church was also Irelands first concrete church.

Whats the story behind the tunnels? Are they something to do with draines waterways or used for maintenance of the waterways under the roads?

Other interesting tid bits would include:
Dogs drinking bowl on pana
the church by the triskel lost its spire or cross(cant remember the story) from a cannonball during the 1690 williamite siege of cork. Theres a cannonball from the siege on display in st finnbarrs cathedral.
The steps outside buildings on south mall are because they were all boat houses when it was still a waterway.
Barracks street often had heads impaled displayed there form various rebellions etc.
North and south main street were named from the city gates at either end.
Elizabeth fort was a black and tan base - you can walk the ramparts but locals never seem to.
First steam ship to cross the atlantic left from cork.

Good pic of underground waterway on grand parade here but they are all over the place.
http://www.corkpastandpresent.ie/places/stpatricksstreet/historicoutline/

Balmed Out

thought of a few more.

The Dublin firebrigade considered the destruction in Cork in the burning of Cork during the war of independance to be worse then that of Dublin after the easter rising.
In the British parliament a member of parliament claimed the fire was not done by crown forces and spread from pana to the old city hall naturally, despite a block of unburnt buildings and a river in between. The British did pay for the new city hall.

The fingerpost in Douglas was the site where a local rebel from the 1698 rebellion was hung.

William Penn set sale for America from Blackrock. He set up the state of Pennsylvania.

Ptolemy made a map about 150ad with a place he called Ivuernis where Cork city is now, so we may be older then st. finbarr

When Terence macswiney was on hunger strike during the civil war around 300,000 Brazilians petitioned the vatican to intervene.

a cork woman known as lola montez was the mistress of a bavarian king.

another cork woman eliza lynch is known as the evita of paraguay and is still a well known historical figure there(much loved by some hated by other). shes even got a big tomb in the capital Asuncion.

evilivor

The University of Berkeley in California was named after the philosopher George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne. Its nickname, coined in the 1960s, is the "People's Republic of Berkeley" which inspired the famous Cork t-shirt slogan and a website that shall not be named here.

Also, there is no connection between the t-shirt maker and the website - merely the name in common although one may purchase t-shirts through the site.

SeaFields

In summation I think we can all agree : Cork..the best place in the world

Drucilla

Funsterdelux wrote: »

Our Lady's Hospital has tunnels too I heard, so they could ferry patients from one end to the other, without the public seeing them.

Our Ladys in Abandoned Ireland

It wasn't just so the public couldn't see them. it was because it was such a massive building and it saved them taking patients out in all sorts of weather or at night time etc. Very handy.

Padraig Mor

Papa_Lazarou wrote: »

There's a tunnel under the road and houses on the atlantic homecare side of the Lough community centre.

First I've heard of that and I'm from there!

Owen

There's a fairly large cave network in the quarry near Beaumont School. Myself and a few friends used to regularly crawl in there as teenagers. Tiny shafts about 20 metres long just big enough to fit through on your stomach open into huge chambers about the size of a house. Loads of fossils inside, a few skeletons of dead animals that crawled in and couldn't get out, and if it's been raining a few days previously there's a small underground river that flows too. Neat place!

D'Agger

I must really research Cork more tbh - I'm living here long enough and should really know my way around better, have more facts about the place to hand etc.

Thanks for all the info given so far though

Padraig Mor

PaulieC wrote: »

I must really research Cork more tbh - I'm living here long enough and should really know my way around better, have more facts about the place to hand etc.

Thanks for all the info given so far though

Check out The Atlas of Cork City - pricey, but very interesting.

D'Agger

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Check out The Atlas of Cork City - pricey, but very interesting.

Cheers - but I'm terrible at reading books - I'm still not finished a novel I got last Christmas and it's not a hard read by any means.

I might look up stuff and do some sightseeing - take in some of the nice areas of Cork!


Same goes for restaurants and food here - yet to try out Novacentos pizza!

Funsterdelux

PaulieC wrote: »

Cheers - but I'm terrible at reading books - I'm still not finished a novel I got last Christmas and it's not a hard read by any means.

I might look up stuff and do some sightseeing - take in some of the nice areas of Cork!


Same goes for restaurants and food here - yet to try out Novacentos pizza!

Theres a lot of photos and pictures in it, so its nice just to glance through!

D'Agger

Funsterdelux wrote: »

Theres a lot of photos and pictures in it, so its nice just to glance through!

Thanks, Is it available in local bookstores?

Might pop into Waterstones or someplace and take a quick look at it before getting it.

Funsterdelux

PaulieC wrote: »

Thanks, Is it available in local bookstores?

Might pop into Waterstones or someplace and take a quick look at it before getting it.

It should be there or Easons.

jank

Our ladys hospital is the longest building in ireland, Across the river is/was tallest building in ireland, I think the elysian is taller now.

Lovers lane was actually called leapers lane. This was the back entrance to Cork in the old days for undesirables and those with eh... leprosy so they wouldn't infect the good up standing folk of Cork. The translation error was either someone mis-translating it from Irish to English or some of the neighbors (this area is a posh enough area of Cork) wanted the name changed to something a bit more pleasant. Probably a little bit of both!

The Duke of Wellington lived on the South Douglas Road or maybe its Nelson. Anyway one of them did.

Brian Stokers apparently got the idea for writing Dracula on a coach ride from crosshaven to rochestown on a dark winters night. Not sure about that one!:pac:

Got to chew the ear of my dad, he would have a few thousand of them...

Faith

jank wrote: »

Brian Stokers apparently got the idea for writing Dracula on a coach ride from crosshaven to rochestown on a dark winters night. Not sure about that one!:pac:

I wonder where Bram Stoker got the idea from, so? :pac:

evilivor

Faith wrote: »

I wonder where Bram Stoker got the idea from, so? :pac:

He got a love bite from a young wan behind the marquee at Cork Week.

Balmed Out

jank wrote: »

The Duke of Wellington lived on the South Douglas Road or maybe its Nelson. Anyway one of them did.

I dont think Nelson ever lived in Cork but the Duke of Wellington and the Duke of Marlborough did. They apparently used to drink in the Realt dearg (formerly the gateway) which (much debated) I have read is the oldest continuously licensed pub in Ireland

wheresmybeaver

Great thread.

I think ye lads would like the OSI website; it has modern satellite and street map imagery overlaid with historic maps; the oldest OSI map on there seems to predate the railway network in Cork (when you look at the most detailed maps) and I swear to God I have invested upwards of about 6 hours in the last week trawling through old maps of Cork, Glanmire, Midleton and Youghal. You can flip quickly between modern and old maps using the number keys. The accuracy of the mapping in those days is phenomenal. But it's incredible interesting to browse around the suburbs to see what old buildings / farms / big houses used to be there, and now lend their name to the area.

The link below is to the UCC site in Cork, where there appears to be no trace of a university; O'Donovans Road does not exist and most of the site seems to be the Gill Abbey to the East, and the County Gaol to the West. You can switch between old map and new map using the number 2 and number 6 keys.

http://maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,566273,571423,7,7

It's also remarkable how much of the land in Cork is reclaimed from the river and the mud; practically all the docklands for example. There were a huge number of Big Houses with landscaped gardens all around them; a large proportion of them now are either hotels, government buildings, derelict or disappeared completely (example: Inchera House and Little Island House where the Little Island Industrial Estate is now). And there are breweries everywhere; we had our priorities straight back in them days.

D'Agger

Balmed Out wrote: »

I dont think Nelson ever lived in Cork but the Duke of Wellington and the Duke of Marlborough did. They apparently used to drink in the Realt dearg (formerly the gateway) which (much debated) I have read is the oldest continuously licensed pub in Ireland

I used to love the Gateway! Has it changed much with the new name/owners etc.?

Owen

wheresmybeaver wrote: »

I think ye lads would like the OSI website; it has modern satellite and street map imagery overlaid with historic maps

Spent a bit of time on that site recently trying to figure out the history of where I live. Turns out it I'm inside an old walled garden belonging to an large estate, cooler still, in the park behind my house there's a huge hump in the green area which runs in a straight line across the grass. Could never figure out what it was - the OSI site shows it to be a Viaduct. Probably still under there too! Pity Ireland doesn't have a Time Team, would love to see what it looks like.

Balmed Out

PaulieC wrote: »

I used to love the Gateway! Has it changed much with the new name/owners etc.?

Only there once in a blue moon and havent ever noticed much of a change but im the type not to notice.