"Essex Street" Dublin in the 1850's...

MilitaryRoad

Hi folks,


Just wondering would anyone know the answer to this...? I've run into a family marriage document that refers to a marriage in St. Andrews Church in Dublin (now the tourist office), and the cert mentions the address of the bride and groom as being 22 Essex Street.


I've checked maps of the area and in recent times, they all refer to Essex Street East and Essex Street West. But the document I have and other marriage documents on www.irishgenealogy.ie that took place around the 1850's, all refer to "Essex Street".


It would seem that at some stage in history, "Essex Street" was broken down into Essex Street East and Essex Street West.


Basically I'm trying to find the current location of 22 Essex Street as it was known as back in 1855!


Any help much appreciated!

pinkypinky

Shane's website has some excellent maps.

https://www.swilson.info/maps/ThomsDublin1848.php

You could look at Thoms Directory in person in most libraries - Pearse St has a brilliant collection. They have a street directory where they actually detail streets by number and say where other streets intersect.

spurious

I have a directory from that time. Give me a few minutes.

**edit
Essex Street West was known as Smock Alley from 1840.

22 East Essex St would be where Bunsen Burger is today
22 West Essex Street would have been the last building on the side Smock Alley Theatre (St. Michael and John's church) is on, travelling toward Fishamble Street.

I would think it is East Essex Street is meant. I think if they had meant West Essex Street, it would have been stated explicitly in 1855 as the name had not changed long.
In 1850, 22 West Essex Street was a barrister's office, name of Grierson (of course there could have been accommodation on other floors).
22 East Essex Street was Thomas Bass, a carpenter, (again, probably accommodation on other floors).

MilitaryRoad

Many thanks for your help with this folks, this is one of these obstacles I'm stuck on here in terms of genealogy, trying to get back beyond 1855, I've hit a brick wall on this one!

MilitaryRoad

pinkypinky wrote: »

Shane's website has some excellent maps.

https://www.swilson.info/maps/ThomsDublin1848.php

You could look at Thoms Directory in person in most libraries - Pearse St has a brilliant collection. They have a street directory where they actually detail streets by number and say where other streets intersect.

Just had a look at this map, it would appear to back up what Spurious has said that the Original Essex Street back in 1855 is what we know today as Essex Street East, which is the Bunsen Burger outlet...

Hermy

On this, the earliest map from the UCD collection, the streets are numbered and marked Essex Street and Essex Street West with no mention of the word East.

MilitaryRoad

Hermy wrote: »

On this, the earliest map from the UCD collection, the streets are numbered and marked Essex Street and Essex Street West with no mention of the word East.

Thanks so much for that link Hermy, it helped me clear up how the streets were named around that area! It even has the old St. Andrews Church shown, which was a circular type structure that was destroyed by fire in the 1800's and what stands there today is what replaced the old church.

Hermy

Yes, I really like that set of maps for the details they provide.