Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Lost Ireland: 12 photos that capture forgotten moments of Irish history

“It is an architectural fact of life that buildings, like people, come and go.”

EARLIER THIS YEAR, author, curator and Dublin Castle guide William Derham released a collection of photos which brings the reader through 100 years of forgotten Irish moments.

Through architecture and buildings, some of which no longer exist, Derham documents the changes in Ireland’s landscape.

The 500 images cover everywhere from Cork to Antrim – a ‘snapshot’ of the buildings of Ireland’s past.

“It will hopefully encourage us to be more aware of what has survived, and to think twice before we let it, too, disappear,” Derham says.

Drawing on a variety of photographic archives, the book features the humble mud huts of the transient labourer, the ‘thatched mansions’ of the prosperous farmer, the edifices of industrial innovation and technology, and the grand homes of the well-to-do, including the infamous ‘big house’.

“It is an architectural fact of life that buildings, like people, come and go…Sometimes the death of a building is sudden and unexpected, whether through accident or malice,” writes Colum O’Riordan of the Irish Architectural Archive in his foreword.

Sometimes it comes through the creeping decay of old age, and sometimes buildings are euthanised, pulled down unceremoniously in their prime to make way for something new.

“As with portraits of people, a certain character of each building resonates from the photographs; some we might regard as curious, some we might wish to have known better, some we might even be glad we never met.”

Here’s a quick glance at just a sample of what to expect from the collection: 

Dublin, pre-1916

IAA_DUBLIN_32

Elegant Metropolis: Upper O’Connell Street before the 1916 Rising.

Clare, c.1900

NLI_CLARE_4

People assemble on the Strand in Kilkee around 1900.

Cork, pre-1920

NLI_CORK_1

City Hall on Albert Quay in Cork City on show.

Galway, no date

NLI_GALWAY_5

Practical Innovations: The Salmon Weir in Galway City

Sligo, 1918

NLI_SLIGO_9

Castle Street in Sligo Town around 1918.

Dublin, 1927

IAA_DUBLIN_13

Irish Civic Week on O’Connell Street Bridge in 1927.

Tipperary, no date

NLI_TIPPERARY_6

Kilkenny, no date

NLI_KILKENNY_3

Belfast, 1941

Report compiled by the Ministry of Public Security on the air raids on Belfast and their aftermath 1941

The photo was taken after a blitz in 1941.

Waterford, pre-1960

NLI_WATERFORD_4

The Mall in Waterford City showing harbourside commerce before 1960.

Dublin, 1964

IAA_DUBLIN_21

The Public House: The Irish House on Wood Quay.

Dublin, pre-1970

IAA_DUBLIN_23

The Turkish Baths on Lincoln Place before their demolition in 1970.

Lost Ireland: 1860-1960 is available at Eason, in most good booksellers and on Amazon. 

More: Life, death and rock n’roll: 40 years of Ireland captured in photos

Read: A photographer has captured Ireland’s most stunning GAA fields

More: Working women, young soldiers and chemical warfare: A glimpse at World War II in colour

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
15 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Stephen Finn
    Favourite Stephen Finn
    Report
    Dec 27th 2016, 9:27 PM

    we need oconnell st back to the way it was thanks to dublin corporation it was allowed to decay

    152
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Buster VL
    Favourite Buster VL
    Report
    Dec 27th 2016, 9:40 PM

    Pull down the spike, and rebuild the column.

    71
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute alphanautica
    Favourite alphanautica
    Report
    Dec 27th 2016, 11:12 PM

    The Brits did a great job when they were in charge of the architecture

    137
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute john
    Favourite john
    Report
    Dec 27th 2016, 9:23 PM

    Love that picture of all the houses on O’Connell street. There is the shell of one of the houses left near the top across from the savoy. How grand it would be to live on a street so wide

    91
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute OU812
    Favourite OU812
    Report
    Dec 27th 2016, 9:44 PM

    As far as I know there’s one house with a resident left on O’Connell St. down near Henry St.

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute OU812
    Favourite OU812
    Report
    Dec 27th 2016, 9:43 PM

    The lack of trees always amazes me.

    65
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Charlie Fogarty
    Favourite Charlie Fogarty
    Report
    Dec 27th 2016, 9:13 PM

    #BringbackTurkishbaths

    Great collection must have a gander.

    55
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alex Falcone
    Favourite Alex Falcone
    Report
    Dec 28th 2016, 1:02 AM

    @Charlie Fogarty:
    There’s a guy on the street holding the dome on the building together with a length of rope.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute TehJurolan
    Favourite TehJurolan
    Report
    Dec 28th 2016, 9:55 AM

    What’s that building in the middle of O Connell Street bridge?

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tony Canning
    Favourite Tony Canning
    Report
    Dec 27th 2016, 9:03 PM

    Not even one of the traffic lights at crossfire house???!

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Seamus Ryan
    Favourite Seamus Ryan
    Report
    Dec 28th 2016, 12:45 AM

    Just had a look on google maps at the streets today. It’s amazing to see how they developed and how the building changed. You can pick out the buildings in a second some have changed that little.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Axl
    Favourite Axl
    Report
    Dec 28th 2016, 11:02 AM

    Is that what is now the left bank pub on the right in the kilkenny picture ?

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute philpod
    Favourite philpod
    Report
    Dec 28th 2016, 11:04 AM

    Yes, it was an actual bank in the pre crash days

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Paddy
    Favourite Paddy
    Report
    Dec 28th 2016, 5:05 PM

    And also a dog urinating on the street

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Alex Falcone
    Favourite Alex Falcone
    Report
    Dec 28th 2016, 12:59 AM

    Skefko Ball bearings.

    4
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds