Ringsend and the Famine, An Rinn agus an Gorta Mor

 

I recently visited the National Famine Museum in Strokestown and even though I learned any of the facts in school, when it is presented to you in its rawest form, it is still overwhelming especially with so many of the personal stories and tragedies of Roscommon. While a nation struggled with the onset of famine in 1845, how was Ringsend coping? The 1841 census put the local population as Sandymount 1,142, Irishtown 1,109 and Ringsend 1,755, a total of 4,006

 

In May 1845, crowds lined the Liffey wall to watch a three-boat race on the river with the Dublin Rowing Club hosting the event and in October, The National Glass Company was announcing that it was expanding its business in Ringsend. Business was good in Ringsend and the number of vessels using the Grand Canal basin expanded and even more as thousands made their way to Dublin to escape the famine first from Dublin to Liverpool and onwards to new lives in North America and Australia, if they survived the journey.

 

The following year the 135 foot long The Shamrock was launched from Mr. Barrington’s Foundry in Ringsend. It was the first iron-screw steamer to be built in Dublin for the British and Irish Shipping.

 

 In 1847, the Dublin Reproductive Institution was founded in Ringsend by Falconer Miles. That may sound like a fertility clinic, but it was in fact a very successful organisation to ‘give temporary employment to the industrious poor of the neighbourhood.’ They instructed locals to improve skills including carpentry, building, cooking and even made mats and collected chopped wood and sold it on hand carts travelling until the cart was empty. To alleviate some of the poor lifestyle, the institution would pay the men daily to keep a roof over their heads and food in the family’s stomachs.

 

In April 1847 Devon born William Pullen was a new father, his son William was born. The family were from the Torbay fishermen who settled in Ringsend and created a fishing industry using their skills and technique from England. Pullen was the owner of the Ringsend based fishing smack the Bessy.

On 13th April 1847, the paddle steamer ‘Granna Uile' ( a Gaelic version of Grainne O’Malley) left Liverpool port bound for Drogheda at 8p.m. with 90 aboard and carrying a cargo of grain, urgently required for a starving Ireland and flax. Many of the passengers were returning to Ireland after failing to secure passage to America to avoid the famine. At 6a.m. on April 14^th she went on fire north off Lambay Island. In a rush for the two lifeboats after the ‘Fire’ alert was given, several passengers were drowned.  Captain Thomas Rawdon thought he could make port but at 7a.m. the fishing smack 'Bessy' came alongside and rescued all on deck except, Captain Rowden.  He was killed during a rescue attempt when he used a lifebelt and jumped into the sea but was caught in his ships wash. His body was dragged into the Bessy.  The Bessy made her way to Dublin with 68 survivors uncomfortably packed aboard, reaching the quayside in Ringsend at 6p.m. Twenty-three of the survivors were crew members.

 

According to ‘The Torbay Fishermen in Ringsend’ by Edmond P. Symes,

‘On board the Bessy with Captain Pullen were the mate, John Parker; a young man, George Upham, and a boy apprentice, William Symes. George Upham was related to Elizabeth Upham who had married Prince Symes in Brixham. Indeed, he was now also related by marriage to Captain Pullen, who ten years earlier had married Anna Maria Syms, daughter of Prince and Elizabeth. The boy, William, then aged 12, was their grandson.’

 

The company secretary of the Drogheda Team Packet Company Patrick Ternan organised the sum of fifty shillings as a reward for Captain Pullen and his crew.

In October 1850, the landlord of the Pembroke Estate Sir Sydney Herbert arrived in Ringsend and at a crowded meeting Herbert was praised by local politicians and the clergy alike for keeping the most serious effects of famine out of Ringsend.

‘The practice of other landlords was to send the crowbar brigade to demolish the dwellings of the starving populace, the intention of the Honourable S. Herbert was to erect houses for the poor (cheers of hear hear). Although here were some poor in the neighbourhood, there was not a single death from starvation during the famine in consequence of the help and employment given by Mr Herbert to the poor of the locality’

(Freemans Journal October 19^th 1850)

In April 1851 to great fanfare locally seven vessels of the Austrian Navy under Captain Garguravich arrived in Ringsend. This was a third of the entire navy. At 8am on Sunday morning, with many of the senior personnel attending mass in St Andrews Westland Row, three of the ships fired 21-gun salutes in the harbour. This was repeated at noon but a planned salute at 6pm was cancelled due to heavy rain in the area.

King James II at the Battle of Ringsend 1690

 

The Battle of the Boyne was described as ‘a family squabble between a Protestant Dutchman fighting a Catholic Scotsman in Ireland for the possession of the English Crown with the influence and finances of the Pope[1] in Rome supporting the Protestant William’. William’s force of 36,000 was made up of Englishmen, Dutch, German, French, Danish, Finns, Prussians, Swiss and Irish, while the opposing Jacobite’s were made up Irish, Scottish and French.

 

However, before the Battle of the Boyne in July 1690, on Good Friday April 4^th that year, King James II, along with a large force of soldiers and supporters departed Dublin Castle and headed to Ringsend. He was in the fight of his life as he battled William of Orange for the British Crown. James II was buoyed by the fact that a number of French ships had entered Dublin Bay and anchored believing that they had brought munitions and goods to support his battle.

 

King James crossed the Dodder over the new bridge at Ringsend that had only been completed in 1650. He made his way down Thorncastle Street, with the crowd following the King getting bigger by the mile. He arrived at the River Liffey edge and spotted a French frigate at the mouth of the river.  The ship moved up the Liffey passed Poolbeg and anchored just offshore.

 

From around the Hill of Howth appeared the Monmouth captained by Sir Cloudsley Shovel. He had commanded the smaller HMS Monck but transferred to the larger Monmouth when he came into the bay. The Monmouth was commanded by Captain William Wright, The Monck was a 52-gun frigate that had been launched in 1659[2], while the Monmouth was a 66-gun vessel[3]. As captain of the Monck, he had just been into Belfast harbour delivering supplies to William of Orange’s 20,000 troops who had landed in Belfast in August 1689 under Marshal Hermon von Schomberg. Shovel was making his way back when he spotted the French frigate in Dublin Bay. The French vessels sixteen guns being outnumbered by Shovel’s vessel.

 Just as King James and his supporters lined the edge of the Liffey, Shovel opened fire and the Battle of Ringsend began in full view on the onlookers. The power of the British navy was on full display and in order to protect life, the French captain, Captain Bennet[4], ran his ship aground and his men took to boats using the ship to hide their escape, landing in Ringsend and joined James’s troops as they made their way back to Dublin Castle. The escape had cost the lives of seven of the forty sailors on board. A British ship got stranded as the tide went out, some of the French naval men ashore grabbed horses and set out in ‘bravado’ firing their pistols at the stranded soldiers. Fire was returned and one ‘Frenchman had the horse shot from under him and was forced to fling off his jack boots and run back in his stockings to save himself. Some of the seamen went ashore and took his saddle and furniture, when the tide came in, they went off with their prize to the ships.’ Shovel’s men boarded the run aground French vessel and seized weapons, silver and other valuables.

 

Once ashore in Ringsend, the French reportedly made full use of the Kings Head Tavern in Ringsend before James’s men moved them out of the village but according to a report written by the Marquess of Ormonde,

‘The barbarous rudeness of the French soldiers was now the whole subject of discourse, about sixty, coming up as guard to the French General's goods, were quartered in Lazy Hill[5] for three nights, in which time they murdered one or two women and ravished one or two, and were so insolent that one who quartered two of them gave twelve shillings to  buy his peace those three nights.’

According to a contemporary report,

‘King James went back much dissatisfied and, it was reported he bellowed, that all Protestants in Ireland were of Cromwell’s breed and deserved to have their throats cut.’

 

 

The French Navy were already smarting after their loss to their British and Dutch counterparts at the Battle of Beachy Head in July 1690.

William of Orange landed in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland on June 14^th, 1690, taking command of 36,000 men. The vessel he travelled on was captained by Shovel and was promoted to Rear Admiral for his work, getting command of a new ship, the HMS Royal William. William of Orange began to march south and the Williamites to battle the forces of King James on the banks of the River Boyne.

One lasting connection to the Battle of Ringsend was Marguetitte Ferguiaret who was born In Dublin in 1690 when one of the French sailors married a local Ringsend woman only named as Catherine. Margueitte died aged 21 back in her father’s birthplace of France.

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[1] Pope Innocent

[2] Shipwrecked in 1720

[3] Ended its life on the seas undefeated in 1767

[4] The Bennet Bank is a named maritime area of the Dublin Bay

[5] Lazy Hill is Townsend Street today

General Knowledge Quiz Invitation

 

Born on January 1st, a Troubled Ringsend Child

 

Mary Anne Molloy grew up in Ringsend. Her father, up to 1829, owned the salt works that once operated where Ringsend Park is today. She was once described a ‘smart looking lassie’ but behind this evocative description lay a case of sadness. Born on January 1^st 1821 in what was then known as the Kings County, now County Offaly, her family moved to Ringsend when she was just three years old. The family however seemed to fall on hard times. Living in a tenement building on Thomas Street in Ringsend, Mary was to have a chequered career and would spend much of her life in and out of prison.

 

She was only 13 years old when in December 1834, she found herself in court charged, along with her brother Robert with stealing and umbrella and boots. She was sentenced to three months in Mountjoy Barracks, which housed many female inmates. The jail that we know today was not built until 1850. She was jailed again in November the following year for one month for stealing a handkerchief and in July 1836 she received a six-month sentence for yet again stealing a handkerchief, serving both terms in Mountjoy Prison. Stealing a silk handkerchief was a popular crime as they were easily fenced or sold on. The perpetrator would be charged with ‘felony handkerchief’ which for many the punishment was transportation to Australia. On June 2^nd, 1837, she was sentenced to three weeks in prison for ‘disturbing the peace’, this crime often associated with someone who was drunk on the streets of the city or being a lady of the night. This time, rather than Mountjoy, she served her sentence in Grangegorman’s women’s prison.  According to TU Dublin’s history of Grangegorman,

‘The year 1836 saw the building change uses again – this time pressed into service as a Women’s Prison, the only one of its kind in the British Isles. It even used female guards to maintain an exclusively female presence. The fate for many of its prisoners was transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) where they generally became servants. In fact, the Grangegorman Women’s Prison became a hub for female prisoners from all over Ireland who were first sent there to learn useful skills, such as needlework, before beginning the long journey to the southern hemisphere. In all, over 3,000 female prisoners and more than 500 of their children made the journey from Grangegorman to Van Diemen’s Land. Typically, the journey lasted more than 100 days and many perished on the way.’

 

Over the next seventeen years Mary would serve varying length for sentence seventeen times. In 1841 alone she was sentenced eight times for ‘Disturbing the Peace’ with sentences varying from five days to fourteen days. In 1845 as famine began to grip Ireland, she was sentenced ten times. On February 6^th, 1845, she was sentenced to ten months in Grangegorman for a breach of the peace. But as early as July she was before the courts again sentenced to seven days for a breach of the peace. On May 21^st she was sentenced to another ten months, this time having been convicted of assault. But whatever way the prison was working at the time, Mary was back in Ringsend within weeks only to be found guilty of assault once again in July and this time sentenced to 20 months but would be sentenced five more times that year. Many people at the time committed petty crimes in order to be sent to prison to get a dry roof over their heads and something to eat. Remarkably in 1845 she was sentenced to a total of over 1,300 days in prison, serving only a small percentage of those prison terms.

In 1845, February 19^th, Breach of the Peace (14 Days0 ; March 5^th, Breach of the Peace (14 Days); March 24^th, Breach of the Peace (14 Days); May 21^st Assault (10 Months); July 15^th, Assault (20 Months); October 2^nd, Breach of the Peace (14 Days); October 20^th, Breach of the Peace (14 Days); November 12^th, Assault (10 Months); December 10^th, Breach of the Peace (14 days); December 24^th, Breach of the Peace (1 Month) all served in Grangegorman.

 

In 1850 she briefly entered the North Dublin workhouse but lasted little over a week in there. One of the last recorded sentencings of Mary Molloy was in July 1851 when got a 14-day term for pawning a stolen vest and that despite earlier that year receiving a two-year sentence for being in possession of stolen goods. But in December 1854 she appeared in the newspaper having been charged with two other women of ‘bad character’ with robbing a James Prendergast in Flood Street. When they were convicted in February the following year it emerged that they had robbed him in their brothel, Mary now operating as a prostitute. In December 1860 along with Catherine Keogh they were accused of robbing John Ryan of fifteen schillings once again in the brothel on Flood Street. Mary was discharged while Keogh was sent forward for trial that never took place. Mary died suddenly in Flood Street in 1864 from what the coroner concluded was a burst blood vessel in the brain.

The Original Shamrock Rovers

 

Shamrock Rovers are among the League of Ireland clubs that have competed in European tournaments and are the most successful club in the Republic. According to their website, Shamrock Rovers was founded in the Ringsend/Irishtown area in 1899. The website states,

‘the name of the club was taken from Shamrock Avenue where the committee had a facility for staging their meetings.’

There is the terrace chant ‘there’s only one Shamrock Rovers’ but alas this is not factually correct as we search through the archives.

 

A search through the newspaper archives shows us that there was a Shamrock Rovers club operating in Ireland a decade before the Rovers of Ringsend were formed. In 1887, Joseph Boylan, a future curate at St. Patrick’s catholic church in Lisburn founded Shamrock Rovers FC as a junior soccer club playing their home games in Lisburn, just south of Belfast. As a result, the team was often referred to as the ‘Catholic Rovers’. In 1888 Shamrock Rovers won the local Lisburn District League, taking the step up to junior football the following season. The club seemed to go from success to success and were now fielding a reserve side as well. By the early 1890’s their fixtures included games against Glenavon, a newly founded Linfield and a second Linfield catholic club ‘The Lingfield Swifts’. There move up divisions initially started with success with The Ulster Football News reporting in September 1890,

‘Shamrock Rovers had a visit from the Melrose team at Lisburn on Saturday and licked them 5 goals to nil.’

But in subsequent years the efforts to keep a winning side together proved difficult for Rovers. In their league were teams like Distillery, still operating in the northern league, Washington, a very successful junior club in Belfast and other clubs like Emerald Star, Glenville, Ligoneil, Botanic and Woodland.

By 1894 when they were playing against Roseville, they were favourites to win the junior cup competition known as The Oliver Medals Competition. Alas they were beaten in the quarter finals, but they did attract a large crowd of spectators for a friendly match against a visiting Blackburn Rovers.  

 

In March 1889, the then club Secretary Joseph Rice wrote a letter to the newspapers refuting allegations from Oxford FC that they were ill treated by both Shamrocks Rovers players and spectators and countering that the Oxford team stormed of the pitch at Lisburn following a dispute a possible handball prior to Rover’s goal. No VAR in those days.

 

For many years the club’s secretary was Richard Waring who lived on Sloan Street with his wife and eight children. An engine fitter by trade, his father was a publican at one time in Lisburn. One of Rovers’ great rivalries was against Woodland who played their home games at Ormeau Park. Woodlands FC originated from the Belfast shipyards, with deep connections to former shipyard workers and a traditional East Belfast identity.

 In 1915 the Ringsend based Shamrock Rovers defeated Derry Celtic Swifts to win the Irish Junior Cup. However, their win was tainted when their talented centre half James Sims when he was killed in a boating accident off the Pigeon House. Back in Lisburn their Rovers team had slipped from league status by the early years of the twentieth century, but another Shamrock Rovers emerged in the 1930’s in Armagh with Ireland’s Saturday Night sports newspapers reporting in 1936,

‘A fair-sized crowd saw Lisburn whack Shamrock Rovers by four goals to two at the Wallace Park in their opening fixture in the Minor League competition but they bounced back a week later.

SAVOY UTD. v. SHAMROCK ROVERS. Played at Victoria Park, Teams: Savoy Utd: Cleland: Shaw, Kirkwood, Rainey, Lappin, Millar, Davidson, Johnstone, White. Cranston, & Clarke. Shamrock Rovers: Chambers, Connor, Vennard, Lemon, Curragh, Scott, McAllister, M'Creery, Braden, Clarke, & Campbell. After a brisk opening. Braden scored with a fine shot which beat Cleland well. The same player scored a second. Campbell scored a third. Half-time-Shamrock Rovers 3: Savoy Utd. nil. Clarke scored with a fine shot from the wing. Braden was fouled inside the penalty box and, from the resulting free. McCreary scored. Result—Shamrock Rovers 4; Savoy United 1.’

A Shamrock Rovers appeared in the sports pages during the war years in 1944 playing in the Mid Ulster league with league games against a local RAF team and both Glenavon and Portadown juniors. Yet another Shamrock Rovers appears in the sports pages of the Derry Journal in 1948. The under 18 minor cup final run under the auspices of the North-est of Ireland Football Association was between Shamrock Rovers (Derry) and Iona Swifts (Waterside). Admission was 6d with the notice ‘all must pay’ and there was a 3d supplement for anyone who wanted to be seated in the stand of the Brandywell.

 

In 1983 Newry based Shamrock Rovers played in the Irish Junior Cup Final against Crewe United from Lisburn. Rovers, sponsored by the Bass Brewery the game was played at Mountainview Park in Lurgan. Crewe however beat Rivers one nil to win the trophy. Meanwhile in 2025 the now Tallaght based Shamrock Rovers collected their first league and cup double since 1987 and reached the group stages in Europe competition.

The History of Rowing Clubs in Ringsend

 

THIS SATURDAY DECEMBER 13TH 2025