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The Early History of St. Patrick's Church, Ringsend and the Work of Canon Mooney

1000’s without a church, powerless to build one

The Early History of the Ringsend Roman Catholic Church, St Patrick’s

Prior to 1859, the Catholic congregation of Ringsend travelled to the small chapel in Irishtown for the sacraments. In 1454, an edict, the Statutes of Kilkenny, was issue by the authorities at Dublin Castle to the effect that ‘all men and women of Irish blood, whether nuns, clerics, journeymen, apprentices, servants, beggars etc., to quit the city within four weeks and anyone found within the city gates after that date shall forfeit goods, chattels etc and be cast into prison and suffer other penalties.’ This edict was the original of Irishtown, where Irish citizens congregated after their banishment from the city centre. Ringsend was a later creation in the early seventeenth century as shipping entering Dublin port berthed at Ringsend, closer the city, than the then ports of Dalkey and Howth.

 

Up to 1857 Ringsend was part of the Donnybrook, Sandymount, Irishtown and Ringsend parish. Ringsend was for a century or more seen as a protestant parish with several Protestant churches before the first sod was turned on a Catholic church. There was a Methodist, Anglican, Wesleyan and Church of Ireland churches within a ten-minute walk of Ringsend. Catholics were reduced to using a boat tied up at a pontoon on the River Dodder beside the Ringsend Bridge. Mass was celebrated on board with a priest travelling from Haddington Road or Donnybrook to celebrate.  But as the demographics changed, so too did the need for a dedicated Catholic place of worship.

 

1857                           An 80-year lease signed by the Archbishop of Dublin with James Patrick Curran, who signed on behalf of Lord Fitwilliam (the present-day Pembroke Estate) to use unused land on the corner of Bridge Street and Thorncastle Street. An old grocery store was converted into crude living accommodations for a priest. The yearly rent was set at £28 per annum.

1857                           In August, Cork born Reverend Anthony Jagoe, a Protestant emissary to the Catholic Church, delivers a lecture in the schoolhouse attached to St. Matthews church, Irishtown, on how Pope Adrian IV called the Irish ‘ignorant and uncivilised tribes’ and that the early Irish catholic church was independent of Rome. He said that the Irish church was schismatic of Rome in the 6^th century and therefore how could St Patrick be subject to the papal doctrine and therefore he must be Protestant. Adrian IV was the only English born priest elected as Pope.

This lecture may have been the catalyst for the naming of the new church in Ringsend ‘St. Patrick’s’ as it would be the only Catholic St. Partick’s in the Dublin diocese as the Cathedral of the same name had been lost to the Protestants during the reformation.  By October, Fr. Thomas Leahy is listed as living at the St. Patrick’s Ringsend Presbytery. It was classified as a chapel of ease, as was the one in Irishtown, attached to the Donnybrook/Sandymount parish.

1858                           First dedicated church to the patron saint of Ireland, St Patrick, since the reformation, opened in April on the corner of Bridge Street and Thorncastle Street has the first stone laid

A school catering for 80 boys is opened in the grounds of the church.

A Female Sunday School is opened, and pupils are taught by Sisters of Charity, who travel from Lakelands, Sandymount.

Donnybrook & Irishtown Parish priest Very Rev Andrew O’Connell PP, who had become the areas parish priest in 1849, formed a collection to build a new church in Ringsend. £200 donated immediately by The Archbishop of Dublin Dr, Cullen as a bequest from Miss Farrell.  O’Connell was instrumental in getting new churches built in Donnybrook, Sandymount and Ringsend. The first parish priest is Fr. Thomas Leahy who is seconded from the Star of the Sea. O’Leary would later return to the Star of the Sea as Parish priest in 1876.

1858                            In December as Christmas approached, a bazaar held at St Mary’s Haddington Road to raise funds.

1859                            On Friday March 25^th, the new bell of St. Patrick’s church was blessed. 

1859                            The official opening in July by Most Reverend Dr. Cullen, Archbishop of Dublin was originally set for Sunday July 3^rd, but it was deferred to Thursday 14^th. Admission prices for the High Mass were set primarily to raise more funds to pay for the building costs. It cost worshippers 5s for access to the chancellery or 10s for 3 tickets. For all other areas of the new church admission was 2s 6d (the old half-crown).

On a beautiful summers’ day, thousands gathered in Ringsend to both greet and pray with The Archbishop of Dublin, who was assisted in the dedication of the new Church by Very Reverend Meagher, the Lord Bishop of Bombay. From every vantage point and window, the locals craned their necks to get a glimpse of the assembled hierarchy. The altar and tabernacle were sponsored by Mrs. Scully of Haddington Road. A choir of priests greeted the celebrants as they entered the church from the sacristy. A Mrs. Elfie accompanied the choir on a harmonium. Two hours after the first blessing the archbishop blessed one and all as the High Mass ended.

1863                            In October St. Patrick’s is designated as the parish church for Catholic born soldiers based at Beggars Bush Barracks and the Pigeon House Fort.

1866                            Reverend Phillip McCarthy was appointed parish priest in October.

1872                            Joseph Grant Mooney appointed CC to Ringsend as part of the unified parish of Sandymount, Irishtown and Ringsend. Canon O’Hanlon from Star of the Sea acts as parish priest.

1884                            On St. Patrick’s Day saw the opening of the Parochial Hall at 2 Cambridge Road. The plot of land had been donated by John Edward Vernon on behalf of the Earl of Pembroke and cost £300 to build. It was used as an early library, known as the St. Patrick’s Literary Institute, for the local citizens and a venue for lectures and concerts in the main hall. It later became the presbytery when the new church was built.

1890                            A presbytery was built beside the Parochial Hall for Canon Mooney to live in. Up to that Mooney was listed in Thoms Directory as living at Leahy Terrace opposite the Star of the Sea Church. Archbishop Walsh was there for the laying of the foundation stone. He was then presented with a trowel bearing the following inscription,

‘Presented to his Grace, the Most Rev W J Walsh DD, Archbishop of Dublin, Primate of Ireland, on the occasion of the laying of the foundation stone of the new Presbytery at Ringsend in the parish of St. Mary’s, Star of the Sea, Sandymount, County Dublin, 30^th November 1890, from Rev. John canon O’Hanlon PP, Rev Joseph Grant Mooney CC W.H. Beardwood, architect.’

The building and fitting out cost £1,377, over £700 of which was raised by the subscriptions with the remaining £600 identified as a loan from Commissioners of Public Works. £300 was raised through various concerts and bazaars, leaving an outstanding bill of £300. One of the contributors to erasing that debt was Thurles born the Most Reverend Dr. John Ryan Archbishop of Philadelphia.

As the century reached an end and numerous meetings held to discuss the finances of the parish, Reverend Mooney complained that St. Patrick’s needed upgrading, renovation and the simplest act of being painted and he informed meetings that the church building was no longer fit for purpose as the congregation increased.

1903                            The great storm of February 27^th, 1903, severely impacts Ringsend leading to heavy damage to the Glass Works in the village on Thorncastle Street and on the roof of St. Patrick’s.

1905                            In May, Joseph Grant Mooney is appointed the first Parish priest having been a curate for the previous decade as Ringsend became an individual parish separating from Donnybrook and Sandymount following the death of Canon O’Hanlon in Sandymount. Reverend Mooney was born in Dublin in 1842 to father William and his wife Teresa. He was baptised St Michael’s and Johns on Essex Quay.

1907                            A Grand Concert is held in the Round Room of Rotunda as a fundraiser,

                                    ‘Fund for the Restoration and Enlargement of St Patrick’s’

‘Thousands without a church, powerless to build one’, declared Canon Joseph Mooney

There is the formation of a Bizarre Committee with £2 prize on offer

Regular letters appear Irish newspapers pleading for more donations and annual dancing and music festivals were held in the new Ringsend Stadium on South Lotts Road.

May 4^th at Dalymount Park, home club Bohemians took on local rival Shelbourne in a charity match to raise funds for the renovation of St. Patrick’s. The band of the Dublin Royal Fusiliers entertained the crowd before and at half time. The match generated £114.00 for the parish.

Sunday June 2^nd a public meeting is held organised by Canon Mooney and attended by the Archbishop of Dublin and the Lord Mayor to discuss the possible renovation of St Patricks or its complete rebuild. Canon Mooney told the gathering that on the directions of the Archbishop he had purchased the immediate landlord’s lease at a cost of £400 and that the Earl of Pembroke had generously given a lease forever for the church ground at a merely nominal rent.

1908                            Canon Mooney inaugurates a new branch of the Gaelic League in Ringsend. Eoin McNeill is in attendance.  

1909                            Rev P. H. O’Donnell, the state chaplain of Massachusetts, appeals for American funds as the poor Irish had built churches across America.

1910                            A meeting of the fundraising committee, chaired by Canon Mooney agrees on an advertising poster, the renting of roller rink for the bazaar from the Rotunda Rink and the acceptance of electric advertising from Mr. Nolan on Burgh Quay.

1911                            On October 29^th the cornerstone is laid for the new church by Dr. Walsh, Archbishop of Dublin. The newspaper reports state that the new church,

‘Has been designed in the Gothic style and will be built of Irish granite. The work of the building is being carried out by Milliam Connolly and Sons of Upper Dominic Street from the designs of William Byrne and Sons, architects.’

Canon Mooney told the large gathering that the old church had space for 300, yet the parish had over 5,000 and that their new church would have a capacity for 800 parishioners.

1912                            January 1^st newspaper headlines declared ‘Sacrilege in Ringsend’ when the old church was broken into and ‘robbed of alms and chalices’.

1913                            In August the first section of the new church is opened with a dedication by the archbishop. The Archbishop said Father Mooney was ‘one of the most successful church builders of his time’. In the Irish Standard newspaper published in Minnesota, the informed readers that the reason the church was so named was that St. Patrick landed in Ireland at Ringsend.

1914                            When Charles Lawler, the former owner of the Imperial Hotel on O’Connell Street died in his will he left a bequest of £100 to help with the completion of the new church.

1916                By the momentous and rebellious year of 1916, Canon Mooney was not alone in tending to his flock in Ringsend, he had a curate by the name of Father Flanagan. Patrick    Flanagan was born on April 7th 1883 in Dublin. A good student at school, he went onto study at Clonliffe College to begin the process to join the priesthood. He completed his studies at Maynooth University and in 1909 he was ordained. His first appointment as a curate was to the south city suburb of Ringsend. As a passionate believer in the Gaelic League and a supporter of the nationalist cause, he set up Fianna Phadraig in Ringsend in 1911, just two years after his arrival in the parish. According to Sean O’Shea’s Witness Statement at the Bureau of Military History, he said that he was a member of Fianna Phadraig and that their uniform was a grey shirt with an orange kerchief, blue breeches, grey puttees and a green wide-brimmed hat. He added,

‘Fianna Phadraig was a scout unit organized on similar lines to Fianna Eireann. The unit was founded by Father Pat Flanagan, C.C., Ringsend. We were if anything better trained from the military point of view than Fianna Eireann. We met the latter iii a scouting exercise on Ticknock in the summer of 1915 and proved to be the better unit on that occasion.’

The 1913 St. Patrick’s Day parade organised by the Gaelic League and conducted in ‘flashes of sunshine alternating with periods of snow’ included the participation of the Fianna Phadraig along with the Fontenoy Hurling club also from Ringsend. In July, the newspapers reported that at the ‘Aeridheacht Mor’ (Large Open Air Gathering) held in Shelbourne Park,

‘An interesting display of camp life given by Fianna Phadraig claimed much attention, while the choice selections rendered by the Artane Band, Mr. H. Lowe conducting, were thoroughly appreciated’

According to O’Shea,

‘Fr. Flanagan had some liaison with "D" Coy., 3rd Battalion, the local Volunteer unit and the members of the Fianna were understood to be at the Company's service for despatch work and the like.’

But the Reverend’s involvement was more active. It was reported in the newspapers that on March 29th, 1914, before the split, Father Flanagan presided at a meeting of the National Volunteers. He would become a close confidant of many of those who would later become involved in planning the 1916 Rising.

O’Shea added in his witness statement,

‘without ever raising his voice from the pulpit he succeeded in stamping out drunkenness and loutishness from Ringsend. His chief weapon was the Fianna, a well-trained body with its own pipe band. He had a definite military outlook. He took the Fianna on winter's evenings through the history of the Boer War and showed us that that war had been imposed on a peaceful people by a bullying Empire. He told us how the Boers fought and how they could have won. He understood guerrilla warfare and passed his knowledge on to us. We imbibed all this for four or five years before the Rising. We were the first Fianna unit to carry arms openly. This was the year before the Rising. He borrowed .22 rifles from all quarters so that we could march to the Tattoo we held in Shelbourne Park. At that Tattoo we gave military display of attack and defence firing blank from our rifles. We performed a display of tent-erecting and camp-fire singing.’

After the rebel surrender in 1916, some fighting was still proceeding in the Ringsend district on a small scale. Fr. Paddy Flanagan was asked by the military to try and stop it. But the Reverend would get more than he bargained for according to Monsignor Curran.

"Father Paddy Flanagan, Curate of Ringsend, was arrested yesterday and sent to Richmond Barracks. Poor Father Mooney, P.P., was detained a prisoner, under armed guard in his own house, from twelve noon until 6.30, and then only freed on the promise not to leave the place for three days."

Father Flanagan became the only Priest to be arrested and imprisoned in the aftermath of the Rising but was released on Tuesday, 9th May, 1916. He provided a dreadful account of the treatment of the prisoners in the Barracks under the British military

Patrick’s brother, John, had also become a priest and was attached to the Pro-Cathedral when the Rising began. According to Monsignor Curran,

‘Fr. John Flanagan of Marlborough Street who went with Fr. Byrne (Later Archbishop of Dublin) to Parnell Square, and there found that Eoin McNeill's countermanding orders were being carried out.’

Father John would later find himself at the heart of the action inside the GPO hearing confessions of the rebels. According to the Monsignor

In 1918 Patrick Flanagan was transferred to Aughrim Street Church and later made parish priest of Booterstown in 1939. He was then involved in the building of a new church on the Merrion Road, Church of our Lady Queen of Peace, opposite St Vincent’s Hospital today.

In the building of the church, he built a round tower, similar to the Glendalough tower of St. Kevin’s. It was described at the time by future Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave as ‘Flanagan’s Folly’.  He died in 1956, his brother, by then Parish priest in Fairview ad Mariano, predeceased him in 1935. Archbishop McQuade was the chief celebrate of the funeral mass.

 

1917                In March, Canon Mooney celebrates his golden jubilee of joining the priesthood.

However, on August 22nd Canon J. G. Mooney passed away. The concelebrated funeral mass was overseen by The Bishop of Canea, Nicholas Donnelly. Through the marriage of his sister Donnelly became a relative of the Boland Mills family. Bishop Donnelly was no stranger to Ringsend also having served as a curate in St. Andrews, Westland Row. When his sister Mary died, he became guardian to her seven children, five girls and two boys. One of the boys was John Pius Boland, who not only served as an MP to the House of Commons for Kerry but also won two gold medals at the 1896 Olympics in Athens.

 

Of such reverence and appreciation Canon Mooney was held in throughout Ringsend, his was the first coffin carried across Ringsend Bridge from South Lotts Road to the Church. A traditional that continues today when loved ones and friends carry the deceased coffin across ‘the brudge’.

 

In his will he left behind £25,000 which he donated to Maynooth College.  

Sources:

The Irish Newspaper Archives

The Pembroke Estate Archives

The Irish National Archives

The National Library of Ireland

The British Newspaper Archives

The Welsh Newspaper Archives

Ancestry.com

The Catholic Archives of New York

The US Library of Congress

The US Newspaper Archives

Thoms Directory

The Ringsend & Districts Historical Society

The Late Brian Siggins

The Archdiosese of Dublin

RTE Archives

Do You Dare Take Ringsend With a Pinch of Salt

 

Before the great factories, before the docks and warehouses transformed the landscape, Ringsend had another commodity at the heart of its prosperity — salt. In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the humble crystals that seasoned food and preserved meat and fish helped create an industry of remarkable scale, bringing employment, investment and wealth into the community.

Names such as the Page family, Ambrose Burges, Robert Roe and Flower & McDonald became closely associated with Ringsend’s salt trade. Their enterprises were part of a thriving industrial world that stretched along the waterfront, where salt was processed, stored, transported and sold.

And this was no small local enterprise. By the 1840s, the salt industry was employing around 2,000 people in Ringsend — an astonishing figure that gives some idea of its importance to the community. For generations of local families, the salt works were not simply places of employment; they were woven into the economic and social fabric of Ringsend itself.

But how did a substance that seems so ordinary today become such an important source of employment and prosperity? And what was life like for the thousands of men, women and families whose livelihoods depended upon Ringsend’s salt industry?

To answer those questions, we need to step back into a Ringsend very different from the one we know today — a busy industrial community where the waterfront was alive with workers, carts, boats, warehouses and the unmistakable presence of an industry built on salt.

Courtesy of Cormac Louth

In 1730, The Dublin Gazette printed an advertisement stating,

‘Whereas the Salt Works at Ringsend where Mr Burges (the late famous undertaker and builder of the Salt Works) formerly made the best of salt, are now made by his son Ambrose Burges.’ 

Ambrose, Senior had originally been a merchant and druggist in Donnybrook before becoming a pioneer of salt production in Ringsend, then in its infancy in Ireland. The area where today’s Ringsend Park is located were described as ‘salt marshes’ on numerous maps. Ambrose Senior died September 8^th, 1732, and his son took over the complete running of the business. By 1748 there were two major salt works located north and south of the River Liffey in Ringsend and Clontarf. 

 

Salt has been important in the preservation of fish and the curing of meat for centuries. Salt production dates back to early China and the Romans used salt as a payment option leading to the word ‘salary’ from the Roman word for salt, ‘sal’. Ringsend salt was refined from seawater gathered in salt marshes and was becoming more in demand across Europe.

 

 In the 1760’s the larger of the salt works was being run by Robert Roe, but his success was attracting more competitors to Ringsend. Access to Ringsend was via a bridge across the River Dodder. That bridge was washed away in 1782 by a flood and a replacement wooden bridge, built in 1786, was itself washed away by flood waters just a year later.  In 1787, Roe was instrumental and the main source in financing the rebuilding of the Ringsend Bridge over the Dodder but his efforts proved a short lived as other bridges as it too succumbed to a flood in December 1802. The stone bridge that it used today replaced the previous wooden structures and opened in 1812.

 

Roe had died on March 29^th, 1795, and the business was leased by the owner of the Ringsend Tavern on Bridge Street, John Howard and his business partner in the salt works was Thomas Bray. In 1801 Howard put his tavern up for sale and exited the business following a legal dispute with Bray’s brother Michael. Howard would buy another tavern in the centre of the city after leaving the maritime village.  In 1814, Robert Roe’s son puts the Salt Works up for sale.

 

By the early nineteenth century, salt production in Ringsend becomes even more important as there was a major revival of the fishing industry in the village with the arrival of fishermen from Torbay in the southwest of England.  In October 1826, The Liffey Salt Works, as it became known, a new but smaller works competitor as compared to the Thorncastle Street plant in Ringsend, was located at the corner of Pigeon House Road. In 1826 it was put up for sale following the death of the owner Charles Pentland. Pentland was from Townsend Street and operated the Hibernian Marine Society on Rogerson’s Quay. The Society was set up to educate and look after orphaned children of seafarers. The sale included ‘valuable buildings, dwelling house, stables and extensive stores and warehouses’.  The business was producing 3000-4000 tons of salt annually. By December 1827, it had still not been sold. The problem was the cost of producing the salt. Seawater was heated to evaporation point and the salt crystals were the commodity that remained. The amount of coal needed to reach the temperatures to create the salt became extremely expensive and with the bottle making industry in Ringsend also demanding coal for production, the coal was in high demand. In the mid nineteenth century, the rise and efficiency in production of rock salt also affected the value of the sea salt.

 

By 1835 a ‘Salt Works’ was located at the end of today’s Cambridge Avenue and today’s York Road. It was being operated by James Hill. In 1840, The Evening Post reported,

‘The poor of that very impoverished town called Ringsend are reduced almost to the worst state of human misery by the curtailment of the demand for Irish manufactured salt occasioned by the import of white salt from England at a rate which Irish manufacturers cannot produce the article’.

The newspaper stated at the height of the Ringsend Salt works up to 2,000 were directly or indirectly employed in the salt business in the three main works. On March 5^th, 1842, James Hill was declared bankrupt.

 

The biggest salt works on Thorncastle Street was opened by Theophilus Page (b. 1784) and wife Margaret Cummins. The opened their salt works in 1826. Theo died March 6^th, 1837, with his son William Henry Page taking over.  William was a bit a ‘cad’ as they might say in upper-class English life. He married Joanna Quinlan in 1838 and a year later their first child William John arrived. A number of children followed including Mary Genivieve in 1840, Clarina in 1846 and an unnamed child in 1850 who died shortly after her birth. According to family research William abandoned his wife and children in 1850 and by March 1851 he is listed in the UK census as living near Norwich, Norfolk. The story is somewhat foggy after that, but what is known is that Joanna gave birth to Anna Martha Page in 1852, but that Joanna died just two years later on November 22^nd 1854. In January 1855 in the Boston Pilot newspaper in the United States the following announcement was printed,

‘November 22^nd at the Ringsend Salt Works, Dublin after a protracted illness Mrs W. Page deeply regretted by all acquainted with her admirable discharge of her duties as a wife and a mother.’

William then almost immediately married Thirza Ann Rouse in Norfolk on January 14^th, 1855, and was barely a year married when he died in February 1856

 

By 1850 between the cost of production, the competition from cheaper salt maker in the United Kingdom and taxes, the salt industry in Ringsend was in serious trouble. The three manufacturers in 1850 were William Page, Patrick Kelly and on Fitzwilliam Street, James Pommeret saw his business taken over by James Cusack in 1850.

 

By 1851, Page had a business partner, Daniel Pallin, he was a salt and coal merchant on North Earl Street. Pallin was also described in merchant directories as also a ‘soap boiler and chandler’. He was in business with Page and they had offices at 141 Lower Baggot Street next door to Grants public house, today known as Toners.

 

With Page gone, his business on Thorncastle Street in 1859 was taken over by Mrs. Ellen Egan, who was advertising her Ringsend Salt Works and they were not only producing Irish salt but also importing cheaper salt from Norwich Salt Works. Delivery is available by ship, canal boat, train or efficient horse and cart. Egan’s family own the original Yacht Tavern lower down on Thorncastle street where today’s Yacht is based.  In 1861, The Egan’s salt works was being operated by William Shaw, who had a showroom in Talbot Street.

 

The writing however was on the wall. In June 1870 the Thorncastle Street buildings were for sale following the bankruptcy of Samuel Shelly, this was partly due to a police constabulary report on the state of the Ringsend Salt works which were described as ‘in a filthy state, horse manure, mire and night soil lying in heaps.’ The bankruptcy notification in January 1871 stated that Shelly was in partnership with Robert Falk of Runcorn and William Powell of Liverpool of ‘Samuel Shelly Jnr and Company’.

 

One of the final salt works as this valuable industry died quietly in Ringsend was the Irish Salt Works operated by James Flower & Thomas McDonald on the site formerly owned by Willaim Page but by now there was very little production in Ringsend, Flower and McDonald according to records has two operating pans but were importing most of the salt into Ringsend, packaging it and selling it on.

 

The Ringsend salt industry lasted less than 150 years but like glass production, boat making and fishing, it provided livelihoods to 1000’s in a village that census records showed a population of less than 2,500. In the mid nineteenth century when Ireland was suffering from the catastrophic effects of famine and disease, Ringsend was spared the worst as work, fishing and a true village spirit pulled Ringsend through. However, the salt industry in Ringsend no longer provided certainty of employment and as a result many who worked in the various salt works in Ringsend, packed their bags and emigrated across the Atlantic to America. According to Onondaga Historical Association in New York, it was thanks to those Irish salt workers who arrived in the 1850s turned the Syracuse salt works into one of the most successful in the United States that by the 1870s, Onondaga produced 90% of the United States salt.

 

So next time you are in Ferrari’s or Ianelli’s and they ask if you want salt on your one and one, remember how important salt was to the economy of Ringsend.

 

In our next post we will take a closer look at the early St. Patrick’s Church in Ringsend, why, who and when. The original church lasted from 1858 to 1910 and has an interesting and at time complicated history.

The Great Ringsend Rescue

 

One hundred and thirty-five years ago in the latter part of September 1890, two Nationalist

leaders, Mallow born William O’Brien and Dublin native John Dillon, were arrested for their

‘Plan of Campaign’ that attempted to prevent evictions and improve rural living conditions

through the Land League. Both were members of parliament along with their party leader

Charles Stewart Parnell. However, the two men were no strangers to court appearances and

serving prison sentences.

O’Brien had been arrested in Roche’s Hotel, Glengarriff and conveyed to Cork and then onto

Tipperary while his MP colleague was arrested at his home in Ballybrack, Dublin and taken

under escort to Tipperary accompanied by a large British military force. They were charged

under the Coercion Act with ‘conspiracy to induce tenants of the Smith Barry estate not to

pay their rents.

Both men were however ‘given their liberty when released on bail’. The arrests came as news

emerged that the two men had booked passage to the United States to conduct a fund-raising

drive for the Land League and the Irish Parliamentary Party led by Stewart Parnell and this

was seen as a Governmental way of preventing their departure. The recently married O’Brien

along with fellow detainee John Cullinane hatched a new plan. In June 1890 he married Paris

resident Sophie Raffalovich, sister of the poet Marc Andre Sebastian Rafffalovich and the

daughter of the Russian Jewish banker. Following his release Dillon returned to Dublin by

train and was collected at Kingsbridge Station (how Heuston Station) by the Lord Mayor in

his carriage and a number of pipe and drum bands. On the steps of his house on North Great

Georges Street he announced his intention to go to Swinford the following Sunday to deliver

a speech. O’Brien despite the rumour that he was traveling on the train with Dillon to Dublin,

in fact went back to Cork.

John Murphy and his wife Mary Anne lived at 19 Thorncastle Street, Ringsend with the rear

of their home backing onto the River Dodder. His family were all involved in the local

fishing industry and boat repairs. He owned the trawler ‘St. Patrick’ named after the church

in Ringsend that he and his family attended. As darkness fell on Sunday October 4th, the

fishing trawler left Ringsend. On board were skipper John Murphy, William and John Junior,

his sons, Thomas McDonnell his son-in-law and Harry Blake. The trawler, its sails hoisted,

headed out into the River Liffey and onto Dublin Bay where he headed towards Bullock

Harbour in Dalkey. The ostensible reason given to the crew was that there were two

gentlemen coming on board about to enjoy a cruise on the trawler while she pursued her

ordinary fishing work. Then John senior explained to his crew the real reason for their sea

journey when O’Brien and Dillon boarded the boat along with the organiser of the escape,

John Cullinane. Cullinane was a publican from Bansha in County Tipperary and as a result of

his involvement would lose his pub licence.

Once on board Cullinane produced two pistols from inside his coat pockets and declared,

‘It is well we are not interfered with this night.’

As they rounded Lands’ End, the St Patrick became engulfed in calm seas. John Dillon,

instead of dining, kept watch on the bow to hear nearby vessels and raise the alarm if needed.

They arrived at Cherbourg, O’Brien’s new wife providing them with a contact when they

arrived. Cullinane retuned to Ireland on board the St. Patrick. On November 2nd the two men

reached New York, thanks to the men from Ringsend.

The two men were in the United States when the scandal about Parnell’s affair with Kitty

O’Shea broke as Parnell was named in the divorce case. They returned to France for a

summit with Parnell in Boulogne which eventually would see the demise of the Irish

Parliamentary Party. Their departure on December 13th from New York to Cherbourg was

announced in Indianapolis Journal. They said that following a cable from London they would

be departing the Grand Pacific Hotel in Chicago. In a sense of resignation as to the scandal

engulfing Irish politics, O’Brien told reporters in the hotel lobby,

‘In a short time, my movements will be altogether guided by a gentleman named

Andrews,"

Andrews was the governor of Clonmel jail. Dillon smiled grimly but said nothing.

O’Brien now with his wife travelled to Le Harve, while his colleague Dillon crossed back

over the Atlantic in early 1891. When the talks broke down in France with Parnell, O’Brien

and Dillon sailed across the English Channel to Folkestone on February 12 th and surrendered

to the police. They were returned to Ireland an imprisoned to serve the six months sentence

that was imposed on them in abstensia. In October 1891 Parnell passed away. O’Brien died

suddenly in London in 1928, while his fellow escapee, John Dillon died a year earlier, both

men sidelined by the events of 1916 and subsequent War of Independence.

When John Murphy died in 1919, five years after the death of Mary Anne in August 1914.

The news of his death was carried in Australian newspapers, and they reflected the time of

the ‘heroic escape.’ The Sydney based Freemans Journal reported,

‘In the meantime, much speculation and uneasiness troubled the people of Ringsend

especially the families of the men as to the absence of the St. Patrick. Three weeks,

however, elapsed before the trawler returned to the Liffey and the skipper was

congratulating himself on the secrecy with which the expedition was carried out.’

In October 1890, the Irish Times published an account of the escape under the title ‘The

Channel Voyage of The Trawler’ however to protect the identity of Murphy, his crew and his

boat, the newspaper article referred to the skipper as ‘Mr Clancy’ and the boat as ‘The New

Tipperary’. They lavished praise on Murphy by stating,

‘But for his daring, coolness, and skill, the cause might on the occasion have Davy

Jones or the Mermaids. He is known as an excellent seaman, and when the country

has a fleet of her own. which some day she is sure to have, there will be no difficulty

in finding the Lord High Admiral.’

John Murphy was interred in Glasnevin Cemetery.

COMING SOON - NEW BOOK ON RINGSEND'S IMPORTANT HISTORY

 

The forthcoming book, ‘Ringsend’s Molten Heritage: Sand, Fire and Tide’ is far more than a history of glassmaking—it’s a rollicking tale of ambition, intrigue, invention, and survival on the banks of Dublin Bay. From the first furnaces lit in 1797 to the final, heartbreaking closure of the Irish Glass Bottle Company in 2002, this captivating story follows the families, entrepreneurs, visionaries, and rogues who shaped Ringsend’s industrial legacy.

Meet larger-than-life characters such as Crean, Atkinson, Reverend Prior, Donovan, and the Littles, whose fortunes rose and fell amid fierce competition, whispered deals, spectacular successes, and crushing betrayals. Packed with shenanigans, underhanded manoeuvres, forced bankruptcies, industrial innovation, and hard-earned prosperity, the book reveals how sand, fire, and tide combined to create one of Ireland’s most remarkable manufacturing traditions.

Glassmaking flourished in Ringsend because the area had ready access to the raw materials and transport links needed to produce high-quality bottles. There was an abundant supply of sand, easy coal deliveries after the opening of the Grand Canal Basin in 1796 which also aided exports and access to nearby salt works and lime quarries

Rich in local colour and human drama, Ringsend’s Molten Heritage is a story of industry and community, of wealth won and lost, and of a proud workforce whose skill transformed molten glass into a symbol of Irish craftsmanship for more than two centuries. Whether you're a history enthusiast, a lover of Dublin stories, or simply enjoy a good tale of triumph and treachery, this book shines a fascinating light on a forgotten world.

Until the book hits the book shelves, here's a brief timeline of Glass Making in Ringsend.

 

Apart From Snogging Nora, What was James Joyce Doing in 1904?

On June 16th 1904, James A Joyce had his first date with Nora Barnacle as they strolled through Ringsend Park. That say was cemented into history when Joyce wrote the book Ulyssess, the events therein all taking place over the course of one day June 16th. Today that date is celebrated as Bloomsday across the world.

 

But what were the couple actually doing in 1904. We know that Nora was a member of staff at Finn’s Hotel on Nassau Street but what of the bold James?

 

James was demonstrating his skills as an up-and-coming tenor, entering Feis Ceoil’s. On May 16th, exactly a month before his date with Nora in Ringsend, he was on stage at the University Buildings on Earlsfort Terrace. James, then living in Cabra, finished third in the solo tenor competition behind Joeseph Walsh, of Dublin Road Belfast and Whiston Page from Rathgar in second. There was some controversy and Joyce’s third place was not his original position. William Rathborne had originally been awarded second place but he was subsequently disqualified from accepting the second place as he won the competition the year before and this was against the Feis rules.

 

In late August, having been made ‘a man’ by Nora in Ringsend Park, James took part ia concert to coincide with the end of the annual Dublin Horse show. The concert was held at the Ancient Rooms[1]. The Rooms were located at 52 Great Brunswick Street (now Pearse Street) from 1842 to 1921, and the venue is the primary setting in “A Mother” and is mentioned again briefly in “The Dead.”

According to the Freemans’ Journal on August 29th 1904,

'A concert was given in the large hall of the Antient Concert Rooms on Saturday night, and attracted a full house....Mr J.C.Doyle sang a number of songs in first-rate style....Mr James A Joyce, the possessor of a sweet tenor voice, sang charmingly 'The Salley Gardens', and gave a pathetic rendering of 'The Croppy Boy'....Mr. J.F. M'Cormack was the hero of the evening. It was announced that it was his last public appearance in Ireland.'   

The music on the night was performed by Eileen Reidy and her small orchestra. Also on stage were Kathleen Nolan, Eileen Murphy, Contralto, May Reidy and George Hillis (violin).

According to the Dublin Evening Mail,

‘A new tenor, Mr James A Joyce, who’s voice has won his praise from competent crtics, is also announced to sing.’

Depending on affordability the tickets were priced at 3s, 2s or just one schilling. A large number of local Ringsend and Irishtown villagers made their way on foot and on the tram into the concert, this reflected in some of the letters to the newspapers complimenting the concert performances but criticising the organisation of it.

The concert took place on Saturday August 27th, and had an amazing line up and not just Joyce. The ‘Mr J.F. McCormack’ noted in the newspaper was the great tenor John McCormack who would later make a sensational name for himself in the United States and even Hollywood. In fact, both Joyce and McCormack left Ireland within weeks of each other in 1904 never to call Dublin home again. John Doyle was a well-known Dublin baritone and was a stalwart of early Irish radio broadcasting.

 

In the chapter of Ulysses titled ‘Calypso’, Molly tells her husband that she will be performing ‘Là ci darem la Mano’ with baritone "J. C. Doyle." Later, in Hades, Bloom says that "we'll have all topnobbers. J. C. Doyle and John MacCormack I hope and the best, in fact."

 

Joyce and McCormack would keep in contact as their careers continued. There may have been some resentment on Joyce’s part as McCormack immediately became a star in the US, earning him millions of fans and dollars, while Joyce initially struggled to survive financially with Nora and his emerging family. At one stage McCormack’s daughter and Joyce’s daughter went shopping together but Lucia’s low boredom threshold meant the outing was far from a success.

In a letter to Harriet Shaw Weaver, Joyce quotes this exchange with Lucia:

Lucia: I have been thinking all day of John MacCormack. It is unjust. Why is he a count, a millionaire etc.? I thought of writing to the pope.
Joyce: Be careful of your grammar. He is a learned man.
Lucia: He is an old dotard. But it is unjust. How long will your country refuse to recognise what you have done.
Joyce: How long indeed?

Apart from the music, Joyce was also having his poetry published in 1904.

‘The August number of ‘Dana’[2] well maintains the standard set by the earlier issues. There are poems by Miss Jane Bartow, “AE[3]," and Mr. James A. Joyce, each of them possessing rhythmical merit, bat all suffering from the obscurity that seems to be almost inseparable from most modern Irish verse.’

 

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[1] The venue was later known as The Academy on Pearse Street.

[2] Twelve issues published in Dublin between May 1904 and April 1905 the magazine provided a remarkable forum for cultural and literary debates. Refusing to adhere any strict sectarian divide and deeply suspicious of a growing nativism, it played a vital role in what F. S. L. Lyons calls “a phase of fusion and co-operation” in Irish cultural life “when everything seemed possible.”

[3] Real name George Russell

Rowing History in Ringsend