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.’

 

---

[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

 

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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.

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