Blog Archives - Reading the Signs

Search the site

Not all progress is good

16/11/2013

I was in Mallow last month and spotted these two idle commercial outlets near the roundabout at Bridge St and Thomas Davis Street. I smiled at the description of ‘Fancy Warehouse’ – that term was not restricted to Liscannor.

Later that day I was listening to Olivia O’Leary on RTE Drivetime and her words left me hankering after shops and buildings of the past rather than what we are now being given.

I was chatting with a friend recently about Grandad’s blog about times past. He commented that the rose-tinted glasses have dimmed recollection of the state of cleanliness in public houses, especially the toilets.

He may well have an argument but I wish the likes of Murphy’s and Lane’s were still trading rather than the likes of Merchant’s Quay Shopping Centre and Faulkner’s Lane where the outlets are the same as any major city.

Are we conceding any sense of individual identity to the multinational brand?

Foraging for Rewards

14/11/2013

Pick and prick sloes; add sugar and gin; shake regularly

Sometimes I look back at the list of blog entries since this place was created in February and wonder what it actually says about me.

Someone who can be pedantic (or anal if you prefer) about things such as spelling, translation or grammar. Someone who is interested in things quirky, old and historic. When I do scan through the many entries, they reflect someone who must be older than me…. but it is me and today will only add to that impression.

I had some therapy last Sunday.

I escaped the chauffeuring and supervision of our seven year old; I was not too distant from the city but far enough away to hear only the noise of the countryside – wind and leaves; the only visitor to intrude on my solitude was a lone horse.

Sir Thomas Gresham

13/11/2013

Do you know where Sir Thomas resides in Cork?

Stencil Art - Fitton Street

12/11/2013

Fitton Street East

I am unsure as which was applied first and so who tried to convert who, but regardless of the order, combined they did cause me to stop and contemplate:
-        What is the fascination with guns in stencil art?
-         If the intent was to make the hurler/gunslinger look like Donal Óg Cusack, they did succeed
-         The messages on the religious posters are a bit obtuse and definitely not aimed at a mass market
-         What is Nephilim?
-          I never heard reference to 555 being the symbol of Mary’s Rosary until checking the web.
-         I would have seen a level of ambivalence towards the organised church but I cannot recall hearing of ‘pagan worship’

Not one of the three messages, I would call a welcome addition to the streetscape.

William O'Brien - before he was great

11/11/2013

I wrote some time ago about Great William O’Brien Street and whether the street or the person was great.

A while ago I was in Mallow and spotted this plaque commemorating his birthplace on the wall of a building on Thomas Davis Street.

Another little proof to the theory that by reading signs and making the appropriate connections, one can learn a little. And has been said, it is a bad day when I do not learn something new.

Munster Council - G.A.A.

10/11/2013

Mallow, Co. Cork

The Munster Council

of the

Gaelic Athletic Association

Was founded in this hotel

On 30 June, 2001

This monument was unveiled

In honour of the founders

By Sean McCague, President, G.A.A.

On 30 June 2001

In the centenary year

With apologies for my poor translation

I was in Mallow recently and a few thoughts came to mind when I
spotted the plaque:
-          If the site is redeveloped, and it is not a hotel, will the wording on the plaque need to change similar to Examiner building.
-        The large screen printed signs are a lasting memory to the Celtic Tiger years – hiding buildings that have fallen into dereliction. I suspect that they will be around for some years to come.
-          The historic link was insufficient to protect the enterprise from the changing public expectation of hotels.

Fada

9/11/2013

Drawbridge St, Cork

Yesterday I was delighted to see a new business opened – especially in a building that had been closed for such a while. Someone having the strength of mind, determined will, and also a positive outlook in the economic circumstances that have been prevailing - how encouraging.

I remember the pub as O’Donoghues of Drawbridge Street and I think it was The Barcode for a while but it has been closed a few years. With the Perry St Café being busy every time I walk past, it is providing a lift to an area of town that was quiet on the trading front.

I do wish An Camán Inn well.

I suspect the person who erected the namesign did not study Irish in school.

Where does the fada go? ....... Stick in over the 'A' !!

Shannonvale - Art on Wall

8/11/2013

The vast majority of wall art that I have spotted and put up on various blog entries have been paintings.

When in Clonakilty recently, I was out by Shannonvale and spotted a house which had a selection of ceramics, glazed and mirror items affixed to the wall.

A very welcome distraction.

Mind The Gap

7/11/2013

When is a 'Windmill' not a 'Windmill'? When it is a Wind Mill.

Although I would be more familiar with Summerhill North, I understood that both Summerhill North and Summerhill South were exactly that – Summerhill – a single word with no gap.

Similarly Windmill has always been one word. I cannot recall ever using them as two words consecutively in that order.

But someone obviously does not agree with me.

That they are both evident in one photograph only makes the revised spelling more striking.

Summerhill End - Northern Side

High Street End

Summerhill End - Southern Side

St Luke's West Side

At Windmill Road

At Douglas Street End

On Bus Station

St Luke's East Side

Bottom of Hill by Lower Glanmire Road

Saddam Hussein in Clonakilty

7/11/2013

I'm not sure how many still love you.

When in Clonakilty recently, I spotted some examples of stencil art which might bring a smile to your face.

Who has taken over the Asylum?

6/11/2013

Anglesea St

October 2013

Some time ago, I spotted the engraved sign at SS Joachim and Anne’s with something blanked over at the end. It did get me wondering as to what was hidden.

It appears to me that the powers that be consider the word ‘asylum’ in an old sign to be negative to marketing and commercial position of the organisation.

To me it is much more negative to hide history.

Maybe my opinion would change if I were a potential customer for rehabilitation ……but I doubt it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Anglesea St

‘…we come to Ss Joachim and Anne’s Asylum, founded in 1843 by a Mr. John Lane. The present building dates from 1858 and it continues in use today under the present Board of Trustees.'

A Walk Through The South
Parish – “Where Cork Began” – Roger Herlihy (Red Abbey Publications,
2003)

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

‘SS JOACHIM AND ANNE’S

Anglesea Street
(1860)

A purpose-built asylum for women that remains in use as sheltered accommodation’

An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of Cork City – Dept. of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (2012)

Photograph from StonewareStudios website - taken before the past was obliterated

Covering up the Corpse

4/11/2013

I was in Dublin last week.

The Beacon area in Sandyford still has some skeletal remains of the Celtic Tiger.

The extent of wall art on the hoardings does improve matters but the size of the skeletons means that the impression is starting at a very low base.

My personal favourite is the monkey/ape with the fez.

Funderland

3/11/2013

Funderland, Cork - April 2012 - Thanks to Micko for submission

I would have thought it much more beneficial to give one’s children an education in the difference between ‘there’ and ‘their’……..

But that is probably just me and my particular and peculiar outlook…….

RTM - Street Art

2/11/2013

I spotted the van in Patrick’s Street earlier this week – a mobile advertisement.

I recognised the RTM from some Wall Art. I had thought that I had more images in blogs than the Opera House artwork but apparently not.

I have definitely seen the logo around the place.

James Joyce's Cork Pedigree

1/11/2013

JAMES AUGUSTINE JOYCE

1827 - 1866

(GRANDFATHER OF JAMES JOYCE 1882 - 1941)

RESIDED IN THIS HOUSE

JAMES A. JOYCE
WAS AN OFFICER OF THE CORK CORPORATION

BY WHOM THIS PLAQUE WAS PROVIDED 1984

'....just a few metres further on, we come to the eastern end of the South Terrace. This area is known as Rocksavage and it was around here in 1769 that James Morrison developed a mill and salt and lime works. This business later came to the family of one of Ireland’s greatest writers, James Joyce, whose grandparents lived in a house on the corner of Anglesea Street and Hibernian Road, now the site of a fast food outlet. A plaque commemorating this fact was commissioned by the Cork Corporation in 1984 but they curiously inserted it in the ground in front of the building instead of placing it more prominently on the front wall.’

A Walk Through The South Parish – “Where Cork Began” – Roger Herlihy (Red Abbey Publications, 2003)

Anyone listening to RTE Junior Radio this morning would have heard their slot about the alphabet around Ireland where one letter is selected
each day and there then follows some information about some words relating to that letter.

This morning was the letter ‘J’ and after hearing about the various types of jigs, they spoke about James Joyce and told us that he was born in Dublin, he left for Europe in his twenties but his writings were about Dublin. His most famous books were Ulysses and Dubliners.

They did not mention Cork at all.