Category: - Reading the Signs

Search the site

A Pint of Murphy's - Since When

13/10/2015

I had understood that Murphy’s Brewery commenced in 1856 – after all it is on the plaque on the wall and in the advertising slogan (as well as the previous advertising before the S was added)

Then I spotted the sign at The Bridge House Bar in Mallow and wondered. Sean Beecher’s book also mentions 1854.
Murphy’s website says that the site of the foundling hospital was purchased in 1854 but that brewing did not commence until 1856.

This may be an excuse to warrant stopping for a high stool discussion at The Bridge House for any history on the date on the gable.

Angler's Rest but not near Carrigrohane

Coughlans, Douglas St

‘P32 – “Hewitt’s distillery, until it amalgamated with the Cork Distilleries company, was in Watercourse Road. Murphy’s Brewery was established in 1854……in the Watercourse Road area situated on the site of an old Foundling Hospital”’
The Story of Cork – Sean Beecher (1971)

“Northside
‘The photograph is dominated however by the 200ft chimney stack of Murphy’s lady’s Well Brewery on Leitrim Street. Established in 1865 in the grounds of the former Foundling Hospital, Murphy’s quickly became Cork’s largest brewery. The chimney stack survived as a prominent landmark until 1985 when it was taken down for safety reasons.’ “
CORK In Old Photographs – Tim Cadogan (2003 Gill & Macmillan Ltd)

Cork Arms, MacCurtain St - 1856

Corner House, Coburg Street

Teenage Kicks

14/9/2015

Mark's Lane, Dublin 2

I tweeted a photograph of this sign when I was in Dublin on Friday.

When I saw the name, I was immediately brought back in time to teenage years, to when it was fun to make play on names.

Days when it was a laugh to call a house and ask for John Wall, and then Mary Wall and when told they were not there to ask if any of the Walls were there. When answer was in the negative, the obvious question was how the roof was staying up. Easily amused.

Annette Curtin was a name used to liken something to see through – it gets worse.

About ten years ago, I was working on a project and copied on some emails from Mike Hunt – that name also brought me straight back to teenage humour and discussions as to why not Michael Hunt or Mickey Hunt.

Hugh Jarse was another such name to bring a smile back then – and now in memory.

And to think that Hugh Jordan remains in big painted letters. It should really be a protected structure to bring a smile to those of us wishing to be brought back to teenage years.

Anita Salon International

31/8/2015

I suspect that this counts as a ghostsign.

It is on the fanlight over the door to a doctor’s surgery but the fanlight has been covered over externally, so one can only read the message in negative.

Interesting that 5 digits were sufficient for all Cork numbers – a huge increase from three digits.

Cork Ghostsigns

16/8/2015

Wikipedia defines a ‘ghostsign’ as an old hand-painted advertising sign that has been preserved on a building for an extended period of time. The sign may be kept for its nostalgic appeal, or simply indifference by the owner.

Last week I saw some tweets about ghostsigns in Cork and elsewhere so it prompted me to create a tab for ghostgigns on the blog and go back through all old blog posts to add the tag where appropriate – here.

I have extended my tag definition to include old signs of plaster and other material on buildings which no longer have the use or ownership advertised.

This prompted me to upload some ghostsigns from Cork that I have not shown previously.

Bring Back the Smells

13/8/2015

Do we now live an aroma-less life? Is your nose and sense of smell challenged as much as before.

Maybe one first gets used to, and then becomes immune to smells after experiencing them so many times. Is the sensation of experiencing a smell for the very first time a joy of youth that is underappreciated?

I do think that this vacuum-packed age of ours, a time when we cannot pass a day without encountering so many controlling air-fresheners, is overly dumbing down and affecting our relationship with reality, and the use of our noses.

I cannot remember this building on Oliver Plunkett Street being other than a bookie’s shop, William Hill being the last that I recall. The web educates that Delicacies Ltd. did trade from Number 55 as butchers in 1940,and 1945 , and also were at Castle Street in 1945 – but were not listed as victuallers in 1930.

I did smile at this old ghostsign. Taking the photograph earlier this week, I did not see one other person taking any notice of it.

The name Delicacies Ltd. did intrigue me somewhat and did get me thinking as to what may have been on display. In turn, it aroused my sense memories which brought me back to the days of me ‘borrowing’ empty large ‘Bulmers’ bottles from the yard of the local hotel and bringing them to Henchy’s at St. Luke’s Cross to claim my 6p refund.

Henchy’s was then a shop on one side, bar with snug on the other. The smell came from the timber floors, the open tea boxes, the shelves full, and the many other open bags of so many things then unknown to me – a combination of many sources. I cannot remember the exact smell but the recollection is of it being strong. It was its own particular smell.

Thinking back, it was a pleasant smell but possibly a tad overbearing for my young and untrained nose.

There were very many challenges to that untrained nose, pleasing and otherwise.

Do you remember the Thompson’s bread van and the lovely smell that escaped when the breadman opened the door? If so, you might also remember the smell that sometimes greeted you at the door in the morning when the birds had managed to peck through the top of the milk bottle – or maybe the same bottle of non-homogenised milk only a few days old. Or maybe the smell from the fruit and vegetable van, which had no issue with selling partly blackened bananas and soft fruit which all combined to the smell set free when the door was opened.

The smell from Henchy’s was similar to Maddens on Bridge Street and a few others on Princes Street.

Trips to town with my each of my grandfathers generally involved a trip to one of the many tobacconists where the preferred mix of tobacco was blended there and then in the shop with the aroma from the containers providing a sweet and pleasant sensation.

Today, I discovered that the correct name is the Kiln River but growing up the river that discharged at Carroll’s Quay and Camden Quay junction was known as either the Smelly River or the Bloody River – a testament to the slaughterhouses that fed into it. This was definitely one of the more memorable unpleasant smells to hit that nose that did not stay untrained for long.

I remember holding my breath walking through the English Market, particularly the fish section. Such action has not been required for quite some time.

Among my recollections of the local shop are the smells of the cooked ham and the fresh vegetables. Refrigeration, air conditioning and packaging mean that these smells no longer greet me at a local shop.

Last weekend, we returned from our holidays with many bunches of carrots and onions just pulled from the sandy soil of the Maharees. It is not stretching matters to say that the journey home was filled with a perfume – days later I am longing for a real true and fresh smell and am reminded that not all progress is good.

If there is a campaign to reinstate smells, I will be signing up.

Delicacies Ltd., 55 Oliver Plunkett St

Oliver Plunkett Street

Possibly 70 year old timber

Follow Your Nose

John Henchy & Sons - providing smells since 1884

Seeds & Manure

26/2/2015

I am close to finishing Peig (as Béarla). Leaving the coffee shop this morning, I got talking to CC about it being a record of social history – of a time past.

Then I saw a picture on the front of The Irish Examiner of a family in 1991 kneeling to say the rosary at home. The image was by Richard Fitzgerald and features in a spread in US Black & White Photography magazine. It reminded of a discussion with a, now retired, friend who said that when he married, he and his wife knelt to recite the rosary before entering the matrimonial bed – another prod towards a history of times past.

Then when tidying up my record of photographs, I remembered this recently taken in Cloyne. Similar to the Horse Repository, I really like the old plaster moulded signs as they survive well beyond the trade or activity ceases – more record of social history.

I cannot imagine any retail company surviving now specialising in seeds and manure but maybe it is just not my market……

Pumps

25/2/2015

A while back, Ian’s blog reminded me of old petrol pumps, Sine then, I have recorded the few that I have come across – in varying stages of neglect. And one unusual installation at Begley’s Forge.

MeticulousMick’s update today prompted a picture gallery.

Operator. Number Please.

25/1/2015

Last week, I was in a house in Cork and was very pleasantly surprised to come across this little sign on the back of the hot press door.

It brought a number of thoughts.

That there was a time when three digits were sufficient to uniquely identify all the telephones in Cork – so no more than 999 telephone lines, and that property on Merchant’s Quay was one.

That the plumber must have been one of the first to leave his number in the hot press as a marketing reminder for when there might be a problem.

That Merchants Quay as in the photograph hanging in Dan Lowry’s was a much nicer streetscape then rather than now.

Then

Now

Repository

20/1/2015

Cecil Street, Limerick

This evening, I had to look up the dictionary for ‘repository’.

Earlier today, in Limerick, I came across the term ‘Horse Repository’ for the first time. A lovely old sign. A delight to see still existing.

Long may it survive.

repository noun (repositories) 1 a place or container where things may be stored. 2 a a place where things are stored for exhibition; b a museum. 3 a warehouse. 4 someone or something thought of as a store of information, knowledge, etc. 5 a trusted person to whom one can confide secrets. 6 a tomb; a place of burial.
ETYMOLOGY: 15c: from Latin repositorium, from reponere, repositum to replace, to store up.

Chambers Dictionary

Repairers To Whom?

19/1/2015

Yesterday, I spotted this on the Grand Parade – on the façade of the building occupied by La Galerie.

It looks like the main body of an old advert or crest had been removed. They left just enough to intrigue the likes of me and have us looking at old photographs as to what might have been there.

Or maybe someone knows.

Butlers Chocolate – Purveyors of Disappointment

13/11/2014

‘Happiness is a Cigar Called Hamlet’.

For those of a certain age, me included, Air on a G String as well as the use of the expression ‘Happiness is’ will have memories of particular ad – my own preferred being the jockey but there are many others including the motorcyclist, and the puppy.

Just before six this evening, after a tiring day in Dublin with the rain and the traffic, I stopped at Butlers Coffee stall in Heuston Station; purchased my double espresso and received my ‘complimentary’ Salt Caramel Chocolate. My thoughts were of the taste and enjoyment as I walked to the train – not a long walk, but one with anticipation of that relaxing moment.

Reading the cup did bring to mind the old Hamlet ad.

Drinking lukewarm double espresso was such a disappointment.

Briefly, I looked around but there were no hidden cameras and no box of Hamlet to tempt me………

An Irish Hero

22/9/2014

Another blog entry prompted by my reading of Ireland in History Day by Day and the request by John Redmond for Irishmen to join the British Army and fight in World War 1.

This in turn reminded of the framed image of Sgt. Michael O’Leary spotted in The Cork Arms on MacCurtain St on Thursday night.

Then I remember being told of Sgt. O’Leary from Inchigeela who had been awarded a Victoria Cross and he being one of only two named faces used in recruitment posters for the British Army in WW1, the other being Lord Kitchener – who I learnt from Neil Richardson at the Ennis Bookclub Festival was also from Ireland – Horatio Herbert Kitchener being from Ballylongford, Co. Kerry.

“20 September 1914: John Redmond, the Leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party encouraged members of the Irish Volunteers to join the British army on this day. He did this in a speech at Woodenbridge.”

Ireland in History Day by Day

Customer Care

14/8/2014

On Monday, the 11th August, the radio advised that it was the tenth anniversary of the first secure online transaction - "Ten Summoner's Tales" by Sting.

I was reminded of this sticker on the Post Office in Clondrohid that I came across only ten days previously.

It was in 1996 that the Cork Examiner was last printed – changing its name to The Examiner and then the Irish Examiner. Prior to that they had moved to telephone sales and placing one’s ad online was probably available about then also.

Just like the anecdote of the local telephone exchange operator knowing the business of all in the locality, it could be argued that a local agent for advertisements in the newspaper would similarly be made aware of one’s business.

But I think that is a small cost to bear for personal interaction, for the joy of speaking directly with someone who is trying to help you with your transaction. The help was genuine which I have never experienced online.

The norm of online sales and automated telephone systems is not doing a lot to promote the art and joy of conversation.

I suppose this might be considered an odd observation on an online blog. Maybe it is my romance with and attraction for a past age.

Moving Churches

4/7/2014

A while back, when out for a drink with Micko, I spotted this typo in an old ad on the wall of the LV Bar in the old Windsor Hotel.

It took Micko a while to spot the error.

The answer can be found here and here.

Black is Beautiful

17/6/2014

Last week, I had a very enjoyable few pints in the Welcome Inn on Parnell Place.

I did avail of the opportunity to photograph some of their pictures and old advertisements.

I do not recall ever having seen this one before. It did remind me of the photograph that I had taken at The Lough. Sharing these is as good a reason as any for a blog.

I don’t recall seeing the swans for some time but it is twenty one years later