A National Battlesite museum for Moore Street, Dublin.

The Moore Street Block that is under contention should be acquired in its totality by the Government of Ireland by compulsory purchase or by designated National Monument devices, on behalf of the Irish People and developed as The Irish Republic Memorial Battle Site.




Prionsias O’Rahilly, (fourth from left)  — grandson of The O’Rahilly, the only leader of the 1916 Insurrection who died on the corner of this block — with some of the citizens who are occupying the Moore Street site to prevent it from being demolished.

Apart from my wish, as a citizen of this Republic, to honour the soldiers and civilians who died on the street at this block,  I have a personal interest in seeing the last remaining intact remnant of this street survive. My extended family (Richardson, Killeen, Ward, McDonogh, O’Leary, Hart, Halpin, Carney Dodrill, et al) involvement with Moore Street starts from the late 1700s. From the early 1800s they lived or traded from No. 2, 17, 31, 32, 41, 42, 45,  47, 48, 51 54, 58 and 62 Moore Street. They also lived and traded in the adjacent streets, Coles’s Lane, Norfolk Market, Moore Street Market, Anglesea Market, Riddles Row etc. It was into the Abattoirs (known as the lime yard) owned by my Great Grandfather Edward Richardson that the O’Rahilly’s men escaped after the charge on the barricade.

In 1832 My Great, Great grandmother Mary Killeen was born at  No. 17 Moore Street where her father was a shoemaker. This premises was variously occupied by Gerald Richardson and his family from the 1840s until the 1880s. The Richardson, McDonagh, Halpin families continued to trade in this street up to its near demolition in the 1960s when Dominick McDonagh’s shop at 32. still had a presence.  All of these families mainly involved in the meat supply trade were inter-married or inter-traded with each other and some had outlying shops in other parts of the city. Some like the Richardsons were guild masters and also controlled the meat trade from the Dublin Corporation Abattoir on the North Circular Road.

Here is a list of those butchers trading in Moore Street (some with outlying shops) in 1935 (you will see from the addresses, many of which were occupied by my extended family, the kind of inter-relationships  between many of these trading families. Those marked * were related to my family the Richardsons and traded here from the mid 1840s)
Plunkett, Joseph 28 Moore Street,
(Plunkett, Joseph 122 Upper Drumcondra Road)
Plunkett, Joseph 6 Moore Street,
Plunkett, Patrick 16 Moore Street, Dublin
(Plunkett, Patrick 46 Summerhill)
Oregano, Cielia Savino 3 Moore Street,                            
Oregano, Clelia Savino 58 Moore Street,               
* McDonagh, Mrs. Margaret. 32 Moore Street,   
(same family as above) McDonough, Michael, and Co.11 & 12 Chatham St.,
* O'Donnell, Christopher 62 Moore Street,
Buckley, F. X. 61 Moore Street,
Caffrey, Eugene 51 Moore Street   
* Carney, James 43 Moore Street   
Corcoran, Timothy 28A Moore Street   
* Dodrill, George 41 Moore Street
* O’Donnell, Christopher 62 Moore Street   
* Dowling, John, 15 Moore Street   
* Hart, Edward, 53 Parnell Street,
* Hart, Patrick 56 Moore Street 
McKeogh, Peter 55 Moore Street   
Martin, James F. 40 Moore Street                   
Ryan, William 44 Moore Street   
Simmonson, Oliver 39 Moore Street   
Turner, John 53 Moore Street   
Wallace, Joseph Henry, 45 Moore Street   
Wallace Joseph Henry, 47 Moore Street
Walsh, Thomas 54 Moore Street               
• (Formerly of Moore Street Richardson, Gerald 16 Francis Street, Dublin       
Flynn, John & Co. 24 Moore Street,
(also 60 Upper Dorset Street,  and 41 Meath Street.







No. 16 Moore Street- Family residence of the Plunkett Family
during the 1916 Easter Rising

Written by Brendan Plunkett, son of John Plunkett.

“The Easter Rising commenced at midday on the Monday 24th April 1916 and undoubtedly had a profound effect to the residents of Moore Street. The Rebels occupied the GPO up until Friday 28th April, but re-enforcements from the British Forces, including the Sherwood Foresters arrived, and a gunboat, the Helga, commenced heavy shelling upon the roof of the GPO. Incendiary devices were causing extensive fires within the building so a decision to evacuate was agreed. In the subsequent 2 days the Rebels had made their way through the back lanes of Moore Street and burrowed their way to finally settle in No.16. James Connolly had been taken on a stretcher and was carried to an upstairs bedroom.

At the early outbreak of the Rising, my father, with his two sisters, their mother Mary and a woman servant, were taken back to Pat’s mother, (the ‘Granny) , in Crossmacole on a horse and carriage to avoid the dangers of the shelling and shootings that ensued. Pat, it is understood possibly remained in Moore St. for a brief period during the Rising as he had livestock, pigs /horses, to attend.
Sheets from the house were torn up to dress the wounds of the injured. Connolly was badly nursing a bullet wound in the ankle. He was also shot in the shoulder. Despite his pain, it is documented, that he continued to be the most influential military strategist of the Irish Rebels.

Padhraig Pearse wrote;
‘He, Connolly, lies wounded, but is still is the guiding brain of our resistance’. (The Easter Rising, Conor Kostick- Lorcan Collins)

Pat spoke very little of this period in his life but it must have been a terrifying time for the family. He would have witnessed a lot of the shootings and attacks on the adjoining streets and it is understandable that it was a period of terrible destruction and violence for a young married man to experience, especially with a very young family. 

It was from this residence that a decision to surrender was agreed. On Saturday 29th April 1916 the Commandant of the Irish Republican Army, Pádraic Pearse, and others met and their decision to enter negotiations was recorded on a sheet of cardboard. It is our understanding that the piece of cardboard in question was most likely the backing to a photograph of Mary Plunkett. This, apparently, was a draught copy and not the original surrender document that was given to the Commandant of the British Forces, General Lowe. He insisted on ‘unconditional surrender’. A second draft was written and an iconic photograph, which has now become a national emblem of the Rising, clearly outlines Pearse surrendering to General Lowe in Parnell Street with Nurse Elizabeth O’Farrell on his right hand side. It was subsequently revealed that the bottom part of Nurse O’Farrell’s tunic was airbrushed from the photo. TG4 actually made a documentary programme to highlight this detail.

When the family had returned to No.16, after the surrender, the cardboard backing was found in the strewn remains of personal belongings that were scattered in the house. After many years it was purchased by the National Library in 1967. Evelyn would give very graphic accounts of this period in her life. She recalls, from her mother’s stories, the family receiving new sheets from Cumann na mBan shortly after the surrender at No. 16.  

The eminent Dublin historian, Seamus Scully, also gave gravitas to the importance of the Plunkett residence during 1916- when addressing a lecture to the Old Dublin Society on the 14th December 1983 recalling the historical period after the Rising - he stated;

 But who would quell Mrs. Plunkett’s anger when she’d return to her house at No.16 and find her dainty back garden of budding spring flowers pulped into the ground? And worse still, discover her front bedroom linen littered with butts of her blessed candles and her treasured linen sheets trampled on the floor and saturated in blood. Such a sacrilege ! Never were they touched from the camphorated bottom- locked drawer only for the solemn ritual of laying out the dead. But she was far from annoyed- but proud to learn that the gallant Connolly had lain on her private bed clothes and the flittered ones had been utilised for the wounded Volunteers.

 A compensation fund was set by Property Losses (Ireland) Committee, 4 months after the Rising, to City residents whose premises and personal belongings were damaged or stolen during the Rising. Unfortunately Mary Plunkett was late in applying for her compensation. The latest date for notifying claims, as intimated in newspapers, was the 12th of August 1916. She apparently applied on the 23rd of August 1916. Exact details of these events and the Plunkett file - ref 6965 , 3/083/34, are referenced in Barry Kennerk’s wonderful book  - Moore Street ,  The Story Of Dublin’s Market District, which was launched in 2012 by Mercier Press.

It is to the memory of these brave men that a commemorative plaque was rightfully placed on the front of the building in 1966 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Rising. It has often been asked, but, there is no immediate connection between Joseph Mary Plunkett, whose signature is on the Proclamation, and to any of our family.”


Some historic background to development on sector of Dublin.
Historically this area has been mired and mauled by developers.  The original culprits were Henry Moore, Earl of Drogheda, Sir Patrick Wemyes, Sir Christopher Dominic, Sir Humprey Jervis, Charles Campbell —   the Reynell estate, Luke Gardiner — all land grabbers of these former lands of the Abbey of Saint Mary. Other subletters on this land —? Gladstanes (Yeoman) who developed the Block from Coles Lane to Denmark Street including Birching Bunting or McCann Lane.

Henry Moore created the streets in this area and smaller developers such as Gladstanes filled in. Henry’s plan names the streets for himself Henry Street; Moore Street, Earl Street, Of (Off lane now Henry Lane) Drogheda Street (later Sackville and now Upper O’Connell Street). He added to this Mary Street (named for his wife mary Cole of Fermanagh) and Coles Lane. These lands were subject to many mortgages, marriage settlements and sublets.

This entire development was laid out before 1728 on what was called the Ash Park of St Mary’s Abbey, where Moore took the Abbot’s House as his city residence. After laying out his new streets, he built Drogheda House, a mansion situated between Earl St and the next street north, now called Cathedral St.  The Earl, clearly not wanting to waste an opportunity, called this street Mellefont Place (he was also Baron Moore of Mellefont). A fountain was situated at the front of the house, “pouring water into Drogheda St”. Drogheda St, linking Sackville St (northern end) to the river was by then only a narrow lane, and indeed on Rocque’s map, did not continue to the river. As you will see on Rocque’s map of  1756, the block now under discussion was not built on;  the current block  No 1 to No 10 was erected.

 

Patrick Wemyss (Wemys, Weames, Weemes, Waymes) was a close associate of the Earl of Ormond from the 1620's. He was a cousin of Elizabeth Preston, Lady Ormond and indeed it is believed that it was Sir Patrick who introduced the couple. He came to Ireland in about 1629 and Walter Ormond granted him lands at Danesfort ad Bennettsbridge. They had land deals in the counties of Kilkenny, Tipperary and Carlow. He was made a freeman of Waterford in 1633 and sheriff of Kilkenny from 1631 to 1635. Through his marriage to Mary Wheeler who was a daughter of Jonah Wheeler, the Bishop of Ossory; and through her he established many powerful local connections.
In 1639 he went to Scotland acting as messenger Between Ormond and Charles. As a member of Ormond's army he fought at Julianstown, Mellifont and Drogheda in 1641/2. He also fought at Kilrush in 1642 when it is reputed that his horse was shot from under him. In 1643 he acted as messenger to bring Ormond the Kings letter authorising him to negotiate a cessation with the Confederates. In December 1644 and January 1645 he was involved with Henry Moore's mother and others in a plot to capture Drogheda and hand it to the Scots.
He was imprisoned for his actions and Ormond broke with him. From his prison he wrote to the King and Francis Hamilton. He claimed he had the support of Charles for his actions. In his letters to Col.Wemys and to Major Crawford he stressed his Scottish origins. He was exchanged for Sir Henry Tichbourne in late 1645. In 1646 he was based in Ulster and in the following year he was Colonel of a regiment of horse. It was during this period that he was knighted. In 1654 he was a commissioner to raise assessments for Ireland and he was also an alderman of Kilkenny.

 

  Calendar of State Papers Relating to Ireland 1641

Battle of Julianstown,Duleek Barony, County of Meath
Letter from Sir Patrick Wemyss to Earl of Ormond 29th November 1641.
I will now tell you of our misfortune. We lodged last night at Balrederie (Balrothery,), as my officers could not make the men march to Drogheda. We were informed that the enemy were upon us, but they did not fall on us. Next day on the march, we sent out scouts and saw a few rebels, but after crossing the Julanstowne bridge, I saw them advancing towards us in as good order as ever I saw any men. I viewed them all, and to my conjecture they were not less than 3,000 men. They had three troops of launciers, two troops that had pistols and two field pieces. I advised the foot captains to draw their men within the field just opposite where they were, for when we first did see them, we were marching in a dirty lane, and a high ditch on every side of us. So that my persuasion prevailed with them, they drew up themselves handsomely. I drew up the troops on their front, and told the captains that we were engaged in honour to charge them, and that I would charge them first with those horse I had. They promised faithfully to second me. But when I made the trumpet sound, the rebels advanced towards us in five great bodies of foot; the horse, being on both wings, a little advance before the foot; but just as I was going to charge, the troop cried unto me and told me the foot had left their officers, thrown down their arms, and took themselves to running. It was useless to fight, so I withdrew as best I could and escaped with a loyal remnant to Drogheda. Two of my troop whose horses went lame were left behind. I hear however that they are safe, except for their clothes, which were taken from them, not by the rebels, but by natives as they passed through the village. All our arms and ammunition are in the rebel's hands. We can get no food here for man or horse.
P.S - There march upon every division of the rebels a friar or a priest. I do perceive here they do too much undervalue the rebels: for believe me, they will find them no such contemptible men.

Journal of the House of Commons: volume 4: 1644-1646 (1802), pp. 293-95.
Upon Colonel Moore's Report from the Committee for Irish Affairs;
Resolved, &c. That this House doth approve of the Exchange of Sir Robert Meredith, the Lady Moore, Sir Patrick Weymes, Sir Robert Hannay, Captain Ponsonby, Captain Wentworth, Lieutenant Draper, Mr. Batten, Mr. Towneley, Lieutenant Towneley, and Quartermaster Hatch, now Prisoners, or at Liberty upon Bail, in England and Ireland, to the Enemy, to be exchanged for the Lord Brabason, Sir Henry Titchborne, and Sir James Ware, now Prisoners to the Parliament, in the Tower of London: And that the said Sir Robert Meredith shall be at his Liberty to remain free from Restraint in Ireland, or to come into this Kingdom, which he pleaseth: And that, the said Lord Brabason, Sir Hen. Titchborne, and Sir James Ware, giving Security to the Lieutenant of the Tower for Performance of this Exchange, they be thereupon freed from Imprisonment.
He was M.P for Kilkenny in 1661 the year in which he died. The land holdings in the Moore Street area of Dublin passed to his heirs.

A Carol for Winter Frank Callery and John Bermingham Live at Crocanoir

In Kyoto — Frank Callery

Blind Lanes, Stables and Circus clowns through the glass darkly

While visiting the Thomas Street Area of Dublin recently, I visited the Augustinian Church of John’s Lane to view the beautiful Harry Clarke windows, and gazed at the afternoon light came darkly to light this wonderful narrative in glass. The church is built on the site of the medieval hospital, erected by Aelred the Palmer, a Norman living in Dublin, after a safe home-coming from an arduous pilgrimage to the Holy Land. He founded a monastery of Crossed Friars under the Rule of St. Augustine who would also manage the Hospital of St. John of Jerusalem. The monastery was dedicated to St. John the Baptist and stood just outside the city walls, and so was known as St. John's church without Newgate. It was in this vicinity that the Molyneux family had their Dublin residence.

In 1316 Edward Bruce marched towards Dublin at the head of his army, with the intention of besieging the city. The Dublin citizens, to prevent any danger from his approach, by common consent set fire to Thomas Street, but the flames laid hold of St. John's church and burned it to the ground, together with all the nearby suburbs.

At the start of the 18th century an Augustinian Prior rented for their use as a chapel a stable on the western side of St. John's Tower, a surviving fragment of the Hospital. Circa 1740, on the site of part of the Hospital, was erected a small church 60 feet (18.3 m) by 24 feet (7.3 m), which was considerably extended 40 years later. In 1860 it was decided to build a new church. Construction on the modern church was commenced at Easter 1862 under the leadership of Fr. Martin Crane, but it took 33 years to complete. One factor was that the foreman and many of the workmen were Fenians, who got into trouble with the authorities in 1865 and afterwards — for this reason the church was nicknamed "The Fenian Church". Building of the new church was begun when many of the senior citizens of the congregation could still vividly recall the events of 1798 and the trial of Robert Emmet in 1803 and his execution, just up the street. Many of them had lived through the dreadful times of the Great Famine.

Later, across the street, I happened to see a white horse standing in the sun, down Molyneux Lane which runs to the right of and parallel with Vickers Street. The horse is owned by Mark who has four other horses stabled here. On the wall in the stable is a photograph of the former owner (of many years) pictured in the uniform of a Cavalry man, on Duty at Dublin Castle, before Irish Independence — A long continuum of horse lovers in Dublin. Molyneux Lane recalls the famous Molyneux family of Dublin  of whom William and Thomas were most famous. They had considerable property in this area. Given this and the lovely church building of John’s Lane, facing Molyneux Lane, where the blind organist, Dal McNulty played for many years, my mind turned to matters equestrian and blindness and the associations of these places of old Dublin.

In 1815 The Molyneux Asylum for Blind Females (1815-2015) was founded in the house of Sir Thomas Molyneux in Peter Street Dublin. This house had previously been let to the Famous equestrian circus man, Philip Astley, in the grounds of which he ran his famous theatre — the origins of circus in Ireland.

The Molyneux family had made great contributions to Irish science and letters and their connection with blindness, whether personally or professionally, is unusual, to say the least. Sir William Molyneux (1656-98), patriot and philosopher, was the founder of The Dublin Philosophical Society in 1684 after the model of The Royal Society (London). Its first President was Sir William Petty of The Down Survey of Ireland fame (himself vision-impaired). William Molyneux too was famous for his political treatise ‘The Case of Ireland being bound by Acts of Parliament in England Stated’. He had been incensed by the suppression of the Irish wool trade by the English parliament when he wrote this treatise, published in 1698 and condemned as seditious and burned at Tyburn by the public hangman — it became the text-book of the American Independence pioneers. Like many of the Molyneux family, he was highly interested in optics and in the psychology of sight. He married Lucy, daughter of Sir William Domville in 1678. ‘In November, a few months after their wedding, she took ill when leaving morning service at Christ Church Cathedral. By December she found her eyes were affected and by January 1679 she was blind. On three different occasions William took her to London and other English cities to consult the best eye specialists, but the condition was untreatable’.

William is, perhaps, best known for his ‘Molyneux Problem’ which is still debated by philosophers today. The problem in question (which he addressed [though not initially] to the English philosopher John Locke) is, ‘if a man is born blind and learns to distinguish a sphere and a cube using his sense of touch; and then is granted sight, could he recognize the two shapes using vision?’ The Molyneux problem was first proposed to John Locke by William Molyneux in a letter dated from Dublin. March 2nd 1692/3 (as was the style of dating the early months of the year before the change from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar in  September, 1752 as a result of the Calendar Act of 1751).

He was writing in answer to Locke’s letter of January 20th. Molyneux had been ill and had not answered immediately on receipt of this letter: “Yours of jan. 20 came to my hands just as I lay down on a bed of sickness, being a severe cholick, that held me nigh fives weeks, and brought me very weak”; He was only now returning to health. His reading matter had been Locke’s Essay concerning  humane understanding (sic). He had parsed this minutely, page by page, and in this long letter addresses  many of the issues raised in the Essay, offering his agreement or proposing a different view to some of them.

The “Molyneux problem” arises in the course of his deliberations in this way, when Molyneux says: “Pag. 96. Sect. 9. you assert, what I conceive is an error in fact, viz. That a man’s eye can distinguish a second of a circle, wherof its self is the centre. Whereas ’tis certain, that few men’s eyes can distinguish less than 30 seconds, and most not under a minute, or 60 seconds, as is manifest from what Mr. Hook lays down in his animadversions on the first part of helvelii machina caelestis”. Having given his view, Molyneux moves on to discuss and caution Locke on a possible misreading of his ideas on The “existence of all things without us (except only for God) is bad for our senses’. Here, Molyneux gives his sense of the meaning and states: “This to me, seems your sense,  yet perhaps every reader  may not so readily conceive it; and therefore, possibly you may think this passage pag. 341. worth your father consideration and addition. I will conclude my tedious lines with a jocose problem, that upon discourse with several concerning your book and Notions I have proposed to divers very ingenious men, and could hardly ever meet with one, that, at first dash, would give me the answer to it, which I think true; till by hearing my reasons they are convinced. ’Tis this:
“Suppose a man born blind, and now adult, and taught by his touch to distinguish between a cube and a spere (suppose) of ivory, nighly of the same bigness, so as to tell when he felt one and t’other, which is the cube, which is the sphere. Suppose then, the cube and the sphere placed on  a table, and the blind man to be made to see; query whether  by his sight, before he touch’d them, he could now distinguish and tell which is the globe, which the cube, I answer, not; for tho’ he has obtained the experience of how a globe, how a cube affects his touch; yet he has not yet attain’d the experience, that what affects my touch, so or so, must affect my sight so or so;  or that a protuberant angle in the cube that press’d his hand unequally, shall appear to his eye as it does in the cube. But of this enough: perhaps you may find place in your Essay, wherein you may not think it amiss, to say something of this problem”. ... I am,
Worthy Sir,
Will. Molyneux.

This is the earliest philosophical notion in the psychology of sight. It has remained a fundamental question argued over from its inception. We know from Molyneux’s letter that he had put this problem in circulation long before he addressed it to Locke. Locke however, did address this ‘Problem’ in a later edition of the Essay,  in Chapter IX: Of Perception,
8. Sensations often changed by the judgment.
he states: To which purpose I shall here insert a problem of that very ingenious and studious promoter of real knowledge, the learned and worthy Mr. Molyneux, which he was pleased to send me in a letter some months since; and it is this”. Here Locke restates the ‘Problem’, and continues “I agree with this thinking gentleman, whom I am proud to call my friend, in his answer to this problem; and am of opinion that the blind man, at first sight, would not be able with certainty to say which was the globe, which the cube, whilst he only saw them; though he could unerringly name them by his touch, and certainly distinguish them by the difference of their figures felt. This I have set down, and leave with my reader, as an occasion for him to consider how much he may be beholden to experience, improvement, and acquired notions, where he thinks he had not the least use of, or help from them”.

William’s only surviving son Samuel succeeded to his father’s estates (20 in all, from Kerry to Armagh) except the family seat, Castle Dillon in Armagh. He married Elizabeth Capel, the eldest sister of the 2nd Earl of Essex in 1717 and died on April 13th at the age of 38, leaving no issue. His uncle Thomas, who had been his guardian, inherited the family estates. Thomas (1661-1733) was born on April 14th 1661 in Dublin probably near Ormond Gate, at the end of Cook Street, where it adjoins Bridge Street. He entered Trinity College Dublin at the age of 15 and became a doctor with an M.A. and M.B. in 1683, at the age of 22. Following further study in Britain and Europe he practiced medicine in Chester in 1690 but returned to Dublin in 1692 and was elected a Fellow of the Irish College of Physicians. He was appointed the first State Physician and also Physician General to the Army in Ireland. In 1701 he made an inquiry into the outbreak of virulent ophthalmia in some of the midland counties of Ireland, particularly in Westmeath.

In this inquiry we learn that ‘a strange affection of the eyes raged in the parish of Castletowndelvin in the county of Westmeath in 1701. From the effect produced and the members who were attacked, together with the time of year at which the attack was most violent, we have little doubt in our minds that it was some virulent inflammatory epidemic, some form of ophthalmia and not improbably that known under the name of Egyptian. Dr. Molyneux proposed a list of queries to John Hill, curate of Castledawson in the County of Westmeath, concerning the extraordinary distemper which took away the sight of many in that parish. This set of questions forms a most important statistical document, as the name of each person is given, their age, sex and the exact effect on the sight, whether total loss of vision in one or both eyes and the whole number who were affected’.7 He was one of the original trustees of Dr. Steeven’s Charitable Hospital in Dublin (where many of the Irish pioneers of ophthalmology — such as Jacob and Wilde began their careers). From 1717-33 he was Professor of Medicine at TCD and became the first Baronet in 1730. He married (perhaps his second marriage) Catherine Howard in 1694, a daughter of Ralph Howard, at that time Regius Professor of ‘Physic’ at Dublin. They had four sons and eight daughters and he died in 1733 at the age of 72.

Sir Thomas erected the mansion which was to become the Molyneux Asylum in Peter Street in 1711. Its modillion cornice and central pediment was a new departure, in architectural style, from the gable-type house common in Dublin at that period. Sir Thomas Molyneux inherited the site of Molyneux House through the Domville connection — he had been living in Peter Street from 1698. The Domville family owned a sizeable plot of land in the Bride Street-Peter Street area and it was Sir William Domville Knt., of ‘Bride’s Street, who opened this (Peter) street from Bride’s-street to Whitefriars’-street soon after the erection of St. Peter’s new Church in Aungier’s-street. The ground through which it runs was part of the Commons of St. Patrick’s (Cathedral) Church, and was leased to him on the 19th of March 1660, by the Dean and Chapter, for the term of 60 years’. The Domville family still owned many houses in Peter Street up to July 1874, when ‘the estate in fee-simple of the Domville family (Peter-street and environs) came to be sold in the Landed Estates Court’. The tenants’ interest in portions of this property, numbers 24, 25 and 26 Peter Street, which was held on lease for ever under the Domville family, subject to an annual head-rent of £15, had been acquired in 1858 for the erection of the Adelaide Hospital (which had first been established at 43 Bride Street in 1839).

On the death of Sir Thomas in 1733 the house was left to his widow Catherine. It later passed to his second son Sir Capel Molyneux who moved to Merrion Square in 1778. He leased the Peter Street mansion to William Lane and later portion of it to Philip Astley the equestrian. Astley, a native of Newcastle-under-Lyme, had left his trade of cabinet-maker and enlisted as a dragoon, serving under General Elliott at the battles of Emsdorff and Friedburgh. He rose to the rank of sergeant-major. On his discharge he opened an equestrain exhibition at Lambeth, London. He subsequently travelled all over England and finally opened a wooden theatre, with roofed seats and an open ring, at Westminster. This was gradually improved and enlarged and in 1781 it was thrown open for evening performances. Two years later he obtained a licence from the London authorities and named his theatre the Royal Grove. He took his company of performers on tour throughout England and, encouraged by the reception, crossed over to Ireland and opened his amphitheatre in the rear gardens of Molyneux House. Letters Patent were granted by the Privy Council on March 8th 1788, authorising the performance of “the several feats and entertainments of horsemanship, musical pieces, dancing, tumbling, and pantomime of what nature or sort whatever”. Thus giving rise to the tradition of circus in Ireland and elsewhere in Great Britain. Astley also performed  in a theatre beside the School for the Indigent Blind, St. Georges Fields London — The Royal Surrey Theatre.

Astley’s Dublin amphitheatre was opened on January 13th 1789. The entrance to the pit and gallery was from Bride Street. The affluent patrons entered their boxes by way of the main house which he also used as his residence. Astley was described as ‘a man of violent temper,  peremptory of speech and rude of manner’ but he appears to have pleased the Dublin populace. It is likely that the Irish reel Peter Street, still played today by traditional musicians, came with Astley from Northhumbria where it was known as  The ‘Blanchland Races’ — its playing in Ireland originated at this venue. In January, 1794, ‘a Dublin Journal, referring to the expiration of Astley’s patent says: “Places of this kind tend to the refinement of morals of the lower classes of mankind, and are not less necessary to the instruction of the younger branches of families, the chiefest object of our care. As Harlequinade in Ireland is so great a favourite with the town, it is with no small degree of regret that we announce its last appearance”.

With business badly effected by the post Act of Union slump in Dublin, in 1805 the Peter Street establishment fell into the hands of Charles and Thomas Dibdin, who had been connected with Astley for some time in Dublin and in London (at the Surrey Theatre (1816), the successor to the Royal Circus built by Charles Dibdin at the cost of £15,000; this was an amphitheatre near the Obelisk in Blackfriars Road, which opened in 1782. It was here that the equestrian drama, made famous by Philip Astley, actually started). In 1809 Astley left for London, selling out for £6,000 to a Scot, Henry Erskine Johnstone. This Scottish ‘Roscius’, a famous actor, obtained possession of the house ‘heretofore occupied by Sir Capel Molyneux, with the theatre, and all other buildings and improvements, and with all such machinery, scenery, wardrobe, and all other implements and substances”.  Johnstone opened it as the Royal Hibernian Theatre in November of that year. He fell into debt and absconded in 1812 with judgements against him for the debts.

Europa Wounded by the Bull of the Bourse

So where are we now? And where will we go, since the notion of a European ‘Union’ was practically killed off on the weekend of July 12/13th? Unlucky for some, one might say. But then, who can say? No one is certain, and no one can be.

The  papier mâché plaster which Angela Merkel placed on the bruised fingers of Greece is not waterproof and the coming deluge of debt will soon wash it off to reveal the real depth of the wound.

Over one angst-filled weekend, Germany managed to unravel the dream veil of Europe. The money it has lavished on the grateful bankers —via a crippled Greek people — will soon dissipate and they will be back for more. Bankers instinctively know their way to the hind tit.

One has to question the leadership and or the true motives. I suspect it is the motives one must first question. Did Merkel and Schäuble have their own agenda? After all, Schäuble might had aided the European economy much earlier by opening the piggy bank and spending a few Marks on what Germany really needs: a complete new infrastructural refit. (Most lesser Europeans might say, are you mad, did you see what they have? We are only in the halfpenny place when it comes to infrastructure!) But that’s only because there are really many grades of development in the European project. We pretend that this is not so, but it really is.

He might have bought the needed elements from hard-pressed neighbouring economies and commenced a real recovery trajectory, but would that have been in ‘Germany’s interests? He seems more intent on ‘saving’ his way to the great hereafter, and the hard-working German people don’t seem to have a say. Those I have spoken to are embarrassed at Schäuble’s ‘expulsion’ treatment meted out to Greece — though many place the blame squarely on the ‘lazy black-market Greeks who brought it on their own heads’. That’s another question, that brings me on to the one about leadership.

When, Oh! When, was the world so obviously bereft of half-decent leaders? The spineless, summit-to-summit dalliance of this lot is quite sickening. The first and last item on their agenda is the group photo. There is no semblance of policy focus, no eye-to-the-future about them. ‘Generic’ is the term and the problem. The will to act decisively is crippled. And why? Because there is not a shred of Social Justice to inform their lukewarm ideas and actions. The Europe of the people has been cast aside for the Europe of the corporates. The corporate money will enable them to buy votes; yet, if their policies and actions were people-centred, buying votes would not be necessary.

Perhaps, in terms of focus and leadership, Schäuble had displayed his prowess. And it would seem that Merkel does not have the balls to rein him in. What he has done, effectively, is driven a wedge between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ of Europe. The southern  and western lesser-heeled members are feeling it and fearing it! Who will be next to be touched by the Chancellor’s icy stick? It’s effect has been to lessen Germany’s standing as a leader nation and call attention to the cracked edifice of the ’Union’ that not even the asset-coveted marble of the Parthenon might disguise.

 

Ebola: Coming to a street near you?

So, all the fear of the centuries, the lingering dread of The Black Death, the great Influenza of 1910;  and those occasional modern pandemics such as Aids, Avian Flu, Swine Flu, Chernoble and Fukiyama, are rearing their heads while we are ducking ours.

 Since 1976 when the name of a little know African river gave its dreaded name to a modern scurge, we in the west have considered Ebola to be a disease that only happened in those poor, exploited, third-world countries where death does not register on any scale of concern and containment didn’t matter.

Now that Ebola has settled into Dallas, Madrid and the powers know how many other countries, suddenly the old fears come back to haunt and “The Black Death” takes on another meaning. The Centres for Disease Control and its partners has popped its head above the parapet and is outlining precaution measures against its spread and about its treatment. It seems that with all our sofistication the

This Ebola epidemic is the largest in history, affecting multiple countries in West Africa. Although the risk of an Ebola outbreak in the United States is very low, CDC and partners are taking precautions to prevent this from happening. One travel-associated case was diagnosed in the United States on September 30, 2014. On October 12, 2014, a healthcare worker at Texas Presbyterian Hospital who provided care for the index patient has tested positive for Ebola. CDC confirms that the healthcare worker is positive for Ebola. For more information, see: Cases of Ebola Diagnosed in the United States.