Dublin's North Bay Area Explored in New Book

A History and Guide to the Dublin North Bay Area with Dennis McIntyre

– From the Stately Customs House to the Wild and Charming Howth Head –

Customs House to Howth Head: A History and Guide to the Dublin North Bay Area is author, Dennis McIntyre's latest contribution to Irish, local, social and cultural history.

The trek, from the stately Customs House in the city centre to the wild and charming Howth Head, is documented in all its facets, angles and aspects. Exhaustively researched, the book is both informative and entertaining, in addition to being copiously illustrated with a well-chosen selection of images.

This is not just a local history but rather, a series of local histories, covering Dublin's Customs House and Docklands areas, North Strand, Summerhill, Ballybough, Fairview, Marino, Donnycarney, Clontarf, Killester, Raheny, Kilbarrack, Bayside, Donaghmede, Baldoyle, Sutton and Howth. It has everything that local history should have – and that bit extra.

Dennis McIntyre is the previously published author of Meadow of the Bull: A History of Clontarf (1987) and has also written about other aspects of Irish history, such as in Bram Stoker and the Irishness of Dracula (2013) and Irish Nationalism, Irish Republicanism and the 1916 Easter Rising (2016).

Customs House to Howth Head: A History and Guide to the Dublin North Bay Area is published by Shara Press and is available to buy online (RRP €19.99).

The book will formally launched at Clontarf Castle Hotel on Wednesday, 1 February starting 8pm, where copies will also be on sale and the author will be on hand to sign them. Joe Harrington of Sunshine Radio will provide the keynote address, while Ciaran Murphy, of Near FM radio, will perform the introductions.

Dennis McIntyre is an author, historian, tour guide, broadcaster and former teacher. Originally from Sligo, he has lived on the northside of Dublin for a number of years and he has established a reputation as a local historian. In addition to his writing, Dennis McIntyre also serves as founder and director of Dublin North Bay Tourism and the Stoker Dracula Gothic Organisation. Previously published works are also available to buy online.

Listen to the podcast of Dennis McIntyre talking about his new book with John Connor on NearFM’s Lifeline Programme.

1916 and all that - the Literary Legacy of the Easter Rising

On this day in 1916, precisely 100 years ago, an armed insurrection broke out on the streets of Dublin, heralding the start of what was originally dubbed the Sinn Féin Rebellion but would come to be known as the Easter Rising. It was an event of enormous significance - primarily political but not without cultural and literary implications also. Its reverberations were felt worldwide.

A week of heavy fighting ensued. The rising was eventually quashed by the superior military power of British armed forces, although strategic failures on the part of the rebels and, indeed, bad luck also played a part in ensuring the outcome. Nevertheless, while often dismissed as a military failure (or even a 'heroic failure'), the fact remains that, aside from the General Post Office, which served as the Rising's headquarters, no other rebel position fell until the order to surrender was received. Thus, while the order for unconditional surrender was issued on Saturday, 29 April (by Padraig Pearse, co-signed by James Connolly) fighting continued until the following day, as it took time for the surrender order to filter through to certain rebel strongholds.

Walter Paget [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

The immediate public reaction to the Rising was one of bewilderment, confusion, even outright hostility. Yet, as events proceeded, the mood changed, almost as the leaders of the Rising had predicted it would. The words of a contemporary observer, William Butler Yeats, are often cited to convey the sense of ambiguity but also foreboding that followed in the immediate aftermath:

All changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
- from Easter 1916 by W.B. Yeats, September 25, 1916

Whatever Yeats' may have had in mind about the 'change' and the 'terrible beauty' it had given birth to, in hindsight and at this juncture, we have the opportunity to see, in a more fully fledged form, just what the leaders of the Rising were driving towards. As Yeat's alludes, it was not so much the Rising itself but the aftermath and the series of event that was set in motion, initiating and making inevitable broad, sweeping, wholesale changes in the conduct of affairs between people and nations of the earth.

The Easter Rising was, arguably a catalyst for all of this. It marked the opening salvo that ushered in a new era, as the age of empire began its long, slow retreat, to be replaced by a new age of democracy based national sovereignty, backed up by universal suffrage and government based on popular rule. An age of international co-operation based on the free association of free people and nations.

All of this is presaged by the Rising's manifesto, as proclaimed on the steps of the GPO on this day in 1916. It is those words that ring clear today, just as they resonated with people at the time. The Proclamation of the Irish Republic is a literary masterpiece in its own right, not just of its time but for all time.

By originally uploaded to the English Wikipedia by w:User:Jtdirl
[Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

William Rowan Hamilton, Irish Mathematician and Discoverer of Quaternions

This rather poorly maintained plaque under Broome Bridge, which straddles the Grand Canal on the northside of Dublin, marks the spot where a certain Irish mathematician had a Eureka moment, on this day (16th October) in 1843. It is a rather humble acknowledgement of a discovery that would prove to be of groundbreaking importance.

By Wisher at en.wikipedia [Public domain], from Wikimedia Commons

The inscription reads:

Here as he walked by on the 16th of October 1843, Sir William Rowan Hamilton, in a flash of genius, discovered the fundamental formula for quaternion multiplication i² = j² = k² = ijk = −1 & cut it on a stone of this bridge.

William Rowan Hamilton
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

William Rowan Hamilton was a midnight child; his date of birth is given as 3-4 August 1805. Growing up, he showed a remarkable aptitude for languages but as he approached his adult years, he started to concentrate more on mathematics - the universal language.

Having studied at Trinity College, Dublin he was appointed Professor of Astronomy in 1827, prior to his graduation and took up residence at Dunsink Observatory, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life.

It was on the occasion of one such stroll from the observatory at Dunsink, along the Grand Canal in the company of his wife that Hamilton had his moment of inspiration that continues to be commemorated, to this day. Mathematicians from all over the world have been known to take part in the commemorative walk retracing Hamilton's steps, which takes place every year on the anniversary.

The event is justly celebrated. The fundamental formula for quaternions continues to have relevance to mathematics in both the theoretical and applied fields, including computer graphics, control theory, signal processing, and orbital mechanics.

Broom Bridge (or Brougham Bridge as Hamilton called it)
Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

Man on Bridge - a photographic archive

'Man on Bridge' is the title of a fascinating project that documents the life and work of street photographer, Arthur Fields, just as he documented the various comings and goings on one of Dublin's best known landmarks, over a 50-year period.

Beginning sometime in the 1930s, until his retirement in 1985 at the age of 84, Arthur took photos of passers-by on Dublin's O'Connell street. Working seven days a week, with hardly ever a break, it is estimated that he took over 182,500 photographs in his lifetime.

Now a web-based project wants to bring all these photos together. People are being asked to submit their own photos taken by Arthur, together with their personal memories and reminisces related to the photograph. Just some of the photos collected so far are available on this Flickr photostream. Included among them are some well-known and instantly recognisable faces.

More about this project is available from El Zorrero Films who have provided this video.

A Drive around Dublin through the Decades

1930s and 40s

No information about this footage except that it dates, apparently, from the 1930s and 40s.

Late 1950s

The footage is grainy but about as much as could be expected for the technology that existed at the time - no cellphones, digital cameras, CCTV, and so on.

1965

This footage was obtained, apparently, from a CIE training video. You will notice that Grafton Street is not yet pedestrianised (that didn't happen until the 1980s) while Nelson's Pillar still has a commanding presence over O'Connell Street (it would be gone by the following year).

1976

We've had this one before but it's worth including here for comparison purposes.

A Drive around in Dublin in 1976

A historical curio here for all you nostalgia buffs out there. Back in 1976 when motion picture technology was considerably less advanced than what it is today, someone had the idea of driving around Dublin city centre, capturing what they saw on film. And here is the result. Not a lot you might say but interesting to see how much Dublin has changed, and yet how familiar it remains. Not a mobile phone in sight either.