Nostalgia: How modern Cork city moved into its space

THE medieval city of Cork was divided into quarters, formed by the line of Main [today’s North and South Main] Street and divided by a watercourse called Mill Stream which ran along Liberty Street to the city’s dock, south of today’s Castle Street.

Birth of lanes

The city was densely populated, and the dwellings in which the majority of the citizens lived stood on the many ill-paved, foul-smelling, dark narrow lanes and alleys off Main St.

These lanes originated in the early life of medieval Cork when the individual unit of property, comprising of a long narrow strip of land known as a “burgage plot”, extended from the front of Main St to the town hall.

These plots measured about 25ft in width and were delimited by post and wattle fences; later to be replaced by free-standing stone walls of a building constructed on the plot.

Consequently, each pair of plots held a laneway in common, some extending from Main St out to the town wall; while others provided access to courtyards and gardens.

With the exception of Main St, the city did not contain a thoroughfare broad enough to permit two carts to pass each other; and the majority of lanes would not admit two horses abreast.

For centuries, the city’s streetscape remained unchanged except for the repairing of the city wall, which placed an enormous burden on the Crown and the town’s taxpayers; and the rebuilding of dwellings which were regularly destroyed by fire.

City on fire

Fires were frequent as the majority of the buildings were made of wood and were thatched; churches and larger buildings, however, avoided this fate as they were constructed of stone and slate roofs. The city authorities’ methods for dealing with fires lacked skill and knowledge. For example, long poles with iron crooks were used to pull down blazing timbers, which caused sparks to drift onto nearby thatched roofs, setting them alight.

On May 31, 1622, a large portion of the city was destroyed by fire. This was documented in the city annuals as ‘The Great Fire of Cork’ when 1,500 houses in the city and suburbs were completely engulfed, obliterating many lanes, alleys, and streets in the walled city. Soon after the fire, the Corporation decreed that all thatched roofs must be replaced by slate or shingle without delay.

When the city was rebuilt, 68 lanes led off Main St — 39 on the east side and 29 on the west side.

Lanes named after family

In these narrow lanes lived the majority of the city’s great mercantile and mayoral families with their fine residences, courts, and gardens under the shadow of the town wall.

Most of these lanes were named after the families who resided on them, with some named after churches or institutions.

For example, of these 68 lanes, according to the city’s earliest records of thoroughfares, ‘The Civil Survey of 1654’, all but seven were named after families. The survey also found that there were at least 160 houses on the front of Main St and perhaps twice that number behind them.

In September, 1690, the city again suffered more devastation during the Siege of Cork. It resulted in much destruction, leaving a great part of the town in ashes.

Lessons learned from the siege meant that the city authorities no longer looked upon the wall as a means of further protection — thus ending the fortified island city.

The physical appearance of the city began to change rapidly. In 1773, as the city had begun to spread beyond its walls into the nearby marshes east and west, a survey was carried out by John Rocque. In his report, he states that 60 lanes led off Main St, eight of which had disappeared.

By the 1840s, many changes had taken place in the old city. The city wall had disappeared from the landscape; the watercourse which ran through the centre of the town was arched over; the majority of the fine dwellings, where once lived the medieval merchant princes, were demolished along with buildings devoted to civic and commercial administration.

These made way for new spacious streets, business houses and tenements — consequently causing old lanes and alleys to disappear.

Goad’s plan of Cork for 1897 tells us that 22 lanes or streets led off Main St, now called North and South Main St. In a survey carried out in 1988, 18 lanes and streets are documented. Today, if one were to take a stroll along North and South Main St, one can see the original medieval layout of the walled city fossilized as it was in today’s street and lane pattern. Many of the properties fronting the street are the width of the original “burgage plots” already mentioned.

Only a few of the original 68 streets, lanes and alleys now remain; many others have been incorporated as entrances and hallways into existing premises.

Some are still paved with their original 18th and 19th century flagstones, reminding us of days long gone by when wealthy merchants walked upon them to their place of work and residence, and when these dark, narrow passageways housed the city’s population and traders.

Sources: Cork Historical and Archaeological Society files, CJF MacCarthy files, Cork City and County Archives files, Cork City Library.