The Charms Of Finglas (1858)

 This potted history of Finglas comes from Irish Miscellany, a periodical published in Boston in the years 1858 and 1859. Unfortunately the author's name isn't given.

About three miles from town, on the Ashbourne road is the far famed village of Finglas. There are few who have not heard of it, being equally celebrated for its 'May sports'—its ass races, its pigs, with their tails shaved, and a host of other amusements—as for having been, from time to time, the theatre of some important scenes in Irish history. Indeed, there are few villages in Ireland can lay claim to much greater antiquity than the village of Finglas. It is supposed by many to have been a place of some notoriety even before Christianity was introduced into this country, from the May sports to which I have alluded, as these are known to be the remains of feasts instituted to celebrate the spring, or perhaps in honor of Ceres, the goddess of grain and husbandry. One thing is certain, that those feasts are evidently of Pagan origin. The Romans and many other nations had games and feasts in honor of spring. In England they were very common till the time of Henry the Eighth, when some commotion arising at one of them, of which he was a spectator, he expressed his personal dislike to them and also reprimanded the mayor of the town secretly. After this they gradually disappeared in England; but May day is still a kind of holiday in most villages throughout England and Ireland. I think I am not in error by asserting that Finglas existed long before Christianity in this country, for in the first years of the Christian era, we find the author of it (St. Patrick,) residing in this town. He also founded an abbey here; and it should be a place of some note, and consequently of some age, to induce him to go to so much expense at that early period.

In the year 1014, Brian Boru marched by Finglas, going to the memorable battle of Clontarf, where he lost his life. During the time the Danes were masters of Dublin both before and after the battle of Clontarf, they frequently plundered Fingall, and it is reasonable to suppose that Finglas had its share from them.

In 1171, Dublin, being in the possession of Strongbow and the English adventurers, was closely besieged by the monarch Roderick O'Connor, and reduced to great straits. Strongbow was about to surrender, but the Irish insisted on such extravagant' terms as broke off the treaty. It was then advised to make a sudden and desperate sally on the besiegers; and, accordingly Miles de Cogan and five hundred chosen men broke in on the Irish lines at Finglas, and entirely routed them.

I rather think this battle was fought about half a mile one side of the town, at a place called Finglas Wood, on the banks of the Tolka river. There is an old quarry there, which is almost filled up with clay, and some time ago, the soft part of it was broken with a plough, when a great number of human bones were found, though greatly decayed, and several pieces of rusty armor, so eaten away that it could not be said to what part of the body they belonged, also broken swords. Tradition says there was a great battle fought there, but ascribes it to the Danes and natives. Another circumstance that makes me think this is the spot is, there is a very steep hill rising over the quarry and along the river on that side, which would be extremely favorable to such an encounter as the above must have been. It is probable that it was down this hill that Miles de Cogan rushed with such irresistible force, on the Irish host, and nearly took King Roderick prisoner, who was at that time enjoying the then luxury of a bath.

In 1271, Fulke de Saunfort, Archbishop of Dublin, dying in his manor at Finglas, his body was conveyed to the Chapel of the Virgin, in St. Patrick's Cathedral, and there deposited.

In 1532, we find this town giving the title of baron to some family; for in the rebellion of Silken Thomas, the Archbishop (Allen) and Baron Finglas were obliged to shut themselves up in the castle, and stand to their defence. I cannot say to what family the title belonged.

In 1649, Cromwell's army marched through Finglas going to the siege of Drogheda, and threw down the ancient cross. The enclosed is a sketch of Finglas, taken from a field opposite to Dr. Duncan's Lunatic Asylum, which is the house seen to the left of the drawing. The air of Finglas was formerly accounted the best about Dublin, and hither all the victims of disease were ordered, before the mountain air of Dundrum was brought into notice. However, it is still considered salubrious, as there are no less than three lunatic asylums within a quarter of a mile of each other. To one of them we have already alluded, the other two belong to Doctors Harty and Gregory. They are all tasty buildings—particularly St. Helena, the seat of Dr. Harty. Tradition says that King James slept a night, during his retreat, or rather flight, from the Boyne, in the house now occupied by Mr. Savage, Finglas Wood— it is just beside the quarry before mentioned.

In 1690, King William III had his army encamped at Finglas after the battle of the Boyne; and from Finglas he went to the Church of St. Patrick, to return thanks to the Almighty for his victory over the unfortunate James.

The Happy Ring House (1906)

This is an ad for The Happy Ring House from The Lepracaun. The Happy Ring House is still there at 3 Upper O'Connell Street, having been rebuilt after its destruction during the Easter Rising and indeed is a landmark of sorts. McDowell's originally traded out of a store in Mary Street but moved to O'Connell Street in 1902. The building is also notable for the fact it had one of the few residences on the street with Carmel Moran being the last person to live on the street, in a flat on the top floor of the building.

Carson Kidnapping Ulster (1914)

This is a detail from this cartoon from Puck Magazine albeit from a generation later than the previous illustrations I've posted, so alas no simian Irish folk. I think it's great. Edward Carson is making off with Ulster, beheading "Home Rule Ireland". The cartoon predicts, more or less, what was to transpire a few short years later with the partition of Ireland. Carson et al would have to however forego counties Donegal, Cavan, and Monaghan in order to keep a strong Protestant/Unionist majority north of the border. And of course the rest of the island became the Irish Free State, latterly the Republic of Ireland after the War Of Independence. The irony being that Carson, the man history most associates with it, was against partition almost as much as he was against Home Rule.

Each time the idea of Irish Home Rule had been brought up in the British Parliament there had been significant opposition, mainly from Protestants of Scottish and English ancestry, the lion's share of whom lived in the north east of the island. By the time of the Government of Ireland Act 1914 (aka the Third Home Rule Bill), Dubliner Edward Carson had become the primary agitator against Home Rule and had used opposition in Ulster as a bulwark against any such measure. It became increasingly clear that partition was inevitable as the local Protestant majority in Ulster would not acquiesce to the likely rule of the Catholic majority on the island as a whole. Having been vociferously against any measure of Home Rule, Carson eventually came to support the establishment of Northern Ireland. I'll conclude this post with quotes showing a couple of contemporary opposing viewpoints on the concept of Home Rule.

"Politicians who, like ostriches, possess the happy faculty of shutting their eyes to unpleasant facts, may say that there is only one nation in Ireland; but everyone who knows the country is quite aware that there are two, which may be held together as part of the United Kingdom, but which can no more be forced into one nation than Belgium and Holland could be forced to combine as the Kingdom of the Netherlands. And whatever cross-currents there may be, the great line of cleavage is religion. Of course I am aware of the violent efforts that have been made ever since the commencement of the Nationalist agitation to prove that this is not so." Anonymous in Is Ulster Right? (1913)

"We find ourselves there in presence of a minority which, on the sole ground that it is a minority, claims that in the government of Ireland it shall be not merely secure but supreme. Sir Edward Carson as odd man out (and I do not deny that he is odd enough for anything) is to be Dictator of Ireland. If eighty-four Irish constituencies declare for Home Rule, and nineteen against Home Rule, then, according to the mathematics of Unionism, the Noes have it. In their non-Euclidean geometry the part is always greater than the whole. In their unnatural history the tail always wags the dog. On the plane of politics it is not necessary to press the case against "Ulster" any farther than that. Even majorities have their rights. If a plurality of nine to two is not sufficient to determine policy and conduct business in a modern nation, then there is no other choice except anarchy, or rather an insane atomism" TM Kettle in The Open Secret Of Ireland (1912)

"Faith, There's No Wan Could Be Bolder" - Irish-Canadian Recruitment Posters (1916)

These posters were used to try to get Irishmen in Canada to join the Irish-Canadian Rangers, a unit of the Canadian Expeditionary Force, created in August 1914 in Montreal. It sought to draw on the large Irish (born and descended) community in the city at the time and the unit did indeed claim that upwards of 70% of its men were drawn from the city's Irish community. These colourful posters were created partly because by 1916 it was hard to find men in Montreal who wanted to fight and hadn't yet signed up and the Rangers were in competition with other units also looking for recruits. I found a contemporary description of these posters from The Irish-Canadian Rangers, 1916, a short book explaining the genesis of the Rangers.

"The problem of recruiting a battalion for overseas is a very great one these days, when it really constitutes itself an educational campaign. The 199th Battalion followed certain precedents of other battalions by issuing posters for the purpose of publicity. The first poster was designed to symbolize the make up of the new unit, consisting of a large maple leaf in autumn occupying the centre of the poster flanked by shamrocks. In the center of the Maple Leaf are shown two young soldiers grasping hands pointing to a legend, "Small nations must be free." The second poster was a map of Ireland bearing the legend, "All in one in the Irish-Canadian Rangers." This poster particularly exemplified the purpose of the battalion, uniting the people of the North and of the South in the common cause against a common foe. The third poster was typical of the sportsman side of the Battalion and indicated that there was a place in the Battalion for men of this class in no unmistakable terms. The fourth poster was typically Irish, representing the Irish country boy marching away to war from his cottage and calling upon his countrymen to join. The fifth poster was a reproduction of the famous painting of a soldier's mother, bearing the legend: "Fight for her." The sixth poster showed a soldier in the King's uniform standing on the slope of Mount Royal looking towards the harbor filled with the necessary transports ready to take troops overseas, bearing the inscription, "We go next."

By May, 1917, now in England, the Rangers were absorbed into the 23rd Reserve Battalion.

Chronological Tree Of Irish History From The First Invasion Of The English To The Present Day (1869)

This handpainted lithograph, printed in New York, purports to be "taken from the original copy of which the plate was destroyed by an Act passed in 1848 making it sedition to publish it." It provides a list of important events in Irish history between 1167 and Dermot MacMurrough's various shenanigans and 1844 with Daniel O'Connell's sentencing to 12 months prison. To the left of the history tree there's Daniel O'Connell hanging out with Erin and her dog. To the right of the tree I'm unsure who the characters are, if anyone has any ideas or for that matter can identify the buildings in the background please comment. You can download a huge TIFF file here if you'd like to take a closer look at this image but be warned, it's about 200mb.

"Have you any women folk worth defending?" - Irish recruitment posters (1914-1918)

Here's a selection of the posters used to entice Irishmen into joining the British forces in the Great War (1914-1918). Although Irish attitudes to the war were mixed, many Irishmen enlisted, with a total of 208,000 serving during that period. Unlike in Britain, conscription was never introduced in Ireland. To what extent these appeals to manhood, peer pressure, heroism, and fear did their job is hard to say but they make for interesting and varied ephemera of those years. The Lusitania one is probably my favourite of this lot. Over on the National Library of Ireland's flickr account there's an interesting photo of a recruitment poster on display in a shop window in Waterford in early 1915.

An early critic of NORAID

Here's another gem from Puck Magazine, again from 1881 and, as in the previous post, illustrated by Frederick Burr Opper. It shows another simian Irishman floating across the sea in a hat with a pipe for a mast. The sail says "Money wanted fur to free the ould country!" The poor mariner, whose coat tails say "Land League" and "Free Ireland" is proclaiming "Wonst more, me byes, for Ould Oireland - the land of divilment and distriss." So nothing much has changed in the intervening 132 years. He's sailing towards Michigan and its "American Greenback Crop". Again, plus ça change.

Brendan Behan's Dublin (1966)

Brendan Behan's Dublin is a short documentary made a couple of years after the man himself died. It's a slightly surreal endeavour as we have Ray McAnally playing the disembodied voice of Behan, explaining his family history and giving a potted history of the city itself. Much of this commentary seems to have been gleaned from interviews with Behan. The documentary also has short interviews with members of his family, his widow, his mother and father, and there's plenty of beautifully shot footage of contemporary Dublin with the likes of Dublin Zoo and Moore Street getting a look in. It also features a fantastic soundtrack by the Dubliners. Directed by Norman Cohen and scripted by Carolyn Swift. Its only significant flaw to my mind is that in parts the "Behan" narration is lost among diegetic sounds of the footage.

If that hasn't satisfied your hunger for footage of 1960s Dublin, feast your eyes on "See You At The Pillar," a British Pathé tourist film from about the same time.

Geography Bewitched! Or A Droll Caricature Map Of Ireland (1793)

This is a hand coloured etching from 1793 or thereabouts. It depicts Ireland as Lady Hibernia Bull and "is humbly dedicated to her husband the great Mr. John Bull". The British Museum has a couple of examples of it. There's also this companion piece of England & Wales.

The Metal Man, Rosses Point, Co. Sligo.

The Jack B. Yeats book linked in the previous post also yielded this curious illustration. It's really reminiscent to me of a Winsor McCay illustration which might just be a reflection of the style of the times. When I saw this illustration I wondered what the hell was I looking at. I thought it was some fellow on a sea pillar acting the maggot to his friends but then I saw it was called The Metal Man. A quick google later and I found out that Ireland has not one but two metal men (not to be confused with metallers, of which there are many). The one illustrated stands at Rosses Point, Co. Sligo and has done since 1821. You can see him here. His twin stands atop a pillar guarding Tramore, Co. Waterford. You can see him and find out more about him here. I have no idea how well known either entity is but it's the first I'd ever heard of them seeing that illustration so if they are well known please excuse my Pale insularity.