Cork City: A field guide to its street furniture
Tom Spalding
Cork; Finch Fortune, 2009
Many of us are oblivious to the varied street furniture of Cork city, apart from maybe the Toll House at St Luke’s or the old cannon gun which serves as a bollard on the Grand Parade. Tom Spalding’s splendid guide to Cork’s street furniture should remedy this situation. It’s a beautifully illustrated guide to bollards, mooring posts, pillar boxes, water fonts and a host of other items of street furniture often unnoticed. He even has sections on humble coal holes, rain gutters and sewer covers. The photographs are accompanied by an informative, very readable text. Read this book and you’ll never look at the ‘Beautiful City’ in the same way again.
Cork City: A field guide to its street furniture is available in the Local Studies Library at Cork City Libraries. |
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An A to Z of Youghal
Tim FitzGerald
You would? Publishing 2008
An A to Z of Youghal edited by Tim FitzGerald with entries from a variety of contributors is an enjoyable book to dip into for information on the history of the famous old walled East Cork town. There are entries on prominent persons associated with the history of Youghal including Cromwell and the ‘witch of Youghal’, Florence Newton. Other entries deal with the cinema in Youghal, the railway line, the lighthouse and a fascinating entry on ‘Quotations’ which lists the use of the name ‘Youghal’ in the works of famous writers including Rudyard Kipling and James Joyce. The entries are succinct, well chosen and replete with little known facts about the town. All in all, the book is a little gem.
An A to Z of Youghal is available in the Local Studies Library at Cork City Libraries. |
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Patrick Scott
Patrick Scott & Aidan Dunne
Dublin; Liberties Press, 2008 In the depths of winter and amid the economic doom and gloom it’s a pleasure to review a celebration of the life and work of the Cork-born architect and artist Patrick Scott . A richly talented man Scott, as well as being one of Ireland’s best know painters, has worked as an architect and has produced drawings, prints, sculptures, tapestries , works of industrial design, polychrome tables and set designs for the theatre. Truly a Renaissance man. He was made a Saoí of Aosdána in 2007. The book is sumptuously produced with wonderful illustrations of his work; the illustrations of his famous gold leaf paintings, geometrical designs in gold leaf on unprimed canvas, which show the influence of Zen Buddhism, are particularly beautiful. The text by Aidan Dunne is very informative about all aspects of the life of this amazing man. Patrick Scott is available for consultation in the Local Studies Library of Cork City Libraries. |
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Rory Gallagher: The Ultimate Performer
Fin Costello
Cork; 2008
Rory Gallagher was one of Cork’s favourite sons and a musical genius. He is probably one of the best known Corkman, albeit adopted, outside Ireland given his huge fan base in Europe and beyond. His life and work was celebrated in a photographic exhibition in Triskel last year which featured the photographs of Fin Costello. Rory Gallagher: The ultimate performer is a compilation of some of the photographs from that exhibition. Informative captions accompany many of the photographs but Fin Costello knows that a picture is worth a thousand words and the remarkable photographs capture the dynamism and energy of Rory’s performances. A must for all Rory fans.
Rory Gallagher: The ultimate performer is available in the Local Studies Library of Cork City Libraries. |
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The Journal of the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society 2008. Vol. 113.
One of the most venerable societies in Cork, the Cork Historical & Archaeological Society, issued its journal for 2008. The 80th birthday of the outstanding scholar Diarmaid Ó Murchadha is celebrated in this issue with articles in Irish and English on medieval Gaelic manuscripts and history and on Cork placenames, topics on which Dr Ó Murchadha has written with authority. Other highlights of the journal include a splendid article by John A. Murphy on ‘Six South Munster popular songs and their background’, an article by Dagmar Ó Riain-Raedel on the architect Henry Hill’s journey through the south of Ireland in 1831, a fascinating article by Mary Lantry on the various depictions of the arms of Cork city and a spirited contribution from Pat Holohan on two Cork parliamentary elections in the 1830s and their connection with a broadsheet ballad.
The 2008 volume maintains the high standards of scholarship and readability of its predecessors. It is available in the Local Studies Department of Cork City Libraries. |
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The emergency years in Cork 1939-1945
Paddy McCarthy.
Published by the author; Cork, 2006
Paddy McCarthy’s The emergency years in Cork 1939-1945 is an account of life in Cork during the years of WWII, a neglected topic despite the huge growth in the publication of local historical material in recent years. Mr McCarthy’s approach is logical and his prose is crystal clear. Each chapter deals with a different theme from the war years. There are some harrowing descriptions of the poverty and ill-health that stalked many in Cork before, during and after the war years and tributes to those individuals, Fr Dick Dalton was one, who tried to alleviate the suffering. The tragedies of the losses of the Ardmore, St Patrick and the Irish Pine at sea are recalled. Emigration saw many young men and women leave for war work in England and the money sent back to their families played no small part in helping many survive the difficult years. Rationing of foods and curtailment of transport were only some of the hardships endured by the population. The morale of the people was sustained by the cinemas, the theatres, cultural and musical societies and sport with the Cork hurlers winning the famous four-in-a row senior hurling All Irelands during that period. There are interesting chapters on some famous trials that took place around that time including the first case of criminal abortion in Ireland when a young woman died after taking abortifacient drugs supplied by her married lover. The emergency years in Cork is a valuable and very readable contribution to the social history of Cork. It is available in Cork City Libraries. |
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Collins Tracing your Irish Family History
Anthony Adolph
London; Collins, 2007
RTE television’s series ‘Who do you think you are’ has enormously increased the number of people doing family history research in Ireland. Genealogy requires considerable patience to track down and sift through available sources. To the newcomer the number and variety of resources that need to be checked can seem daunting. Anthony Adolph’s Collins Tracing your Irish Family History is a very good and up-to-date guide to these sources, although a number have become available online since the book was published. In spite of this, this book gives clear and concise advice on how to track down and use parish registers, birth, marriage and death records and census returns to the more unfamiliar Griffith’s Valuation, army records and the bewildering, to the tyro genealogist, variety of wills available, or in many cases unavailable due to the disastrous fire in the Four Courts in 1922. The researcher will be hard pressed to find a livelier and more reliable guide than Collins Tracing your Irish Family History.
Collins Tracing your Irish Family History is available at the Local Studies Department of Cork City Libraries. |
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