St. Finbarr's Market Wall, Barrack Street

St. Finbarr's Market was one of a number of markets established by the reformed Cork Corporation in the 1840s to cater for the less well-off people of Cork. Until the Municipal Reform Act of 1840 the members of the corporation were exclusively from the Protestant ascendancy class. The principal market in the city was the Grand Parade Market, later called the English Market. Only Protestants could hold stalls in the English Market and the produce on sale was usually too dear for the poorer classes who made up the bulk of the population of the city.

The side wall which once enclosed Saint Finbarr's Market is shown in this photograph. It has since been replaced with a temporary wooden structure, as the old wall had become unsafe. The apex of the northern end of the front wall was 12 feet high and the outer edge leaned 12 inches out of plumb over the footpath before it was demolished.

Barrack Street / Sráid na Beairice