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Coordinates: 53°21′23.8″N 6°15′27.0″W / 53.356611°N 6.257500°W / 53.356611; -6.257500
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| date = 1944
| date = 1944
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=E9E6AAAAIAAJ&dq=Stephen+Hero&q=Daniel&pgis=1#search_anchor
| url = http://books.google.com/books?id=E9E6AAAAIAAJ&dq=Stephen+Hero&q=Daniel&pgis=1#search_anchor
}}</ref>. It is thought that the character Emma Daniel, who survived in the final publication is Mary Sheehy <ref name="joyce4">{{Cite book | pages = 570
}}</ref>. It has been suggested that the character Emma (Clery), in the final copy, may be modelled partially on Mary Sheehy <ref name="joyce4">{{Cite book | pages = 570
| last = Joyce
| last = Joyce
| first = James
| first = James

Revision as of 23:32, 21 December 2008

File:MountjoySquarePark.jpg
Mountjoy Square Park, facing the South-West Corner

Mountjoy Square (Irish: Cearnóg Mhuinseo), one of five Georgian squares in Dublin, Ireland, lies on the north side of the city just under a kilometre from the River Liffey. Planned and developed in the late eighteenth century by the second Luke Gardiner, then

Viscount Mountjoy, the square is surrounded on all sides by individual terraced, red-brick Georgian houses. Construction began in the early 1790s and the work was completed in 1818[1].

Over the centuries, the square has been home to many of Dublin's most prominent people: lawyers, churchmen, politicians, writers and visual artists. The writer James Joyce lived around the square during some of his formitive years, playwright Séan O'Casey wrote and set some of his most famous plays on the square while living there, W.B. Yeats stayed there with his friend John O'Leary. Historic meetings have taken place there, including planning for the Easter Rising and some of the earliest Dáil meetings. Prominent Irish Unionists and Republicans have shared the square.

Mountjoy can boast being Dublin's only true Georgian square, each of its sides being exactly 140 metres in length[1]. While the North, East and West sides each have 18 houses, the South has 19, reflecting some variation in plot sizes[1]. Though each side was originally numbered individually[2], the houses are now numbered continuously clockwise from no. 1 in the north-west corner. While its North and South sides are continuous from corner to corner, the East and West sides are in three terraces, interrupted by two side streets, Grenville Street and Gardiner Place to the West and Fitzgibbon and North Great Charles Street to the East. Gardiner Street passes through the West side of the square, while Belvidere Place and Gardiner Lane run off the North- and South-East corners.

Although some of the original buildings fell to ruin over the twentieth century, replicas have been built in their place, so the square still maintains its consistent Georgian façade.

Development of the square

The first Luke Gardiner (d. 1755) [3] was a highly successful banker, developer and Member of Parliament for Dublin in the early eighteenth century. During his career he acquired a wide variety of properties throughout the city. The major continuous part, much of which he purchased from the Moore family in 1714[1], was a large piece of land to the East of the then established city. This estate corresponds to the modern area bounded by The Royal Canal, Dorset Street, the Western Way, Constitution Hill, Parnell Street, O'Connell Street and the River Liffey. As owner of this land, Gardiner led the development of the Northside of the city east along the river, developing what is now O'Connell Street (then Sackville Street), Dorset Street, Parnell Street and Square (then Rutland Street & Square). After his death, his son and heir Charles continued the development, finishing Rutland Square before his grandson, the second Luke Gardiner (later Lord and Viscount Mountjoy) inherited the estate and accelerated the development further East. A powerful figure, Luke II was a member of the Wide Streets Commission and MP for County Dublin[1].

Mountjoy square was developed as part of this third development phase. An early plan and elevation, known then as Gardiner Square was drawn up in 1787 by Thomas Sherrard, surveyor to the Wide Streets Commissioners[4]. Gardiner and Sherrard clearly had a hugely ambitious vision for the square. It was on high ground, so all streets off it led downhill. It overlooked The Custom House and was connected to it by Gardiner Street. The plan included a rebuilt St. George's Church in the centre of the park. The original West side plans show a palatial stone-clad street frontage[4][1] with a terrace of brick residential houses behind the cladding. A less ambitious compromise of red-brick façades, consistent with other nearby streets, eventually prevailed.

The square was laid out and construction began first on the south side, apparently in 1790[4][1], continuing until 1818. Luke Gardiner II was killed at the Battle of New Ross during the Rebellion of 1798 with the third side still under construction[1].

After completion, contemporaries Warburton, Whitelaw and Walsh said of it:

This square, which is now completely finished, is neat, simple and elegant, its situation elevated and healthy … the elevation of the houses, the breadth of the streets, so harmonize together, as to give pleasure to the eye of the spectator, and to add to the neatness, simplicity, and regularity every where visible, entitling this square to rank high among the finest in Europe.[1]

In 1825, George Newenham Wright described the square:

This small, regular and elegant square, which is named after the proprietor, Viscount Mountjoy (now Earl of Blessington) is not far from Rutland Square … The air in this neighbourhood is considered extremely pure, being at the extremity of Dublin, and on the most elevated ground.[5]

Well-known residents

Mountjoy Square has had many famous inhabitants throughout its history.

Politics

Seán O'Casey, the Irish playwright and founder member of the Irish Citizen Army, lived in a tenement in no. 35 Mountjoy Square[1], during the Irish War of Independence. During his time there, it is said that the house was raided by the Black and Tans.

Denis Dowling Mulcahy, Thomas Clarke Luby and John O'Leary

John O'Leary, a leading Fenian, poet, editor of The Irish People, mentioned in W.B. Yeats' poem September 1913[6], lived at no. 53 Mountjoy Square West in the late 1800s and early 1900s[1].

Romantic Ireland's dead and gone, it's with O'Leary in the grave.

Indeed Yeats, as a friend of O'Leary is known to have stayed at 53 Mountjoy Square and sent letters from there[7].

Dáil Éireann, the parliament of Ireland, having been suppressed by the British authorities as a dangerous organisation in September 1919, met before the foundation of the Irish Free State at the home of the republican Walter L. Cole [8]. Although one source states that these meetings were at no. 1[9], there is considerable evidence to say that Walter Cole lived at no. 3[10] Mountjoy Square North and that the meetings were held there[8]. The Dáil was not the only historic meeting held in Cole's house. The notes of Seamus Reader, an Irish Volunteer from Glasgow, record a meeting in January 1916 at Cole's house

Shortly after 5pm on the 2nd, January 1916, I went to Cole's house, Mountjoy Square, Dublin, where, while waiting in the kitchen for tea, I jotted my coded notes for my report to Scotland. I then went to the room where I met Tom Clarke, Sean McDermott, J Connolly, P Pearse and McDonagh.[11]

all of whom were signatories to the Proclamation of the Irish Republic, all but Thomas McDonagh were members of the military council and all were executed the following May, as leaders of the Easter Rising.

When the volunteers met on Easter Monday 1916, the 1st battalion met at Blackhall Street in the liberties with the intention of taking over the Four Courts. The exception was the twelve men of D company under the command of Captain Seán Heuston who met at Mountjoy Square with the mission of taking the Mendicity Institution across the river from the four courts.[12][13] Also that day, another leader and signatory of the proclamation, Joseph Plunkett discharged himself from a nursing home on Mountjoy Square East to take his place in the GPO where he had been recovering from an operation on his neck.[14]

Arthur Griffith & Walter Cole (right)

Walter L. Cole was himself a notable figure in early twentieth century Dublin. Prior to the foundation of the Irish Free State, he was an alderman for a period [10]. An active Republican, he was a founding director of the Sinn Féin Printing & Publishing Company. He was arrested by the military at his home on Mountjoy Square in 1920[10]. Having hosted provisional Dáil meetings at his home during the War of Independence, during the subsequent Irish Civil War he was elected a Pro-Treaty Sinn Féin Teachta Dála for Cavan in the 3rd Dáil Eireann of 1922[15]. He lost his seat the following year and unsuccessfully ran for election to Seanad Éireann in 1925[16]. He was later a commissioner for Mountjoy Square [17].

David Sheehy lived just off Mountjoy Square at no. 2 Belvidere Place in the early twentieth century[18][19]. A wealthy businessman from Limerick[20], Sheehy was a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, was involved in the Land League and the Plan of Campaign (for which he was imprisoned[20]) [21] and was an Irish Parliamentary Party MP. His daughter Hannah was herself an Irish nationalist and a suffragette. Her husband Francis Skeffington, was infamously executed during the Easter Rising having become involved when he attempted to prevent looting. Their son Owen Sheehy-Skeffington later became a member of the 8th Seanad Éireann. Another of Sheehy's grandchildren, Conor Cruise O'Brien was a prominent Irish intellectual, politician, author, historian, Labour Party TD and minister for posts and telegraphs and later a member of the UK Unionist Party.

Law and order

Statue of James Whiteside in St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin

James Whiteside (1804 -1876), writer, orator, politician and barrister lived at no. 2 Mountjoy Square in the mid-1800s[22][2]. Born in Wicklow, as a QC in the 1840s, Whiteside defended the Catholic Emancipator, Daniel O'Connell and later William Smith O'Brien in state trials. He became MP for Enniskillen in 1850 and for Dublin University in 1859. He was subsequently appointed Solicitor-General, Attorney-General and Lord Chief Justice in Ireland.

Joseph Napier, an Irish Conservative party MP and member of the Privy Council of Ireland lived at No. 17 Mountjoy Square South (now no. 52)[23] . He was an MP from 1848 to 1858 and was also appointed Attorney General for Ireland in 1852. A Belfast-born Protestant, Napier is also known for his commons speech on The Sabbath Question and for a statement to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom on 1 March 1849 (towards the end of the Irish Famine) "to the effect that the northern taxpayers would be forced 'to keep up an army of beggars fed out of the industry of Ulster'" [24][25]. He was appointed Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1858, the same year James Whiteside (whose door faced his across the square) became Attorney General.

Richard Dowse (1824-1890) lived at no. 38 Mountjoy Square. Born in Dungannon, during his career he was MP for Londonderry (1868–1872), Attorney General, Solicitor General and a Baron of the Court of the Exchequer[26][27][28].

Sir Robert Anderson

Robert Anderson was born at number 1 Mountjoy Square West (now 53) [28][29], the home of his father Matthew[30], a crown solicitor. A devout evangelical Christian, Anderson wrote a number of books on various religious topics. Also a staunch Unionist, he studied law at Trinity College before becoming involved with British intelligence, gathering information on the Fenian movement at Dublin Castle. As the Fenians became active in London, Anderson was moved to work there, eventually ending up in the London Metropolitan Police. In 1887, The Times printed a series of articles entitled Parnellism and Crime, which accused the Irish political leader Parnell of involvement in crime and which claimed to have inflammatory letters of his. These accusations resulted in the set up of the Parnell Commission. The letters were subsequently shown to be forgeries and it later turned out Anderson had helped to write them[29] using information from a Fenian informant. During this period he was made Assistant Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police just as the investigation into The Whitechapel Murders (for which Jack the Ripper was pursued) began. He retired in 1901 and was knighted. As an expert on the Fenian movement, it is curious to wonder was he aware that his childhood home had been taken over by John O'Leary.

An infamous brothel, known as The Kasbah Health Studio[31], frequented by numerous senior Irish businessmen, politicians and churchmen was located in the basement of number 60 Mountjoy Square West[31] from the late 1970s until its closure in the early 1990s [31].

Arts and culture

James Joyce ca. 1918

James Joyce lived for a period of his youth at 14 Fitzgibbon Street, off Mountjoy Square West[32]. In his autobiographic novel A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, the young Stephen Dedalus moves with his family to the city and passes time circling timidly around the neighbouring square[33][34]. The Square also features in Joyce's Ulysses as the place where Fr. John Conmee encounters Bessie, the wife of David Sheehy MP [35]. The Sheehys were friends of Joyce's[36], perhaps from the time they were near neighbours[37] and they are said to feature in Stephen Hero (a partial early draft of A Portrait of the Artist) as the Daniel family[20][38]. It has been suggested that the character Emma (Clery), in the final copy, may be modelled partially on Mary Sheehy [39].

Sean O'Casey

Seán O'Casey, having lived on Mountjoy Square (see above), later set all three of his "Dublin Trilogy" (The Shadow of a Gunman, Juno and the Paycock and The Plough and the Stars) in tenement houses in Georgian Dublin. In particular, The Shadow of a Gunman opens in ‘A return-room in a tenement house in Hilljoy Square’ which is raided by the Auxiliaries during the play[40]. This room is thought to have been based on O'Casey's former tenement home[1][41]. The original building has been lost and a modern building with Georgian façade now stands on the site.

Padraig O'Faolain, an Irish painter, lived next to the Kasbah on Mountjoy Square West in the 1980s [31].

Irish radio presenter, journalist, former Trinity College SU president and student activist Joe Duffy was born on Mountjoy Square in 1956[42].

Much of John Carney's 2007 feature film Once which won the Academy Award that year for best original song was filmed in an apartment on Mountjoy Square East, where the female lead character, played by Marketa Irglova, lives with her family[43].

The traditional Irish drinking song, Dicey Reilly made famous by Ronnie Drew and The Dubliners tells how …she walks along Fitzgibbon street with an independent air, and then it's down be Summerhill and as the people stare….

Several scenes from Georgie's Story, the third episode of Mark O'Halloran's mini-series Prosperity were filmed in Mountjoy Square park.

Education

The Faculty of Applied Arts of the Dublin Institute of Technology is based at nos. 40-45 Mountjoy Square.

The Incorporated Society for Promoting Protestant Schools in Ireland and Mountjoy School were located at nos. 6-7 Mountjoy Square until a move to Malahide Road in 1950[1].

Dorset College currently has an office on the corner of Mountjoy Square East and Great Charles Street.

The Dublin Adult Learning Centre is currently based in 3 Mountjoy Square.

The St. Francis Xavier Pioneer Club of Dublin is based at 27 Mountjoy Square.

Period features

Over the centuries, new features have been added to the street furniture while for various reasons others have been removed. As a result, Mountjoy Square is somewhat like a fossil-record of the fads and features from the various eras it has survived.

Paving and coal holes

Remaining Granite Paving

The street was originally paved with granite [1]. By now, although the kerbs are generally still (probably Wicklow) granite, most of the paving stones have been replaced with concrete. The exception to this is the South-West corner in front of 53-54 which still has full granite paving.

Many of the houses on the square still have their original coal holes and ornate cast iron covers. These small holes in the street outside each house lead to a coal house underneath the street. These elegantly solved the problem of how to quickly and cleanly deliver coal to the house, allowing the coal men to simply pull the hole open and empty their sacks of coal down through it hole. The basement of the house then had a doorway into the coal house, under the street.

Lamp posts

The street lamps on the square are of two different designs. Those on the outer sides, in front of the houses are seemingly of the style called The Scotch Standard, dating from 1903-1920 when Dublin streets were being electrically lit as part of the Pigeon House scheme[44]. On the inner (park) side of the street, a slightly more modest design is used, apparently consistent with a more recent 1940-1950 design[44]. These designs are all 9 metres tall.

  • The Scotch Standard Lamp Post (outer side)
    The Scotch Standard Lamp Post (outer side)
  • The Scotch Standard Lamp Post (outer side)
    The Scotch Standard Lamp Post (outer side)
  • Decorative Shamrock Lamp Post (park side)
    Decorative Shamrock Lamp Post (park side)
  • Decorative Shamrock Lamp Post (park side)
    Decorative Shamrock Lamp Post (park side)

Shoe wipers

In the late eighteenth century, mud streets were not uncommon [45] and horses were also common on streets. To avoid this muck being tramped into the houses, show wipers were commonly placed outside their front doors. Many of these were highly elaborate and many remain to this day.

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Heagney, John (2006). "3". The Georgian Squares of Dublin. Four Courts Press.
  2. ^ a b Template:Cite article
  3. ^ Craig, Maurice (1952). "10". Dublin, 1660-1860. Hodges, Figgis & Co. Ltd. p. 102.
  4. ^ a b c Casey, Christine (2005). The Buildings of Ireland, Dublin. Yale University Press, New Haven and London. pp. 200–205. ISBN 0 300 10923 7.
  5. ^ Newenham Wright, George (1825). An Historical Guide to the City of Dublin, Illustrated by Engravings, and a Plan of the City (Second Edition ed.). Baldwin, Cradock and Joy. p. 143. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)
  6. ^ Yeats, William Butler (09-1913), September 1913, The Irish Times {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  7. ^ William Butler Yeats, John Kelly, Ronald Schuchard, The Collected Letters of W.B. Yeats, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198126840, 9780198126843 {{citation}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ a b McCracken, J. L. (1958). Representative Government in Ireland: A Study of Dáil Éireann 1919-48. Oxford University Press. ASIN B0006D7GSU.
  9. ^ Connell, J.E.A (2006). Where's where in Dublin; a directory of historic locations, 1913-1923; the Great Lockout, the Easter Rising, the War of Independence, the Irish Civil War. Dublin City Council.
  10. ^ a b c "Civilians arrested By Military in Dublin", The Irish Times, p. 3, 09/18/1920 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  11. ^ Reader, Seamus (1916). "Volunteers from Scotland and the 1916 Rising".
  12. ^ McNally & Dennis. Easter Rising 1916. pp. 25, 39.
  13. ^ Sheahan & Levy. Dublin Handbook. p. 39.
  14. ^ Bourke, Marcus. The O'Rahilly. p. 115.
  15. ^ "Dáil Members Database". Houses of the Oireachtas. Retrieved 06/90/2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  16. ^ "Mr. Walter Leonard Cole, 3 Mountjoy Square", The Irish Times, p. 7, 09/12/1925 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  17. ^ "Mountjoy Square for the Public", The Irish Times, p. 3, 03/08/1938 {{citation}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  18. ^ Cruise O'Brien, Conor (31-01-1994). "Twentieth-Century Witness: Ireland's Fissures, and My Family's". The Atlantic Monthly. 273 (1). The Atlantic Monthly Company.: 49–72. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); line feed character in |last= at position 7 (help)
  19. ^ Template:Cite article
  20. ^ a b c DIH. "David Sheehy". Princess Grace Irish Library.
  21. ^ Boyce, David George (1991). Parnell in Perspective. p. 24. ISBN 0415067235, 9780415067232. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  22. ^ Template:Cite article
  23. ^ Template:Cite article
  24. ^ Stitt, Seán. "This Blessed Famine - The Roles & Attitudes of Irish Protestants During the Potato Famine". Irquas Insight. 2. Association of Young Irish Archaeologists.
  25. ^ Kinealy & MacAtasney. The Hidden Famine: Hunger, Poverty & Sectarianism in Belfast 1840-1850. pp. 11–12.
  26. ^ "States and Regents of the World — Ireland". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |lastaccess= ignored (help)
  27. ^ Breathnach, Seamus. "Irish American Murders". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |lastaccess= ignored (help)
  28. ^ a b "Archiseek Dublin Tour". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |lastaccess= ignored (help) Cite error: The named reference "archiseek1" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  29. ^ a b Morris, Adrian. "From Dublin Castle to Scotland Yard: Robert Anderson and the Secret Irish Department (Alan Sharp)". {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |lastaccess= ignored (help)
  30. ^ Template:Cite article
  31. ^ a b c d Mullens, Dave (1996). Ladies of the Kasbah. Time Warner Books, UK. ISBN 0751516422.
  32. ^ Fargnoli & Gillespie. James Joyce A to Z. Oxford University Press. p. 119. ISBN 0195110293, 9780195110296. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  33. ^ Joyce, James. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Plain Label Books.
  34. ^ Joyce & Johnson. A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192839985, 9780192839985. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  35. ^ Joyce, James. Ulysses. Plain Label Books. ISBN 1603034994.
  36. ^ Maddox, Brenda (2000). Nora: The Real Life of Molly Bloom. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 35. ISBN 0618057005, 9780618057009. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  37. ^ Fargnoli & Gillespie. James Joyce A to Z. Oxford University Press. p. 35. ISBN 0195110293, 9780195110296. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  38. ^ Joyce, James (1944). Stephen Hero. p. 234. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  39. ^ Joyce, James (1977). A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man. p. 533. {{cite book}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  40. ^ O'Casey, Seán. The Shadow of a Gunman: A Tragedy in Two Acts. French. ISBN 0573014094.
  41. ^ "Georgian North Dublin". Footprint Travel Guides. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |lastaccessed= ignored (help)
  42. ^ "Tadhg Kennelly, Joe Duffy, MJTE". RTÉ. Retrieved 15/09/2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  43. ^ Template:Cite article
  44. ^ a b O'Connell, Derry (1975). The Antique Pavement. An Taisce. pp. 16–17.
  45. ^ O'Connell, Derry (1975). The Antique Pavement. An Taisce. p. 34.

53°21′23.8″N 6°15′27.0″W / 53.356611°N 6.257500°W / 53.356611; -6.257500

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