outfitter

Unusually crowded street scene - even the shots of O'Connell Street in Dublin seldom show this many people.

Also given the absence of any cars, 1910 seems a bit late, I'd say more like 1900.

Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah Limerick finally got a look in even if our proud thoroughfare of O'Connell Street is called Georges Street. The clock tower in the distance was Cannocks Clock where many a romance began as it was the dating landmark for Limerick people. The porch sticking out on the right is next to or the current location of the Augistinian Friary where I served mass as a nipper. The first junction you can see on the left is Bedford Row and the shop on the corner was owned by Mulligans who sold bicycles but they had taken the soup and were no relations. Lairds were still in Limerick when I was growing up and further back you had the Home and Colonial Stores. The shop beside Buckleys is O'Mahony's book shop now and that seems to be the name overhead. Is and always was one of the best bookstores in the country. This area of Limerick was relatively modern, named Newtown Pery and it was laid out in a grid format with intersecting streets at right angles. Off to the right was the Irish town and straight ahead brought one down to the Kings Island where King Johns Castle, St. Mary's Cathedral and many other historic sites are located.

Your location needs adjustment Carol, it should be up two from the Quays and the shot was taken from just past the junction with Shannon Street/Roches Street facing down towards Bedford Row. The location for the other shot is slightly further down Georges Street (as was) nearer Bedford Row.

Great photo. Regarding the date, it might help to note that O'Mahony's was established in 1901. The clothing on the women on the right hand side suggests very early 1900s. The building near the Augustinians with the porch is the County Club. Does anyone know how typical the horse and trap/sidecar (?) in the middle of the picture and in the foreground on the left would have been? Would they have been privately owned or for hire? I believe the trap that most of us would recognise (with the door at the back) only appeared in the late 1890s and wonder if this is what preceded it.

Given the fact that the street had been wrecked between 1916 and 1922 it is very difficult to place the shot. I think that you are probably correct and that the old Georgian houses you can see the backs of are those on Parnell St. A Thoms directory of that era might give you a better fix?

Well... the Sinn Fein Rebellion Handbook published a list of damaged or destroyed buildings and included "Henry Taaffe - Gentlemen's Outfitter" at 8 Upper Sackville Street. And if you look at the large version of this pic, you can see "Taaffe" and "Outfitter" on the signs beside the Findlater building... But I can't make sense of the actual landscape on Google Streetview. The Irish Times archive has the headline "Republican meeting in Sackville St" for 18 August, and "Republicans in Dublin" for 20 August, but I can't access the actual articles.

vandillo We have access to the Irish Times and Irish Indo in the Library so I'll try to check those over the next couple of days...

This is indeed O'Connell Street - we are looking at the old Findlaters on the corner with Cathal Burgha street. The building at the extreme left with the arches at first floor level was included in the subsequent rebuilding and survived until the 1970s when the whole lot was replaced with an office block. See Lost Dublin, by Frederick O'Dwyer, 1982

David Thank you. Will seek out Lost Dublin, and your comment reminded me to carry through on promise to check Irish Times/Indo for articles mentioned by vandillo above. Mea culpa.

maps.google.ie/?ll=54.270537,-8.472047&spn=0.004329,0...

www.census.nationalarchives.ie/reels/nai003264496/ James Curry 1911 Baker and confectioner House 21 Castle Street Was Also There in 1901

maps.osi.ie/publicviewer/#V1,569202,835861,7,9

I see the car has a chauffeur.

DannyM8 That's great, Danny, as it's not possible to tell from the photo that Curries at no. 4 Castle Street is a bakery/confectionery. Dating's good too - I think this is quite a late Lawrence photo. And the Curries were Congregationalists. Don't think we've come across too many of them up to now.

maps.google.ie/maps?q=o'connell+street+Dublin&hl=en&a... Street View

Crane & Sons Ltd., Musical Instrument Manufacturers 40 Upper Sackville Street, Mentioned here. The trees here look older than today's photo. This photo was dated as circa 1911 definitely earlier than 1911.

The history of Clerys began in May 1853 when Mc Swiney, Delany and Co. opened ‘The New or Palatial Mart' on the site of the present store in what was then Sackville Street. In 1883, the premises was taken over and renamed by M. J. Clery (d.1896) So After 1896 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clerys

Hawksby's didn't advertise in Freeman's themselves, but F.W. Hawksby is listed in 1883 (28rd April) as a stockist of McMahon and Twohils' Irish-made silk and fur hats. Or, as the advertisement put it - "HATS! HATS!! HATS!!!"

DannyM8 Yep pre-1911. No sign of Parnell Monument.