quagmire

Trinity College, Botany Bay, Dublin City

from National Library of Ireland on The Commons

• 10 older comments, and then…
• Niall McAuley said:

  Yes, it is labelled Botany Bay on the OSI 25" map at GeoHive

• Niall McAuley said:

  www.tcd.ie says : Botany Bay, once the vegetable garden for the College, was still being cultivated in the early 19th Century. It gradually became enclosed by buildings with Richard Morrison designing the north side of the square in 1816. The Botany Building was designed by W C Marshall of London in 1906. Many of the staff rooms are located in Luce Hall.

• Niall McAuley said:

  Should be dateable - we are looking out at the bank building on College street (now the Westin hotel), so it is earlier than the 1907 25", which shows a building in this gap (not the modern one, though). Archiseek says 1867 for the bank. Google TennisCourtView

• beachcomber australia said:

  This explanation is priceless! According to Trove from 1879 - The question why - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70936493?searchTerm=%2... The answer - trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/70936981?searchTerm=%2...

  TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. To the Editor. SIR,- In the TOWN AND COUNTRY JOURNAL of Saturday, March 22 [1879], the following question is asked:- "Why has one of the squares of Trinity College, Dublin, been known as Botany Bay for many years past?" The portion of ground called Botany Bay is at the back of one of the squares of Trinity College, next to Brunswick-street. It was generally flooded, being much lower than the land about, and at the time it got the name, a large ditch or open drain was to be seen, filled with the sewage from the College. It was here that bailiffs and such cattle, who were hardy enough, in the days of Webber, Power, and O'Malley, to enter the College and serve a writ or other like nuisance on any of the collegians, were thrust. When caught, they were carried off to Botany Bay, and soused in this ditch, or duck-pond as it was called; and when the unfortunate fellows were half drowned, they would be taken and placed under the pump, and pumped on for some time, in order to make them presentable to the authorities before they were kicked out of the College through the back gate. In consequence of the sentence passed on so many unfortunates, and carried out in this place, and from the fact of its being nearly always flooded, some wag christened it Botany Bay; and so it remains until this day. ABLANA.

• Niall McAuley said:

  This is L_ROY_02508. L_ROY_02505, L_ROY_02506 and L_ROY_2507 are the Campanile in Trinity, undateable (and amazingly human-free!).