Rue Bonaparte

Wellington Road in Cork city runs from the intersection of Sidney Place and York Street to St Luke's Cross. The names of the streets and buildings in this part of Cork - the area directly north of the river Lee and east of St Patrick's Hill - speak strongly of Cork's history as a former British city, and in particular, of the Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815). Sidney Place leads to York Street and Wellington Road, and Wellington Road leads to Belgrave Place, Waterloo Terrace, Wellesley Terrace (pictured below), Alexandra Road (Queen Alexandra, wife of Edward VII), and Military Hill. Wellington's victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 - where a full 30% of the British forces, including the Duke himself, were Irish - made him a famous British war hero, and Wellington Road reminds us that his victory was celebrated (by some, at least) in Cork as elsewhere in the British Isles.

Wellington Road is a lovely street - one of the nicest in Cork. If you find yourself in the city, walk down the street from St Luke's cross to Sidney Place and follow Sidney Place to where it meets St Patrick's Hill. Along the way you'll see some of the finest 18th and early 19th century terraces in the city.

At the top of the hill you'll also see the former St Patrick's Hospital, founded in 1870. This imposing red-sandstone building is an important Cork landmark, and has a fine neo-Gothic chapel.

At the lower end of the former hospital, on the same side, is the entrance to Charlemont Terrace. The terraces off Wellington Road are set on their own roads which run parallel to the main road but remain level, giving privacy to the residents and excellent views that would be lost had they followed the slope of the street. Charlemont Terrace is served by this freshly-painted wall-mounted postbox:

It's pretty clear that this box has been removed and re-set into the wall - hence the messy mass of cement now holding it in place. But at least it has been preserved, and painted, and continues to serve the area. Note that this box is marked 'Post Office' - and is therefore a pre-independence, British box - but is missing its Royal Cypher. I can only assume it has been removed - see the faint scoring below the aperture where the cypher would normally appear.

As you continue down the street you'll notice how the wall on the right side grows higher and higher, as the terraces above stay level with the top of the hill. There are a number of beautifully worn flights of stone steps providing access to the terraces along the way, some with ornate and often very rusty old iron gates. If you see any locked gates, make sure to peer in - at least one is filled with plants and flowers and looks like a little country lane. In the lower end of the street you'll find some lovely 18th century red-brick terraces - demonstrating that Dublin is not the only Irish city with attractive Georgian buildings! And finally, when you reach St Patrick's Hill, you'll find this handsome 'GR' pillar-box (installed between 1910-1922) standing sentry:

This box probably isn't used as much as it once was, but it still frames the end of the road beautifully, proving once again that the Irish postbox isn't just a functional thing but a piece of architecture in its own right. And now we can ask ourselves: what would have happened had Napoleon won the war? Perhaps we'd be standing at the end of Rue Bonaparte, and we'd find ourselves faced with a green wall-mounted La Poste box. Somehow it wouldn't be the same.

Incoherent Postings

As part of this year's commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising, An Post painted ten postboxes red in various locations around Dublin (see here for the news story). This is to remind us what they would have looked like in 1916, prior to Ireland's independence; it's especially poignant since although the dynamic bustle of the city constantly changes around them, many postboxes have remained in their location -- like trusty but silent witnesses of the unfolding history -- for over a century. Not only is it quite striking to see red postboxes dotted around the capital (even for someone like me with partial red-green colour-blindness), but it's also a neat reminder of how much difference a coat of paint makes.

On my recent trip to Dublin, I was fortunate enough to spot one of these commemorative boxes at the bottom of Grafton Street, just outside the famous Peterson tobacconist. But I was disappointed to see that it is not, in fact, a former Royal Mail postbox; as you can see, it displays the "P¬T" cypher, representing Ireland's Ministry of Post and Telegraphs (mercifully with the same acronym as Gaeilge -- Aire Puist agus Telegrafa). But that ministry wasn't established until 1924, after Irish independence. So this postbox couldn't have been here in 1916, and wouldn't have ever been red. Perhaps that's why a couple of disdainful taggers left their own cypher on it; their sense of history compelled them to mark out the potential for incoherent postings.

In the Night Mountain

Montenotte - the 'Night Mountain' - is a suburb of Cork City located on the north-east bank of the River Lee. The suburb is situated on a steep hill overlooking the river, and affords very fine views of the port, the city, and the southern slope of the Lee Valley. The suburb was first developed in the 17th century by Italian and Dutch merchants who had grown wealthy through trade in Cork's then bustling international port, and wanted to avoid the stench and squalor of the inner city (as well as keep an eye on their ships as they sailed  into the port!).

The area remained an attractive prospect for wealthy Corkonians throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, and many fine houses were built on, and into, the hill. Although not quite as desirable now as it once was - many impressive Georgian terraces have sadly fallen into disrepair or been brutally sub-divided into flats - the area still retains a considerable charm, consisting of large 18th and 19th century properties on narrow, winding roads that snake their way up the hill, leaving little room even for a single car.

A very good way to approach the area on foot is to cross St Patrick's Bridge from St Patrick's Street and turn right onto Sidney Place from Bridge Street. The long, gentle slope of Sidney Place and Wellington Terrace (itself a fascinating street, which deserves a post of its own) takes one to St Luke's Cross, the gateway to Montenotte proper (although technically a part of the larger area). After a quick drink in John Henchy & Sons charming pub, one can walk north up the Ballyhooly Road (incidentally, this blogger spent his earliest years near the village of Ballyhooly - again, a story for another time!) or east along the Middle Glanmire Road.

For those with an interest in historic street furniture, the walk along the Middle Glanmire Road has considerable attractions. First, there is this lovely (I would guess 18th century) 'boundary stone' built into the wall on the northern side of the street:

It is wonderful to see that this ancient stone has been preserved by being built into the wall here, although one does wonder - is its current location where it was originally placed, or has it moved over the years? 

Next, opposite the Montenotte Hotel on the northern side of the street we find this wall-mounted 'EVIIR' (Edward VII, 1901-1910) postbox:

It's a real shame that this box has been allowed to fall into such considerable disrepair. However, it has survived: and although its paint is chipped and its front has been lost, it is still quite beautiful. Here is exactly how it would have looked when it was first installed (this example is from the little village of Beaumaris in Anglesey):

But all is not lost for the historic postboxes of Montenotte: a little further up the road, on the northern side again and opposite the entrance to the winding, twisting, Montenotte Road, sits this fine VR postbox:

The front may be cracked and the paint may be a little faded, but this Victorian postbox - made by W. T. Allen & Co of London between 1881 and 1890 - is still serving the residents of Montenotte over 120 years after its installation. Let's hope it continues to do so for another 120 years.

Dublin by night and by day

On a recent trip to Dublin, I happened to mention the existence of this blog to a friend. Within thirty seconds, he'd spotted this splendid VR Type B, to be found on the east side of St. Stephen's Green. Alas, as you can see, it's no longer in service, which is a shame because despite its age (it dates from between 1887 and 1901) it's in near mint condition.

My friend graciously illuminated it by mobile phone, but it was such a nice specimen that I decided to go back the next day to get a daylight shot. So we see Dublin by night and by day...

Rail Snail Mail

I'm live-blogging this from the comfort of Irish Rail's Cork-Dublin train service (with free wi-fi) and unlike yesterday's post, I deliberately set out to photograph this beautiful specimen at Cork's Kent station.

It is, apparently, the oldest example of a mailbox still in use in Ireland, dating from 1857. It's an "economy" type, since it lacks any decorative moldings or royal cypher, and it has the unusual feature of the aperture being set into the top.

Since it's indoors, it's beautifully preserved, and still doing its job. I'll be in Dublin by the next time the rail snail mail is collected.

The Pleasure of an Accidental Find

There's no greater pleasure than happening upon a lovely old postbox. That was my recent experience on a trip to Dublin's former Royal (later Collins) Barracks, now the National Museum of Ireland - Decorative Arts and History (website here).

Entrance to the former Royal (Collins) Barracks, Dublin

The Royal Barracks was built from 1701 by Thomas de Burgh, Surveyor General to Queen Anne. de Burgh is also responsible Trinity College's library building, which houses Trinity's famous 'Long Room' reading room (current home to the Book of Kells). Aside from Dublin's Royal Hospital Kilmainham (now housing the Irish Museum of Modern Art), the Barracks is actually Dublin's oldest public building. The complex consists of a number of buildings, the finest of which are the large, elegant, neo-classical blocks which surround the vast parade square:

The Parade Square, former Royal (Collins) Barracks, Dublin

Just off the Parade Sq - directly through the main entrance to the block on the left of the Parade Sq as one enters - I was delighted to find an example of Ireland's (and indeed, the British Isles') oldest pillar boxes, one of only a small number of surviving 'Ashworth' pillar boxes:

Irish Ashworth Pillar Box, former Royal (Collins) Barracks, Dublin

The Ashworth was the first standardised Royal Mail pillar box, and was designed by the House of Lords Committee for Science and Arts in 1857. The original 1857 design was ornate, but unfortunately - in rather a large oversight - did not include an aperture! This meant that the boxes had to modified locally to accept letters. The Ashworth pictured above is a simplified version of the original design, which would date it to roughly 1858-9 (in 1859 a new design was introduced). The box is painted in what was then the standard colour, bronzed green. This was intended to make the boxes relatively unobtrusive, but was later changed to red when they were found to be *too* unobtrusive, and not sufficiently visible. The box is tall and elegant, and unlike later designs, does not include a Royal Cypher; instead, it is topped by a Royal Crown picked out in gold. Notice also that unlike later boxes, the rather awkwardly-placed letter aperture is vertical and not horizontal. It's also very small: definitely not big enough for parcels! It's great to see that the box is out of the weather, relatively freshly painted and in good condition - although it could do with a dust! 

I was unaware that the box was there when I went with my family to visit the former Barracks, and chancing upon it made my visit all the more pleasurable. If you find yourself in Dublin any time soon, then hop on the Luas to the Museum stop and check it out!

"Queen's College", King's Postbox

Here's a particularly impressive one from the intersection of College Road and Gaol Walk, right at the heart of University College Cork. It's a real whopper; nearly 6ft tall, and proudly encroaching onto the pavement so that it forces students to dance around it on the dash between classes.

 This one is more recent than those of previous postings; it's a GR, so it must have been installed between 1910 (when George V took the throne) and 1922 (following Irish independence when, naturally, they stopped installing "Royal Mail" boxes). UCC was founded -- as "Queen's College Cork" -- in 1845 by Queen Victoria (George V's granny). So one wonders how the first students and staff sent their letters home (or manuscripts to academic journals) before this box's installation. It was the Queen's College, but they had to wait for the King's postbox.