We started our walk through Cork on St Patrick’s Bridge. The plaques say that the foundation stone was laid in 1859 and that it was opened for traffic in 1861. Sir John Arnott was the Mayor on both dates.
Just over the bridge at the top of Patrick Street, we saw the statue to Fr. Mathew.
This was erected in 1864 when J F Maguire was Mayor
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On Academy Street, we saw a plaque on the old Cork Examiner building. It said that John Francis as well as setting up the Cork Gas Company and the Cork Examiner, he was Mayor of Cork, several times
We went to the Waterworks to look for details of the Fire Cock 1858 signs and spotted two more Mayors – Charles J. Cantillon in 1865 and John O’Brien in 1888.
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All of these were Mayors of Cork.
Every year, the school has been visited by men and women in gowns and wearing a chain. They were called Lord Mayor – even the women were called Lord Mayor. When they visit, they tell the teachers that we are not to get homework.
We wondered what was the difference between Mayor and Lord Mayor.
When down Dalton Avenue by Coalquay, we saw that Sir Daniel Hegarty was the first Lord Mayor – when he opened the Labourers Dwellings in 1900.
From 1199 to 1899, they are called Mayors. From 1900, starting with Sir Daniel Hegarty, they are Lord Mayors.
It also says that in 1900, Queen Victoria visited Cork. She later issued a Charter allowing Cork to have a Lord Mayor. The Charter was handed over to Cork City Council in 2007 by relatives of Sir Daniel Hegarty. It is kept in the Cork City Archive – which is called the Seamus Murphy Building.
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We contacted Mr Brian McGee who is the Chief Archivist. He replied to say that the original is very delicate but that there is a copy in the Lord Mayor’s Chambers in Cork City Hall. When we went into City Hall, we saw and learned lots of things.
We saw that the Charter from Queen Victoria was given in the sixty-fourth year of her reign. It is written in fancy writing and it says – And whereas we are minded by Our Royal Charter to confer upon the Mayor of the City of Cork the title of “Lord Mayor”.
It was signed on 9th July 1900.
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We tried out the chairs in the Council Chamber and in the Lord Mayor’s Office.
We think that we fitted them very well and they might be suitable for us when we become older.
On the Lord Mayor’s Desk, there is a jar that contains pin badges for visitors.
We got one each.
There is also a secret drawer with chocolates that are given to some visitors.
We got some nice chocolates but promised not to tell where it is.
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Outside the Council Chamber is a brass plaque made by Seamus Murphy that lists all the Lord Mayors upto 2004. It looks like they ran out of space then.
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Inside the Lord Mayor’s Reception Room are photographs of all Lord Mayors from 1900 to 1992. The photographs of all the Lord Mayors after 1992 are in the corridor between the Lord Mayor’s Office and the Council Chamber. Those ones are in colour.
We counted that there were 54 Lord Mayors from 1900 to 1992.
Sir Daniel Hegarty is the first photograph on the wall.
We were shown the 1901 Census on the internet and found out that on 3rd April, 1901, Sir Daniel Joseph Hegarty lived at 68 Summerhill with his wife and two sons called Donal and Michael.
Two servants lived in the house with them.
He was a banker.
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Section B – The Year of 3 (or more) Lord Mayors
Another chapter of the project is about the Burning of Cork in 1920.
1920 was the start of the War of Independence and there were many who died and were killed during that year and later.
Two Lord Mayors died in 1920. Tomás MacCurtáin was shot dead in his own bedroom in Thomas Davis Street. Terence Mac Sweeney died on hungerstrike in prison in England.
In the entrance to City Hall there are two busts made by Seamus Murphy of those Lord Mayors.
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Their paintings are on the wall in the Lord Mayor’s office. In both, they are wearing the Lord Mayor’s Chain.
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They are both pictured on the wall in the Lord Mayor’s reception room.
When we told people about part of our project being about the Lord Mayor and another about the Burning of Cork, lots of people told us of Tomás MacCurtáin and Terence MacSwiney.
Some people called it the year with Three Lord Mayors. No one knew the name of the Mayor after the death of Terence MacSwiney so we went to try and find out.
His name is on the brass plaque. His photograph is on the wall of photos. His name was Donal O’Callaghan – in some books he was called Donal Óg O’Callaghan.
He was Lord Mayor from 1920 to 1923.
We also kept forgetting his name but we found a handy way to remember. Donal O’Callaghan’s name is close to Donncha O’Callaghan who played for Munster and who drops his daughter to our school so we see him often.
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When we were reading about Tomás MacCurtáin, we discovered that there were more than three Lord Mayors in 1920.
The current Lord Mayor was appointed on 1st July 2017 and his term of office ends on 30th June. In 1920, Tomás MacCurtain was appointed Lord Mayor on 30th January.
William F O’ Connor is listed on the plaque as the Lord Mayor for 1919 but he continued until the end of January 1920. That makes him the first of four Lord Mayors that year.
We now think that in 1920 there may have been FIVE Lord Mayors.
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When we were reading about the burning of the Carnegie Library, we learnt that shortly after the night of the Burning of Cork on 10th December, Lord Mayor Donal O’Callaghan stowed away on a ship to America with Peter MacSwiney, Terence’s brother. They went there to tell the truth about what happened in Cork.
When Donal O’Callaghan was in America, the acting Lord Mayor was John Joseph Walsh. We learnt a bit more about John Joseph Walsh.
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He was an Acting Lord Mayor and so is not on the plaque or on the wall of photographs but we think he was the last of FIVE Lord Mayors in 1920.
He was Postmaster General and ordered that the red post boxes be painted green. He is buried in St Finbarr’s Cemetery near the Republican Plot where both Tomás MacCurtain and Terence MacSwiney are buried and where the large cross was made by Seamus Murphy.
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Section C – One Lord Mayor
When I told my Grandad about the wall on photographs, I remembered that the last photograph was Dino Cregan in 1992. I remembered this because his granddaughter, Anna, is in our class at school. My granddad said that he grew up next door to Denis Cregan and his family.
This section is just about Denis Cregan because he is the Lord Mayor that I know most about now.
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He was born on 4th May, 1940. His dad worked with C.I.E. delivering things to customers who did not have their own transport. His mother had a meat shop on Bandon Road where her family owned MOK’s pub.
Denis has 5 brothers and 1 sister. Noel, Finbarr, Tom , Donal and Jim are the boys. Carmel is the only girl.
Dino worked with Lennox’s Chipper on Bandon Road. In 1968, he bought a shop on Tower Street, around the corner from where Izzy’s great-grandad lived, and opened the first Dino’s chipper. It is now called Donatellos.
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There are now lots of Dino’s Restaurants in Cork including Douglas, Kinsale, Blackpool, Bishopstown and Turner’s Cross.
Dino represented Fine Gael on Cork City Council for 17 years. In 1991 he was made Lord Mayor. One of his trips was to San Francisco because Cork is twinned with San Francisco.
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We would love to read what you thought of this chapter and our project.