Joesph Fahy: Masonry, Working Life, Family
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Description
Joesph's son Joe and his nephew Jim were also interviewed for this project.
CFP_SR00569_fahy_2016;
&
CFP_SR00566_fahy_2015;
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Relation
CFP_SR00565_osullivan_2015; CFP_SR00566_fahy_2015; CFP_SR00569_fahy_2016; CFP_SR00570_steele_2016; CFP_SR00574_jones_2016; CFP_SR00581_osullivan_2016; CFP_SR00583_johnson_2016; CFP_SR00589_lysaght_2016; CFP_SR00590_varian_2016; CFP_SR00595_Jones_2016; CFP_SR00609_Cooney_2017; CFP_SR00610_McCarthy_2017; CFP_SR00611_Buckley_2017:
Published material related to the collection:
Moore, Michael (2016) ‘A Tale of Two Masons’, The Archive Journal, Vol 20: 8-10.
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Transcription
JF I took the top of off Parliament Bridge a couple of years ago when I was with City Council. The bridge was built in 1816. Now, what happened was, there was so much stuff, cables and gas and water pipes going over the bridge, eventually the bridge had to be reinforced, so we had to show the stone of the arches and my God, how they did those, quarter-of-an-inch joints went perfect. But, all the people that worked in those, they must have been there for weeks, months, years. But, in order to hold the bridge in position, you’ve got to build out from it, buttress walls, to hold the bridge. Because if the bridge opens, the whole lot falls down. In that, now, Parliament Bridge, it goes down nearly to the South Mall. What it basically is is mostly brick and stone, to hold the bridge, in case it slipped. The other side went up Mary’s St. So, we took off the top of that, we had to replace some of the parapets, because ‘twas broken and we took a lot of gas, there was about sixteen cables crossing the bridge. They were there from the time of the trams, so we’d to take those out of it. The ESB had a couple of cables, which were working. But, we had trouble with a gas pipe. When they made the bridge, they couldn’t cast the pipe in a kind of a curve, so when they came up so far with the pipe, then they made a flat box, about nine inches, about four foot square, with a mouth to accept the pipe on both sides. That’s how they got over the bridge, because there’s a big hump in that bridge. So, and then, after I finished that one, I went up and did
MM There’s a lot of history there so, when you opened it up to see the different ways that, the techniques that the masons before used.
JF Oh, [sighs] telling you, they must be marvellous people, and I mean, there had to be a big arch put in for that, a timber arch, put in, and then, so as they put in the keystone, they could take away the rest, but ‘twas as perfect as the day it was done.
Time Summary
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0.00.00 - 0.05.00 |
Work history Joe started working at sixteen for John Sisk- a major firm He has built with stone brick and block Worked in Sarsfield Court as a young boy Stayed with Sisk until 1984 Worked for Sitecast Joined City council- general foreman over the city centre and north side of the city- would repair walls and footpaths- worked with them for over twenty years Retired in 2003 Worked in St Michaels church in Blackrock- did all stonework on the front of the church It burned down in 1962 Remembers JFK’s visit in1962 but didn’t go up Invited to 50th anniversary of the church last year as someone who built on it- a booklet brought out on it Worked in Ballyvolane church when an apprentice- his brother was foreman- building brick and block St Michaels built with Bestone- cut block- rough end shown- decorative and cheaper than stone |
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0.05.00 - 0.06.48 |
Work History continued Joe worked in Limerick and Waterford and in Kerry mostly with Sisk Built church in Filemore outside Cahirciveen- roof blew off and they had to replace it 6m02s“The thing about it is what I have done is going to be there for years and years” my work is all over the city and Munster as well but you have to have pride in what you do |
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0.06.49 - 0.10.13 |
They took the top off Parliament Bridge to repair it, originally built in 1816 Bridge had to reinforced- showed the original stone of the arches which were beautifully built Explains the building of the bridge- buttress walls 16 cables there from the time of the trams Explains how the ancient masons overcame a building problem due to the hump in the bridge Marvellous tradespeople Describes what they did on the bridge with insulation and concrete forms |
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0.10.14 - 0.11.24 |
Renovated the Southgate Bridge It is in fact 2 bridges put together- this can be seen from underneath There is rough stone on one side and cut stone on the other First bridge built in roughly 1703- designed for horse and cart He also worked on St Finbarrs Cathedral |
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0.11.25 - 0.12.14 |
Enjoyed working as a mason but not working as a supervisor He loved his work but did not enjoy supervision which he did for the last 20 years for Sisk and (Road) Stone People can take shortcuts but you have to maintain a high standard |
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0.12.15 - 0.17.14 |
His family of Masons Joe’s father was a mason and 2 of his brothers, one is dead, died at 58. Two of his uncles were masons. His grandfather married twice, so masons on both sides At that time trades closed off to families Joe started his trade in 1954 aged 16 Need to have a hankering to stay at masonry Outworking in all weather Back in early days, masons did everything- pipe laying, tiling and manholes They protected the trades No union cards, no work. The unions were strong, work was scarce at the time His uncles went to England during WWII 1939-1945 Joe does not remember it, though he did not see his first orange until 1948 None of his children took up masonry People were nicer then, nobody had anything Things have changed, now a grab all culture People in wrong jobs because born into occupations Let people find their own level |
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0.17.15 - 0.20.32 |
Joe built his own house talks about the life of mason and drink ‘I have pride in it but like everything else, the day will come when I’ll have to leave it’ Masonry is a hard life but as hard as you want to make it He doesn’t drink but knows men who do Joe watched his health and is in reasonable shape A lot of men in masonry fond of the drink and they could have done better without it You are considered an oddball if you don’t do what the rest do Joe didn’t drink and often went out to pubs and drove people home Excess drinking is a health hazard |
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0.20.33 - 0.24.15 |
The death of his brother, and his family Joe’s brother died at 58, he got Alzheimer’s at 54. He worked hard and reared a great family He never had a car, worked for the HSE Lived in Mayfield He’d be very proud of his family today Four of the girls worked in the county hall, one in the city hall All well educated His man is dead twelve years Joe’s eldest brother was fond of his pint alright He worked with his eldest brother on many jobs Joe was the foreman on original CUH when it was built first- His brother worked under him- he wouldn’t take charge of big jobs, he cut a line in how big a job he would do |
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0.24.15 - 0.27.07 |
Working on big jobs was tough Joe had to go into job with a crew very early to have everything ready for the masons at 8 or 9 am otherwise they would be twiddling their thumbs until 10 am at times there would be guys trying to underhand you- word would go around about who to watch out for Joe’s motto was that you can’t tackle people in the morning- you don’t what they walked away from- fellas had lots of troubles you can’t jump to conclusions too quickly- it’s dangerous until you have the facts |
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0.27.08 - 0.30.51 |
Practical jokes on building sites Always good craic on sites Joe describes a scene in Ballyphehane church where a carpenter was nailed to the lats inside of the roof and left hanging up. Fellas could come to their stuff at the end of the day to find their new shoes nailed to the bench but it was harmless fun like There was painter working in the Bon Secours hospital locked into the store on several days and all the lads would just walk past the door and not leave him out Joe tells a funny story about a young fella working on the building of the Bon Secours hospital who was told to go down with an iron cart to collect a lever window after lunch. He went down to the place to collect it and the man down there was exasperated that he had turned up so early, he said that he had told the foreman to come down after lunch and the young fella replied that he had his lunch at ten am |
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0.30.52 - 0.33.34 |
No job Security in trade and family nicknames There was no security in the job, you could be sacked within an hour- could be because work was running out or they weren’t suitable, but an hour was all you got At that time a forty seven hour week Plenty of fellas went into an old age after working Job wasn’t easy but there was a certain amount of satisfaction from what you do Jim (Fahy’s) father, Joe’s brother was a perfectionist- Con- although known in the family as Ronnie. An aunt named him Ronnie because she thought that Con was an old persons name so in the family they called him Ronnie- but on sites known he was known as Con |
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0.33.35 - 0.36.02 |
The working day Joe was lucky that he had guys around him that would set him right on the job Always something came up on job that you had not encountered Joe spent most of his apprenticeship on his own- he was just handy enough to do work and that was it He got bus to work, when he worked on Blackrock church he met a fella at the Coliseum and got a lift- gave him a couple of bob at the end of the week to cover him He walked a lot too Joe was born in Rathmore buildings Joe still likes to walk, he has a car he rarely uses, his last car had only 50,000 km after 8 years |
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0.36.03 - 0.42.44 |
Building has changed over the years Some good projects done in Cork over the years- the hotels on the western road and the county hall on the straight road UCC is now trying to buy the savings bank on the Mall besides Connelly Hall- it’s great because they’ll look after the building That’s the problem with the current situation- they built down on the site in Albert Quay and what is it, a frame with glass around it- doesn’t appeal to him at all Someone in England making windows, their making money over there- they won’t last, aesthetically they might look okay and the heating might be good but apart from that, they’ll be easily pulled down, sur there’s nothing there Now they put in a fire stairs in concrete in case of a fire it’s the only thing that will withstand the heat, everything else is steel Joe’s paternal grandfather was the foreman in Kent Railway Station when they were building the start of the nineties?? These places were a job for 2/3 years, whereas now it’s 9 months is the norm- all about speed now In places like hotels- the toilets are made up in a box and delivered ready to be plumbed and electrified You see in building you have to start from the bottom and live with it till it’s finished- but now one fella is making a part of it in Limerick and another fella is making another in Dublin and it comes in a truck readymade Everything is vacuum packed now, you could get an IKEA building- it will always be that way now It’s a pity Joe taped and jointed the plaster boards in his own house which did away with a lot of work as well- that’s the way it is and that’s the way it’s going to be and it’s going to get worse |
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0.42.45 - 0.46.30 |
Living in digs and travelling to work Joe still had his home but at one time lived in digs during the weeks and come back on Friday night It was a job especially when work was scarce you’d have to cut your cloth to suit Thank god Joe was never idle for any bit of time because he was willing to travel Joe never went abroad, in his later years he did a bit of work in Chicago and London on his holidays- foxers- side jobs Joe has a friend in Chicago, he went over in 1968, his still alive and he’s 86- worked on a side job with him- plastering- built a couple of walls in Chicago as well Back in the 1950s a lot of people left to work in England after the work- they were building highways and what have you- good money in it, a lot of them became builders after- the Murphy’s and so forth- they all made millions Joe was never tempted to travel, he was satisfied if he had enough to eat, he’d be grand Contentment goes a long way |
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0.46.31 - 0.51.24 |
The differences in limestone and red sandstone stone in Cork City There is a vertical shaft of rock rising for 40 ft that’s part of St Patrick’s hill- Joe’s house is on (Richmond Hill, Cork City) all the houses built with sandstone, but if you go across the city where the lough church is- rise up Barrack street but it dips again as you go out toward Togher- that’s all limestone- that runs all the way down to Blackrock under the river and it rises again in Little Island. The city hall stone was all got below in Little Island. Shandon has two sides in red sandstone and two sides in Limestone. St Finbarr’s Cathedral is all limestone. St Peters and Pauls is limestone and red sandstone because you can’t make a quoin out of the red sandstone Have to bed red sandstone with the grain running flat- if you put it on edge water gets in between the different layers of the stone and then frost bursts it. Sandstone has to be laid flat but when its flat then, very hard to get a face on it- so always a problem with it- sandstone is deadly to work with |
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0.51.25 - 0.55.47 |
The house that Joe built 2010 was a very hard winter Foundation of this house built on a sheet of rock Rock got so cold one night that it popped the tiles in the kitchen- the poor dog got a fright He put in the foundation in 1978- man from corporation said he had to get a compressor in and level off the stone- joe said he would do no such thing- its very hard to break this stone- the lower down you go the less grain in it and the harder it is to break- man wanted him to make a drawing of his solution to it- Put sand over the stone when he poured the concrete to make a cushion between the two- the corporation man passed that solution Parts of the foundation a foot deep For house insurance no need for subsidence or flooding coverage Joe says that people are paying for subsidence coverage and their houses are built on top of rock Joe had knowledge of building so he used it |
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0.55.48- 1.00.09 |
The standout jobs for Joe and picking stone in a quarry Joe did all the stonework on the Munster and Leinster bank on Cook Street when the extension went on and he was only an apprentice at the time- it was all cut stone- it came in blocks- but to bed it and grout it and had to tie into a building then- last stone has to be cut to suit- all ornamental stone Ballyphehane church, Blackrock Church and St Patrick’s church The Presbyterian church at the bottom of McCurtain street- they cleaned that now and pointed it and made it beautiful- but what’s spoiling it is that they have a big tree in the drive and you can’t really see the church- Joe was not involved in that one He sorted stone for a repair to a church in Clonmel- his brother did it Joe went to the quarry between Kiely’s Cross and Dungarvan, before you dip down to Dungarvan there’s a quarry to the left- Kiely’s- Joe spent a week there getting stone to replace - it was kind of sandstone- a lot of it peeled away- so just getting 4 or 5 inch facing The company used dynamite and after they cleared it there would be a lot of loose stuff then- but sizes were important- it had to be squared Had to get the best pieces out of it Joe was also in the quarry in Ballintemple getting stone to repair a wall- You see the thing is you’re trying to make it look like its 150 years old |
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1.00.10- 1.02.35 |
Nice buildings tour de France, Roman arches, English Railway Joe was watching the tour de France and he loved seeing the buildings and chateaus, some with moats around them Joe was in Rome once and he would need about a month to take in all the buildings If you go back to the Romans they brought the water from the hills around in an aqueduct. They found that it was costing so much because it was 60ft high, it is they developed the arch- saved a lot of material- the Romans are outstanding Joe saw over in England visiting his daughter, a railway arch spread out over a valley carrying the railway- marvellous people People don’t appreciate what has been done |
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1.02.36- 1.04.27 |
Lord Bandon’s wall and the Strike and the mason built into the wall Joe was telling Jim that there was a wall built around Lord Bandon’s property years ago- all a red sandstone there- the wall is 10ft high and about 50 masons working on it and they were getting something like two and a half pence a day So they decided they would go on strike They asked Lord Bandon for more money and he said no, they said the labour would be taken and Bandon said let them go But one guy stayed behind because he said his family would starve if he had no money- but after about two or three months when Lord Bandon could see such little progress, he decided to relent and pay the money- so the boys came back and your man was still there- and about 2 days later your man was gone- no one saw him again and it is reported that they built him into the world- Joe read a story of it- and it was in the Holly Bough last Christmas- this story was back around the time of the famine |
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1.04.28- 1.08.30 |
Poor facilities on sites and bad weather They put up a shed for the cement but what they put up for the men then was a hovel- there wasn’t facilities to wash yourself Joe worked for a while in Sarsfield Court there was a big crew there- a couple of guys used to look after the boiling water for the tea- The site was so big that every fella had a billy can, you’d give him the tea and sugar to make the tea, but it could be a half an hour by the time you get it, it’d be cold If you were working where the plumbers were, they usually had a settling torch lit to heat up the tea, but we often got tea and it was cold- This guy would have a bicycle and he’d have a bar and maybe twelve or fourteen cans on the bar and he’d cycling down to the far end, a different block- while he was driving down the wind is cooling the tea There was never great facilities in that line Toilets were a hole in the ground You only had an eight and a half hour day but you’d be delighted to get home and have a hot cup of tea Joe worked up on top of Blackrock church with a big coat on me and a cap- not a hard hat, and it snowing- not supposed to building in frosty weather- we were up about 120 feet and Lough Mahon below-blowing wind and snow- it was tough Awkward to work when you have so much clothes on you Like everything else, there was the good things and the bad things |
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1.08.31- 1.12.18 |
Nicknames and funny stories Joe had no nickname himself- but load of people on sites did- ‘Head the Ball’, one fella in Blackrock- Bill something- he always used to say, ‘I’m a quiet man all the same but get me going and I’d tear iron’. There was some great guys Joe worked with one fella in Blackrock who used to cycle over from Douglas village, an honest, sound fella- at the time the church was been built they used Ursuline Convent, but they used the priests house for christenings, and they were working late one evening and father Farrell had come down from the cathedral one evening and he did a christening. At the time a pint was 2 and 8 pence. He gave three half-crowns to the lads, and he said go down to Ackies pub and have a pint when you’re finished. And your man looked at the three half-crowns you see and the priest said, Tommy what’s wrong? Tis, tis two and eightpence for a pint now father. And a half-crown was only two and sixpence. So he took back two of the half-crowns and he gave a ten-shilling note. But a more honest devil you’d never meet. There were some great guys There was camaraderie there There was a fella came back from lunch in the pub and he was so inebriated, he couldn’t get his coat over his shoulder. And none of them would help him- laughs- but sure that was the way it goes Are you okay now with that? End of interview |