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Mary Montgomery-McConville: Shandon Street, Peter and Paul's Church, Coal Quay
Mary was born in Shandon Street in 1930. She talks about winter on Lavitt’s Quay. Mary also mentions an Easter custom where on Good Friday they would tie the figure of Judas to a crane and set fire to it. Her grandfather made the confessional boxes…
Mary O’Sullivan: Masonry, Family Life,
Mary begins the interview by talking through her earliest memories of Bantry, walking to school and robbing apples and nice and cross teachers. Mary’s then moves on to describe her family, and how she left school at 14, her father was a farm labourer…
Mary Sheehy: Gurranabraher, Street Traders, Bonfire Night
Mary was born in Washington Street in 1948; when she was 6 her family moved to Gurranabraher. Her mother was a trader in second-hand clothes in Kyle Street and a barmaid, her father worked for Cork Harbour Commissioners.
As a child, she had to wear…
As a child, she had to wear…
Michael Murphy: Worklife; Murphy's Brewery; Childhood
Michael was born in 1941. He was born in Francis Street. He had 6 brothers and 5 sisters. His earliest memory is of his grandfather’s funeral, with a hearse pulled by two horses, in 1945. His mother’s pregnancies and the arrival of newborn children…
Michael O’Connell: Faranree, Politics, Childhood,
Michael was born in the 1950s and grew up in Farranferris Ave below the Church of the Redemption in Farranree. He came from a family of 13 children. He was a student at the North Mon. His mother was a great GAA fan and a sporting person who played…
Mícheál Ó Geallabháin: Family, Community, Social Class, Sport, Music, Emigration.
An in-depth, evocative interview about growing up in The Middle Parish highlighting poverty and the power of education in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Mícheál Ó Geallabháin gives intimate and warm detail about family life, community spirit, class,…
Noel Dempsey: Orthopaedic Hospital, Working Life, Healthcare
The interview explores Noel's memories of working at the Orthopaedic Hospital, nature of work, Sisters in charge, surgeons, theatre work, night shifts, carrying corpses to the mortuary, reflections on working at the hospital, new developments. …
Noel Magnier: Gerald Griffin Street, Shops, Box Cars,
Noel has written a book about growing up in Cork in the 1940s and 1950s, called Is That You, Boy? He was born (1939) and reared in Gerald Griffin Street. He has 4 siblings. He recalls the shops and businesses on the street.
Denny’s cellar was a…
Denny’s cellar was a…
Noreen Cronin: Shandon, The North Infirmary, Childhood
Noreen grew up in a tenement in Dominick Street next to Shandon in the early 1950s. She went to the North Pres School and worked at the North Infirmary. Her mother used to deliver babies in the area and helped to wash and lay out the dead. Her…
Noreen Geaney: Childhood Games, Céilí, Halloween, School, The Stations.
An account of growing up on a small farm in the Cork countryside and the simplicity of life in the 1950s.
Noreen was born in Cuileann Ui Chaoimh in Co. Cork. She had three sisters and one brother. She attended Owen na Bui National School. She lived…
Noreen was born in Cuileann Ui Chaoimh in Co. Cork. She had three sisters and one brother. She attended Owen na Bui National School. She lived…
Noreen Hannover: South Main Street
Noreen Hanover was born in 1950 and grew up in the South Main Street area until 1975. Her family would have done most of their shopping on South Main Street and she relates the character of the shops there, their different purposes, as well as what…
Noreen Hanover: Christmas, Childhood Games, Cinema, Ghost stories, Milk and Cake Shops, Pawnbrokers, St Fin Barre’s Cathedral, Working life,
Noreen grew up during the 1950s in Nicholas Church Place, off Cove Street. She says the house was a tenement house shared with a family who lived upstairs. She went to the South Presentation Convent School. Her father died when she was 10. She left…
Padraig O’Horgain: Church Street, Funeral Customs, Republicanism,
Padraig O’Horgain (Pat Horgan) was born in Church Street in 1951. His father was a Republican and was interned in Britain between 1939 and 1946. His father later worked at Cork Harbour.
O’Gorman’s hat factory and other businesses were cited in the…
O’Gorman’s hat factory and other businesses were cited in the…
Pat Nolan: Northside, Cork Academy School of Music
Pat is from John Street on the Northside. He was educated at the North Monastery, which was good for general studies but did not teach music. The school environment was harsh. He left school early. His father bought him a second-hand saxophone, and…
Pat O'Brien: Northside, Pubs, Childhood,
Pat O’Brien, talks of various locations on the Northside. Pat describes what activities he would have taken part in as a child in these locations.
He talks briefly about the pub trade. The Holy Hour was observed within the city limits (a break…
He talks briefly about the pub trade. The Holy Hour was observed within the city limits (a break…
Pat Saville: Blackpool, Working Life, Sport,
Pat Saville was born in 1946. He had a twin brother, Charlie, and an older brother, Ray. He moved from England with his family when he was 4 years old. He grew up in Welsh’s Lane, Blackpool. His father died when he was 10.
He describes the shops and…
He describes the shops and…
Pat Speight: Northside, Childhood Games, Schooldays,
Cork Storyteller Pat Speight (b. 1940s) was born near the North Cathedral, known by locals as the North Chapel. His first house in Cork he thinks was a kind of tenement, with three families living in one house; his father later bought out this…
Patricia McCarthy: Shandon Street, War of Independence, Trades
Pat McCarthy (née Byrnes) is from Shandon Street. She grew up in Mahony’s Terrace, overlooking Pope’s Quay which she knew as the Sand Quay. Her father worked as a lorry driver. She remembers Shandon Street having bakeries and butchers. There were…
Patrick Varian: Stonemasons, America, Trades
Patrick, originally from Greenmount, Cork city, at the age of 15 in 1957 started his apprenticeship. After a few years of working on sites in Cork city, Patrick emigrated to Boston Massachusetts, U.S.A. Where he continued working in the trade. In…
Peggy Kelleher: The Lough, Marriage, World War 2
Peggy (born 1930s) grew up in Hartland's Road, near The Lough. She was an only child. Her father, William Power, from County Waterford; he worked at the Munster Arcade and lived through the Burning of Cork by the Black and Tans in 1920; he was…