British Symbolism on Buildings in Ireland
- This topic has 106 replies, 39 voices, and was last updated 19 years, 2 months ago by
.
- Posts
Hi all,
I wonder, could I ask for contributors to list any buildings in the republic that have symbols of british rule in ireland still evident on them.I already know of the following in Dublin;
King’s Inns
Custom House
(Royal Victoria) Eye & Ear
Bank of Ireland (Old Parliament)
Royal College of Surgeons
Fusilier’s Arch
Wellignton MonumentI’d appreciate any input on this! If we could keep it to clearly british emblems/standards etc. Cheers.
Not buildings, I know, but many of our pillar and wall-mounted post boxes bear royal monograms.
(What’s the word I’m looking for- I know it’s not monogram? Think it begins with a D…)
The general post office in Sligo has an ER coat of arms above the main door. There is also a huge stone coat of arms sculpture at the back of the Quad in the University in Galway – I think it was taken down from the top of the courthouse in Galway. If I think of more, I will post them.
@PDLL wrote:
The general post office in Sligo has an ER coat of arms above the main door. There is also a huge stone coat of arms sculpture at the back of the Quad in the University in Galway – I think it was taken down from the top of the courthouse in Galway. If I think of more, I will post them.
Is that ER as in Edvardus Rex VII, like what’s on the post boxes?
The Four Courts has a crown/standard or two.
Then there’s the bandstand in Dun laoire (perhaps not a building) which was reinstated for some bizarre and shameful reason.
The old quad building in UCG has a big lion and unicorn hidden in the garden behind the building: it was on the building but they took it of and hid it.
@murphaph wrote:
Is that ER as in Edvardus Rex VII, like what’s on the post boxes?
I presume so. The building would probably be from that era.
I think Baggot Street Hospital may have something like what you’re looking for – in the name written in big letters across the doorway. (I can’t remember what the full title is).
And the Royal College of Physicians (Kildare Street), Royal Dublin Society and possibly even Royal Dublin Golf Club may have something for you.
Post boxes you’ll see VR (Victoria Regina) pre 1901, ERVII (Edward VII Rex) 1901 – 1910 & GR VI (George VI Rex) 1910 to free state.
I’d take all ‘Royal’ societies as a british colonial hangover. The RDS, RCSI, Royal Automobile Society, Royal Heraldic Society etc.
There’s also a couple of nice RIC heads over the door way into Pearse st. Garda station.
The yoke in Dun Laoghaire is a metal type gazebo thing originally built for the visit of Queen Victoria. Torn down by republicans it was reinstated a couple of years ago.
I like that we still have some reminants of our past. I’m sure the Sinn Fein supporters are cursing me to death for saying that, but wheter they like it or not, it’s part of our heritage. The Australians and Canadians are really big into the whole “Royal” thing…. although Australia is still looking for it’s independance (which they turned down in a vote about five years ago, wanting to remain under Quenn Elizabeth’s rule), the country is scattered with statues of old monarchs as well as present day Elizabeth II. It’s a shame though that we don’t have any of the nice phone boxes left, I always liked those, even though they are being wiped out in the UK. And alot of old public buldings i.e. courthouses and town halls in most towns around the country would bare some type of coat of arms with a crown.
I’m with A-ha on this; the desire to remove all references to the brits on buildings, monuments, names of things, etc. makes me think of the Taliban blowing up old Buddha statues, Mao’s “cultural cleansing” efforts or other institutional attempts to hide history. Surely as a country we should now have the self-confidence to be able to view symbols of our past colonial status with, if not interest, at least indifference and not with shame or hatred/anger.
Yeah I like to see evidence of our past too. I think we’d have a lot more it it hadn’t been for the civil war (so many buildings seemed to be destroyed at that time).
People who can’t deal with a crown and a few lions here and there are losers IMO. We’re not part of the UK, but we were.
I had a scout through the archives and Tralee Court House has two canons outside which are a memorial to the Crimean war and (rather unfortunately) to some uprising in India which was put down.
The Excise bar in the IFSC has a stone set in it’s facade ‘His Majesties Excise Office 1827″ (William IV I think). It would be a bit heavy handed to go knocking 180 year old granite plinths out of buildings to affirm independence. However, one has to decide if we are retaining these things as a recognition of our past or as a little bit of ‘Pale’ colonial snobbery. Like mentioned before, I don’t see all these societies dropping the Royal out of their names ???
“nice RIC heads”
Not so, two members of the Dublin Metropolitan Police are outside the police station.
Given that the indigenous ( i.e pre-Norman) people in the Island were not that urban – we dont have much left, archictecturally, of Irish culture. There is NewGrange ( which may have been pre-Celtic), beehive churches, a few cultural areas ( i.e. Tara) and the Rock of Cashel, monastic remains, and round towers. I may be missing stuff. If we rejected colonial architecture we would reject most of Irish castles, and churches ( as Norman). And most things since.
As it happens I prefer the older stuff, but I am partial to a norman castle nevertheless 🙂
I think the ‘Royal’ prefix is ok. Austria doesn’t have an emperor anymore but you still see K&K written on things (It means Kaiserlich und Koeniglich’ or ‘Imperial & Royal’, generally used to imply quality).
I don’t agree that it’s ‘Pale snobbery’ as we’ve seen-there are examples all over the country.
It’s not Pale snobbery, it’s part of our heritage and these relics of auld dacency should be preserved. What happened in the 20’s was bad, what has happened since is worse. Only emerging countries with no sense of self did away with that which scared them. When Hong Kong left the Empire several of its clubs had to drop the “Royal” prefix – Jockey and Yacht spring to mind. Singapore did the same back in the 60’s. Has this ever been an issue with the RIAI?
I like the fountain “yoke” in Dun Laoghaire, it was a disgrace for the local shinner vandals to destroy it, similarly the obelisk which had one of its balls destroyed. Q. Victoria also presented a crane to “the fisherfolk of Kingstown” which was (is?) in the coal harbor and had a daily usage rate of 7/6 . However, it cost several pints to get the guy with the crane handles to turn up when last used by me in the 1970s.
Kerrybog
p.s why did the sun never set on the Empire? God did not trust the Brits when the lights were out
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
