Re: Re: Thomas Street & James Street, Dublin!
That canal link would have been interesting, I hadn’t seen that before.
The QBC works are entering an interesting section of the street!
It would be nice if the Glib water course turned up on the south side. There are indications that this was a open, presumably cut-stone, channel possibly along the lines of the famous open water-courses in Freiburg, but originally lead lined to guard against seepage as it was a supply system rather than a drainage system. After the Glib water course had been superseded by a piped water supply system in the early 18th century, the wardens of St Catherine’s petitioned the Corpo to take up the lead for use in repairing the valley between the two main roofs of the old St. Catherine’s, before the church was rebuilt entirely in the 1760s.
Speed shows this water course cutting across Thomas Street at John’s Lane West to run northwards down John’s Lane to a mill near Mullinahack. Leases from the early 18th century record a ‘mill-race’ at this location which would correspond to the Speed depiction. Again, it would be nice to get archaeological confirmation of this.
The location of the main gate into the Hospital of St, John the Baptist is another target. Either of the two original John’s Lanes would be the likely locations.
The stalls in front of the Glib houses, either side of Fade’s Bank, on the Frawleys side were probably insubstantial structures, but there may be some evidence of the footings to put with the descriptions we find in the leases. The stalls were largely occupied in the 18th century by an odd combination of butchers and hatters, although this is probably no stranger than the current combination of purveyors of toilet rolls and tat.
The ‘Pest Houses’ were demolished and replaced in 1782, but there may be evidence of the odd cross wall that wasn’t totally eliminated by the rebuilding which might through light of the date of construction of these intriguing structures.
Looking forward to our regular updates from Antoine.
