hutton

@GrahamH wrote:

I do believe Morlan’s a/b/c heads are those of the distinguished Permanent TSB building on the corner of O’Connell Street and Lower Abbey Street – a rare example in the city of granite being used for such detailed carving..We also appear to have the Iveagh Markets

Spot on Graham, Iveagh Markets on Francis St – representing the continents acording to O Casey, but what’s this? –

@GrahamH wrote:

and the Chapel Royal of the Castle in the mix there hutton. I think…

Methinks not – youve finally revealed yoursef as the chancer you are!! :p

Only joking – Please add the Castle head if there’s one there to be added 🙂

And what about no.13?? So there’s 13, 2, 27, 17, and 20…

I’ll buy the winner a choc-ice 😉

So folks that leaves us with no. 13…

13.

the five added by Morlan – which if I am right I might be able to match three with three more from the same location, although d and e have me guessing…

@Morlan wrote:

Righto, here’s few for the moment. They should be easy to get.

a/b/c

d

e

…and also these two await identification…

2.

27.

…as do these two lassies – each on either side of the river, one is well known yet her northside sister fronted a similar activity, I suspect –

17.

20.

I think its fair to say that the cat is well out of the bag on the ones from the “******* *****” as Morlan and Rory both so discreetly put it. They are of course John Smyth’s famous Riverine heads, erected as part of the Custom House 1781 – 91. I was pleasantly surprised during the week when I asked at their front desk whether they had any information sheets on the building; happily I was presented with a 48 page glossy booklet by Eddie McParland, free-of-charge. Although the publication dates from 1991 when they had just completed restoration, it’s all obviously still as up to date and is highly recommended as it is easily readable while being very informative.

Lovely little gems are contained within such as how Henry Grattan was so offended by the “bombastic vanity” of the Customs House, which he said had resulted then (1790) in “a building of sixth rate rank in architecture…which stands as a blemish in the eye of the island”.
Grattan wasn’t of course the only one; 9 years previously in September 1781 Napper Tandy and the High Sheriff “followed by a numerous rabble, with adzes, saws, shovels, & c., & c., came in a body on the ground, and leveled that portion of the fence…adjoining the North Wall”. Tandy’s and the merchants complaints were not of course on an aesthetic ground, but that by building the Custom House where it is would relocate the commercial heart of the city away from it’s then location roughly where the Clarence Hotel is today; a dodgy rezoning of it’s day as it were! So hats off there anyway to the Gardiners on the northside with the Pembroke estate on the south in outdoing Fianna Fail before there was Fianna Fail, and isn’t it appropriate that the building is today HQ of the Department of Environment! It is of course one of Dublin’s most iconic buildings, and as with The Sunlight Chambers 100 years later, what started out being one of the most hated buildings in the city is now one of it’s most loved.

So here are the 14 Riverine Heads, each depicting an Irish river and also the Atlantic, all by John Smyth, who Gandon likened to Michelangelo. Beginning with the central arch on the south elevation (no 21), and notably the only female – Anna Livia, aka the Liffey (no. 21):

The Erne (no. 30):

No 1 is of course The Foyle – the giveaway being the date 1689 noting the Siege of Derry during “The Glorious Revolution”, which ultimately resulted in the 18th century administration that Ireland had:

Moving clockwise to the west front, there is the Slaney (no. 31) followed by The Nore (no. 14):

Continuing clockwise to the north elevation, there is the Suir (no. 25):

Appropriately looking north, the Lagan (no. 24):

The Lee is over the central doorway (no.12):

Oddly enough, the Shannon (no. 28) is to the left of the centre:

The Bann (no. 23) is the final one on the north front, at the NE corner:

@henno wrote:

obviously our sustainable rural guidelines would hinder the vast majority from recieving permission in the republic. They may obtain permission in areas where the local authorities want to encourage population growth, but certainly not in areas under high pressure from urban develpment.

Its strange that you would have the opinion that our planning laws are lax when theres an EU commision invistigating whether they are too strict or not….. :confused:

ROFL, LOL – clearly henno, you are trolling. Enough unsustainable one-off shite was already obliterating the country, particylarly the west coast, prior to the govt’s relaxing of planning laws about 3 years ago. When I was a child, driving west from Galway, after Barna there were occasional settlements on the coast-road. Because of the ribbon development and what I term “sub-ruralisation”, that entire stretch all the way to Carraroe is now a 60 km per hour speed restricted zone – an interesting illustrationn of how not to develop IMO.

The news from the 6 counties is depressing – the island really is on a race to the bottom in terms of environmental protection. In this case what is also interesting is the council involved in having challenged that guideline, and that the main party on the same council often tries to portray their environmental credentials… Well fellows, we can’t blame the brits on this one because of the 21 seats on Omagh council, 10 are occupied by Sinn Fein :rolleyes:

Is it just me, or is there a trend emerging here that when SF have any power, they are prone to making the anti-environment choice? I am thinking not just of Omagh, but also of SF’s dominance of DCC while presiding over the billboards scandal… :confused:

FYI – From Omagh website:

Omagh District Council was established in 1973 following the publication of the McCrory Report on the administration of local government in Northern Ireland. The plethora of Urban, Rural and County councils and Corporations which administered local government in Northern Ireland were replaced by 26 City, Borough and District Councils of which Omagh is one.

In 1973 there were 20 Councillors but following a review of local government boundaries in the early 1980’s, the number of Councillors representing the district was increased to 21.

Omagh District Council consists of three electoral areas, Omagh Town, Mid Tyrone and West Tyrone. Each of the three district electoral areas return seven councillors to serve for a four year period. The next election is due to take place in May 2009. The election of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Council takes place annually in June. Details of members are as follows:

OMAGH TOWN

, Cllr Sean Begley Р(Sinn F̩in)
, Cllr Ross Hussey – (UUP)
, Cllr Josephine Deehan – (SDLP)
, Cllr Patrick McGowan MBE – (INDEPENDENT)
, Cllr Martin McColgan Р(Sinn F̩in)
, Cllr Clive McFarland – Vice Chairman of the Council – (DUP)
, Cllr Johnny McLaughlin – (INDEPENDENT)
MID TYRONE

, Cllr Sean Clarke Р(Sinn F̩in)
, Cllr Charles Chittick – (DUP)
, Cllr Sharon O’Brien – (Sinn Féin)
, Cllr Declan McAleer Р(Sinn F̩in)
, Cllr Seamus Shields – (SDLP)
, Cllr Bert Wilson – Chairman of the Council – (UUP)
, Cllr Anne Marie Fitzgerald Р(Sinn F̩in)
WEST TYRONE

, Cllr Thomas Buchanan MLA – (DUP)
, Cllr Peter Kelly Р(Sinn F̩in)
, Cllr Patrick McDonnell – (SDLP)
, Cllr Allan Rainey MBE – (UUP)
, Cllr Ann Quinn Р(Sinn F̩in)
, Cllr Frankie Donnelly Р(Sinn F̩in)
, Cllr Barry McElduff MLA Р(Sinn F̩in)

Yet others are clearly saying nothin’ –

25.

Perhaps its because there are even more uniformed sorts about –

26.

as well as other pillars of society (or at least in this case, of a doorway!)

27.

and there’s always the possibility of a spy or an informer –

28.

as well as the more casual observers –

29.

30.

While the elder members might also take a glance –

31.

Yet all will have to face their makers – and so for the finale, a dramatic sequence of images carved by a hand that has since followed his own mortal depiction, RIP;

32a.

and adjacent to the skull, the sculptor also left another detail – the hour-glass over cross-bones, thus advising on the inevitable pursuant to the passage of time

32b.

and finally the two together shown in context:

32c.

Amongst the crowd, some may grimace and make faces – this fellow’s breath probably smells a bit, something he’s possibly not too happy about

7.

Perhaps this fellow has to smell that chaps breath – and neither are happy at being called “fish-face”!

8.

Meanwhile a further man of uniform might arrive, seeing as there’s now a crowd gathering –

9.

Would you buy a car off this fellow – I wouldn’t even dare ask him the time!

10.

He might, if annoyed, know some dodgy types – and hutton prefers not to be abducted into the white slave trade…

11.

In any case there are witnesses –

12.

But does anyone recognize this fellow? It would seem that some may be happier to be here…

13.

…than others, who may be tiring in the mid-day sun

14.

@darkman wrote:

IMO ANYONE who blocks contractors physically trying to do their jobs on the site should be arrested. None of these people have any right to interfer in such a manner in a scheme that has the support of the majority of people and was given the go ahead by those charged on behave of the people to give their backing to such projects or not – in this case Bord Pleanala.

Yeah hang them, dirty bastards 😡 … Same types that showed up how the Carrickmines site was being obliterated by a junction that was contrived specifically to facilitate the Jackson Way rezoned lands. (Another BP approved project). :rolleyes:

Anyhow, Pat Kenny is currently doing a show on this on Radio 1 –

http://www.rte.ie/radio1/index.html

@GrahamH wrote:

Yay! Well done aj – twas rather obscure.

Presumably it’s left over from whatever once stood on the site of the DIT extension. But it’s a very odd size – not being quite two storeys in height, but well above one. Strange…

Re this piece, I suspect it may have been an element of the structures that were bombed/ burnt during the ’22 -’23 post-Treaty conflict (east side of upper end of O’ Connell St having being seized by de Brugha, before the Free Staters ousted them).

This is excellent news – I was getting somewhat pessimistic about it, wondering if it would ever return. Agree with Grahams points re ticket office signage + windows; a few pence there would really round off what appears to be a magnificent job. Thumbs up, it’s wonderful to see this reinstated to such a high spec. 🙂 🙂

@GrahamH wrote:

How long exactly has this been on the street? Certainly since the late 1970s when this picture was taken.

And more recently, encased in ravishing PVC (as posted before).

Aha! FTW It is clear that this second Christ is an imposter – examine closely and all will be revealed. For Christ’s sake, if there is to be a resurrection of this ediface, then I say re-instate “Christ of the Broken Finger”…

*awaiting second coming*

:p 😀