Brown St, Cork

The_Banker

Anyone know where Brown St in Cork City is situated? I found out on the 1911census that my great grand parents lived there and my grandmother grew up there.
I have heard the name of the street but I can't place it. Maybe the name has changed.
Any help appreciated.

soundsham

I'm not 100% but I think Paul Street up to Cornmarket Street.....maybe a lane off these areas
I'll keep an ear out for it

dunno if this is of any relevance

Buildings east of Cornmarket Street

Brown Street / Rory Gallagher Place

Connolly’s bookshop

Coal Quay – Nos 1-7

This is one of the last remaining intact historic waterfronts on the city centre island. Combined with the Cornmarket Street frontage this is a special group of buildings.

Cornmarket Street

31-34 (Art deco building part of which is occupied by Paddy Power Bookmakers)

Dalton’s Avenue - Corporation Buildings (nos. 1-33)

This development of 1900 is a very rare exampl

turly

If you go to the Cork Past & Present Maps page (well worth a browse btw), this map (warning: PDF) has what I'm fairly sure is a Brown St running between Paul St. and the Coal Quay (the Coal Quay next to the river, that is.)
You'll have to scale up the PDF to 400%.

I'm not in Cork anymore but I get the feeling that that street is now gone, because the shopping centre has eaten it...

evilivor

The_Banker wrote: »

Anyone know where Brown St in Cork City is situated? I found out on the 1911census that my great grand parents lived there and my grandmother grew up there.
I have heard the name of the street but I can't place it. Maybe the name has changed.
Any help appreciated.

This might be of some help in in a tenuous way, there is a project as pat of ArtTrail, which starts next week, called ‘Mapping Office’ which plans to map the changed face of Cork, and rediscover lost and forgotten streets and map them once more.

Artist called Stephen McGlynn is running it - http://www.arttrail.ie/home

dewdrop

As previously mentioned brown street demolished with the building of the paul street shopping centre and car park. It was named after a thomas brown who was lord mayor of cork in 1727. shopping centre opened around 1985. Records say that it was a very fashionable residential area and noted for its coffee houses. the well known firm of jennings mineral water manufacturers were also situated in brown street.

The_Banker

Thanks for the feedback lads....

Michael 1930

Hello 'The Banker' - I came across your question of 3 years ago just this afternoon asking about Brown Street in Cork City. I suppose that you know all about it by now, only that I lived in Brown Street between 1930 - 1937 and it was almost,( but not quite) facing across Lavitts Quay towards St Marys Church on Popes Quay. I now have a lovely watercolour painting of that scene which still reminds me of my childhood, and this thread also spurred me into replying to the original question.

twowheelsonly

3 years later but...

The only buildings remaining of Brown Street are where the bookshop is outside the shopping centre on Paul Street. (Rory Gallagher Place now.) The street ran from there to Lavitts Quay. When I first joined the Scouts in 19 o' splash we were based there.

The_Banker

Michael 1930 wrote: »

Hello 'The Banker' - I came across your question of 3 years ago just this afternoon asking about Brown Street in Cork City. I suppose that you know all about it by now, only that I lived in Brown Street between 1930 - 1937 and it was almost,( but not quite) facing across Lavitts Quay towards St Marys Church on Popes Quay. I now have a lovely watercolour painting of that scene which still reminds me of my childhood, and this thread also spurred me into replying to the original question.

Hi Michael,
Thanks for the post. It was good to read a post from someone who actually lived there.

sean2435

Just for your information, in his latest book "Transatlantic" Colm McCann makes reference to Brown St. and the Jennings family which resided there around the time of the Great Famine. It appears that the black anti slavery campaigner, Fredrick Douglass, stayed with the Jennings while on a promotional tour for a book he wrote to highlight the injustices of slavery...worth a read. (I was wondering where it was as well!)

billo41

Hi The Banker my grandmother was married in Cork in 1897 and her address on the marriage certificate was Brown Street.

RyanHill

Hi,

I can't post the link as I'm a new user (?!), but daft.ie has retail units advertised in Brown Street plus photos. So it still exists!

I found it simply by doing a Google search. My great great grandmother Mary Ellen O'Callaghan lived at 20 Brown Street in the 1890s (one of the few facts I have on her).

TheChizler

That's the old bookshop mentioned above. maps.osi.ie gives a good outline of it under the 25" view for anyone still interested. I know someone who lived around the corner before the shopping centre went in, I'm curious to know what it was like.

Frostybrew

I can't post a link but there's a number of photos of Brown Street from 1973 on the Irish Examiner website.

Pitcairn

Great bit if Cork history in this thread.

http://i315.tifmember.com/v/photos/28982wfk/1333640610

There's the link to the examiner archive picture.

As far as I know there is a plaque on the wall there which probably refers to the former Mayor.

mordeith

RyanHill wrote: »

Hi,

I can't post the link as I'm a new user (?!), but daft.ie has retail units advertised in Brown Street plus photos. So it still exists!

That's a bit of a stretch really. It's only a tiny section of one side of the street.

TheChizler

Lost an hour to that archive last night.