Nth. Strand (Coady's Cottages)

Gravale

Would anyone know the original location of Coady's Cottages in the North Strand area? My grandmother was born there but it appears that the cottages are no longer in existance. They were in the parish of St. Thomas. Thanks.

spurious

They were somewhere near Bessborough avenue.
Leave it with me and I'll see can I find more.

Gravale

Thanks, I appreciate that.

There were 26 of them apparently in the 1911 census. In the section for 'Street' it simply gives 'Coady's Cottages'.

spurious

Hello again
Thom's of 1904 lists it as part of Bessborough avenue .
http://roots.swilson.info/1904page2.html

From what I can work out they were more or less in the centre right section of this map:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/album.php?albumid=309&pictureid=8025

and this is a picture taken in Coady's cottages:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/album.php?albumid=309&pictureid=8026

Gravale

Thank you so much for that, Spurious.

Unfortunately the link to the Thom's Street Directory only showed the pages, but no scanned images of the entries. I can't therefore observe the Bessborough Ave. connection. Incidentally, my great-grandfather on my father's side of the family lived in Bessborough Avenue in the 1880's.

Would you say that Coady's Cottages were at the very end of Bessborough Avenue, in the dead-end in front of the railway embankment? That looks like the embankment in the picture.

OR.......

I also notice that there's a metal name-plate on the left corner-house in the picture which says 'West(?) Road'. In the old map, if you go along Ossorry Road (not named in old map) from Newcomen Bridge and turn left soon after you go under the railway you encounter dwellings at the top of that road which turn left towards the railway embankment. That corner might be the corner-house where the metal road name 'West Road' might be (this upper part of Ossorry Road is also called West Road on some maps)? My mother (RIP) said once that her mother's family came from the Ossorry Road area.

Thanks again for your help. Any further thoughts would be appreciated.

spurious

I wonder whether in earlier times Bessborough avenue was not a dead end, or had some access to the West road or to the cottages.

I don't know whether you're in Dublin, but the Gilbert collection (upstairs in Pearse St. library) has a large collection of Dublin related items, including old Ordnance survey maps. If you ring them in advance, they will have stuff ready for you when you arrive.

If you can't get there, I will probably be over there at some stage during the Christmas period and can check old maps for you then if you like.

Gravale

Thanks for the Library information and your offer to check maps out for me. I'm retired now so fortunately have the time to drop down myself and will do so soon. You're very kind.

I see that in 1862 there was a man on West Road names James Coady. A plate Layer. I wonder might he be the man (builder?) after whom the cottages were named? I also see that there were 17 small cottages on West Rd. in 1862. West road was the continuation of Ossory Road and then went under the railway line to connect with West Road, East Wall.

As I get further information I'll post back here.

Thanks again.

Smartypantsdig

Check out the OSI mapviewer on line. The 1913 Ordnance Survey map is free to view.

Gravale

Thanks for that. I'll check it out.

~Tom

Gravale

Coady's Cottages (1).jpg

Coady's Cottages, Bessborough Ave., Nth. Strand.jpg

I've just examined the OSI online map and I believe I've discovered where Coady's Cottages were. I've compared the attached photograph of Coady's Cottages with the location on the attached OSI map and am suggesting that they seem to match.

The location:

Find the back garden 'wall' dividing Bessborough Avenue and Strandville Avenue and run an imaginary line from there under all the railway embankments eastwards. At the point where West Road turns eastwards under the GNR Railway you'll see on the left a street (the letters W.T. are here) which backs up onto a railway embankment. This street is the one in the photo, because if you compare the number of buildings and their positions you'll see that they are the same.

Presumably the other cottages in the immediate area are also Coady's Cottages. I'll examine the 1911 Census to see if the numbers support my suggestion. I seem to remember that there were 26 cottages.

Thanks again, folks for all your help!

Smartypantsdig

I do believe you are spot on there!!

Gravale

I'll pop down there soon and see what the area looks like now. I'll post my findings and accompany them with some photos.

Thanks again.

loyatemu

Gravale wrote: »

I'll pop down there soon and see what the area looks like now. I'll post my findings and accompany them with some photos.

Google have beaten you to it:
http://tinyurl.com/24r8pb6

its just waste ground now - wonder how that came to pass...

Gravale

Coady's Cottages (3).jpg

Coady's Cottages (4).jpg

Coady's Cottages, Bessborough Ave., Nth. Strand.jpg

Coady's Cottages (1).jpg

Excellent. Thanks!

If you look at the original photo you'll see a girl on the left leaning against a wall. This is the same wall you see in the Google map (if you turn it around), in the pictures attached above and also in the old OSI map. Amazing!

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Greystones,+County+Wicklow,+Ireland&ll=53.355866,-6.2387&spn=0.003893,0.012907&t=h&z=17&layer=c&cbll=53.355965,-6.239201&panoid=C_VR5JrQ8-p7uMn56LgDZw&cbp=12,352.19,,0,5&mid=1291497064

bdr529

I grew up on the other side of the railway line in Leinster ave, my Dad used to bring us to the Granny on Ossary rd every sun and he would go along west rd and over the hill.... the Coady's cottage area was always an empty plot going back to 1970 at least so its quite likely that the origional foundations etc are still visable on the ground , jump over the wall and have a look.... the wall along the railway line was rebuilt not that long ago but if you look along the Stoney road most of the origional wall is still in place and matches the look of the end wall in the picture.

also the white shape against the railway wall in the old picture has me a bit puzzled, it corresponds with the end of strandville ave... I know that there are some bricked up passageways along west rd, could this be a passage to strandville ave that was being closed off?

Gravale

Thanks for that.

I'm going to call down to the site to have a look around. I'll hop over the wall on West Road/Ossorry Road. I think, though, that the ground will be covered by snow this week so I'll probably not see it at its most revealing.

When you think back to a time when this site had twenty-six cottages thriving with life and activity and look at it now, you can't help but feel nostalgic. I suppose nowadays people wouldn't like being surrounded by three railway lines.

Gravale

Coady's Cottages, Bessborough Ave., Nth Strand.jpg

Would anyone like to suggest a time-frame for this scene?

Thanks.

bdr529

its hard to put a date on the picture unless theres some info on wherever the pic was found.
the only datable item in the picture is the Dublin-drogheda line which was opened sometime around 1844...

the clothes kind of remind me of Strumpet city and most of the kids look to be barefoot except for the girl leaning against the wall ....
I'd guess 1900-1915

Gravale

My great-grandparents & grandmother were here in the 1901 & 1911 censuses.

Thanks.:)

FarmerGreen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombing_of_Dublin_in_World_War_II
"Around 2am on 31 May 1941 four German bombs dropped on north Dublin.....
A fourth, which was apparently a landmine, fell in North Strand destroying 17 houses and severely damaging about 50 others, with the worst damage in the area between Seville Place and Newcomen Bridge."

Thats about 300 metres away, were the cottages damaged or destroyed in that raid?

bdr529

I don't think so... may have had some damage but it's unlikely that all the houses were, where those are situated they are fairly well covered on all sides by high railway embankments on 2 sides and a high humpback bridge over a rail line on the 3rd side

West Brit

Gravale wrote: »

Coady's Cottages, Bessborough Ave., Nth Strand.jpg

Would anyone like to suggest a time-frame for this scene?

Thanks.

2012?

Gravale

Thanks for that.

Yes, I've been reviewing reports about the bombings on this site:

http://www.dublincity.ie/RecreationandCulture/libraries/Heritage%20and%20History/Dublin%20City%20Archives/Collections%20Post%201840/Pages/north_strand_bombings_archives.aspx

It tells me that their were claims for damage to houses in Bessborough Ave., Leinster Ave., and Strandvile Ave., (which were just the other side of the railway track) and also claims for repairs to houses in Ossorry Rd. So, perhaps Coady's Cottages at the end of Ossorry Road were damaged also. I'll search further on the matter.

I've just now ordered the book 'The Bombing of Dublin's Nth. Strand 1941 - The Untold Story' and look forward to futher information from same. My mother lived on Charleville Mall at the time and the family ended up in a bleak Drimnagh suburb as a result.

FarmerGreen

There's a video on You Tube about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqjZ-2bkfX0

Gravale

Excellent video!

Smartypantsdig

Gravale wrote: »

Thanks for that.

Yes, I've been reviewing reports about the bombings on this site:

http://www.dublincity.ie/RecreationandCulture/libraries/Heritage%20and%20History/Dublin%20City%20Archives/Collections%20Post%201840/Pages/north_strand_bombings_archives.aspx

It tells me that their were claims for damage to houses in Bessborough Ave., Leinster Ave., and Strandvile Ave., (which were just the other side of the railway track) and also claims for repairs to houses in Ossorry Rd. So, perhaps Coady's Cottages at the end of Ossorry Road were damaged also. I'll search further on the matter.

I've just now ordered the book 'The Bombing of Dublin's Nth. Strand 1941 - The Untold Story' and look forward to futher information from same. My mother lived on Charleville Mall at the time and the family ended up in a bleak Drimnagh suburb as a result.

It may be worth researching the floods in the East Wall area in the 1950s as well. This could have been a factor in the demise of the row.

Gravale

I'll do that. Thanks.

FarmerGreen

Quote from
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/IRL-DUBLIN-CITY/2007-11/1194632772

Up to 1948 Coady's Cottages were a section of West Road which in in
the parish of St Lawerence O'Toole Seville Place in Dublin's north
inner city. In 1949 these houses were incorporated into West Road
and the numbering system on West Road was extended from 64 to
83.

Gravale

Thanks for that information, Farmer. I'm now getting a more complete picture of Coady's Cottages history.:)

Coady's Cottages were still there in 1949. In 1949 these houses were incorporated into West Road and the numbering system on West Road was extended from 64 to 83.

I see also from the other link to that old Victorian print that the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VII, Queen Victoria's son) visited these cottages in the 1880's. The print is mine now, by the way.;)

Well, well. When you look at the derelict and empty site today you'd never believe that so much had occurred within its narrow confined space.

Smartypantsdig

Every space has a story to tell. The fabric of the city is rich indeed.

leopardlady

Hi Gravale,
I see it's been 5 years since you posted on Coady's Cottages, I just stumbled across the page by accident. My grandparents lived in Coady's Cottages and are listed in the 1911 census. Their name was Carton (my grandmother's name being Tiernan before she married). As the census hasn't mentioned the door numbers, I wondered if there is a way to find this out?