By Arnold Horner

Gordon Davies, otherwise Gordon Leslie Herries Davies (he favoured the latter form from the late 1970s), who died on 22 February 2019 was one of the most significant figures ‘doing Geography’ in Ireland during the second half of the last century. A graduate of the University of Manchester, Gordon became an assistant lecturer at Trinity College Dublin in  1954.
His association with the college as lecturer and later professor, extended over five decades. Gordon’s teaching remit initially centred on physical geography, particularly geomorphology, but his other offerings included courses on the history and philosophy of geography, and his research interests eventually combined and expanded on these areas.

Those who took his courses will remember him as a much-respected, distinctive and original teacher, who was accessible to, and respectful of, his students – a person who was on occasion truly inspirational. Gordon was the author of numerous articles, and several major books, among them The earth in decay (1969, a history of geomorphological studies), Sheets of many colours (1983, on Irish geological mapping), North from the Hook (1995, on the Geological Survey of Ireland), and Whatever is under the Earth (2007, on the Geological Society of London).

He also edited several major volumes, including a series of essays on Richard Griffith (1980) and the Golden Jubilee volume of Irish Geography (1984). From 1968 to 1978 he was editor of Irish Geography, and later he was an editor of the Annals of Science. Gordon initiated and was active in a wide range of intellectual projects in Ireland and abroad. His original opinions, his wide-ranging knowledge and his innate curiosity about the past and about studying the physical world helped make him a true scholar. At the same time, he cultivated a distinctive writing style that consciously sought to make his work accessible and readable, as well as rigorous, for the widest audience. As well as editing Irish Geography, Gordon served the Geographical Society of Ireland as president from 1962 to 1964. He was a committed and enthusiastic supporter of the Society and of Geography in general over a much longer period. He was also very much committed to Trinity College
Dublin and to such organisations as the Royal Irish Academy. In recent decades, he lived in Tipperary and on North Uist, Outer Hebrides, a place that he first visited in the 1950s.

Gordon will be remembered with respect and affection by those who had the good fortune to learn from, and interact with, him as a geographer.

Place-hacking, or urban exploration, is the exploration of buildings and structures, usually abandoned ruins or not normally seen places in the human-made environment. The cultural geographer, Dr Bradley Garrett (http://www.placehacking.co.uk/), highlighted the rich sub-culture of urban exploration and the insights it granted to parts of cities and buildings most people never experience. There is a small community of place-hackers in Cork, among them is the @abandoned_westcork Instagram account (https://www.instagram.com/abandoned_westcork/) that explores abandoned places across the county.
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The photos are a fascinating, and sometimes upsetting, insight into the geographies and histories of Ireland. Images of the Allihies copper mines or a former tuberculosis sanatorium present ages gone by, with once incredibly important places fading away.  Family portraits, religious statues, and furniture slowly rotting are found in abandoned homes, each one telling a story of a family gone. While, other images show the waste of amazing buildings or potential housing lying idle and falling into disrepair. The account is a powerful and evocate examination of Cork and Irish society.

Explaining their desire to enter these parallel worlds, the explorer explained that “I think I started it to give myself a distraction while trying to come to terms with a personal trauma. I must admit on a different level, as a child I was always more interested in what was behind the barriers than following all the tourist around the marked out path, needless to say I got in trouble on numerous occasions.” This curiosity and sense of purpose drives their action.
This call to examine sites and places outside of the ordinary has brought both pleasant and unpleasant encounters. They describe their favourite find as the spiral staircase in the Good Shepherd Convent (Photo 1). While, they also mention that the “most upsetting place I have explored has to have been walking through the tunnel from St Kevin's asylum to the church in Cork city, it's the only place I have really been affected by its energy and I have to admit I cried.” (Photo 2) 

They also emphasised that: “I have a strict code of conduct while exploring. I only enter buildings that are open, I never break in. The only thing I take are photos and the only thing I leave are footprints and needless to say I hate vandalism.”

The Abandonded West Cork account uses the potential of social media to show people places in the landscape and in urban areas that otherwise go unnoticed. They reveal a slice of cultural and social life, but also raises questions about how these buildings are treated and the different types of good they could do.

To fully understand Cork, one must cycle Cork. You learn fast. You learn that the city centre is at the bottom of a bowl, so you almost always roll into the city. The hard bit is getting home. You learn the weather. That the prevailing wind is usually a south westerly. That frost is rarer than you think. That it does rain, but hardly ever in the morning and the evening on the same day. You learn the names of the rivers and streams of Cork: Lee, Twopot, Bride, Tramore. They may not take a direct route, but they avoid hills and slowly meander towards the harbour.  You learn the history of the city, you learn that there was once a railway to Crosshaven. That Bishopstown is called so because a Bishop’s demesne was once there. You learn about the seasons and the planets.
​Give a bike commuter in Cork any time and date on the calendar and they’ll tell you whether it’s lighting up time or not. To know Cork takes time; days and days of cycling to and fro.

In the 1980s, 7% of trips taken in Cork city were on bicycles. By 2015, that had fallen to less than 3%; almost negligible. Hard to believe when half the car trips taken in Cork are less than 5km. A mere 20-minute cycle. Many regional European cities are striving to have 70% of people not drive to work through a combination of active and public transport. Sadly, in Cork 7 in 10 drive.  But the humble bike is on the brink of revival. 12,000 bike share users have given life back to utility cycling in Cork.  Over 5,000 new jobs are due to come on stream in the city centre in the next 2 years. Car parking spaces are at a premium so there is a hope that at least 10% of these workers will cycle to work. 500 doesn’t sound like a lot until you put 500 cars in a row on a road and send them all home at the same time.

To cycle in Cork is not only to understand Cork, but also life itself. To understand the risks posed by climate breakdown. To understand the challenges we face at the societal level by the obesity epidemic and physical inactivity. To understand that pollutants from internal combustion engines causes damage to our health.
To cycle in Cork is to know. To understand. To take action. 

Castletownbere is the main town on the Beara Peninsula and is 122 kilometres from Cork city. This picturesque fishing port is located on the edge of West Cork and is the country’s largest whitefish port. The town is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by Bere Island which is situated two kilometres to the south and by the mountainous Beara Peninsula to the north. The harbour of Castletownbere is defined by the town pier and Dinish Island – which connects to the mainland by a bridge; it is managed by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM).

As visitors arrive to Castletownbere from the east, they pass the bridge to Dinish Island on the left. The material culture reveals itself through road signage that advertises the various local businesses attached to the fishing sector. Approaching the town centre, the presence of the Lifeboat Station and, thereafter, the many restaurants promoting local fish and seafood shows that Castletownbere is an active fishing place.

A stroll through the pier reveals its significance to Castletownbere. It symbolises many things for members of the fishing community. Like many fishing ports, it is a meeting place, a workplace, a point of departure and a point of return. At times busy, at times still, it is a focal point for the entire community. The pier and fishing boats signal the importance of fishing to the local economy to locals and visitors alike. It is a complex place with both practical and symbolic significance. While the pier remains very deeply anchored in the everyday lives of Castletownbere, it is also a place of ritual, heritage and tourism. It is
a place that can be full of life when the boats return from fishing, but also a quiet place for the wider community when boats have gone to sea. When the weather permits it is a busy place where fishing practices are performed and boats ‘come in’ and ‘go out’ to the rhythm of catches. For fishers the pier is a place of constant movement and activity where work and encounters intermingle. During periods of adverse weather conditions it becomes a meeting place for fishers. During the summer months the pier is the backdrop for festivals and events.

Festivals form an essential part of fishing communities; and in turn, places like Castletownbere, are shaped by events such as the Fishermen’s Mass and Blessing of the Boats. These rituals are ways to celebrate a living practice, yet, these customs also provide a specific place for people to commemorate and give meanings to a vernacular practice that connects local places to the wider world. The pier is a relevant place for transmitting such local traditions to subsequent generations. Festivals and rituals, linked to fishing as a way of life can be observed in coastal places worldwide. Local customs are not unique to particular places and similar customs and ‘ways of doing’ can be shared across borders.

Fishing is not merely about facts and figures, quotas and regulations. It is an industry steeped in culture; it is a way of life that is constantly evolving, yet, remains anchored to its many traditions. The willingness to explore new and different futures speaks to the resilience of the fishing community and a willingness to adapt to a changing world. For fishers and their
communities, the pier is a significant place that is the equivalent to the square in a market town. It is an in-between place where the worlds of fishers and their families, locals and visitors converge. The fishers are not quite at home, not at sea. It is a distinctive place that embodies social and cultural interaction. Fishing practice does not only consist of fishers going to sea, but encompasses a way of life that connects the fishing home, the fishing boat and the wider fishing community. The pier is a place where all members of the community, whether directly involved in fishing or not, gather and meet. For tourists and visitors, the pier is where the shore meets the sea, a place where they can create their own stories. The pier is at the heart of all fishing communities and Castletownbere is no different.

According to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), there are over 11,000 people with disabilities living in Cork South West. Evie Nevin is the Social Democrat candidate for Clonakilty-Skibbereen area. She has praised her hometown of Clonakilty for being more inclusive for families affected by Autism but is calling for further inclusivity throughout West Cork.

The mother of two lives with a disability, Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. The condition is a rare disease, which affects the connective tissue. Her two children, Alex (9) and Olivia (3) are also affected. “I wasn’t always mobility impaired and like so many people, I never thought I would be. Disability or impairments can happen so quickly through illness or an accident. Disability does not discriminate.

We are an aging population. We are living longer, so it is imperative that we put things in place for older people as well as those with disabilities. “ Of the 11,000 living with disabilities in west Cork, almost 5,000 have difficulty with activities such as climbing stairs, reaching, lifting or carrying. 

“One of my main goals should I be elected to Cork County Council is to develop a plan to make West Cork age and disability friendly. I would do this while working closely with local community groups such as the Clonakilty Access Group which has been working tirelessly to improve accessibility since 1999,” says Evie who is a part-time wheelchair user.

The local election candidate suggests that one of the first steps in making west Cork more inclusive is by making the bus routes accessible. “I have been in touch with Bus Éireann and Cork County Council about this issue.  Bus Éireann tells me they cannot provide accessible buses until the bus stops are in the right condition. The 236 and 237 are the main bus routes for West Cork. There are accessible stops in Skibbereen but they are of no use unless the actual vehicle is accessible. It also makes many travel cards obsolete if a person with a disability can’t access public transport.

“West Cork is a beautiful place with a lot to offer and it should be accessible to all residents. We also must remember that West Cork is a popular tourist destination and we are not allowing a pretty substantial portion of society to come and visit.

Ms Nevin believes West Cork can become more age and disability friendly by introducing a number of very achievable initiatives such as installing more automatic doors, ramps, levelling and decluttering of footpaths, crossings for the blind, local interpreters, looping systems and disabled bathrooms that have hoists for older children. “It is not just a disease or a disorder that disables people. Society disables us,” concludes Ms Nevin.

Cork City’s growth on a swamp is an amazing story. The city is constructed on a shift-shaping landscape – sand and gravel, rushes and reeds – a wetland knitted together to create a working port through the ages. It also provides the foundation for the multi-faceted narratives that tie this place together. There is a huge depth to this city’s development.  It was a combination of native and outside influences, primarily people who shaped its changing townscape and society since its origins as a settlement. 
​The city possesses a unique character derived from a combination of its plan, topography, built fabric and its location on the lowest crossing point of the river Lee as it meets the tidal estuary and the second largest natural harbour in the world. Indeed, it is also a city that is unique among other cities, it is the only one which has experienced all phases of Irish urban development, from circa 600 AD to the present day. There is a very diverse set of archive and library records, some of which are very complete and some which are very fractious. Hence there are many diverse public spaces, historical structures and characters listed in this book.
Standing in the city’s central Bishop Lucey Park, for example, are multiple monuments – remnants of the blocks of the town walls, the arches for the old Corn Market gates (once behind City Hall), the smiling shawlie within Seamus Murphy’s statue, and the swans of the fountain representing Cork 800. The fountain was placed there in 1985, a nod to the city’s celebration of 800 years since the city’s first charter in 1185. Then there is the imposing sinking tower of Christ Church and its ruinous graveyard. There is the ghostly feel of the buildings that once stood at the park’s entrance. Along the latter stretch, living memory has recorded Jennings furniture shop, destroyed by fire in 1970; the toy shop of Percy Diamond who was cantor (a singer of liturgical music) at the Jewish synagogue; and the Fountain Café over which the famous hurler Christy Ring had a flat for a time. Of course when I mention just these strands, there are other layers I have not mentioned. The layered memories at times and their fleshed out contexts are endless and often seem timeless.
The presence of all these monuments in the Park often plays with my own mind on every walking tour – there is so much one can show and say. These urban spaces seem to slide between the past and present, between material and symbolic worlds. The mural by Mayfield Community Arts on the gable end of the shop next door to the park, entitled “connecting our imagination, how do we imagine a positive future” is apt. The past does play on the imagination; it interconnects between spaces and times into our present and future. Memories flow and bend across the story of the development of this North Atlantic big-hearted small city.
The displayed lower sections of the town walls are from the thirteenth century. During its excavation shards of pottery from Normandy, from the Saintonge region of France, from England, and from other parts of Ireland were also found during the excavation of the wall. For nearly 500 years (1170s to 1690), the town wall symbolised the urbanity of Cork and gave its citizens an identity within the town itself. The walls served as a vast repository of symbolism, iconography and ideology and as symbols of order.
The former town walls like this city were rebuilt in parts by inhabitants through hundreds of years. The river and the tide eroded at their base taking away the various sandstone and limestone blocks and perhaps re-shaping the more resistant ones. The surviving section in Bishop Lucey Park invites the visitor to reflect on life and resistance within the town and how layered the city’s story is. There is wear and tear on the stones presented, which cross from the era of the walled town to the modern city. It invokes the imagination and if anything the wear and tear on our built heritage allows our minds to wonder and reflect about the life and times of people of the past and offers us ideas to take into our future world. 
 
From the creation of the first port, the city’s coat of arms, to building international confidence as one of the self-proclaimed Venices of Northern Europe. Cork’s historical development and ambition knew no bounds! However, certainly colonists such as the Vikings and Anglo-Normans and immigrant groups (and eventually citizens in their own right) such as Huguenots and Quakers led the settlement to have a role in the wider North Atlantic trade and beyond. All were involved in physically altering the townscape, constructing new buildings and quays and improving the interface with the river and the sea. Some key events such as Cork’s role in the Irish War of Independence in the early twentieth century also led to changes to the city’s fabric. The Burning of Cork incident led to many of its main street buildings, City Hall and Library being destroyed. The City rose from the ashes with a rebuild plan plus also strategies for the growing population and their requests for new housing areas.
The array of public spaces and buildings that the city possesses is impressive. You can get lost in and around the multiple narrow streets and broad thoroughfares. Every corner presents the visitor with something new to discover. The pigeon filled medieval tower of the Augustinian Red Abbey and the ruinous room of an old Franciscan well are rare historical jigsaw pieces that have survived the test of time. The dark dungeon at Blackrock Castle, with its canon opes, dates back to 1585 whilst the star shaped fort of Elizabeth Fort has stonework stretching way back to the early seventeenth century. The City does not have much eighteenth century built heritage left. What does exist such as the Queen Anne ‘Culture House’ on Pope’s Quay, represents an age where Dutch architecture was all the rage. A high pitched roof and elaborate and beautiful brick work combines to make a striking structure. The legacy of the city’s golden age of markets is present in the English Market, written about and critiqued since 1788.
Many architects have come and gone over the centuries but the rivalry of The Pain Brothers and the Deane family in the early nineteenth century inspired both families to excel in the design of some of the most gorgeous stone-built buildings from banks to churches to the quadrangle of UCC. All were embellished with local limestone, which on a sunny day, when the sun hits such a stone, lights up to reveal its splendour and the ambition of Ireland’s second city. The settlement is also a city of spires linking back 1,400 years to the memory of the city’s founding saint, Finbarre. The old medieval churches of St Peter and Christ Church are now arts centre but many of elements of their ecclesiastical past can be glimpsed and admired. Couple these with the beautiful St Anne’s Church tower and the scenery from the top of its pepper pot tower, the nineteenth century splendour of the spires and stained glass of St Finbarre’s Cathedral and the sandstone block work of SS Mary’s and Anne’s North Cathedral, and the visitor can get lost in a world of admiration and wider connections to Global religions. Then there is the determination that led the city to also possess the longest building in Western Europe – the old Cork Lunatic Asylum or Our Lady’s Hospital and the tallest building in the country – County Hall, and only in recent years surpassed by the Elysian Tower.
Then there are the buildings which belong to the people. The current City Hall, the second building on the site, is the home of the City Council, formerly Corporation, which was established in Anglo-Norman times. The building is a memorial to the first building, which burned down in 1920, and to the memory of two martyred Lord Mayors, Terence McSwiney and Tomás MacCurtain. Terence died on a hunger strike and Tomas was shot in his house in Blackpool, both dying for the Irish War of Independence cause. The train station, Kent Station, also links through its name to Irish Easter Rising martyr, Tomas Kent. The station is the last of six railway stations, which travelled out into the far reaches of County Cork. 
Cork’s ambition was also displayed and carried by its people – its famous sons and daughters. Cork can boast connections to the wider world through its artists, architects and sculptors. They were renowned in their day, not just in Ireland but wider afield. Artists like James Barry and Daniel Maclise brought their own unique style into Britain’s art worlds and galleries. Sculptors like John Hogan’s and later Joseph Higgins and Seamus Murphy inspired a generation of artists to take up their own artistic endeavours and created a Cork and international public who wanted to see their work.
Here is a city as well that brought forward great writers of international standing such as Denny Lane, Daniel Corkery, Seán O’Faoláin, Frank O’Connor, and Seán Ó Riordáin. Composers range from Seán O’Riada to Aloys Fleischmann. Rory Gallagher, the famous electric guitar star of his day, is also remembered and his legend recalled regularly. Dancing into memory is the great ballet dancer and director Joan Denise Moriarty.
Amongst the city’s eminent list of social reformers are Nano Nagle, Mary Aikenhead, Thomas Dix Hincks, Fr Theobald Mathew, Fr Christy O’Flynn and Br James Burke. All sought to help the city’s impoverished. Amongst the remembered political leaders is Jack Lynch who became the city’s only Taoiseach or Irish Prime Minister. Then there are the local heroes who gave the citizens employment, promoted freedom of expression, and above all showed that Cork is well able to fight for its position as Ireland’s southern capital.
I have often walked around Cork in attempt to get lost in its hidden corners, to be a tourist in my city, reading clues from bye-gone ages. The City does remember historical events– the enormous temperance campaign of Fr Mathew is immortalised in his statue on St Patrick’s Street, the National Monument commemorating Irish struggles against the British Empire before Independence. The World War I memorial on the South Mall is nestled into a nice green area and is set against the backdrop of the boardwalk.
However, weaving in and out of side streets and laneways, the visitor can get lost in the world of historical tales. Check out the city’s former Mayoral house, a street made for a cornmarket, a graveyard for deceased sailors, stories of steamships, educational morals in an art gallery, casts from the Vatican Art Gallery and tales of immigrants and their experiences from other parts of the world. Cork can boast to have a National Sculpture factory in an old tramway engine house, colourful Harry Clarke windows, a former nineteenth century waterworks made into a science centre, and an old famine relief project road, which turned into the site of world record motorcycle speed test attempt in the early twentieth century.
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There is an underbelly to Cork’s history. It’s a city where its ambition was pushed forcefully through takeover and colonisation. One image that always strikes me are the heads on spikes in the 1575 Pacata Hibernia map of the city. As a centre of power it created tensions between those who lived within its walls and those outside. Eventually the strength of the walled town succumbed to attack by Irish and Jacobite attack and in turn they were attacked the city heavily damaged. Out of that event and an enlarging economy and population came crime in abundance. Many crimes were attempts to attain food for impoverished families. Watchmen patrolled the city’s area where most offences occurred. Many were interred in Cork City Gaol. The more malicious criminals such as murderers and anti-crown supporters were hung at Gallows Green off Bandon Road, one of the city’s large southern approach roads.
A look at the story of working life of Cork reveals a very busy city through the ages. From medieval craft-making to creating the largest butcheries in the island of Ireland, Cork citizens were dedicated to making the port of Cork the premier harbour in the North Atlantic.  Cork possessed the largest brewery and butter market in the country, hence hosting large scale employment and inspiring other businesses to root themselves in the city and region. In the twentieth century, the firms of Fords and Dunlops gave employment to thousands of Cork people whilst creating a production empire of tractors, cars, tyres and even golf balls!
Not everyone was involved in the economic boom. Life in the city for the poorer classes was a struggle. Built across a swamp, life was damp – the streets were flooded regularly by the river and the tide. Economic boom brought a population explosion. Those were not successful in securing employment filled the hallways of the poor house of the House of Industry in Blackpool and later during the Great Famine years and beyond, the Cork Union Workhouse on Douglas Road. Many left from ships on Cork’s quays bound for countries such as Great Britain and further afield such as America. The story of Annie Moore and her adventure to the metropolis of New York is representative of hundreds of thousands of people who became part of Ireland’s Irish diaspora legacy.
Scattered across the city are several sites, which have entertained the combined masses over many centuries. Take a stroll at the Mardyke, the Marina, and the Lough – they are institutions in the southern city. Barracka and Buttera Bands seem to have been around for time immemorial, entertaining citizens since the nineteenth century. Grabbing a ticket and sitting in Cork Opera House, Everyman Palace, the Firkin Crane and the Granary, the visitor can see the depth of dramatic talent and an opportunity to see the citizen uniting to support music, drama and the wider arts.  The ideas of creating a spectacle, Cork has always taken to heart. It can also boast of building show grounds, viewing towers, Turkish baths, and world fairs! So what are you waiting for take a historical walking tour!
 
Extracted from The Little Book of Cork City (2015, Irish History Press) by Kieran McCarthy, www.corkheritage.ie, @cllrkmac; facebook: Cork Our City, Our Town