National University of Ireland Maynooth

Local government and the management of urban space: a comparative study of Belfast and Dublin, 1830-1922

by

Francis J. Cullen M.A,

THESIS FOR THE DEGREE OF Ph.D. DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND MAYNOOTH

HEAD OF DEPARTMENT: Professor R.V. Comerford Supervisor of Research: Dr Jacinta Prunty

October 2005

Contents

L is t o f figu res and tab le s iA b b rev ia tio n s ivA ck n o w led g em en ts vi

C h ap te r I In tro d u c tio n 1

C h ap te r I I E x p an sio n and d ev e lo p m en t o f th e p o rts , 1831-1918 39

C h ap te r in T he ra ilw ay phenom ena : m easu rin g its im p act, 1831-1891 88

C h ap te r IV S an itary eng ineering , 1830-1906 134

C h ap te r V T he e lec tric te leg rap h , 1850-1906 172

C h ap te r V I T he te lep h o n e , 1878-1912 205

C h ap te r W C o n c lu s io n 233

A p p en d ices 243

B ib lio g ra p h y • 265

List of figures

1.1 A H o u se o f L o rd s C o m m ittee in 18 8 9 162.1 L iffey Q uays, D ublin , 1837 402 .2 Q uays and D ocks, B elfast, 1833 402.3 N o rth and S ou th B ull W alls, D u b lin B ay, sh o w in g tid a l sco u r

to w ard s D ub lin B ar, 1788-1824 452 .4 T ran sfo rm atio n o f L ag an channel B e lfast, 1833-1858 472.5 N o rth W all Q uay , D ublin , show ing w o o d en w harfs , 1911 532 .6 G eo rg e H a lp in ’s G rav in g D o ck , D ublin , o p en ed 1860 532 .7 F lo a tin g shears desig n ed by B in d o n B lo o d S toney, 1878 562 .8 D iv in g B ell d es ig n ed by B in d o n B lo o d S toney, 1878 562 .9 C o n stru c tio n o f A lex an d ra B asin , D ub lin , 1862 592 .10 D u b lin P o rt and L iffey Q uays, 1842-1911 592.11 John P u rse r G rif f ith ’s p lan fo r sh ipbu ild ing acco m m o d a tio n in

D u b lin Port, Ju ly 1901 642 .1 2 John P u rse r G rif f ith ’s p lan fo r sh ip b u ild in g acco m m o d a tio n in

D u b lin P o rt, A u g u st 1901 642.13 A lex an d ra B asin , D u b lin P o rt, 1925 682 .1 4 Jam es W a lk e r’s p lan fo r p ro p o sed n ew channel in B e lfas t, 1837 722 .15 W illiam C u b itt and T hom as W o o d h o u se ’s p lan fo r flo a tin g d o ck in

B elfast, 1836 722 .1 6 D o n eg all Q uay, B e lfas t, 1833 762 .17 D onegall Q uay, B e lfas t, 1858 762 .18 B e lfa s t H a rb o u r show ing ex ten t o f V ic to ria C hannel, 1886 802 .1 9 T he p o rt and h a rb o u r o f B elfast, 1893 833.1 T he rail n e tw o rk in D ublin , 1850 893.2 T he rail n e tw o rk in B elfast, 1868 893.3 N o d a l links on Ir ish rail n e tw o rk in 1900 933 .4 D ublin, W ick lo w and W ex fo rd Ju n ctio n R a ilw ay , 1884 953.5 D ublin , W ick lo w and W ex fo rd Junction R a ilw ay , 1884, p assing

th ro u g h C u sto m H o u se g ardens 953 .6 D u b lin and D ro g h e d a R ailw ay T im etab le , 1845 973 .7 D u b lin T ru n k C o n n ec tin g R ailw ay , 1864 1063.8 D ublin , W ick lo w and W ex fo rd Ju n c tio n R a ilw ay , 1884, lan d h o ld in g s 1073.9 D u b lin and K in g sto w n R ailw ay ap p ro ach in g cen tre o f D ublin , 1837 1103.10 D u b lin and D ro g h ed a R a ilw ay ap p ro ach in g cen tre o f D ublin , 1843 1113.11 U ls te r R a ilw ay ap p ro ach in g B elfast, 1858 1113 .12 P lan sh o w in g th e D u b lin and D ro g h ed a R a ilw a y ’s o rig inally -

p ro p o sed S ackv ille S tree t term inal, 1836 1123.13 P lan show ing th e W aterfo rd , W exfo rd , W ick lo w and D ub lin

R a ilw a y ’s o rig in a lly -p ro p o sed S aint S tep h en ’s G reen term inal, 1846 1123.14 M G W L iffey Ju n c tio n R ailw ay and G S W N o rth W all E x ten sio n

R ailw ay co n n ec tin g w ith th e P o rt o f D ublin , 1876 1173.15 B e lfas t C en tral R ailw ay , 1864, p lo tted on to O S s ix -inch A ntrim ,

shee t 61, 1858 1194.1 D u b lin C ity B as in s and C anals, 1876 1374.2 V artry R iv e r and w ate rw o rk s, R o u n d w o o d , C oun ty W ick lo w , 1862 1414.3 V artry w a te r m ain s n e tw o rk in D ublin , 1862 143

i

4.4 P lan o f in te rcep tin g sew ers fo r D ublin , 1865 1434.5 D ub lin M ain D ra in ag e Schem e, 1906 1534 .6 C a rr’s G len and W o o d b u rn reservo irs, and B e lfa s t M ain D ra in ag e

W orks, 1901 1614.7 B la c k s ta ff R iver, B e lfas t, 1858 1644.8 P lan fo r B e lfa s t M ain D ra inage, 1885 1685.1 S u b m arin e and lan d -b ased e lec tric te leg rap h n e tw o rk in E u ro p e ,

1886 1765.2 T eleg rap h system o f th e U n ited K in g d o m b efo re and a fte r th e P o s t

O ffice tak eo v e r o f 1870 1865.3 P ro p o sed n ew te leg rap h o ffices fo r D ublin , p o s t 1870 1915.4 P ro p o sed im p ro v em en ts to the te leg rap h n e tw o rk in D ub lin , p o s t

1870 1915.5 P ro p o sed n ew te leg rap h o ffices in B elfast, p o s t 1870 1945.6 P ro p o sed im p ro v em en ts to the te leg rap h n e tw o rk in B e lfast, post

1870 1945.7 D ub lin te leg rap h o ffices, 1876 1995.8 P ro p o sed ch an g es to th e te leg rap h system b e tw een D u b lin and

D u n d a lk u n d e r th e P o st O ffice m an ag em en t, 1870 2015.9 T eleg rap h and te lep h o n e n e tw o rk s in g re a te r D u b lin and B elfas t

reg ions, 1906 2026.1 U nited T e lep h o n e C om pany, D ub lin , list o f ex ch an g e subscribers,

1880 2166.2 U n ited T e lep h o n e C om pany p u b lic co n n ec tio n in D ublin , 1882 2176.3 U n ited T e lep h o n e C om pany subscribers, D ub lin , 1882 2186.4 T eleg rap h n e tw o rk in B e lfa s t b e fo re b e in g re p laced by te lep h o n e

n e tw o rk 2266.5 T ru n k line te lep h o n e n e tw o rk in Ireland , 1904 231

ii

List of tables

2.1 T o n n ag e in B e lfa s t Port, 1830-1916 492 .2 N u m b er o f reg is te red sailing and steam v esse ls in Ire lan d , 1 860-1916 492.3 E stim a te o f ex p en se o f w o rk s necessary in D u b lin P o rt, 1 899-1904 624.1 C ost, capacity and sou rces o f po ssib le w a te r supp ly fo r D u b lin , 1860 1404 .2 D escrip tion o f co n trac ts for D ublin M a in D ra in ag e S chem e, 1896 1525.1 M ileage o f te leg rap h cab le in u se in th e U n ited K in g d o m , th e U n ited

S tates and o th e r p a rts o f E urope, 1850 1775.2 F em ale clerks b e fo re and afte r P o s t O ffice ta k e o v e r in 1870 1825.3 N u m b ers o f m ale and fem ale c le rk s and a ssis tan ts em p lo y ed in th e

d istric ts, 1870 1825.4 N u m b er o f s ta f f em p lo y ed in U .K . T eleg rap h O ffices in 1876 1975.5 C o st o f s ta f f em p lo y ed in U .K . T eleg rap h O ffices in 1876 1975.6 T o tal n u m b er o f m essag es h and led in U .K . T e leg rap h O ffices in 1876 197

iii

Abbreviations

B C D R B elfas t and C oun ty D o w n R ailw ayB C R B elfas t C entral R ailw ayB H C B elfas t H a rb o u r C o m m issionersB IM T C B ritish and Irish M ag n e tic T e leg rap h C o m p an yB L B ritish L ib ra ryB N C R B elfast and N o rth e rn C oun ties R a ilw ayB T B o ard o f T radeC D JR C ity o f D u b lin Ju n c tio n R ailw ayC P IP D C o rp o ra tio n fo r P rese rv in g and Im p ro v in g th e P o rt o f D u b linC P IP H B C o rp o ra tio n fo r P rese rv in g and Im p ro v in g th e P o rt and H a rb o u r

o f B e lfas tC R E S C ro w n E sta teC W F L R C o m m issio n ers o f W oods, F o res ts and L an d R ev en u esD C L A D u b lin C ity L ib ra ry and A rch iveD D R D u b lin and D ro g h ed a R ailw ayD K R D u b lin and K in g sto w n R ailw ayD P A D u b lin P o rt A rch iveD P D B D u b lin P o rt and D o ck s B oardD T C R D u b lin T ru n k C o n n ectin g R a ilw ayD U T C D u b lin U n ited T ram w ay C om panyD W W R D ublin , W ick lo w and W ex fo rd R ailw ayG PO G eneral P o st O fficeG S W R G rea t S ou thern and W este rn R a ilw ayH C H o u se o f C om m onsH L H o u se o f L o rd sH L R O H o u se o f L o rd s R eco rd s O fficeIC E In stitu tio n o f C ivil E n g in ee rsIC E I In s titu tio n o f C ivil E n g in ee rs o f Ire lan dIHTA Irish Historic Towns AtlasJIRRS Journal o f the Irish Railway Record SocietyL JB R L iffey Ju n c tio n B ran c h R ailw ayM G W R M id lan d G reat W este rn R a ilw ayN A I N atio n a l A rch ives o f Ire lan dN C I N atio n a l C o llege o f Ire lan dN L I N atio n a l L ib ra ry o f Ire landN T C N atio n al T e lep h o n e C o m panyN U I N atio n a l U n iv ersity o f Ire landN U IM N atio n a l U n iv ersity o f Ire lan d M ay n o o thO S O rd n an ce S urveyP O E B P o st O ffice E n g in ee rin g B ran chP R O N I P u b lic R eco rd s O ffice o f N o rth e rn IrelandQ U B T h e Q u een ’s U n iv e rs ity o f B e lfa s tR IA R o y al Ir ish A cad em yRPDCD Stat. Soc. Inq.

Reports and Printed Documents o f the Corporation o f Dublin

Soc. Ire. Journal o f the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society o f IrelandT C D T rin ity C o llege D ublin

iv

Trans. Inst.Engs. Ire. Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers of IrelandT N A T h e N ational A rch ives, K ewU C D U niversity C o lleg e D ublinU K U nited K ingdomU R U lster R ailw ayU T C U nited T e lep h o n e C om panyW O W ar O ffice

v

Acknowledgements

T his study w ou ld no t have been p o ssib le w ith o u t th e support, adv ice and frien d sh ip over a nu m b er o f years, o f m y su p erv iso r, D r Jac in ta P run ty . F o r h e r tim ely suggestions and m o ra le -b o o stin g en thusiasm , 1 am tru ly indeb ted . H eartfe lt th an k s m ust also g o to P ro fesso r R .V . C om erfo rd and all m em b ers o f th e D e p a rtm en t o f H istory , N U I M ay n o o th , fo r th e friendsh ip and s tim u la tio n I h av e rece iv ed d u rin g th ree y ea rs o f p o s tg rad u a te sem inars at th is d epartm en t.

I am p articu la rly g ra tefu l to P ro fesso r R ob K itch in and th e N a tio n a l In s titu te fo r R eg ional and Spatial A nalysis, N U I M ay n o o th , fo r th e aw ard o f a N PR SA do cto ra l fe llow sh ip w h ich m ade po ssib le th is research , b u t a lso fo r th e fr ien d ly en co u rag em en t and in te llec tua l s tim u la tio n o f that in te rd isc ip lin ary re search com m unity .

A num b er o f arch ives, co lleges and re search lib raries have b een u se d du ring the co u rse o f th is study . M any th an k s a re due to th e s ta ff o f th e N a tio n a l A rch iv es o f Ireland, p articu la rly M ary M ackey; s ta ff o f th e N atio n al L ib ra ry o f Ire lan d ; M ary C lark e o f the D ublin C ity L ib rary and A rch ive; F rances S u g ru e o f Ia rn rô d E ireann , H eu sto n S ta tion ; Paul F erg u so n o f th e G lu ck sm an M ap L ibrary , T .C .D ; Jo h n C allan an o f th e In stitu tio n o f C iv il E ng ineers o f Ireland; and L ora in n e C la rk e and N ia ll D ard is o f th e D u b lin P o rt A rch ive, N C I.

In B e lfa s t I hav e en joyed th e co -o p era tio n and su p p o rt o f s ta ff a t th e P u b lic R eco rd s O ffice o f N o rth e rn Ireland , p a rticu la rly Ian M o n tg o m ery , an d also at the L in en h a ll L ib rary .

R o b ert H a rriso n o f the H o u se o f L o rd s R eco rd s O ffice w a s k in d n ess person ified du rin g m y th ree sep a ra te v isits to tha t rep o sito ry , a ffo rd in g m e ev ery facility to get the m ost ou t o f these co n cen tra ted re search v isits . T h e s ta f f o f T he N ational A rch ives, K ew ; C aro l M organ o f the In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs , L ondon ; R aym ond M artin o f th e B ritish T eleco m A rch ives, L o ndon ; and s ta ff o f th e B ritish L ibrary have a lso been m ost helpful.

T h e co -o p e ra tio n and help o f S arah G earty and co lleag u es a t th e Irish Historic Towns Atlas, R oyal Irish A cadem y, is v e ry m u ch ap p rec ia ted , fo r th e v a lu ab le ca rto g rap h ic ex p e rien ce g ained w hilst on a su m m er w o rk p lacem ent.

T h o m as W all, fo rm er arch iv ist in E ircom , has been m ost helpful in su p p ly in g v a lu ab le in fo rm atio n reg ard in g th e u n ca ta lo g u ed E ircom co llec tio n recen tly d ep o sited in th e N a tio n a l A rch iv es o f Ireland , and also fo r p ro v id in g indexes to th is m ateria l a long w ith access to his ow n im portan t w o rk in th is area.

N e d F lem in g and M artin L in n an e o f th e V a rtry W ate rw o rk s, R o u n d w o o d , C oun ty W ick lo w , w e re m ost hosp itab le in sh o w in g a sm all g ro u p o f u s a ro u n d th is h is to ric site.

I w ish to ack n o w led g e th e k ind help o f D en n is C arro ll, fe llo w d o c to ra l s tu d en t at D epartm en t o f H isto ry , N U I M ay n o o th , fo r ass is tan ce w ith F ig u re 4 .5 , th e D u b lin M ain D ra in ag e Schem e. 1 am also g ra te fu l to D r W illiam N o lan , D e p a rtm en t o f G eography , U C D , fo r his friendsh ip and in te re st in th is p ro jec t, ex p ressed d u rin g a nu m b er o f m eetings in the read in g room o f th e N a tio n a l L ib ra ry o f Ireland .

M y p aren ts , F rank and Peg, as ever, have b een u n fa ilin g in th e ir su p p o rt and en co u rag em en t, no t only th ro u g h o u t th is study , b u t th ro u g h o u t m y life, as h av e m y siste rs A nne and L aura and my b ro th e r Jim m y. T o them , no am o u n t o f w o rd s can express m y deep love and g ra titude.

T he one p erso n w ith o u t w hom I w o u ld n o t have co m e c lo se to co m p le tin g th is w ork , is m y fiancée, Paula. T o her 1 o w e a g rea t deal. F o r h e r love, support, en co u rag em en t and u n d erstand ing , but m ost o f all fo r our b eau tifu l son, D an ie l, th e in sp ira tio n o f m y life. It is to Paula and D aniel th a t I d ed ica te th is w ork .

Chapter I

Introduction

P overty , u n em p lo y m en t, d isease and p re m a tu re death , a re ty p ica lly a sso c ia ted w ith

th e n in e teen th -cen tu ry u rb a n co n d itio n in G rea t B rita in and Ire land . Y e t, in th e m id s t

o f th ese w id e ly -ack n o w led g ed d ifficu lties, a m o re o p tim istic s to ry c a n b e d isce rn ed

w h ich casts th ese to w n s and c ities in a v e ry d iffe ren t light. T his is th e s to ry o f

tran sp o rt, co m m u n ica tio n and w ater; o f co n stru c tio n , en g in ee rin g and p lan n in g ; o f

m oney , p o w e r and politics. In short, it is a sto ry o f n e tw o rk ed u rb an in fra s tru c tu re , a

sto ry th a t con tinues to evo lve and develop . T h e p re sen t stu d y w ill re la te th is s to ry as it

u n fo ld ed in th e tw o to w n s o f B e lfast and D u b lin b e tw e en 1830 and 1922.

T he p e rio d d u rin g w h ich m u ch o f th is re co n stru c tio n o ccu rred tran scen d s tw o g rea t

ages o f tech n o lo g ica l b reak th rough : th e steam age and th e age o f elec tric ity . A lth o u g h

th e steam en g in e w as an e ig h teen th -cen tu ry in v en tio n p ro p er, it w as o n ly a f te r its

ad ap ta tio n to tran sp o rt in th e fo rm o f th e steam sh ip and th e ra ilw ay lo co m o tiv e in th e

1810s and 1820s respectively , th a t its im p ac t o n th e u rb a n lan d scap e b ecam e

p ronounced . W h ils t th e u se o f s team co n tin u ed w ell in to th e tw en tie th cen tu ry ,

e lec tric ity becam e an o th e r g reat agen t o f u rb a n ch an g e fro m th e 1850s onw ards.

E lec tr ic ligh ting , e lec tric tram s and th e co u n tless m iles o f te leg rap h and te lep h o n e

w ires ru n n in g ab o v e and b e lo w th e stree ts, rep resen t th e em b o d im en t o f th is n ew

so u rce o f energy. T he n in e teen th cen tu ry w as also th e g o ld en age o f en g in ee rin g w h en

m en such as Jam es W alker, W illiam C ub itt, Jo h n M acneill, P a rk e N e v ille , B in d o n

B lo o d S toney and m an y m ore, w ere re sp o n sib le fo r creating th e en d u rin g m o n u m en ts

o f concrete , c lay and steel, w h ich still co m p rise an im p o rtan t p a rt o f th e fa b ric o f th e

m o d ern c ity to d a y (fo r b io g rap h ica l sk e tch o f th ese in d iv id u a ls see A p p en d ix X III).

D is tan ce has a lw ays p re sen ted g rea t ch a llen g es to hum ankind . T h e d es ire to ex tend

h u m an ac tio n s and in flu en ce in tim e and space, h as p ro v id ed a co n tin u o u s ch a llen g e

fo r society. T h is lo n g -h e ld desire has b ee n ex p ressed m o st n o ticeab ly in u rb a n

settings w h e re in fra s tru c tu ra l d ev e lo p m en t in th e fo rm o f roads, rail, p ip es and w ire s

1

has b ee n d esig n ed sp ec ifica lly to m eet th e d em an d s o f so c ie tie s ’ ‘in c reas in g lev e ls o f

exchange, m o v em en t and tran sac tio n ac ro ss d is tan ce ’.1 W h e n p u t to g e th e r th ese

in d iv id u a l ro u tes , links and co rrid o rs co m p rise a n e tw o rk o f in fra s tru c tu ra l

co n n ectio n s w ith in and b e tw een tow ns and cities, tran scen d in g p h y sica l, p o litica l and

cu ltu ra l d iv ides. T h ro u g h th is netw ork , people, re so u rces and w a ste a re m o v ed along

in a co n stan t flu x th a t enables th e c ity to p roperly ex ecu te its n u m ero u s functions.

A lth o u g h p av ed stree ts, sew ers and w a te r system s have b een a fea tu re o f u rb a n life fo r

cen tu ries, it w as du rin g th e m assiv e u rb a n iz a tio n o f th e n in e teen th cen tu ry th a t m ajo r

ad v an ces w e re m ad e in ra tiona lis ing , ex p an d in g and u p g rad in g th ese n e tw o rk s , to th e

ad v an tag e o f city p o p u la tio n s at large. T h is w as m o s t am b itio u sly co n c e iv ed in B a ro n

H a u ssm a n n ’s p lan s fo r th e reg u la riza tio n o f P aris b e tw een 1853 an d 1870.2

H a u ssm a n n ’s P a ris w as th e a rch e ty p e o f th e m o d e rn n e tw o rk ed ideal: a co m p lex

n e tw o rk o f p leas in g stree ts, parks and b o u lev ard s la id -o u t above an in v is ib le n e tw o rk

o f sew ers. In te rm s o f ana tom y, ab o v e g ro u n d th e c ircu la to ry and re sp ira to ry system ,

w h ils t o u t o f sigh t, th e w aste d isposal o rgans. A lth o u g h H a u ssm a n n ’s P a ris in flu en ced

to w n p lan n ers in B rita in , Ire lan d and co n tin en ta l E u ro p e , it w as th e ex cep tio n a l case;

in m o st tow ns, th e in co rp o ra tio n o f e lem en ts o f H a u ssm a n n ’s v ision , o n a m o d est

scale , w as th e resu lt. A n im p o rtan t o b jec tiv e o f th is s tu d y is to exam ine to w h a t ex ten t

to w n p lanners in D u b lin and B e lfa s t su cceed ed in em u la tin g H a u ssm a n n ’s n e tw o rk ed

ideal, i f a t all.

T his stu d y ex am in es five co re areas o f in frastru c tu re : p o rt d ev e lo p m en t, rail

dev e lo p m en t, san itary eng ineering , te leg rap h ic and te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n .

B ecau se lan d u se is such a key fa c to r in th e im p lem en ta tio n o f th ese w o rk s , the

to p o g rap h ica l in h eritan ce o f b o th to w n s w as a crucia l fa c to r in d e te rm in in g th e ty p e o f

w o rk to b e ca rried o u t and h o w successfu l it w o u ld be. T h ro u g h o u t th e n in e teen th

cen tu ry d ram a tic changes o ccu rred to th e u rb an lan d scap e in th e n am e o f

im p ro v em en t. In B e lfa s t fo r exam ple , th e m assiv e rec lam atio n w o rk s in th e p o rt

th ro u g h o u t th e co u rse o f th e cen tu ry , led to a to ta l tran sfo rm a tio n o f th e fo resh o re and

coasta l to p o g rap h y o f th e to w n (F igu re 2 .4 , p. 47). S im ilarly , in D u b lin , th e barren

lan d scap e o f th e N o rth L o tts d is tric t in 1837 is far rem o v ed fro m th e in d u stria l

1 Stephen Graham and Simon Marvin, Splintering urbanism: networked infrastructures, technological mobilities and the urban condition (London, 2001), p. 10.2 See W illet Weeks, The man who made Paris: the illustrated biography of Georges-Eugene Haussmann (London, 1999).

2

ch a rac te r ev id en t in 1876 w ith its ra ilw ay s id ings and b ran ch lin es fu e llin g th e

d ev e lo p m en t o f th e p o rt (F igu res 3 .10, p. I l l an d 3 .14 , p. 117). T h ese n in e teen th -

cen tu ry changes o ccu rrin g in b o th tow ns have b ee n la rg e ly in flu en ced b y th e ex is tin g

to p o g rap h y o f th e tw o u rb an reg ions. I t w ill be n ecessa ry th e re fo re to ex p lo re th e

n a tu ra l p h y sica l fea tu res o f each to w n in o rd e r to ap p rec ia te m o re fu lly th e ex ten t to

w h ich th e p h y sica l g eo g rap h y in flu en ced th e ty p e o f im p ro v em en ts an d ch an g es th a t

to o k place.

T h e tw o to w n s o f D u b lin and B e lfa s t a re tre a ted as case stud ies fo r co m p ara tiv e

p u rp o ses th ro u g h o u t th is study. T h e m ain b o d y o f th e w o rk p ro v id es a c h a p te r by

ch ap te r ana lysis o f th e v ario u s strands o f in fra s tru c tu re th a t, w h en co n sid e red as p a r t

o f a co llec tiv e w ho le , fo rm a sing le in te rd ep en d en t n e tw o rk w ith in and b e tw e en each

tow n. L arg e sum s o f m oney , a p ro d ig io u s am o u n t o f o rg an iza tio n , o u ts tan d in g

en g in ee rin g ex p e rtise and an expensive , tim e -co n su m in g and co m p lex p a rliam en ta ry

p ro ced u re w e re req u ired fo r p ro v id in g th ese in te rtw in in g layers o f in fra s tru c tu re

w ith in each tow n. W hy w ere th ese im p ro v em en ts ca rried ou t? W h o sto o d to b en e fit?

W h a t w ere th e im p lica tio n s o f such d ev e lo p m en ts? M an y o f th ese in d iv id u a l w o rk s

can b e u n d ers to o d as co m p o n en t parts o f a la rg e r p ro jec t a im ed at ty in g th e w este rn

isle o f the U n ited K in g d o m m o re closely to th e im p eria l core. A t th e sam e tim e

im p ro v em en ts w e re b e in g carried o u t in th e p o rt o f D u b lin so also th e W e lsh p o rt o f

H o ly h ead w as b e in g u p g rad ed fo r m ass c ro ss-ch an n e l tra ffic . T h ese p rep ara tio n s

in c lu d ed a ra ilw ay from L o n d o n to H olyhead , and th e b rid g in g o f th e M en a i S trait, all

d esig n ed to acce lera te co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een L o n d o n and D u b lin .3 T h e c rea tio n o f

an in te rco n n ec ted tran sp o rt and co m m u n ica tio n n e tw o rk w ith in and b e tw e en D u b lin

and B elfast, and co n n ec ted a t firs t v ia th e po rts , and la te r v ia su b m arin e te leg rap h

cable, to a la rg e r U n ited K in g d o m n e tw o rk enab led L o n d o n to exert t ig h te r po litica l,

adm in istra tiv e , m ilita ry and eco n o m ic co n tro l o v er Ire land . T h ro u g h o u t th is s tudy

th ese in te rd ep en d en t lay ers w ill b e trea ted separa te ly in sp ec ific ch ap te rs in an e ffo rt

to u n d ers tan d m o re fu lly th e reaso n s fo r th e m assiv e ch an g e o ccu rrin g in D u b lin and

B e lfa s t during the n in e teen th century.

3 Report from the Select Committee on Kingstown and Holyhead mails; together with the proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence and index, H.C, 1850 (501) xiv.

3

F o r o v er a decade n o w u rb an g eo g rap h ers have b een ca llin g fo r a m o re critica l fo cu s

u p o n the th em e o f n e tw o rk ed in fra stru c tu re as a m ean s to a m o re ‘p o w erfu l and

dyn am ic w ay o f see in g co n tem p o rary c ities and u rb an re g io n s ’.4 T h e p re sen t s tudy

tak e s th is ch a llen g e one step fu rth e r by focusing , n o t on co n tem p o ra ry asp ec ts o f the

city, bu t on its h isto rica l past. B y ex am in in g th e u rb an lay o u t in th e p erio d

im m ed ia te ly b e fo re and du rin g th e co n stru c tio n o f th e g rea t ra ilw ay s, h a rb o u rs and

w a te r system s o f th e n in e teen th cen tury , and by ask in g h o w and w h y th e se in trica te

s tru c tu res w e re d esig n ed and used , new in sig h ts can b e g a in ed in to th e d ec is io n ­

m ak in g p ro cess a t w o rk in th e city. T he b ig g es t th rea t to a ra ilw ay b ill g o in g b e fo re

p arliam en t w as th e o p p o sitio n o f an o th er ra ilw ay bill. As ra ilw ay w o rk s im p in g ed so

d ram atica lly on th e city , co m p an y d irec to rs and en g in ee rs w e re in a v ery p o w erfu l

po sitio n to dec ide h o w ce rta in d istric ts o f the to w n w o u ld develop . O th e r less o b v io u s

fo rces also w ie ld ed th e ir in flu en ce fro m b eh in d th e scenes; th e P o s t O ffice fo r

ex am p le w as in s tru m en ta l in ex ten d in g tran sp o rt and co m m u n ica tio n n e tw o rk s in a

con tinuous effo rt to im p ro v e th e m ail service. N e tw o rk ed in fra s tru c tu re th e re fo re

p ro v id es a n ew w ay o f ex am in in g the p o w e r and d ec is io n -m ak in g p ro cesses at w o rk

in th e city , w h ich in tu rn leads to a c lea rer u n d e rs ta n d in g o f h o w and w h y p a rticu la r

cities developed as th e y did.

T h is study also ack n o w led g es th e co n trastin g d iv is io n s w ith in each o f th e tw o to w n s

o f D u b lin and B e lfa s t in th e n in e teen th cen tu ry . T he socia l ap p earan ce o f each to w n is

m ark ed by its o w n u n iq u e d icho tom y. F o r exam ple , n in e teen th -cen tu ry D u b lin is

gen e ra lly re co g n ized as a c ity in decline. In te rm s o f soc ia l co n d itio n s su ch as p u b lic

health , housing , p o v erty and em ploym en t, D u b lin ce rta in ly d id ex p e rien ce a

d o w n w ard slide d u rin g th e perio d from 1800 to 1900. T his s tudy h o w ev er, su g g ests

an a lte rn a tiv e p e rsp ec tiv e on n in e teen th -cen tu ry D ublin . T h e trad itio n a l v iew o f th e

A c t o f U n io n p rec ip ita tin g th e m etam o rp h o sis o f th e p ro sp e ro u s and e leg an t

e ig h teen th -cen tu ry to w n in to th e g rim y slum s o f th e n in e teen th -cen tu ry city , has b een

so en g ra in ed in to th e h isto rica l co n sc io u sn ess th a t th e m o re o p tim is tic s to ry o f

ad v an ces in tech n o lo g y and in fra s tru c tu re is all b u t b ru sh ed over. I f n in e teen th -

cen tu ry D u b lin w as a c ity in dec line (an d in m any re sp ec ts it w as), h o w th en do u rb an

h is to rian s exp la in th e n u m ero u s successfu l en g in ee rin g schem es u n d e r ta k en in th e

4 Graham and Marvin, Splintering urbanism, p. 8.

4

city from 1830 to 1900? T he es tab lish m en t by th e 1850s o f five sep a ra te ra ilw ay

co m p an ies each w ith its ow n e lab o ra te cen tra l te rm in a l; th e ach iev em en t o f th e m u ch -

ce leb ra ted V a rtry w a te r schem e, b rin g in g an ab u n d an t supp ly o f fresh w a te r to th e

c ity in 1867 (F ig u re 4.2 , p. 141); land re c lam atio n and im p ro v em en t w o rk s

u n d ertak en in th e p o rt includ ing th e co n stru c tio n in th e 1870s o f a n ew d ee p -w a te r

b asin p ro v id in g ac co m m o d atio n fo r th e la rg est s team vesse ls; and th e e s tab lish m en t

by th e end o f th e 1880s o f a g ro w in g n e tw o rk o f te lep h o n e lines co n n e c tin g m an y

pub lic o ffices in th e c ity w ith a central ex ch an g e can hard ly be d esc rib ed as in d ica to rs

o f decline. Y e t th e m o re n ega tive aspects o f th e n in e teen th -cen tu ry c ity d o m in a te its

social h istory .

L ik e D ub lin , th e g en e ra lly accep ted sto ry o f n in e teen th -cen tu ry B e lfa s t m erits critica l

scrutiny . W h ils t th e re can b e no dou b tin g th e u n riv a lled in d u stria l and co m m erc ia l

success o f th is n in e teen th -cen tu ry tow n, th e re is a less successfu l side, n o t a lw ays

ack n o w led g ed in stud ies. In th e 1860s B e lfa s t w as boom ing . T he p o r t w as ex p an d in g

rap id ly , th e lin en in d u stry w as th riv in g and h u g e am o u n ts o f cap ita l w e re b e in g

in v ested in ra ilw ays. H o w ev er, w hilst th ese g rea t co m m erc ia l and in d u stria l s trid es

w ere b e in g taken , th e to w n ’s in h ab itan ts w e re b e in g d ep riv ed o f w a te r. T he

in ad eq u acy o f th e to w n ’s w a te r supply had b een ack n o w led g ed as ea rly as 1847, bu t

w as a llow ed to co n tin u e to d e te rio ra te un til th e s itu a tio n becam e u rg en t. D u rin g th is

period , re ferred to in th e p ress as th e ‘B e lfa s t w a te r fa m in e ’, th e L ag an w as p u m p ed

a lm o st to exh au stio n in a vain e ffo rt to supply th e d esp e ra te in h ab itan ts o f th e to w n

w ith th is b as ic n ecessity fo r survival. D ra in ag e w as also in a very p o o r s ta te and held

p artly re sp o n sib le fo r th e sp read o f ep id em ic in th e to w n in 1832 and 1847. W h ils t

m ag n ificen t th o ro u g h fa res w e re b e in g crea ted in ex ten siv e s tree t-w id en in g schem es,

b eh ind th ese n ew c lean stree ts lay th e fev e r n ests w h e re sew age and slops and all

o th er m eans o f w aste w ere left to ro t in th e n a rro w and b ad ly -v en tila ted a lleys and

lanew ays. T his s tudy w ill th e re fo re a ttem p t to g iv e a fu lle r p ic tu re o f th e tw o

n in e teen th -cen tu ry tow ns.

A k ey area o f in v es tig a tio n w ill be th a t o f lan d o w n ersh ip and its in flu en ce o n land

use. T his is a th em e th a t has on ly recen tly b eg u n to rece iv e th e a tten tio n it dese rv es

desp ite th e fact th a t as fa r b ack as 1969 th e u rb an h isto rian , J. R. K e lle tt, in h is trea tise

on ra ilw ays, w as o f th e op in io n th a t ‘th e g ro u n d p lan fo rm ed by p ro p e rty title s can

5

serve as th e k ey to exp la in ing th e w h o le co u rse o f d ev e lo p m en t o f c e rta in ty p es o f

u rb an area, and th e em erg en ce o f ch a rac te ris tic re s id en tia l and in d u stria l zo n es in each

c ity ’.5 A p a rt fro m th e large p ro m in en t landow ners, th e m u ltitu d e o f o b scu re o w n e rs o f

sm all u n its o f land w ere h ugely in fluen tia l in d efin in g th e lay o u t o f u rb a n d is tric ts in

th e n in e teen th -cen tu ry city. F o r th e ra ilw ay co m p an ies , w h en p u rc h as in g land , the

p ro sp ec t o f d ea lin g w ith a few ow ners o f large p ro p e rtie s o ffe red s im p lic ity and

speed, m ak ing it p o ssib le to carry th ro u g h la rg e sch em es w ith in th e lim ited tim e

fram es. A nd b ecau se so m uch in v estm en t w en t in to th e co n stru c tio n o f a ra ilw ay , tim e

w as o f th e essence, as th e qu ick er th e ra ilw ay w a s open , th e q u ick er th e in v es to rs go t

re tu rn s o n th e ir m oney. A s a resu lt, th e d istric ts fav o u red by th e ra ilw ay co m p an ies

w e re th o se w h ere sing le in d iv id u a ls o r in stitu tio n s ow ned la rg e p ro p o rtio n s o f th e

land. I f th ese la rg e lan d o w n ers h ap p en ed to be d irec to rs o f th e com pany , th en so

m u ch th e b e tte r in te rm s o f speedy p ro cessin g . T h e im p o rtan ce o f lan d title s in th is

re sp ec t has in c reas in g ly com e to ligh t in re cen t y ea rs .6 In th e co u n try s id e th e ra ilw ay

had p len ty o f ro o m fo r m anoeuvre. I f an o b s tac le s to o d in its w a y in th e fo rm o f a

stubborn landow ner, th e ra ilw ay com p an y co u ld op t to p u rch ase o th e r land in the

v ic in ity . H ow ever, w h en th e ra ilw ay en te red the city , space b ecam e re stric ted .

C onsequen tly , it w as n o t su rp rising th a t th e ra ilw ay co m p an ies a d o p ted a cau tio u s

ap p ro ach to w ard s u rb an landow ners. I t w ill b e im p o rtan t th e re fo re to id en tify som e o f

th e ow ners o f th ese sm all u n its o f land in k ey areas o f th e city.

Municipal management and city infrastructureA lth o u g h th e m un icipal co rp o ra tio n w a s th e n in e teen th -cen tu ry o rg an o f local

g o v ern m en t m o st ty p ica lly asso c ia ted w ith to w n im p ro v em en ts , m any im p ro v em en ts

w e re also in itia ted by p riv a te com pan ies and b o a rd s acting in d ep en d en tly o f th e

co rpo ration . O f all th e in frastru c tu ra l serv ices ex am in ed in th is w o rk , th e w a te r supp ly

in D u b lin w as th e only one u n d er th e co n tro l o f th e m un icipal au th o rity du rin g th e

open in g years o f th is study. B y 1850 re sp o n sib ility fo r d ra in ag e h ad b eco m e a

m u n ic ip a l co n cern in b o th tow ns; h o w ev er all o th er serv ices ex am in ed in th is study,

in c lu d in g th e w a te r supp ly o f B e lfast, rem a in ed o u ts id e the co n tro l o f th e m un ic ipa l

au tho rities in b o th tow ns.

5 J.R. Kellett, The impact of railways on Victorian cities (London, 1969), p. 125.6 See for example David Cannadine, Lords and landlords: the aristocracy and the towns 1777-1967 (Leicester, 1967) and Richard Rodger, The transformation of Edinburgh: land, property and trust in the nineteenth century (Cambridge, 2001).

6

M u ch o f th e su b jec t-m a tte r exam ined in th is stu d y is asso c ia ted w ith th e m id to la te

n in e teen th cen tu ry ra th e r th an th e ea rlie r years, an d it is n o t un til a f te r th e 1850s th a t

th e co rp o ra tio n s in b o th D u b lin and B e lfa s t b eg an to p ro p e rly in v o lv e th em se lv es in

any real cap ac ity w ith th e p ro v is io n o f th ese serv ices. R a ilw ay s, te leg rap h s and

te lep h o n es, as n in e teen th -cen tu ry inven tions, a re la te arriv a ls co m p ared to th e

co n stru c tio n o f h arbours, th e p ro v is io n o f w a te r supp lies o r even d ra in a g e schem es. I t

is im p o rtan t th e re fo re to ack n o w led g e fro m th e o u tse t th e re sp o n sib ilitie s o f th e

m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n s, and the tran sfo rm atio n th ese u n d e rw en t th ro u g h o u t th e p erio d

o f th is study.

S ince the y ea r 1708 th e harb o u r and p o rt fac ilities in D u b lin ’s L iffe y e s tu a ry hav e

been v es ted in th ree sep a ra te au thorities. T he f irs t o f th e se au th o rities , th e ‘B a lla s t

O ffice C o m m itte e ’ w as ap p o in ted as a resu lt o f an ac t passed in 1707 en titled : ‘A n act

fo r c lean sin g th e po rt, h arb o u r and riv e r o f D u b lin and fo r e rec tin g a b a lla s t o ff ic e in

th e said c ity ’ . P o w e r to enact th is leg is la tio n w as g iv en to th e co rp o ra tio n o f D ub lin ,

w h ich o b lig ed by se ttin g up th e B a lla s t O ffice C o m m ittee in 1708.7 In 1784 a n ew bill

w as p ro m o ted w h ich ca lled fo r th e e s tab lish m en t o f a n ew p o rt au th o rity in D ub lin

in d ep en d en t o f th e co rp o ra tio n o f th a t c ity .8 T h is b ill re ce iv ed royal a ssen t in 1786

and u n d er th e re su ltin g ac t a new p o rt au th o rity w as ap p o in ted en titled ‘T he

C o rp o ra tio n fo r P rese rv in g and Im p ro v in g th e P o rt o f D u b lin ’, m o re co m m o n ly

k n o w n as th e ‘B a lla s t B o a rd ’9. W h ils t th e n ew b a lla s t b o a rd w as n o w em p o w ered to

m ain ta in th e p o rt ind ep en d en tly o f th e co rp o ra tio n , it still n ev e rth e le ss co u n ted

several co rp o ra tio n o ffic ials, in c lu d in g th e lo rd m ayor, am ong its b o a rd m em bers.

T he co m p o sitio n o f th e b a llas t b o ard rem a in ed in tac t from 1786 u n til th e D ublin P o rt

A ct, 1867 b ecam e law . T h is act re co n stitu ted th e o ld ‘C o rp o ra tio n fo r P rese rv in g and

Im p ro v in g th e P o rt o f D u b lin ’ in to a n ew b o d y en titled th e ‘D u b lin P o r t and D o ck s

B o a rd ’, w h ich w as to have its ow n co m m o n se a l.10 T he n ew b o a rd w as to co n sis t o f

tw en ty -fiv e m em b ers as fo llow s: th e lo rd m ay o r and th ree c itizen s o f D u b lin

7 H.A. Gilligan, A history of the port of Dublin (Dublin, 1988), pp 10-14.8 Gilligan, Port o f Dublin, pp 42-50.9 One o f the main responsibilities of the Ballast Board was to provide sand dredged from the seabed for placing in ships’ hulls in order to ensure stability. This sand was known as ‘ballast’, hence the term ‘Ballast Board’.10 Dublin Port Act, 1867 (30 & 31 Viet., c. lxxxi), section two.

7

ap p o in ted by th e co rpo ration ; sev en m em b ers e lec ted by th e trad e rs and

m an u fac tu rers ; sev en m em bers e lec ted by th e sh ip -o w n ers; and sev en m em b ers

n o m in a ted by th e C o m m issio n ers o f Ir ish L ig h ts .11 T he in co m e o f th is n ew b o d y w as

deriv ed m ain ly fro m sh ipp ing dues at th e ra te o f 10V*d. p e r to n o n o v e rseas v esse ls

and 6'/W. p e r to n on coasting v e sse ls .12 It w as u n d e r th e au th o rity o f th e D u b lin P o rt

and D o ck s B o ard th a t m ajo r d ev e lo p m en ts such as th e N o rth Q u ay E x ten s io n and th e

A lex an d ra B asin w e re construc ted . In D u b lin th e p o rt au th o rity w a s re sp o n sib le fo r

m ain ta in in g th e qu ay w a lls and L iffey b rid g es fro m th e m o u th o f th e L iffey th ro u g h

th e cen tre o f th e c ity as fa r as B arrack B ridge. In th is re sp ec t th e p o rt au th o rity w as

m o re in v o lv ed in th e ru n n in g o f th e city th an th e co rp o ra tio n w as in th e ru n n in g o f th e

port. T he D u b lin P o r t and D o ck s B o a rd w as succeeded by th e D u b lin P o r t C om pany

in 1990. T h is la tte r bo d y rem ains to th is day th e p o rt au th o rity in D ublin .

In B e lfas t th e re a re som e ch ro n o lo g ica l p ara lle ls w ith D u b lin . In 1709, o n e y ea r a fte r

th e setting u p o f th e B a lla s t O ffice C o m m ittee in D ublin , th e C o rp o ra tio n o f B e lfas t,

th en re sp o n sib le fo r the day to day con tro l o f th e h arbour, had tried u n su cc ess fu lly to

secu re a s im ila r ac t fo r reg u la tin g its h arbour. S ubsequen tly , due to its fa ilu re to

o b ta in leg is la tio n in 1709, th e co rp o ra tio n had to w ait un til 1729 fo r th e p assin g o f a

genera l ac t m ad e fo r ‘c lean sin g the ports, h arbours, and riv ers o f C ork , G alw ay, S ligo,

D ro g h ed a , and B e lfas t, and fo r e rec ting a b a lla s t o ffice at ea ch ’ .13 In B e lfa s t th e

sovereign and free bu rg esses w e re em p o w ered to e rec t th e b a lla s t o ffic e and ac t as

co n se rv a to rs o f th e h a rb o u r.14 P o w ers w ere g ran ted to th e new b a lla s t o ffice to levy

to n n ag e dues o n sh ipp ing at th e ra te o f Id. p e r ton and 1 'Ad. p e r to n on fo re ig n

v e sse ls .15

11 John Purser Griffith, ‘The Port o f Dublin’ in Transactions o f the Institute o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland (hereafter Trans. Inst. Engs. Ire.), xix, 1888, p. 180.12 Griffith, ‘The Port o f Dublin’ in Tran. Inst. Engs. Ire., xix, 1888, p. 180.13 First report o f the commissioners appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland, report on the Borough o f Belfast, [27], H.C. 1835, xxvii, 714.14 Ibid.15 Extracts from the ‘History o f the harbours o f the United Kingdom ’ compiled by the harbour department o f the admiralty (Belfast, 1852), in Problems o f a growing city: Belfast 1780-1870 (Belfast, 1973), p. 92.

8

In 1785 th e n ew ly -c rea ted B e lfa s t C h am b er o f C o m m e rce16 p re sen ted a p e titio n to th e

H o u se o f C o m m o n s in D u b lin d raw in g a tten tio n to th e tre a ch e ro u s ch an n e l an d th e

in ju ry it w a s cau sin g to th e trad e o f th e port. In th is p e titio n th e ch a m b e r o f co m m erce

req u es ted a sum o f £2 ,000 to w ard s th e co st o f im pro v em en ts. T h e re sp o n se o f th e

Irish p a rliam en t to th is p e tition , fro m th e p o in t o f v iew o f th e p o r t’s p ro sp e rity , co u ld

n o t have b een m o re positive . R a th e r th an o ffe rin g the m oney req u ested , p a rliam en t

in stead tran sfe rred resp o n sib ility fo r th e con tro l o f th e h a rb o u r from an in e ffec tiv e and

d is in te res ted to w n council to a hugely in flu en tia l m erch an t c o m m u n ity .17 In d eed from

as fa r b ack as th e la te seven teen th cen tu ry it had b een th e B e lfa s t m erch an ts w h o had

e ffec ted m o st o f th e im p ro v em en ts in th e to w n quays, a trad itio n th a t had re m a in ed u p

to th e late e ig h teen th cen tu ry .18 In 1785 th e re fo re th e ‘C o rp o ra tio n fo r P re se rv in g and

Im p ro v in g th e P o r t and H a rb o u r o f B e lfa s t’ w as estab lish ed , one y ea r b e fo re th e

e s tab lish m en t o f th e co rresp o n d in g b o d y in D ublin . I t w as th e B e lfa s t m erchan ts ,

re ta in in g a p erso n al in terest in th e e ffic ien t m an ag em en t and d ev e lo p m en t o f th e po rt,

th a t co n s titu ted th e bulk o f th e perso n n el o f th is n ew ly -fo rm ed b o d y .19

T he ac t o f 1785 in co rp o ra tin g th e C o rp o ra tio n fo r P rese rv in g and Im p ro v in g th e P o rt

and H a rb o u r o f B e lfas t w as rep ea led by th e B e lfas t P o rt and H a rb o u r A ct, 1 8 3 1 .20

U n d er th is ac t a new bo d y w as crea ted w ith th e sam e title , bu t co n sis tin g o f th e ‘L o rd

o f th e C astle and th e S o v ere ig n ’, a long w ith th e m em b ers o f p a r liam en t fo r th e

coun ties o f A n trim and D ow n. In 1847 th e C o rp o ra tio n fo r P re se rv in g and Im p ro v in g

th e P o rt and H a rb o u r o f B e lfas t w as reco n stitu ted in to th e B e lfa s t H a rb o u r

C o m m issio n ers u n d er th e B e lfas t H a rb o u r A c t.21 T he B e lfas t H a rb o u r C o m m issio n ers

w ith its h ead q u arte rs in C orp o ra tio n S quare rem ain s to th is day th e p o rt au th o rity in

B elfast.

W h en ex am in in g rail d ev e lo p m en t as op p o sed to po rt d ev e lo p m en t in D u b lin and

B e lfast, it is n ecessa ry to ack n o w led g e one im p o rtan t d iffe ren tia tin g fa c to r b e tw een

16 The Belfast Chamber o f Commerce was established in 1783 follow ing the exam ple o f those in Dublin and Glasgow. See Raymond Gillespie and Stephen A. Royle, Irish historic towns atlas, Belfast part 1, to 1840 (Dublin, 2003), p. 7.17 Robin Sweetnam, ‘The development o f the port’, in J.C. Beckett (ed.), Belfast: the making o f a city, 1800-1914 (Belfast, 1983), p. 58.18 Gillespie and Royle, Irish historic towns atlas, Belfast, p. 6.19 Sweetnam, ‘The development o f the port’, pp 58-9.20 Belfast Port and Harbour Act, 1831 (1 & 2 Will. IV, c. lv).21 Belfast Harbour Act, 1847 (10 & 11 Viet., c. lii).

9

th e tw o. W h ilst th e ad m in is tra tio n o f th e p o rts in b o th to w n s w as, and still is, in th e

h ands o f a s ing le g o v ern in g au thority , th e rail system in b o th to w n s w a s in th e h an d s

o f a n u m b er o f p riv a te in d ep en d en tly -ru n com pan ies. T h ese ra ilw a y co m p an ie s w ere

ico n s o f cap ita lism , d riv en by p ro fits and th e lu re o f h ea lth y d iv id en d s. O n ce th e

ra ilw ay rece iv ed p arliam en ta ry ap p ro v al th e re w as little need fo r th e co m p an y to

co m m u n ica te w ith th e local au th o ritie s as all rig h ts and title s to lan d s w ere b y th is

s tage a lready secured . T h is w as ce rta in ly th e case in b o th D u b lin an d B e lfa s t as th e

counc il m in u tes fo r b o th to w n s co n ta in no references to ra ilw ay co n s tru c tio n p rio r to

1860. T his o f co u rse is no t to say th a t th e co rp o ra tio n s w e re d is in te re s ted in u rb a n rail

d ev e lo p m en t in th e early years. I f th e co rp o ra tio n w as ag a in s t a sp ec ific ra ilw ay bill,

th a t b ill cou ld b e op p o sed in p arliam en t. H ow ever, o n ce th e ra ilw ay b ill rece iv ed

p a rliam en ta ry approval, th e re w as little th e m un ic ipa l co rp o ra tio n o r any o th e r

g o v ern in g au th o rity cou ld do to p rev en t its g o in g ahead. In m ost cases h o w ev er, a

w e ll-p lan n ed ra ilw ay w as a w e lc o m e ad d itio n to any to w n o r city , en h an c in g p u b lic

spaces th ro u g h h an d so m e a rch itec tu re w h ilst a t th e sam e tim e re -in v ig o ra tin g

u n d erd ev e lo p ed p arts o f th e tow n. P ro v id in g th e ra ilw ay com pany , in co n stru c tin g th e

ra ilw ay , d id n o t cause dam age to p u b lic p ro p erties , s tree ts and p av em en ts , o r did n o t

d ev ia te in any o th er w ay, fro m th e p o w ers o rig inally g ra n te d by p arliam en t, th en the

m u n ic ip a l au th o rity w as u su a lly co n ten t to have th e ra ilw ay en te r th e tow n.

T h e m ain ten an ce o f th e stree ts in b o th to w n s w as also p laced b ey o n d th e co n tro l o f

th e co rpo ra tions. In B e lfas t th e pav ing , c leansing and lig h tin g o f th e s tree ts w as

m an ag ed by th e n ew ly -estab lish ed p o lice co m m issio n e rs o f th e to w n u n d e r an act

p assed in 1800. U n d e r th is act th e co m m issio n e rs cou ld d ec id e in w h a t m an n er and

w ith w h a t m ateria ls th e stree ts shou ld b e paved , flag g ed o r rep aired ; a lso th e num b ers

o f lam ps to be lit a t n ight; and h o w o ften and in w h a t m an n er th e s tree ts shou ld be

c lean sed and th e soil d isposed of. In ad d ition all m o n ies ra ised u n d e r th is ac t w e re

p laced at th e d isposal o f th e co m m iss io n e rs .22 W ith re g a rd to w a te r supply, th e

co m m issio n ers , u n d er th e 1800 ac t had g iv en th e B e lfa s t C h aritab le S ocie ty

re sp o n sib ility fo r the to w n ’s supply , fo llo w in g th e g ran tin g b y th e M arq u is o f

D o n eg all to th e C h aritab le S ocie ty o f a n u m b er o f fre sh -w a te r sp rin g s in th e to w n in

22 First report of the commissioners ... Borough of Belfast, 261-2.

10

1795.23 In D u b lin the p av in g o f th e s tree ts had b een m an ag ed b y th e ap tly -n am ed

‘C o m m issio n ers fo r p av in g th e s tree ts o f D u b lin ’ e s tab lish ed u n d e r an ac t p a sse d in

1774.24 T h ese co m m issio n e rs lo o k ed a fte r th e p av in g o f th e s tree ts only , th e c lean sin g

and lig h tin g o f th e s tree ts b e in g m an ag ed by sep a ra te bod ies. A n a c t o f P a rliam en t

p assed in 1807 b ro u g h t all th ese w o rk s u n d e r th e ca re o f o n e board , the

‘C o m m iss io n ers fo r paving , c lean sin g and lig h tin g th e s tree ts o f D u b lin ’.25 In B e lfa s t

th e supp ly o f w a te r had b ee n u n d er the co n tro l o f th e B e lfa s t C h aritab le S o c ie ty u n til

1840 w h en th e B e lfas t W a te r A ct es tab lish ed th e B e lfa s t W a te r C o m m issio n ers , a

sep a ra te e lec ted bo d y w h ich rem a in ed o u ts id e th e co n tro l o f th e co rp o ra tio n .26

D u b lin ’s w a te r supply h o w ev er, had b ee n u n d e r th e co n tro l o f th e co rp o ra tio n as fa r

b ack as 1775 w h en an ag reem en t w as m ad e b e tw een th e G ran d C an a l C o m p an y and

th e co rp o ra tio n fo r th e la tte r to tak e su p p lies .27 In th e y ea rs im m ed ia te ly p reced in g

re fo rm th ere fo re , m u n ic ip a l g o v e rn m en t in b o th to w n s w as d isco rd a n t and sev e re ly

lack ed th e co -o rd in a tio n o f a s ing le u n ify in g body. A s th e p o rt au th o rity in D u b lin

ow n ed th e quays and bed o f th e L iffey , its app ro v al w as n ecessa ry fo r th e co rp o ra tio n

to carry o u t its m ain d ra in ag e schem e. In B e lfa s t d ra in ag e a lso im p ed ed on th e

h a rb o u r and w as som etim es in teg ra ted in to h a rb o u r im p ro v em en t p lans su ch as th e

1836 F lo a tin g D o c k schem e d esig n ed by W illiam C u b b itt (see F ig u re 2 .15, p. 72).

T h e p ro v is io n o f te leco m m u n ica tio n serv ices in th e la te n in e tee n th cen tu ry w a s in

m an y w ay s sim ila r to th e p ro v is io n o f w a te r supp lies and d ra in ag e fac ilitie s in th a t all

th ese system s re ly on co n d u its p laced u n d erg ro u n d . W h e n th e N a tio n a l T e lep h o n e

C o m p an y firs t co n sid ered lay in g its w ire s in D ub lin u n d erg ro u n d in 1897,

co m m u n ica tio n w as m ad e w ith th e com m issio n ers o f sew ers in L o n d o n as th is

p a rticu la r b o d y p o ssessed a de ta iled k n o w led g e o f u n d e rg ro u n d boring , h av in g ju s t

co m p le ted th e new m ain d ra in ag e system o f th a t c ity .28 H o w e v e r in th e ea rly y ea rs o f

te lep h o n e co m m u n ica tio n all w ire s w e re p laced o verhead on te lep h o n e p o les

23 R.W.M. Strain, Belfast an its Charitable Society (London, 1961), pp 181-204, also First report of the commissioners ... Borough of Belfast, 265-6.24 First report of the commissioners appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland, report on the City of Dublin, part 1, [25], H.C. 1835, xxvii, 155.25 Ibid., 159.26 A.G. Malcolm, ‘Sanitary inspections o f Belfast, part I s, in Belfast People’s Magazine (Belfast, 1848), pp 88-93.27 Charles N. O'Connor, ‘The history and development o f D ublin’s water supply’ in Irish Engineers: Journal of the Institution of Engineers of Ireland, xxix, 1976, p. 14.28 Printed minutes o f the Municipal Council o f Dublin, 1898, p. 31 (DCLA).

11

th ro u g h o u t th e streets. In o rd e r to do th is th e te lep h o n e co m p an y req u ired th e

p erm iss io n o f th e m u n ic ip a l au thority . M u n ic ip a l ap p ro v a l w as req u ired fo r a n u m b er

o f reaso n s, m ostly to do w ith w ay leav e . W ires a lso p o sed a c e rta in th rea t to th e p u b lic

in th e even t o f th em b eco m in g d e tach ed from th e po les o r b u ild in g s, o r ev en th e p o les

fa llin g d o w n in tim es o f h igh w inds. W h en in 1897, it w a s d ec id ed to lay th e w ires

u n d erg ro u n d , in te rfe ren ce w ith p u b lic stree ts and p av em en ts in c reased as la rg e -sca le

ex cav a tio n w o rk w as req u ired to acco m m o d ate the m ass o f w ires and co n d u its . In

o rd e r to ca rry o u t m ain ten an ce w o rk th e co m p an ies req u ired re g u la r access w h ich

co u ld on ly be a tta in ed v ia th e co rp o ra tio n ’s ex is tin g m an h o les , o r v ia n ew m an h o les

to b e co n stru c ted by th e te lep h o n e com pany. F o r th ese and m an y o th e r reaso n s it w a s

essen tia l th a t th e te lep h o n e co m p an y d eve loped a g o o d w o rk in g re la tio n sh ip w ith the

local u rb an o r ru ral au thority .

W h en th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y op en ed its f irs t ex ch an g e in Ire lan d it w as

lo ca ted on th e to p flo o r o f C om m ercia l B u ild in g s in D u b lin ’s D a m e S treet. T his

bu ild ing , w h ich still su rv ives in th e fo rm o f a re s tau ran t today , is s itu a ted in c lo se

p ro x im ity to the C ity H all, th en h ead q u arte rs o f th e m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n o f D ub lin .

T he te lep h o n e co m p an y im m ed ia te ly en tered n eg o tia tio n s w ith th e co rp o ra tio n fo r

p erm iss io n to hang th e ir w ire s th ro u g h and o v er th e c ity ’s s tree ts and bu ild ings. A s

co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een th e te lep h o n e com p an y and th e co rp o ra tio n w as co n tin u o u s,

th e co rp o ra tio n ass ig n ed all b u s in ess re la tin g to th e n ew te lep h o n es o v er to th e new ly -

fo rm ed g en era l p u rp o ses com m ittee . B ecau se th e te lep h o n e co m p an y w as so

d ep en d en t o n th e g o o d w ill o f th e corpo ration , it is n o t su rp ris in g th a t th e co rp o ra tio n

w as one o f th e first pub lic b o d ies to en joy te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een its

v a rio u s offices. T h e co m p an y o ffered special ra te s w h ic h th e m un ic ipa l co u n c il

h ap p ily accep ted . B e lfas t had also acqu ired te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n in 1880 w h e n

th e S co ttish T elep h o n ic E x ch an g e C o m pany secu red th e ap p ro v al o f th e co rp o ra tio n

to lay th e ir w ire s th ro u g h o u t th a t tow n. L a te r in 1880 th e U nited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y

also set up in B e lfas t and th e tw o rival co m p an ies o p e ra ted sep ara te ex ch an g es un til

b o th w ere tak en over by th e N a tio n a l T elep h o n e C o m p an y a few y ea rs later. A s in

D u b lin b o th te lep h o n e co m p an ies w ere d ep en d en t o n th e m u n ic ip a l au th o rity fo r

ap p ro v a l to o p era te in th e to w n o f B elfast. W h en it w a s d ec id ed in 1897 to p lace all

th e B e lfa s t te lep h o n e w ire s u n d e r ground, an ag reem en t w as d raw n up b e tw een th e

C o rp o ra tio n o f B e lfa s t and th e N ational T e lep h o n e C o m p an y ca lled th e ‘B e lfa s t

12

A g re em en t’ . T h is ag reem en t a llow ed th e com p an y to p lace ‘p ip es co n ta in in g e lec tric

w ires fo r te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n ’ u n d erg ro u n d , and to co n stru c t ‘m an h o les u n d e r

ce rta in s tre e ts ’, all u n d e r te rm s laid d o w n by th e m u n ic ip a l co rpo ra tion . In re tu rn fo r

its approval, th e com p an y w as to pay th e co rp o ra tio n a sum o f tw o sh illin g s and six

p en ce p e r annum fo r each su b scrib e r to th e B e lfas t ex ch an g e , and te n sh illin g s p e r

an n u m fo r each m an h o le bu ilt in th e s tree t.29 A s im ila r ag reem en t w as ad o p ted b y

D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n th e fo llo w in g y ea r w h ich p u t b o th m u n ic ip a l au th o ritie s in a v e ry

s tro n g p o sition fo r dea ling w ith th e te lep h o n e co m p an ies in b o th tow ns.

Parliamentary proceduresT h e m o st im p o rtan t to o l a t th e d isposal o f th e v ario u s o rg an iza tio n s and in s titu tes

re sp o n sib le fo r in itia ting and p ro v id in g u rban im p ro v em en ts w as th e p riv a te b ill. T he

p riv a te bill p ro cess gave rise to m u ch o f th e in fra s tru c tu re o f n in e tee n th and tw en tie th -

cen tu ry G rea t B rita in and Ire lan d .30 B e fo re th e firs t sod w as tu rn ed in any o n e o f th e

co u n tless canal, ra ilw ay , dock , w a te r and d ra in ag e sch em es im p in g in g on u rb an

lan d scap es, an ac t o f p a rliam en t w as n ecessary to san c tio n th e w o rk s. In o rd e r to

a tta in such an act, a long and o ften ted io u s p a rlia m e n ta ry p ro cess w as necessary .

H av in g firs t p resen ted a b ill to p arliam en t o u tlin in g th e p ro p o sed w orks, ev id en ce w as

th en h eard by a selec t co m m ittee o f b o th h o u ses o f p a rliam en t, fro m sep a ra te g ro u p s

su p p o rtin g and o p p o sin g th e p ro p o sed bill. T h is ev id en ce , co m p ris in g a lm o st five

m illio n m an u sc rip t pages o f tran sc rip ts and h o u sed in th e H o u se o f L o rd s R eco rd s

O ffice , in L ondon , has b een d esc rib ed as ‘one o f th e m ost im p o rtan t ex tan t

rep o sito rie s o f n in e teen th -cen tu ry o p in io n ’. M an y o f th e w o rk s ex am in ed in th is

s tudy are th e cu lm in atio n o f th e p riv a te bill p rocess.

T he m ain d is tin c tio n b e tw een a p riv a te and p u b lic b ill w as (an d still is) th a t a p riv a te

b ill m u st be pe titioned by so m eo n e ou tside p arliam en t, w h ils t a p u b lic b ill m u s t be

m o v ed by a m em b er o f e ither h o u se .32 U n lik e p u b lic b ills w h ich so u g h t to p ro m o te

29 Copy o f Belfast Agreement in ‘Report o f the paving committee, re: application from the National Telephone Company Limited, relative to the development o f telephonic communication, and laying down o f underground telephone wires’ in Reports and Printed Documents o f the Corporation o f Dublin (RPDCD), 1, 1897, pp 701-8.30 Dorian Gerhold, ‘Private b ill evidence’ in Witnesses before Parliament, a guide to the database o f witnesses in committees on opposed private bills, 1771-1917 (London, 1997), p. 5.31 Kenton Bamford, ‘Uses o f private bill evidence’ in Witnesses before Parliament, a guide to the database o f witnesses in committees on opposed private bills, 1771-1917 (London, 1997), p. 18.32 Maurice F. Bond, Guide to the records o f Parliament (London, 1971), p. 70.

13

w o rk s o f a genera l p u b lic ch a rac te r app licab le th ro u g h o u t th e land, th e p riv a te b ill

co n fe rred p o w ers and b en efits o u ts id e th e general law , on in d iv id u a ls an d g ro u p s such

as local au thorities, sta tu to ry co m p an ies o r p rivate co rp o ra tio n s . T h ese p o w e rs w ere

u su a lly con fined to spec ific localities. In o rd e r to o p p o se a p riv a te b ill, in d iv id u a ls o r

o rg an isa tio n s had to fu lfil th e c rite ria o f p o ssessin g , o r h o ld in g in tru s t, p ro p e rtie s

d irec tly affec ted by, o r th rea ten ed by th e changes p ro p o sed in th e b ill. F o r exam ple ,

th e D ublin , W ick lo w and W ex fo rd R ailw ay B ill, 1884, w as p ro m o ted by th e P o s t

O ffice to link up th e d isco n n ec ted term in i in D u b lin in an e ffo rt to sp eed up and

th e re fo re im prove th e d is trib u tio n o f m ail from B rita in th ro u g h o u t Ireland . H o w ev er,

as th e p ro jec t p ro m o ted th e co n stru c tio n o f a la rg e and cu m b erso m e ra ilw ay v iad u c t

c ro ssin g th e R iv e r L iffey im m ed ia te ly ad jacen t to th e e ig h teen th -cen tu ry C u sto m

H o u se , th e C o rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin , as tru s tees o f th is im p o rtan t pub lic b u ild in g , w e re

in a leg itim a te p o sitio n to p e titio n th e b ill.33 V ery fe w p riv a te b ills m an ag ed to slip

th ro u g h b o th h o u ses u n opposed .

B y fa r th e g rea te r p ro p o rtio n o f all b ills in tro d u ced in to p arliam en t, and certa in ly

th o se p erta in ing to th is study , o rig in a ted in th e H o u se o f C o m m o n s .34 T he p ro c ed u re

w as fo r a m em b er o f th e h o u se to p ropose a m o tio n to in tro d u ce th e b ill. O nce

p ro p o sed , th e b ill th e n w e n t th ro u g h tw o separate read in g s b e fo re p ro g ress in g to th e

co m m ittee stage w h ere w itn esses w ere exam ined . A fte r th e co m m ittee s tag e th e b ill

passed th ro u g h a rep o rt s tage w h ere am en d m en ts w e re m ad e b e fo re u n d e rg o in g a

th ird read in g w h ere fu rth e r am en d m en ts cou ld a lso be m ade. O n p ass in g th e th ird

read in g th e b ill w as th en sen t to th e H o u se o f L ords. T h e p assag e th ro u g h th e L o rd s

w as iden tical to th a t in th e C om m ons, a llo w in g fu rth e r am en d m en ts to be m ad e

d u rin g th e ap p ro p ria te stages. T he m ost im p o rtan t s tag e in b o th h o u ses w as th e

co m m ittee s tage in v o lv in g th e h earing o f w itnesses. A fte r an o p en in g p ream b le

o u tlin in g th e n ecessity o f th e p ro p o sed w orks, w itn esses w e re th en called . C o u n se l fo r

th e p ro m o ters u su a lly b eg an p ro ceed in g s by ca llin g th e ir o w n w itn esses fo r

ex am in a tio n (F ig u re 1.1). O nce counse l fo r th e p ro m o te rs had fin ish ed th e ir

exam ination , th e sam e w itn ess w as th en c ro ss-ex am in ed by co u n se l fo r th e

33 John Allen, inspector o f mails for Ireland, and Parke Neville, Dublin City engineer, evidence given before the select committee on the Dublin, W icklow and Wexford Railway Bill, 21 May 1884, ix (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/50/9).34 B ills relating to divorce and restitution o f honours and blood were introduced into the House o f Lords, see Bond, Guide to the records of Parliament, pp 59-60.

14

petitioners, and fin a lly re -ex am in ed by th e p ro m o te rs o n ce again. O n co m p le tio n o f

th e exam ination , c ro ss-ex am in a tio n , and re -ex a m in a tio n o f w itn esses fo r th e

p ro m o ters, counse l fo r th e p e titio n e rs th en p u t fo r th th e ir o w n case as to w h y th e bill

shou ld no t be a llow ed to p ass th ro u g h th e house, and th en ca lled th e ir o w n w itn esses

w h o w ere exam ined in a sim ilar m anner.35 A fte r th e ex a m in a tio n o f all w itn e sse s in

th e second house, th e ro o m w as th en c leared fo r a sh o rt b u t anx ious p erio d o f tim e, to

a llow th e co m m ittee to d e lib era te and m ake th e ir final d ec is io n . I f successfu l, th e b ill36

rem a in ed in th e H o u se o f L o rd s to aw ait R o y al A ssen t.

D u rin g th e co m m ittee s tag e o f p ro ceed in g s ev id en ce w a s u su a lly reco rd ed v e rb a tim

by a sho rthand w riter. T h is ev id en ce w as th en read aloud b y a c lerk to a ‘q u ick w r ite r ’

w h o reco rd ed it in a tran sc rip t. T h is tran sc rip t w as la te r read b ack to th e sh o rth an d

w rite r w h o com pared it w ith h is ow n no tes, and any n ecessa ry co rrec tio n s w ere

m ark ed in penc il by an o th e r clerk. A s co m m ittee s ittin g s u su a lly fin ish ed a t fo u r

o ’c lo ck p.m ., tran sc rip ts w e re frequen tly w o rk e d o n th ro u g h o u t th e n ig h t in o rd e r to

hav e am ended v ers io n s w ith counse l a t n in e a.m . th e fo llo w in g m orn ing , tw o ho u rs

b efo re the new d a y ’s p ro ceed in g s w ere schedu led to begin . T h ese am en d ed tran sc rip ts

n o w com prise th e m ain b o d y o f ev idence av a ilab le to re search ers in th e H o u se o f

L o rd s R eco rd s O ffice .37 E x tra copies o f tran sc rip ts w e re o ften n ecessa ry d ep en d in g on

th e am o u n t o f o p p o sitio n each b ill received . T h e m o re o p p o sitio n a b ill re ce iv ed , th e

m o re co p ies w e re m ad e o f th e ev idence. W h ere la rg e n u m b ers w ere req u ired , co p ies

w e re p rin ted by o rd e r o f th e house. In such cases th e sh o rth an d w rite r ’s o rig in a l

tran sc rip t w en t d irec tly to th e p rin ters and th e h o u se re ta in ed no m an u scrip t co p y o f

th e transcrip t. In su ch cases th e ev id en ce w as p rin ted in th e p a rliam en ta ry p ap e rs

instead . In a lm o st all ca ses there fo re , th e m an u scrip t tran sc rip ts in th e H o u se o f L o rd s

R eco rd s O ffice a re th e on ly ex tan t sam ples o f th e p a r tic u la r ev id en ce in question ,

p rin ted cop ies b e in g ex ceed in g ly rare.

35 Gerhold, ‘Private bill evidence’, p. 7.36 Bond, Guide to the records of Parliament, pp 60-61,37 Gerhold, ‘Private bill evidence’, p. 11.

15

F ig u re 1.1 A H o u se o f L o rd s C om m ittee in 1889

SourcesA s a study in u rb a n h isto ry , th is w o rk d raw s on a b ro ad range o f so u rces g en e ra ted

fro m n u m ero u s p u b lic and p riv a te o ffices in B rita in and Ire lan d o v e r a p e rio d

cov erin g alm ost a century , from 1830 to 1920. C o m p ris in g p a rliam en ta ry reco rd s ,

m un ic ipa l reco rd s , com p an y reco rds, th e re co rd s o f p riv a te co rp o ra tio n s and

g o v ern m en t dep artm en ts, th is ec lectic b o d y o f d o cu m en ta ry ev idence, h e ld in

rep o sito rie s in th e U n ited K in g d o m and Ire land , p ro v id es an in trig u in g p ap e r trail.

B ecau se th is stu d y is th em atic , co v erin g d iffe ren t asp ec ts o f u rb a n in fra s tru c tu re , th is

sec tion w ill ou tline , in acco rd an ce w ith each th em e, th e v ario u s sou rces u tilised .

A s th e various sch em es exam ined in th is s tudy cau sed co n sid erab le in te rfe ren ce w ith

land , the o ffices o f th e ‘C o m m issioners o f W o o d s, F o rests and L and R e v e n u e s ’ and

th e ‘B o ard o f T ra d e ’ w e re d raw n in to th e ex p an d in g w eb o f b u reau c racy to se ttle

m atte rs reg ard in g rig h ts and titles. T he reco rd s o f th ese o ffices h av e th e re fo re b een a

v ery im p o rtan t so u rce fo r th is w ork . T h e fo rm er o ffice, th a t o f W o o d s, F o res ts and

L an d R ev en u es, w as re sp o n sib le fo r su rvey ing , v a lu in g and m an ag in g all c row n

16

lands, and from 1821 its p o w er w as ex ten d ed to include th e g ran tin g o f leases, firs tly

in E n g lan d , th en la te r to inc lude Ire lan d (1827), S co tland (1 8 3 2 ) and th e Is le o f M an

(1835). T he B o a rd o f T rad e estab lished in 1861 had b een in ex is ten c e s ince 1786

u n d er th e m ore cu m b erso m e title T he L o rd s C o m m iss io n ers o f th e P riv y C o u n cil fo r

P ro m o tin g T rade. C on cern ed p rim arily w ith reg u la tin g tra d e b e tw een B rita in an d th e

co lonies, th e b o a rd ’s w o rk becam e in creasin g ly d o m estic w ith th e ad v e n t o f th e

in d u stria l revo lu tion . In th e 1840s the g ro w in g d em an d s o f ra ilw ay b u s in e ss en g ag ed

th e a tten tio n o f th e board , and in 1866 its fu n c tio n s w e re fu rth e r in c reased w h e n it

in h erited th e rig h ts o f th e C o m m issio n ers o f W o o d s and F o res ts to th e fo re sh o res

a ro u n d B rita in and Ireland . W ith th is n ew re sp o n sib ility th e w o rk o f th e b o a rd w as

ex tended to include h a rb o u r w o rk s, d ra inage w o rk s , th e lay in g o f su b m arin e te leg rap h

and te lep h o n e lines, and any o th er ty p e o f w o rk th a t im p in g ed on th e fo resh o re .

A lth o u g h th e b o ard had th e p o w er to g ran t its ap p ro v a l fo r p ro p o sed w o rk s, it w as a

lim ited p o w er as p arliam en t could, and o ften did, o v errid e its dec isions. In th e early

tw en tie th cen tu ry m any o f th e resp o n sib ilitie s o f th e B o ard o f T rad e w e re p assed on to

o th e r g o v ern m en t d ep artm en ts such as th e B o a rd o f A g ricu ltu re (1903), M in is try o f

L ab o u r (1917), and M in is try o f T ran sp o rt (1 9 1 9 ).38 T he reco rd s o f th e C o m m iss io n e rs

o f W o o d s and F o res ts and th e B o ard o f T rad e are p rese rv ed in T h e N a tio n a l A rch ives,

K ew (T N A ), in th e C R E S files and B T files. A n im p o rtan t co llec tio n o f B o a rd o f

T rad e reco rd s re la tin g to Ire land is held in th e N a tio n a l A rch iv es o f Ire lan d (N A I).

T he reco rd s o f th e tw o p o rt au tho rities and th e ir p red ece sso r bod ies, a re spread

am o n g st a n u m b er o f a rch iv es in Ire lan d and B ritain . In D u b lin th e p re se n t au thority ,

th e D u b lin P o rt C om pany had re ta in ed u n til 2004 , th e v ast m ajo rity o f th e re co rd s o f

its p red ecesso rs . In th is y ea r th e en tire a rch iv e w a s tran sfe rred fro m th e p o rt

h ead q u arte rs a t A lex an d ra R o ad to th e N a tio n a l C o lleg e o f Ire lan d in D u b lin ’s n o rth

dock lands, w h ere it is n o w in th e p ro cess o f b e in g re -ca ta logued . T o g e th e r w ith the

la rg e co llec tio n o f D u b lin P o rt m in u te b o o k s held in th e N A I, th is re p resen ts a very

full h is to ry o f th e P o rt o f D u b lin fro m the e ig h teen th cen tu ry to th e p resen t. T he

m in u te b o o k s con ta in deta iled and o ften len g th y rep o rts on w o rk s p lan n ed and in

38 Administrative and bibliographical background to Board o f Trade records and Crown Estate records in The National Archives, Kew (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk) (25 Oct. 2005).

17

p rogress, p ro v id in g u sefu l in sigh ts in to th e ev e ry d ay o p era tio n s in th e p o rt.39 A s m u ch

o f the la rg e -sca le ch an g e occu rred in th e p o rt a fte r 1870, th e sep a ra te rep o rts and

p lans o f th e c h ie f en g in eers du rin g th is p e r io d can b e p a rticu la rly g raph ic . O f

im p o rtan ce to th is stu d y are rep o rts o f th e c h ie f eng ineers, B in d o n B lo o d S to n ey fo r

th e years 1876 and 1877, and John P u rse r G riffith fo r th e years 1900 and 1901 (see

A p p en d ix X III fo r b io g rap h ica l in fo rm atio n o n th ese and o th e r p ro m in en t

en g in ee rs).40 In th e ea rlie r rep o rts S toney d iscu sses w o rk s in p ro g ress . W h ils t he

focuses m ain ly o n th e m assive w o rk s in v o lv ed in co n stru c tin g th e N o rth Q u ay

E x ten s io n and d ee p -w a te r basin , S toney also d iscu sses th e need fo r g rav in g d o ck

acco m m o d atio n , th e w a te r supply to th e C ustom H o u se D o ck s, th e e rec tio n o f a

v au ltin g h ouse and sheds, and th e erec tion o f tw e lv e lam p s on E ssex B rid g e (th e bed

o f th e R iv e r L iffey and its b rid g es b e in g u n d er th e co n tro l o f th e h a rb o u r au th o ritie s as

op p o sed to th e m un ic ipa l co rpo ra tion ). A lth o u g h S toney had b ro u g h t to th e b o a rd ’s

a tten tion as early as 1876 th e need fo r n ew g rav in g d o ck acco m m o d atio n , h is p lea

obv iously fell on d e a f ears as th is w as still a m ain to p ic o f d iscu ss io n in G rif f ith ’s

rep o rts o f 1901. T h e th ree rep o rts by G riffith each in c lu d e m ag n ifice n t co lo u red p lans

w h ich g iv e d e ta ils o f p roposa ls reg ard in g sh ip -b u ild in g y a rd s and g ra v in g do ck

accom m odation .

In ad d itio n to th e B o a rd o f T rad e reco rd s in T N A , th e re is a lso a la rg e B o a rd o f T rad e

co llec tio n in th e N A I. A m o n g st th ese a re a n u m b er o f en g in ee rin g p lan s fo r th e

co n stru c tio n o f th e d eep -w ate r basin and n o rth qu ay ex tension , and b ea rin g th e

s ig n atu re o f B in d o n B lo o d S toney. T h ese are p re se rv ed in th e B o a rd o f T rad e ‘B lack

S eries’ in th e N A I.41 T hese m aps co m p lem en t th e S toney rep o rts o f 1876 and 1877 in

th e D ublin P o rt A rch ive. A lth o u g h m o st o f th e w o rk s co n cern in g qu ay d eep en in g and

th e ex cav a tio n o f d eep -w a te r basins w as co n fin ed to th e q uays o n th e n o rth sh o re o f

39 Journal o f the Proceedings o f the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port o f Dublin (CPIPD minutes), 15 vols, 1840 to 1871 (NAI, Dublin Port and Docks Board, DPDB 1/17 - 31).40 See Reports o f Bindon Blood Stoney, 1 Aug. 1876, 8 Jan. 1877, also Reports and accompanying plans o f John Purser Griffith re Alexandra Basin, 17 Feb. 1900, 20 Feb. 1900, 2 July 1901 and 27 Aug. 1901 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).41 Proposed extension o f North Wall Basin, 26 Nov. 1883 (NAI, Board o f Trade black series, 3002.1, 3002.1a). Board o f Trade records in the NAI are divided into two series, the ‘black series’ and the ‘green series’. Works included in the black series were in all cases carried out, whilst in many cases, those in the green series were not.

18

th e R iv e r L iffey , im p o rtan t im p ro v em en t w as a lso b e in g m ad e to th e q u ay s o n th e

sou th ern side o f th e riv e r b e tw een 1860 and 1870 .42

A s a lm o st ev ery en g in ee rin g w o rk exam ined in th is stu d y req u ired p a rliam en ta ry

san c tio n b efo re w o rk com m enced , th e v ast co llec tio n o f p a r lia m e n ta ry reco rd s in th e

H o u se o f L o rd s R eco rd s O ffice, W estm in ster, p ro v id es th is s tu d y w ith its s in g le m ost

im p o rtan t source. T he m ain b o d y o f th is m ateria l re la tes to th e co n stru c tio n o f canals,

h arbours, ra ilw ays, d ra in ag e schem es, w a te r, gas and e lec tric ity w o rk s. H a rb o u r

re co rd s consu lted in th e H L R O re la te to the w o rk s p ro p o sed in th e B e lfa s t H a rb o u r

A cts, 1831 and 1847. T h e u n iq u e v a lu e o f th is a rch iv e is its d iversity . E n g in ee rin g

a sp ects o f w o rk s a re p a in stak in g ly reco rd ed in th e d e ta iled m aps, p lan s an d sec tions

o f th e w o rk s, g iv ing v a lu ab le in sig h ts in to th e m ind o f th e eng ineer. T h e p lans,

show ing su b -d iv id ed p lo ts o f land req u ired to b e tak en fo r th e w o rk s , are

su p p lem en ted by a b o o k o f re fe ren ce w h ich ac ts as a k ey to th e o w n ersh ip and

d esc rip tio n o f th e ind iv idual p lo ts. T h ese a re fu r th e r su p p lem en ted b y b o o k s o f

ev id en ce from v ario u s w itn esses (eng ineers , co n trac to rs , com p an y secretaries,

m erch an ts , sh o p k eep ers) b e fo re th e se lec t co m m ittee d e lib e ra tio n s on th e bill. T his

ev idence, m o st o f w h ich is u n p u b lish ed , is p a rticu la rly u se fu l as it g iv es b o th sid es o f

th e argum en t, b e in g th e tes tim o n ies o f th o se b o th su p p o rtin g and o p p o sin g th e b ill in

question . O th e r asso c ia ted docu m en ts su ch as estim ates o f ex p en se can a lso be found

w ith in th ese o u tsized files.

T h e la rg e -sca le tran sfo rm a tio n o f th e p o rt o f B e lfas t in th e 1830s and 1840s w as

fac ilita ted b y th e B e lfas t H a rb o u r A cts, 1831, 1837 and 1847. D u e to d ifficu lties in

ra is in g su ffic ien t capital, w o rk s sanc tioned in th e 1831 act w e re p u t on ho ld fo r so

lo n g th a t th e leg is la tio n exp ired m ak in g it n ecessary to p ro m o te a second b ill in

p arliam en t. T he 1837 ac t sanc tioned th e m ain w o rk s w h ich co m p rised th e cu ttin g o f a

s tra ig h t d ee p -w a te r channel th ro u g h th e m ud b an k s on e ith er s ide o f th e sh a llo w and

cu rv in g L ag an channel. T h is w as th e p lan p ro p o sed by th e en g in ee rin g firm o f W alk e r

and B u rg es and to g e th e r w ith th e acco m p an y in g b o o k s o f re feren ce , th e se d o cu m en ts

reveal th e en o rm o u s upheaval in v o lv ed in im p lem en tin g th ese m ass iv e w o rk s. A s

Jam es W a lk e r w as th e sen io r con su ltin g eng ineer, his ev id en ce is m o s t im p o rtan t fo r

42 Dublin Port and Docks Board sanction o f works at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, 23 Nov. 1871 (TNA, Ministry o f Trade, M T10/124).

19

u n d ers tan d in g th e p ro b lem s fac in g th e p o rt au tho rities a t th is ju n c tu re . In p o in tin g ou t

th a t th e h a rb o u r w as in su ffic ien t fo r th e ris in g trad e o f B e lfa s t he states: ‘T h e re w as

g rea t in co n v en ien ce aris ing ch iefly fro m th e w a n t o f w a te r, to ap p ro ach B e lfa s t a t low

w a te r and a w an t o f su ffic ien t dep th o f th e w a te r at th e quays, and a lso from th e

to rtu o u s n a tu re o f th e ch an n el.43 F ro m th is ev id en ce it b eco m es c lea r th a t deep w a te r

and ad d itio n al quay acco m m o d atio n w e re th e essen tia l req u irem en ts o f th e h a rb o u r in

1837.

L an d w as a k ey fa c to r in the d ev e lo p m en t o f th e h a rb o u r o f B e lfas t. In 1849 fo u r

m iles o f fo resh o re co m prising th o u san d s o f ac res o f m u d d y san d s k n o w n as

‘s lo b lan d s’ lay on e ith e r side o f th e n ew ly -ex cav a ted V ic to ria C h an n el s tre tch in g fro m

th e h a rb o u r to th e P oo l o f G arm oyle . T h ese lands w e re p art o f th e c ro w n es ta te and

w e re th e re fo re u n d er th e cu sto d y o f th e C o m m iss io n ers o f H is M a je s ty ’s W o o d s,

F o re s ts and L and R evenues. In o rd e r to ex tend th e h a rb o u r on b o th sid es o f th e

channel in C o u n ty A ntrim and C o u n ty D o w n , it w as essen tia l th a t th e h a rb o u r

co rp o ra tio n acq u ire th ese slob lands. C o rre sp o n d en ce b e tw een th e p o rt au th o ritie s and

th e C o m m issio n ers o f H is M a je s ty ’s W o o d s, F o res ts and L an d R ev en u e s is p rese rv ed

in a n u m b er o f C ro w n E sta te files in T h e N a tio n a l A rch ives, K e w .44 T h ese files co v e r

th e ev en tfu l p e rio d fro m 1832 to 1867 du rin g w h ich a n u m b er o f g ran ts w e re m ad e by

H is M a je s ty ’s C o m m issio n ers to th e H a rb o u r C o m m issio n ers fo r th e u n rec la im ed

m ud b anks and fo resh o res b e tw een th e L o n g B rid g e to th e P o o l o f G a rm o y le .45

A p p lica tio n s w ere also so u g h t fo r title to th e m ud b an k s on th e C o u n ty D o w n side o f

th e riv e r in o rd e r to co n stru c t m u ch -n eed ed d o ck acco m m o d atio n . T h ese ap p lica tio n s

p ro v id e d esc rip tio n s o f a b u stlin g p o rt in 1847 w ith q uays fu lly o ccu p ied by

‘s team e rs’ o f th e la rg est size (A p p en d ix l ) . 46 O ther d o cu m en ts am o n g st th e se files

reveal im p o rtan t in fo rm atio n re la tin g to th e p ro b lem o f en c ro ach m en ts o n h arb o u r

p ro p e rtie s a lo n g th e fo reshore; th e n ecess ity o f p ly ing a fe rry se rv ice ac ro ss the

43 James Walker, evidence given before the select committee on the Belfast Harbour Bill, 1837, v (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/3/5).44 See Belfast Harbour, sale to harbour corporation, 1832-52 (TNA, Crown Estate Records, CRES 58/1098); Belfast Harbour, Belfast Dock Acts, 1854-61 (TNA, Crown Estate Records, CRES 58/1099); Belfast Harbour, foreshore taken by Harbour Commissioners 1863-7 (TNA, Crown Estate Records, CRES 58/1100).45 Grant to Belfast harbour corporation of 885 acres o f sloblands, 11 July 1832, in Belfast Harbour, sale to harbour corporation, 1832-52 (TNA, Crown Estate Records, CRES 58/1098).46 Report o f the committee as to obtaining parliamentary title to mud banks in the County Down, 1847, in Belfast Harbour, sale to harbour corporation, 1832-52 (TNA, Crown Estate Records, CRES 58/1098).

20

ch an n e l on acco u n t o f th e rap id ly d ev e lo p in g d o ck ac co m m o d atio n o n th e C o u n ty

D o w n side; and d iscussions re la tin g to a p ro p o sed P e o p le ’s P ark .

T h e co llec tio n o f p a rliam en ta ry p lan s and asso c ia ted reco rd s in th e H L R O is b y fa r

th e m o st v a lu ab le so u rce fo r ra ilw ay h is to ry .47 M any o f th e p lans re co rd th e n u m ero u s

d ev ia tio n s from th e o rig inal ro u te in ad d itio n to a lte rn a tiv e lo ca tio n s fo r th e te rm inals ,48h e lp in g to reveal th e local p o litic s at p lay b eh in d th e scenes. O n th e la rg e -sca le

p lans, land su b -d iv is io n s a re p lo tted in d iv id u a lly and re fe rred to in a b o o k o f

re fe ren ce sim ilar to the p o rt p lans d iscu ssed above. T h e b o o k s o f re fe re n ce p ro v id e

de ta iled in fo rm atio n ab o u t th e ow ners, o ccup ie rs and le ssees o f th e req u ired lands,

re co rd in g w h e th e r in d iv idua ls assen ted o r d issen ted to th e ir lands b e in g taken . T hese

b o o k s also co n ta in b r ie f d esc rip tio n s o f th ese lands, fo r ex am p le ‘fie ld o r b u ild in g

g ro u n d ’, ‘b u ild in g g round and c a b in s ’, ‘h o u ses and y a rd s ’, ‘d istille ry , b re w ery and

s to re s ’, ‘fie ld and d em esn e’ .49

T he R A IL co llec tio n in T h e N a tio n a l A rch ives, K ew , co n ta in s ten s o f th o u san d s o f

re co rd s re la tin g th e h isto ry o f th e ra ilw ay s o f th e U n ited K in g d o m , in c lu d in g m any o f

th e early Ir ish ra ilw ays. T hese files co n ta in rep o rts and accoun ts, p ro sp ec tu ses , and

som e p a rlia m e n ta ry records. A s stan d in g o rders ob lig ed th e ra ilw ay co m p an ies to

d ep o sit cop ies o f th e ir p lans and b o o k s o f re fe ren ce w ith th e local c le rk s o f th e peace,

in ad d itio n to th o se d eposited in p arliam en t, m any o f th ese local re co rd s h av e fo u n d

th e ir w ay in to local and national rep o sito ries. T hose in T h e N a tio n a l A rch iv es, K ew ,

are to be found in R A IL 1066 and w h ils t th is sec tion co n ta in s m an y p lans, th e b o o k s

o f re fe ren ce are in m any cases m issin g fro m th e file. R A IL 1075 co n ta in s ra ilw ay

p ro sp ec tu ses , and th a t m arked R A IL 1075/305, th e p ro sp ec tu s o f th e w e ll-p lan n ed

D u b lin T ru n k C on n ectin g R ailw ay , 1864, has been m o st usefu l to th is study. T his

m e tro p o litan ra ilw ay w as u n fo rtu n a te ly n ev er built. H o w e v e r th e o rig in a l p lan and

d esc rip tio n o f th e w o rk s co n ta in ed in th e com pany p ro sp ec tu s show , ag a in s t all o th er

ev idence, th a t a w o rk ab le system o f in te rco n n ec ted ra ilw ays w as p o ss ib le fo r D ublin .

47 This collection can be consulted in HLRO, Westminster, accessed via the manuscript ‘Index to House o f Lords Plans’.48 See for example, Dublin and Drogheda Railway Bill, 1836 and Waterford, Wicklow, Wexford and Dublin Railway Bill, 1846, deposited plans (HLRO). The Waterford, Wicklow, Wexford and Dublin Railway incorporated in 1846, became the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway, 1859.49 Dublin and Kingstown Railway Bill, 1831, deposited plans and book o f reference (HLRO).

21

U n d e r th e R eg u la tio n o f R a ilw ay s A ct, 1840, th e B o ard o f T ra d e w as g iv en p o w ers to

ap p o in t ra ilw ay in specto rs. In re sp o n se to th e fren z ied b o u t o f ra ilw ay co n stru c tio n

du rin g th is period , the B o ard o f T rad e set up a sep ara te re g u la to ry b o d y also in 1840,

k n o w n as th e R a ilw ay D e p artm en t o f th e B o a rd o f T rad e .50 A s o n e o f few g o v e rn m en t

reg u la to rs o f ra ilw ays, th e R a ilw ay D e p artm en t o f th e B o ard o f T ra d e is an im p o rtan t,

y e t u n d eru sed so u rce fo r ra ilw ay h istory . T ak en o v er by th e M in is try o f T ra n sp o rt in

1919, m any d o cu m en ts o rig in a lly g en e ra ted by th e R a ilw ay D e p a rtm en t o f th e B o ard

o f T rade are to b e found in th e M in is try o f T ran sp o rt file s in T h e N a tio n a l A rch ives,

K ew . W h en the D u b lin and D ro g h ed a R a ilw ay and th e U ls te r R a ilw ay w ere n ea rin g

co m p le tio n in th e early 18 40s m uch co n tro v e rsy a ro se su rro u n d in g th e m easu rem en ts

o f th e g au g e to be u sed fo r each ra ilw ay . A s it w as p lan n ed fro m th e o u tse t fo r th e tw o

in d iv id u a l ra ilw ay s to jo in up at som e stage, it w as e ssen tia l th a t b o th co m p an ies

ag reed to a s tandard gauge. M T 6 /1 /2 8 6 is an 1843 re p o rt o n g au g es by th e en g in ee r o f

th e U ls te r R ailw ay . A lso am o n g st th e M T files is M a jo r P a s le y ’s re p o rt on his

in sp ec tio n o f th e D u b lin and D ro g h ed a R a ilw ay on its co m p le tio n . T h is rep o rt is

rep ro d u ced in fu ll in A p p en d ix II I o f th is study.

T he B o ard o f T rad e reco rd s in th e N a tio n a l A rch iv es o f Ire lan d co m p rise ab o u t

10,000 m ap s and p lan s o f v a rio u s w o rk s. A s m en tio n ed th ese are d iv id ed in to tw o

m ain series, th e ‘b lack se r ie s ’ and the ‘g reen se r ie s ’. R a ilw ay reco rd s am o n g st th e

g reen series in c lu d e m aps and p lan s o f schem es fo r u n itin g th e D u b lin ra ilw ay

te rm in a ls w h ich n ev er rece iv ed app ro v al such as th e D u b lin C en tra l R a ilw ay s .51 T h is

p lan to u n ite th e B ro ad sto n e te rm in a l o f th e M id lan d G rea t W este rn R a ilw ay w ith the

A m ien s S tree t te rm in al o f th e G rea t N o rth e rn R a ilw ay b y cu ttin g th ro u g h som e o f th e

m ost p ro m in en t th o ro u g h fa res in th e city , m erc ifu lly n ev e r rece iv ed au tho risa tion .

U ls te r T ra n sp o rt A u tho rity files in th e P u b lic R eco rd s O ffice o f N o rth e rn Ire lan d also

con ta in a w ide v a rie ty o f ra ilw ay sou rces in c lu d in g som e im p o rtan t m aps and p lan s o f

th e B e lfa s t ra ilw ays. A s B e lfas t su ffered sim ilar p ro b lem s to D u b lin reg ard in g th e

iso la tio n o f its th ree term inals , p ro p o sa ls w ere also p u t fo rw ard in th a t to w n fo r

rem ed y in g th is p rob lem . T h e sch em e fin a lly chosen w a s th e so m ew h a t u n su ccessfu l

B e lfas t C en tra l R ailw ay , 1864. F ile U T A /30 /B /1 in th e P u b lic R eco rd s O ffice o f

50 C liff Edwards, Railway records, a guide to sources (London, 2001), p. 35.51 Plans and sections for the Dublin Central Railways and Stations Bill, 1871-2 (NAI, Board o f Trade green series, 1564).

22

N o rth e rn Ire lan d co n ta in s the o rig in a l m aps, p lans and re la ted d o cu m en ts re le v an t to

th is ra ilw ay . T he m a jo r re p o s ito ry in Ire lan d fo r ra ilw ay re c o rd s is in th e h ead q u arte rs

o f Ia rn ro d E ireann , H eu sto n S tation, D ublin . In ad d itio n to th e p riv a te lib rary o f th e

Ir ish R a ilw ay R eco rd Society , H eu sto n S ta tion also ho ld s in its b asem en t an

im p ress iv e co llec tio n o f m in u te books, acco u n ts and led g e rs o f all th e m ain ra ilw ay

co m p an ies b eg in n in g in th e 1830s.52 T h ese reco rd s, to g e th e r w ith o th e r re la ted

sou rces, have a llow ed a u sefu l case study on th e v a rio u s s tag es in v o lv ed in

e s tab lish in g a th ro u g h line o f co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een D u b lin and B elfast.

T h e m o st im p o rtan t so u rce fo r the m ain d ra in ag e w o rk s and w a te r supp lies in b o th

to w n s are th e reco rd s o f th e m u n ic ip a l corporations. In D u b lin th e se reco rd s a re still

in th e cu s to d y o f D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n and can be co n su lted in th e D u b lin C ity L ib ra ry

and A rch ive , P ea rse S treet. F o r th e p e rio d from 1840, th e y ea r o f th e M u n ic ip a l

R efo rm (Ire lan d ) A ct, to th e p resen t, th e re is a fu ll co llec tio n o f th e m in u te s o f th e

m u n ic ip a l council o f D ublin . T h ese m inu tes a re in m an u sc rip t fo rm o n ly fro m 1840 to

1880, how ever, a lth o u g h m ain ta in ed in m an u scrip t fo rm th ereafte r , th ey are also

p rin ted fro m 1881. F o r th e p erio d from 1869 o n w ard s th e se m in u tes a re su p p lem en ted

b y a f in e series o f p rin ted rep o rts w h ich re co rd th e ac tiv ities o f th e v a rio u s

co m m ittees o f th e co rp o ra tio n and th e ir reco m m en d a tio n s to th e co u n c il.53 T hese

reco rd s to g e th e r w ith th e rep o rts o f th e city eng ineer, P a rk e N ev ille , h av e b een m o st

u sefu l fo r m ateria l re la tin g to th e m ain d ra in ag e sch em e and w a te r su p p ly in D u b lin .54

A lso o f im p o rtan ce are th e pap ers d ep o sited by th e W a te r W o rk s C o m m ittee o f

D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n am o n g st w h ich is th e d iary o f S p en ce r H arty , th e m an w h o

succeeded P a rk e N e v ille as city en g in ee r in 1886. T h is p a r tic u la r d iary w a s crea ted

d u rin g H a r ty ’s p e rio d as a ss is tan t to N ev ille on the V a rtry w a te r w o rk s sch em e and

d o cu m en ts the n u m ero u s p ro b lem s th a t could b e en co u n te red on a daily b as is in

a ttem p tin g to get th e sch em e in to p ro p e r w o rk in g o rd e r (A p p en d ix V I). T he m aps,

52 Records consulted for this study include Board Minutes, Proprietors’ Minutes and Works Committee Minutes for the Dublin and Drogheda Railway 1835-45; Board Minutes for the Ulster Railway 1836- 41; Board Minutes and Works Committee Minutes for the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway 1844-7 and 1845-8.53 See Mary Clark, ‘The Municipal Archives o f Dublin’ in Irish Archives Bulletin, Journal of the Irish Society for Archives, xi, 1981. pp 12-18." Reports and Printed Documents for the Corporation of Dublin, 1869-1920; Manuscript minutes of Dublin City Council, vols. 14-23, Feb. 1847 to Sept. 1863 (DCLA, C2/A1/14-23); Printed minutes o f Dublin City Council, 1880-1920 (DCLA); Parke Neville, Report to the Right Hon., The Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and councillors of the City o f Dublin, on the general state of the public works of the city under their control (Dublin, 1869).

23

plans, b o o k s o f re fe ren ce and ev id en ce o f th e D u b lin M ain D ra in ag e S chem e, 1871 in

th e p arliam en ta ry reco rd s in W estm in s te r have a lso p ro v ed m o st usefu l fo r th is study.

In h is ev id en ce su p p o rtin g th e m ain d ra in ag e schem e, D r E d w a rd M ap o th er, c h ie f

m ed ica l o ffice r fo r D u b lin at th is p e rio d d escrib ed th e s ta te o f th e R iv e r L iffey as

‘very d isg u s tin g to th e sen se s’.55

In B e lfa s t th e C o rp o ra tio n reco rd s are no lo n g er in th e cu s to d y o f B e lfa s t C ity

C ouncil, h av in g b een tran sfe rred in 2001 to th e P u b lic R eco rd s O ffice o f N o rth e rn

Ire lan d (P R O N I). T h is o u ts tan d in g co llec tio n co n ta in s a w e a lth o f ad m in is tra tiv e

reco rd s in c lu d in g am o n g o th er th ings, m an u scrip t council m in u te s fro m th e 1750s, th e

p ap e rs o f various council com m ittees, fin an c ia l reco rd s, co rresp o n d en ce fro m

p rev io u s L o rd M ayors, and an ex ten s iv e co llec tio n o f o p era tio n a l p ap e rs re la tin g to

th e ru n n in g o f the g asw o rk s and also tran sp o rt u n d ertak in g s. T h is m ateria l w as

g en e ra ted fro m th e o ffices o f B e lfa s t C ity C o u n c il and its p re d ece sso r bod ies, and

rep resen ts a round tw o hundred years o f local g o v e rn m en t in N o rth e rn Ire la n d ’s

p rin c ip a l city.

M an u sc rip t sou rces fo r th e p riv a te te leg rap h and te lep h o n e co m p an ies o p era tin g in th e

n in e teen th and early tw en tie th cen tu ry are sca tte red and e lusive . T he m o st im p o rtan t

so u rce fo r early te leco m m u n ica tio n s in Ire lan d is th e v a lu ab le co llec tio n o f m ate ria l

fro m th e o ld E irco m A rch iv e w h ich w as tran sfe rred to th e N a tio n a l A rch iv es o f

Ire lan d in 2 0 0 1 .56 T h is co llec tio n com prises o v er 650 b o x es o f m ateria l d a tin g from

1870 o n w ard s and has y e t to b e ca ta logued . W h ils t th e b u lk o f th is m ate ria l is p o s t

1960 th e re is still a substan tia l co llec tio n o f im p o rtan t d o cu m en ts re la tin g to w o rk s

ca rried o u t b e tw een 1870 and 1920. A lth o u g h access is n o t y e t ava ilab le to th ese

reco rd s som e u sefu l in d ex es to th ese reco rd s are in th e p o ssess io n o f th e au th o r.57

T h ese in d ex es re la te to ‘W o rk s O rd e rs ’, ‘S p ecifica tio n B o o k s ’, ‘R e co rd s req u irin g

co rrec tio n ’ and deta ils o n ‘P riv a te w ire s and re n ta ls ’.58 T he ‘P riv a te w ires and re n ta ls ’

55 Dr Edward Mapother, Chief M edical Officer o f Health for Dublin, evidence given before the select committee on the Dublin Main Drainage Bill, 1870 (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/37/16).56 See Report of the Director of the National Archives for 2001, part 6.3.57 These indexes are copies which have been passed on to the author from Thomas Wall, Eircom archivist, 1985-2001.,s Every significant job undertaken by the Post Office Engineering Branch (POEB) generated a Work Order, hundreds of which survive from c. 1870 to c. 1932. These contain correspondence between the POEB, the railway companies and the contractors, as well as information on prices and materials used. Amongst the ‘Specification B ooks’ is a volume compiled c. 1870 which details existing ‘British and

2 4

in d ex is i tse lf a v a lu ab le so u rce as it con ta ins in fo rm a tio n on th e re n te r (A dm ira lty ,

B o ard o f W orks, C h ie f S ec re ta ry ’s O ffice, W ar D ep artm en t), p o in ts co n n ec ted

(L e in s te r H o u se to th e N a tio n a l G allery , C h ie f S e c re ta ry ’s L o d g e to U n d er

S ec re ta ry ’s L odge, D u b lin C astle to L inenhall B arrack s), da te w o rk s co m m en ced and

ty p e o f in s tru m en t (te lephone, p rin ter, sounder, repeater).

T h e m o st v a lu ab le te leco m m u n ica tio n sou rce u sed in th is s tudy is a ra re co p y o f

T h o m as S an g er’s and F .E . B a in e s ’ Reports on circuit arrangements, Post Office

telegraphs, Ireland (D ublin , 1870). T hese b o u n d re p o rts a re p a rt o f the

ab o v em en tio n ed E irco m co llec tio n n o w in th e N a tio n a l A rch iv es o f Ire lan d and n o t

y e t av a ilab le fo r consu lta tion . A co p y o f th ese rep o rts in th e p o ssess io n o f th e au th o r

h o w ev er h as p ro v id ed a w e a lth o f im p o rtan t m ateria l o n th e lo ca l te leg rap h c ircu its in

D u b lin and B e lfa s t in 1870 and th e im p ro v em en ts im p lem en ted by th e P o s t O ffice .59

Literature reviewA g ro w in g co rp u s o f lite ra tu re o n the th em e o f n e tw o rk s and n e tw o rk ed u rb an

in fra s tru c tu re has been p u b lish ed o v er th e last five to te n years. M u ch o f th is m ate ria l

is th e w o rk o f social sc ien tis ts d raw n fro m th e d isc ip lin es o f g eo g rap h y and socio logy .

A re cen t ad d itio n is th e th o u g h t-p ro v o k in g m u lti-d isc ip lin a ry co llec tio n o f essays

titled Ihe network society: a cross-cultural perspective (C h elten h am , 2004), ed ited b y

M an u e l C astells, th e d o y en o f u rb an n e tw o rk theo ry . In th is v o lu m e, th e w o rk o f a

n u m b er o f au thors, C aste lls sp eak s ab o u t a g lobal n e tw o rk so c ie ty w h ich he d efin es as

£a so c ie ty w h o se social s tru c tu re is m ad e o f n e tw o rk s p o w e red b y m ic ro e lec tro n ics-

based in fo rm atio n and co m m u n ica tio n te ch n o lo g ie s ’ .60 T o d a y ’s d ig ita l so c ie ty is very

m u ch at th e cen tre o f th is pu b lica tio n , as it exam ines th e n e tw o rk socie ty as it ex is ts in

th e tw en tie th -firs t cen tury . A lth o u g h th is w o rk g iv es an ex ce llen t in sig h t in to th e

im p lica tio n s o f th e ev o lu tio n ary p ro cess o f n e tw o rk s fo r to d a y ’s age, it does no t

in c lu d e w ith in its scope th e ea rlie r s tages o f n e tw o rk ed d ev e lo p m en ts in th e

n in e teen th cen tury . In h e r essay R o sa lin d W illiam s o ffe rs an h is to ria n ’s v iew on the

Irish Magnetic Telegraph Company’ and ‘Electric and International Telegraph Company’ circuits with sketch maps o f the circuits. ‘Records requiring correction’ contain details o f som e o f the earliest telephone circuits installed by the Post Office in the 1880s. ‘Private wires and rentals’ cover the period from 1890-1910.59 This copy has been provided by Thomas Wall.60 Manuel Castells, ‘Informationalism, networks, and the network society: a theoretical blueprint’ in Manuel Castells (ed.), The network society: a cross-cultural perspective (Cheltenham, 2004), p. 3.

25

n e tw o rk society. W illiam s asks ab o u t th e re la tio n b e tw een n e tw o rk s and history .

‘W h a t does it m ean to iden tify a s tage o f h is to ry w ith a s tag e o f te c h n o lo g y ? ’61

W illiam s d iscu sses th e ‘w ay th e co n cep t o f “tech n o lo g y ” en te red th e s tu d y o f

h is to ry ’ .62 B eg in n in g in th e sev en teen th cen tu ry , it w as u sed b y h is to rian s as a to o l fo r

co n n ectin g the p as t w ith th e p re sen t and v ice versa. B y th e e ig h teen th cen tu ry th is had

lead to a n ew u n d ers tan d in g o f ‘h isto ry as th e re co rd o f p ro g re s s ’ .63 In h e r a rg u m en t

W illiam s re fers to th e im p o rtan ce o f reco g n iz in g th e ‘re f le x iv e ’ p ro cess in study,

w h ere th e ac to rs and ag en ts o f social co n stru c tio n in co n tem p o ra ry so c ie ty h av e

th em se lv es been sh ap ed by ‘tech n o lo g ica l fo rces and e v e n ts ’ in th e p a s t.64 T h ro u g h o u t

th is v o lu m e th e a rg u m en t ad v an ced is th a t tech n o lo g ica l ch an g e c a n h u g ely a lte r the

h u m an condition , th e re fo re by accep tin g th is fact, W illiam s co n c lu d es th a t it can also

‘in ten sify th e p ro cesses o f h isto rica l ch an g e’.65

F irs t p u b lished in 2001 , S tep h en G rah am and S im on M a rv in ’s Splintering urbanism:

networked infrastructures, technological mobilities and the urban condition, o ffers

one o f th e firs t co m p reh en siv e ana lyses o f n e tw o rk ed in fra s tru c tu re w h ils t a lso

reco g n iz in g th e im p o rtan ce o f th e past. In th is w o rk th e au th o rs iden tify a ‘g en e ra l

m o v em en t’ b e tw een ab o u t 1850 and 1960 in w e ste rn c ities, fro m th e ‘p iecem ea l and

frag m en ted p ro v is io n o f n e tw o rk ed in fra s tru c tu res to an em p h asis o n cen tra lised and

stan d ard ised sy s tem s’.66 T h is p ro cess e lev a ted th e u rb a n en g in ee r as th e ‘p a ra g o n ’ o f

th e ‘pu b lic w o rk s re fo rm cu ltu re ’. In itia lly fed by co n c e rn o v e r d isease , d ea th ra tes,

p o o r hea lth and w o rk in g cond itions, re fo rm ers lo o k ed to sc ien tific p ra c tice and

n e tw o rk tech n o lo g ies as th e m ean s o f b rin g in g ‘san ita tion , c lean lin ess , ra tio n a lity and

o rd e r to th e tro u b led and ap p a ren tly ch ao tic in d u stria l m e tro p o lis ’.67 P ro v id in g access

to th ese n e tw o rk s th e re fo re becam e m ore and m o re asso c ia ted w ith th e idea ls o f

m o d ern u rb an society .

61 Rosalind Williams, ‘Afterword: an historian’s view on the network society’ in Castells (ed.), The network society, pp 433-4.62 Ibid., p. 434.63 Ibid., pp 434.64 Ibid., pp 434.65 Ibid., pp 445.66 Graham and Marvin, Splintering urbanism, p. 40,67 Ibid., p. 44.

2 6

T he h in terlan d s o f D u b lin and B e lfa s t p layed a m a jo r ro le in th e d ev e lo p m en t o f th e se

tw o to w n s in th e n in e teen th century . M u ch o f th e p ro d u c e sold in th e m ark e ts in each

to w n su ch as cattle , pigs, g ra in and v eg e tab les (an d in th e case o f B e lfas t, flax), w as

g ro w n o r b red in th e su rro u n d in g to w n s and v illages. L a rg e sec tio n s o f th e lab o u r

fo rce u p o n w h ich th e b rew eries, sh ipyards and m ills in ea ch to w n d epended , had also

com e in to th e to w n from th ese su rround ing reg io n s. S tud ies o f th ese reg io n a l d is tric ts ,

th e D u b lin and B e lfa s t conurbations, m ake an im p o rta n t co n trib u tio n to th e

u n d erstan d in g o f each to w n ’s social, econom ic , po litica l and cu ltu ra l h isto ry . T .W .

F re e m a n ’s c lass ic w o rk , Ireland, its physical, historical, social and economic

geography (L ondon , 1950), d iv ides the co u n try in to tw e lv e k ey reg io n s am o n g st

w h ich are in c lu d ed th e ‘D u b lin and east cen tral lo w lan d re g io n ’ and th e ‘east U ls te r

re g io n ’ . F reem an ex am in es all tw e lv e reg io n s u n d e r a n u m b er o f g eo g rap h ic th em es

am o n g st w h ich a re in c lu d ed stru c tu re and lan d fo rm s, tra d e and industry , and

com m unications.

In 1981 th e ce leb ra ted Irish Historic Towns Atlas w a s firs t launched . T h irteen

sep a ra te fasc ic les o f th is a tlas h av e since b ee n p u b lish ed and th ir te en m o re a re in th e

p ro cess o f p repara tion , each te llin g th e sto ry in m ap s an d te x t o f I re la n d ’s h is to rica lly

sig n ifican t tow ns. O f sp ec ific re lev an ce to th e p re sen t stu d y are th e fa sc ic les on

D u b lin and B e lfa s t.68 A lth o u g h th ese v o lu m es co v e r p erio d s p rio r to th a t co v e red in

th e p re sen t study, th e m ap s g iv e v ital in fo rm a tio n o n th e site and situ a tio n o f each

to w n and its physical h eritag e , especia lly th e slo b lan d s and riv e rs b e fo re th e p e rio d o f

la rg e -sca le u rb an iz a tio n in th e la te e ig h teen th cen tu ry . In ad d itio n to th e m aps, each

atlas also co n ta in s im p o rtan t g aze ttee r in fo rm a tio n o n s tree t nam es, b u ild in g s and

o th er elem en ts o f th e c ity fabric.

D u b lin is w ell served by an ex tensive and w id e -ran g in g lite ra tu re . T h e f irs t p o rt o f

call fo r any serious stu d en t o f D u b lin ’s p as t is Jo h n T. G ilb e rt’s Calendar o f ancient

records o f the City o f Dublin, 19 vols. (D ublin , 1889-1944). T h is w as p reced ed by a

th ree -v o lu m e h is to ry o f th e c ity by th e sam e a u th o r co m p le ted b e tw e en 1854 and

68 H.B. Clarke, Irish Historic Towns Atlas, Dublin Part 1, to 1610 (Dublin, 2002), and Raymond Gillespie and Stephen A. Royle, Irish Historic Towns Atlas, Belfast Part I, to 1840 (Dublin, 2003).

27

18 5 9 69 E arlie r w o rk s on th e city include S am uel L e w is ’ Topographical Dictionary o f

Ireland, co n ta in in g v ery u se fu l d a ta on D u b lin c ity and co u n ty in th e ea rly n in e teen th

cen tu ry .70 A n u m b er o f genera l su rveys o f th e c ity o f D u b lin h av e ap p eared d u rin g th e

las t tw en ty to th ir ty years. A lthough w e ll-w ritte n and co n ta in in g an ab u n d a n ce o f

h is to rica lly s ig n ifican t m ateria l, som e o f th ese s tu d ies u n fo rtu n a te ly are co m p le te ly

b ere ft o f fo o tn o tes o r re ferences. T h is is p a rticu la rly u n fo r tu n a te in th e case o f P e te r

P e a rso n ’s The heart o f Dublin (D ublin , 2 000) in w h ich a g rea t deal o f p a in s tak in g

a rch iva l re search is ren d ered v a lu e le ss to h isto rica l re sea rc h as it lack s re fe ren ces . A n

ea rlie r w o rk on D u b lin by P e te r S o m erv ille -L arg e also su ffers fro m a s im ila r

d efic ien cy .71

Dublin through space and time, c. 900-1900 (D ublin , 2 0 0 1 ) ed ited b y Jo sep h B rad y

and A n n g re t S im m s, and Dublin: building the suburbs, 1910-1940 (D ublin , 2 0 0 2 ) by

R u th M cM an u s are th e firs t tw o v o lu m es o f a new series o n D u b lin fro m th e

D e p artm en t o f G eography , U C D . B o th v o lu m es b rin g to g e th e r in a co llec tio n o f w ell-

w ritten and in fo rm ativ e essays, th e m ost recen t re search o n th e spatial d ev e lo p m en t o f

D u b lin c ity o v er th e las t m illennium . W h ils t th e fo rm er w o rk ed ited b y B ra d y and

S im m s co v ers a b ro a d spectrum o f th em es in c lu d in g th e o rig in s and g ro w th o f th e

early tow n , th e d es ig n o f th e e ig h teen th -cen tu ry cap ita l, th e d em ise o f th e n in e teen th -

cen tu ry city and th e co m m erc ia lism o f ea rly tw en tie th -c en tu ry D ublin , th e la tte r s tudy

b y M cM an u s co n cen tra te s on th e g ro w th o f th e sub u rb s in th e early to m id -tw en tie th

cen tury . U n lik e S eam as O M a itiu ’s w o rk w h ich co n cen tra te s on th e flig h t o f th e

P ro te s tan t m id d le -c lasses from the city en v iro n m en t to set up th e su b u rb an to w n sh ip s

o f R a th m in es and P em b ro k e in th e ea rly n in e teen th cen tu ry , here M cM an u s fo cu ses

h er a tten tio n on th e w o rk in g -c lass C ath o lics w h o fled th e in n er-c ity in th e tw en tie th

cen tu ry to p erip h e ra l areas such as C rum lin , B a lly fe rm o t, M arin o and C abra . A

n u m b er o f im p o rtan t un p u b lish ed th eses h av e also dealt w ith v a rio u s a sp ec ts o f

n in e teen th -cen tu ry D u b lin ’s g ro w th and social d ev e lo p m e n t.72

69 J.T. Gilbert, History of the City of Dublin (3 vols, Dublin, 1854-9). Quite a number o f studies focus on the areas surrounding the city o f Dublin.70 Samuel Lewis, Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (London, 1837).71 Peter Somerville-Large, Dublin (London, 1979).72 John H. Martin, ‘Aspects o f the social geography o f Dublin city in the mid-nineteenth-century’ (M.A. thesis, University College Dublin, 1973) and Seamas O Maithi, ‘The Rathmines township and urban district local government in Dublin, 1847-1930’ (Ph.D. thesis, NUI Maynooth, 2001).

28

F o r specific stud ies on n in e teen th -cen tu ry D ub lin , M ary D a ly ’s ren o w n ed w o rk on th e

social and eco n o m ic co n d itio n s o f th e ‘d ep o sed c a p ita l’ h as b ec o m e a s tan d ard

re fe ren ce .73 A la te r te x t b y Jac in ta P ru n ty m ain ta in ed th is h ig h stan d ard d ea lin g w ith

m a tte rs o f p u b lic h ea lth and housing a lo n g sid e n ew q u estio n s o f p o o r re lie f, ch u rch

charities, and ch ild ca re .74 A s the w o rk o f an h is to rica l g eo g rap h er, P ru n ty ’s v o lu m e

re lies heav ily on m ap p in g o f v ario u s in d ica to rs - ten em e n t housing , re c ip ien ts o f

re lief, obn o x io u s land u ses - to co n stru c t a social g eo g rap h y o f th e c ity .75 In th ese tw o

v o lu m es a lo n e is co n ta in ed a w ea lth o f o rig inal m ateria l and in s ig h ts in to th e social

fab ric o f n in e teen th -cen tu ry D ublin .

F o r B elfast, th e re are a n u m b er o f n in e teen th -cen tu ry w o rk s w h ic h p ro v id e g o o d

sta rtin g p o in ts fo r any study o f th e early tow n . M o st no tab le o f th e se is G e o rg e B e n n ’s

m o n u m en ta l w o rk , A history o f the town o f Belfast (B elfast, 1877), w h ich as th e title

suggests, traces th e early d ev e lo p m en t o f th e to w n u p un til th e la te n in e teen th -

cen tury , and co n ta in s facsim iles o f sev era l early m aps illu s tra tin g th is d ev e lo p m en t. In

1874 th e firs t co m p ila tio n study o f th e to w n w as p u b lish ed by th e B ritish A sso c ia tio n

fo r th e A d v an cem en t o f S cience, to m ark th e o ccas io n o f th e ir firs t m ee tin g in th e

to w n .76 In 1921 D av id O w en, h av ing recen tly co m p le ted a m o n o g rap h on th e p o rt o f

B e lfa s t,77 p u b lish ed his History o f the town o f Belfast..1* D u rin g th e ea rly to m id ­

tw en tie th cen tu ry , a large am o u n t o f p io n ee rin g re search w as ca rried o u t by th e

ren o w n ed h isto rical geo g rap h er, E. E s ty n E v an s, o f th e D e p artm en t o f G eo g rap h y at

th e Q u e e n ’s U n iv e rs ity o f B elfast. So h igh ly reg a rd ed is E v a n s ’ w o rk o n B e lfast, th a t

his n am e has b ec o m e syn o n y m o u s w ith th e stu d y o f th e h isto rica l g e o g rap h y o f th e

tow n. T w o w o rk s o f n o te are ‘T he site o f B e lfa s t’, Geography, xxii, 1937, and Belfast,

the site and the city (1944), rep rin ted from Ulster Journal o f Archaeology (3 rd series),

vii, 1944. E m ry s Jo n e s ’ A social geography o f Belfast (L ondon , 1965) is a lan d m ark

stu d y o f th e d ev e lo p m en t o f B e lfas t dea ling w ith th e g ro w th o f th e tow n , th e social

g eo g rap h y o f th e to w n in ad d itio n to th e v ario u s lan d uses. T h is s tudy tak es its lead

73 Mary E. Daly, Dublin the deposed capita! 1860-19M (Cork. 1985).74 Jacinta Prunty, Dublin shuns, 1800-1925, a study in urban geography (Dublin, 1998).75 See also Jacinta Painty, Maps and map-making in local history (Dublin, 2004).76 Guide to Belfast and the adjacent counties (British Association for the Advancement o f Science, 1874).77 David Owen,A short history of the Port of Belfast (Belfast, 1917).78 David Owen, A history of the town of Belfast (Belfast, 1921 ).

2 9

from T .W . F re e m a n ’s w o rk on Ire lan d m en tio n ed above, b u t ra th e r th an co n cen tra tin g

on th e w h o le coun try , in s tead co n cen tra te s on a spec ific to w n in Ireland .

In 1967 the B e lfa s t h is to rian J.C . B eck e tt, a lo n g w ith h is to rica l g eo g ra p h e r R .E .

G lasscock , ed ited a m u lti-au th o red v o lu m e on th e city , tak in g in th e p e rio d fro m the

g ro w th o f th e to w n in th e m id d le ages up to th e tw en tie th cen tu ry . C o n trib u to rs to th is

v o lu m e are d raw n fro m the d isc ip lines o f h isto ry , g eo g rap h y , a rch ae o lo g y and

eco n o m ics .79 T his w o rk still rem ain s an ex ce llen t in tro d u c tio n to th e h is to ry and

h isto rica l g eo g rap h y o f th e to w n o f B e lfas t. It w as co m p lem en ted in 1983 b y an o th e r

co m p ila tio n o f essays on th e tow n, again ed ited b y B eck e tt. T h is la te r study , cov erin g

th e d ev e lo p m en t o f th e to w n in th e la te e ig h teen th , and n in e teen th cen tu ries , in c lu d es

a large n u m b er o f illu m in a tin g m aps and p la te s .80 O n th e th em e o f m u n ic ip a l po litics,

Ian B u d g e and C o rn eliu s O ’L e a ry ’s Belfast: approach to crisis, a study o f Belfast

politics 1613-1970, is a co m p reh en siv e s tudy o f th e d ev e lo p m en t o f m u n ic ip a l p o litic s

in B elfast. T h is w o rk d ed ica tes th ree ch ap te rs to th e p erio d from 1832 to 1920

in c lu d in g th e im p o rtan t p e rio d im m ed ia te ly fo llo w in g th e M u n ic ip a l R e fo rm (Ire lan d )

A ct, 1840, w h en th e in flu en tia l T o w n C lerk , Jo h n B a tes w as ap p o in ted and qu ick ly

set ab o u t im p ro v in g th e to w n th ro u g h a series o f T o w n Im p ro v em en t A c ts .81 A lso on

th is sub ject is a la te r a rtic le by C o rn eliu s O ’L ea ry en titled ‘B e lfa s t u rb an g o v ern m e n t

in th e age o f re fo rm ’, p u b lish ed in The town in Ireland: historical studies xiii (B elfast,

1981). O f n o te also is P .G . C lea ry ’s ‘S patia l ex p an sio n and u rb a n eco lo g ica l ch an g e

in B e lfas t w ith spec ia l re fe ren ce to th e ro le o f local tran sp o rta tio n , 1 8 6 1 -1 9 1 7 ’, an

u n p u b lish ed P h .D . th esis from Q U B , 1980. A lth o u g h th e m ain em p h asis o f th is w o rk

is on th e m u n ic ip a l tram s in B elfast, C leary also d em o n stra te s h o w th e a rriv a l o f the

ra ilw ay s in th e to w n led to the o rg an isa tio n o f a sy stem o f h o rse o m n ib u ses fo r

convey ing p assen g ers to and from the ra ilw ay stations. T h is in due course , led to th e

n e tw o rk o f h o rse -d raw n tram s.

W h ils t an im p ressiv e b o d y o f w o rk s ex is ts on the tw o m ain c ities o f B e lfa s t and

D ublin , co m p ara tiv e stud ies o f b o th c ities u n d e r sp ec ific th em es are rare. A p a rt from

an early a rtic le by R .B . M cD o w ell en titled ‘D u b lin and B e lfa s t - a c o m p a riso n ’,

79 J.C. Beckett and R.E. Glasscock (eds), Belfast: origins and growth of an industrial city (London, 1967).80 J.C. Beckett (ed.), Belfast: the making of a city, 1800-1914 (Belfast, 1983).81 Ian Budge and Cornelius O ’Leary, Belfast: approach to crisis, a study of Belfast politics 1613-1970 (London, 1973).

30

p u b lished in 195782, no substan tia l co m p ara tiv e s tu d y o f b o th cities h as b een

a ttem pted . H ow ever, th is has been done in th e case o f D u b lin and L o n d o n , in P e te r

C lark and R ay m o n d G illesp ie (eds), Two capitals, Dublin and London (L ondon ,

2002). O ther co m p ara tiv e stud ies a re J. B u tt’s ‘B e lfa s t and G lasg o w : co n n ec tio n s and

com parisons, 1 7 9 0 -1 8 5 0 ’ in T. M . D ev in e an d D . D ick so n (eds), Ireland and

Scotland, 1600-1850 (E d inburgh , 1983) and P. B u te l and L. M . C u llen (eds), Cities

and merchants: French and Irish perspectives on urban development, 1500-1900

(D ublin , 1986).

T he p o rts in b o th to w n s have b een th e focus o f a substan tia l n u m b er o f s tu d ies fro m

th e n in e teen th cen tu ry to recen t tim es. In 1855 A n th o n y M arm io n p u b lish ed 'The

ancient and modern history o f the maritime ports o f Ireland (L ondon , 1855), w h ich

unsu rp risin g ly , d ed ica tes large sec tio n s to th e p o rts o f B e lfa s t and D u b lin . T h is

in c lu d es v a lu ab le statis tica l d a ta on tra d e and tonnage, a long w ith acco u n ts o f th e

co n stru c tio n and m ain ten an ce o f th e d o ck s and h a rb o u r and n o tes on th e su rro u n d in g

areas. The Scandinavian Kingdom o f Dublin (D ublin , L ondon , 1884), by th e D u b lin

m erchan t, C h arles H aliday , covers th e d ev e lo p m en t o f D u b lin and its p o rt fro m early

tim es to th e m id -n in e teen th cen tury . T h is w o rk con tains m u ch v a lu ab le m ate ria l in an

ex tensive set o f fo o tn o tes w h ich so m etim es su rp asses th e m ain te x t in te rm s o f

in fo rm ation . W o rk s w h ich focus so le ly o n th e h is to ry o f th e p o rt o f D u b lin a re few in

num ber. H .A . G illig a n ’s w e ll-resea rch ed and w e ll-w ritte n study o f th is p o r t ’s h is to ry

covers in d e ta il th e p e rio d from 1705 w h en th e b a lla s t b o ard w as set up , to th e 1970s;

its lack o f fo o tn o te s h o w ev er has lim ited its u se fu ln e ss to th is re se a rc h .83 T w o short

b io g rap h ica l sk e tch es o f th e p o r t’s m o st ce leb ra ted eng ineers, B in d o n B lo o d S toney

and Jo h n P u rse r G riffith p ro v id e usefu l an c illa ry m ateria l on th e v a rio u s p ro jec ts in

w h ich b o th m en w ere in v o lv ed .84

B e lfa s t is m u ch b e tte r served by h isto rical s tud ies o f its port. A short history o f the

Port o f Belfast (B elfast, 1917) by D av id O w en rep resen ts one o f th e f irs t w o rk s

w h o lly d ed ica ted to th e h is to ry o f B e lfa s t’s port. T his w o rk co v ers in g rea t deta il th e

82 R.B. M cDowell, ‘Dublin and Belfast - a comparison’ in R.B. M cDowell (ed.), Social life in Ireland, 1800-45 (Cork. 1957), pp 11-24.83 H.A. Gilligan. A history of the port o f Dublin (Dublin. 1988).84 R.C. Cox. Bindon Blood Stoney, biography of a port engineer (Dublin, 1990), and R.C. Cox, John Purser Griffith 1848-/938, 'Grand old man of Irish engineering ’ (Dublin, 1998).

31

im p o rtan t perio d from 1831 to 1849 w h en th e w in d in g L ag a n channel w a s d iv e rte d to

the s tra ig h t d eep -w a te r V ic to ria channel, th u s open in g th e w a y fo r th e fu tu re

d ev e lo p m en t o f th e port. T he cen ten ary o f th e B e lfas t H a rb o u r C o m m iss io n e rs w as

m ark ed by th e p u b lica tio n o f Belfast Harbour Commissioners, centenary 1847-1947

(B elfast, 1947), fo llo w ed in 1985 by th e p u b lica tio n o f Port o f Belfast 1785-1985: an

historical review (B elfast, 1985) to m ark th e b icen ten a ry o f th e ‘C o rp o ra tio n fo r

P rese rv in g and Im p ro v in g the P o rt and H a rb o u r o f B e lfa s t’. C o -w ritten b y R o b in

S w eetnam and C ecil N im m o n s, th is v o lu m e co v ers th e en tire p e rio d o f th e p o r t ’s

h is to ry and in c lu d es m any cop ies o f p lan s o f p ro p o sed w o rk s in th e h arb o u r, and a

ch ro n o lo g ica l tab le o f p rincipa l ev en ts in th e h a rb o u r’s h isto ry . In ad d itio n to the

above w o rk s, R .E . G lassco ck ’s ‘T h e g ro w th o f th e p o r t’ and R obin S w ee tn a m ’s ‘T h e

d ev e lo p m en t o f th e p o r t’ co v er in deta il th e m ain d ev e lo p m en t o f th e p o r t in the85

e ig h teen th and n in e teen th cen turies.

T h e ra ilw ay th em e is covered by an ex ten s iv e body o f lite ra tu re . A m o n g th e m ost

n o tab le w o rk s is J.R . K e lle tt’s h ig h ly o rig inal and in te llig en t s tudy o f th e e ffec ts o f

ra ilw ay b u ild in g o n V ic to rian c itie s .86 T h is is a co m p ara tiv e s tu d y o f B r i ta in ’s five

m ain c ities a t th e tim e, L ondon , B irm ingham , M an ch es te r, L iverpoo l and G lasg o w .

T h ro u g h o u t th is acco m p lish ed w o rk K e lle tt pays p a rticu la r a tten tio n to th e su b jec t o f

land o w n ersh ip in re la tio n to dea lings w ith th e ra ilw ay co m p an ies and d em o n stra te s

how , due to ra ilw ay bu ild ing , d iffe ren t p a rts o f th e city d ev e lo p ed in v e ry d iffe ren t

w ays. T h is w o rk is a lso m eticu lo u sly re feren ced . A lso o n th e su b jec t o f th e ra ilw ay s,

Jo sep h L e e ’s w o rk on th e eco n o m ics o f ea rly ra ilw ay b u ild in g in Ire lan d p ro v id es a

de ta iled an a ly sis o f th e n a tu re o f in v es tm en t in ra ilw ay s b y lo o k in g c lo se ly a t th e

in v esto rs and so u rces o f cap ita l fo r Ir ish ra ilw ay s b e tw een 1830 and 1853. W h ils t L ee

is p rim arily in te re sted in th e cap ita lis t n a tu re o f th e early ra ilw ays, h e also d ev o tes

som e a tten tio n to social asp ec ts such as ra ilw ay lab o u r and co n stru c tio n . L e e ’s

as to u n d in g a tten tio n to detail and w itty sty le o f w riting , a lo n g w ith a f irs t-ra te

b ib lio g rap h y , p u ts th is s tudy in a c lass o f its o w n .87 T he s tan d ard w o rk o n Irish

ra ilw ay h is to ry is J.C . C o n ro y ’s A history o f railways in Ireland (L o n d o n , 1928). T his

85 R.E. Glasscock, ‘The growth o f the port’ in Beckett and Glasscock (eds), Belfast: origins and growth, pp 98-108; Robin Sweetnam, ‘The development o f the port’ in Beckett (ed.), Belfast: the making of a city, pp 57-70.86 J.R. Kellett, The impact of railways on Victorian cities (London, 1969).87 Joseph Lee, ‘An econom ic history o f early Irish railways 1830-1853’ (M.A. thesis, University College Dublin, 1965).

3 2

co m p reh en siv e study o f Irish ra ilw ay h is to ry acco rd in g to L ee, fa ils to re co g n ize th e

h u m an e lem en t in th e crea tion o f th e ra ilw ays. H o w ev er, it is im p o rtan t in th a t it is

o ne o f th e last w o rk s w ritten b efo re th e la rg e -sca le d ism an tlin g o f th e Ir ish ra ilw a y

system b eg an in th e 1930s. S ince 1947 th e Journal o f the Irish Railway Record

Society (JIRRS), has been reg u la rly p u b lish in g th e fru its o f a v as t am o u n t o f re search

by ra ilw ay en thusiasts . R eg re ttab ly how ever, m o st o f th is w o rk , b ased o n p rim ary

sources, does n o t con tain re ferences. O ne n o tab le ex cep tio n to th is g en e ra l ru le is J. J.

L e c k e y ’s Nineteenth-century railway politics in the Belfast - Dublin - Enniskillen

triangle (D ub lin , 1973). T his w o rk by L eck ey p ro v id es an im p o rtan t ana lysis o f th e

co m p lex n a tu re o f ra ilw ay p o litic s in th e early y ea rs o f d ev e lo p m en t by fo cu s in g o n

an area o f k ey im p o rtan ce th ro u g h w h ich th e U lster, th e D u b lin and D ro g h ed a , and

th e D u b lin and B e lfa s t Ju n c tio n R a ilw ay s w e re built.

D u e to th e re la tiv e ly la te arrival o f th e te lep h o n e to w ard s th e end o f th e n in e teen th

cen tu ry th e d ev ice does n o t ga in any h isto rica l s ig n ifican ce u n til th e ea rly to m id ­

tw en tie th cen tu ry . H o w ev er som e co n tem p o rary sc ien tific an d p h ilo so p h ica l

p u b lica tio n s tre a t o f th e early y ea rs o f th e te lep h o n e .88 A s th e te leg rap h p reced ed th e

te lep h o n e by ab o u t fo rty years, ea rlie r w o rk s o f h isto rica l n o te do ex is t in c lu d in g

som e co n tem p o ra ry sc ien tific p ap e rs also . A u sefu l in tro d u c tio n to te leg rap h h is to ry is

W illo u g h b y S m ith ’s ‘A re su m e o f th e ea rlie r days o f e lec tric te le g ra p h y ’, in Journal

o f the society o f telegraphic engineers and electricians, v o lu m e x, 1881. T h is w o rk is

u se fu l fo r g rasp in g th e ch ro n o lo g ica l seq u en ce o f even ts and id en tify in g key p lay ers

du rin g th e f irs t th irty years o f th e industry . In re la tio n to Ire lan d th e firs t w o rk o f n o te

is J.W . O ’N e il l’s ‘The te lep h o n e sy stem o f E ire ’ p u b lish ed in 1 939 .89 In th is w o rk

O ’N e ill b rie fly ack n o w led g es th e ea rly y ea rs b e fo re m o v in g q u ick ly o n to th e p o s t­

in d ep en d en ce era. In 1951 O ’N e ill p u b lish ed a m ore co m p re h en s iv e p ap e r tre a tin g

a lso o f th e te leg raph , bu t con fines h is ex am in a tio n to th e p erio d a fte r 1900 .90 A s c h ie f

en g in ee r o f th e P o s t O ffice E n g in ee rin g B ranch , O ’N eill d ev o tes m u ch o f th is p ap e r

88 See for example, John H. Greenhill, ‘Professor Graham B ell’s “Telephone”’ in Proceedings of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society, 1878; W.F. Ban'ctt. On the electric telephone’ in Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, i, 1878; and 'On the telephone in relation to the sacrament o f penance, an inquiry' in Irish Ecclesiastical Record, Oct. 1882.89 J.W. O ’N eill, ‘The telephone system o f Eire’, in .Journal of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, lxxxiv, no. 505, Jan. 1939.90 J.W. O ’N eill, ‘Telecommunications in Ireland during the first half o f the twentieth century’, paper read to the Institution o f Electrical Engineers, Irish Branch, in Trinity College Dublin (15 Feb. 1951).

33

to tech n ica l m atters , h o w ev er it does co n ta in som e n o tew o rth y h is to rica l in fo rm atio n

also . In 1961 O ’N e ill’s successo r, A.J. L itto n pub lish ed a p ap e r en titled ‘T h e g ro w th

and d ev e lo p m en t o f th e Ir ish te lep h o n e sy s tem ’ in th e Journal o f the Statistical and

Social Inquiry Society o f Ireland' 91 T his p ap e r con ta ins a g o o d h is to rica l re v ie w o f th e

early d ev e lo p m en ts in B rita in and Ire lan d b eg in n in g w ith its in tro d u c tio n in 1878 and

trac in g its d ev e lo p m en t up to 1922.

A n u m b er o f u n p u b lish ed w o rk s o f n o te on te leg rap h and te lep h o n e h is to ry h av e b een

co m p le ted o v er th e last fifteen years. R ay m o n d Jo sep h F e u e rs te in ’s D .P h il., th esis

en titled ‘T h e ea rly h is to ry o f th e te lep h o n e in E n g lan d 1 8 7 7 -1 9 1 1 ’, w h ils t an ex ce llen t

in tro d u c tio n to th e serv ice in th e ea rly years, exp lo res th e g rea t cu ltu ra l ch an g e

b ro u g h t ab o u t by th e n ew fo rm o f com m unica tion . R e c e n t re sea rch b y T h o m as F .

W all in th is a rea is a lso m o st usefu l. H is p ap e r ‘R a ilw ay s and te lec o m m u n ic a tio n s ’

h as b ee n p u b lish ed in the Journal o f the Irish Railway Record Society, h o w ev er a

fu lly re fe ren ced u n p u b lish ed v e rs io n o f th e p ap e r is he ld in th e lib ra ry o f th e Ir ish

R a ilw ay R e c o rd S ociety in H eu sto n S tation, D ublin .93 T h is d e ta iled p ap e r adm irab ly

co nveys th e im p o rtan ce o f th e ra ilw ay s to the d ev e lo p m en t o f th e te leg rap h in d u stry

in th e seco n d h a lf o f th e n in e teen th century . A n ea rlie r p ap e r a lso b y W all en titled

‘S om e n o te s to w ard s a h isto ry o f te leco m m u n ica tio n s w ith p a rtic u la r re fe ren ce to

Ire la n d ’ co n ta in s a s tag g erin g am o u n t o f in fo rm atio n o n th e te leco m m u n ica tio n s

in d u stry in Ire lan d co v e rin g th e fu ll cyc le from th e ea rlie s t days o f th e p riv a te

te leg rap h com pan ies, to th e sta te ta k e o v e r in 1912 and th e re tu rn to p riv a tiza tio n in

1999. C opies o f th is u n p u b lish ed , fully re fe ren ced p ap e r a re h e ld in th e D u b lin C ity

L ib ra ry and A rch ive, P ea rse S tree t and th e N a tio n al L ib ra ry o f Ire land . F o r asp ects o f

th e legal side o f th e in d u stry E am o n G. H a ll’s The electronic age:

telecommunications in Ireland (D ublin , 1993) trac es the ev o lu tio n o f

te leco m m u n ica tio n s leg is la tio n in Ire lan d in c lu d in g te leg rap h , te lep h o n e , rad io and

te lev is io n b ro ad cas tin g fro m th e m id -n in e teen th cen tu ry to th e m o d ern period .

91 A.J. Litton, ‘The growth and development o f the Irish telephone system ’ in Journal of the Social and Statistical Inquiry Society of Ireland, xx, part v, 1961, pp 79-115.92 Raymond Joseph Feuerstein, ‘The early history o f the telephone in England 1877-1911’ (D.Phil. thesis, University o f Sussex, 1990).93 Thomas F. Wall, ‘Railways and telecommunications’ in Journal of the Irish Railway Record Society, xx, 1999, pp 479-85. and xxi pp 85-94, 148-51 and 194-203.

34

P u b lish ed acad em ic w o rk on th e d ev e lo p m en t and im p ac t o f th e ea rly p riv a te

te leg rap h and te lep h o n e co m p an ies in Ire lan d in re la tio n to th e c ity is lim ited . N o

sch o larly w o rk has yet b een u n d ertak en by u rb an h is to rian s o r h is to rica l g eo g rap h e rs

in v es tig a tin g th e im p act o f th e in d u stry on I re la n d 's u rb an ce n tre s .94 C o n sid e rin g the

d ep th and ec lec tic n a tu re o f Irish re search in u rb an h is to ry and u rb an h is to rica l

geog rap h y , tak in g in so m an y asp ec ts o f u rb an society , it rem a in s a m y ste ry as to w h y

th e th em e o f te leco m m u n ica tio n s, an a rea w h ich lends i ts e l f so w ell to th e

co n sid era tio n o f space and p lace , has n o t y e t b een tack le d b y Ir ish scho lars. A s

m en tio n ed above , fou r sep ara te m u lti-d isc ip lin a ry an d m u lti-a u th o red stud ies o f

B e lfa s t and D u b lin h av e b een p u b lish ed b e tw een 1967 and 2 0 0 1 .95 B e tw een th ese

fo u r s tud ies fifty sep a ra te ch ap te rs co m p ris in g o v er 1 ,100 p ag es co v e r a m u ltitu d e o f

to p ics re la tin g to th e d ev e lo p m en t o f each city, yet ex c lu d e fro m co n sid e ra tio n th e

d ev e lo p m en t and ev o lu tio n o f th e te leg rap h and te lep h o n e serv ices in e ith e r city. In

Communications and community in Ireland, ed ited b y B rian F arre ll (D ub lin , C ork ,

1984), a m u lti-au th o red co llec tio n o f essays p u b lish ed to m ark ‘W o rld

C o m m u n ica tio n s Y ear 19 8 3 ’, th e th em e o f te lec o m m u n ica tio n s is o n ce ag a in

co n sp icu o u s only b y its absence. C o v erin g th e seven teen th , e ig h teen th , n in e teen th and

tw en tie th cen tu ries, th is s tudy co n sid ers all o th e r asp ec ts o f co m m u n ica tio n in c lu d in g

th e early p ress, p osta l se rv ices, tran sp o rt, early rad io and te lev is io n b ro ad castin g , and

th e ro le o f th e m edia, b u t leaves o u t o f th e d iscu ssio n tw o in v en tio n s o f fu n d am en ta l

im p o rtan ce : th e te leg rap h and te lephone .

N u m ero u s s tand -a lone u rb an stud ies have p ro v id ed ideas fo r th e p re sen t w ork .

A m o n g th e m o st no tab le is R ich a rd R o d g e r’s The transformation o f Edinburgh: land,

property and trust in the nineteenth century (C am bridge , 20 0 1 ); h is ex p lo ra tio n o f th e

fin an c in g o f u rb an ex p an sio n m ak es th is te x t p a rticu la rly in trigu ing . O f m a jo r

im p o rtan ce is th e m o n u m en ta l Cambridge Urban History o f Britain (vo l 3: 1840-

1950, ed ited by M . J. D au n to n , C am bridge, 2001). T h is lan d m ark s tu d y co v e rs m an y

94 This however is not the case in the UK. In the Department o f Planning and Environment, University College London, Neil! Barton is currently (2005) working on a Doctoral thesis titled: ‘Communication systems in the city: the evolution o f the electric telegraph, 1837-1869’. This work examines the relationship between the development o f the electric telegraph in the United Kingdom and the shaping o f the city.95 J.C. Beckett and R.E. Glasscock (eds), Belfast: origins and growth of an industrial city (London, 1967); J.C. Beckett (ed.), Belfast: the making of a city, 1800-1914 (Belfast, 1983); F. H. A. Aalen and K evin Whelan (eds), Dublin city and county: from prehistory to present (Dublin, 1992); Joseph Brady and Anngret Simms (eds), Dublin through space and time, c.900-1900 (Dublin, 2001).

35

o f th e th em es m o st re lev an t to th e u rb an h istorian , in c lu d in g n e tw o rk s, tran sp o rt, p o rt

d ev e lo p m en t and to w n p lann ing . I t is reg re ttab le h o w ev er, th a t th is s tu d y is lim ited to

B rita in alone. T he ex c lu sio n o f th e s is te r isle, and m ost esp ec ia lly o f N o rth e rn Ire lan d

w h ich h as con tinued as p art o f th e U n ited K ingdom , m ak es it c le a r th a t Ire lan d still

aw aits a co m p reh en siv e and au th o rita tiv e u rb an h isto ry . T h e p re se n t co m p ara tiv e

re sea rch on B e lfas t and D ublin , it is hoped , w ill m ak e som e co n trib u tio n to th is lo n g ­

te rm p ro jec t.

Structure and methodologyT h e ap p ro ach tak en in th is stu d y is to ded ica te five co re ch ap te rs to fiv e in d iv id u a l

lay ers o f in fra s tru c tu re , each ch ap te r co m p arin g d ev e lo p m en ts in D u b lin and B e lfas t.

K ey fin d in g s from each o f th ese ch ap te rs a re th en d raw n to g e th e r in th e final

co n c lu d in g chapter. M ap s and cro ss-sec tio n s w e re th e m o st e ffec tiv e m ean s o f

co n v ey in g th e in tricac ie s in v o lv ed in co n stru c tin g h arb o u rs , p lan n in g ro u te s fo r

ra ilw ay , sew ers and w a te r m ains, o r connecting te leg rap h and te lep h o n e lines. T he

m ap th e re fo re w as th e m ost p o w erfu l too l a t th e d isposal o f th e en g in eer. E arly m aps

w e re rep ea ted ly consu lted w h en co n stru c tin g la te r w o rk s in o rd e r to id en tify v a rio u s

asp ec ts o f the o rig inal w o rk s o th erw ise h id d en fro m view . F o r exam ple , a p lan and

sec tio n o f an u n d erg ro u n d sew er cou ld reveal th e ex ac t ro u te o f th e sew er, its length ,

d iam e te r and th ick n ess o f its w alls , th e ty p e o f m ateria ls u sed an d th e v e lo c ity o f th e

sew age flo w in g th ro u g h it. A lth o u g h th ese m aps h av e b ee n largely , b u t n o t to ta lly ,

sup ersed ed , th ey co n tin u e to be in d isp en sab le to th e u rb a n h isto rian . N o am o u n t o f

v erb a l d esc rip tio n can m atch th e w e a lth and co m p lex ity o f in fo rm a tio n co n ta in ed in a

w e ll-ex ecu ted m ap. M ap s as h isto rica l so u rces and m ap s as too ls o f an a ly sis are

in teg ra l to th e p resen t study o n ne tw orks. T he im m en se to p o g rap h ic a l changes

e ffec ted b y p o rt and rail d ev e lo p m en t is read ily u n d e rs to o d by a co m p ariso n o f

v a rio u s ed itio n s o f th e O S s ix -inch m ap (F ig u re 2 .4 , p. 47), w h ils t th e O S s ix -in ch can

a lso be u sed as a basis fo r p lo ttin g w a te r m ains lis ted in ta b u la r fo rm (F ig u res 4 .3 and

4 .4 , p. 143), co n n ectin g th e ‘in v is ib le ’ u n d e rg ro u n d system w ith th e ‘re a l’ w o rld

above. R ed raw in g and s im p lifica tio n o f orig inal m ap s (as in th e te leg rap h system s

m ap p ed in F ig u res 5.2, 5.3, 5.4 and 5.7, pp 186, 191, 199) can be u tilised to tra c k

im p ro v em en ts (p lanned , d iscarded , m od ified o r im p lem en ted ) in th e n e tw o rk .

36

Where applicable, a chronological approach has been taken in this study, however, the

overlapping nature of the themes discussed does not always permit such an approach.

The investigation opens with Chapter II which examines the major developments

taking place in the ports in both towns. Here the key challenges facing the authorities

of both ports are identified, most important of which was the means of providing deep

water in the quays and docks in order to accommodate the increasing size and number

of vessels. This was the major obstruction retarding the progress of both ports during

the opening years of this study. How the problem was approached in each town was a

major determinant in the physical shape that each port would take and its subsequent

impact on the surrounding urban and coastal landscape. Much emphasis is therefore

placed on mapping as a means of illustrating the changes occurring in each locality.

Rail development provides the theme for Chapter III which explores the impact of the

early railways on Dublin and Belfast. Various aspects of the railway age are discussed

in this chapter including public attitudes to, and perceptions of, the new form of

travel; the complex parliamentary process involved in railway construction; and the

co-dependency of the railway and the electric telegraph. The main emphasis however,

is the impact of these early railways on the subsequent development of the two towns

including the various stages involved in completing a through line o f railway

communication. As the study of urban rail development lends itself to map analysis,

aspects of cartography once again form an important part of this chapter. The

networking theme is continued in Chapter IV which explores developments in

sanitary engineering in both towns. Here the hidden city is examined, revealing the

vast network of pipes, mains and sewers placed below the surface of each town to

bring in water and take out waste. As water supply and drainage are the main focus of

the enquiry, the structure of the chapter mirrors the chronological sequence of events,

each town’s water supply being examined before its drainage.

Telecommunication is the main object of enquiry in Chapters V and VI which

examine the startling impact of the electric telegraph and telephone on urban society.

The first of these chapters on telegraphic communication demonstrates the city-wide

networks of communication in both Dublin and Belfast whilst also placing these in

the broader context of a UK-wide network. The railway provided the stimulus for the

growth of the telegraph and the symbiotic relationship between the two forms of

37

communication is explored more fully here, as is the vital role played by the

thousands of male and female operators who kept the exchanges operating. In the

1880s the remarkable facilities of the electric telegraph began to be replaced by the

wonder of the new ‘telephonic instruments’ gaining popularity in Ireland and Britain.

Chapter VI examines the early years of this next stage of telecommunication between

1878 and 1912. Subscribers’ lists are examined to learn what types of people were

using the facility of the telephone in these early years. Subscribers for the most part

were commercial businesses, as it took a number of years before the network was

extended to private households. The study concludes with Chapter VII which returns

to the key questions posed: Who controlled the two towns? Who controlled the

change occurring in the two towns? Why did this change occur? And to what extent

was it influenced by the physical inheritance of the town?

38

Chapter II

In scarcely any branch o f our profession is there more scope for the skill o f engineers.The approaches to many o f our ports have been deepened, necessitating improved dredging appliances, or costly works to regulate the ebb and flow o f tidal water. Docks or deep-water quays have been constructed to insure large vessels being kept afloat at all slates o f tide; entrances and locks have been enlarged, and graving docks o f gigantic dimensions constructed to provide accommodation for the m odem merchant vessel.1

Trade is the lifeblood of any port city and its hinterland region. The size and number

of vessels frequenting the nineteenth-century port was crucial to the well-being and

survival not only of the port authority, but also of the merchant community and the

network of suppliers, manufacturers, shopkeepers and farmers whose livelihood

depended on buying and selling merchandise carried by ships. In addition to the

traders, the ports also sustained the livelihoods of thousands of other individuals

involved in the ancillary activities of the port. In the dock wards in Dublin and Belfast

the landscape was gradually transformed into a vast industrial space of ship-building

yards, railway sidings, goods sheds, and various types of engineering works. As the

key points of connection between local and international markets, these ports were

transformed over the course of the nineteenth century to accommodate the growing

size and number of vessels. In the 1830s a rising trade in both towns demanded urgent

improvements to the dated port facilities. As mentioned in the introduction, the

municipal corporations in both towns had long since relinquished their responsibilities

for the ports and it was therefore up to the private port authorities to guide the way

forward.

The unique geographical setting of both ports in the early years of the nineteenth

century determined the type of improvements that would be carried out in each port

throughout the remainder of that century and into the next. In Dublin between 1770

and 1820 an important phase of construction, the centrepiece of which was James

Gandon’s new Custom House, resulted in the port being moved upstream to the

Expansion and development of the ports

1 John Purser Griffith, ‘Presidential address to the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland, 1887’, inTransactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland {Trans. Inst. Engs. Ire.), x ix (1889), pp 51- 52.

39

Figure 2.1 Liffey Quays, Dublin, 1837

Figure 2.2 Quays and docks in Belfast, 1833

40

northern side of the River Liffey away from the old medieval core of the town. By

1830, Gandon’s Custom House and adjacent docks comprised the heart of the Port of

Dublin (Figure 2.1). It was also during this period of intense activity that two great

sea walls, the South and North Bull Walls had been constructed in order to protect the

shipping, and it was within these two walls that the nineteenth-century port

developed. This nineteenth-century development extended the port further eastwards

in a gradual expansion towards the open sea. This seaward expansion was made

possible by reclaiming land from the large expanse of mud flats in the Bay of Dublin.

In Belfast the situation was altogether different. As Belfast was situated at the recess

of a long narrow lough, no artificial protection was required. However, dangers of a

different kind threatened the safety of vessels in the form of a shallow tortuous

channel stretching for four miles out of the harbour. In 1830 the port of Belfast

comprised a number of small quays and docks on the western, or Antrim, side of the

River Lagan. The eastern side of the river, comprising much of the present-day east

Belfast, had not yet been reclaimed from the sea at this early stage (Figure 2.2). A vast

expanse of muddy sands known as ‘sloblands’ or slobs comprised about 2,500 acres

on each side of the Lagan channel. This large area of slobs presented many

possibilities for the future expansion of the port of Belfast and as the nineteenth

century progressed the authorities in the northern town utilised this advantageous

geographical feature to its full potential. The physical geography of the landscape

inherited by the two port authorities was a crucial determining factor in the type of

developments that would follow. The dramatic physical changes wrought to these

landscapes, as well as the fortunes of the two port authorities in securing rights and

titles to these lands will be examined in detail in this chapter.

The availability and influence of personnel was of major importance to the changing

fortunes of each port during the period under examination. Human interaction and

relationships ultimately determined the future prospects of each port. For example,

James Walker, the engineer who designed the major works carried out in the Port of

Belfast between 1837 and 1849, is responsible for rearranging the entire landscape on

the eastern side of the River Lagan. Walker’s engineering expertise was matched by

the contractor, William Dargan’s excellent man-management skills, and together the

two men dramatically transformed the foreshore of Belfast Lough during the 1830s

41

and 1840s. Also during this period the secretary of the port, Edmund Getty (1847-

1855), was instrumental in securing contracts, ensuring parliamentary procedures

were observed and liaising with a wide array of government bodies and officials. In

Dublin the names of Bindon Blood Stoney and John Purser Griffith dominate the

period from 1870 to 1920 when most of the large-scale works that shaped the future

development of that town’s port were put in place. Stoney’s confidence and strength

of character enabled him to take complete charge of the port within five years o f his

appointment as assistant engineer in 1856. Over the next twenty-five years Stoney

was almost single-handedly responsible for transforming the port. After his retirement

in the 1890s, his assistant, Purser Griffith maintained Stoney’s high standards of

management and engineering expertise. Other names such as Thomas Jackson

Woodhouse, the resident engineer in the port of Belfast during the 1830s, the Halpins

senior and junior, who between them were responsible for the entire fortunes of the

port of Dublin from the 1830s until the arrival of Stoney in 1856, and also the eminent

London engineer, William Cubitt, who worked on various projects in both ports

between 1830 and 1850, each contributed in his own way to the continuous change

occurring in these two ports over a period of 90 years from 1830 to 1920 (for

biographical details of abovementioned engineers see Appendix XIII of present

study).

In Dublin and Belfast the two main rivers, the Liffey in Dublin and the Lagan in

Belfast, were crucial to the shipping interests and traffic as they each provided the

only route way from the open sea into and out of the town docks. As both rivers were

tidal, they each presented their own unique complications to the port authorities in

both towns. In Dublin the crux of the problem was a distinct lack of deep water along

the four important quays which collectively comprised the entire port in the early

years of the nineteenth century. These were the Custom House Quay and North Wall

Quay on the northern shores of the river, and the City Quay and Sir John Rogerson’s

Quay on the southern shores (Figure 2.1). As a result of this situation vessels

frequently ran aground and were forced to remain this way for hours awaiting the

changing tides in order to set sail once more. Sailing times therefore depended very

much on the tide, giving cause for much dissatisfaction amongst the merchant

community whose livelihood depended on such factors. Modest funds ensured that the

crude method of dredging was the only means available to combat the ongoing

42

difficulties. Problems therefore were merely patched up as a system of repairing rather

than removing deficiencies was employed down to the 1870s when large-scale

engineering works brought a more permanent solution.

In Belfast the River Lagan also presented serious problems for the harbour authorities

in that town. The problem was the lack of sufficient depths of water along the tortuous

four-mile Lagan channel between the town of Belfast and the Pool of Garmoyle. All

vessels of a certain burthen entering Belfast had to anchor four miles down river in the

deep waters of the Garmoyle pool. From there they had to undergo the tedious

business of discharging their cargos into smaller vessels known as lighters which were

better equipped to navigate the shallow and curving approach into the town docks

(Figure 2.4). This was a lengthy and therefore costly process as it took days and

sometimes weeks to relieve the larger vessel of its cargo. The defect of the harbour

was, as perceived by the engineer responsible for planning the works, ‘synonymous

with the navigation of the river’ . 2 The shallow and dangerous bends of the Lagan

channel were not however, the only problems confronting the harbour authorities in

Belfast, as they also had to deal with insufficient quayside accommodation just like in

Dublin. During the eighteenth century new quays and docks had been built on the

western shore of the Lagan by local merchants and shipbuilders. These quays and

docks still served the needs of the port into the nineteenth century. As this century

approached its midway point however increased vessel size had rendered these older

facilities of little use to the seafaring community and the Limekiln Dock and Ritchie’s

Dock were filled in whilst the old Donegall and Chichester Quays were replaced by a

new Donegall Quay situated further out in the river therefore providing deeper

berthage (Figure 2.4).

In Belfast the merchant community and the port authority were almost one and the

same, many of the town’s successful merchants being also members of the Ballast

Board . 3 It was for this reason therefore, that authorities in Belfast recognized far

2 James Walker, Manuscript evidence before the committee on the Belfast Harbour Bill, 1836, vol. 7 (HLRO, HC/CL/PB/2/2/7).3 The ‘Ballast Board’ was the popular term for the port authority. This was preferred to the official but cumbersome title, ‘The Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port and Harbour o f Belfast’. The term ‘ballast’ refers to the heavy gravel substance placed in a ship’s hull to ensure stability. This substance was acquired from the ongoing dredging operations in the port, hence the Ballast Board, the

43

earlier than their counterparts in Dublin, the importance of providing some sort of

long-term solution to the problems of inadequate vessel accommodation retarding the

progress of the port. Their response, the construction of the Victoria Channel in 1849,

although a work of great magnitude for the period and setting, was not however a

final solution as the critical task of extending and upgrading existing works was

ongoing throughout the century as vessels increased in size and weight.

‘Brain versus tide’: engineering advancements4

In order to carry out improvements effectively in both ports, large-scale works were

necessary. 5 In this sphere the work of the civil engineer pitting his wits against the

natural environment was vital. In the case of Dublin a major task was the removal of

the obstacle known as the ‘Dublin Bar’ in order to deepen the channel entrance into

the harbour. This was a sand bank that stretched from the north side of the bay across

the entrance to the harbour in the form of a hook. The safest approach for vessels into

and out of the harbour was to round this bank, as a direct approach meant treading

dangerously shallow waters of from only five to six feet deep at the centre of the bar . 6

The preoccupation of the port authorities with the removal of the bar was partially

responsible for the construction of the great pier known as the North Bull Wall

between 1819 and 1824. A southern pier had been built half a century earlier known

as the South Bull Wall. Stretching eastwards into the bay from a point opposite

Ringsend, its purpose was to provide shelter for fishing boats and other vessels. The

Poolbeg lighthouse was built at its eastern tip. The new northern pier extended about

9,000 feet from the Clontarf shore with its eastern tip located about 1,000 feet north of

the Poolbeg Lighthouse (Figure 2.3). Of the 9,000 feet, only 5,500 feet of this wall

rose above high-water, the remainder being submerged. Both piers therefore created a

1,000-foot harbour entrance. The logic behind this remarkable feat of engineering was

board responsible for looking after such matters. The port authorities in Dublin were also referred to by this term.4 The phrase ‘brain versus tide’ is taken from The Port of Dublin (Dublin, 1927), p. 10, where the work o f the civil engineer in relation to port development is described as ‘the battle o f the human brain against the action o f wind and tide’.5 In 1802 Mr John Rennie Senior, in his report to the Directors General o f Inland Navigation, stated that the improvement o f the port and harbour o f Dublin was ‘one o f the most difficult subjects which had ever com e under the consideration of the civil engineer’, see Thomas B. Grierson, ‘The enlargement o f Westland-row terminus, with a sketch o f the early history o f the Dublin and Kingstown Railway’ in Transactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland (Trans. Inst. Engs. Ire.), xviii, 1888, p. 67.6 ‘Our harbour and its improvements’ in Irish Builder, 1 June 1879, p. 163.

44

as follows: during the first half of the ebb the tidal waters running out of the harbour

would flow partially over the submerged wall and partially through the contracted

entrance between the two great piers. However, as soon as the tide fell below the level

of the new North Wall, the velocity of the stream flowing through the harbour

entrance would be greatly increased, thus scouring the sand on the bar and forming a

deep channel of sixteen feet at low water across the centre . 7 Whilst this massive

project certainly improved matters, the hazard of the bar was only partially remedied

and remained an ongoing problem for the port authorities in Dublin for many years . 8

Figure 2.3 North and South Bull Walls, Dublin Bay, showing tidal scour towards Dublin Bar

The construction of the Great North Wall in 1824 along with that of the Great South

Wall half a century earlier were the first steps towards transforming what had been up

to the late eighteenth-century, little more than a medieval port, into what by the end of

the nineteenth-century, could be termed a modern port. With the construction of these

walls a solid foundation was quite literally laid, upon which future developments in

the Port of Dublin could be based. Most outstanding of these developments must be

7 John Purser Griffith, ‘The Port o f Dublin’ in Trans. Inst. Engs. Ire., xix, 1888, pp 170-1.8 Dredging work was still being carried out on the bar as late as the 1970s, see H.A. Gilligan, A history of the port of Dublin (Dublin, 1988), p. 209.

45

the pioneering work of the future port engineer, Bindon Blood Stoney, in building the

first phase of the North Quay extension and deep-water basin between 1870 and 1881.

This work, which will be examined in detail below, ensured that the port facilities at

Dublin would be on an equal standing, if not in size then surely in technological

advancement, with many of the larger ports in Europe. Due to difficulties in securing

funding, this project was not however fully completed until the 1930s. The

construction of the two great walls, along with the building of the deep-water port,

represent the major engineering feats carried out in the Port of Dublin in the

nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. However, between 1853 and 1860, work was

carried out by the great railway contractor William Dargan9 on the construction of a

large graving dock 400 feet in length which was designed by the resident engineer at

the time, Mr George Halpin Junior. 1 0 In the interim however, dredging operations to

maintain sufficient depth along the problematic quay walls remained an ongoing

necessity throughout the period.

In Belfast the harbour authorities, or ballast board as they were known to the public,

were presented with a similar, but on the face of it, more complex problem than that

in Dublin. In the words of James Walker, the engineer responsible for the eventual

improvements: ‘the question was as to the best mode of improving trade to admit

heavy vessels up to the town, the sudden bends and shallow waters in the Lagan being

the obstruction’ . 11 The first edition six-inch Ordnance Survey sheet for Antrim depicts

well the problems facing the authorities in Belfast, as it was surveyed in 1832 and

therefore shows the harbour on the eve of its remarkable transformation. A study of

this early map alongside the second edition of 1852 depicts well the total remaking of

the fluvial geomorphology of this extensive area during these two decades. Apart

from the changes to the course of the river, the town of Belfast was situated entirely

on the County Antrim side of the Lagan whilst the County Down side which

9 W illiam Dargan was the contractor who successfully completed the two major dredging operations in Belfast Port, in the 1840s and 1850s, known as the ‘first’ and ‘second’ cuts. He was also the contractor for the Dublin and Kingstown Railway (1831), and a major part o f the Dublin and Drogheda Railway (1836). B y 1850 he had become the foremost railway contractor in Ireland having constructed over 600 m iles o f the railways in that country in addition to the Ulster Canal.10 Correspondence between Board of Trade, Irish Steam Association and Ballast Corporation of Dublin on Graving Dock in Port of Dublin, p. 2, H.C. 1852-53 (676), xciv, 560.11 Manuscript diary o f James Walker, p. 153 (Archives o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers, London).

46

1858 shorelineSource maps: O S six-inch, Antrim, sheet 61 ,1 st and 2nd editions, 1033 and 1050

_______________________ Compiled by Frjtnk Cujten

Figure 2.4 Transformation of Lagan channel Belfast, 1833-1858

47

comprises the whole of the present-day east Belfast had yet to be reclaimed from the

sea (Figure 2.4) . 12

Serious measures were necessary to improve operations in the Harbour of Belfast. In

1839 a major channel was cut through the sloblands north of the town on the west

bank of the Lagan to create a straight deep-water channel from the old Dunbar dock to

the first bend in the river (Figure 2.4). This certainly improved matters by cutting out

the final meandering approach to the town docks, however it was really only a start, as

a second cut was necessary to extend the straight channel all the way to Garmoyle. In

1847 the ballast board was replaced by the new ‘Belfast Harbour Commissioners’

which immediately set about extending the new channel in order to complete the job

begun in 1839.13 As a result in 1849 the second cut was completed and named the

Victoria Channel in honour of the monarch. The complete channel extended all the

way from the town docks to the Garmoyle pool (Figure 2.18, p. 80), and from this

point onwards the trade of Belfast port rose steadily and rapidly as the larger vessels

were now able to make it up river as far as the town quays (Table 2.1). By 1850

therefore, the port authority in Belfast had overcome the major obstacle standing in

the way of its prosperity. Just as the construction of the two great walls in the port of

Dublin provided the foundation upon which all future development in that port could

be built, so too the creation of the first and second cuts in the harbour of Belfast

served a similar function. With the opening of the second cut in 1849, the harbour of

Belfast was transformed dramatically. Indeed so radical has been the physical

transformation in this part of the town, that the old town and harbour depicted in the

first edition Ordnance Survey plan of the town in 1834 (Figure 2.4) is hardly

recognisable in later editions.

Developments in Dublin Port, 1830-1920

In 1834 developments in the transport industry in Ireland were gathering momentum

as steam power replaced horsepower and wind as the new source of energy. Just as

the arrival of the steam engine effected great changes to overland transport, so too it

12 The Ballymacarrett district o f the present day east-Belfast was the only built-up area on the eastern shores o f the Lagan in 1832. W hilst this industrial district was easily accessible from Belfast by crossing the Lagan via the old ‘Long Bridge’, as a district o f County D ow n it still remained distinctly separate from the town o f Belfast.13 D. J. Owen, A short history of the Port of Belfast (Belfast, 1917), p. 36.

48

3 1

1830 1837 1847 1857 1867 1877 1887 1897 1907 1916Year

Source: D.J. Owen, A short history of the port of Belfast (Belfast, 1917).

Table 2.1 Tonnage in Belfast Port 1830-1916

■ Sailing □ Steam

I I I1900 1910 1916

trade and industry (London, 1921), p. 233

Table 2.2 Numbers of registered sailing and steam vessels in Ireland, 1860-1916

49

2500

w 2000<D </)i 1500

l i l t1860 1870 1880 1890

Year

Source: E. J. Riordan, Modern Iris

brought change to maritime transport. In this same year, whilst the steam locomotive

o f Ireland’s first passenger railway was making its maiden journey from Westland

Row terminus in Dublin to the harbour of Kingstown, across the Liffey in the

northern port area o f the city the authorities had for the previous two decades, been

busily engaged in adapting their dated facilities to suit the needs o f the newer and

larger steam ships. As the funnel gradually replaced the sail over the course o f the

century, a succession of harbour engineers in both ports were kept busy adapting

facilities to accommodate the steadily-increasing numbers o f steam vessels (Table

2.2).

As steam ‘packet ships’14 comprised the bulk o f the traffic into and out of the port of

Dublin in the 1830s, the berthing facilities within the port, originally designed for the

older and considerably smaller riggers, were proving to be no longer suitable for the

rapidly-changing demands o f the heavy traffic. Consequently the shipping companies

began to call for deeper berthage along the quay walls so as to avoid risk of damage to

the larger vessels’ hulls. In order to address this problem the board sought the advice

in 1834, of the esteemed London engineer, William Cubitt (later to become Sir

William Cubitt15).16 Cubitt’s initial solution to rebuild the quay walls further out into

the river with deeper foundations to enable sufficient dredging to be carried out

proved too expensive and nothing was done as yet. In the next few years little

progress was made, and in 1840 the corporation again contacted Cubitt over the same

problem, viz., the provision of ‘deep water in front of the quays to such an extent that

the large class o f steamer which frequent the Port may be water borne at dead low

water o f Spring Tides’.17 Cubitt’s solution this time was approved by the port

engineer George Halpin Senior (Appendix XIII), and his son George Halpin Junior,

who was also his assistant. The idea was to drive a row of piles into the riverbed at a

suitable distance from the quay walls so as to avoid endangering their structure and

14 The term ‘packet ship’ refers to vessels owned or chartered by the Post Office for carrying mail. The term is derived from tire sixteenth-century description of mail as ‘pacquets of letters’. See Gilligan,Port o f Dublin, p. 57.15 William Cubitt, was knighted at Windsor Castle on 23 Oct. 1851 for superintending the construction of the Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851, see Appendix XIII of present study.16 The following year Cubitt’s services would also be required by the provisional committee of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway Company, see Chapter III of present work.17 William Cubitt, Report to the Ballast Board, 19 Sept. 1840, in Journal of the Proceedings of the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin (hereafter CPIPD minutes), vol. 17, 21 Aug. 1840 to 12 Jan. 1844 (NAI, DPDB 1/17).

50

foundation. On top of these piles would be laid a timber wharf on a level with the

present quay. In front of this new wharf a channel would then be dredged deep

enough to accommodate the largest steamship but at a safe enough distance so as to

avoid damaging the foundations of the original quay wall.18 Whilst this system

resolved the deficiencies as they existed, it was still nevertheless a temporary solution.

Meanwhile in 1839 the decision had been taken by the board to build another timber

wharf at the eastern extremity o f the North Wall alongside the perpendicular lined

East Wall. In this area a basin or ‘pond’ was dredged deep enough to allow the larger

steamers to remain afloat at low water. This became known as ‘Halpin’s Pond’ after

the port engineer. This pond was deepened and extended in the 1840s to a depth of

sixteen feet at low water. In this way the large vessels coming into the port could

moor here and discharge into lighters (as was the process in Belfast) whilst waiting

for a vacant berth up river at the quays. By 1842 two more timber wharfs each o f 500

feet in length had been constructed, one on either side o f the Royal Canal Dock at the

North Wall quay, to cater for the incessant increase in cross-channel traffic. So

dramatic was this increase that by the 1860s the entire length o f the north quays from

the ‘old dock’ to Fish Street was fronted by similar timber wharfs. Some of these were

still in use as late as 1911 (Figure 2.5). By 1876 operations to deepen these

troublesome north quays were almost complete with the last berth on the last section

of wall being dredged deep enough to safely accommodate the steamers o f the City of

Dublin Steam Packet Company.19 Like so many other proposed works in Dublin Port

at this time, the reason for the lengthy delays in implementing Cubitt’s plans was a

shortage of funding.

In the earlier part of the century two graving slips known as Nos. 1 and 2 slips had

been constructed just north of Halpin’s Pond for ship repairing purposes. However,

owing to the increasing size o f the new steamers now operating in the port, these slips

were gradually becoming inadequate and in 1849 the Dublin Chamber of Commerce

presented to the ballast board a strong case for a new graving dock. This

18 Ibid.19 Bindon Blood Stoney, Report to the secretary of work in progress, 1 Aug. 1876 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DPA/019/001).

51

representation was backed up by a favourable report carried out by James Walker20

who had come over to Ireland specifically to investigate the suitability o f the port for

a new graving dock. In 1850 therefore, the port engineer, George Halpin Junior put

forward a plan for a new and larger graving dock to be built using cofferdams21 and to

be situated close to the old No. 2 slip. As a last precaution the board once again

sought the advice of William Cubitt whose influential comments sealed the board’s

approval whilst also casting Halpin in a very good light:

I have much pleasure in reporting how agreeably I was surprised to find so excellent a coffer­dam ... made at so little cost, and so efficient as this proves to be. I must say it reflects the highest credit on your engineer, ... upon the whole, it is the most economical, and certainly the only profitable coffer-dam I have ever seen constructed."

William Dargan was given the contract to construct the new dock and it was not

opened until 1860 (Figure 2.6). During the construction process a retaining wall 2,300

feet in length had been built in such a way as to enclose a large amount o f water

surrounding the pond. The area within this wall was subsequently reclaimed and it

was on this newly-reclaimed land that the foundations o f the present day port were

laid.23

In 1856 one of the most important appointments in the port authorities’ history was

made when George Halpin Junior’s assistant, Thomas Ramsey, resigned and was

replaced by the young engineer, Bindon Blood Stoney (Appendix XIII). The modest

budget upon which Stoney’s pioneering work in the port over the next forty years was

based helped to secure his reputation as one of the most resourceful and skilful

engineers of his day.24 With the passing o f the Dublin Port Act, 1867, control o f the

port was transferred from the old ‘Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port

o f Dublin’, to the newly-constituted ‘Dublin Port and Docks Board’. At the first

meeting o f this new board a ‘harbour improvement committee’ was appointed to

investigate, as their title suggests, new methods for improving the harbour. Under this

new administration many important improvements were made to the harbour, most

20 This is the same James Walker that had carried out the large-scale dredging operations in Belfast Harbour in the 1830s and 40s, see Walker diary (Archives of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London).21 A cofferdam is a watertight enclosure pumped dry to permit construction work below the waterline.22 Correspondence between Board o f Trade ... on Graving D ock in Port o f Dublin, p. 2.23 For more detailed information on this period of development see Gilligan, Port o f Dublin, pp 124-31.24For a detailed account of Stoney’s career, see R.C. Cox, Bindon Blood Stoney, biography o f a port engineer (Dublin. 1990).

52

Source:Rlver Liffey up to Sackvllle Street (British Library, map SEC.1(!447) 1911)Metres

Figure 2.5 North Wall Quay, Dublin, showing wooden wharfs, 1911

Source: R.C.Cox, Bindon Blood Stoney, biography o f a port engineer (Dublin, 1990), p. 13

Figure 2.6 George Halpin’s Graving Dock, Dublin, opened 1860

53

significant o f which was the ‘North Quay Extension’. This remarkable feat of

engineering received a copious amount of coverage in the newspapers and journals of

the day and heralded Stoney’s arrival on the engineering scene.

Despite the large-scale dredging operations that had been carried out in the port over a

long period of time, the authorities still encountered difficulties in attempting to

ensure that improvements kept pace with increasing traffic and vessel size. Even as

late as the mid 1860s the situation was as problematic as ever. In order to illustrate

this very point, Stoney’s assistant, John Purser Griffith,25 in his presidential address to

the Institution o f Civil Engineers of Ireland in 1888, quoted from the Harbour

Master’s journal for 1865 and 1866:

Ship Vistula, of Boston, 1,188 tons register, drawing 22 feet, with a cargo of guano from Peru, bound to Dublin, arrived at Kingstown on the 7th July, 1865, where she remained, discharging her cargo into lighters, until the 27th, when she was lightened to 17 feet. She then came to Halpin’s Pond, where she had to discharge the remainder of her cargo into lighters, which was not completed until the 28th August.

The ship Tribune, of St. John’s, N.B., 1,122 tons register, with a cargo of 1,700 tons guano, drawing 22 feel six inches, bound to Dublin, arrived at Kingstown on the 15* July, 1866; detained at Kingstown till 5* August, to lighten to 17 feet, when she came to Halpin’s Pond, where, after a delay of 30 days more, she finished her discharge all by lighters.26

Despite all the improvements carried out such as the construction o f timber jetties

stretching almost the entire length of the north quay as mentioned above, the port of

Dublin even as late as the 1860s was still unable to function independently. The co­

operation of the authorities at Kingstown was essential if the much sought after

foreign trade was to be conducted within Dublin port. With such extreme delays

involved, the process o f discharging into lighters at Kingstown was proving a costly

business to the port authorities. This however was not the only problem causing

financial loss to the port. Even the vessels that did make it as far as the port still had to

lie aground for a considerable portion of each tide, and the departure o f these vessels

had to be regulated so as to suit the tides, therefore causing more delays and

ultimately costing money.27 It was against this background that Bindon Blood Stoney

first put forward his proposal for extending the North Wall quays.

25 John Purser Griffith eventually succeeded Bindon Blood Stoney as Chief Engineer of Dublin Port in 1899, see R.C. Cox, John Purser Griffith 1848-1938 'Grand old man o f Irish engineering’ (Dublin, 1998), p. 15.26 John Purser Griffith, ‘The Port of Dublin’ in Tran. Inst. Engs. Ire. xix, 1888, pp 173-4.27 John Purser Griffith, The Port o f Dublin, an historical sketch. A n address to the Dublin University Engineering Students’ Society, November 27th, 1914 (Dublin, 1915) p. 19.

54

Building Dublin’s deep-water port

On commencing his position as assistant engineer in 1856, Stoney’s thoughts were

focussed on building for the future. The ongoing expense o f dredging the Liffey bed

and erecting timber wharves along the North Wall Quay was no longer acceptable to28the assistant engineer, as it provided only short-term solutions. Permanent large-

scale improvements in the form of an eastward extension to the existing North Wall

Quay, and the construction of a large tidal basin on the site of Halpin’s Pond,29 were

proposed by the energetic assistant in 1862.30 On the outer river side o f the new

extension there was to be a depth of twenty-two feet at low water, whilst inside in the

basin a depth of twenty-four feet at low water was to be made available. These

improvements would allow for the largest commercial vessels to enter the port of

Dublin and remain afloat at all stages of the tide. As Stoney put it, the new extension

was to be built on a ‘novel principal which avoids the trouble and expense of

cofferdams, pumping, staging and other temporary works, the expenditure on which

frequently exceeds the cost of the permanent work to which they are merely

ancillary’.31 Stoney’s plan was to construct large blocks of masonry o f ‘unprecedented

size’, each weighing 350 tons. Each block being twenty-nine feet in height, eleven

and a half feet in width, and twenty-one feet four inches in depth was to be built on

land on a block wharf. Three months after its completion each block was then lifted

by a powerful floating shears (Figure 2.7) and floated to the exact location where it

was then laid, forming a single section o f the wall eleven and a half feet in length.

Once a number o f these blocks were laid together a superstructure was then built over

them making the total height of the wall forty-five feet.32

The operation o f placing the large concrete blocks on the seabed was a dangerous

manoeuvre involving deep excavation and levelling work, and once again tested

Stoney’s engineering expertise to the full. In order to carry out this excavation work

28 Cox, Bindon Blood Stoney, p. 15.29 ‘Halpin’s Pond’ was the name given to a large pool dredged off the East Wall at the eastern extremity of the Port of Dublin. Its purpose was to give shelter to larger vessels unable to make it up river to Georges Dock and the larger Inner Dock at low water. Created in the early nineteenth century, Halpin’s Pond was called after George Halpin senior, the chief engineer at the time.30 Construction of Alexandra Basin, 1862, Harbour Improvements Dublin (NAI, Board of Trade black series, 1829.1-2).31 B.B. Stoney, On Recent Improvements in the Port o f Dublin (British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1878).32 Ibid.

55

End elevationof Floating Shears

Source:46th Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, 1878, In R.C.Cox, Bln don Blood Stoney, biography of a port engineer (Dublin, 1990), p. 24.

Figure 2.7 Floating shears designed by Bindon Blood Stoney, 1878

End E levalion

III.. ..... . if ... 4rl—,.nl* ,„ lA. W fltd Mui

Source:48th Report o f the British Association for the Advancement o f Science, 1878,in R.C.Cox, Bindon Blood Stoney, biography o f a port engineer (Dublin, 1990), p. 25.

Figure 2.8 Diving Bell designed by Bindon Blood Stoney, 1878

56

he designed an eighty-ton device called a ‘diving bell’ (Figure 2.8). Contained within

this bell was a cast-iron chamber twenty feet square and six and a half feet high, with

a funnel, three feet in diameter and forty-four feet high. At the upper end o f the funnel

was an air locked compartment six and a half feet high with a double door, which

could move up and down the funnel. The operation of the diving bell was as follows:

workmen were passed one at a time down the funnel and into the cast-iron chamber

where four o f them excavated the river-bed for about half an hour until a relief crew

took over. Inside the chamber were two large iron trays upon which the men shovelled

the excavated earth. When the trays were filled the men were evacuated from the

chamber. The bell was then lifted a few feet off the river bed and the trays discharged

into the barge by releasing a catch.33 The spoil was then used for land reclamation

elsewhere in the port.

Stoney’s plan was innovative to say the least, and on 10 August 1862 he presented it

to the Harbour Improvement Committee. At this time the chief engineer, George

Halpin was away from the port on other duties. On his return he was most unhappy to

learn of such a major proposal being submitted in his absence, and viewed Stoney’s

action as an affront to his authority. Halpin urged the committee to consider his own

plan for a floating basin using the more traditional method o f quay wall construction

within cofferdams. Still undeterred, Stoney persuaded the committee to adopt his

plan, claiming that it would cost half the expenditure o f Halpin’s proposal and would

be carried out in considerably less time.34 Due to the strain o f a continuously

increasing workload George Halpin’s health had begun to deteriorate and Stoney was

given more responsibility for looking after the day-to-day operations within the port

of Dublin. In the disagreement between the two engineers, Stoney’s superior technical

and financial arguments won the day and his proposal was given approval in

principle. The drawn out confrontation proved too much for Halpin, affecting both his

confidence and his health. He retired shortly afterwards and Stoney was appointed to

his position.35 Although approved in principle, work on Stoney’s proposal was not

started for another eight years.

33 Ibid.34 Cox, Bindon Blood Stoney, p. 15.35 Gilligan, Port o f Dublin, p. 128.

57

Amongst the Board of Trade files in the National Archives of Ireland is a plan for

proposed improvements in this part of the port dated 12 May 1862 (Figure 2.9) . 3 6 This

plan, possibly one of a number of Stoney plans drafted during the first half of 1862,

gives an early glimpse of the engineer’s vision for the development of Dublin’s port

facilities well into the twentieth century. As the port authorities were rapidly running

out of space for expansion, it followed that future developments in the port would

have to be carried out on land reclaimed from the sea. Thus, the North Quay

Extension and deep-water basin initiated a relentless expansion programme eastwards

into the bay of Dublin. In the 1862 plan these works are shown superimposed onto an

earlier survey of the entire harbour estate, thus providing an excellent macro view of

the overall plan. In it can be seen an old breakwater which had been in place for many

years to shelter the vessels tied up at Halpin’s Pond. Over the next fifty years land

was gradually reclaimed between this point and the previous extremity of the east

wall, providing many acres of new land upon which the port could be extended in size

and depth. In keeping with earlier developments in Dublin Port, when available

finance dictated when works would be carried out, 3 7 a large proportion of the detail in

this plan was put on hold for later. Nevertheless, it still gives an intriguing insight into

the mature mind of the young engineer as it is clear that Stoney, even at this early

date, was thinking long-term.

Having begun work in 1870, by August 1876 progress was satisfactory on the North

Quay extension. 3 8 Dredging work had commenced in March 1876 on the foundations

of the inner wall and the deep water berths alongside the wall. This would have been

started earlier according to Stoney, had the board not changed its mind on the

direction in which the wall was to be built. Other delays were caused by having to

wait until all shipping was removed from the area. 3 9 Nevertheless by August all the

large blocks for the east end of the wall had been laid and work had commenced in

laying those at the west end, for which there was a ‘crop’ of fourteen ready to be laid.

The length of the inner wall completed at this period was 610 feet, with 681 feet of

blocks in the foundation. The throng of vessels however lying along the river berths

36 Alexandra Basin, 1862 (NAI, Board of Trade black series, 1829.1-2).37 In 1864 work finally commenced on a plan proposed in 1840 by William Cubitt, to rebuild the north quay walls. The delay was down to the want of funds to carry out the work. See for example CPIPD minutes, vol. 17, 21 Aug. 1840 to 12 Jan. 1844, (NAI, DPDB 1/17, 2 Oct. 1840, pp 18-21).38 Stoney, Report to the secretary, 1 Aug. 1876 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).39 Ibid.

58

I '1'*-*' HUMir,'

I IN C H K X U

.IltlSHTOWN

Source: Construction of Alexandra Basin, 1862, Board of Trade Black Series, Harbour Improvements Dublin, 1829 1-2, National Archives of I re la n d _____________

Figure 2.9 Construction of Alexandra Basin, Dublin, 1862

Figure 2.10 Dublin Port and Liffey Quays, 1842-1911

59

on the outer wall were greatly retarding the progress of filling in the space between

both walls. 4 0 In January 1877 Stoney estimated the cost of work on the North Quay

extension at £12,000 per year over the next four years, a total of £48,000 by 1881.41

By 12 March 1881 all the foundations of the wall and the deep water berths had been

laid, and about sixty feet of the wall structure built up to one foot above high water. In

November of the same year the machinery of the diving bell and shears float were

thoroughly overhauled, and a large amount of filling put behind the finished wall. 4 2

Lack of deep water, as mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, had continuously

plagued the authorities in Dublin Port down to the 1870s. With vessels lying aground

in the river at low water, whilst larger vessels competed for berths in the confined area

of Halpin’s Pond, the completion of the North Quay Extension dramatically

transformed operations in Dublin Port. No longer were sailing times dependent on the

tide as berthage of twenty-six feet at low water was now provided by the successful

new works. In his report of 18 November 1881 when the last block had been laid and

the project completed, Stoney himself seemed pleased, as he wrote ‘it is very

satisfactory that blocks of the extraordinary height of 31 feet have been so

successfully laid ’ . 4 3 This however was only the first phase o f the work and it was not

until after 1930 that Stoney’s long-term plan was finally completed.

Other works in Dublin Port, 1870-1920

In 1869 it was possible to walk along the southern foreshore of the River Liffey at low

water from the River Dodder to Carlisle Bridge (the present day O’Connell Bridge) . 4 4

After many years of neglect the south quays of the Liffey were in urgent need of

improvement. In 1871 dredging operations were underway along the south quays and

by November of that year Sir John Rogerson’s Quay was almost complete, having

been deepened to accommodate vessels drawing twenty-two foot to lie afloat at low

40 ibid.41 Bindon Blood Stoney, Report to the Harbour Improvement Committee giving estimates of cost of work over the next four years, 8 Jan. 1877 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DPA/019/001).42 Engineer’s report on work in progress, 12 Mar. 1881, in Dublin Port and Docks Board Journal (hereafter DPDB minutes), 18 Nov. 1880 to 30 Nov. 1882, vol. 37 (NAI, DPDB 1/37).43 Engineer’s report oil work in progress, 18 Nov. 1881, in DPDB minutes, 18 Nov. 1880 to 30 Nov. 1882, vol. 37 (NAI, DPDB 1/37).44 John Purser Griffith, The Port of Dublin, an historical sketch. An address to the Dublin University Engineering Students' Society, November 27th, 1914 (Dublin, 1915), p. 20.

60

water . 4 5 Once complete it was then proposed to continue the improvement along Great

Britain Quay4 6 by extending Sir John Rogerson’s Quay eighty feet eastwards before

returning along Great Britain Quay for a distance of about 520 feet to the entrance to

the Grand Canal Dock (Figure 2.10). These improvements provided an extra eighty

feet more quay area facing the Liffey along with about 480 feet of first class berthage

facing the Dodder, an area which had received little use heretofore4 7 These new

berthing facilities facing the Dodder were deepened to twenty-two feet permitting

vessels entering the dock to lighten their cargos before passing through the sea locks

into the safety of the dock. The roadway along Great Britain Quay, described as being

‘inconveniently narrow’ was also to be widened to eighty feet at the north end of the48quay and ‘tapered’ in towards the dock entrance.

Stoney proposed a further extension of the new deep-water basin on 6 November

1883 which was approved three weeks later by the Board of Trade on 26 November.

This plan provided for an extension of the basin beyond the eastern breakwater to

another breakwater further east and constructed at a forty-five-degree angle to allow

vessels easier access into the basin. The new north quay was also to be extended

further east (Figure 2.10). As can be learned from the evidence of later maps of the

area, this plan, again due to lack of funds, was not carried out until the following

century. Financial problems continued to hamper the progress of the port right into the

twentieth century. In one of his earlier reports to the board in 1900, Stoney’s

successor as chief engineer, John Purser Griffith, stated that ‘during the last 30 years

various schemes of port improvement have been before the board, and many of them

have had to be abandoned or postponed for want of funds’ . 4 9 A continuous

preoccupation for the board was the extent of dredging operations necessary in the

port particularly along the Bar and the quay walls which substantially increased the

port’s annual budget. In a report of 29 May 1899, Griffith estimated the following

costs for works necessary in the port over the coming three to five years (Table 2.3).

45 Bindon Blood Stoney, application to Board of Trade for sanction of works at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, 23 Nov. 1871 (TNA, Kew, MT10/124).46 Great Britain Quay, situated at the entrance to Grand Canal Dock, was renamed ‘Britain Quay’ after Independence in 1922.47 Stoney, application to Board of Trade (TNA, Kew, MT10/124).48 Ibid.49 John Purser Griffith, Report to the secretary of work in progress, 17 Feb. 1900 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DPA/019/001).

61

In this case dredging operations made up about forty per cent of the necessary revenue

to be sought under the next Port Bill. As the board’s borrowing powers at this period

only amounted to £212,209 the construction of the sheds, although necessary, had to

be postponed until a later date. 5 0

Type of works CostDredging of river and Bar, including plant £114,800Reclamation north of Alexandra Basin £ 18,000Reconstruction of old quay walls £ 85,100Construction of sheds £ 40,500New bridge at old dock entrance £ 1 0 , 0 0 0

Eastern breakwater, outside wall £ 16,000Total £284,400

Source: John Purser Griffith, Report to the secretary of work in progress, 17 Feb.1900 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DPA/019/001).

Table 2.3 Estimate of expense of works necessary in Dublin Port between 1899 and 1894

John Purser Griffith took over from Stoney as chief engineer in 1898. Although he

inherited a relatively modern port for the period, it was nevertheless one that required

continuous improvement. Griffith however was certainly up to the challenge and drew

up a summary in February 1900 of the most important works which had come before

the board over the last thirty years but had not been carried out due to lack of funds.

The works listed in this summary came to a total of £1,250,000 and Griffith proposed

that the Harbour Improvement Committee select from the list what they considered to

be the most urgent works in order to come to some conclusion as to what borrowing

powers would be necessary to carry them out. Included in this summary was an

estimate of £520,000 for completing the Alexandra Basin and North Quay Extension,

£250,000 for the reconstruction of the Custom House Docks and widening of the

river, and £2 0 0 , 0 0 0 for the reconstruction of the quay walls west of Commons Street,

all to be carried out over the next twenty-five years . 5 1 To complete these and other

works, revenues would have to be increased, and in order to increase revenues the

board came up with the idea of reviving the old shipbuilding industry in the port. This

50 Ibid.51 T K i / i

6 2

was viewed by Griffith as the only way of removing what he described in July 1901

as the ‘present stagnation, which paralyses the port’ . 5 2

Shipbuilding had flourished briefly in Dublin in previous years. After the opening of

Halpin’s graving dock in 1860 an ambitious shipbuilding programme had been

embarked upon, but due to losses, came to an abrupt halt in 18 70.53 In 1901 the chief

engineer, on the request of the board, drew up two plans showing potential sites for

shipbuilding. The first of these plans submitted to the board on 2 July 1901 shows the

new sites situated immediately east of Halpin’s graving dock (Figure 2.11). In this

plan the portion coloured pink was, at the time, in the process of being reclaimed with

sand dredged on the Dublin Bar. With the reclamation of this area complete and the

dredging of the basin extended eastwards as far as the original (or first) eastern

breakwater, it was believed that suitable sites for shipyards could be provided . 5 4 This

map provides an excellent example of the massive reshaping of the landscape that

occurred in this part of the city between 1860 and 1920. The whole idea of reviving

the shipbuilding industry in the port was inescapably linked with another plan for

constructing a new graving dock, Halpin’s original graving dock being very much

dated by 1900. In order to accommodate the large class of overseas vessels

frequenting the port a new graving dock double the size of Halpin’s was necessary.

Griffith, convinced of this necessity, stated in his report to the board that ‘without a

graving dock it is perfectly idle to expect any shipbuilders of repute to entertain the

idea of opening a yard in Dublin’.5i A small ship yard did exist in Dublin Port at this

period which can be seen as the area coloured green in Figure 2.11, and labelled

‘Existing shipbuilding yard’. This small yard was ‘quite out of date’ for shipbuilding

purposes according to Griffith, who maintained that it was the ‘most eligible site for a

graving dock’ . 5 6 Meanwhile, it was decided to use this yard for ship repairing

purposes in order to attempt to make it as commercially workable as possible pending

ongoing reclamation operations east of the present basin. 5 7

52 Griffith, Report on shipbuilding yard sites, 2 July 1901 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).53 Maiy Daly, Dublin the deposed capital: a social and economic history 1860-1914 (Dublin, 1985), p. 38.54 Griffith, Report on shipbuilding, 2 July 1901 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).55 Ibid.56 Ibid.57 Griffith, Report on shipbuilding, 27 Aug. 1901 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).

63

I \ A k

m g

Figure 2.11J L

Source: Plan accompanying John Purser Griffith's report on shipbuilding at Dublin Port,2 July 1901,DPA/019/001, Dublin Port Archive, National College o f Ireland___________________

John Purser Griffith’s plan for shipbuilding accommodation in Dublin Port, July 1901

I l i f e■ Kii'l . > ■m h t e

L j

w

Source: Plan accompanying John Purser Griffith's report on shipbuilding at Dublin Port, 27 August 1901,DPA/019/001, Dublin Port Archive, National College of Ireland___________

Figure 2.12 John Purser Griffith’s plan for shipbuilding accommodation and graving dock in Dublin Port, August 1901

On 27 August 1901 Griffith presented a second plan to the board. This plan shows

expansive reclamation works in progress directly north, and north-east of Alexandra

Basin (Figure 2.12). Once completed, these new lands were to accommodate the

larger and more modern shipbuilding yard necessary for the development of the port.

According to this plan, the provision of this new and spacious site for shipbuilding

purposes would allow the smaller ship yard be used for the construction of the new

graving dock. In 1900 Griffith had estimated the cost of this graving dock at

£120,000. 5 8 However, having visited several of the large ports in Britain and seeing

the ‘graving dock accommodation provided and in course of construction’ Griffith

was forced to reconsider his estimate and advised the board in August 1901 that it

would ‘not be wise to estimate the cost at under £200,000’ . 5 9 This once again was

beyond the board’s limited funds. However, although Griffith was satisfied at this

time ‘that it is out of the question to attempt to make the existing graving dock

suitable for large modern vessels, and that this need can only be met by a new graving

dock’, funds were not forthcoming and he was forced to rethink the situation. By

February 1904 this situation showed no signs of improvement and Griffith was left

with no option but to present to the board an alternative proposal recommending the

more moderate plan of improving the present graving dock . 6 0

In his report of 1904 Griffith states that the present graving dock which cost the board

£116,700 in 1860 was in its day one of the finest in the British Isles. He went on to

say that since then ‘great changes have been made in the size and form of vessels, and

many ships now enter this port which cannot be placed in the board’s dry dock ’ . 6 1

Suggested improvements comprised the provision of additional capstans for docking

vessels, to widen the floor of the dock so as to adapt it to the ‘wide flat floored vessels

of the present day’, and to improve pumping appliances so as to empty the dock more

quickly. 6 2 In relation to the first of these, four hand operated capstans and one power

driven capstan were requested. These would be of great use in placing vessels on the

blocks. The four hand operated capstans would cost about £500 in total whilst the one

power driven capstan would cost from £300 to £400. Griffith recommended electric

58 Griffith, Report to the Dublin Port and Docks Board, 17 Feb. 1900 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).59 Griffith, Report on shipbuilding, 27 Aug. 1901 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).60 Griffith, Report to the Board, 22 Feb. 1904 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI. DPA/019/001).61 Ibid.62

65

energy if possible to drive the power capstan. The widening of the floor of the dock

was estimated at £2 ,2 0 0 , and electrical pumping machinery was to be designed for

emptying the dock in order to fit in with the general electrical equipment of the port.

This new machinery would empty the dock in two hours compared to the six hours it63took the older pumps to carry out the same task.

The debate centring on the provisions of a new graving dock as opposed to improving

the existing one continued for a number of years, providing the main topic of

discussion in a meeting of the works committee of the port as late as 1917.64 In this

meeting it was stated that the question of dock and slip accommodation had been

before the board for over forty years. In July 1879 Bindon Blood Stoney was of the

opinion that the ‘one very valuable graving dock in Dublin’ was ‘quite insufficient for

the wants of the port’, and that additional graving dock accommodation ‘would

benefit the city greatly’ . 6 5 Stoney’s view was seconded by the harbourmaster at the

time, Captain Carpenter, who gave the names of twenty vessels that required

‘docking’ but could not be accommodated in Dublin. Reference was also made to

reports by John Purser Griffith and Captain Graves, the harbourmaster for 1907, also

advocating the benefits of a new graving dock. At this meeting the existing

harbourmaster, J.H. Webb summed up the general views of the board:

If the want of more dock and slip accommodation was brought forward in the year 1879 and again in 1907 when the shipbuilding and ship repairing industry was 50 per cent less than it is at present, also when we are all aware at the present moment that the shipbuilding and ship repairing industry in Dublin is steadily increasing and promises to be a great financial benefit to the port and it is hardly necessary for me to say that I fully concur with Dr Stoney, Captain Carpenter, Captain Graves, and Sir John Griffith’s reports and more than that, I say, without more dock and slip accommodation, the shipbuilding and ship repairing industry will be hindered.66

Whilst a new graving dock was definitely necessary in the port of Dublin, particularly

during the war years 1914 to 1918 when shipbuilding rose substantially, it was not

until 1957 that the No.2 graving dock was eventually opened. 6 7

Between 1880 and 1920 as land reclamation increased, the harbour of Dublin

continued to extend further eastwards towards the open sea. These newly-reclaimed

63 Ibid.64 Minutes of the Works Committee, Thurs. 8 Nov. 1917 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).65 Ibid.66 Ibid.67 Gilligan, Port o f Dublin, p. 185.

66

lands were used for industrial purposes adding a new dimension to this part of the city

attracting large outside investment in the form of international oil companies and

other businesses. During the years ending the nineteenth and beginning the twentieth

centuries, large companies including Goulding’s manure and chemical works, and a

number of oil companies such as the Anglo American Oil Company, Shell Mex

Limited, the British Petroleum Company and the Galena Signal Oil Company set up

for business in this area providing more varied work opportunities for the large

docklands communities in the Sheriff Street and North Wall districts of the city. By

1925 most of the reclaimed land north of Alexandra Basin was occupied by oil

companies rather than shipbuilding yards as was originally planned (Figure 2.13).

Whilst the Dublin Dockyard Company still occupied its original site immediately

west of the number one graving dock as late as 1925, another company called Dublin

Shipbuilders Limited had established itself on a portion of the newly-reclaimed land

originally intended for shipbuilding yards. The remainder of this land was occupied

by the Merchant Warehousing Company Limited specialising in the discharge of

grain and flour, a company called W. & L, Crowe, with other portions still available

for letting. More than a dozen cranes occupied the quay side of the basin; nine of

these were four-tonne cranes, one ten tonne and one measuring 100 tonnes. At this

time the port was powered mainly by electricity, the power station being situated just

north of the engineer’s office beside the number one graving slip. By 1925 a

substantial docklands area had extended outwards from the port, transforming the

north and east wall district of the city into a major area of industry. At the centre of

this vast industrial estate was Stoney’s Alexandra Basin, still growing and developing

with the port almost half a century later, as Stoney intended. What had once been a

dredged hole in the sea called Halpin’s Pond, was now a teeming industrial space. On

the eve of independence Dublin Port, with its deep water basin, electric power station,

and most importantly, outside investment in the form of international oil companies,

looked a modern well-equipped port, well-poised to embrace the future.

67

Source; Map of Alexandra Basin in 1925, drawing no. 9281, uncatalogued material in Dublin Port Archive, National College of Ireland____________

Figure 2.13 Alexandra Basin, Dublin Port, 1925

Developments in Belfast Port 1785 - 1837

The main priority of the newly-established ‘Corporation for Preserving and Improving

the Port and Harbour of Belfast’ (ballast board) in 1785 was to acquire some land of

its own along the foreshore, in order to construct a new quay and a ship repairing

facility. At first this seemed difficult, as the Marquis of Donegall, owner of the entire

Belfast estate, was also the owner of the foreshore. However, in 1795 Donegall

granted the ballast board a ninety nine-year lease of ten acres near Ritchie’s shipyard

(see Figure 2.2, p. 40).68 This was exactly what the board wanted, particularly the

Belfast merchant members. However, due to the financial burdens imposed by the

Napoleonic Wars over the next two decades, trading figures in British ports slumped.

Accordingly, development plans in the port of Belfast were put on hold until the

68 Robin Sweetnain, 'The development of the port’ in J.C. Beckett (ed.), Belfast: the making of a city, 1800-1914 (Belfast. 1983), p. 59. In regard to 'Ritchie’s shipyard’, in 1791 W illiam Ritchie, a Scotsman from Saltcoats in Ayrshire established one o f the first ship-building yards on the Antrim side o f the River Lagan. Ritchie brought with him a pool o f skilled labour from Scotland to operate the shipyard and by 1800 he had built a graving dock on reclaimed lands which he called R itchie’s Dock. See R.B. M cDowell, ‘The late eighteenth-century’ in J.C. Beckett and R.E. Glasscock (eds), Belfast: origin and growth of an industrial city (Belfast, 1967) pp 56-7, and W.A. Maguire, Belfast (Keele, 1993) p. 34. For the iocation o f Ritchie’s Dock, see Figure 2.2.

6 8

political and economic situation improved. After 1814 when peace returned plans

were revived to ameliorate the situation

In 1830 James Walker6 9 of the London firm of Walker and Burges, was called in to

survey the harbour and make a report. The plans proposed in Walker’s report were

less elaborate than previous proposals and therefore better suited to the moderate

funds available to the ballast board at this time . 7 0 Walker viewed the defects of the

harbour to be ‘synonymous with the navigation of the river’ and proposed that the

best way to remove those defects was to straighten, and then to deepen the channel,

from the town of Belfast as far as Garmoyle. Also included in Walker’s plan was the

deepening and widening of the river and quays in front of the town ‘so that both in

approaching to the quays, and at the quays there should be a depth of 1 2 feet at low

water’ (Figure 2.14).71 Walker estimated the costs of executing this plan to be

£180,000. Apparently pleased with Walker’s plan, the ballast board promoted a bill,

which despite opposition from the Donegalls, became law on 23 August 1831. With

the passing of the subsequent act the ballast board applied to the Board of Works for a

public loan to execute the works 7 2 In his almost contemporary account of this episode

published in 1855, Anthony Marmion maintains that the Board of Works in their

ensuing investigation were advised by their engineer, Mr Halpin, 7 3 to abandon

Walker’s plan in favour of the Rennies’ and Telford’s ship canal schemes. 7 4 No

reason is given by Marmion as to why Walker’s proposal was rebuked. In his account

published in 1917, David Owen also neglects to give any specific reason, merely

69 In 1834 James Walker became only the second person to occupy the Chair of President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, succeeding Thomas Telford. After his death in 1862 Walker was described as a ‘strict disciplinarian’ and ‘indefatigable in his attention to the works under his charge’. See ‘Obituary, James Walker, 1781-1862’, in Minutes of the proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers, vol. 22, 1862-3, pp 630-33; also Appendix XIII of present study.70 Between 1815 and 1829 a number of plans by the Rennies, John senior, and Iris son, John junior (later to become Sir John) had been considered. These plans, and one by Thomas Telford, all favoured a ship-canal scheme, however they were rejected by the Harbour Commissioners on grounds of being too costly, Telford’s estimate being £369,982. Such proposals were in keeping with similar successful schemes in Europe. In the Port of Amsterdam for example the North Holland Canal was built between 1819-24. In Ghent between 1824-7 a ship canal thirty four kilometres in length was also constructed, whilst in Rotterdam in 1830 the Voomc Canal was cut across the island of Voome to open up the port to the sea. See Norman J.G. Pounds, An historical geography of Europe 1800-1914 (Cambridge, 1985), pp 475-8.1 James Walker, evidence before the House of Lords select committee to examine the Belfast Harbour

Bill, 1837 (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/3/5).72 Anthony Marmion, The ancient and modem history of the maritime ports of Ireland (London, 1855), p. 343.73 Possibly Mr George Halpin, the senior engineer at Dublin Port during this period.74 Marmion, Ports of Ireland, p. 343.

69

• * • 75stating that objections were raised and estimates considered insufficient. Due to the

protracted nature of the complex, yet compulsory parliamentary process, Walker’s

original act of 1831 expired and the result was the suspension for several years of

intended improvements.

On 11 July 1832 the harbour authorities in Belfast presented to the Commissioners of

His Majesty’s Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, a memorial for a grant of the

Crown’s interest in the expansive sloblands on both sides of Belfast Lough as far as

the Pool of Garmoyle. 7 6 This land was required by the memorialists in order to ‘divert

the present channel of the River Lagan which is very circuitous, and make a new cut

or channel for said river considerably deeper, so that vessels of a large burden, and

which cannot now come to the town nearer than the Pool of Garmoyle may be enabled

to land their cargoes at the Quay of Belfast’ . 7 7 The harbour commissioners were

successful in their memorial and were granted the following title for the nominal sum

of twenty-six pounds and five shillings:All that piece or parcel of land being the bed or present channel of that part of the River Lagan which runneth from the bridge over the same called the Long Bridge in the Town of Belfast unto the Pool of Garmoyle. And all those other pieces or parcels of land being the foreshores or unreclaimed mud banks, flats and shoals, over which the tidal waters flow, lying on the sides of the said river between the Long Bridge and the Pool of Garmoyle aforesaid, containing together by estimation eight hundred and eighty five acres statute measure.78

The acquisition of the rights to these important lands moved the commissioners one

step closer to their goal of improving the harbour. However, without an approved

plan, little could be done.

In 1834 the resident engineer, Thomas Jackson Woodhouse, proposed a modest plan

which wisely kept within the £35,000 limit which the Board of Works was prepared

to advance. This plan involved making a new cut from Dunbar’s Dock to the Mile

Water perch and was estimated at £30,053. Nevertheless, the plan was suspended by

an order of the Treasury until a more experienced engineer reported on the subject. 7 9

The engineer chosen was the very able and experienced William Cubitt who was also

75 Owen, Port o f Belfast, p. 31.76 Memorial for grant of the Crown’s interest in site of part of the proposed improvements, 11 July 1832, in Belfast harbour, sale to corporation (TNA, Kew, CRES 58/1098).77 Ibid.78 Rough draft of conveyance dated 11 July 1833. In Belfast harbour sale to corporation (TNA, Kew, CRES 58/1098).79 Marmion, Ports o f Ireland, p. 344.

70

engaged at this time in advising the authorities in Dublin Port regarding deeper

berthing facilities along the quays in that city . 8 0 In his report of 1835 Cubitt

condemned the Rennies’ and Telford’s estimates as being too large, and also

disapproved of Walker’s plan. He did however, give instructions to Woodhouse to

draw up two plans of his own, one to cost £150,000, the other to cost £125,000. These

plans were surveyed, levelled and laid down by Woodhouse, under and from the

instructions of Cubitt. 8 1 The first of these plans estimated at £150,000 included in its

provisions the construction of a main sewer for the drainage of the town . 8 2 This plan

proposed to form the old harbour into a floating dock with access to the sea through a

new channel cut between the first and third bends in the river (Figure 2.15). The plan

was readily accepted by the Ballast Office at the expense of Walker’s plan . 8 3 With

Cubitt’s plan now in favour, the commissioners decided to apply for a new act to

carry out the works. However, the bill drafted upon Cubitt’s plan was opposed by the

Marquis of Donegall who introduced a second bill for Walker’s plan . 8 4 Next, and

most unexpectedly, to the disappointment of the commissioners, their bill, having

progressed through several stages of the House of Commons was withdrawn. The

reason for its sudden withdrawal was that Cubitt, the engineer responsible for drafting

the plan, expressed doubt as to it eligibility. 8 5 Having paid the Marquis of Donegall

£2,750 to withdraw his bill, the commissioners once again turned to James Walker,

and as Walker later stated ‘after many battles in and out of parliament’ his plan was

finally adopted . 8 6 As the powers of the 1831 act had lapsed, a second bill was

proposed which was sanctioned by Parliament on 30 June 1837.

80 Sec Report of William Cubitt to the Ballast Board, 19 Sept. 1840, in CPIPD minutes, vol. 17, 21 Aug. 1840 to 12 Jan. 1844 (NAI, DPDB 1/17).81 William Cubitt and Thomas Woodhouse, A plan for the improvement of the harbour and town of Belfast by forming the present harbour into a floating dock and making new sewers for the drainage of the town, 17 Nov. 1836, Belfast Harbour Bill, 1837, deposited plans (HLRO).82 Signed estimate from William Cubitt to Belfast Harbour Commissioners, 16 Feb. 1837, in Belfast Harbour Bill, 1837, deposited plans (HLRO).83 Tom document signed possibly by James Lewis, Secretary of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners, 16 Feb. 1837, and stating that the commissioners ‘hereby undertake to pay the expense of making the proposed works and improvements [Mr Cubitt’s plan] in the harbour of Belfast’, in Belfast Harbour Bill, 1837, deposited plans (HLRO).84 Marmion, Ports o f Ireland, p. 344.85 Ibid.86 Walker diary, p. 153 (Archive of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London).

71

Figure 2.14 James Walker’s plan for proposed new channel in Belfast, 1837

Source: Belfast H arbour Act, 1837, plan of W alker & Burgess (HLRO)

I

> 1tu ut

L XHli ' s i Hi', ' [‘ (d vy_ri I11, ' ii5'r \ , .tr / > A ' V Iti v t. . r m v k i / ll.iiin m n

•4»- i I O A T i n « Ü O C K ^ * " 5 s■'Vf - ■ ■**’ * n - * ■ t i f f a h v â # ç f*# /*»*

„ T Q U l ü

Source: Plan by William Cubitt and Thomas Woodhouse for floating dock accommodation at Belfast Harbour, 1836, Belfast Harbour Act1831, plans, House o f Lords Records Office, London____________

H

Figure 2.15 William Cubitt and Thomas Woodhouse’s plan for floating dock in Belfast, 1836

72

Section ten o f the 1837 act granted pow er to the ‘C orporation for P reserv ing and

Im proving the Port and H arbour o f B e lfas t’ for carrying out the w orks. The act

em pow ered the corporation to ‘alter, divert, deepen, and im prove the course or

channel o f the R iver Lagan, betw een the Long Bridge o f B elfast and the poo l o f

G arm oyle’.87 In order to carry out these w orks efficiently the corporation w as granted

purchase rights to all the docks, quays and w harfs o f B elfast and B allym acarrett,

along w ith tolls, custom s and other existing dues.88 In accordance w ith the act, w orks

w ere to be carried out in specific order beginning w ith the new cut w hich w as to

com m ence ‘at or near D unbar’s D o ck ’ and term inate at o r near the first bend in the

river below Thom pson’s T ow er (Figure 2 .4).89 A fter the com pletion o f the first cu t all

existing quays and docks w ere to be purchased by the corporation. These new ly-

purchased docks w ere to be im proved and w idened w here necessary, w hilst som e o f

the older ones w ere to be filled in. Once this had been com pleted the new ly-cut

channel extending as far as T hom pson’s T ow er w as to be continued as far as Jo y ’s

Island thus providing direct access fo r the port to deeper w ater (Figure 2.4). The final

stage o f the w orks w as to be the construction o f all o ther floating docks, graving

docks and slip docks m entioned in the act.90

The Victoria Channel 1837 - 1849

The m ain problem confronting the B elfast port authorities, in the w ords o f the

engineer eventually responsible for effecting the great change w as a ‘w ant o f w a te r’ in

the ‘to rtuous’ channel betw een G arm oyle and the tow n o f B elfast, thus ‘preventing

vessels o f a certain draught o f w ater getting to the quays at low w ate r’.91 In 1838 quay

accom m odation for B elfast shipping w as very lim ited consisting o f only 3,830 feet all

on the A ntrim side o f the harbour. The County D ow n side o f the harbour had not yet

been developed. O f this 3,830 feet, 1,540 feet w as occupied by colliers and 860 feet

by steam ers. This left only 1,430 feet for com m ercial shipping w hich w as vital for

increasing and sustaining the w ealth o f the port.92 In 1836 B elfast had handled

87 Belfast Port and Harbour Act, 1837 (7 Will. IV & 1 Viet.) c. lxxvi, section 25. Also Belfast Harbour, its history, reprintedfrom the Belfast Evening Telegraph (Belfast, 1895), p. 18.88 Belfast Port and Harbour Act, 1837, section 13.89 Belfast Harbour, its history, p. 19.90 Belfast Port and Harbour Act, 1837, sections 10, 22, 25 and 27. Also Belfast Harbour, its history, p.19.91 Walker, evidence (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/3/5).92 Belfast Harbour, its history, p. 20.

73

315,000 tons of trade into and out of the port, leaving it second only to Dublin in

terms of tonnage (Table 2.1) . 9 3 Because all this quay accommodation was privately

owned it presented a huge inconvenience to the merchant community who dominated

the ballast board. The primary objective of the board therefore was to purchase these

quays in compliance with the provisions of the act of 183 7 . 9 4 However, before this

could be considered the first cut of the new deep-water channel had to be completed.

Accordingly, work commenced on this project in April 1839.

James Walker’s plan to cut a channel from the town of Belfast as far as the Pool of

Garmoyle was to be carried out in two stages as finance permitted. During the course

of construction of the new channel, silt excavated from the deep gorge was deposited

on its eastern side thus forming an island between the channel itself and the old course

of the river. This island, known as Dargan’s Island after William Dargan, the

contractor for the work , 9 5 was to act as a training bank for the new channel. 9 6

Eventually the slobland to the east of Dargan’s Island was reclaimed back as far as the

County Down shore and Dargan’s Island ceased to be an island, however, it was on

the exact site of this island that the world famous Harland and Wolff ship yard would

later be located. There is also another less documented side to Dargan’s Island. In

1843 the island was landscaped with the planting of trees and shrubs and the laying

out of pathways. This was carried out by the ballast board with the purpose of creating

a pleasure ground for public use. At the same time the board intended to use the south

and east of the island for ship-building purposes. In 1849 the resort was renamed

Queen’s Island in honour of Queen Victoria’s visit of that year. The high point of the

park’s history was probably the 1851 Victoria Fête for which a magnificent crystal

palace built on the style of the more famous crystal palace, Hyde Park, was purposely

erected. Gradually, over the years, ship-building activity on the island increased with

the Harland and Wolff and the Workman Clark companies growing larger and larger.

93 R.E. Glasscock, The growth of the port’ in Beckett and Glasscock (eds), Belfast, p. 100.94 Belfast Harbour, its history, p. 20.95 William Dargan would become the foremost contractor in Ireland over the next thirty years carrying out extensive works on numerous railways and ports from the 1830s until his death in 1867. See footnote 9 of present chapter.96 Owen, Port o f Belfast, p. 38.

74

Inevitably the pleasure park on the island gave way to the ship-building yards and a• 97brief but curious chapter in Belfast’s history was closed.

The first stage of the new navigable channel was completed in 1841. The following

year one of the most famous landmarks of old Belfast, the ‘Long Bridge’ was taken

down and replaced by the Queen’s Bridge. By 1845 all the private quays and docks

had been purchased as stipulated in the act of 1837, and in 1848 and 1849 three of the

old docks, the Town Dock, Limekiln Dock and Ritchie’s Dock, were filled in to

become Queen’s Square, Albert Square and Corporation Square respectively. 9 8

Meanwhile, in 1846 a bill had been promoted to carry out Walker’s plan for floating

dock accommodation in the harbour and also to change the title of the old corporation

and enlarge its powers and jurisdiction. The Belfast Harbour Act, 184799 repealed all

previous acts relating to the harbour that were still in force and constituted a new body

titled the Belfast Harbour Commissioners. 1 0 0 Walker’s floating docks and timber

ponds were never actually constructed.

Two years after the passing of the act of 1847 the new Belfast Harbour

Commissioners completed and opened a second cut providing as the legislation of

1837 had stipulated, a straight channel between the ‘Long Bridge of Belfast and the

Pool of Garmoyle’. This new channel was opened on 10 July 1849 and was called the

Victoria Channel, again in honour of the monarch’s recent visit. Also at this period a

number of important street widening schemes were carried out along the quays. The

filling in of the old docks had provided a continuous roadway from the Queen’s

Bridge along the new Donegall, Queen’s, Princes and Albert Quays, allowing for the

easier flow of traffic which was improved even further with the laying of rail and tram

tracks later on. These quays had been moved further out into the river to provide

greater depth (Figure 2.4). A very similar proposal by Cubitt had been rejected in

Dublin fourteen years earlier on account of the expenses involved. Access to the

quays was improved even further with the clearance of a muddle of old lane ways and

alleys in order to construct a new street intersecting Anne Street, High Street and

97 For a detailed account of the rise and demise of the People’s Park, Queen’s Island, see Eileen Black, The people'spark: the Queen’s Island, Belfast, 1849-1879 (Belfast, 1988).98 See for example Owen, Port o f Belfast, p. 39; Glasscock, ‘The growth of the port’ in Beckett and Glasscock (eds), Belfast, pp 101-2; and OS six-inch, sheet 61, County Antrim 1833 and 1858.99 The Belfast Harbour Act, 1847 (10 & 11 Viet.) c. lii.100 Owen, Port o f Belfast, p. 34.

75

MetresExtract from OS six-inch, A n trim , sheet 61.1833

Figure 2.16 Donegal Quay Belfast, 1833

Metres Extract from OS six-inch, Antrim, sheet 61,1858

Figure 2.17 Donegal Quay Belfast, 1858

76

Waring Street. Called Victoria Street, this new street ran from Chichester Street as far

as James Street, which in turn was widened to become an extension of Corporation

Street. Thus a new thoroughfare was created running parallel to the quays but set back

a few hundred yards from the waterfront. This new carriageway would provide the

main route from the centre of the town to the future York Street rail terminus (Figures

2.16, 2.17).101

Protecting the foreshore and rights to the sloblands

As conservators of the harbour, it was vital that the Belfast Harbour Commissioners

protected and maintained the tidal waters so important to the preservation of the port.

It was the Commissioners of His Majesty’s Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, and

not the harbour commissioners, who enjoyed full rights and title to the expansive

sloblands on both sides of the Lagan channel, over which the tidal waters flowed.

Consequently, there was little direct action the harbour commissioners could take

against encroachments by private individuals. The Belfast Harbour Commissioners

had been granted in 1833 the rights to 885 acres of slobs on both sides of the channel,

however this was still only about one sixth of the total area of slobs. Because of the

comparatively small amount of scour afforded by the Lagan, James Walker, over a

period of twenty years, had ‘constantly endeavoured to impress’ upon the minds of

the commissioners the necessity of preventing ‘encroachments of any kind on the bed

of the river above the town or on the foreshore of the bay ’ . 1 0 2 In his personal diary

written in later years Walker, looking back on this period writes ‘I have written

reports and done all I could to prevent the slobs being appropriated and the waters

being excluded for private purposes’ . 1 0 3 Walker’s worry was that although the

quantity of water excluded by encroachments might be small compared to the entire

contents of the bay, such encroachments ‘produced a more serious damage by the

impediment they offered to the tidal waters as it swept over the shore, the tendency

being to cause a new foreshore to be formed’ . 1 0 4

101 The first and second edition six-inch OS sheets for County Antrim illustrate well any alterations in the street layout around the quays between 1830 and 1860.102 Application by Edmund Getty, secretary of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners for grant of the rights of the Crown in the foreshore of County Down, no date, c. 1854 (TNA, Kew, CRES 58/1100).103 Walker diary, p. 155 (Archives of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London).104 Application by Edmund Getty ... foreshore of County Down, no date, c. 1854.

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When the Belfast and Ballymena Railway Bill was brought before Parliament in 1845

the Harbour Commissioners felt compelled by an ‘imperative sense of duty’ to take

active measures for the prevention of future encroachments. This bill proposed a

railway embankment along the Antrim foreshore thereby excluding a considerable

amount of tidal water. Also connected to this bill was a separate embankment bill

involving the reclamation of 2,500 acres of the mud-banks, thus excluding the flow of

24,200,000 cubic yards of water. 1 0 5 This water was considered by George Smith, the

resident engineer of the harbour, as necessary for the preservation of the port. As this

water drained from the Antrim slob, via the Seal Channel, into the Lagan at a point

near Garmoyle, the velocity of the water flowing through this 200-foot-wide channel

of twelve foot depth, created a scouring motion that was largely responsible for

maintaining the depth of the Garmoyle pool. 1 0 6 Aided by the professional services of

James Walker, the harbour commissioners succeeded in throwing out this

embankment bill and forcing the railway company to make a line the ‘least likely to

prove injurious’ to the foreshore. This opposition not only cost £1,000 which had to

be deducted from the commissioners’ limited funds, but also caused great

inconvenience by having to withdraw officers from their regular duties to attend the

Houses of Parliament. 1 0 7 The railway bill, the lesser of the two evils as far as the

harbour corporation was concerned, received royal assent on 21 July 1845.108

In the act finally adopted for the Belfast and Ballymena Railway, the line of rail was

permitted to cross the Antrim slob provided it remained within 100 to 275 yards of the

parallel Belfast to Carrickfergus turnpike road, at specified points along its route . 1 0 9

The railway company was also precluded from any further encroachments on the slob

that might ‘diminish’ its capacity ‘as a recipient for tidal water’ . 1 1 0 After the

completion of the railway ‘constant attempts’ were still being made by private

individuals to encroach on the sloblands on both sides of the channel. The practice of

encroaching on tidal waters was not however confined to Belfast. On 18 January

1848, a special department was set up by the Lords of the Admiralty to establish more

accurate supervision over the harbours of the United Kingdom, with a view to their

105 Ibid.106 Belfast Harbour, its history, p. 22.107 Application by Edmund Getty ... foreshore of County Down, no date, c. 1854.108 Belfast Harbour, its history, p. 22.109 Ibid.110 Application by Edmund Getty ... foreshore of County Down, no date, c. 1854.

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‘preservation and improvement’. All harbour authorities were instructed to report to

the admiralty on matters concerning encroachments. 1 1 1 In quick response, the harbour

commissioners in Belfast instructed their resident engineer to report on the recent and

current encroachments in the port of Belfast. On 27 January 1848 George Smith

compiled a detailed report for the admiralty. In this report the engineer refers to a

number of stone and wooden quays projecting from the Belfast and Ballymena

railway embankment 200 feet into the Antrim sloblands. A dock and landing-stage

had been built by Mr John Thompson in 1841 and a patent slip was recently erected

near Carrickfergus. All of these encroachments affected the slobs on the Antrim side

of the Lough. 1 1 2

Encroachments on the county Down side of the channel were having an equally

damaging effect on the tidal waters of the harbour. Close to Kinnegar, the Belfast and

County Down Railway projected 260 feet into the lough beyond the line originally

sanctioned by Parliament. Numerous other quays and embankments had been recently

constructed, or were in course of construction in 1848. These included William

Coates important reclamations between the Vitriol works at Ballymacarrett and

Ormeau Demesne in 1842, and the construction by Mr A. Montgomery of a small

quay and embankment south of the Queen’s Bridge (Figure 2.2, p. 40). In October

1848 an application from Lord Templemore to build an embankment in the

Connswater River at the rear of the Belfast and county Down Railway was refused by

the Admiralty. In March 1849 Templemore made a second application, this time to

embank for reclamation purposes, a portion of the strand at Ballymacarrett. In the

ensuing investigation it came to light that the strand in question was part of the 885

acres granted to the Belfast Harbour Commissioners in 1833. From this portion of

strand the commissioners derived their supply of ballast for local shipping, amounting

to 50,000 tonnes annually. The Admiralty refused their consent to Lord

Templemore’s proposal. 1 1 3 As the harbour commissioners were finding it increasingly

difficult to restrain parties from making such encroachments, the only remedy

according to Secretary, Edmund Getty, was to apply once again to the Commissioners

of His Majesty’s Woods, Forests and Land Revenues, for a further grant of the

111 Belfast Harbour, its history, p. 29.112 Ibid., p. 30.1,3 Ibid.

79

Crown’s rights in the remaining portion of the ground and soil of the bay under their

jurisdiction . 1 1 4 Many of the encroachments made during this period remained in place

well into the future. In a map of the Port and Harbour of Belfast surveyed in 1886,

quays can be seen projecting into the bay at Greencastle, Whitehouse and Macedon

Point (Figure 2.18).115

Figure 2.18 Belfast Harbour showing extent of Victoria Channel, 1886

Creating the docklands in Belfast

The completion of the Victoria Channel in 1849 brought great benefits to the harbour

of Belfast. A long line of deepwater quays now existed on the Antrim side of the

Lagan allowing vessels at low water to ply the distance from the pool of Garmoyle

right up to the town. Developments were also beginning on the County Down side at

this period. In his inquiry held in conjunction with the Belfast Harbour Bill, 1847, Mr

Farrell, the Admiralty Commissioner gives a fitting tribute to the prosperity of the

port at this period, a Filler account of this report can be seen in Appendix I:

114 Application by Edmund Getty ... foreshore of County Down, no date, c. 1854.115 Map of the Port and Harbour of Belfast, 1886 (PRONI, D/1526/1).

80

The whole of Donegall Quay is now occupied by steamers, your docks are full as are also the quays on the County down side of the river. The necessity will shortly arise for providing dock accommodation for vessels of the large size which are now coming into general use.116

This situation certainly contributed towards a substantial increase in the revenue of

the port. However, since 1830 when James Walker first surveyed the harbour and

calculated twelve foot at low water as being an adequate depth for the quays, vessel

numbers and tonnage had increased noticeably. 1 1 7 In order to accommodate the

increasing bulk of the more modern vessels, basin and floating dock accommodation

was vital. Although this had been recognized in a long line of proposals by Walker as

early as 1831, little as yet had been done, and by 1849 its necessity was more apparent

than ever.

With trade in the port increasing at a rapid pace, vessels carrying foreign cargoes were

now coming up to Belfast and Walker was concerned that such vessels should be kept

afloat at all tides (Table 2.1, p. 49). Even as a matter of security it was better in

Walker’s opinion, that foreign vessels should load and unload in docks. Any plan

therefore, for the improvement of the harbour would be ‘defective unless it included

also this consideration of docks’ . 1 1 8 In his early plan Walker had proposed a system of

floating docks on the site of the old Dunbar Dock as a long term objective. By 1849

over £317,000 had been spent on improvements in the harbour, all of which was

raised without any loans from the State. At this period in the harbour’s history the

County Down side of the Lough with the new Queen’s Quay was beginning to play an

increased role in the trade of the port. With quay facilities now on both sides of the

Lagan the toll-free Queen’s Bridge was the only means of communication between

the eastern and western quays. Following the lead of Glasgow and other towns

similarly situated, the commissioners applied to the Commissioners of Woods and

Forests for the right to establish licensed harbour passage boats to ply from both sides

of the harbour for the convenience of the public, and owners and masters of vessels . 1 1 9

116 Report of Mr Farrell, Admiralty Commissioner, on the Belfast Harbour Bill, 1847, quoted in Report of Committee as to obtaining parliamentary title to mud banks in the County Down, no date (TNA, Kew, CRES 58/1100).117 Walker, evidence (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/3/5).118 Ibid.119 Signed letter from Edmund Getty, secretary of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners to His Majesty’s Woods and Forests, 1848, in Belfast Harbour sale to Corporation (TNA, KEW, CRES 58/1098, File no. 434).

81

The 1860s was one of the most energetic periods of development in the Port of

Belfast with extensive works being carried out simultaneously on both sides of the

river. It was during this period that the modern harbour emerged through the

introduction of large-scale stone and concrete works to replace the older timber

works. Visitors to the port in the year 1865 would have witnessed a bustling district

filled with activity on both sides of the river as ferries busily plied workers to and

from the impressive works. The clanging sounds of steel against steel, bashing and

grinding to the yell of the anxious foreman, would have filled the air with the noisy

hum of progress. On the County Down side of the channel a large graving dock and

tidal basin was under construction, whilst on the Antrim side an even more extensive

system of floating docks was being built (Figure 2.19). Three years previously at a

special meeting held in the Harbour Office, Corporation Square, in November 1862,

vested interests amongst the commissioners were divided as to which side of the

channel the proposed graving dock should be constructed. At this point in time the

County Down side of the channel was associated more with shipbuilding and

repairing purposes, whilst the County Antrim side was characterised by the mercantile

business of the port. The main argument for positioning the graving dock on the

County Down side of the channel was that such a dock should be contiguous to the

ship-building and repairing yards and that the County Down side of the river could

‘no more be made an advantageous site for the mercantile trade than the County

Antrim side for the ship-building trade’ . 1 2 0 To further the argument the board was

reminded that of four ship-building yards originally located on the Antrim side of the

channel, only one remained, the others having moved across the river. Mr Workman

of the Workman Clarke firm was one of the main advocates supporting the motion for

the County Down side of the channel.

The main voice of those supporting the County Antrim side as the most suitable for

constructing the graving dock was Mr Thomson. Thomson believed that 103 acres of

unappropriated ground on the Antrim side of the river between the Clarendon Dock

and Thompson’s Bank would best answer the purpose of a graving dock, a floating

120 ‘Belfast Harbour Board’ in Dublin Builder, 1 Dec. 1862, p. 309.

82

Figure 2.19 The port and harbour of Belfast, 1893

dock and a ship-building yard. Thomson had even taken the trouble of having a plan

drafted to back his claim . 1 2 1 Thomson was supported in his motion by a deputation

representing 4,000 ship-carpenters and engineers of the port who also desired that the

graving dock should be on the Antrim side as they all lived on that side of the river.

Thomson claimed that the risk to the lives of huge numbers of workers crossing the

river on a daily basis should be enough to ensure that the graving dock be constructed

in Antrim As the Harland & Wolff yard alone conveyed 3,000 workers per day across

the river, owing to the energy of this ship yard it was not improbable to expect that

‘5,000 additional hands’ might in the near future be ‘engaged in iron ship-building’ in

Belfast, therefore increasing the risk to lives of so many workers crossing daily to the

County Down side. At the end of the meeting a vote was taken upon the question

where the motion supporting the County Down side was carried by ten votes to six. 1 2 2

The Hamilton Graving Dock therefore was constructed on the County Down side of

121 Thompson’s Bank and the surrounding lands were reclaimed by a Mr Thompson in the early nineteenth century. Although the surnames are spelt differently, it is quite possible that this is the same Mr Thomson on the Harbour Commissioners Board in 1862, or at least of the same family, which would explain the great interest in developing the lands for docks.122 ‘Belfast Harbour Board’ in Dublin Builder, 1 Dec. 1862, p. 310.

83

the channel and opened in 1867. It was called after James Hamilton, Chairman of the

Belfast Harbour Commissioners from 1867 to 1875.123

By October 1865 the construction of the graving dock was well under way on the

County Down side of the channel. The contractor, Messrs. Monk and Company of

Liverpool, were contracted to construct in addition to the graving dock, a large

floating basin also on the County Down side of the channel. The location chosen for

the graving dock was a vacant site at the end of the Queen’s Island parallel to an

existing repair slip. It was to be 453 feet long, 16 feet deep, with a top width of 83 feet

narrowing to 60 feet at the bottom, making it the largest graving dock in Ireland . 1 2 4

The base and walls of the dock were built of oblong concrete slabs quarried locally.

Across the entrance to the dock was a large heavy gate which served the purpose of a

barrier to the sea. Arrangements for pumping the dock dry were carried out by means

of a number of sluices at the sides of the dock. 1 2 5 Estimates however of a ‘few

minutes’ for pumping the entire dock dry, are if nothing else questionable. 1 2 6 The

Hamilton Graving Dock was to cost £26,000 and be capable of accommodating the

largest merchant vessels of the day.

Access to the Hamilton Graving Dock was attained through the new tidal basin also

included in the contract (Figure 2.19). During the construction process this basin was

referred to as Queen’s Basin on account of it being located between the Queen’s Quay

and Queen’s Island. However at its official opening by the Marquis of Abercom, in

October 1867, it was named the Abercorn Basin. This tidal basin was to be a ‘square

sheet’ of water comprising a surface area of 490,000 square feet. It was bounded on

two sides by walls 700 feet long and standing at right angles. On the third side was the

new Hamilton Graving Dock and an older repair slip, whilst the fourth side was open

to the channel. The walls of the basin rested upon a floor of concrete twelve feet wide

123 Robin Sweetnam and Cecil Nimmons, Port o f Belfast 1785-1985, an historical review (Belfast, 1985), p. 83.124 ‘Belfast improvements, new docks’ in Dublin Builder, 15 Oct. 1865, p. 249.125 Ibid.126 In 1904 John Purser Griffith was satisfied to report to the Dublin Port and Docks Board that with new electrical pumping machinery, it would not be at all unreasonable to expect their graving dock to be pumped dry in about two hours. See John Purser Griffith, Report to the Dublin Port and Docks Board, 22 Feb. 1904 (Dublin Port Archive, NCI, DP A/019/001).

84

and two feet thick. 450 workers were employed on the construction of the basin and it

was to cost £2 0 ,0 0 0 . 1 2 7

As work progressed on the county Down side of the channel, works of an even more

extensive scale were in progress on the County Antrim side. These works were under

the care of the Belfast contractors, Messrs. Brown, Kent and Smith and were expected

to cost nearly £108,000.128 Not quite as extensive as the system proposed by James

Walker in 1846, the contract was for a large tidal dock giving access to an inner

floating dock, both to be built on the site of the timber ponds between the Clarendon

Dock and the coast Guard’s Station at the end of Thomson’s Bank. The inner dock

was to be 600 feet long by 230 feet wide enclosing a surface area of 136,000 square

feet. Its depth was to be 25 feet and it was to be entered through a gate 60 feet wide

between two piers which would separate it from the outer tidal dock. This outer dock

was to measure 600 feet long by 550 feet wide. Its depth was to be between fourteen

and fifteen feet at extreme low water, sufficient to float the largest vessels coming into

the harbour at this period. The dock was to open onto the channel at the end of

Thomson’s Bank by a narrow tidal entrance through two rounded piers. The two

docks were to be laid on concrete flooring protected from the tide by metal piles

driven into the seabed. 1 2 9

ConclusionThe harbours in Dublin and Belfast were the key points of connection between the

interior of Ireland and the outside world. Through the canals in Dublin and the

railways in both towns, goods were carried to and from the ports for dissemination

throughout Ireland and overseas. In both ports the vast bulk of capital necessary for

improvements over the course of the nineteenth century was raised by the port

authorities with some small help from the board of works. For this, both authorities

should be commended. Had money been more readily available in the two ports,

delays in carrying out proposals could have been avoided and a lot more

improvements ultimately carried out. As it was, William Cubitt’s proposal of 1834,

for deepening the quays in Dublin’s north wall was not in fact completed until 1876.

127 ‘Belfast improvements, new docks’, in Dublin Builder, 15 Oct. 1865, pp 249-50.128 Ibid., p. 250.129 Ibid.

85

In Belfast, delays occasioned in enacting the Belfast Harbour Act, 1831, were in the

opinion of James Walker, due to ‘difficulties in regard to obtaining a loan of

money’ . 1 3 0 Financial strain therefore, was a continuous theme throughout the history

of both ports.

In 1830 the port authorities in Dublin had just completed the construction of the North

Bull Wall (1824), designed to work in conjunction with the previously-built South

Bull Wall, to improve the depth of water over a problematic sand bar at the entrance

to Dublin Bay. This major engineering work provided the foundation upon which the

nineteenth-century port would develop. After 1830, due to the moderate funds at the

disposal of the port authority, engineering work was mostly confined to the dredging

of the Liffey quays and the erection of wooden wharfs to maintain depth along these

quays. This system of repairing rather than removing deficiencies was employed in

the port until 1870 when a more permanent solution was found in the form of a deep-

water basin. Thanks to the expertise of the port engineer, B.B. Stoney, the

construction of the North Quay Extension and deep-water basin (1870-1880) without

the use of cofferdams, enabled the authorities to make large-scale improvements with

minimal expense. Although reclamation work had been an important part of the

development of the port from the eighteenth century, it was only with the creation of

the deepwater port around Alexandra Basin in the 1870s that the scale of reclamation

in the port increased dramatically. The impact of this large-scale reclamation was as

important for the city of Dublin as it was for the port of Dublin, as the topography of

the foreshore and bay surrounding the city was permanently altered.

In Belfast in 1830, the port of that town was in urgent need of improvement. Up to

this point no large-scale improvements had been carried out to the tortuous channel,

and all previous engineering works had been confined to the Antrim side. The first

major step towards transforming the inadequate facilities of the early nineteenth-

century port was the cutting of the Victoria Channel between 1837 and 1849. Like the

great sea walls in Dublin, the cutting of this straight deep-water channel in Belfast

provided the basis for the future development and prosperity of the nineteenth-century

port. Whilst the period from 1830 to 1870 was a quiet period in the port of Dublin, it

130 Walker, evidence (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/3/5)

86

was a bustling period for the port authorities in Belfast. With the completion of the

Victoria Channel in 1849, the 1850s was spent improving the quays on the east side of

the river, whilst the 1860s witnessed the construction of elaborate schemes of docks

on both sides of the river. As the twentieth century approached the port of Belfast was

expanding at a rapid pace.

The favourable site and situation of the port in Belfast was an important factor in the

rapid development of the shipbuilding industry on the County Down side of the Lagan

channel. Whilst the process of reclamation was important to the development of the

port in Dublin, it played a major role in the development of the northern port. As

Figure 2.4 has shown, the appearance of the Belfast foreshore in 1833 is

unrecognizable from its appearance in 1858. Apart from the dramatic visual

transformation of the foreshore, the situation of the port of Belfast, adjacent to a large

expanse of sloblands, provided the opportunity for expansion on a massive scale.

Also, the geology of these sloblands comprising a soft sandy soil, enabled heavy

excavation work to be carried out at less cost and in less time than under normal

circumstances. By the end of the nineteenth century the unrivalled success of the huge

shipbuilding industry in Belfast provided the main and obvious difference between

two ports that were remarkably similar in many ways, particularly during the earlier

part of the nineteenth century when defects such as shallow waters and insufficient

quayside accommodation provided the main engineering challenges.

87

Chapter III

The railway phenomenon: measuring its impact, 1830-1922

As to the neighbourhood which had hesitated to acknowledge the railroad in its struggling days ... and now boasted of its powerful and prosperous relation. There were railway patterns in its drapers’ shops, and railway journals in the windows of its newsmen. There were railway hotels, coffee-houses, lodging-houses, boarding-houses; railway plans, maps, views, wrappers, bottles, sandwich-boxes, and time tables; railway hackney-coach and cab-stands; railway omnibuses, railway streets and buildings, railway hangers-on and parasites, and flatterers out of all calculation. There was even railway time observed in clocks, as if the sun itself had given in.1

The arrival of the railway was a huge event in the history of any town, bringing with it

novelty, wonder and curiosity for all to witness. More permanently however, the

railway imposed huge urban change on an unprecedented scale. Nineteenth-century

urban town plans are characterized by an intrusion of unnatural curves and straight

lines ‘surgically inserted’ through and around an existing city fabric. The railway

inspired the network ideal, extending its influence to distant places and shifting the

emphasis from local to regional and national. Most of the costs and all the works

involved in railway construction were managed by the railway company. Even within

municipal boundaries the companies exerted full control over the works as the

municipal corporation was powerless to obstruct provided the company did not

deviate from the original plans and damage was avoided to public property.

This chapter examines the contribution of the railway to the networked city by

looking at its impact in the two towns of Belfast and Dublin. Although neither town

experienced railway construction on the massive scale of British towns such as

Glasgow or Birmingham, they were both, nevertheless, important railway centres in

Ireland. As all the early lines halted at the edge of the built-up district in both towns,

disruption was kept to a minimum as each line edged cautiously towards the centre.

By examining the location of these early railways and their termini in the early edition

OS six-inch sheets for each town (Figures 3.1 and 3.2), the individualism of each

1 Charles Dickens, Dealings with the firm o f Dombey and Son, wholesale, retail and for exportation (Penguin, 2002, first published London, 1848), p. 245.

88

Blessinglon Steel f Basin

MGWft Broad Slone

yDDR S Amlen’sSt

GSWR , Kingsbridge

À t .I W ’ DKR'WJi X f i ; ')_ Westland •Grand Canal ' 1 I j a r ' T K - '« \ V J J V ^ ' V / ' 'Basin \ A r-, - • i r t ' T ' i * 0 5 : ̂ // > J N U |

: /VS : \V / Y O H f t s ‘v $- t t ■ \

Dfftwn'byfranfc Cullen

i , /--------------------------- -— — i

Metres 800OS s ix inch, Dublin, sheet 18, 1876

Figure 3.1 The rail network in Dublin, 1850

Base map OS six-inch Antrim, sheet 61, and Down, sheet 4,1902I-------------------1o M etres eoO

Figure 3.2 The rail network in Belfast, 1868

89

com pany is evident in the sheer lack o f co-ordination betw een the various lines.2 This

reveals the true nature o f these early ventures, profit w as the sim ple aim o f the

capitalist prom oters, and public convenience to o k second place. This

disconnectedness o f the various lines, particularly in D ublin resu lted in a spate o f

proposals in the 1860s and 1870s for uniting the c ity ’s five isolated term ini. I t w as not

until 1891 however, that some sort o f unity w as achieved w ith the controversial

D ublin, W icklow and W exford R ailw ay or ‘loop lin e ’ linking the old D ub lin and

K ingstow n’s W estland R o w term inal on the south side o f the L iffey w ith th e G reat

N orthern’s A m iens S treet term inal on the north side as can be seen in figure 3 .4 .3 In

1864 the B elfast Central R ailw ay w as sanctioned to connect tha t to w n ’s th ree separate

railways, thus providing B elfast w ith its only genuine u rban railw ay (F igure 3.2). It

w as also during the 1860s that D ublin’s railw ays began to take on a m ore u rban feel

w hen three o f the four existing com panies constructed branch lines to the port o f that

city. This chapter w ill exam ine the m ultitude o f im plications and repercussions tha t

sixty years o f railw ay construction and developm ent had on Ire land ’s tw o m ajor u rban

centres.

Public opinion on the railw ay phenom enon in the p ioneering years o f the 1830s and

1840s varied from hostility to wonder. As w ith all revolutionary inventions unleashed

on the public, the railw ay had its critics. This criticism , like tha t o f fu ture generations

condem ning attem pts by hum an beings to fly, w as in m ost cases, borne out o f a

reluctance to adm it the w orld w as rapidly changing.4 D ickens observed th is brilliantly

w ith his one-tim e incredulous m aster chim ney-sw eeper ‘w ho now lived in a stuccoed

house three stories high, and gave h im self out, w ith golden flourishes upon a

varnished board, as contractor for the cleansing o f the railw ay chim neys by

m achinery’.5 A fter a few years w hen it w as realised that the railw ay w as not going to

go away, people not only quickly adapted to the change, bu t also took advantage. The

2 The Belfast Central Railway shown in Figure 3.2, linking the Ulster Railway with the Belfast and County Down Railway, was not completed until the 1860s.3 The Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway, sanctioned in 1884 and opened in 1891, was also known as the City of Dublin Junction Railways and more commonly, the ‘loop line’.4 For a good example of this reluctance to accept the new technologies, see Appendix IX.5 Dickens, Dombey and Son, p. 245.

90

railway’s ‘annihilation of space by time’ 6 quickly won over the critics and it was not

long before these converts were finding the railway indispensable to their daily lives:

Wonderful Members of Parliament, who, little more than twenty years before, had made themselves merry with the wild railroad theories of engineers, and given them the liveliest rubs in cross-examination, went down into the north with their watches in their hands, and sent on messages before by the electric telegraph, to say that they were coming.7

The changing perception of the railway is an important consideration and is therefore

explored more fully in this chapter. Also explored is the parliamentary process

through which the promoters and engineers of each potential railway were forced to

undergo the tedious cross-examinations of Dickens’ ‘Wonderful Members of

Parliament’. This parliamentary procedure was necessary for all railway projects and

is outlined in detail as it applied to Irish railways.

As it would not be possible to examine in detail all o f the railways converging on

Belfast and Dublin in the nineteenth century, two specific railways are chosen as the

main focus of the chapter. These are the Ulster Railway sanctioned by parliament in

1836 and first opened in 1839, and the Dublin and Drogheda Railway also sanctioned

in 1836, but not opened until 1844. The bulk of attention is given to these two

railways as they comprise the two most important parts of the eventual through line of

communication between Belfast and Dublin. Although this through line was not

opened until 1855, it was never far from the minds of both sets of promoters. As early

as 1835 the Drogheda promoters were saying of their line: ‘it may be taken as a part

of a whole as the first stage of the great northern line leading from Dublin to Scotland

thro’ the enterprising and commercial Province of Ulster’ . 8 Whilst the Ulster

promoters in choosing Armagh as a suitable terminal for their railway were of the

opinion that: ‘It may also be extended to Dublin, by a line taken either from near

Moira, or from Armagh, towards Dundalk and Drogheda, where it would join the

proposed railway thence to Dublin’ . 9 With this long-term objective in the minds of

6 The phrase ‘the annihilation of space by time’ was taken from a similar phrase used by Karl Marx in the Grundrisse (1857), pp 538 - 39. Marx however was referring to the processes of capitalism: ‘While capital ... must strive to tear down every barrier ... to exchange and conquer the whole earth for its markets, it strives on the other side to annihilate this space with time’. As the century progressed the phrase ‘the annihilation of space by time’ was applied more and more to describe the effects of railway speed.7 Dickens, Dombey and Son, p. 245.8 Dublin and Drogheda Railway Minute Book (hereafter DDR minutes), 1835-1837, 25 May 1835 (Iamrod Eireann, Heuston Station, Dublin).9 Ulster Railway handbook and traveller’s companion o f the way (Belfast, 1848), p. xii.

91

both sets of directors, it would not be unreasonable to expect both companies to agree

to a standard ‘breadth of way’. This however was not the case as the Ulster Railway,

operating successfully on a gauge of 6 foot 2 inches since 1839, was reluctant to

change its entire system to the 5 foot 2 inches proposed by the Drogheda Railway as it

neared completion in 1842. In the ensuing controversy the Ulster Railway presented a

memorial to the Board of Trade resulting in the appointment of Major General Pasley,

Director General of Railways, to report on the matter. These challenges, and those

involved in constructing the Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway to link the Ulster

and Drogheda Railways, will be teased out more fully in a detailed case study at the

end of this chapter.

In Belfast a careful examination of the rail network reveals a very telling fact about

the future aspirations of this up and coming town in the 1830s. During this period

when the first railways were being constructed, Dublin was the main hub with all

lines radiating from the capital. Large towns such as Cork, Galway, Sligo and

Drogheda were happy to be linked to the metropolis. However, in the northern part of

the country, the Ulster directors clearly had their own aspirations. Although the link to

Dublin was a long-term objective, their short-term objectives were also made clear at

the outset. They believed that by providing direct access between the port of Belfast

and the ancient city of Armagh, this inland town would become an important traffic

centre where all lines destined for the port of Belfast would converge upon their

railway. Already at this early part of the century Belfast was declaring its intended

status as commercial rival to Dublin. Belfast therefore became the central hub of the

northern system and henceforward acted, to a large extent, independently of the

southern metropolis (Figure 3.3). Throughout the discussion numerous other lines of

railway are referred to as they impact on the study. Important questions posed are,

why were these railways built in the first place? What were the long and short-term

objectives of the promoters? What impact, if any, did these early railway projects

have on the urban landscape, and did this impact increase or diminish as the century

progressed?

The railway terminal represents one of the most enduring monuments to the self­

belief and confidence of the nineteenth-century city. In London, the St Pancras

terminal on Euston Road is a prime example. It therefore seems important to consider

92

the location of these formidable spaces and ask the question why they are where they

are. Considering the scale of demolition in Ireland’s capital during the second half of

the twentieth century, it is astonishing that Dublin still has its five original railway

Figure 3.3 Nodal links on Irish rail network in 1900

terminals intact, although two are no longer in use, whilst all three of Belfast’s

original terminals have been lost.10Apart from the obvious architectural contribution

of these buildings to the city fabric, there was also an exotic appeal to these places,

the points of departure to distant towns and cities, the world beyond the local. The

importance of the railway terminal, as a unique space within the city, is also

recognised in this chapter.

10 Much of Belfast’s urban fabric was destroyed in German airraids in the 1940s.

93

Attitudes and perceptions

The newness of the railway when it first appeared on the scene in 1820s England

brought with it a certain element of shock. Nothing remotely resembling the great fire

breathing engine with its astounding speeds and noisy terminals had up to this point

been contemplated. The railway advanced relentlessly, expanding its dominion over

the landscape. Unlike the existing road network which unobtrusively followed the

contours of the land, the railway showed no such respect as it cut straight through the

landscape. Its need for minimum gradients and subtle curves ensured large-scale

bridging, tunnelling, embankment and excavation work to overcome the topographical

features of the countryside. Inside the city similar challenges faced the engineer.

Although the topography was very different there was still the need to bridge, tunnel

and embank. For example during the construction of the City of Dublin Junction

Railway in the 1880s, in addition to bridging the River Liffey and the wide open

space of Beresford Place, nine other major streets and three alleys also had to be

bridged. 1 1 Space therefore, whether urban or rural didn’t really matter to the railway,

as all else had to step aside and make way for its unremitting needs and wants

(Figures 3.4 and 3.5).

The railway journey was a totally new experience to all who travelled along the lines

in the early years. This experience might be likened to that of travelling by air today.

So novel was this mode of travel that the company handbook of the Dublin and

Drogheda line included a section with hints to the traveller such as: ‘Pack your

luggage in such order that you can readily carry with you the small matters you want

on your journey’; ‘Let your name and designation appear legibly on your luggage’,

those who chose to exercise extra caution were advised to put their name and address

inside each case also, the point was laboured further by advising the unfortunate

passenger thus:Picture to yourself your trunk lying on the road, left in the comer of an office, or sent out to a wrong direction, and imagine what you would then wish should be on it or in it, that it might be correctly and speedily sent to you. What you would then wish you had done, do before you start.12

11 City of Dublin Junction Railways, plans and books of reference 1884, Clerks of the Crown and Peace, records of Circuit Court Dublin (NAI, 1 C/30/67).12 ‘Hints to railway travellers’ in Handbook o f the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, containing a description o f the scenery, towns, villages, and remarkable places lying along and contiguous to the line from Dublin to Drogheda (Dublin, 1844).

94

' '1 '' ' ¡rk-S ■' r<r* to* 4 ^ V. .• ^ & ' ° E ¿ f v A i f y . - f

% * « W J L •; t i r■“■ — —--'-¿W*V»L » v. .^>tuf

M i lt •mGiVjLj,

B r i g ’ S

■( hi {ft rt

S ;im lv n u n in t

ikwy frrryuy

LìtilvHiitfdwt Latter ifit- ,

liillvnmuni

# . f f r r r - f " " T

MiAi .1«

■ ^ 3 Tl s h l o w n

Source: Deposited plans for C ity o f Dublin Junction Railways Bill, 1884 (HLRO)

H K I ____________________’igure 3.4 Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Junction Railway, 1884

Source: Deposited plans for City of Dublin Junction Railways Bill, 1884 (HLRO)

Figure 3.5 Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Junction Railway, 1884, passing through Custom House Gardens

NORTH D O C K ’

/Jili/hüti

9 5

Passengers w ere urged not to open carriage doors them selves and no t to leave the

carriage for any reason w hatever w ithou t the prior know ledge o f the conductor, ‘lest

you be injured by som e accident, o r left beh ind’. A lthough ‘invalids and decrepid

persons’ it w as stated, received very considerable attention from railw ay officers, they

w ere u rged to ‘calculate on none w hich w ould m aterially in terfere w ith the general

w orking o f the establishm ent’.13 Standard rules applied to m any o f the com panies, the

U lster and the D ublin and D rogheda C om panies prohibited sm oking, no t only on the

trains, bu t also in all their stations. N either com pany allow ed dogs in the carriages o f

their trains as facilities w ere provided for conveying them under p roper arrangem ents

and at a sm all charge. R egarding children however, the U lster R ailw ay C om pany

provided be tte r value for m oney allow ing tw o children under the age o f six

accom panied by an adult to travel free o f charge, children betw een the age o f six and

tw elve to be charged ha lf fares. In com parison the D ublin and D rogheda R ailw ay

Com pany allow ed only infants ‘unable to w alk ’ to travel free o f charge, w hilst ha lf

fares w ere extended only as far as the age o f ten .14 Em ployees o f the railw ay w ere

issued w ith a special num ber w hich w as w orn on their collar. In the case o f

com plaints against particular em ployees, travellers w ere advised to report the m atter

to the secretary o f the com pany quoting the offender’s em ployee num ber. N o fees or

gratuity w ere to be taken by any guard, porter or o ther railw ay servant o f either

com pany .15

A part from the railw ay’s physical and perhaps aggressive im pact on urban and rural

space, even m ore startling w as the heretofore unseen shrinkage o f the national space.

W hilst the top speeds o f the stage coaches had been eight to ten m iles per hour, w hen

the railw ays arrived on the scene, even the slow est steam locom otive averaging about

tw enty to tw enty-five m iles per hour could still com plete a journey in less than h a lf

the tim e. In 1845 the D ublin and D rogheda R ailw ay could com plete its jou rney in one

hour and ten m inutes including stops at M alahide and Balbriggan. This gave an

average speed o f 27.4 m iles per hour (Figure 3 .6 ).16 In com parison, a stage coach

travelling continuously at eight m iles per hour w ith no stops, w ould still have taken

13 ‘Hints to railway travellers’ in Handbook of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway.14 ‘Rates for carriages’ in Ulster Railway hand book, and ‘Hints for travellers’ in Handbook of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway.15 Ulster Railway hand book, p. x, and ‘Hints to travellers’ in Handbook of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway.16 Dublin and Drogheda Railway timetable in Handbook of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway.

96

four hours to com plete the sam e journey. Sim ilar statistics apply to all the m ain lines

o f railw ay in the country, and it w as the instant shock o f such ground-breaking speeds

that w as the m ost difficult th ing to com prehend for the public. O n 23 M ay 1844, the

DUBLIN AND DROGHEDA RAILWAY.TIME TABLE

For the SUMMER MONTHS , 1845.COMMENCING ON THE 2-It i i APRIL.

I fo sm g o r« to insure I l n u r being iu tim e «1 th e in te rm ed iate S ta tions, sh ou ld be th e re a t least F iv e M i n u t r s before th e lim es s la ted iu th e following T ab les. T ickets a re issued at these Stations o n l y on condition of th ere being room int h e T ra in .

DO W N TRAINS FROM DUBLIN.

n A.M •J A U. 10 A.M. 1 1 A.M. 12 M. 2 3 P.M. 4 P.M. 3 P.M. 5} P.M 7 P.M. 8* P.M. 10| P.M

H u ¿It«1«!« M»llf MiUhMpProghrdo 1st »5 2m Malalriilc Drughodi M ill hide Mfllilildc Drogheda MlUhide Drogheda

Mixed,Mtil

l i t A 2bd d m

ÜmcM » MftUUdrcUm . M linl «-Li*.«. Mixed. Mixed.

Goods,Mixed. Mixed. Mixed. Mixed

Oocd»Mixed.

H. u II < M. m. 11. M, II. M. II. u. FI. W. II. u. II. u II. M. II. M. a . m. M. M.7 40 ft II 10 0 ] 1 0 12 0 2 0 3 o 4 D 3 0 3 30 7 O 8 13 9 13 10 30" 43 10 5 — 12 5 2 5 4 5 4 5 3 4 5 as 7 3 —. 9 ao ! 10 3 j7 •15 — in ir. — 12 15 a 15 4 15 4 13 3 14 S 43 7 13 — e so 10 4»7 Ml — 10 20 — 12 20 2 20 3 20 4 20 5 19 5 50 7 20 — 9 357 5(1 — III 2i> — 12 26 2 2G 3 20 4 26 A 23 i S& 7 26 — B 41 10 MN A 0 20 10 35 1 I 20 12 3A 2 35 3 33 4 43 3 32 fl 5 7 33 6 33 9 M 11 d« LI — .... 1 1 »? — a 44 — — & 40 — 7 43 — 0 MH 23 — — II 45 2 53 — — 3 30 — 7 63 _ 10 8H .42 — _ 3 2 — — 5 58 — — _ ...H 40 — — II 12 — 3 y — — 0 3 — 8 7 — 10 uH 51 i l 47 — 12 (■ — 3 21 — — 11 13 — 8 18 o a 10 36 _N r)!l — — 4 20 — — 0 22 — 8 26 — 10 44 _y 12 — — 12 15 — 3 -12 — 0 34 — — — 10 30!> 10 — 12 AM 5 5(1 — fi 41 — 8 40 _ 1 1 A•J 10 JO ID — 12 40 — 4 (1 — •I 30 — H 30 0 <3 II 13 —

1 H i H U N , . . . .« •U lN T A K fc . .r U H K N Y . .nA 1.00VI ,/ ‘

¡V ’k t m \ k n o c k .JJALA , | |0 K .......on.s,» | |Kt H.........¡ P .1 V u is K . .: n .l .O t.'N O A N ........SK KU.Il I KS..........IJA I.U H IU O A N ,

HI.) II.W IN ST O N , LA Y TO W N ,I i r / tT Y hT O tV N ..M u x ; H E [JA,

UP TRAINS TO DUBLIN.1

Hour» o f »(«fling. 4 A.U #J A.M. [ IlH A.M. lo ja m i a i p w I t ► ,M. 4j r.M. 31 p. m. 41 P.M,

STA TIO N S. MallI#« A i'rtd M, 2 It&Mi liui.iln ;

1st \ -'hil .Mnlainiln11-.;». [ M ired.

Dublin, MU Ml.

— «.Makhld«M lin l.

Mail, l i t A Vud MnhMd«

M ltnl.

r i i~T T " ¡1- Source: Handbook o f the Dublin and I Drogheda Railway (Dublin, 1844)Mm-I I M l.n l. , M .n l ; ." " T 1 1

Figure 3.6 D ublin and D rogheda R ailw ay Tim etable, 1845

eve o f the opening o f the D ublin and D rogheda Railw ay, the journey betw een the tw o

tow ns w as four to six hours. The follow ing day it could be done in one hour and ten

m inutes. This ‘annihilation o f space by tim e’ w as understandably very difficult to

accept. Its sudden im pact produced a new form o f consciousness about tim e, w hich in

the w ords o f one historical geographer served to ‘expand and th icken the im portance

o f the p resen t’.17 Tim e needed to be co-ordinated in order that passengers catch the

trains: ‘B e at the station som e m inutes before the tim e; i f you do not resolve to do so,

expect to see the train on its w ay w ithout you ’.18 Through the facility o f the electric

17 N igel Thrift, ‘Transport and communication 1730-1914’, in R.A. Dodgshon and R.A. Butlin (eds), An historical geography of England and Wales (London, 1990, first published 1978), p. 474.18 ‘Hints to railway travellers’ in Handbook of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway.

97

telegraph railway timetables nurtured an awareness o f time, an awareness that

prompted the standardization in 1848 of all localities to Greenwich Mean Time. 19

Before the arrival of the railway, local towns had kept their own local times, for

example Galway was eleven minutes behind Dublin. Considering it took over twelve

hours to travel from Dublin to Galway before the arrival of the railway, eleven

minutes was hardly noticeable. Railway speed therefore introduced the need for

standard time, an enduring legacy to the railway’s staggering impact on society.

Railways and Parliament

Of the many categories of private bills promoted in parliament in the early to mid­

nineteenth century, none had so great an impact on the locality as the railway bill. A

railway scheme was very much a business venture, usually formulated in the

collective minds of local business interests and ultimately designed to generate a good

return on initial investments. In the case of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway for

example, the entire enterprise began as an idea in the mind of the Drogheda

businessman, Thomas Brodigan, who first identified the benefits of such a railway:... whether considered on a source of healthful recreation for the citizens, as a means of

facilitating the operations of trade, commerce or manufactures, as a rapid medium for the transport of agricultural produce, or conveying troops as a means of national defence and security, it is equally valuable and deserving of support and encouragement. . . 2(1

Once the benefits and necessity of the works were identified, the next stage of

proceedings involved setting up a provisional committee comprised of local business

interests, responsible for drafting the necessary bill. In order to submit this bill, capital

had to be raised to cover expenses, most important of which were the fees of a

reputable engineer to survey the land and draw up the necessary plans and sections of

each stage of the line. 2 1 From 1838 it became obligatory for promoters of railway bills

to deposit one map of the entire project at a minimum scale of four inches to one mile,

19 Thrift, ‘Transport and communication’, p. 474.20 DDR minutes, 1835-1837, 25 May 1835.21 Since 1794 it had become necessary for promoters of bills relating to canals and waterworks to submit plans of any lands deemed necessary for compulsory purchase under the bill. These plans were also to be accompanied by a book of reference to the owners, occupiers and lessees of these lands, a list of owners, occupiers and lessees consenting to the works, and an estimate of expense. In 1800 these requirements were extended to bills relating to docks and harbours, and in 1802 to railway and tramway bills. See Maurice F. Bond, Guide to the records o f Parliament (HMSO, 1971), p. 71.

98

along with a complete series o f large-scale plans outlining the various sections o f the

entire railway line.22

As decisions o f the select committee were final, expenses were not spared in an effort

to present the best possible case. In the Dublin and Drogheda Railway Bill the battle

in the House of Commons between the promoters and petitioners lasted for thirty days

involving the costs o f counsel and agents, and of fares, accommodation and living

expenses for thirty five witnesses, most of whom had travelled from Ireland.23 I f the

proposal was accepted, an act o f parliament was passed which gave sanction to the

railway allowing the provisional committee to set up a bona fide company. This

however was only the beginning as many proposals which successfully passed

through parliament attaining government sanction never actually progressed any

further due to lack of capital. With the railway company sanctioned, the task of

raising the enormous capital required for purchasing the land and constructing the line

was the main obstacle to further progress. Capital was raised through shares and the

numerous volumes o f unused share certificate books held in the basement o f Heuston

Station in Dublin bear testimony to the large number o f Irish companies which failed

to raise the necessary capital. Failure to carry out sanctioned works was commonplace

and did not only apply to railway construction. Due to lack o f available capital

improvements sanctioned in the Belfast Harbour Act, 1831 were put on hold for so

long that the legislation expired leaving the authorities with no option but to promote

a second bill.

It has been stated by one railway commentator that two main features existed that

distinguished Irish from British railways.24 These were the wider gauge used in

Ireland, and government sponsorship of Irish railways. Whilst this cannot be denied, a

third difference can in fact be added. The third difference was the planning process,

due in no small manner to the minute sub-division o f the Irish countryside. This

unique feature of Irish life presented major problems to Irish railway surveyors and

engineers when it came to drawing up plans and sections o f the railway. In

22 Bond, Parliament, p. 71, also Report from the Select Committee on Railway Bills (Ireland), p. 1, H.C. 1845 (315), x, evidence of Charles Tarrant taken 9 May 1845.23 Dorian Gerhold, ‘Private bill evidence’, in Witnesses before Parliament, a guide to the database o f witnesses in committees on opposed private bills, 1771 -1917 (London, 1997), p. 7.24 Michael Robbins, The railway age (Penguin, 1965, first published by Routledge, 1962), pp 111-12.

99

compliance with ‘Standing Order No. 23’, land division had to be drawn on to railway

plans, and corresponding details o f ownership of such land recorded in an

accompanying book of reference’. For an example of these sub-divisions see Figure

3.13, p. 112. This system suited England as the landscape in that country was not so

intensely divided, however it was wholly unsuited to Ireland. Nevertheless, it was

imposed on the country regardless, similar to the way in which the poor law system

was also being imposed on Ireland at this time. Such was this problem that a select

committee of the House o f Commons was assembled in 1845 to report on the matter

and ascertain if a relaxation o f Standing Order No. 23 was necessary for Irish

railways.25 In this report the crux of the problem was outlined:

It is true, that the great extent to which the subdivision of landed property is carried in Ireland, and the number of derivative interests in land in that country, render it a task of more than ordinary care and labour to complete the required plans, and to make out the Book of Reference, which, by the Standing Order, No. 23, are to be deposited by the Promoters of any Railway Bill on or before the 30th of November.26

In parts of the west of Ireland the sub-division of land was so acute that sometimes as

many as sixty enclosures would have to be compressed within two inches on the

plans.27 Charles Tarrant, Engineer for the City o f Dublin in 1845, tells in his evidence

of how sub-divisions were so numerous ‘you would be obliged, as we were, to put in

the numbers to designate them with a magnifying glass’. Whilst Irish engineers did

have the added advantage of the new first edition six-inch Ordnance Survey plans in

all but the earliest years o f railway mania (a facility their English counterparts did not

have until later), its advantages were nevertheless somewhat limited when it came to

recording the most minute sub-divisions. When asked if they used the ‘facilities from

the Ordnance map in Ireland which they have not in England’, Mr Tarrant replied

thus:

Yes: but that would only show that if a difficulty exists with a six-inch map, how much more would it be if we adopted the minimum scale recommended by the Standing Orders, which is four inches to a mile; that difficulty would be increased considerably if it were not for the Ordnance map.28

In his evidence before the select committee Charles Vignoles stated that the great use

of the six-inch Ordnance Survey maps for Ireland was in getting all the names o f the

25 Report from the select committee on Railway Bills, 23 May 1845.26 Ibid., 23 May 1845, p. iii.27 Ibid., p. v.28 Ibid., p. 2.

100

townlands in which the railway would pass and showing the true direction of the

various points with respect to each other. He also stated that the new map allowed the

surveys to be carried out in at least half the time previously taken.29 Further problems

arose from the situation in Ireland as compared to England or Scotland as engineers,

in compliance with Standing Order No. 23, had to have their plans, sections and

books of reference deposited with the clerks o f the peace for every county the railway

passed through on or before 30 November in time for the new session of parliament.

The difficulty arising here was that due to the presence of standing crops on the

ground, surveys could not be commenced until mid-October when all crops had been

harvested, thereby leaving only six weeks to have surveys completed and deposited

before the deadline. This o f course was ample time for such surveys to be carried out

in England or Scotland where land sub-division was not so acute as in Ireland,

however in Ireland it presented real difficulties.30 On a particular railway west o f the

Shannon, Charles Tarrant testified that he encountered 3009 sub-divisions o f land on

a fifty-seven-mile stretch.31 In their report the select committee however decided

against relaxing Standing Order No. 23 for Irish railways stating that where ‘due

diligence is used by the promoters of such bills’ no peculiar obstacles should be

allowed to stand in the way. Whilst acknowledging the difficulties of the minute sub­

division of land they also maintained that ‘considerable engineering facilities’ were

afforded to the surveying o f Irish railways due to the six-inch Ordnance Survey map

which did not exist for England, Scotland and Wales.32

The appointment of the Irish Railway Commission on 28 October 1836 is a good

indication of the importance the government attached to establishing a well-organized

railway network throughout the country. The commission’s remit was to inquire into

the manner in which railway communication could be most advantageously promoted

in Ireland. This small commission comprised four individuals, Thomas Drummond,

Under Secretary o f State, Colonel John Fox Burgoyne, Professor Peter Barlow o f the

Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and Richard Griffith, a geologist and engineer

who would later oversee the Primary Valuation o f Ireland. During its short existence

the commission published two reports before terminating its affairs in 1839. The first

29 Ibid., p. 9.30 Ibid., pp 2-3.31 Ibid., p. 6.32 Ibid., p. iii.

101

of these reports merely outlined the commissioners’ intentions and proposed methods

of enquiry, however of far more importance was their second report published in 1838

which outlined their findings and recommendations.

Drafted mainly by Thomas Drummond, the controversial second report, sometimes

referred to as the ‘Drummond Report’, got a mixed reception when completed in 1838

as it recommended a government-controlled general system of railways across the

country, rather than individual privately-owned companies.33 Interested parties voiced

their opinions on the report in the lengthy columns o f numerous newspapers and

journals o f the time. Opponents decried its findings as being hostile to private

enterprise and the in vogue doctrine o f laissez-faire, whilst its supporters eulogized its

meticulous attention to detail leaving no stone unturned in its quest to obtain its

objective. The usefulness and practicality o f its surveys, reports and numerous

appendices went far beyond the mere question of rail transport in Ireland. With

Richard Griffith as one o f the commissioners it is not surprising that the geological

structure of Ireland was given ample attention as an important consideration in laying

out a proper system of railways in Ireland. Other surveys included detailed

demographic analyses in relation to the amount, distribution and employment o f the

population and its subsequent relationship to patterns o f traffic movement, along with

many tables showing the returns relative to steam packet companies, mining

companies, excise, postage, banks, steam engines and numerous other concerns. The

report was said by many to be a work of outstanding intellect.

The main body of the report excluding notes and appendices comprises ninety-seven

pages, the last four of which contain the commissioners’ conclusions and

recommendations, most important of which was the advancement o f a government

loan comprising a ‘considerable proportion of the estimates’ of the works, ‘at the

lowest rate o f interest, and on the easiest terms of repayment’.34 Fully aware that by

33 The Irish Railway Commission was a government commission appointed to inquire into the manner in which railway communications could be most advantageously promoted in Ireland. The commission sat for three years from 1836 to 1839 and produced two reports on their deliberations. These reports are as follows: First report o f the commissioners appointed to inquire into the manner in which railway communication can be most advantageously promoted in Ireland [75], H.C. 1837, xxxiii (hereafter First report o f the railway commissioners), and Second report o f the commissioners appointed to consider and recommend a general system o f railways for Ireland [75], H.C. 1837-8, xxxv (hereafter Second report o f the railway commissioners).34 Second report o f the railway commissioners ... , p. 94.

102

supporting a state-run system of railways they were flying in the face o f the popular

laissez faire doctrine o f the period, the commissioners nevertheless felt that the

powers and privileges associated with a railroad were so immense that it should never

be entrusted to the hands of a private company:

Its superiority is too manifest and decided to admit of rivalry; it possesses almost unlimited means of accommodation; no amount of traffic exists on any road, or is likely to exist, which a single Railway is not capable of conveying; no concourse of passengers, which it cannot promptly dispose of; the velocity of the locomotive, when impelled even at a very considerable reduction of its M l power, surpasses the greatest speed which the best appointed coach, on the best made road, can maintain: in short, where the capabilities of the system are brought fully into operation, they present such an accumulation of advantages, as to render it an instrument of unequalled power in advancing the prosperity of a country.35

The superior advantages o f the railway over all rival forms of transport, particularly

regarding speed and accommodation, justified the attention of the government. It

would appear however that in coming to their decision the commissioners somewhat

overestimated the powers o f the railway stating that ‘it must, wherever established, at

once supersede the common road’ and cause all public conveyances in the locality to

‘disappear’.36

The commissioners’ recommendation was backed up by the chief secretary o f Ireland,

Lord Morpeth. On 1 March 1839 he put forward a motion in the House of Commons

for the Treasury to authorize exchequer bills to the value of £2,500,000 to be

expended on the construction o f a railway or railways in Ireland. In putting forward

these proposals Morpeth held that if railways were introduced into Ireland by the

State, huge savings would be made on the expense of conducting private bills through

Parliament. However the strongest reason of all, according to Morpeth, to support a

State-run system, was to prevent the private companies from submitting to the will o f

human nature and raising their prices as high as would bear the strain.37 Due to

opposition in the Lords however, the government were forced to abandon the project.

Attempts were made to revive the question in the House of Commons in 1842 but to

no avail. The State-run general system of railways as envisioned by the Irish Railway

Commissioners failed to materialise. Some small loans were made available by

government in later years but the railway system in Ireland, just as in England,

remained very much in the hands of the private companies.

35 Ibid., p. 95.36 Ibid., p. 95.37 ‘Lord Morpeth’s motion of 1839’ in The story o f the Irish railway problem (Dublin, 1904), p. 10.

103

Post Office and railways

In the early years o f railway communication the Post Office was a very influential

force, operating behind the scenes and monitoring closely the various developments.

Before the arrival o f the railways large sums of money had been expended in the

construction of a road from London to Holyhead, in building a suspension bridge

across the Menai Straits and in constructing harbours at Holyhead and Kingstown, all

in an effort to accelerate the mail service between London and Dublin.38 Although

successful in their purpose, these early nineteenth-century improvements did not

contemplate the dramatic impact that the railway was about to have on transport and

were already dated by the 1840s:

Large sums of public money have already been expended ... in improving the roads and harbours forming the central line of communication between London and Dublin; but since the introduction of railways, the application of a power unknown at that time has rendered such further improvements practicable as could not then have been even contemplated.39

In 1831 the Dublin and Kingstown Railway had been promoted by its secretary,

James Pirn, as a work of public and national importance that would ‘materially

contribute to the improvement of the intercourse with England by accelerating the

transmission of the mails’.40 In England the London and Liverpool Railway had

already been sanctioned in 1830, providing a rapid means o f transporting the mail

from the capital to the northern port. As the mail was then taken from Liverpool to

Kingstown in order to avoid the treacherous Dublin Bar at the entrance to the port of

Dublin, the Kingstown railway would provide a rapid means of conveying it along the

last leg o f its journey to the General Post Office in Dublin.

In 1842 a select committee was appointed to enquire into the means of improving Post

Office communication between Great Britain and Ireland. In its report this committee

proclaimed that any expenditure necessary for affording the utmost facility o f

intercourse between Ireland and Britain should be regarded more as an outlay for

‘national purposes than for the advantage of any particular department o f the public

38 Report from the select committee on communication between London and Dublin; together with the proceedings o f the committee, minutes o f evidence, appendix and index, H.C. 1852-3 (747), xxiv, p. iv.39 Report from the select committee on Post Office communication with Ireland, together with the minutes o f evidence, appendix and index, H.C. 1842 (373) ix.40 Copy o f correspondence between the commissioners o f public works in Ireland and the proprietors o f the Kingstown railroad, or others on their behalf, H.C. 1833 (291), xxxv, p. 2.

104

service’.41 With the completion o f the London and Liverpool Railway and the Dublin

and Kingstown Railway in the early 1830s the transmission o f the mail from London

to Dublin could be carried out in twenty-three hours. However as steam travel over

land was four times faster than over sea, it was decided to make the passage across the

water as short a distance as possible. In this endeavour the Chester and Holyhead

Railway was constructed as a branch off the London and Liverpool in 1848, and the

Welsh port became the point of embarkation for the Irish passengers and mails. A

further improvement was made with the construction of a new tubular bridge across

the Menai Straits and the journey was reduced from twenty-three hours to seventeen.42

The speedy carriage of the mail, particularly between the metropolis o f London and

Dublin was a consideration of utmost importance. When many o f the lines proposed

in the 1860s to connect Dublin’s dislocated termini were being promoted, one of the

major objectives was to design a system that would link the Dublin and Kingstown’s

Westland Row terminal with the line to the north towards Belfast, and the south

towards Cork. This would provide for the speedy dissemination o f the mail by

dispensing with the cart system, whereby mail had to be carted from the Westland

Row terminal to the Great Southern and Western and Midland Great Western’s

Kingsbridge and Broadstone terminals in different parts of the city. The prospectus of

the Dublin Trunk Connecting Railway, 1864 states:

By the formation of this line the mail service between England and Ireland will be considerably accelerated and passengers will be enabled to travel to and from the port of Kingstown and any part of the Irish railway system without changing carriages.43

This railway which can be seen in Figure 3.7 was a well thought out system but never

progressed beyond the planning stage. In 1884 the notorious ‘loop line’ was proposed.

This line, though not as elaborate as the Trunk Connecting Railway o f 1864, did the

same job by connecting the Kingstown line with the northern and southern lines,

thereby speeding up the mail service.

The construction of the loop line received great publicity in the newspapers for all the

wrong reasons. Unlike the 1864 scheme which connected the Kingstown line with the

rest of the system by a line running east o f the eighteenth-century Custom House in

41 Report from the select committee on Post Office communication with Ireland ..., p. ill..42 Report from the select committee on communication between London and Dublin, p. iv.43 Prospectus of the Dublin Trunk Connecting Railway Company, 1864 (TNA, Kew, RAIL 1075/305).

105

the city, the loop line proposed an intrusive iron viaduct running through the western

side of the Custom House gardens, thereby disfiguring the ‘finest architectural effect

in the City o f Dublin’ (Figures 3.4 and 3.5, p. 95).44 In opposition to this scheme the

city engineer, Parke Neville, also a qualified architect45, went so far as to erect a

‘short length of model girder’ in the grounds of the Custom House, so as to show the

Figure 3.7 Dublin Trunk Connecting Railway, 1864

citizens the ‘damaging effect’ of the proposed new bridge.46 However, in parliament

the Postmaster-General was a formidable adversary, and proved too much, even for

the corporation of Dublin. In his evidence in support of the bill, John Allen, inspector

of mails for Ireland was to testify that:

44 Parke Neville, ‘Opposition to loop line of railway’, 3 June 1884, Printed Minutes of the Municipal Council of the City of Dublin, p. 159 (Dublin City Library and Archive).45 See Appendix XIII.46 Neville, ‘Opposition to loop line of railway’, 3 June 1884, p. 159.

106

;

No Description Owner Lessee Occupier

1 Passenger Terminus DKR DWWR DWWR

2 Old Offices same same same

3 Westland Row Dublin Corporation same The public

4 T ramways DUTC same DUTC

5 School house TCD Phineas Riall, Surgeon Smyly, Capt. Courtney, Espine Batty

Miss Bridilia Inglis

6 Passage to school same same same

7 House same same Rev. Charles Knox Miss Kate Twiss

9 Yard of house same same Miss Bridilia Inglis

12 Grass plot same same same

13 Outhouse and yard same same same

15 Passage same same same

16 Coal yard same same and William W. Robinson

William W Robinson

10 Lane known as Park View

Dublin Corporation The public

Figure 3.8 Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Junction Railway, 1884, landholdings

107

8 Yard of house TCD Phinias Riall, Michael Crowe, Rev. AS. Fuller, Rev. C.K. Strong, George Poote,Joseph Burne,Frederick J. Keightley

Miss Collins

11 St Mark's Parochial School

same same same

14 Enclosure Rev. Thomas Cooper, Mrs Cooper, Miss Mary Cooper, Miss Elizabeth Cooper, John Cooper

Thomas Murray, Robert Mitchell

Robert Mitchell

17 Part of Grosvenor Hotel

same same same

10 Yard and bedrooms same same same

17a Passage same and Robert Callow Sen.

Robert Smith, Mrs. Wm. Valentine, Robert Mitchell, Michael Murray, Representatives of Murphy, Eliza Smith, P.J. Bermingham, George Grindley

Robert Smith, Mrs. Wm. Valentine, Robert Mitchell, Michael Murray, Representatives of Murphy, Eliza Smith, P.J. Bermingham, George Grindley

19 Workshop of factory Robert Callow, Sen Charles Granby Burke, Hugh Kelly, Thos. Coatsworth,Jessop Brown

Jessop Brown

20 Forge o f Coach Factory

same Charles Granby Burke, Patrick J. Bermingham, Jessop Brown

Jessop Brown

21 Stable same Charles Granby Burke, Patrick J. Bermingham, Thos. Coatsworth

Thomas Coatsworth, Jessop Brown

22 Coach factory same Charles Granby Burke, Jessop Brown

same

22b House same Charles Granby Burke, P.J Bermingham,. James Hogan

James Hogan

22c House and yard same Charles Granby Burke, P.J. Bermingham,Thos Coatsworth

Thos. Coatsworth

22a Outhouse same same same

23 Yard same same and Charles Gatchell

same and Charles Gatchell

24 House same Charles Granby Burke, P.J. Bermingham, Jessop Brown

P.J. Bermingham

Source: Dublin. Wicklow and Wexford Railway Bill, 1884 (HLRO)

At present you have a very high rate of service from London to Holyhead as we know by express trains and then by excellent steamers from Holyhead to Kingstown and then again from there to Dublin.47

However from Dublin the entire system broke down as mail then had to be carted

through the town as far as the Kingsbridge and Broadstone terminals in distant parts

of the city (Figure 3.1, p. 89). Although the municipal corporation continued its

opposition in parliament, the railway ultimately went ahead as planned. Figure 3.8

details a section o f this railway in order to demonstrate the impact o f urban railway

construction. Although demolition did not occur on a scale remotely resembling

London or Glasgow; where it did occur, its impact was just as dramatic for the

individuals whose homes and livelihoods were effected.

The railway impact in Dublin and Belfast 1836-1907

A striking feature of the six-inch Ordnance Survey map of Dublin for the year 1876

when all the main railway schemes were in place is the unusually large number o f

railway terminals (five in total), and the scattered distribution o f these buildings

(Figure 3.1, p. 89). This disconnectedness reflects the competitive nature of Ireland’s

early railway companies, each striving to make their railway as indispensable to the

city as possible. This in fact was still the case as late as 1870 when the Belfast Central

Railway (Figure 3.2, p. 89), designed to unite the three separate railway companies in

Belfast under one terminal, failed to do so, due to the reluctance o f the Belfast and

County Down Railway and the Great Northern Railway to allow their terminals ‘to be

superseded by a central station not under their direct control’.48 The comments o f a

Dublin wholesale merchant, Mr John George Boileau, describing the lack of harmony

between the three separate companies comprising the Dublin to Belfast line in 1866

provide a microcosm of all that was wrong with the Irish railway system:

The northern railways exhibit a strange system. Leaving Dublin for Belfast, before you arrive at your destination you will have travelled over three if not four different lines, each conducted under three different boards of directors, whose interests ought to be identical, but whose operations are antagonistic, and consequently traffic in every way suffers.49

41 John Allen, Inspector of mails for Ireland, evidence before the select committee on the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway Bill, 21 May 1884, ix (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/50/9).

Patrick Gerald Cleary, ‘Spatial expansion and urban ecological change in Belfast with special reference to the role of local transportation, 1861-1917’ (Ph.D.. thesis. Queen’s University Belfast, 1979), p. 233.19 Royal Commission on Railways. Evidence and papers relating to railways in Ireland (London, 1866), evidence of John George Boileau. 6804,

108

The discordant nature of the early railways in Dublin was repeated in Belfast but on a

smaller scale, Belfast having three terminals compared to Dublin’s five. Beyond the

lack of communication between the various companies, the railway system also

lacked the authority o f a governing body to liaise with the individual companies and

oversee the development of the system in the two metropolises. This lack o f co­

operation between the companies in the early years would have important

repercussions after 1860 when the question o f uniting the disjointed railway systems

in both towns increased in importance, particularly in Dublin.

Very little evidence exists o f communication between the railway companies and the

municipal corporation during the first three decades o f railway construction in Ireland.

The minutes o f the proceedings of the corporations for Belfast and Dublin show

surprisingly little reference to the new works being carried out in either city. This

would suggest that the corporations were not opposed to the early lines entering each

town. Provided the railway company kept to the plans sanctioned by parliament and

did not impede on the traffic or damage public property in any way, there was no real

reason to oppose such a valuable addition to the town. By the 1860s however, the

companies in Dublin and Belfast began constructing branch lines through the centre

o f each town in order to link the original lines to the docks and to other railways. It

was only during this period therefore, that railway construction began to seriously

impinge on the existing fabric of the town. This was the period during which

substantial improvements were carried out to the existing water and gas supplies in

both towns, and minor improvements were also enacted to each town’s primitive

systems of sewers and drains. With an ever-expanding network of sewers, water and

gas mains beneath the surface, it was practically impossible to construct urban

railways without interfering with these underground works. After 1860 therefore, the

corporations in both towns began to take more notice o f the railways as it was only at

this late period that these works began to seriously interfere with municipal property

(Appendix II). A good example of municipal interference in urban railway

construction can be seen in the developments surrounding the construction o f the loop

line mentioned above.

When Ireland’s pioneering railways such as the Dublin and Kingstown, the Dublin

and Drogheda, and the Ulster Railway were being constructed in the 1830s and 1840s,

109

the task for the directors o f these companies was to locate their terminals as close to

the centre of town as was possible, whilst in the process, avoiding as much o f the

existing fabric as was possible. Whilst the Dublin and Kingstown Railway made it

further into the city than any other railway in either town, its approach to the town

was discreet and unobtrusive (Figure 3.9). The Dublin and Drogheda approached the

city o f Dublin by crossing the Clontarf estuary into the underdeveloped North Lotts

district on the northern side o f the city therefore also avoiding any built up areas,

whilst almost the first sight of bricks and mortar for passengers o f the Ulster Railway

approaching Belfast would have been the actual terminal building at Great Victoria

Dublin and Kingstown Railway

Westland Row Terminus Extract from OS six-inch, Dublin, sheet 18 ,1837 i

Figure 3.9 Dublin and Kingstown Railway approaching centre of Dublin, 1837

Street, situated on the eastern fringe o f the town (Figures 3.10 and 3.11). When the

Dublin and Drogheda was first proposed the directors had planned its terminal for

Sackville (present-day O’Connell) Street, whilst the original plan for the Waterford,

Wexford, Wicklow and Dublin Railway first proposed in 1846, was to run as far as

Stephen’s Green before terminating (Figures 3.12 and 3.13). Opposition from local

110

v~ ^ ■■ÜB

Extract from OS six-inch Dublin, sheet 18, 1876

Figure 3.10 Dublin and Drogheda Railway approaching centre of Dublin, 1843

• —1 n jtü iliuu

o Metres 400Extract from OS six-inch Antrim, sheet 61,1858

U lster Railway

Figure 3.11 Ulster Railway approaching Belfast

111

Sackville Street terminal, 1836

Figure 3.13 Plan showing the Waterford, Wexford, Wicklow and Dublin railway’s originally-proposed Saint Stephen’s Green terminal, 1845

112

business interests forced the companies to abandon these plans.50 Subsequent railways

in both towns followed a similar pattern. Why then did the companies feel the

necessity to locate their terminals on the outskirts of the town? Obvious reasons

include cost, land being far more expensive in the central district of the city. Another

reason was to minimise interference with existing buildings and structures in the city.

A less obvious reason however, but of crucial importance involved patterns of land

ownership. In order to submit a railway bill to parliament, railway companies needed

the consent of the landowner whose land the railway would pass through. As this

could involve the drafting of large amounts of legal documentation and the hiring of

legal representatives if particular landowners proved difficult, it could be costly in

terms of time and money. Figure 3.8 demonstrates this complexity of land ownership

in the vicinity of Westland Row terminus.

The peripheral location of some of the railway terminals in the 1840s before they

were engulfed by the later sprawl of each town, left passengers facing a substantial

walk from the terminus to the central district. This would prove an important

determining factor in the future development of each town’s intra-city transport

network. The Kingsbridge terminal of the Great Southern and Western Railway for

example, was located almost one mile from the centre of Dublin, as was the

Broadstone terminus of the Midland Great Western Railway. The York Street

terminus of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway was also somewhat isolated

(Figures 3.1 and 3.2, p. 89). Whilst the railway therefore improved inter-city

transport, it simultaneously created a new need for intra-city connections. The Dublin

and Drogheda Railway began to provide horses for taking private carriages to and

from its terminus for five shillings, provided one hour’s notice be given at Mr

Hyland’s, 11 Elephant Lane, Sackville Street.51 This situation led to the improvement

of an existing horse omnibus service which, prior to the coming of the railways, had

operated mainly between the stage coach stops and hotels around the town. With the

arrival of the railway, particularly with its later-to-follow standardised timetables,

these existing services gradually became more organised in an effort to cater for the

50 Joseph Lee, ‘An economic history of early Irish railways 1830-1853’ (M.A. thesis, University College Dublin, 1965), pp 55-6.51 Dublin and Drogheda Railway timetable, in Handbook of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway.

113

more ‘punctual and time-conscious’ citizens. These new intra-city connections were

the early beginnings of the future tram network in both towns.

Difficulties arising from the isolated locations of the terminals induced the companies

to consider the possibility of linking or sharing lines. Although in 1866 the Great

Southern and Western Railway and the Dublin and Drogheda Railway were willing to

co-operate to provide a through rate for traffic going from Cork to Belfast, it still had

to be carted through the streets of Dublin from the Kingsbridge terminal of the Great

Southern and Western Railway to the Amiens Street terminal of the Dublin and

Drogheda Railway, a distance of almost two miles, causing much inconvenience and

delays.52 Mr William Shaw, Director of a flax spinning company in Cork, who sent a

‘considerable quantity’ of flax from Bandon to Belfast, rather than undergoing the

expenses and delays involved in getting his merchandise through Dublin, instead

chose the cheaper and more convenient option of sending it by steamer to Liverpool

and re-shipping it from there to Belfast.53 In Belfast the situation was not much better.

Mail bags carrying letters from Dublin destined for Scotland had to be carted across

the town from the Ulster Railway’s terminus at Great Victoria Street to the port of

Belfast in order to catch the steamer for Scotland. As a result, the mail service from

Dublin to Scotland took almost two days.54

Lack of communication between the rail network and the docks was a huge

inconvenience to both industries. This was particularly so in Dublin, the only rail link

with the outside world being the Kingstown terminal of the Dublin and Kingstown

Railway. All five Dublin terminals however, were located at a distance from the

docks. Although the Dublin and Drogheda Railway came closer to the port than the

other four railways, it still lacked a direct connection to the Liffey quays. The other

terminals in Dublin, particularly the Broadstone, Harcourt Street and Kingsbridge

terminals, were located to the northern, southern and western fringes of the city, quite

a distance from the docklands. In Belfast the situation was more promising with two

of the three terminals situated in close proximity to the port. These were the Queen’s

Quay terminal of the Belfast and County Down Railway situated on the eastern side

52 Royal Commission on Railways (1866), evidence of J.W. Murland, 4863.53 Royal Commission on Railways (1866), evidence of William Shaw, 6433,54 Royal Commission on Railways (1866), evidence of John George Boileau, 6804.

114

of the Lagan, and the York Street terminus of the Belfast and Northern Counties

Railway situated west of Albert Quay on the western side of the Lagan. These

convenient locations enabled the Belfast Harbour Commissioners to construct their

own railway to connect the County Down railway with the Abercorn Basin and

Queen’s Quay, and the Northern Counties Railway with the Dufferin Dock and Albert

Quay. However the Ulster Railway with its terminus in the south-western corner of

the town remained isolated from the port.

The first company to take up the challenge of linking with the port of Dublin was the

Midland Great Western Railway, with the opening of the Liffey Branch Railway in

1862. This new line began at a point near the seventh lock of the Royal Canal about a

mile and a half out of the Broadstone terminus. As the property of the old Royal

Canal Company had been taken over by the Midland Great Western Company, the

obvious route for the new Liffey branch line was to follow the existing line of the

Royal Canal into the North Wall Quays at Spencer Dock (Figure 3.14).55 In the

original plan for this line of railway it was proposed to construct a sixteen-foot arched

stone bridge over the canal at the Sheriff Street crossing. As it was felt this would be

an impediment to traffic, particularly as Sheriff Street was the main thoroughfare to

and from the soon-to-be-completed graving dock, it was abandoned by the engineer,

G.W. Hemans (Appendix XIII) to be replaced by a street-level floating or pontoon

bridge.56 This decision however was only taken after a deputation of citizens and local

business proprietors had met with the No. 1 Committee of Dublin Corporation to

argue against the construction of the bridge. The height of the bridge, it was felt,

would be an impediment to local businesses such as the nearby Seville Iron Works

(Figure 3.14) which would have great difficulty transporting heavy machinery

belonging to vessels in the graving dock over a bridge of such height. Although

pressure from the corporation forced Mr Hemans to abandon his arched bridge, he

was not however too displeased, as the alternative floating bridge would enable the

railway company, as owners of the Royal Canal, to convert ‘the vast portion’ o f that

canal from Sheriff Street to the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, into a floating dock for

the moorage of vessels with coal or lighter burdens.57 In the final plans the railway

55 ‘Midland Great Western Railway improvements’ in Irish Builder, 15 February 1879, p. 6256 Dublin Builder, 1 February 1859, p. 18.57 Ibid.

115

was carried below Sheriff Street into a new terminus situated on the North Wall,

immediately east of Spencer Dock. This minor dispute does however portray the

Corporation as an authoritative force setting out the conditions on which the railway

may or may not operate within the city.

Once the Midland company gained access to the docks in Dublin, the other main

companies followed its example. In 1872 the Great Southern and Western proposed a

new line branching northwards from their main line about half a mile out of the

Kingsbridge terminal. This line would tunnel under the Phoenix Park before emerging

in Grangegorman and linking up with the Midland Great Western’s Liffey Branch line

at the sixth lock of the Royal Canal in Glasnevin. From here the two companies

shared the same line of railway as far a the Dublin and Drogheda’s iron lattice bridge,

from where the Great Southern and Western’s branch extended eastwards to a goods

station situated at the junction of the North Wall and East Wall (Figure 3.14).58 This

rare example of co-operation between competing lines is noteworthy as it signals the

beginnings of the companies’ realization that co-operation as opposed to isolation,

was commercially advantageous for all involved. This line of railway known as the

North Wall extension was opened in 1877.59 Further co-operation, this time between

the Great Southern and Western Railway and the London and North Western Railway

resulted in the latter company constructing a passenger and goods station also at

Spencer Dock, with a short line of rail linking to the North Wall extension line. The

London and North Western company having previously operated a passenger ferry

service between Holyhead and Kingstown, had recently transferred their terminal

from Kingstown to North Wall gaining access to the three main lines of railway

leaving Dublin for Belfast, Galway and Cork.

Prior to the construction of the Liffey Branch and North Wall Extension lines, all

development in the North Lotts district of the city was concentrated to the west of the

Royal Canal. The canal had acted as a barrier to further development eastwards.60

With the arrival of the railway lines (the Dublin and Drogheda Railway also branched

into the area at a later date), development progressed eastwards transforming a vast

58 OS six-inch, sheet 18, Dublin, 1876. The goods station, still in existence today, is now known as the Point Depot, having been re-invented as a successful entertainment venue for concerts.59 H.C. Casserley, Outline o f Irish railway history (London, 1974), p. 62.60 OS six-inch, sheet 18, Dublin, 1843, showing ward boundaries (Glucksman Map Library, TCD).

116

expanse of featureless unproductive land (Figure 3.10) into a thriving industrial

district (Figure 3.14).61 Although a vinegar works, vitriol works and a glass works had

existed in this district prior to the construction of the railway extensions, by 1876

there were new streets, new houses, a church, three railway stations and numerous

new industries including saw mills, oil stores, charcoal works and iron works, along

with the previously-existing glass and vinegar works. In 1883 the London and North

Western company also built a hotel next to their passenger and goods terminal at

Figure 3.14 MGW Liffey Junction Railway and GSW North Wall Extension railways connecting with the Port of Dublin, 1876

Spencer Dock.62 Developments arising from the new railway extensions were not

however confined to the area east of the Royal Canal, as a large cattle market was

built on a vacant site west of the Spencer Dock at the junction of Guild Street and

North Wall as a result of the new extensions. Cattle pens were subsequently erected

alongside the nearby London and North Western company’s terminal to facilitate

transferral of livestock from railway to market.

61 OS six-inch, sheet 18, Dublin, 1876.62 H.A. Gilligan. A history o f the Port o f Dublin (Dublin, 1988), p. 122.

117

The railway terminal fulfilled an important role by reinvigorating run down districts

in the city. In Dublin, the Dublin and Drogheda’s Amiens Street terminal brought

much change to a previously underdeveloped district by attracting new development

such as hotels, boarding houses, cafes and cab stands. Terminals became the great

meeting places in the town, whilst the romance of the railway journey added a sense

of wonder and excitement to the locality. However beyond the clean and orderly

façade of these buildings, even beyond the platforms where passengers awaited their

train, lay a different side of the railway experience. This was a side dominated by the

noise, steam and dirt associated with engine sheds, carriage sheds, coal depots, boiler

houses, steam works and all other manner of ancillary development. This necessary

development attracted further similar development thus transforming entire districts of

the city. The North Lotts district of nineteenth-century Dublin demonstrates better

than anywhere else how the railway breathed new life into the districts it entered.

In Belfast the main obstacle to a united system of railways with access to the port was

the isolated location of the Ulster Railway’s terminus in the south-west extremity of

the town. Passengers travelling from Dublin to Londonderry, even after through

communication had been established with the completion of the Boyne viaduct in

1855, still had to disembark in Great Victoria Street and get a carriage to the York

Street terminal of the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway, a distance of over half a

mile. Those destined for Scotland had to travel by similar means from the Great

Victoria Street terminal to the Donegal Quay in the port district (Figure 3.2).

Although Belfast had two main railways linked with the port, what was needed was a

railway connecting all three lines whilst also providing access to the port for the

Ulster Railway. It was for this purpose that the Belfast Central Railway was

constructed.

The Belfast Central Railway Company was established by a group of London

business men in 1864 to connect the several railways in the town of Belfast by

bringing all lines into one central station. This station, to be located in the centre of

the town at a site between Waring Street and High Street, proved ultimately to be the

downfall of the railway company owing to the reluctance of the Belfast and County

Down Railway and the Ulster Railway to allow their terminals to be overshadowed by

a central station not under their direct control. As the Belfast and Northern Counties

118

Railway stood to benefit from the central station, its York Street terminal being more

distant from the town centre, this company was not as hostile to the scheme as the

other two companies.63 The length of the railway originally sanctioned was to be five

and three quarter miles including some ambitious tunnelling and bridging work to link

it with the other three termini in the town. The main part of this line was to run

through an area of underdeveloped land, south of Blackstaff Lane (the present-day

Donegall Road). Most of this land comprised fields and gardens, however a short

tunnel was required to pass beneath the junction of the Lisburn and Botanic Road,

along with the construction of a bridge to enable the railway to pass under the Ormeau

Road. Figure 3.15 shows the route of the railway as constructed in 1868, but plotted

onto the earlier 1858 Ordnance Survey sheet for the town.

* T

/ "w...j Belfast Central Railway, 1868

________ , ‘- * v •

0 Metres 400Extract from OS six-inch Antrim, Sheet 61,1858

Figure 3.15 Belfast Central Railway, 1868

In addition to the short tunnel at Lisburn Road, a more extensive one was planned to

run beneath the line of Victoria Street and Corporation Street to join the Northern

Counties Railway at York Gate. This tunnel was to be about twenty feet below the

63 Cleary, ‘Spatial expansion’, p. 233.

119

level of the street, and also below low water mark. As the sewage of the town was still

at this point discharging into the harbour, the municipal corporation was concerned

that the proposed tunnel would have the effect of ‘interrupting the main sewer in High

Street which carries off the flood water from the mill dam in Millfield, and every

other sewer which now empties itself into the River Lagan’. It was feared that the

underground railway would provide an unwanted barrier thus rendering it ‘impossible

for the council to form new main sewers’ in this vicinity.64 As the plans and sections

of the railway failed to show how the company proposed to deal with this ‘sewerage

question’, the corporation requested from the railway company a satisfactory

explanation, to which it received the following reply:... we propose that the company should construct a proper and sufficient sewer on the west

side of the tunnel at such a depth as will discharge the sewage from the existing drains at the present level, and shall also prepare and submit to you, with as little delay as possible, a detailed plan of the proposed works . . . 65

As the Belfast Central Railway was not sanctioned by parliament until 1868, this was

the early planning stages before the bill went to parliament. In this case it made sense

for the railway company and the corporation to settle their differences out of

parliament thereby saving time and money for both parties. Like much of the works

sanctioned in the Belfast Central Railway, the tunnel was never constructed. The only

part of the sanctioned works completed therefore, was the section of line linking the

Ulster Railway’s terminus with the Belfast and County Down terminus via the new

Lagan Bridge. Ultimately, the railway never really attracted the passenger traffic the

directors longed for as the fifteen-minute journey by foot from the Great Victoria

Street terminal to the Belfast and County Down’s Queen’s Quay terminal was almost

as quick as the twelve-minute journey by train.66 Figure 3.2, p. 89, shows the Belfast

Central Railway linking with the Belfast and County Down Railway at Queen’s Quay.

By the 1880s the railway had been relegated to carrying cattle and goods until it was

finally taken over by Great Northern Railway in 1885.67

In Belfast the railway impact is not as marked as in Dublin for the simple reason that

most railway construction in Belfast had been completed by 1850, apart of course

64 Belfast City Council Minutes 1863 to 1866, Jan. 1864, p. 69 (PRONI, LA7/2EA/2/7).65 Ibid.66 Cleary, ‘Spatial expansion’, p. 234.67 Ibid. p. 238.

120

from the above-mentioned Central Railway project. Unlike in Dublin where a second

phase of railway construction in the 1860s connecting the main termini with the docks

contributed to the dramatic transformation of the North Lotts district of the city, in

Belfast there was no need for a similar phase of development as two of the three

termini in that town had originally been located beside the quays. For this reason

development in the docklands in Belfast occurred gradually and in conjunction with

the railways, whereas in Dublin it was more of a dramatic response to the sudden

arrival of the new extension lines in the 1860s.

Case Study: Connecting the northern and southern metropolises, a railway epic

The construction of a railway, from its inception as a novel idea in the mind of the

promoter, to the fanfare of its formal opening was an anxious time for all involved.

This case study provides an insight into the politics and technicalities involved in

early Irish railway construction. Because of the unusually large vested interest in any

railway company, a vast quagmire of potential obstructions could be placed in the

way of progress. Although land and costs were at the root of most problems, such

problems could involve numerous extended parties from promoters, shareholders and

landowners to engineers, surveyors and contractors, even down to the individual

nawie. Any number of things could and did go wrong.

The Dublin and Drogheda Railway was incorporated by an Act of Parliament on 13

August 1836. Construction began on the railway in 1840 and the line was opened for

business on 24 May 1844. This made it the second completed railway in Ireland.68

Although a through line from Dublin to Belfast was not opened until 1855, this was

the beginning of that long term objective as a group of Belfast and Liverpool

promoters were at the same time promoting a northern railway to run from Belfast to

Armagh. This was the Ulster Railway and its main objective was to link the port of

Belfast westwards towards the city of Armagh, and then to Enniskillen, Sligo and the

western coast. However, the directors never lost sight of an eventual connection with

Dublin: ‘It may also be extended to Dublin, by a line taken from near Moira, or from

Armagh, towards Dundalk and Drogheda, where it would join the proposed railway

68 Handbook o f the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, preface. The first completed railway in Ireland was the Dublin and Kingstown Railway incorporated by an Act of Parliament in 1831, and completed in 1834.

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then to Dublin’.69 In contrast, the Dublin and Drogheda line was always viewed by the

promoters as the first step of a through communication between Dublin and Belfast

and beyond:

There is this advantage attending the proposed road to Drogheda while that to Kingstown is local and definite, its capacity is boundless - it may be taken as a part of a whole as the first stage of the great northern line leading from Dublin to Scotland thro the enterprising and commercial Province of Ulster: commencing in Dublin every mile pays as soon as made. 0

In the 1830s the construction of railways was still a relatively new science which

excited much speculation in newspapers and journals about the unlimited possibilities

for improving trade, communication, defence and other key areas o f development.

Each company promoted the exceptional advantages to be had by the construction of

their own line. In the case of the Drogheda company apart from the obvious advantage

of conveying people at speed from one location to another, the speed of the railway

would also facilitate the operations o f trade, commerce and manufacture. It would

provide a rapid means o f transporting agricultural produce, and as a means of national

defence and security it could be used for conveying troops. It could also be used as a

means o f healthful recreation for the citizens of Dublin, Drogheda, Skerries,

Balbriggan and the other adjoining towns.71 Day trips were a novel part o f the early

railway experience, particularly for city dwellers. The railway presented a rare

opportunity to enjoy the delights o f the countryside or the sea air. In the early months

of 1835 however, the project was in its infancy and the priority o f the promoters was

to establish a provisional committee in order to prepare a bill to promote the railway

in parliament. The provisional committee was established at a meeting in Dublin on 8

October 1835. At this meeting the committee approved the ‘undertaking of a railroad

from Dublin towards Belfast in the first instance going only so far as Drogheda’.72

The committee comprised seventeen gentlemen with business interests in Dublin and

Drogheda, see Appendix IV.

Some members connected with the coastal district between the two towns favoured a

coastal line, whilst those connected with the interior favoured an inland line. In order

69 Ulster Railway handbook, p. xii.70 DDR minutes, 1835-1837, 25 May 1835.71 Ibid., 8 Oct. 1835.72 Ibid.

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to guard against interference from local or private interests, it was proposed that the

chosen line should be selected by an engineer of ‘acknowledged character and

impartiality’.73 The engineer chosen for the job was William Cubitt (see Appendix

XIII). Cubitt agreed to survey two or three possible lines, all for a fee not exceeding

£250 or less than £200. Cubitt arrived in Dublin in early October 1835 to carry out

preliminary surveys and whilst there stayed in the Gresham Hotel, Sackville Street, as

a guest o f the owner, Thomas Gresham, who was also a member of the provisional

committee.74 Proceedings o f the committee were published in local newspapers in

Dublin and Drogheda as well as the Belfast dailies the Northern Whig and the Belfast

Guardian, evidence once more of the long-term ambitions o f the railway.

Cubitt wrote to the committee on Monday 12 October 1835 telling them how he

‘proceeded on Saturday last with suitable assistants to take a view of the country from

Dublin to Malahide and have looked out a line for that distance ready for the

surveyors to begin their operations upon’. Having waited for crops to be removed

from the ground, Cubitt would have been anxious to get started, aware o f the 30

November deadline for having the plans and books of reference deposited with the

Clerks o f the Peace for Dublin, Meath and Louth in compliance with Standing Order

23. Cubitt quickly obtained the services of an assistant engineer and a surveyor to take

the levels and produce six sets o f parliamentary plans and books o f reference. George

Woodhouse was selected as assistant engineer, due no doubt to his experience as

assistant on the recently completed Dublin and Kingstown Railway, the only

completed railway in Ireland at the time.75 By Wednesday 14 October having

surveyed the country from Dublin as far as the Nanny River, Cubitt arrived in

Drogheda after what he described as ‘two very hard days work with my assistant

engineer and surveyor, Messrs Woodhouse and Byrne’.76 Although work on the

railway did not commence until 1840 such was the nature of railway construction and

planning that a number of different engineers had come and gone by that year. On 11

March 1836 Robert Stephenson had been made consulting engineer, five months

before the railway was sanctioned. In August 1838 George Halpin Junior, later to

73 Dublin and Drogheda Railway Proprietors’ Minute Book (DDR prop., minutes) 1836-1848, 10 Oct. 1836 (lamrod Eireann, Heuston Station, Dublin).74 DDR minutes 1835-1837, 2 Oct. 1835.75 Ibid., 12 Oct. 1835.76 Ibid., 14 Oct. 1835.

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become engineer to the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port o f Dublin,

was appointed engineer to the railway at a salary of £250 per annum, commencing

from 1 September 1838. By 22 November 1839, still one year before work actually

commenced on the construction of the railway, Halpin resigned his office to be

succeeded by the celebrated engineer, John Macneill (Appendix XIII), whose name77remained for many years associated with the railway.

After careful deliberation Cubitt decided that the coastal route was superior to the

inland route, and estimated that the railway should be carried into execution within

five years at a total cost o f £600,000.78 This however was not to the satisfaction o f the

inland line supporters who set about preparing their own bill for parliament to oppose

the coastal route. Capital for the coastal route was to be raised through shares costing

£100 each. Shareholders were mainly Dublin gentlemen, although a number of

Drogheda businessmen also invested money in the railway, such as the brewer,

William Cairnes, and the merchant, Thomas Carty, who each invested £2,000 and

£3,000 respectively. The Chairman o f the railway, George Alexander Hamilton of

Hampton Hall, Dublin invested a generous £5,000 of capital as did Sir Talbot de

Malahide, of Malahide Castle in County Dublin. The individual responsible for first

directing public attention towards the necessity of a rail link between the two towns

was Mr Thomas Brodigan o f Piltown House, near Drogheda.79 Brodigan was a

member o f the committee and shareholder having risked £2,000 in the venture.80

However, most of the vast funds invested in the Dublin and Drogheda Railway came

from English businessmen located mainly in the two towns of Manchester and

Liverpool.

On 2 May 1836 the two opposing railway bills went before parliament, the coastal

line entitled the ‘Dublin and Drogheda Railway Bill’, and the inland line entitled the

‘Dublin Drogheda and Navan Inland Railway Bill’. Capital for the inland line was

proposed at £650,000 in 13,000 shares o f £50 each. In the preamble the Inland

Railway Bill refers to the line of the opposing company as adjoining ‘some small

77 DDR minutes 1835-1837, 11 Mar. 1836, DDR minutes 1837-1841, 18 Aug. 1838, and DDR prop., minutes 1837-1841, November 1839.78 Dublin and Drogheda Railway Bill, 1836, deposited plans and books of reference (HLRO).79 Handbook o f the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, p. 1.80 Dublin and Drogheda Railway Act, 1836, deposited plans, list of shareholders (HLRO).

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towns and villages along the coast inhabited chiefly by fishermen and having no

existing trade or traffic’ apart from Balbriggan which has ‘but 325 families engaged in

trade manufacture and handicraft’. The bill continued by describing passenger traffic

on the opposing coastal line as ‘so trifling that but six public vehicles are employed

along the entire line’.81 Owing to the vehement opposition o f the inland line,

proceedings continued until 30 June when the select committee finally reported in

favour o f the Dublin and Drogheda Bill or coastal line. This was due in no small

manner to the weight o f engineering expertise on their side, names such as William

Cubitt, George Stephenson, John Macneill, Charles Vignoles and Richard Griffith

providing evidence in support of the coastal line.82

The deposited plans for the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, 1836, provide a good

example o f the complex, forward, backward and side-stepping process involved in

railway construction in the early years. Schemes were regularly abandoned, redrawn,

and abandoned once again for a multitude of reasons, usually, but not always, related

to land ownership and political pressure. On the above-mentioned 1836 plan, two

separate lines with only the slightest deviation between the two, are shown skirting

the coast line o f Dublin Bay by Raheny, Blackbush and Dollymount as far as the

Sheds o f Clontarf, before spanning the estuary o f the Tolka river to the district known

as the North Lotts.83 Here the two lines begin to converge and meet up just west o f the

Spencer dock at the Royal Canal. From this point the single line crosses Amiens

Street and cuts its way through a swathe of dense housing separating Talbot Street and

Lower Abbey Street until it reaches the terminus at Sackville Street, close to the

present day Clery’s department store (Figure 3.12).84 That this plan was eventually

discarded is immediately apparent to any person familiar with the present-day layout

of Dublin city centre. In fact both deviations were abandoned in favour o f a more

inland route towards Baldoyle and Howth as opposed to going around the coast by the

Sheds o f Clontarf. The main land owner in the townland o f Clontarf, John Edward

Venables Vernon refused to give his assent to the works passing by his property; the

81 Dublin and Drogheda Railway Act, 1836, book of evidence (HLRO).82 Handbook o f the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, p. 2.83 The North Lotts was the name given to the reclaimed land located to the east of the North Strand and north of the River Liffey. This land was reclaimed in tire early eighteenth century and distributed in 1717, by the Corporation of Dublin, by means of lottery, to its own members and aldermen. In the nineteenth century the area became part of the Custom House Ward and Parish of St Thomas.84 Dublin and Drogheda Railway Act, 1836, deposited plans, 17 May 1836 (HLRO).

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shorter distance in crossing the estuary from Clontarf to the North Lotts was another

reason. Less distance over water meant a shorter embankment, therefore less costs in

time and money.85

By 1838 the final line was adopted and works were ready to commence. Slight

deviations had been made near Balbriggan where the Reverend Taylor o f Ardgillan

Castle generously permitted the line to go through his ‘park and pleasure grounds’

allowing the engineer to avoid the ‘high and dangerous cliffs along the seashore’.

Expenses were also apparently lessened by the kindness of the chairman o f the

railway, Alexander Hamilton who ‘afforded the engineer facilities in passing part of

the line through his property near Balbriggan’.86 As this added unnecessary distance

however, it is difficult to understand how it could cause expenses to be lessened. The

fact that it diverted the railway to pass advantageously close to the properties and

residence o f the Hamilton family is a more likely explanation for this change in the

original plan. Construction work on the railway was to be divided into contracts, each

contractor responsible for a specific number of miles o f railway. Tenders were

advertised early in 1838 for the first two contracts from the Royal Canal to

Portmarnock and were given to William Robert Weeks for £49,830, the distance

being six and a half miles. Shortly after Mr Weeks commenced work the Irish

Railway Commissioners published their second report recommending that the

northern route from Dublin to Belfast should be an inland route through Navan and

Armagh.87 This caused great concern to the directors of the Dublin and Drogheda line

as it increased the reality o f a government-funded inland line to compete with their

coastal line. Work stopped and for more than a year doubt surrounded the prospects of

the Dublin and Drogheda Railway until it became clear that the government was not

prepared to expend the finances required to carry out the commissioners’* 88 recommendation.

As very little work had been undertaken by Robert Weeks in 1838 before the entire

project ground to a halt, work only began properly in 1840. The contract originally

85 Ibid.86 DDR prop., minute, 1836-1848, 3 Mar, 1842.87 Second report o f the railway commissioners, Appendix A, No., 4, Report on the several lines of railway through the north and north-western districts of Ireland, p. 679.88 Handbook o f the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, p. 5.

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given to Mr Weeks in 1838 was re-advertised, a copy o f this advertisement appearing

in the Freeman’s Journal of 5 August 1840. The contract this time was awarded to

Messrs Jeffs & Sons for £41,535 on account o f the ‘character and efficiency’ they had

acquired in performing several railway contracts in Scotland.89 Commencing at the

Royal Canal in the Parish o f St Thomas and terminating at or near Raheny Brook in

the Parish of Raheny, this was a testing stretch of line including the ‘heaviest cutting

and embanking on the whole line o f railway’ along with the construction o f numerous

archways, bridges, culverts, drains and fencing.90 After only five months into this

contract the Chief Engineer, John Macneill was asked to make a report on work in

progress for the benefit of the proprietors. As it was crucial at this stage to assure the

proprietors o f the wisdom of their investment, Macneill was persuaded, contrary to his

usual practice, to give a written report ‘at this early stage’. As expected, this report

shows the works to be progressing most satisfactorily. Since commencing their work

the contractors had given ‘60,000 days employment to labourers, besides masons,

carpenters and other artisans, and have also employed a large number o f horses for at

least 1,200 days’. Not withstanding the ‘wet and uncomfortable state of the weather

for some time past’, over 100,000 cubic yards o f earth and stone had been excavated,

two bridges at Hollybrook and Killester completed and two at the Howth and Clontarf

turnpike roads in progress. With the recent purchase by the contractors o f two steam

locomotives to carry out the heavy works the engineer was ‘in hopes’ that the monthly

average o f work would hereafter exceed twenty thousand cubic yards.91

Although machinery such as steam locomotives aided in the transportation and

distribution of removed earth, it did nothing to reduce the toil and sweat put in by the

ordinary navvy in his typical twelve hour working day. Armed with a pickaxe and

shovel, the former for breaking rock, the latter for removing it; this rough breed of

migrant labourers set up camps along the line and worked in shifts throughout the

whole night.92 Due to their gruelling workload and the dangers involved in such large-

scale excavations, few of these hardened men worked beyond the age of fifty, whilst

many succumbed to accident, ill health, or even death. On Tuesday 28 September

1841 James Courtney, a miner working on an excavation in Killester Demesne lost his

89 DDR prop., minutes 1836-1848, 4 Mar. 1841.90 Freeman’s Journal, 5 Aug. 1840, and DDR prop., minutes 1836-1848, 26 Aug. 1841.91 DDR prop., minutes 1836-1848, 26 Aug. 1841.92 Ibid., 3 Mar. 1842.

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life when a mass of ‘30 to 40 tons of earth fell on him’. An eyewitness account o f the

accident was given by John Rice who had been working with Courtney, upon which

the following report was based:

In less than a minute the earth was tom aside and the body of the man taken out but was found quite lifeless, the head having been probably fractured and blood gushing out of the ears and mouth. All proper care was taken of the body by Mr Jeff s order, and a coffin prepared, the coroner’s inquest sat the same night giving a verdict of accidental death without blame to anyone, and all the men attended the funeral on the next day. A brother and sister of the deceased came to make enquiries but it appears that he has fortunately left no family to suffer from his loss. He came from Bellewstown in the Co. Meath and was a stout active man of about seven and twenty years of age.93

There was little room for sentiment in the cold world o f business in the 1840s, and

with such vast sums of money at stake, accidents such as Courtney’s death, although

tragic were expected, and caused minimum upheaval to the progress of the railway.

Courtney’s was the second loss of life since works began.

In 1843 the engineer reported the completion of the embankment over the Clontarf

estuary. Finished within three days o f the time specified and without accident, the

report states that ‘the perfect manner in which the work has been completed’ reflects

great credit on the contractors, Messrs Jeffs & Sons. Two other main embankments

were required over the Malahide estuary and the Rogerstown estuary. The

Rogerstown embankment was considered by the engineer as ‘one o f the most

important works on the line’, and one in which he had ‘anticipated some difficulties

had it not been placed in the hands and under the management o f a skilful contractor’.

Both the Rogerstown and the Malahide embankments were given to M r William

Dargan to complete. Dargan, already considered at the top of his profession at this

period of his career, would go on to become one o f the greatest railway contractors in

the United Kingdom. By August 1843 both embankments were near completion, the

work having been carried out in a ‘vary satisfactory manner’.94

Macneill reported that he would be able to open the railway to the public on Friday 24

May, the date o f the Queen’s birthday. It was therefore resolved that on 23 May a

gratuitous trip would be given for the accommodation of the shareholders and officers

connected with the company.95 The Railway Department of the Board of Trade was

93 DDR minutes 1841-1843, 1 Oct. 1841.94 DDR prop., minutes 1836-1848, Aug. 1843.95 DDR minutes 1843-1845, 19 Apr. 1844.

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also notified o f the nearing completion of the line in order that it be inspected by that

office as was customary. This inspection was carried out by Major General Pasley on

Monday 20 May and his report drawn up on Wednesday 22 May 1844. In his report, a

complete version o f which is contained in Appendix III of this study, Pasley states

that the ‘works have been planned and executed with the greatest skill and attention,

and as such are highly creditable to Mr Macneill the Engineer in Chief and his

assistants’. Pasley concludes his report by stating that he ‘never saw a new railway in

a more satisfactory state, and it is universally admitted that it will be o f the greatest

benefit to the country’. 6

Once the permanent way was completed and the line of railway opened to the public,

it was then time for the engineer to concentrate on constructing the main terminals

and stations along the line. Until these stations were constructed all necessary

accommodation for passengers would be provided by temporary booking offices.97

With the originally-planned Sackville Street terminus abandoned, the directors settled

on a site in the north-west corner of the Custom House yard, immediately south of

Sheriff Street. This land was owned by the government and leased to Henry, George

and John Scovel, who in turn leased it to the Custom House Docks. As the site o f the

terminal comprised the usual dilapidated warehouses and storage yards associated

with docklands, the government agreed to sell its interest in the land to the railway

company for a nominal fee on account of the great benefits to be had by the addition

of a fine architectural specimen in the form of a new railway terminal.98 With the site

secured, due to its location south of Sheriff Street, the railway company would need

the permission of the Corporation o f Dublin to construct a railway bridge to span

Sheriff Street.

On 22 July 1843, Peter Eckersley, managing director of the Dublin and Drogheda

Railway Company, applied for the consent of the Commissioners of Wide Streets to

cross Sheriff Street ‘by an arch or platform on a level with their railway now erecting

over the north lotts, for a purpose of making a communication with the corner o f the

96 Major General Pasley’s report of his inspection of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, 22 May 1844(TNA, Kew, MT6/1/299).97 Ibid.98 Wide Streets Commission Minute Book (WSC minutes), 1843-1845, 22 July 1843 (Dublin City Library and Archive, WSC/Mins/47).

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Custom House yard ...3" In this letter Mr Eckersley explains to the commissioners

how the railway company was enabled to purchase the lands o f the Custom House

yard at a low price because of the potential improvement their terminal building

would bring to the area:As the directors propose to erect a handsome building on this site by which the appearance of that part of the city will be greatly improved and the access to their station made more convenient to the public than if erected on the site originally intended, the government have most liberally forwarded the object by granting the reversionary interest of the Crown in the land for a moderate consideration; and the directors trust that the Commissioners of Wide Streets, will also be kind enough to forward their views by acceding to the present application.100

The commissioners gave their consent and the line was to be extended as far as the

north-east corner o f the Custom House yard (Figure 3.10). Thus, on 24 May 1844 (the

same day the railway opened for business), building commenced on the Dublin and

Drogheda Railway Terminal with Earl de Grey, the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, laying

the first stone. Built by Messrs Williams and Sons, Talbot Street, to a plan by W. D.

Butler, the terminus was to be o f Italian style with the principal facade o f native Irish

granite from the quarries o f Golden Hill in County Wicklow. This ‘exceedingly

beautiful’ building was situated within a few minutes walk of the General Post Office,

the Bank of Ireland, Trinity College, the Theatre Royal and the Quays.101

The Carlingford Mountains between Dundalk and Newry had been recognised from

the outset as the main obstruction to completing the eventual through line from

Dublin to Belfast. By the time the Dublin and Drogheda Railway had been opened in

1844 however, the chief engineer, John Macneill had already decided it would be

possible to cross this mountainous country. In the second report o f the railway

commissioners Richard Griffith had carried out an extensive survey o f the geological

structure of Ireland. In this survey Griffith had noted that the coastal areas o f Ireland

were for the most part mountainous whilst the interior was flat presenting few hills of

considerable elevation. ‘These mountain tracts rarely extend more than twenty miles

inland; and we find the interior, with trifling exceptions, composed o f flat or gently

swelling grounds, covered by a rich and fruitful soil’.102 Griffith argued that these flat

99 Ibid.100 Ibid.101 Handbook o f the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, p. 4.102 Richard Griffith, ‘Geological Structure of Ireland’, Part I, Section 4, Second report o f the railwaycommissioners, xxxv.

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interiors composed for the most part of limestone rock were most suitable for the

construction of railroads and roadways, whereas the mountainous tracts in the coastal

areas ‘through which no internal communication can be made without encountering

steep ascents or descents, and other engineering difficulties’, were to be avoided if at

all possible.103 In a report drawn up by the railway department o f the Board of Trade

in 1845, where the commissioners’ decision against a coastal route is discussed, the

following is stated:

...the commissioners were very much guided by the belief stated in their report, and founded upon the plans and sections then before them, that a practicable engineering line could not be found through the difficult country between Dundalk and Newry, and therefore that the coast line could not be looked to as affording an unbroken trunk communication between Dublin and Belfast.Wc have been informed by parties whose authority is unquestionable, that if the commissioners had had before them in 1837, the plans and sections of a practicable coast line throughout, such as is now brought forward, their views would have been materially modified, and the result of their recommendations might have been very different.104

As it was obligatory for railway promoters to deposit plans and sections o f their

railway to the railway department of the Board of Trade, it was those drawn up by

John Macneill for the Dublin and Belfast Junction line to continue from Drogheda,

through Dundalk and Newry, cutting through the mountainous country in between,

and linking up with Portadown on the Ulster Railway, that were being discussed in

this particular report.

After listing the many advantages of the coastal line, such as the already existing

Dublin and Drogheda line leaving only 56 miles to be completed at an estimated cost

of £700,000, as opposed to the competing Northern Railway Inland Line (Armagh to

Dublin), which would have 85V4 miles to construct at an estimated cost o f £1,200,000,

the report went on to say: ‘On these public grounds we are of opinion that the Dublin

and Belfast Junction is preferable to the competing scheme’.105 The two lines

eventually used therefore, for the Dublin to Belfast connection were the Dublin and

Drogheda Railway completed in 1844, and the Ulster Railway completed as far as

Portadown in 1842.106 The Dublin and Belfast Junction Railway would make the link

between Drogheda and Portadown via Dundalk and Newry, with the massive

104 Railways projected in the north and north-west of Ireland in Report o f the railway department o f the Board o f Trade on schemes for extending railway communication in Ireland, H.C. 1845 (119), xxxix.105 Ibid.106 Ulster Railway hand book, p. xiii. The original plan of extending as far as Armagh was eventually carried out and completed in March 1848, see Ulster Railway hand book, p. xiv.

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engineering feat of bridging the Boyne being the last section o f the line to be

completed. The line from Dublin to Belfast was finally completed throughout in 1855,

and in 1876 all three railways were amalgamated into the Great Northern Railway.107

C onclusion

Railway construction in Dublin and Belfast, particularly in the early years of

development was more discreet than intrusive. In comparison to the upheaval caused

to some British towns, Ireland’s two premier towns were treated more sensitively by

the railway phenomenon. This was not however due to the sympathetic nature of the

railway companies, as attempts had been made to locate terminals in the heart of

Dublin (Sackville Street and St Stephen’s Green). If not for the opposition o f local

business interests and the web of small property-holders spread across both towns, a

very different picture of railway construction in Dublin and Belfast might be

discerned. As it was, during the first three decades o f development railway

construction in both towns remained on the perimeter o f the built up district.

As the nineteenth-century town sprawled in later years these terminals became

engulfed in the expanding city, and it was only from the 1860s onwards that the term

‘urban railway’ could be applied with any real accuracy to the rail system in either

town. As profit was the motivation o f the early railway companies, little thought was

given to the question o f co-ordinating the early systems. Consequently, the 1860s

witnessed a barrage of proposals for uniting Dublin’s disconnected termini. During

this decade and the following one, the Midland Great Western, the Great Southern and

Western, and the Great Northern Railway built extensions in Dublin between their

termini and the docks. This second spate of railway construction in the city was

marked by the companies’ willingness to share lines as it was realised that co­

operation was better than competition for all concerned. In Belfast similar problems of

disconnectedness had arisen by the 1860s. Compared to Dublin however, proposals

for connecting the central termini in Belfast were far less in number. The company

chosen to carry out the work was the Belfast Central Railway sanctioned in 1868.

This was the only urban railway to be constructed in Belfast as none of the other three

companies, the Ulster, the Belfast and County Down, and the Belfast and Ballymena

107 Casserley, Irish railway history, p. 166.

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Railways extended their lines further into the city during this period. The

unwillingness of the three separate companies in Belfast to connect with one another,

in contrast to the policies adopted by the Dublin companies at this period, was

ultimately responsible for the failure o f the Belfast Central Railway to achieve its

objective of attracting passenger traffic between the three main termini.

In both towns the railway impact was most marked in the docklands where railway

sidings dominate the character of these districts. With tracks extending down to the

dock and quay sides, merchandise could be taken off ships and loaded directly onto

trains or vice versa, thereby saving time and money for shipping companies and

railway companies alike. In Dublin the North Lotts district of the city became very

industrialised due to the extension o f railway lines from the Kingsbridge, Broadstone

and Amiens Street termini down to the quayside in the 1860s. Evidence from the six-

inch Ordnance Survey sheets shows this part of the city to be vastly different in 1876,

when compared with its 1837 layout, before the arrival o f the railways. In Belfast the

pattern o f development is quite different. As two of the three termini in that town

were originally located adjacent to the docks, the port of Belfast developed in

conjunction with the railways and the port authorities found themselves in a position

to benefit far earlier from the close proximity of the railway termini than their

counterparts in Dublin. This factor contributed in no small way towards the rapid

development of the port o f Belfast.

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Chapter IV

Sanitary engineering, 1830-1906

It would be a difficult and perhaps invidious task for anyone to undertake to say what branch of our profession has been of most benefit to mankind. I believe, however, that if any attempt were made to do so, by general consent the sanitary engineer would receive honourable mention.1

The capture and transportation of nature’s water was the first great step towards

cleansing the city. This was exemplified in Haussmann’s plans for the regularization

o f Paris between 1853 and 1870. Haussmann’s plans for Paris provided a blueprint for

the co-ordination of town planning with the provision o f infrastructure networks.

Beneath the network of boulevards lay the city’s lifelines: the water and sewer

systems. Water was recognized therefore as the great cleansing agent of urban

civilization, giving life to the city whilst also flushing away its waste. This essential

role of water to the survival of the city was quickly recognized by local authorities in

Britain and Ireland as they tried to emulate Haussmann’s model. In Dublin the water

supply had been under the control o f the municipal corporation since at least the

eighteenth century. However, in 1858, only five years after Haussmann unveiled his

plan for Paris, the corporation o f Dublin began investigating the possibilities of a

permanent and abundant supply o f water for that town. In Belfast the water supply

remained under the control of private enterprise, a situation which may have

precipitated later problems with the supply.

After the Municipal Reform (Ireland) Act, 1840, the reformed corporations,

particularly in Dublin, inherited a legacy o f long-term neglect and mismanagement.

As a result sanitary improvements in the city of Dublin in the 1840s and 50s

constituted nothing more than a series o f stop-gap measures. The first and most urgent

project undertaken by the corporation was to provide the citizens o f Dublin with an

adequate water supply. This was achieved through the construction o f the celebrated

Vartry scheme (1863-1868). Not only did the new waterworks serve its intended

1 John Purser Griffith, ‘Presidential address to the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland, 1887’, in Transactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland (Trans. Inst. Engs. Ire.), xix (1889), (hereafter Griffith, ‘Presidential address’), p. 62.

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purpose o f providing an adequate supply of pure drinking water to the citizens of

Dublin, it also enabled a system o f sewage-disposal by water-carriage through

properly constructed sewers to become a real possibility. Encouraged by this, the

corporation pressed ahead with its next ‘grand project’, that o f a main drainage

scheme.2 However, the utilization of the Liffey as a main sewer was the only course

available at the time and in the words of the city engineer, Parke Neville (Appendix

XIII), this was ‘at best an objectionable makeshift’.3 Plans for the purification o f the

Liffey therefore dominated sanitary discourse in Dublin for the remainder o f the

century. Problems in Belfast were similar but on a smaller scale. The town was low-

lying and poorly drained. To the west lay the steep hills o f the Divis and Black

mountains and from these hills all water (including sewage) flowed into the Lagan

and ultimately, the harbour. The task for both towns was to find an alternative

receptacle for their waste. This chapter will concentrate specifically on the

comparative development o f sewerage and drainage facilities within both towns,

whilst reinforcing the importance o f water as a means to achieving this objective. In

this respect specific attention will be given to the role o f the municipalities in each

town and the varying responsibilities assumed by each body.

Water is a necessary prerequisite for an efficient system o f drainage in any town. This

is needed to flush out the sewers and prevent the deposit o f solid matter. Without an

efficient supply o f water no real progress could be made on drainage. In the

eighteenth century supplies in both towns came from local wells and pumps. However

as each town expanded, these sources became inadequate and greater supplies from

outside the town were required. In Dublin when sources from the Rivers Poddle and

Dodder and both canals became insufficient, the Vartry River in County Wicklow was

used. In Belfast sources from the Tuck-mill dam and Cromac Street were used along

with springs and reservoirs in the hills to the west o f the city before eventually

utilising the resources of Carr’s Glen and the Woodburn River.4 This harnessing o f

distant sources, according to John Purser Griffith (Appendix XIII) was ‘the first great

step in sanitary engineering’.5 However, before these great feats took place, both

2 Parke Neville, A description o f the Dublin Corporation water works (Dublin, 1875), pp 25-26.3 Ibid.4 For a detailed account of the history of Belfast’s water supply from 1840 to 1940 see Jack Loudan, In search o f water (Belfast, 1940).5 Griffith, ‘Presidential address’, p. 63.

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Belfast and Dublin had to make do with quite primitive forms o f drainage. The main

fault with these early systems, a fault that lasted throughout the century, was that all

sewerage matter flowed ultimately into the main water course. In Dublin this was the

‘open sewer’ known as the River Liffey, and in Belfast it was the harbour and parts of

the River Lagan.

In the eighteenth century a rough and irregular system o f sewers had been constructed

in Dublin which over the years had been added to as need be. In 1880 the R o y a l

com m ission on the sewerage a n d dra inage o f the C ity o f D u b lin declared that little

improvement could take place ‘without the fettering consideration o f how best to

arrange, improve, and bring into fairly working order a rude, irregular, and roughly-

constructed number of street and road drains’.6 Nevertheless, the true blame for the

excessively high death rate in the city of Dublin as agreed by the aforementioned

commissioners and the city engineer, lay with a defective system of house drains

rather than main sewers.7 Dublin, being an old city possessed a large number of

eighteenth-century tenement houses which in consequence o f their age were very

badly sewered. Contrastingly, Belfast, a relatively new town, was experiencing a rapid

upsurge in housebuilding.8 However, whilst it would be expected that new houses be

accompanied by new drains, The D u b lin B u ild e r as late as 1865 was asking the

question o f Belfast: ‘Why, ... do so many new streets o f small houses remain

unsewered and unpaved?’9 Accusations of failure to ‘keep pace’, from a sanitary point

of view, ‘with the rapid strides o f building’, were a common source of concern for the

town council during its boom in the 1860s.10 It seems important therefore to compare

and examine how each town adapted to its own unique circumstances at this period.

Water supply in Dublin

The construction o f the Grand and Royal Canals towards the end o f the eighteenth

century provided an alternative source of water for Dublin at a timely moment when

6 Report o f the Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into the sewerage and drainage o f the city o f Dublin, and other matters connected therewith, together with the minutes o f evidence, appendix, index, &c, [C. 2605], H.C. 1880, xxx, 1, p. x.7 Ibid., pp. x, xi.8 Evidence given by John Norwood, Barrister at Law and former officer of both Dublin and Belfast Corporations on 15 Oct. 1879, in Report o f the Royal Commissioners ... sewerage and drainage o f the city o f Dublin, p. 160.9 ‘Sanitary state of Belfast, and its water supply’ in Dublin Builder, 1 Sept. 1865, p. 205.10 Ibid.

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the city was extending on both sides of the Liffey. Prior to the construction o f the

canals the Rivers Dodder and Poddle had provided the town with its main water

supply. In 1775 arrangements were made between the Corporation of Dublin and the

Grand Canal Company to take water from that canal for the citizens of Dublin. With

the completion o f the Royal Canal in 1814, a similar agreement was made between

the Corporation and that company. Thus eighteenth-century transport infrastructure

became nineteenth-century sanitary infrastructure. Water was drawn from both canals

in notch-weirs and stored in city basins in James’ Street and Portobello for the Grand

Canal, and Blessington Street for the Royal Canal (Figure 4 .1).11

Figure 4.1 Dublin City Basins and Canals, 1876

By 1832 Dublin could proudly boast a ‘constant and abundant supply o f pipe water’

with ‘upwards o f eighty fountains between the city and Liberties for the supply o f the

poor’.12 Nevertheless as the Lord Lieutenant o f Ireland was to state forty years later at

the ceremony to lay the first stone of the Vartry water works scheme in County

11 Report o f the Royal Commissioners ... sewerage and drainage o f the city o f Dublin, p. xxvi.12 Lady Gilbert, Calendar o f ancient records o f Dublin in the possession o f the Municipal Corporation o f that city, xix (Dublin, 1944), p. 2.

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Wicklow, ‘the main test and triumph of a successful water supply is not so much in

public fountains, however ornamented they may be, as in the service o f each and

every tenement, down to the very poorest, and in every floor o f every house’.13 By

1841 the rapidly increasing population o f Dublin had reached 232,726 and the

existing canal supplies were clearly inadequate.14 Not only this, but the quality o f the

water being taken from the canals had also been presenting problems for the

committee and in 1835 the Mayor and Board of Aldermen agreed to present a

remonstrance to the Directors of the Royal Canal complaining o f the ‘impure state of

the water in that canal’.15 The heavy traffic in this body of water was evidently taking

its toll on the quality o f the water as the remonstrators also complained against ‘the

practices o f painting the bottoms o f canal boats with gas tar, and suffering manure

from boats to fall into the water’.16

Towards the middle o f the century possible solutions for the improvement o f Dublin’s

water supply began to be debated publicly. In 1848 Christopher Mulvany suggested

increasing the supply o f water to the Grand Canal by causing the River Morrell in

County Kildare to flow directly into it. Mulvany’s innovative proposal was seconded

by the city surveyor, Parke Neville, but alas never materialised.17 The intractable

nature of Dublin city’s water supply ensured that some o f the most affluent districts in

the city such as Merrion Square and Stephen’s Green would be compelled, as in the

more stereotypically unhealthy districts, to depend for survival on water o f a ‘very

fetid nature’.18 Whilst public health was the main concern, water supply was also

necessary for fire fighting purposes, a service which at this period was completely

inadequate. Such inadequacy was illustrated in 1853 when a candle factory in the

Boyne Street district o f the city was completely burned down before any water could

be channelled to the service main in Cumberland Street. In an attempt to boost the

power, all the adjoining services were shut down, and even then the small quantity

that did come could hardly rise to the surface of the street.19 This was also the height

13 Dublin City Council Minute Book (DCC minutes), vol. 23, Aug. 1862 to Sept. 1863, p. 156 (DCLA, C2/A1/23).14 The Dublin almanac and general register o f Ireland (Dublin, 1845), p. 205.15 Gilbert, Calendar o f ancient records, xix, p. 209.16 Ibid.17 DCC minutes, vol. 14, 19 Dec. 1848 (DCLA, C2/A1/14).18 Report of the Water Works Committee, evidence of William Wilde [father of Oscar Wilde] in DCC minutes, vol. 21, Sept. 1859 to Mar. 1861, pp 330-40 (DCLA, C2/A1/21).19 DCC minutes, vol. 17, 8 June 1853 (DCLA, C2/A1/17).

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of the steam age therefore water was also required to run the increasing number of

steam-powered industries in both towns.

In 1858 the first mention of the Vartry River as a possible solution to Dublin’s

inadequate water supply was made public. Exactly who should be credited with the

original design o f this scheme is still in question.20 The River Vartry rises on the

southern base o f the great Sugarloaf hill in County Wicklow. From there it flows due

south for about seventeen miles through the Devil’s Glen and the village o f Ashford

before discharging into the sea (Figure 4.2). Its total catchment area in 1882 was

34,890 acres.21 In a report of 1860 the water works committee o f the corporation o f

Dublin investigated a number of possible sources from which an abundant supply o f

water could be provided for the city o f Dublin. These included the Grand and Royal

Canals; Lough Owel and Lough Sheelin; the River Dodder; the River Dargle

catchments and Upper and Lower Lough Bray; the River Liffey (four separate

schemes); and the Vartry River.22 From these sources including the four separate

Liffey schemes, the selection was narrowed down to four (Table 4.1). All schemes

were capable o f supplying 12,000,000 gallons daily apart from the Dodder which

would supply 10,000,000 gallons daily.23 The two Liffey schemes were ruled out on

account o f the interference that would be caused to a river ‘studded with mills’ and

‘skirted by important demenses’ which finally flowed into the main harbour of

Dublin. The Dodder was ruled out also on account o f its many important mills. The

Vartry on the other hand possessed only a small number o f mills o f minor importance.

Although more costly than the other schemes it possessed an ‘advantage that will

20 W. Anderson, in his presidential address to the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland in 1868 (see Trans. Inst. Engs. Ire., viii, 1868, pp 185-6), hailed Richard Hassard as the engineer most deserving of all the praise being lauded upon the city engineer, Parke Neville, for the design of the new Vartry scheme. Anderson directed his audience to volume 6 of Trans. Inst Engs. Ire., for the year 1861, in which a paper read by Hassard describes in detail a scheme almost identical to the one then being adopted and credited to Neville, which he, Mr Hassard, presented to the consulting engineer Mr Hawksley, when the latter was investigating the question in 1858. In this address, Anderson describes Hassard as one who has been ‘most unfairly deprived of the honour and emoluments that should legitimately have accrued to him in personally carrying out his own scheme’, and publicly admonished Neville for leading the public to believe that the scheme was designed by himself. Hassard’s claim however might well be justified due to the fact that the Corporation did agree to pay him the £300 requested in his letter (DCC minutes, vol. 23, 31 Oct. 1862, p. 171 (DCLA, C2/A1/23). See Hassard’s letter in Appendix V.21 Parke Neville, ‘Presential Address’ in Trans. Inst. Eng. Ire., xiv, 1884, p. 61.22 Report of the Water Works Committee, 20 Oct. 1860, DCC minutes, vol. 21, pp 330-40 (DCLA, C2/A1/21).23 Ibid.

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compensate for the greater cost’. Due to its location it would be capable o f ‘admitting

a ready supply o f water to the large population on the coast between Dublin and

Bray’, a matter that was considered most important as the ‘extension o f all the best

building is in that direction’.24

Scheme Cost Daily capacity SourceDodder £247,168

(including filters)10,000,000(gallons)

Dodder

Ballysmutten or Kippure

£248,579 (including filters)

12,000,000(gallons)

Liffey

Coyford £225,307 (including filters)

12,000,000(gallons)

Liffey

Vartry £295,992 (excluding filters)

12,000,000(gallons)

Vartry

Source: Dublin City Council Minute Book. vol. 21, September 1859 to March 1861, Report o f the Water Works Committee, 20 October 1860, pp 330-340, Dublin City Library and Archives, C2/A1/21

Table 4.1 Cost, capacity and sources o f possible water supply for Dublin, 1860

The site selected on the Vartry River for the storage reservoir is about seven and-a-

half miles from its source and about one and-a-half miles south-east o f the village of

Roundwood. This entire area was sparsely populated at the time and was chiefly

under pasture with a small portion o f peat land and shallow bogs.25 The water was

taken from the Vartry valley in a south-easterly direction towards Wicklow through a

4,332 yard tunnel as far as Callow Hill. At this point its direction turned sharply

towards Dublin in a north-easterly direction (Figure 4.2).26 This tunnel was driven

from 22 shafts each 200 yards apart and took three years eight months to complete.

Three boring machines were at various times used in different shafts with only one

proving satisfactory clearing five feet three inches of rock per week. However in the

opposite direction from the same shaft manual labourers working round the clock

operating three eight hour shifts cleared five feet six inches per week, proving that

‘hand labour was more successful than the best machines tried’.27

24 Ibid.25 Parke Neville, A description o f the Dublin Corporation water works (Dublin, 1875), p. 10.26 Ibid., p. 15.27 Ibid., pp 17-18.

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D U B L I N W A T E R W O R K S

Source: Parke Neville, A description of the Dublin Redrawn by Frank Cullen Corporation water worKs (Dublin, 1875)

Figure 4.2 Vartry River and waterworks, Roundwood, County Wicklow, 1862

141

Distributing reservoirs were built at Stillorgan to take the water from Callow Hill.

From Stillorgan this water was conveyed through two twenty seven-inch mains into

Dublin. Figure 4.3 shows the main route o f the works from this point through the

centre of the city. The two mains run alongside each other as far as Eustace Bridge in

Leeson Street at which point they separate to create a broad network of mains. ‘One is

carried in a north-westerly direction by Stephen’s Green South, Kevin’s Street, and

the Coombe; then turning north through Meath Street to Thomas Street, where its

diameter is reduced to twenty four inches; it continues by Bridgefoot Street, and

across the River Liffey at the Queen’s Bridge to Queen’s Street, where the diameter is

reduced to eighteen inches, and at North King Street it joins an old twelve-inch main.

The other main is carried in a north-easterly direction by Fitzwilliam Street, Merrion

Square, Holies Street, and Sandwith Street, to Great Brunswick Street, where it turns

west to Carlisle Bridge, across which it is carried into Sackville Street; here its

diameter is reduced into twenty four inches, and continued north by Cavendish Row,

where there it is further reduced in size to eighteen inches, then by Frederick Street to

Dorset Street, where it joins an old twelve-inch main, which continues westward

through Bolton Street and North King Street, to join the other line o f main at the top

of Queen Street as before described; thus forming a great encircling artery from which

all the minor distributing mains and pipes are fed’.28

Screw valves were located at the intersection o f every street enabling water to be cut

off immediately in cases o f burst pipes, or simply just for repair. These valves also

enabled increased pressure to be rapidly concentrated on specific districts as required.

Prior to introducing the Vartry water into the city, notice was given to the public informing them that the water was about to be laid on at high pressure, and calling on them to have their service pipes, taps, cisterns, and other fittings examined and made suitable, and sample fittings were exhibited in the Corporation offices. But few persons took notice of the caution; and when the water was let on street by street, the commotion it caused was great, and the rate of pay for plumbers rose to a large premium.29

An excellent example o f the type o f commotion caused in the early stages when

snagging and checking was still ongoing can be seen in the entries o f the assistant

engineer, Spencer Harty’s diary for the year 1867 (Appendix VI). With the population

of Dublin at 246,326 in 1871, the new Vartry waterworks were capable o f supplying

forty-eight gallons per person per day, an amount far in excess of that required.

28 Ibid., pp 22-23.29 Ibid., p. 23.

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Grand Çanal Basin

Vartry Mains -D ia ttiV 'by f la n k C ullen

o Metres 800B ase mop. OS s ix inch Dublin^ s heet 18, 1676

Figure 4.3 Vartry water mains network in Dublin, 1862

In tercept! rip 6ewers and w orks p roposed by Parke Neville In 1665

Extension o f w orks recom m ended by Joseph Bazalgette in 1667

Extension o f 1965 schem e to include the Tow nships o f Rathm ines and P e m b r o k e ----------------------------- -

0 Metres 800Base m ap: OS s ix inch, D ublin sheet 1B, 1676

D raw n'by-Frank C ullen

Figure 4.4 Plan of intercepting sewers for Dublin, 1865

143

Sewerage and drainage of the City of Dublin

The Vartry water works was a tremendous success for Dublin Corporation. However

the situation in regard to the Liffey nuisance ensured there would be no time to rest on

newly-won laurels as urgent attention was required. At the ceremony to lay the first

stone of the Vartry water works the Earl o f Carlisle, Lord Lieutenant o f Ireland,

delivered to the large crowd of onlookers a righteous and passionate speech in which

he expressed his wish that the new water supply would fulfil its main purpose by

bringing pure water to the meanest and most deprived tenements in the city.

Continuing, the Lord Lieutenant expressed a further hope ‘that when this great and

salutary purpose shall have been achieved, it will but prove the forerunner of other

undertakings useful and creditable to the community of Dublin, amidst which I would

especially mention an improved system o f sewerage, so intimately connected with and

dependent upon an increased supply o f water’.30 Whilst this was the hope o f the

engineers and councillors behind the scheme, the reality unfortunately was not quite

so encouraging. Due to a variety of reasons which will be considered in this chapter,

Dublin did not in fact get its main drainage scheme until 1906.

In 1851 Parke Neville was appointed city engineer in Dublin and from this point on

he devoted the rest o f his career to devising a main drainage scheme for the city.31 As

city engineer, Neville worked closely with Charles Cameron, the chief medical officer

of health for Dublin, and together the two men systematically tackled the public

health crisis in the city. At this period the aged and dilapidated system of sewers and

drains in Dublin was undergoing sporadic and tentative treatment by way of

extensions and improvements to existing pipes. The council minutes for this period

are scattered throughout with reports o f the yardage o f sewers laid down throughout

the city.32 In 1852 the proceeds of the sewer rate (one o f the many municipal rates in

the city o f Dublin) was at least being put to good use with the cleansing o f the great

extent of the main sewer, the cleansing and repair of existing sewer grates and setting

30 DCC minutes, vol. 23, Aug. 1862 to Sept. 1863, p. 156 (DCLA, C2/A1/23).31 In 1851 having resigned the office of joint city surveyor, a position he had held with his father, Arthur Neville since 1845, Parke Neville was elected borough engineer and local surveyor at a salary of £300 per annum. He remained in this position until his death in 1886. See DCC minutes, vol. 15, 2 May 1851, and vol. 16, Feb. 1852 (DCLA, C2/A1/15, C2/A1/16).32 See for example DCC minutes, vol.16, Aug. 1851 to Jan. 1853, throughout this volume there are references to the yardage of sewers being laid in the city (DCLA, C2/A1/16).

144

of new grates, and the cleansing of cesspools.33 Although steady progress was being

made with Neville recommending the construction of main sewers in urgent districts

such as Thomas Street, Cutpurse Row, Corn Market, High Street, Christchurch Place,

Church Street and Grafton Street, this was still very much the early stages o f a project

that would last into the following century.34

Synonymous with the sewerage debate in Dublin was one concerning the purification

o f the River Liffey. Throughout the course of the nineteenth and part o f the eighteenth

century, the Liffey became the receptacle for the sewage o f the entire city along with

the surrounding townships o f Pembroke, Rathmines and Kilmainham. As the vast

volume o f this sewage entered the river between King’s Bridge and the Custom

House, the condition of the River Liffey had become the cause o f grave concern for

the corporation and citizens alike. This chronic pollution o f the river was made even

worse due to the fact that its course through the centre of the city was tidal.

Subsequently during the ebb and flow o f the tide, sewerage matter would be sustained

in the tidal waters for long periods o f time, some being allowed to decompose before

the remainder was eventually carried out to sea:

It is scarcely possible to conceive a better plan for husbanding the putrescent refuse matter of a city than in its being thus emptied into a shallow river, there to be tossed backwards and forwards by the flowing and ebbing of the tide, and finally to have a portion of its solid matter permanently deposited in its bed, only to be given off in pestiferous exhalations, which are wafted into every house and street in the vicinity of the river.35

As early as 1835 engineering advice had been sought by the Corporation o f Dublin on

the state o f its main river and what ought to be done in abating the nuisance. Yet the

river remained throughout the century in a state that was a menace to the health o f the

inhabitants of the city. In his evidence in parliament before the select committee on

the Dublin Main Drainage Bill 1871, Lord Mayor Patrick Bulfin stated that the smell

from the river was so intolerable that in the middle o f the day in summer time he

would have to hold his handkerchief in his mouth in crossing over the bridges.36

33 DCC minutes, vol. 16, June 1852 (DCLA, C2/A1/16).34 Ibid.35 ‘The sewerage of Dublin, and its economic application’ in Dublin Builder, 15 Dec. 1864, p. 253.36 Patrick Bulfin, Lord Mayor of Dublin, evidence before the select committee on the Dublin Main Drainage Bill, 1871 (HLRO, HL/PO/PB/5/37/16).

145

A report carried out in 1853 by the committee of the King’s and Queen’s College of

Physicians in Ireland to consider the ‘requisite precautionary and remedial measures

in reference to the apprehended arrival of cholera’ to the country, warned that

regardless o f all improvements being carried out significant or otherwise, the city

would have to remain in an unsatisfactory state unless proper means were adopted for

abating the ‘greatest of all nuisances, an enormous open sewer formed by a tidal river

running through the middle o f the city’.37 Instead of being ‘an ornament or advantage’

to the city, the waters o f the Liffey were contaminated with the ‘most offensive

effluvia’. Aware of the great expense and labour that would be required in improving

the Liffey nuisance, the committee nevertheless felt they would be improperly

performing the duty o f ‘advising requisite sanitary improvements’ if they did not

direct attention towards the importance o f the Liffey to the health o f a population now

amounting to a quarter o f a million people.38

The facts observed by medical practitioners in Great Britain and Ireland during the

cholera epidemic of 1849 proved beyond doubt an intimate connection between

cholera and defective sewerage:

The most important object, perhaps that can be attempted both in the public management of a great city, and in the domestic arrangement of houses is to secure an unvitiated atmosphere, and as far as possible to preserve it from those foul exhalations with which it must become loaded wherever a great number of people are congregated in a comparatively small place. To secure this object more especially as a means of preventing the spread of epidemic diseases the strictest attention to sewerage is imperatively necessary.39

It was widely presumed that those districts noted as ‘fever nests’ would suffer the

worst from epidemics due mainly to the state o f the tenements, but also due to the

habits o f the poor who lived within them. This assumption however was seriously

misleading as the occupants o f all houses, whether in the ‘higher’ or Tower walks of

life’ were at risk, there being scarcely a house in the city o f any class in which the

‘sewerage and sculleries are not so mismanaged as to render them dangerous to the

health o f the inhabitants’.40 An important sanitary measure according to the

committee responsible for drafting this report was that all main sewers should be

frequently flushed with water.41 The method proposed by the committee for carrying

37 DCC minutes, vol. 17, 8 Dec. 1853 (DCLA, C2/A1/17).38 Ibid.

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this exercise into effect was to have all the sewers flushed simultaneously by all

householders at the same hour, on the same day, of every week. This might suggest

that the aspirations of the committee for the citizens o f Dublin to carry out their civic

duties to the full, may on this occasion have been a little too high 42 By the middle of

the century the connection between defective drainage and epidemic disease was

unquestionable. This was the period when the great ‘miasma’ theory was at its height,

therefore the purification of the Liffey became a topic o f increasing popularity within

City Hall in the 1850s and 60s. As it was defective drainage that was responsible for

contaminating the Liffey, Parke Neville, realising that if the former could be remedied

the latter would take care o f itself, began to think about intercepting sewers on both

sides of the Liffey to take the sewage beyond the city.

The idea of intercepting sewers to solve the problem o f the Liffey’s contamination

was first put forward by Alexander Nimmo in the early part o f the century with later

plans by Robert Mallet and a M r M ’Clean.43 However it was only when Parke Neville

gave serious thought to the idea in a report of 1853 that it became a serious

consideration for the Corporation of Dublin.44 In this report it was emphasised by

Neville that the proposed intercepting sewers on either side of the Liffey, whilst

necessary and o f great benefit, should nevertheless be looked upon ‘in the light of

refinement on the general question o f the sewerage of the city’, allowing preference to

be given to the ‘extension and improvement’ of the existing system.45 Justification for

this point could be given in the fact that it was not so much the inhabitants of the

quays who were found to be unhealthy, but more so the inhabitants o f the unsewered

districts, ‘the fever sites and places where the population suffer most during

visitations o f the cholera, ... being always situated in localities deficient in sewerage,

ventilation, and water supply.’46 These latter three requirements were in Neville’s

opinion essential necessities before maximum benefit could be got from the

intercepting sewers. Another important benefit to be gained from waiting for these

requirements was that cities in Britain such as Liverpool and particularly London

42 Ibid.43 Parke Neville, Report to the Right Honourable The Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors o f the City o f Dublin on the sewerage o f the city, and proposed plan for improving the same (Dublin, 1853), p. 48.44 Neville, Report on sewerage.45 Ibid., p. 45.46 Ibid.

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were investigating plans for intercepting the sewerage from the Mersey and the

Thames so it made sense to delay works for a while to monitor the situation in these

cities.

Neville’s 1853 plan was similar to the one finally chosen with intercepting sewers

along each quay. Commencing at Liffey Street west on the north side o f the river near

Barrack-bridge, the sewer was to pass eastwards along the quays to Beresford Place

where it then travels northwards to the rear o f the Custom House towards the North

Strand and Newcomen Bridge. From this point it passes under the canal by a cast-iron

tunnel and travels eastwards through the North Lotts and under the Drogheda Railway

by another tunnel as far as East Wall opposite Clontarf Island to the main outlet. The

sewer on the south side was also to commence near Barrack-bridge from where it

passed along the south quays as far as Sir John Rogerson’s Quay to the main outlet for

the south side of the river. One o f the advantages to be gained from this plan was that

it allowed all forty eight outlets along the quay walls to be blocked off thereby

preventing the leakage o f offensive, and what was then considered dangerous,

gasses.47 The estimated costs for these sewers according to Neville would be £18,114

for the sewer north o f the Liffey and £12,500 for that south o f the Liffey, a total o f

£30,614 for both sewers. This sum added to the estimate for the extension and

improvement o f the existing system brought the grand total to £104,597. This

however was 1853, and one of the unforeseen disadvantages in delaying the works to

see how London’s scheme would work out was the possibility of rising prices

obstructing the plans. This unfortunately occurred when the Franco-Prussian war led

to the dramatic rise in the price o f the steel proposed to be used for the sewers. To

avoid these high costs works were put on hold.

Whilst the question of the Liffey nuisance was foremost in the public mind the

corporation appeared to be doing nothing to abate the nuisance, in fact they were

making it worse by continuing to extend the existing system. By 1869 £89,32448 had

been expended on the construction and improvement o f the existing system and as

47 Ibid., pp 50-51.IS Report o f the Royal Commissioners ... sewerage and drainage o f the city o f Dublin, evidence of John Beveridge, 30 Sept. 1880, p. 5.

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work proceeded the pollution of the river deteriorated.49 In November 1864 Messrs.

Barrington and Jeffers applied to the corporation for a concession o f the sewerage o f

the city based on the proposal o f G.W. Hemans (Appendix XIII) to utilize the sewage

on the North Bull sands. At this time the utilisation o f sewage on land as a source o f

profit was an attractive proposition and companies were formed in various parts o f the

country to carry out this process. Barrington and Jeffers’ plan to reclaim 2,000 acres

of land in the bay near the North Bull and use it for sewage disposal by irrigation was

very similar to the later plan of J.J. Montgomery and Joseph W. Bazalgette, to do the

same thing on the Antrim sloblands in Belfast Lough (Appendix VII).50 Although

Barrington and Jeffers’ plan received the backing o f Dublin Corporation, it was

subsequently abandoned due to opposition from Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, Viscount

St Lawrence and other local residents in the Clontarf district.51 Within twenty years

the idea o f the disposal o f town sewage by irrigation had lost favour. Referring in

1885 to Montgomery’s and Bazalgette’s earlier recommendations for Belfast, the

present town surveyor, R.J.C. Bretland, stated: ‘time has shown since then that even

in places far more favourably situated than Belfast, this mode o f disposal is, to say the* 52least, disappointing’.

In 1865 Mr Neville made an exhaustive report on the main drainage in which he

considerably modified his proposal of 1853 and suggested that sewage should be

collected by intercepting sewers and discharged to a storage tank at the East Wall

from where it would be delivered to a company to be used for fertilizing purposes

(Figure 4.5). In 1866 Joseph Bazalgette, acting under the instructions o f the

corporation, also prepared a report in which he recommended interception on the lines

o f Neville’s report of the previous year. The following passage appears in this report:

The borough of Dublin does not include within its boundaries all the populous districts which by pouring their drainage into the Liffey contribute to render its waters impure ... The remedy which I should recommend as the most natural and perfect, would be an extension of the limits of the Borough, so as to include the drainage of these populous suburbs with that of the City under one management. . . 53

49 ‘The city “main sewer” again’ in Dublin Builder, 1 Nov. 1866, p. 258.50 J.W. Bazalgette, Reports on the drainage of towns, 1867 to 1871 (Archive of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, Ms. vol).51 Report o f the Royal Commissioners ... sewerage and drainage o f the city ofDublin, p. xii, also Dublin Main Drainage Scheme, souvenir handbook (Dublin, 1906), p. 28.52 ‘Belfast drainage scheme’ inlrish Builder, 1 Nov. 1885, p. 289.53 Dublin Main Drainage Scheme, souvenir handbook (Dublin, 1906), p. 29.

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Various schemes for flushing the Liffey were put forward from 1868. This was in

order to attempt to get rid of the nuisance without having to bow to the great cost of

intercepting sewers. All o f these however were condemned as ‘old and exploded

ideas’ in a report by Bindon Blood Stoney, the resident engineer of Dublin Port

(Appendix XHI).54 By 1870 the problem of the Liffey nuisance had reached such

urgency that it was deemed necessary to uphold the long held tradition o f municipal

protocol and appoint a committee made up of council members to investigate the

situation. This body o f men was to be known as the Liffey Works’ Committee. The

first action of this committee was to apply to parliament for an act to enable the

corporation to ‘take lands and easements, and to execute all such work as may be

requisite’ for the construction of intercepting sewers on both sides o f the Liffey.55

Although the city was still a long way from achieving a main drainage scheme, the

city engineer, Parke Neville was certainly making progress in the right direction as it

was unanimously resolved in the second report of the Main Drainage Committee of

1870, to increase his salary from £500 to £750 per annum on account o f the ‘efficient

manner in which he discharged his duties’.56 The corporation decided to adopt the

plan o f Bazalgette and Neville and the Dublin Main Drainage Bill was sanctioned by57 •parliament in 1871. Due to a large increase in the cost of iron pipes and other

materials necessary for the works, the corporation was unable to raise the necessary

funds and nothing was done again.

As late as 1880 nothing had yet been done to remedy the situation and all Dublin’s

sewage continued to discharge into the Liffey. The gravity o f the situation was

reflected in the appointment in 1880 o f a Royal Commission to inquire into the

sewerage and drainage o f the city o f Dublin. Even at this late period drainage in all

classes o f houses in Dublin was extremely defective, those in the vast majority

consisting of ‘loosely constructed rubble walled channels, resting on the soil beneath

the basement’. Due to the imperfect condition o f these structures they were highly

54 Ibid., p. 30.55 Report No. 43. Council Summons for 8 July 1870 to appoint special Liffey Works’ Committee, and Report No. 44. Council Summons for 8 July 1870 to pass resolutions as to necessity, &c., of works for purification of Liffev, in Reports and Printed Documents o f the Corporation o f Dublin (hereafter RPDCD), 1870 (DCLA).56 Report No. 66. Second report of the main drainage committee, 1870, in RPDCD, 1870.57 Dublin Main Drainage and Purification of the River Liffey, 1870, deposited plans (HLRO).

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prone to leakage which lead to the saturation of the subsoil with sewerage matter.58

Whilst there was no doubting the urgency o f the situation, the commissioners were

nevertheless o f the opinion that Dublin was ideally situated for a main drainage

scheme. With the River Liffey flowing through a valley that was free from large areas

of swamp, the rise and contour o f the ground on both sides o f this river being gradual

and above the level o f high water, this ‘land’, they said, was ‘capable o f being

effectively sewered by gravity’.59 The opening pages of the commissioners’ report

seems very optimistic, stating that the natural conditions o f the city if properly taken

advantage of, ‘may enable the engineer to sewer and drain the city and its suburbs in

the most perfect manner known to modern sanitary science - so that Dublin may stand

as an example not surpassed in Europe’.60 Whilst the adoption o f Neville and

Bazalgette’s plan was recommended by the commissioners, once again lack of

funding retarded progress and nothing was done.

The royal commission o f 1880 was not followed by any action until 1884 when the

corporation appointed a committee to consider the commissioners’ recommendation.61

In their subsequent report, the committee considered that the main drainage should not

be undertaken until the boundaries of the city had been extended. Whilst this was a

valid reason for delaying the scheme, politics was also an important influencing

factor. The year of this report was 1886 when Home Rule seemed the inevitable

harbinger o f sweeping changes in the duties, powers and responsibilities o f local

authorities:

... also that these [changes] will not be limited to matters of purely local administration, but that the entire domestic concerns of the country will be administered by a native Legislature, so that it may be no longer necessary to seek at vast expense at Westminster the legislative powers necessary for such a matter as a scheme of drainage.62

There is no doubting the attractiveness o f such an incentive. The cost o f putting a bill

through parliament was one o f the main difficulties encountered by local corporations

and companies when it came to erecting public works. The potential benefit o f

avoiding the expense o f Westminster was also a good reason to wait.

58 Report o f the Royal Commissioners ... sewerage and drainage o f the city o f Dublin, p. x.59 Ibid., p. viii.60 Ibid., p. viii.61 Dublin Main Drainage Scheme, souvenir handbook (Dublin, 1906), p. 31.62 Report of the Main Drainage Committee, 1886, RPDCD, vol. 1, 1886, p. 27.

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Parke Neville died in office in 1886 and therefore never saw his plan for a main

drainage scheme completed. Neville’s successor, Spencer Harty, took up the

challenge the following year and in 1891 he consulted with George Chatterton who

had succeeded Joseph Bazalgette as the consulting engineer for the Dublin main

drainage scheme. Between them, the two engineers finally settled on a scheme which

was very similar to Neville and Bazalgette’s 1867 plan o f intercepting sewers. The

main outfall was at the Pigeon House Fort which had been purchased by the

corporation from the War Office. Having secured from the Local Government Board a

loan of £350,000, the corporation of Dublin commenced with its main drainage

scheme in August 1896. Work was divided into six contracts (Table 4.2).

Contract Description of contractNo. 1 Intercepting sewer along north quays to Marlborough StreetNo. 2 Intercepting sewer along south quays to Hawkins StreetNo. 3 Branch sewer at Ballybough Bridge for intercepting Clontarf

and Drumcondra sewageNo. 4 Branch sewer from New Kilmainham boundary near Island

BridgeNo. 5 Branch sewer from Old Kilmainham near Royal Hospital for

intercepting the sewage from No. 4 contractNo. 6 Two branch sewers to intercept the sewage from River

Poddle, one starting near St Patrick’s Cathedral, the other near Castle Gates at Ship Street

Source: ‘Report of the improvement committee*, in RPDCD, 1901, ii, pp 368-9.

Table 4.2 Description o f contracts for Dublin Main Drainage Scheme, 1896

On 24 September 1906, the Main Drainage Works o f the City o f Dublin were

formally declared open by Alderman William F. Cotton, chairman o f the

Improvement Committee of the Corporation (Figures 4.4 and 4.5).63

63 Dublin Main Drainage Scheme, souvenir handbook (Dublin, 1906), p. 1

152

Figure 4.5 Dublin Main D ra in ag e Schem e, 1906

. « A >, u > « i

¿if/ 1NJBU

Intercepting sewers and works proposed by Parke Neville in 1865

Extension of works recommended by Joseph Bazalgette in 1867

Fxlension of 1865 scheme to include the Townships of Rathmines and Pembroke

Source Parke Neville, Report to the Lord Mayor, A ldermen and Councillors o f the City o f Dublin on the genera l state o f the public works o f the c.ity under their contro l (Dublin, 1869)Basemap O S six-inch, Dublin, sheet 18 1876 - f t f t — « - - I M l ~ - —

153

Belfast: the cost of success

Much has been written of the mercurial rise o f the town of Belfast in the second half

o f the nineteenth century. Commercial directories and visitor’s guides celebrate the

speed and scale o f industrialization in the northern capital. This ‘thriving, bustling

boom town’, emporium to the world of trade, manufacturing and commerce had even

outstripped Dublin as the principal city o f Ireland by the turn of the century.64 The

entrepreneurial spirit o f the mill owners and ship builders, a characteristic almost

unique to the men o f Ulster during this energetic period drove the city to greatness.

This however is the success story o f Belfast, but what were the costs o f this success?

Any town that records a four-hundred per cent increase in population in the space of

fifty years will struggle to accommodate the new inhabitants, and Belfast was no

exception. In 1800 the population o f the town was only 20,000, by 1901 it had

reached 349,180 with a remarkable increase from 121,000 to 174,000 during the

decade from 1860 to 18 70.65 An already defective sanitary service steadily worsened

by an unprecedented growth in population provides the basis for an alternative

understanding of late nineteenth-century Belfast.

Whilst the defective sanitary conditions o f Dublin were well documented from the

early nineteenth century, there did seem to be a growing concern among sanitary

authorities from the 1860s onwards, for the serious neglect of sanitary provisions

among the rapidly increasing population o f the northern metropolis:

Granting to Belfast a considerable amount of credit for that energy and intelligence and progress which it is generally ready to claim for itself, it must be stated as the opinion of disinterested lookers-on, that it has not kept pace in its town improvements with the rapid increase of population.66

Whilst vast improvements had been effected in the demolition of old houses unfit for

human habitation, the widening and opening o f handsome thoroughfares, and the

laying out of spacious markets, some of its ‘most disgraceful and gigantic nuisances’

had been neglected as the city failed to keep pace with the rapid strides in building.

Some of the more obvious areas where the corporation could be found wanting were

the notorious nuisance of the Blackstaff river which remained an ever-present blot on

64 Emrys Jones, ‘Late Victorian Belfast: 1850-1900’ in J.C. Beckett and R.E. Glasscock (eds), Belfast: origin and growth o f an industrial city (Belfast, 1967), p. 109.65 Raymond Gillespie and Stephen A. Royle, Irish historic towns atlas, Belfast part 1, to 1840 (Dublin, 2003), p. 10, and Census returns.66 ‘Sanitary state of Belfast, and its water supply’ in Dublin Builder, 1 Sept. 1865, p. 205.

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the urban landscape, and also the general neglect o f paving and sewering in the many

new streets across the city. The analogy was made to an unwashed but well dressed

woman:

We would give our tribute of admiration for instance to a well-dressed member of the weaker sex, but our satisfactions would be not a little diminished if we learned that a preliminary process to dressing, conducted through the agency of soap and water, had been systematically neglected.67

Whilst obstacles to health were nowhere to be seen in the principal thoroughfares, it

was in the immediate proximity of these streets, ‘in the narrow lanes and courts,

where one might shake hands from opposite sides’, that ‘filth’ was predominant.68

Between 1800 and 1850 Belfast was visited by four epidemics o f contagious disease.

In 1817 fever struck the town whilst Asiatic cholera descended on its inhabitants in

1832. In 1847 the small-pox epidemic took more lives whilst the years 1848-9

witnessed the return o f Asiatic cholera. Considering the serious nature o f such

sporadic outbreaks, it is somewhat surprising to learn that prior to the first of the

Belfast improvement acts of 1845, 46 and 47, no significant local legislation had been

passed to ameliorate the sanitary situation o f the town, apart from an act o f 1819

which created the appointment o f an Officer of Health for the parish.69 Specific

sanitary powers set out in the acts o f 1845 and 1847 authorised the removal o f

nuisances, the construction o f drains and the inspection of lodging houses and

slaughter houses.70 After the powers of the Municipal Reform (Ireland) Act, 1840

came into operation in the Borough of Belfast, the newly-reformed corporation began

to take control o f the general maintenance o f the town. In 1844 responsibility for the

paving, cleansing, lighting, watching and otherwise improving o f the town were

transferred from ‘The Commissioners o f Police of the Town o f Belfast’ to the

corporation.71 The main objectives set forth in the above-mentioned improvement acts

included street widening schemes, the purchase o f the old gas works and the proper

67 Ibid.68 ‘Sanitary state of Belfast’ in Dublin Builder, 1 June 1859, p. 70.69 A.G. Malcolm, The sanitary state o f Belfast, with suggestions for its improvement, a paper read before the statistical section o f the British Association (1852).70 Malcolm, Sanitary state o f Belfast (1852).71 Report o f the commissioners appointed to inquire into the state o f municipal affairs in the borough o f Belfast, H.C., [C. 2470], xii, 305 (1859).

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drainage o f the Blackstaff river.72 Delays caused by opposition from mill owners to

the drainage o f the Blackstaff resulted in the expiration o f the compulsory powers

granted for carrying out the works. In consequence, the inhabitants o f Belfast had to

endure the nuisance of this foul-smelling open sewer for many more years to come.

In 1852 Dr A.G. Malcolm gave a landmark address to the British Association titled

The sanitary state o f Belfast, with suggestions fo r its improvement73 In this paper Dr

Malcolm stated that the greater portion o f Belfast was ‘unfavourably situated for

efficient drainage - that most requisite and fundamental o f all the sanitary

requirements o f any locality’.74 At high tide the sea water passes up into the main

sewers o f all the low level streets such as Victoria Street, High Street, North Street

and Great Georges Street. This caused considerable inconvenience as a large portion

of the solid refuse would then have time to deposit itself in the branch sewers causing7 c

much discomfort and danger to the health o f the residents.

In the same year that Dr Malcolm’s paper on the sanitary state o f Belfast was

published, a bill was being considered for the extension o f the boundaries o f the

Borough of Belfast. As part of the deliberations for the proposed bill Captain Francis

Yarde Gilbert o f the Royal Engineers was commissioned to ‘inquire and report on the

expediency’ o f the extension o f the boundary.76 In this report Captain Gilbert includes

in the appendices a report from the officer of health for the town, Dr Samuel Browne,

as to the sanitary condition o f the suburbs.77 In this report Dr Browne maintains that

the health of the inhabitants in places such as Ballymacarrett would be better served

were the regulations of the Belfast improvement acts extended to these districts. He

calculated that over one-fifth o f the houses o f greater Belfast were without those

72 Ian Budge and Cornelius O’Leary, Belfast: approach to crisis. A study o f Belfast politics 1613-1970 (London, 1973), p. 54. In relation to the purchasing of the gas works, the funds borrowed were appropriated to other uses, an action which led to the filing of a suit in the Court of Chancery in Dublin against the mayor and Corporation. See Budge and O’Leary, Belfast, p. 60.73 Malcolm, Sanitary state o f Belfast (1852).74 Ibid.75 Ibid.76 Report o f Captain Gilbert on the proposed extension o f the boundaries o f the Borough o f Belfast as set out in the proposed bill; together with copies o f all documents and memorials laid before him, approving or objecting to such extension by parties, owners or property within the proposed extended boundary, H.C. 1852-3 (958), xciv.77 Belfast was not unique in this neglect of the sanitary requirements of its suburbs. The county-widc parishes of Dublin right into the twentieth-century were also very much wanting in public health requirements. See Frank Cullen, Cleansing rural Dublin: public health and housing initiatives in the South Dublin Poor Law Union, 1880-1920 (Dublin, 2001).

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regulations which tend to the promotion of health. The extent of this dearth o f sanitary

regulations and services in the suburbs of Belfast at this period is captured well in the

following critique from Dr Browne:

...it must be obvious that, no matter how much attention is bestowed upon the external ventilation, the cleansing, and sewerage of the borough, the labour must in a great measure be in vain, or ineffectual in preserving the health of the people within the borough, so long as it is surrounded by districts which are almost entirely unpaved, consequently uncleansed and unsewercd; thickly built over with houses, which are more than a fifth of the entire habitations of the town, and whose area abounds with all kinds of filth, open gutters, drains, cesspools, and ditches.78

This viewpoint is borne out in Dr Malcolm’s paper where he states that the ‘chief

distinguishing mark of the character o f the suburbs’ was the great want o f ‘systematic

drainage’.79 Dr Malcolm describes the existing drainage in these areas as o f a

‘primeval character, signifying that the rain from the clouds and the sewerage from

the dwellings are at liberty to make their own intersections and channels, without any

interference on the part of man’.80 The most pressing task for the authorities in Belfast

at the beginning of the nineteenth century was to acquire for the town an efficient

supply o f fresh water. The importance of water to the development o f the town at the

beginning of the nineteenth century was acknowledged by E.W. Pirn in his later work

on the history o f the town’s water supply: ‘The heaviest responsibility resting on any

local government is the establishment and maintenance o f a proper supply o f water’.81

Belfast water supply

As the population o f Belfast increased during the seventeenth century, a pure and

convenient supply of water became necessary. The first water supply to the town of

Belfast by artificial means was established by George Macartney in 1678.82

Macartney’s scheme conveyed water in pipes from the Tuck Mill Dam to the ‘Great

Bridge o f the Town’ (probably the ‘embankment which crossed the Blackstaff not far

from the castle’83). With the continued increase of the population o f the town this

source became inadequate and a forty one-year lease was granted in 1733 to William

‘pipe-water’ Johnston of Newforge, near Belfast, for sources in the Malone and

78 Report o f Captain Gilbert... boundary, Appendix 1.19 Malcolm, Sanitary state o f Belfast (1852).80 Ibid.81 E.W. Pirn, Sketch o f the rise and progress o f the water supply to Belfast, with some extracts relative to the origin o f the Charitable Society (Belfast, 1895), acknowledgements.82 George Benn, A history o f the town o f Belfast from the earliest times to the close o f the eighteenth century (London, 1877), p. 485.83 Ibid., p. 487.

157

Cromac districts of the town.84 Under the management o f these small private leases

the water supply of the town remained inadequate and in 1795 was transferred to the

Belfast Charitable Society, under a special committee known as the Spring Water

Commissioners. Although transferred to one central body, the water supply o f Belfast

still remained beyond the control of the municipal corporation. The sources o f these

early supplies were the ‘Bellows Spring’, on the Lisburn Road near Fountainville, and

Stranmillis.85

In 1840 an act o f parliament constituted a new body known as the Belfast Water

Commissioners to manage the water supply o f the town. Once again the municipal

corporation was by-passed in the transferral o f the town’s water supply from one body

to another. This new body took over all the existing water works from the Charitable

Society agreeing to pay the latter body £800 per annum indefinitely, along with a

lifetime supply o f free water.86 The first work carried out by the water commissioners

was the construction of two basins on the Antrim Road to collect water from Carr’s

Glen and the Milewater River. After the construction of these basins it was discovered

that the commissioners did not have full title to these waters and therefore had to

share them with Mr Howie, owner of some industrial premises in the district. From a

total o f 980 acres drained for these new basins, the commissioners received all the

water drained from 240 acres, but only one third of that drained from the remaining

740 acres. In other words, the commissioners received only about half o f the supply,

the other half being the property o f Mr Howie.87 This serious oversight on the

commissioners’ part led to some harsh accusations of incompetence from concerned

authorities.

In 1847 Dr A.G. Malcolm singled out the New Lodge Road locality as a district

desperately in need o f improvements to its water supply, thus highlighting once again,

the poor management of the town’s supply. In his report on the sanitary state of the

town, Malcolm described the supply from the pumps at Pinkerton’s Court,

McNamara’s Court, Mathewson’s Court, Hunter’s Row, Lepper’s Row, and

84 Ibid., p. 487.85 Pirn, Water supply to Belfast, p. 5.86 Ibid., p. 6.87 J.F. Bateman, ‘Extracts from John Frederick Bateman’s Report on the supply o f water to the town o f Belfast (Manchester, 1855), in Problems o f a growing city: Belfast 1780-1870 (Belfast, 1973), (hereafter Bateman, ‘Extracts’), p. 141.

158

McFarland’s Court as ‘positively offensive’.88 Whilst these pumps had supplied an

‘abundance o f water’ to the local inhabitants a few years previously, the taste had

become altered and in 1847 was rarely used for drinking purposes. The poor state of

the water supply in this district forced inhabitants to fend for themselves by using

fountains in other parts of the town, using the water carts and even the rain.89

Ironically, the only fountain in use in the area was the suspiciously named ‘Lepper’s

fountain’. The cause o f this change in the water according to Malcolm was that the

pumps, quite simply, had not been sunk deeply enough into the ground enabling

polluted water from the springs in the vicinity to seep into their source. Malcolm

described it as ‘lamentable’ to pass through the New Lodge district and see ‘every

here and there, the openings o f abundant springs, and to think that here that most

necessary article o f domestic use is virtually denied’.90

In 1852 John Frederick La Trobe Bateman (Appendix XIII) recommended that water

be secured from Woodburn in the northern part of the town. Bateman had been

instructed by the Belfast Water Commissioners to report as to the ‘most eligible

method of improving the Old Water-works’ in addition to providing new sources for

an increased supply. According to Bateman’s calculations the quantity o f water to be

obtained from any improvement in the old water works would have been insufficient

for the increasing demands of the town. Bateman therefore did not recommend any

improvement, but instead focussed his report on possible new sources for increasing

the water supply o f the town.91 In the twenty-year period from 1831 to 1851 the

population o f Belfast had almost doubled from 53,287 to almost 100,000 persons.

This growth rate was unrivalled in any other town in the United Kingdom. The

growth in population was accompanied by a rapid increase in the town’s industrial

and mercantile establishments and Bateman recognised that as steam power relied on

water, nowhere else would a deficient supply be ‘more severely felt’ than in Belfast.

In fact he even went as far as to state: ‘the future increase and prosperity o f Belfast

will depend in great measure upon the means which can be provided for supplying the

wants o f those establishments’. Bateman therefore recommended a scheme that would

88 A.G. Malcolm, ‘Sanitary inspections of Belfast, part 1’, in The Belfast people’s magazine (Belfast, 1848), pp 88-93.89 Malcolm, ‘Sanitary inspections of Belfast’, pp 92-3.90 Ibid.91 Bateman, ‘Extracts’, p. 139.

159

‘g iv e to m anufac to ries, as w e ll as to th e in h ab itan ts , a fu ll su p p ly o f g o o d and92w h o leso m e w a te r ’.

In o rd e r to susta in th e rap id ly -in c rea sin g p o p u la tio n o f B e lfa s t, B a tem an ca lc u la ted in

h is re p o rt o f 1852 th a t 6 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 g a llo n s o f w a te r p e r d ay w o u ld b e n ecessary . T h is

w as b ased u p o n th e assu m p tio n th a t th e g ro w in g p o p u la tio n w o u ld b y 1861 h av e risen

to 150,000. A llo w in g fo r a co n su m p tio n ra te o f tw en ty g a llo n s p e r h ead p e r day , th is

w o u ld to ta l 3 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 gallons, in ad d itio n to an o th er 3 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 g a llo n s p e r day fo r

m an u fac tu rin g purposes. W ith th e to w n lo ca ted a t th e fo o t o f h ig h h ills y ie ld in g

ab u n d an t supp lies o f g o o d w ate r, it w as th o u g h t th a t 6 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 g a llo n s co u ld be

p ro v id ed fo r a t a co m p ara tiv e ly lo w cost. T he co m m issio n e rs d id n o t im m ed ia te ly ac t

u p o n B a te m a n ’s advice , p re fe rrin g to try to ascerta in th e ir rig h ts to th e C a rr ’s G len

w a te r. B y 1854 no co n c lu sio n s had b een arriv ed a t as to th e rig h tfu l o w n e rsh ip o f th e

C a rr’s G len w a te r and th e co m m issio n e rs th e re fo re in s tru c ted B a te m a n to rep o rt once

ag a in on a n u m b er o f d is tric ts n o t up to th is p o in t exam ined . A s B e lfa s t w as at th is

tim e su ffe rin g from a serious w a te r shortage , surveys w e re q u ick ly m ad e in o rd e r to

d e te rm in e a schem e in tim e fo r th e n ex t sess io n o f P a rliam en t. In h is re p o rt B a tem an

desc rib es th e situation: ‘Y o u r re se rv o irs w ere em pty, y o u r re so u rces a lm o st to ta lly

ex h au sted , and y ou had b een co m p elled to ad o p t m easu res fo r a f fo rd in g tem p o ra ry

re lief, by p u m p in g w a te r from L e s te r ’s sp rings and th e R iv e r L a g a n ’.93 In h is final

rep o rt B a tem an reco m m en d ed th e W o o d b u rn riv e r and S illin to b er sp rin g s as th e b e s t

so u rce fo r th e to w n o f B e lfast, and th a t th e p ip e be co n tin u ed b ey o n d th e S illin to b er

sp rings as fa r as th e C o p elan d w a te r s tream (F igu re 4 .6 ).94

B a te m a n ’s 1854 rep o rt w as n o t ac ted u p o n b y th e co m m iss io n e rs and as th e years

w e n t by th e s itu a tio n s tead ily w o rsen ed . B e tw een 1840 and 1860 th e p o p u la tio n o f th e

to w n had in c reased fro m ab o u t 70 ,0 0 0 to 140,000. T h is a s to n ish in g in crease in th e

n u m b er o f in h ab itan ts c rea ted th e need fo r a ‘vas tly in c re a se d ’ supp ly o f w a te r o n a

sca le ‘m o re co m m en su ra te w ith th e w a n ts o f to w n ’.95 S ince 1852 w h e n B a te m a n had

p ro p o se d his schem e fo r secu ring w a te r from W oo d b u rn , m an y o th e r p ro p o sa ls had

92 Ibid., p. 140.93 Ibid., p. 142.94 Ibid., p. 144.95 ‘Sanitary state o f Belfast, and its water supply’ in Dublin Builder, 1 Sept. 1865, p. 205.

1 6 0

MAIN DRAINAGE WORKS. *5

U eservoiiiO m ,

i 0 Metres g00

J Extract from OS six-inch Antrim, sheet 61,1901

F ig u re 4 .6 C a rr’s G len and W o o d b u rn re se rv o irs and B e lfa s t M ain D ra in ag e w o rk s 1901

co m e b e fo re P a rliam en t b u t to no avail. B y the su m m er o f 1865 B e lfa s t w as lite ra lly

d y in g o f th irs t and b lam e fo r th is w as b e in g p laced sq u are ly o n th e sh ou lders o f th e

w a te r co m m issio n e rs w h o it w as sta ted , had did v ery little to am e lio ra te th e s itu a tio n

o th e r th an talk:

. . . i f talk would have done the work, Belfast would have the best supply o f water in the three kingdoms. Belfast has literally talked itself dry, for it has talked and litigated and proposed to go to Parliament, any time these past ten years, and done nothing.96

In th is a rtic le th e ag g ressiv e n a tu re o f th e lan g u ag e c lea rly re flec ts th e u rg en cy o f the

situation : ‘N o lan g u ag e cou ld be to o strong to use in cen su rin g th e im b ec ility and

cu lp ab le d ere lic tio n o f d u ty o f th e u se less - m ore, m isch iev o u s - p u b lic b o d y w h ic h

h as b ro u g h t th e to w n to such straits. W e fear th ey w ill h av e yet a h eav y list o f d isease

and d ea th to answ er fo r’ 91

96 Ibid.97 Ibid.

161

D e sp e ra te m easu res w e re b e in g tak en to o b ta in w h a t sm all q u an titie s o f w a te r w e re

av a ilab le in B e lfa s t in 1865. T h e a lready im p u re w a te rs o f th e L ag an , ta in ted w ith

‘flax w a te r ’ w e re p u m p ed a lm o st to exhaustion , in an e ffo rt to p ro v id e c itizen s w ith

th e m in im u m q u an tity necessa ry fo r ex is ten ce .98 In la te A u g u s t 1865 a n u m b er o f

co rresp o n d en ts fro m th e Belfast Newsletter v is ite d th e L a g a n in o rd e r to ex am in e th e

sp rings u p o n w h ich th e c itizen s w e re fo rced to depend fo r su rv ival. T o th e ir su rp rise

and d ism ay th ey found th e sp rings w e re p rac tica lly dry , y ie ld in g n o w h ere n ea r th e

‘te n g a llo n s p e r m in u te ’ c la im ed by th e w a te r co m m issio n e rs . T he su rface o f th e

L ag a n fro m w h e re th e w a te r w as d raw n w as fo u n d to b e in a ‘d isg racefu l s ta te ’ . T he

m o u th o f th e p ip e w a s ch o k ed u p w ith ‘g rea t m asses o f w e ed an d d ecay in g v eg e tab le

m a tte r ’ and w ith in tw o yards o f th is p ip e lay a la rg e d ead eel, flo a tin g in a s ta te o f

‘sem i-d ec o m p o s itio n ’. B ecau se th e w ea th e r w as dry, th e ‘s tin k ’ em an a tin g fro m th e

riv e r w as g ro w in g w o rse each day, and as its v o lu m e d ec rea sed its im p u rity

in c reased .99 T he n e ig h b o u rh o o d su rro u n d in g P in k e rto n ’s R o w w a s ag a in b ad ly h it and

th e p eo p le from th is a rea w e re p e rm itted to tak e w a te r fro m th e W h itew e ll p ip e a t th e

w a te r co m m iss io n e rs’ w o rk s. P riv a te in d iv id u a ls m ad e th e ir p u m p s av a ilab le to th e

p o o r in th e h o p e o f m itig a tin g in som e sm all w ay th e cris is in th e to w n .100

M c C ra c k e n ’s C o tto n F ac to ry , Y o rk L ane, th rew o p en fo r p u b lic u se its y a rd and

pum ps. B e tw een fiv e o ’c lo ck in th e m o rn in g an d tw e lv e o ’c lo ck noon , o v e r 5 ,000

peop le , m o stly w o m en and ch ild ren , w a lk ed fo r o v er a m ile to ca rry aw ay w h a t little

w a te r th ey cou ld fo r im m ed ia te u s e .101 I f ev er th e to w n o f B e lfa s t req u ired a p ro p e r

sy stem o f w a te r it w as a t th is period .

T h e cause o f th e ‘B e lfa s t w a te r fa m in e ’ o f 1865 w as p a rtia lly d u e to th e o p p o s itio n o f

M r H o w ie , o w n er o f th e p ro p e rty a t th e C a rr’s G len reserv o ir. H o w e v e r it w as

p rim arily due to th e to rrid w e a th e r cond itions du rin g th e m o n th o f A ugust. T h e

fo llo w in g m o n th it ra in ed and th e w a te r levels ro se on ce again . H o w ev er, b u t fo r th e

h an d o f natu re , w h a t u ltim ate ly p ro v ed to be n o th in g m o re th an a sev e re

in co n v en ien ce to th e p eo p le o f B elfast, m ig h t w e ll h av e d ev e lo p ed in to a life-

th rea ten in g s itu a tio n .102 I t w as c lea r to th e co m m iss io n e rs th a t th e w a te r su p p ly to th e

98 Ibid.99 ‘The Newsletter on the Belfast water famine’, in Dublin Builder, 1 Sept. 1865, p. 206.100 ‘Sanitary state o f Belfast, and its water supply’, in Dublin Builder, 1 Sept. 1865, p. 205,101 ‘The Newsletter on the Belfast water famine’, in Dublin Builder, 1 Sept. 1865, p. 206.102 Jack Loudan, In search o f water, being a history o f the Belfast water supply (Belfast, 1940), p. 61.

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to w n cou ld no lo n g er b e a llo w ed to depend u p o n p ro v id en ce and in 1866 w o rk b eg a n

o n th e W o o d b u rn schem e. B y 1867 th e daily o u tp u t o f th e n ew w o rk s a t W o o d b u rn

w as still fa llin g w ell b e lo w th e requ ired 5 ,5 0 0 ,0 0 0 g a llo n s , o r th ir ty -o n e g a llo n s p e r

p e rso n necessa ry to supp ly th e tow n. U n d er tw o n ew ac ts o f 1874 an d 1879 th ree

m o re re se rv o irs w e re co n stru c ted at W o o d b u rn an d one a t L o u g h M o u rn e , re su ltin g in

a to ta l p ro d u c t from b o th sou rces o f 7 ,5 0 0 ,0 0 0 g a llo n s p e r d a y .103 N ev erth e less , th e

in cessan t g ro w th o f th e p o p u la tio n d em anded even m o re w a te r and a fu rth e r ac t w as

passed in 1884 g iv in g th e co m m issio n e rs rig h ts to th e S to n ey fo rd area ab o u t six m iles

n o rth o f L isbu rn . T h is n ew sch em e p ro d u ced a fu r th e r 3 ,5 0 0 ,0 0 0 m illio n g a llo n s o f

h ig h -p ressu red w a te r to serve th e u p p er d istric ts o f th e C ru m lin R o ad , A rd o y n e and

th e S hank ill R oad , b rin g in g th e to ta l o u tp u t in 1884 to 11 ,000 ,000 m illio n g a llo n s p e r

day, o r fo rty -tw o gallons p e r p e rso n p e r d a y .104 B y 1889, as a resu lt o f B e lfa s t’s

n ew ly -acq u ired ‘c ity ’ status, th e nam e o f th e w a te r co m m issio n e rs w as ch an g ed to

th a t o f th e ‘B e lfa s t C ity and D is tr ic t W a te r C o m m iss io n e rs ’ and its ju risd ic tio n , lik e

th a t o f th e m un ic ipa l co rpo ration , w as ex ten d ed fa r b ey o n d th e lim its o f th e old. 105tow n.

Belfast main drainage scheme

T h e p h y sica l g eo g rap h y o f B elfast, its e lev a ted h ills to th e w e st and sou th o f th e to w n

co n tra s tin g w ith th e lo w -ly in g lan d s o f th e to w n itself, p a rticu la rly a ro u n d th e h a rb o u r

area, m ade it an u n u su a l case fo r a m ain d ra in ag e schem e. W h ils t sew ag e fro m th e

e lev a ted p arts o f th e to w n co u ld be co n v ey ed to a su itab le d es tin a tio n by g rav ity , th e

la rg e r low -ly in g p a rt o f th e to w n p resen ted g rea te r d ifficu lty :

As every city has its own peculiar geographical surroundings, so the mode o f discharge and disposal o f sewage applicable in one case by no means determines what is advisable in another; and Belfast, which is neither an inland town nor one situate on the open seaboard, presents difficulties to which there are but few parallel cases in the United Kingdom.106

In B elfast, as in D ub lin , th e d ra in ag e o f th e to w n w as in escap ab ly tied u p w ith th e

p u rifica tio n o f th e m ain w a te rco u rse . T he R iv e r L agan , like th e R iv e r L iffe y in

D ub lin , w as th e m ain recep tac le fo r the to w n ’s w aste , b o th h u m an and in d u stria l, and

fro m its w a te rs all w a ste flow ed u ltim ate ly in to the h arb o u r. H o w ev er, any p lan s to

103 L. Livingston Macassey, Belfast Water Supply. Report on the supply o f water to the city o f Belfast and the suburban districts (Belfast, 1891), p. 4.104 Ibid.105 Pim, Water supply to Belfast, p. 7.106 ‘Belfast drainage schem e’ in Irish Builder, 1 Nov. 1885, p. 289.

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purify th e L ag an w o u ld be po in tless w ith o u t f irs t ab a tin g th e n u isan ce o f th e

B lackstaff. T h is sm aller r iv e r rece iv ed th e in d u stria l w a s te o f co u n tless fa c to rie s and

m ills in th e w este rn p art o f th e to w n b e fo re d isch arg in g in to th e L ag a n n ea r th e

gasw orks.

F ig u re 4 .7 B la c k s ta f f R iv e r so u th o f B elfast, 1858

T he im p ro v em en t o f the B la c k s ta ff riv e r and its tr ib u ta ry stream , th e P o u n d B urn , w as

a sub ject o f serio u s co n sid e ra tio n in B e lfas t from a t least th e 1830s u n til its

d isap p ea ran ce from v iew to w ard s th e end o f the n in e teen th c e n tu ry .107 S itu a ted south

o f th e c ity and ru n n in g eastw ard s in to th e L ag an (F ig u re 4 .7 ), th is riv e r had rem a in ed

re la tiv e ly u n sp o ilt un til a n u m b er o f m ills b eg an to sp ring up a long its b an k s in th e

1830s. O ne co n tem p o ra ry jo u rn a l sum s up its d em ise in th e fo llo w in g sen tence:

Some forty or fifty years ago it was a pleasant stream enough, gliding silently through green water flagons, and over mossy stones, and a past generation angled for trout in its shallows; now the outpourings o f h alf a hundred factories, and the sewerage o f a vast quarter o f the town have made it a filthy reeking open sewer offensive to sight and smell, spreading its noxious vapours over the southern portion of the town, and dealing out disease and death among the unhappy factory workers who have the misfortune to live in its neighbourhood.10i!

107 See ‘Sanitary state o f Belfast’ in Irish Builder, 1 July 1859, p. 78.108 ‘Sanitary state o f Belfast, and its water supply’ in Dublin Builder, 1 Sept. 1865, p. 205.

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W ith th e ap p earan ce o f th e m ills th ere qu ick ly fo llo w ed n u m ero u s fac to ries , and th e

d istric ts a long th e co u rse o f th e r iv e r rap id ly b ecam e in d u stria lised . T he

in d u stria liza tio n o f th e d is tric t re su lted in th e co m b in ed w a ste fro m all th e loca l

es tab lish m en ts b e in g d isch arg ed in to th e river. Such w a s th e ex ten t o f p o llu tio n th a t

th e p lig h t o f th is ill-fa ted s tream becam e a co n tin u o u s su b jec t o f co m m en t in th e

B e lfa s t n ew sp ap ers and counc il m eetings th ro u g h o u t th e m id e ig h tee n hu n d red s. In

fac t th e n o to rie ty o f th e B la c k s ta f f had reach ed such lev e ls th a t in 1870 its lam en tab le

story had been p u t to verse. T his leng thy p iece o f v e rse w h ic h ho ld s th e to w n counc il

re sp o n sib le fo r th e r iv e r’s dem ise, p ro v id es an ex ce llen t in s ig h t in to th e s to ry o f th e

‘B la c k s ta ff n u isan ce ’ (S ee A p p en d ix V III).

S an itary im p ro v em en ts in th e B o ro u g h o f B e lfa s t w as an im p o rtan t a sp ec t o f th e 1847

B e lfa s t T o w n Im p ro v em en t A ct, w h ich fo cu ssed la rg e ly on th e im p ro v em en t o f th e

w a te r supply as w ell as th e sew erage , d ra in ag e and c lean sin g o f th e tow n . B eca u se th e

co n tam in a tio n o f th e B la c k s ta f f p re sen ted su ch a m o n s tro u s n u isan ce to th e to w n ,

m an y o f th e sec tions tw en ty -n in e to fo rty -th ree o f th e ab o v e ac t re la tin g to sew erag e

and d ra inage, p ro v id ed fo r th e im p ro v em en t o f th is d an g e ro u s w a te r course. In th is ac t

p o w e r w as g ran ted to d ivert, straigh ten , w iden , d eepen , em bank , and cu lv e rt o v e r so

m u ch o f th e R iv e r as lies w ith in th e bo rough , and also to pu rch ase all lan d s n ecessa ry

to carry th is in to e ffec t.109 H ow ever, in o rd e r to carry th is in to e ffec t a n u m b er o f

o b stru c tio n s firs t h ad to b e rem oved. F o rem o st o f th e se o b stru c tio n s w as th e w e ir

k n o w n as th e P a p e r M ill W e ir ow ned by th e M essrs Jo y w ho , along w ith M essrs

D u ffin and Jo h n M o rg an , also local m ill ow ners, all o b jec ted to th e p ro p o sed new

channel o n g ro u n d s th a t it w o u ld u ltim ate ly p ro v e d e trim en ta l to th e ir b u s in e sse s .110

T h is o p p o sitio n su cceed ed in delay in g p ro ced u re s fo r som e tim e and ev en tu a lly

p o w ers g ran ted to th e co rp o ra tio n fo r co m p u lso ry p u rch ase o f th e lands u n d er th e ac t

o f 1847 ex p ired and fu n d s d ried u p .111 In 1850 y e t an o th e r to w n im p ro v em en t ac t w as

passed. U n d e r th is la tes t ac t th e co rp o ra tio n w e re au th o rized to b o rro w £ 1 5 ,0 0 0 fo r to

ca rry ou t th e w o rk s co n tem p la ted in the ac t o f 1847, b u t alas th e co m p u lso ry p o w ers

o f p u rch ase g ran ted in th e ea rlie r ac t w ere n o t renew ed . A s p riv a te a rran g em en ts w ith

109 Report o f the commissioners appointed to inquire into the state o f municipal affairs in the borough o f Belfast, [C. 2470], H.C. 1859, xii.110 ‘Report on the Belfast Improvement Acts Amendment, made by Alexander Norman, Barrister at Law, and George Archibald Leach, Captain in the Royal Engineers, for the Commissioners o f Her Majesty’s Woods, Forests, etc’ (1847), in L ’Estrangc and Brett Papers (PRONI, D 1905/2/34/4).111 Report o f the commissioners ... Belfast, H.C., [C. 2470], xii, 305 (1859).

165

th e o w n ers o f th e land p ro v ed im p o ssib le to effect, th e p ro jec t fo r im p ro v in g th e ‘r iv e r• 112

o f h e ll’ w a s once ag a in p u t on hold

B y 1852 th e P ap er M ill W e ir had b een rem oved , h o w e v e r th e ‘fou l and o p en to r tu o u s

s trea m ’ still rem a in ed th e recep tac le o f filth fo r u p w ard s o f 4 00 houses, fac to ries and

o th er e s tab lish m en ts a lo n g its b a n k s .113 In A .G . M a lc o lm ’s re p o rt o f 1852 he

co nc luded by o u tlin in g a n u m b er o f o b stac le s im p ed in g th e e ffic ien t ex ecu tio n o f

rem ed ial san ita ry m easu res in b o th to w n and suburbs. A m o n g th ese w e re th e w a n t o f

p ro p e r d ra ins ‘co n tig u o u s to ten em e n ts ’, p u b lic and p riv a te n u isances, and san ita ry

n eg lec t re su ltin g fro m th e ‘banefu l h ab its o f th e in fe r io r c lass o f te n a n try ’ . W h ils t

M alco lm c la im ed th a t such obstac les w e re im p o rtan t, a still g rav e r o b stac le in th e w ay

o f p ro p e r san itary re fo rm w as defec tive and th e re fo re im p o ten t leg isla tion . H e re

M alco lm g iv es th e B la c k s ta f f nu isan ce th a t ‘m o st ex ten s iv e sep a ra te e v il’ as a p rim e

exam ple o f th e co n seq u en ces o f defec tive le g is la tio n .114 N o p erm an en t im p ro v em en t

o f th e lo ca lity su rro u n d in g th is riv e r cou ld b e a ttem p ted un til th e ‘m o n s te r g r ie v a n c e ’

w as rem oved , b u t th e co s t o f im p ro v em en t w as a d e te rren t in i tse lf .115 T h ro u g h o u t th e

1860s and 70s th e n u isan ce o f th e B la c k s ta ff co n tin u ed to o b stru c t th e p u rifica tio n o f

th e to w n ’s m ain w a te rco u rse , the R iv e r L agan.

T he firs t serious p ro p o sa l fo r a m ain d ra in ag e sch em e in B e lfa s t w as th a t p u t fo rw ard

by th e su rveyor, J.J. M on tg o m ery in 1866. M o n tg o m ery ’s p lan w as d esig n ed in

co n su lta tio n w ith J.W . B aza lg e tte , th e arch itec t o f th e L o n d o n M ain D ra in ag e schem e.

B aza lg e tte trav e lled to B elfas t in O c to b e r 1867 to ex am in e th e to w n and th e ‘sch em e

o f d ra in a g e ’ p ro p o se d in M o n tg o m ery ’s plan. H e th en re tu rn ed to L o n d o n w ith th e

desired ‘p lans, sec tio n s and in fo rm a tio n ’, and from th e re b a lan ced th e d e ta ils o f th e

p la n .116 T h e tw o eng ineers agreed th a t a h ig h -lev e l in te rcep tin g sew e r shou ld be

ca rried a lo n g th e b ase o f th e ris in g g ro u n d to th e w est o f th e tow n . T h is sew e r w as to

rece iv e th e sew ag e o f all th e m ain sew ers ru n n in g from th e ris in g g ro u n d to th e river.

O nce in te rcep ted , th e sew age from th e h ig h g ro u n d co u ld be co n v ey ed by g ra v ity

112 The phrase ‘river o f hell’ is taken from the poem ‘The Blackstaff in Irish Builder, 1 Oct. 1870, p. 236.113 Malcolm, Sanitary state of Belfast (1852).114 Ibid.115 Ibid.116 Bazalgette, Drainage o f towns, Belfast, 7 June 1867 (Archive o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers, London, M s vol).

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th ro u g h th e in te rcep tin g sew er in to an ou tfa ll sew e r to be d isch arg ed in to th e sea. T h is

w ou ld re liev e th e lo w er p arts o f th e to w n fro m flood ing . T h e p o in t o f ou tfa ll w a s th e

edge o f th e A n trim s lo b lan d s at T h o m p so n ’s B a n k c lose to th e w est T w in Island , (see

F ig u re 4.6 , p. 161). T he lo w er d is tric ts to w ard s th e cen tre o f th e to w n and th e p o rt

w e re to b e sep ara te ly d ra in ed by a low -leve l in te rcep tin g sew er. A s g ra v ita tio n w as

n o t p o ssib le in th e lo w er p arts o f th e to w n , th is lo w -lev e l sew er w a s to co n v ey its• 117sew age b y pum pm g.

M o n tg o m ery ’s 1866 m ain d ra in ag e p lan fo r B e lfas t a lso em b raced an e lab o ra te

rec lam atio n schem e. In 1867 th e to w n s o f E d in b u rg h , C arlis le , R u g b y , C roydon ,

W atfo rd , and W o k in g had been ex p e rim en tin g w ith to w n sew age as a m ean s o f

irrig a tin g land. M o n tg o m ery p ro p o sed rec la im in g m u ch o f th e s lo b lan d s o n th e

A n trim side o f B e lfa s t L o u g h and u tilis in g th e to w n sew age to irrig a te th ese lan d s fo r

ag ricu ltu ra l p u rp o se s (A p p en d ix V II). In su p p o rt o f th is p lan th e co n su ltin g eng ineer,

B aza lg e tte , stated:

That town sewerage will produce enormous and fertile crops o f grass when applied to land in the form o f irrigation and that it also improves all growing crops, is no longer a point of speculation.” 8

T o B azalgette , B e lfa s t appeared ‘p articu la rly fa v o u ra b le ’ to th is m o d e o f sew erag e

d isposal. W ith a lm o st 2 ,0 0 0 acres o f s lo b lan d s o n th e A n trim sh o re ad jacen t to th e

p o in t o f outfall, th is land i f rec la im ed and irrig a ted w ith to w n sew erag e w o u ld

b eco m e ‘ex trem ely v a lu a b le ’ th e reb y re m u n e ra tin g th e in itia l c o s t o f th e

re c lam atio n .119 W ith th e b ack in g o f B aza lg e tte , th e C o rp o ra tio n o f B e lfa s t, in 1870,

p ro m o ted a p riv a te b ill in P arliam en t re co m m en d in g th e tw o en g in e e rs ’ p roposa ls .

A lth o u g h B aza lg e tte gave his fu ll b ack in g to th is p a rt o f th e p lan , th e sca le o f

re c lam atio n p ro v ed in th e end to be its dow nfa ll. T he w o rk s em b raced by th e b ill w ere

so costly th a t it w as th ro w n ou t b e fo re ev en m ak in g it to th e co m m itte e s tag e o f

p ro c eed in g s .120

In 1885 th e m u n ic ip a l en g in ee r fo r B elfast, R .J.C . B re tlan d p re sen ted a d e ta iled re p o rt

on th e d ra in ag e o f th e to w n w h ich p ro p o se d p ro ceed in g w ith th e h igh -leve l

117 ‘Belfast drainage schem e’ in Irish Builder, 1 Nov. 1885, p. 289.118 Bazalgette, Drainage o f towns, Belfast, 7 June 1867.119 Ibid.120 ‘Belfast: its improvements and main drainage works’ in Irish Builder, 15 Oct. 1892, p. 219.

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in te rcep tin g and o u tfa ll sew ers reco m m en d ed by M o n tg o m ery in 1866. B re tla n d ’s

p lan w a s b ased u p o n th e reco m m en d a tio n s o f M o n tg o m ery and B a z a lg e tte n in e teen

years p rev io u sly . T h e h ig h -lev e l sew er w as to ach ieve th ree o b jec tiv es. In a d d itio n to

its m ain o b jec tiv e w h ich w as to convey sew age to th e sea, it w o u ld a lso aid in the

F ig u re 4 .8 P la n fo r B e lfast M ain D ra in ag e , 1885

p u rifica tio n o f th e R iv e r L ag an and p rev en t f lo o d in g in th e lo w er p a rts o f th e tow n.

T h is h ig h -lev e l sew er w as to b eg in a t th e ju n c tio n o f L o w e r C rescen t and B o tan ic

A v en u e in th e so u th ern part o f th e to w n (d irec tly o u tsid e th e p re sen t-d ay R eg en cy

H otel). F ro m h e re it w as to con tinue d o w n L o w e r C rescen t b e fo re c ro ssin g u n d e r th e

B e lfas t C en tra l R a ilw ay and up Sandy R o w as far as th e ju n c tio n o f B la c k s ta f f R o ad

(p resen t-d ay D o n eg a ll R oad). F ro m th is p o in t it con tinued a lo n g th e B la c k s ta f f R o ad

as fa r as U tility S treet, and along th is s tree t and B en th am S tree t b e fo re c ro ssin g u n d e r

th e G rea t N o rth e rn R ailw ay . T he sew er th en p assed c lo se to D u n v ille ’s D istillery

u n d er th e B la c k s ta f f R iv e r by m ean s o f a s ip h o n and up D is tille ry S treet, C u llin g tree

R oad , P o u n d S treet, B a rrack S treet and D iv is S tree t as fa r as th e ju n c tio n o f M illfie ld .

C o n tin u in g a lo n g M illf ie ld it ran a lo n g C arrick H ill and N o rth Q u een S tree t c lo se to

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L illip u t S tree t b e fo re tu rn in g d o w n to Y o rk R oad . F ro m Y o rk R o a d th e sew er

co n tin u ed th ro u g h th e g ro u n d s k n o w n as T h e G rove , th en u n d e r th e N o rth e rn

C o u n tie s R a ilw ay ou t to T h o m p so n ’s B an k and fro m th e re to th e la rg e s to rag e tan k

co n stru c ted on th e s lob lands (F ig u re 4 .8). B y m ean s o f th is sew er, sew ag e from the

W in d so r d is tric t so u th o f th e tow n, th e F a lls and Shank ill d is tric ts w e s t o f th e to w n

in c lu d in g th e D is tric t L u n atic A sy lu m and U n io n W o rk h o u se , and th e C lifto n v ille

d istric t n o rth o f th e tow n , w as in te rcep ted b e fo re d isch arg in g in to th e L agan .

T he m ost im p o rtan t q u estio n in reg a rd to B re tla n d ’s p lan w as its p o in t o f ou tfall. T o

convey th e sew ag e several m iles b ey o n d th e to w n in to th e B e lfa s t L o u g h w as to o

costly . B re tlan d th e re fo re p ro p o sed a s to rag e tan k to s to re th e sew erag e b efo re

re leasin g it a t h ig h tid e th e reb y enab lin g th e ebb cu rren t to ca rry it seaw ard to deep

w ate r. T he ou tfa ll p o in t reco m m en d ed b y M o n tg o m ery in 1866 w as T h o m p so n ’s

B ank, th e n o rth ern ex trem ity o f th e port. B y 1885 th is b an k w as v e ry m u ch in the

th ick o f th e p o rt and any ou tfa ll w o rk s m ig h t be an o b stru c tio n to th e p ro g ress o f th e

port. B re tlan d th e re fo re su g g ested d redg ing a channel fro m th e o u tfa ll sew e r to th e

bed o f th e L o u g h k n o w n as th e W h iteh o u se R oads. T h e s to rag e ta n k w as to be

cap ab le o f co n ta in in g 5 ,0 0 0 ,0 0 0 g a llo n s o f sew age. T h is tan k w as to b e lo ca ted on

rec la im ed slobs c lo se to th e p o in t o f o u tfa ll.121

In 1887 a jo in t co m m ittee o f th e B e lfa s t H a rb o u r C o m m issio n ers and th e M u n ic ip a l

C o rp o ra tio n o f B e lfa s t w as ap p o in ted to co n sid er th e p o llu tio n o f th e R iv e r L ag a n and

p ro v id e th e b e s t m eans fo r rem o v in g it causes. T he u n sig h tly d ep o sits o f m u d and

sew age slu d g e o n th e riv e r w as a cau se o f g rav e co n ce rn fo r th e tw o au tho rities . T he

sep a ra te rep o rts o f th e m u n ic ip a l eng ineer, M r B re tland , and th e h a rb o u r eng ineer, M r

Salm ond , co n cu rred on th e m atter. T h e cau se o f th e p o llu tio n w a s th a t all th e to w n

sew erag e p assed ev en tu a lly in to th e river. W ith o u t th e in te rcep tin g sew ers

co n tem p la ted in th e m ain d ra in ag e schem e, th e cause o f th e p o llu tio n w o u ld n o t be

abated . In h is re p o r t B re tlan d reco m m en d ed th e deep en in g o f th e bed o f th e L ag an

and th e co n stru c tio n o f quays and slo p ed em b an k m en ts a lo n g its sh o res as th e b est

m ean s o f d ea lin g w ith the po llu tion . S u g g estio n s to e rec t locks an d to co v er up th e

m ud b an k s had b ee n o b jec ted to by th e h a rb o u r co m m issio n e rs o n acco u n t o f the

121 ‘Belfast drainage schem e’ in Irish Builder, 1 Nov. 1885, p. 289.

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serious in ju ry th ey cou ld cau se to th e tidal w a te rs o f th e port. T h e h a rb o u r

co m m issio n e rs w ere h o w ev er w illin g to deep en th e riv e r b ed up to th e f irs t lo ck o f th e122L ag an N a v ig a tio n C om pany.

In 1887 th e B e lfa s t M ain D ra in ag e A ct w as finally p asse d and by 1892 th e w o rk s

w ere a lread y u n d e r w ay at an estim ated cost o f £500 ,000 . T he sch em e p ro v id ed fo r

th e in te rcep tio n o f all th e sew age d isch arg in g in to th e L ag a n fro m b o th sides o f th e

riv e r and th e co n n ec tio n o f th e tw o in te rcep tin g sew ers b y m ean s o f a s ip h o n u n d e r

th e river. T he m ain tru n k sew ers w e re in tw o sections, o n e h ig h lev e l and one low

level. S ew ag e fro m th e lo w -lev e l sec tio n w as p u m p ed in to th e h ig h -lev e l sec tio n b y

m ean s o f a p u m p in g sta tion at D u n cru e S tree t in the n o rth ern p a r t o f th e tow n. F rom

th e h ig h -lev e l sew er it th en flo w ed by g rav ity to a co v e red s to rag e ta n k d esig n ed to

re ta in th e sew ag e and re lease it du rin g h ig h w a te r in to a covered t im b e r sew er th a t

w o u ld ca rry it o u t to th e op en sea. T h e w o rk s em b raced m an y d ifficu ltie s d u e to th e

‘s tra ta and th e p h y sica l co n to u r’ o f th e to w n . A s m uch o f th e to w n w a s lo w -ly in g ,

p u m p in g sta tio n s w ere req u ired to tran sm it sew ag e fro m lo w to h ig h -lev e l sew ers.

A lso , d u e to th e p o sitio n o f th e s to rag e tan k s on the s lo b lan d s n ea r T h o m so n ’s B ank ,

it w as im p o ssib le to lay co n c re te fo u n d a tio n s, th e re fo re th e tan k s w e re co n stru c ted

en tire ly on a p iled fo u n d a tio n o f ab o u t 7 ,000 p iles d riven in to th e sand.

Conclusion

I t is d ifficu lt to d isagree w ith Jo h n P u rse r G riffith ’s en d o rsem en t o f th e san ita ry

en g in ee r re fe rred to at th e b eg in n in g o f th is chap ter. W ith o u t an ab u n d an t supp ly o f

clean w a te r co m in g in to th e to w n , th e re sim p ly w o u ld n o t b e an u rb a n society . A s

b o th to w n s expanded , supp lies b ecam e in ad eq u a te , and o u t-o f-to w n so u rces w ere

used . T h e u n ce as in g g ro w th in th e p o p u la tio n o f B e lfa s t d u rin g th e n in e tee n th cen tu ry

en su red th e re w o u ld be d ifficu ltie s w ith its w a te r supply. W h ils t D u b lin ’s ce leb ra ted

V artry sch em e w as w id e ly p e rce iv ed as one o f th e g rea t m u n ic ip a l su ccesses o f th a t

n in e teen th -cen tu ry city , th e p riv a te ly -ru n B e lfa s t W a te r C o m m iss io n e rs s tru g g led to

p ro v id e fo r th e rap id ly -in c reasin g p o p u la tio n o f th e n o rth ern tow n. In ap p o rtio n in g

b lam e fo r th is in ad eq u acy th e w a te r co m m issio n e rs w e re th e o b v io u s ta rg e t and

rece ived fie rce c ritic ism in th e press. A lso to b lam e w ere th e lan d o w n ers w h o re fu sed

122 ‘Purification o f the Lagan’ in Irish Builder, 1 Oct. 1887, p. 278.

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to co -o p e ra te w ith th e co m m issio n e rs o v e r rig h ts and title s to lands, p ro d u c in g a

d ead lo ck w h ich cu lm in a ted w ith th e ‘w a te r fa m in e ’ o f 1865. A s a b o d y set u p so le ly

to m an ag e th e w a te r supp ly o f th e to w n and free from th e o th e r d em an d s o f m u n ic ip a l

g o v ern m en t, th e co m m issio n e rs w e re p ro v id in g tw en ty -fiv e g a llo n s o f w a te r p e r

p e rso n p e r day co m p ared to th e fo r ty -e ig h t gallons b e in g p ro v id ed by D u b lin

C o rp o ra tio n ’s V artry schem e. B y 1891 w h e n the su p p ly in B e lfa s t had b ee n

au g m en ted b y n ew w o rk s at S toneyfo rd and W oo d b u rn , th is fig u re had risen to fo rty -

tw o g a llo n s p e r head p e r day.

W ith its su p erio r w a te r carriage system in p lace by 1868, D u b lin m ig h t b e ex p ec ted to

have ach iev ed its m ain d ra in ag e system in th e y ea rs fo llow ing , b u t th is w as n o t to be.

R ep ea ted d ifficu lty in secu ring fu n d s fro m th e treasu ry re su lted in th e co rp o ra tio n

h av in g to aw ait th e p assin g o f local g o v e rn m en t leg is la tio n in th e 1890s in o rd e r to

secu re fund ing . I t w as n o t un til 1906 th e re fo re tha t D u b lin ’s m ain d ra in a g e sch em e

w as fin a lly com pleted . In co n tra s t th e s itu a tio n in B e lfa s t w as q u ite d iffe ren t.

A lth o u g h th e w a te r supp ly o f th a t to w n did n o t reach an ad eq u a te level u n til as la te as

1884, w o rk on th e m ain d ra in ag e sch em e w as a lready u n d e rw ay b y 1892.

171

Chapter V

More than 80,000 miles o f submarine cables are now at work and by their success the ideas o f time and distance upon which we were brought up have received rude shocks.1

T h e e lec tric te leg rap h d ev e lo p ed in harm o n y w ith th e rail n e tw o rk , p ro v id in g th e

essen tia l m ean s o f co m m u n ica tio n fro m sta tion to s ta tio n a lo n g each line. B y th e

1850s w h e n th e f irs t sub -m arine cab les w ere laid , th e p o ten tia l o f th e te leg rap h as a

m ean s o f rap id co m m u n ica tio n in its ow n righ t had a lready b een reco g n ized . A s the

n e tw o rk o f sub -m arin e cab les spread , th e w o rld rap id ly sh rank , an d th e u se o f th e

te leg rap h as a m ere an c illa ry d ev ice in ra ilw ay co m m u n ica tio n w a s re leg a ted to the

n o t so d is tan t past. T h ro u g h o u t th e 1850s and 1860s th e lan d -b ased n e tw o rk

co n tin u ed to ex tend in lin e w ith th e ra ilw ay s u n til th e p o s t o ffice to o k o v er th e system

in 1870. F ro m th is p o in t on w ard s how ever, th e te leg rap h n e tw o rk sp read rap id ly in to

to w n s and c ities ex ten d in g its in flu en ce fa r b ey o n d th e re s tr ic ted lim its o f th e ra ilw ay

line. B y 1880 a substan tia l n e tw o rk o f te leg rap h lines ex is ted in D u b lin and B e lfa s t

l in k in g th e suburbs w ith the to w n cen tre and b rin g in g g re a t co m m erc ia l b en e fits to

b o th tow ns. A s th e te leg rap h h ad co -d ev e lo p ed w ith th e ra ilw ay s its m an ag em en t

s tru c tu re u n d e r th e p riv a te com pan ies w as v ery s im ila r to th a t o f th e ra ilw ay

co m p an ies, in d eed m any o f th e te leg rap h lines w e re ow ned b y th e ra ilw a y com pan ies.

W h en th e p o s t o ffice ex ten d ed th e n e tw o rk in to the to w n s and c itie s a f te r 1870, like

th e ra ilw ays, its d ea lin g s w ith th e m un icipal au th o ritie s ra re ly ex ten d ed b ey o n d

p erm iss io n to erec t the o dd te leg rap h po le in the tow n.

T he in tro d u c tio n to th is s tu d y m akes re fe ren ce to tw o g rea t ages o f sc ien tific

d ev e lo p m en t in co rp o ra ted w ith in th e n in e ty -y ear p e rio d u n d e r ex am in a tio n : th ese are

th e age o f s team and th e age o f e lec tric ity . T he steam age w as firm ly es tab lish ed by

th e second decade o f th e n in e teen th cen tu ry w ith the in tro d u c tio n o f th e la rg e r and

m o re p o w erfu l steam sh ips as th e n ew m ode o f en e rg y f irs t ad ap ted i ts e lf to transpo rt.

W ith th e ad v en t o f th e ra ilw ay s in th e 1820s and 1830s steam p o w e r d o m in a ted th e

1 John Purser Griffith, ‘Presidential address to the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland’ inTransactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland (Trans. Inst. Engs. Ire.), xix, 1889, p. 48.

The electric telegraph, 1850-1906

1 7 2

perio d , in fac t it w as, lite ra lly , ‘full steam ah e a d ’ rig h t in to th e tw en tie th cen tu ry .

H o w e v e r du rin g th e h e ig h t o f th e steam ag e in th e 1870s an d 1880s a n ew ag e w as

a lread y develop ing . E x p erim en ta tio n in e lec tro -m ag n e tic cu rren ts h ad b ee n

co m m o n p lace am o n g st lead in g scien tis ts b efo re th e n in e te e n th cen tu ry re ach ed its

m id w ay poin t. T his ex p e rim en ta tio n resu lted in, am o n g st o th e r th ings, th e w id esp read

ad o p tio n in th e 1850s o f th e e lec tric te leg raph . W h ils t th e te leg rap h m ay be id en tified

as a fo re ru n n e r to th e la te r and m o re advanced te lep h o n e , its socia l im p ac t during th e

th irty -y ea r-p e rio d p rio r to th e te lephone , co u p led w ith its lo n g -te rm su sta in ab le

d ev e lo p m en t a fte r th e arrival o f th e te lephone , m ak e it a d ese rv in g su b jec t fo r a

ch a p te r in its ow n righ t.

In The Irish Railway Gazette o f 8 D ecem b er 1845 an a r tic le en titled ‘T h e p o s t o ffice

and s team ’ re fe rs to th e ra ilw ay co m p an ie s ’ ag reem en t to ta k e p o st o ffice le tte r bags

by th e ir fast tra in s g ra tu ito u sly , as ‘o n e m ore o f th o se new fac ts b y w h ich th e

ex trao rd in ary fea tu re o f th e d ay - th e sum m ary d im in u tio n o f tim e and d is tan ce - is

em p h atica lly ex p re ssed ’.2 T h e au th o r h ere is no doub t re fe rrin g to th e ra ilw a y ’s

ex trao rd in a ry an n ih ila tio n o f space by tim e, still a n o v e l fe a tu re o f so c ie ty in 1845.

H o w ev er, u n k n o w n to b o th a u th o r and pub lic at th is tim e , an ev en g re a te r sh rin k ag e

o f sp ace w a s ab o u t to startle th e w orld as th e e lec tric te leg rap h , a lread y in o p era tio n

s ince 1839 on th e P ad d in g to n and W est D ray ton R ailw ay , w as a b o u t to u n ite th e

con tinen ts . N o o th er p e rio d o f h is to ry has w itn essed such a rem ark ab le co n trac tio n in

th e size o f th e earth as in th e n in e teen th century . A t th e o p en in g o f th e cen tu ry

co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een th e U n ited K in g d o m and A m erica v ia th e sa ilin g v esse l to o k

a t leas t six w eeks; by th e c lo se o f th e cen tu ry th e te lep h o n e had red u ced th is tim e

sca le to seconds. T h is ch a p te r exam ines th e ro le o f th e te leg rap h in co n trib u tin g to th is

ex trao rd in ary ‘d im in u tio n o f tim e and d is tan ce ’.

A reas ex p lo red in th is ch ap te r inc lude th e d ram a tic im p ac t o f th e te leg rap h on th e

co n cep t o f tim e. T he re la tio n sh ip o f th e te leg rap h and th e ra ilw ay led to th e

s tan d ard isa tio n o f tim e, a d ev e lo p m en t th a t had hu g e socia l and cu ltu ra l

consequences. A n o th e r im p o rtan t asp ec t o f th e te leg rap h w a s th e in s titu tio n a lisa tio n

o f th e c le rk s as th ey had to com e to g rip s w ith a w h o le n ew lan g u ag e o f do ts, dashes

2 ‘The Post Office and steam’ in Irish Railway Gazette, 8 Dec. 1845.

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and codes. B y 1870 th e w h o le system had b een tak en o v e r by th e p o s t o ffice in th e

face o f accu sa tio n s o f h ig h ta riffs and in accu ra te and d e lay ed m essag es d irec ted

to w ard s th e p riv a te co m p an ies m ain ly by th e p re ss .3 L e g is la tio n th a t fa c ilita ted th is

tak eo v e r w ill a lso b e ex am in ed in th is chapter. W h ils t th e P o s t O ffice ta k e o v e r c rea ted

a hu g e g o v ern m en t m onopo ly , it a lso p ro v id ed a m ore ac cess ib le n e tw o rk fo r p u b lic

users. In Ire lan d th e te leg rap h system w as v astly im p ro v ed by th e P o s t O ffice. B y th e

early tw en tie th cen tu ry th e n e tw o rk w as a lready sp read in g b ey o n d th e m u n ic ip a l

b o u n d aries . T h is g radual ex ten s io n o f th e n e tw o rk in to th e suburbs o f b o th to w n s w ill

a lso b e ex am in ed in th is chap ter.

Early developments 1823 - 1857

O n 12 Ju n e 1837 W illiam F o th e rg ill C o o k e and P ro fe sso r C harles W h e a ts to n e

ob ta in ed th e f irs t p a ten t fo r an early fo rm o f e lec tric te le g ra p h w h ich o p e ra ted by

m ean s o f a n u m b er o f n eed les p o in tin g to le tte rs on a grid . C o o k e and W h ea ts to n e are

gen e ra lly reco g n ised as th e in v en to rs o f the f irs t e lec tric te leg rap h ; h o w ev er, lik e

m an y o th e r inven tions, th e te leg rap h w as no t th e p ro d u c t o f one, o r even tw o m inds,

b u t o f m any. W h ils t C o o k e and W h ea ts to n e are ack n o w led g ed as p u ttin g th e firs t

w o rk in g te leg rap h in to daily use, the idea w as f irs t p u b lish ed by F ran c is R o n a ld s a

n u m b er o f years ea rlie r.4 In a p am p h le t en titled Descriptions o f an electrical telegraph

and o f some other electrical apparatus (1823), R o n a ld s p ro p o sed a so m ew h at

cu m b erso m e fo rm o f te leg rap h w h ich w o rk ed by m ean s o f a cab le en c lo sed in sid e a

g lass tube. R o n a ld s ’ p ro p o sa l how ever, w as n o t p rac tica l en o u g h fo r d a ily u se and

w as su b seq u en tly fo rg o tten about. C o o k e and W h e a ts to n e o b ta in ed fo u r m o re p a ten ts

fo r e lec tric te leg rap h s in 1838, 1840, 1842 and 1845, each one an im p ro v em en t on its

p red ecesso r. N ev erth e less it w as n o t until 1852 th a t th e e lec tric te leg rap h fin a lly

su p ersed ed its m o re p rim itiv e p red ecesso r, th e sem ap h o re .5

3 See evidence o f F.D. Finlay, proprietor o f the Northern Whig newspaper in Belfast, 7 July 1868 in Report by Mr Scudamore on the reorganisation of the telegraph system of the United Kingdom [C 304], H.C. 1871, xxxvii (Scudamore report), pp. 269-70.4 Willoughby Smith, ‘A resume o f the earlier days o f electric telegraphy’ in Journal of the Society of Telegraphic Engineers and Electricians, x, 1881, p. 312.5 Smith, ‘A resume ... o f electrical telegraphy’, p. 312. The ‘semaphore’; ‘A system o f sending messages by holding the arms o f two flags or poles in certain positions according to an alphabetic code’, Concise Oxford Dictionary (1999).

1 7 4

H av in g been firs t ad ap ted so lely fo r u se as a s ignal d ev ice on ra ilw ay s, o w in g to th e

tech n ica l ad v an ces o f C o o k e and W h e a ts to n e ’s su ccessiv e p a ten ts a long w ith th e

im p o rtan t w o rk o f o th ers such as A lex an d er B a in 6 and S am uel M o rse 7, th e e lec tric

te leg rap h w as g rad u a lly b eco m in g th e m ain to p ic o f d iscu ss io n in sc ien tific c irc le s on

b o th sides o f th e A tlan tic . A n im p o rtan t re su lt o f th is in c reasin g in te re st in th e

te leg rap h w as th e fo rm a tio n in 1846 o f the E lec tr ic T e le g rap h C o m p an y , th e f irs t

co m p an y o f its k in d in E ng lan d . T his co m p an y w as fo rm ed fo r th e p u rp o se o f

ex p lo itin g th e com m erc ia l p o ten tia l o f th e te leg rap h , n o t ju s t fo r u se on ra ilw ay s, b u t

m o re as a m ean s o f genera l p u b lic u se .x In C h ap te r III it h as b een sh o w n h o w th e

g ro w in g p o p u la rity o f ra il tran sp o rt in th e 1840s in tro d u ce d th e need fo r s tan d a rd ised

tim e. T h is w as acco m p lish ed w ith g rea t accu racy b y th e fac ility o f th e e lec tric

te leg raph . A t th e R oyal O b serv a to ry in G reen w ich , tim e w as d isp lay ed by a d ev ice

w h ich cau sed a ba ll on a h ig h m ast to drop at one o ’c lo ck each day. F ro m th is s ignal

ch ro n o m e te rs9 could th e n b e ad ju sted bu t th e ad v an tag es o f th is system w e re lim ited

to th e locality . H o w e v e r in 1847 a rran g em en ts w ere m ad e b e tw e en th e o b se rv a to ry

and th e E lec tric T e le g rap h C o m p an y to have th is tim e signal tran sm itte d a lo n g

te leg rap h w ire s to th e ra ilw ay sta tions served b y th e com pany . T h ro u g h th e ra il and

te leg rap h n e tw o rk tim e w a s standard ised . A s th e b a ll and m ast w as a u se fu l and

sim p le d ev ice fo r d isp lay in g tim e to the pub lic , th ey b ec am e a co m m o n s ig h t in th e

1850s as G reen w ich tim e w as d is trib u ted th ro u g h o u t th e to w n s and c ities o f B r i ta in .10

F o r th e firs t th ree years o f its ex is ten ce th e E lec tr ic T e le g rap h C o m p an y en jo y ed a

m o n o p o ly o v er all te leg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n in th e U n ited K in g d o m u n til th e

fo rm a tio n in 1849 o f th e rival B ritish E lec tr ic T e leg rap h C o m p an y .11 O v e r th e n ex t

d ecad e n u m ero u s p riv a te com pan ies w ere fo rm ed , m an y o f w h ich did n o t su rv ive v ery

lo n g and th o se th a t did, ow ing th e ir ex is ten ce to th e a s tu te d ec is io n o f m an ag em en t to

6 Alexander Bain (1810-1877) obtained the first patent for facsim ile transmission in 1843, see ‘Events in telecommunications history’ on website o f the BT Archives (http://www.btplc.com/archives), 19 Feb. 2005.7 Samuel Finley Breeze Morse (1791-1872) sent his first telegraph message using his own ‘Morse code’ from Washington to Baltimore, a distance o f about forty miles in 1843, see ‘Events in telecommunications history’ (http://www.btplc.com/archives), 19 Feb. 2005.8 Smith, ‘A resume o f the earlier days o f electric telegraphy’, p. 314.9 A chronometer was an early device for telling the time.10 Thomas Wall, ‘Some notes towards a history o f telecommunications with particular reference to Ireland (unpublished paper deposited in the Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street, 2005) p.28.11 ‘Events in telecommunications history’ (http://www.btplc.com/archives).

1 7 5

am alg am ate w ith th e ir rivals. B y th e end o f th e 1850s th e re fo re , a fte r several

in co rp o ra tio n s , am alg am atio n s and closures, tw o m ain co m p an ie s em erged : T h e

E lec tric and In te rn a tio n a l T e leg rap h C om p an y fo rm ed in 1853 and T h e B ritish and

Irish M ag n e tic T e leg rap h C o m p an y fo rm ed in 1857. T h e 1850s w as an im p o rtan t

decad e in te leco m m u n ica tio n s h istory , no t only as it w itn e ssed th e e s tab lish m en t o f all

th e m ain p riv a te te leg rap h com pan ies, b u t also as it w a s du rin g th is d ecad e th a t

B rita in abandoned h e r po licy o f iso la tio n by ex p an d in g a co m p lex n e tw o rk o f

su b m arin e te leg rap h cab le s from its shores to its E u ro p ean n e ig h b o u rs and bey o n d . In

1851 th e firs t successfu l su b m arin e cable w as laid ac ro ss th e channel fro m D o v e r to

C alais. A lso in th is y ea r cab les w ere laid u n d er th e Irish S ea by th e E n g lish and Irish

M ag n e tic T e leg rap h C om pany . In 1852 L o n d o n w as co n n ec ted to P aris v ia

su b m arin e cable , and th e fo llo w in g y ea r con tac t w as m ade w ith B ru sse ls (F ig u re 5.1).

Source: Übersichts-Karte der Internationalen Telegraphen-Verbindungen. Entworfen und gezeichnet im Telegraphenbetriebs-Bureau des Reichs-Postamts. Berlin, 1886 German telegraph map of the world (BT Archives, London, Map catalogue, Box 8).

F ig u re 5.1 S u b m arin e and land b ased e lec tric te leg rap h n e tw o rk in E u ro p e , 1886

T he te leg rap h system in Ire lan d d eve loped at a m uch s lo w er pace th an in th e re s t o f

the U n ited K ingdom . In 1850, one year b e fo re th e firs t su b m arin e cab le w as laid

1 7 6

Country Mileage of cableU n ited K in g d o m (ex c lu d in g Ire land ) 2 215Ire lan d 5U n ited S ta tes 12 000F ran ce 620P ru ss ia 2 468

Source: Willoughby Smith, ‘A resume of the earlier days of electric telegraphy’, in Journal o f the society o f telegraphic engineers and electricians, x, 1881, pp 314-15

T ab le 5.1 M ileag e o f te leg rap h cab le in u se in th e U n ited K in g d o m , th e U n ited S ta tes and o th e r p arts o f E u ro p e , 1850

b e tw een D o v e r and C alais, B rita in p o ssessed 2 ,215 m iles o f in lan d cab le co m p ared to

Ire lan d ’s five m iles (T ab le 5 .1). In B rita in th e te leg rap h sy stem had g ro w n w ith th e

ra ilw ay s as it w as th e ra ilw ay co m p an ies and th e p riv a te te leg rap h co m p an ie s th a t

con tro lled th e te leg rap h system at th is tim e. D e v e lo p m e n t in Ire land h o w e v e r w as

slow er, as it w as n o t un til 1852, tha t th e E n g lish an d Irish M ag n e tic T e leg rap h

C om p an y b eg an to bu ild a D u b lin to G alw ay te leg rap h lin e a lo n g th e M id lan d G rea t

W este rn R a ilw ay line. T he D ublin to G alw ay ro u te w as ch o sen in an tic ip a tio n o f

G a lw ay b eco m in g an im p o rtan t tran sa tlan tic port. A lth o u g h th is d id n o t happen , th e

te leg rap h cab le still p ro v id ed an im p o rtan t co m m u n ica tio n link b e tw e en th e

M etro p o lis and th e w este rn tow n. A lso in 1852 th e sam e te leg rap h co m p an y la id n ew

w ire s a lo n g th e ro u te s o f th e G reat S ou thern and W e ste rn and th e D u b lin and

D ro g h e d a R ailw ays, th u s b ring ing C o rk and D ro g h ed a in to d irec t te leg rap h ic

co m m u n ica tio n w ith D u b lin also. B y 1855 th e D u b lin and S o u th -E aste rn R a ilw ay also

had th e M ag n e tic T e leg rap h C o m p an y ’s w ire s a lo n g its line and by th e end o f th e

1850s m u ch o f th e ra ilw ay s in th e co u n try n o w had te leg rap h co m m u n ica tio n a lo n g

th e ir en tire ro u te s .12 T h e ex ten sio n o f th e te leg rap h n e tw o rk fro m B rita in to Ire lan d

v ia su b m arin e cab les en ab led D u b lin and o th e r Irish to w n s to ad o p t G reen w ich tim e.

In 1865 a sm all can n o n w as p laced on th e ro o f o f th e B e lfa s t H a rb o u r

C o m m iss io n e rs ’ o ffic e w h ich w as fired by m ean s o f a s ignal tran sm itted v ia te leg rap h

fro m th e E d in b u rg h R o y a l O b serv a to ry a t one o ’clock. A lso in th e sam e y ea r th e

G eneral P o s t O ffice in D u b lin rece iv ed fo r th e firs t tim e a te n o ’c lo ck tim e signal

12 Thomas Wall, ‘Railways and telecommunications’, paper deposited in the library o f the Irish Railway Record Society, Heuston Station, 1999, pp 3-4.

1 7 7

from G reen w ich and th e fo llo w in g y ea r th e D u b lin P o r t and D o c k s B o a rd e rec ted a

b a ll and m ast d ev ice o n th e ro o f o f th e B a lla s t O ffice fo r th e u se o f sh ip p in g .13

The role of the telegraph clerkT he im p act o f th e e lec tric te leg rap h on so c ie ty in th e la te n in e teen th cen tu ry w as b o th

lo n g -las tin g and far-reach in g . A part fro m th e o b v io u s fac ilitie s it p ro v id ed fo r

in te rco m m u n ica tio n and rap id c ircu la tion o f in te llig e n ce fo r com m ercia l, p o litica l and

m ilita ry p u rp o ses, th e te leg rap h also p ro v id ed secu re em p lo y m en t and ca ree r-b u ild in g

o p p o rtu n itie s in a ‘cu ttin g e d g e ’ in d u stry fo r th o u san d s o f m en and w o m en in th e

U n ited K in g d o m b e tw een th e ages o f fo u rteen and sixty. S choo ls w e re set up all o v e r

th e co u n try to tra in th e ‘le a rn e rs ’ in the n ew w ay s o f te leg rap h y . O w in g to th e a ttem p t

o f th e P o st O ffice to b ring a d isjo in ted and b ad ly m an ag ed system u p to th e h ig h

standards o f th e p o sta l service, th e num b ers o f s ta f f and sch o o ls in c reased n o ticeab ly

a fte r 1870. T he en co u rag em en t o f fem ale s ta ff to re tu rn to w o rk a fte r m arriag e w as

o ne o f th e m o re fa r-s ig h ted po lic ies p rac ticed b y th e n ew ad m in is tra tio n in th e ea rly

years. B y 1876 how ever, th is p rac tice had stopped , a t least in th e C en tra l O ffice in

L ondon w h e re th e m ajo rity o f fem a le s ta ff w a s c o n c en tra te d .14 A lth o u g h a s tric t

reg im e w as en fo rced inside th e schoo ls o f in s tru c tio n an d th e te leg rap h o ffices, so c ia l

ac tiv ities such as c rick e t and foo tball m atch es b e tw e en riv a l ex ch an g es w as also

e n c o u rag e d .15 It th e re fo re seem s ap p ro p ria te to ex am in e th e re la tio n sh ip b e tw een

em p lo y er and em p lo y ee in o rd e r to g a in a d eep e r u n d e rs tan d in g o f th e soc ia l im p ac t

o f th e te leg rap h in th e la te n in e teen th and ea rly tw en tie th cen turies.

S om e schoo ls had ex isted p rio r to 1870 u n d e r th e m an ag em en t o f th e p riv a te

com pan ies; h o w ev er it w a s n o t un til a f te r th e sy stem w a s n a tio n a lised in 1870 th a t

im p ro v em en ts in co u rses and th e b u ild in g o f ad d itio n a l schools b ecam e a p rio rity . In

Ire lan d th e schoo ls w e re rep o rted to be in a ‘very f lo u rish in g c o n d itio n ’ in 1 8 7 1.16

T w o o f th ese sch o o ls ex isted in D ublin , one at th e Q u e e n ’s In s titu te w h ich had ex isted

p rio r to 1870 u n d er an ag reem en t b e tw een th e C o m m ittee o f th e In s titu te and th e

B ritish and Ir ish M ag n e tic te leg rap h C om pany , and one at th e C o lleg e G reen b ran ch

13 Ibid.14 See Evidence o f Henry Charles Fischer, Controller o f the Central Telegraph Office, London, 9 May1876, in Report from the Select Committee on the Post Office Telegraph Department (Report... Post Office Telegraph Department), H.C. 1876 (357), xiii, p. 95.15 See Telegraph Chronicle, 20 July 1894.16 Scudamore report, p. 57.

1 7 8

o f th e P o s t O ffice. T h e o th er tw o schools ex is ted in B e lfa s t and C ork . C an d id a te s fo r

ad m issio n to th e schoo ls w ere req u ired to be b e tw e en th e ages o f fo u rte en an d tw en ty

and to have p assed an ex am in a tio n in one o f h an d w ritin g , d ic ta tion , o r a r ith m e tic .17

N o pay w as g iv en d u rin g in stru c tio n b u t can d id a tes o n reach in g th e req u ired stan d ard

o f p ro fic ien cy w e re o ffered em p lo y m en t as v acan c ie s o ccu rred . A s m any o f th e p u p ils

w ere u n d er six teen years o f age, schoo ls w e re n ecessa rily ru n o n a re g im en ta l basis.

P u n c tu a lity w as n o t on ly enforced , b u t also tak en in to co n sid era tio n w h en d ec id in g

u p o n a c a n d id a te ’s fitn ess fo r em p lo y m en t in th e P o sta l T e le g rap h S e rv ic e .18 T alk ing

w as n o t to be p erm itted u n d er any c ircu m stan ces , th e reaso n b e in g thus:

There w ill be no necessity for this, as every learner w ill be provided, as far as possible, with an actual telegraph instrument joined up to some other instrument, and in the hands o f another learner, so that each may ‘speak’ to the other without the use o f voice.19

C lasses w ere d esig n ed to sim ula te as m u ch as w as p o ss ib le th e w o rk in g s o f an

o rd inary te leg rap h office, w ith real new s slips a lready p rin ted off, b e in g re w o u n d and

sen t ag a in fo r th e p u rp o se o f tran sc rip tio n by th e learners. O n acq u irin g th e ab ility to

read tw e lv e w o rd s and send tw en ty w o rd s p e r m in u te o n th e p rin tin g , th e sing le

n eed le and th e bell in stru m en ts , th e lea rn er w as d eem ed to be p ro fic ien t. O n ly tw o

m on ths w as g iv en to reach th is s tandard , i f a fte r tw o m o n th s th e ca n d id a te had fa iled

to b e p ro n o u n ced co m p eten t, it w as up to th e sec re ta ry to dec ide w h e th e r th e y sh o u ld* * * 20 be a llo w ed to con tin u e to rece ive instruction .

T h e new sy stem o f tra in in g w o rk ed w ell in th e early y ea rs p ro d u c in g m an y y o u n g

m en and w o m en fu lly tra in ed in th e n ew m eth o d s, and read y to en te r th e serv ice. In

D u b lin fo r ex am p le tw en ty tra in ed learners had b ee n p ro d u ced from th e d ep a rtm en ta l

schoo l a t C o llege G reen b e tw een Ju ly 1870 and Jan u ary 1871. O w in g to im p ro v ed

a rran g em en ts as to space, th e n u m b er o f lea rn ers at th e Q u e en ’s In s titu te in th e sam e

c ity had in c reased fro m tw en ty -fo u r to fo rty and it w as ex p ec ted th a t fro m th is

num ber, tw e lv e q u alified learn ers p e r m o n th w o u ld be read y to d ra ft in to th e service.

T h is In s titu te had also p ro d u ced th irty -fiv e tra in e d fem a le c lerks by 1871 .21 F ig u re s in

th e B e lfa s t school w e re also encourag ing , h av in g a lready p ro d u ced tw e lv e co m p eten t

17 Ibid.18 Ibid.19 Ibid.20 Ibid., pp. 57-5821 Ibid., p. 57.

1 7 9

learn ers by 1871, it w as ex p ected to in crease th e n u m b er o f p e rso n s u n d e r in s tru c tio n

fro m ten to tw en ty -fiv e o r th ir ty .22 T h e schoo ls w e re th e key to th e fu tu re su ccess o f

th e system , and w ith th is in m ind, p lans to fu r th e r im p ro v e th e co u rses w e re p u t in

place. A lth o u g h successfu l, th e schoo ls w ere n ev e rth e less tra in in g in th e a r t o f

‘m an ip u la tio n ’ only , m an ip u la tio n b e in g the te rm u sed to d esc ribe th e ab ility to m ake

th e signals to exp ress th e letters. In 1870 M r C ulley , E n g in e e r in C h ie f fo r

T eleg raphs, had p ro p o sed th a t a school be e stab lish ed fo r th e p u rp o se o f p ro v id in g

qualified m an ip u la to rs w ith such an acq u a in tan ce w ith e lec trica l sc ien ce ‘as w ill

enab le th em in o rd in ary em erg en cies to b e th em se lv es th e en g in ee rs fo r th e ir

re sp ec tiv e c ircu its o r s ta tio n s’.23 In add ition , M r C u lley also ex p ressed th e n eed fo r

m an ip u la to rs to b e fam ilia r w ith th e p rin c ip les o f co n stru c tio n , m an ag em en t, and

ad ju stm en t o f in stru m en ts. F em ale m an ip u la to rs w e re ex p ec ted to u n d e rs tan d

in stru m en t ad ju stm en t only. M r C u lle y ’s ideas w ere ad v o ca ted by M r F ran k Iv es

S cu d am o re in h is re p o rt o n th e re -o rg an iza tio n o f th e te leg rap h sy stem in 1871. In th is

rep o rt M r S cu d am o re stated:

Year by year as the Post Office widens and embraces an ever-increasing number o f small stations, and an ever-increasing apparatus at large stations, the demands on the time o f the engineering stall' w ill increase and it will be desirable on all grounds that whenever such an arrangement is practicable the commercial staff shall be made able to supplement, to some extent, the labours o f the engineering staff, so as to leave the latter staff more free to attend to stations at which no such convertibility o f staff can be effected.24

In h is p ro p o sa l, sec tions o f w h ich are in c lu d ed in th e S cu d am o re rep o rt, M r C u lley

singled o u t M r Sanger, th e D iv isio n al E n g in e e r fo r th e P o s t O ffice D e p a rtm en t in

Ireland , as se ttin g a g o o d exam ple in h is schoo l b y g iv in g o ccasio n a l lec tu res to the

m o re p ro m isin g p u p ils .25

A fte r th e tran s fe r fro m p riv a te to state contro l, th e P o st O ffice had in h erited n o t o n ly a

d isjo in ted , b u t also an u n d ers ta ffed service. L ittle tim e , h o w ev er, w a s w a ste d in

rem ed y in g th is defic iency . T h ro u g h th e schoo ls th e p ers is ten t tra in in g o f lea rn e rs

ensu red a s tead y flo w o f tra in ed c lerks read y to en te r th e serv ice. B y b o rro w in g clerks

from th e ra ilw ay co m p an ies, and by b rin g in g b a c k clerks w h o had le ft th e se rv ice o f

th e p riv a te co m p an ies p rio r to th e tak eo v er, to p u rsu e o th er o ccu p atio n s, n u m b ers

w e re fu rth e r increased . H o w ev er o f g rea t s ig n ifican ce to th e fu tu re d ev e lo p m en t o f th e

22 Ibid.23 Ibid., p. 59.24 Ibid.

1 8 0

te leg rap h serv ice u n d e r the p o s t office, w as th e p o licy o f b rin g in g b a c k m arried

fem a le c lerk s to th e service. T hese w o m en had b een p rev io u s ly em p lo y ed by th e

p riv a te te leg rap h co m p an ies, b u t had b ee n d ism issed on m arriag e , as w a s th e p rac tice

u n d er th e p riv a te com pan ies. T h is p o licy h ad trem e n d o u s s ig n ifican ce fo r th e fu tu re

ch a rac te r o f th e te leg rap h serv ice as th e fem a le c le rk b ecam e an in teg ra l p a r t o f the

overall system . P rio r to th e tak eo v e r in Jan u a ry 1870, 4 79 fem ale c le rk s h ad been

em p lo y ed by th e p riv a te com panies. B y 31 A u g u st 1870 th is fig u re had in c reased to

874, w ith an ad d itio n a l 661 fem ale assis tan ts em p lo y ed by th e P o stm aste rs ,

co m p ris in g a q u a rte r o f th e en tire s taff.26 A s T ab le 5 .2 o n th e fo llo w in g p ag e show s,

o f th e fo u r d is tric ts exam ined , b o th L o n d o n and Ire lan d sh o w th e m o s t n o ticeab le

in c rease in fem a le c le rks u n d er th e m an ag em en t o f th e P o s t O ffice , th e fo rm er

show ing an in c rease o f ju s t o v er one h u n d red p e r cent, th e la tter, ju s t u n d e r fifty . T h e

o th er tw o d istric ts, E n g lan d ex c lu d in g L o n d o n sh o w s an in crease o f a b o u t tw e lv e per

cen t in fem a le clerks, w h ils t S co tland show s no in c rease .27 T ab le 5.3 sh o w s a

co m p ariso n o f n u m b ers o f m ale and fem ale clerks em p lo y ed in 1870.

F ro m a to ta l o f 901 fem ale c lerks em p lo y ed in th e te leg rap h sec to r o f th e P o s t O ffice28in S ep tem b er 1870, 820 o f th ese w o m en w e re operato rs. In th e o p in io n o f M r

S cudam ore , w o m en w e re d eem ed to p o ssess ‘in an em in en t d eg ree th e q u ick n ess o f

eye and ear, and th e delicacy o f to u c h ’ w h ich w e re co n sid ered ‘essen tia l q u a lifica tio n s

o f a g o o d o p e ra to r’ . T hey w e re also sa id to ‘tak e m o re k in d ly th an m en o r b o y s to do

sed en ta ry em p lo y m en t’ p o ssessing m o re p a tien ts du ring lo n g co n fin e m en t in one

p lace .29 H o w ev er, th e m ost likely reaso n fo r th e h igh n u m b ers o f fem a le s ta f f w as th e

co n sid erab ly lo w er w ag es pa id to w o m en co m p ared to th o se p a id to m en fo r do ing th e

sam e w o rk . In th e cen tra l te leg rap h o ffic e in L o n d o n a fem a le c le rk in 1876 rece iv ed

fifty p o u n d p e r annum , w h ils t a m ale c le rk d o in g th e sam e w o rk rece iv ed e ig h ty

p ound p e r an n u m .30 B ecau se it w a s co n sid ered accep tab le fo r w o m en to earn lo w er

w ages, it w as th o u g h t th a t fem ale o p e ra to rs co u ld th u s be d raw n fro m a su p erio r class

and th e re fo re w rite b e tte r and spell b e tte r th an th e ir m ale co lleag u es. In s itua tions

w h ere s ta f f w a s m ixed , th e w o m en w ere ex p ec ted to ‘ra ise th e to n e o f th e w h o le

26 Ibid., p. 58.27 Ibid., p. 79.28 Ibid.29 Ibid.30 Evidence o f Hcniy Charles Fischer, Controller o f the Central Telegraph Office, London, 9 May 1876, in Report ... Post Office Telegraph Department, p. 94.

1 8 1

London Rest of England Ireland Scotland

□ Private Companies

363 43 59 14

I Post Office 752 48 87 14

Source: Scudamore Report, p. 58

T ab le 5.2 F em ale clerks befo re and a fte r th e Post O ffice ta k e o v e r in 1870

I■o

aö

4000350030002500200015001000500

0 L r iLondon

Rest of England

Ireland

i f

Scotland Total

□ Males 606 2062 315 395 3378

i Females 859 505 91 80 1535

Source: Scudamore Report, p. 58

T ab le 5.3 N u m b ers o f m ale and fem ale c le rk s and ass is tan ts em p lo y ed in the d istric ts, 1870

1 8 2

s ta f f . W o m en w ere also less m ilitan t th an m en, th e re fo re less d isp o sed to ‘co m b in e

fo r th e p u rp o se o f ex to rtin g h ig h e r w a g e s ’, and also m u ch less lik e ly to stay u n til

re tirem en t age, th u s ex tracting a re tirem en t a llo w an ce fro m th e P o s t O ffice. O n the

w ho le , w o m en w ere ch eap er em p lo y ees th an m en. W h ils t m o st o f M r S c u d a m o re ’s

th o u g h ts on fem a le clerks w e re co n cu rred w ith fiv e y ea rs la te r b y M r F ischer,

C o n tro lle r o f th e C en tral T e leg rap h O ffice in h is ev id en ce to th e S elect C o m m ittee on

th e P o st O ffice T e leg rap h D ep artm en t, th e ‘q u ick n ess o f eye and ea r and d e licacy o f

to u c h ’ re fe rred to by M r S cu d am o re w a s no lo n g er n ecessary , d u e to th e

m o d ern iza tio n o f instrum en ts. A lso in M r F isc h e r’s experience , p o o r h an d w ritin g w as

n o t on ly co n fin ed to th e m ale staff.

Ju s t like th e ra ilw ay s in th e U n ited K in g d o m w h ich s ta rted o u t as p riv a te ly -ru n

co m p an ies on ly to be even tua lly tak en o v er by th e state , th e ad m in is tra tio n o f th e

te leg rap h sy stem fo llo w ed a sim ilar pa th w ay . In fac t th e s ta te ta k e o v e r o f th e w h o le

system in 1870 is one o f th e key d ev e lo p m en ts in th e ea rly h is to ry o f

te leco m m u n ica tio n s in th e U n ited K ingdom . T eleg rap h leg is la tio n g ran tin g p o w e r to

th e P o stm aste r-G en era l to tak e contro l o f th e p riv a te te leg rap h co m p an ies w as la ter

u sed to set p reced en ts fo r co n tro llin g th e so o n -to -a rriv e te lep h o n e system . I t is

th e re fo re essen tia l w h en ex am in in g th e d ev e lo p m en t o f th e te leg rap h sy stem in th e

U n ited K in g d o m to ack n o w led g e th e s ig n ifican ce o f th e T e leg rap h A cts , 1863, 1868

and 1869.

P rio r to th e in tro d u c tio n o f th e 1863 T e leg rap h A ct, th e p riv a te te leg rap h co m p an ies

had o p e ra ted u n d er th e ir ow n p riv a te acts. T h ese p riv a te te leg rap h ac ts co n fe rred

‘sp ec ia l’ p o w e rs on th e te leg rap h co m p an ies p erm ittin g th em to ca rry o u t th e ir w o rk s

w ith o u t th e co n sen t o f th e local au thority . T h e T e leg rap h A ct, 1863 to o k th is specia l

p o w e r aw ay fro m th e p riv a te co m p an ies by co n so lid a tin g all p re v io u s te leg rap h

leg is la tio n in to one act.31 T he 1863 ac t au tho rised th e p riv a te co m p an ies to con tinue

to ex ecu te th e ir w orks, b u t sub ject to restric tions. S ections n in e and tw e lv e o f th e

leg is la tio n p ro h ib ited th e co m p an ies fro m p lac in g te leg rap h w ire s u n d e r o r along

s tree ts o r ro ad s w ith o u t th e co n sen t o f th e bo d ies h av ing co n tro l o v er su ch stree ts and

31 An act to regulate the exercise o f powers under special acts for the construction and maintenance of telegraphs, 26 & 27 Viet., c. 112.

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roads. In 1866 th e ‘T e leg rap h A c t A m en d m en t A c t3 ex ten d ed th e 1863 leg is la tio n to

Ireland .

T h ro u g h o u t th e 1860s th e re w ere con tin u o u s calls to n a tio n a lize th e te leg rap h system

due m ain ly to th e h ig h ta riffs and h u g e delays, b u t a lso d u e to th e ‘d e sp o tic ’ n a tu re o f

som e o f th e p riv a te com panies. O n 8 June 1868, F .D . F in lay , p ro p r ie to r o f th e

Northern Whig, w ro te an a rtic le in h is o w n n ew sp ap er in su p p o rt o f th e b ill to tran sfe r

th e te leg rap h system to th e P o s t O ffice, and co m p la in ed o f th e p o o r serv ice o f th e

M ag n e tic T e leg rap h C om pany , to w h ich h is n ew sp a p er w a s fo rced to d ep en d u p o n fo r

its in te llig en ce . O n 13 Ju n e F in lay rece iv ed a le tte r fro m C h arles V . B o y s, o f the

in te llig en ce d ep a rtm en t o f th e te leg rap h com pany , in w h ich it w as stated :

The time appears to have arrived when the directors should seriously consider whether the contract with your journal should be continued, and I have no doubt they w ill com e to a decision which may afford you an opportunity o f making your own news arrangements on less exorbitant terms.32

W h ils t it w as w id e ly ack n o w led g ed th a t th e system sh o u ld b e ta k e n o v er b y the

g o v ern m en t, th e q u estio n still rem a in ed as to th e m ean s b y w h ic h th is sh o u ld b e done.

In 1866 F ran k Iv es S cudam ore , ass is tan t secretary o f th e P o s t O ffice w a s in s tru c ted to

rep o rt u p o n th e feasib ility o f th e P o s t O ffice tak in g o v e r th e en tire sy s tem .33 In th is

rep o rt S cu d am o re recom m ended , in no u n ce rta in term s, th a t th e sy s tem be tran sfe rred

to th e P o s t O ffice. T he T e leg rap h A ct, 186834 au th o rised th e P o stm a ste r-G e n e ra l to

acq u ire fo r an agreed sum o f m oney , th e w h o le o r p art o f any te le g ra p h com pany . T he

act h o w ev er w as p erm issiv e , in o th e r w ords, th e co m p an ies w e re n o t lega lly b o u n d to

sell to th e P o st O ffice. M an y p riv a te co m p an ies th e re fo re o p ted to co m p e te w ith th e

P o s t O ffice. W h ils t it w as th e o b jec tiv e o f th e P o st O ffice to ex ten d th e n e tw o rk in to

sparse ly p o p u la ted d istric ts, th e re w as no th ing to p rev en t th e co m p e tin g p riv a te

co m p an ies fro m w o rk in g th e b u sy lines on ly , thus leav in g th e P o s t O ffice to deal w ith

th e lo sses o f th e less re m u n e ra tiv e lines. T h e v u ln erab le p o s itio n o f th e P o s t O ffice

w as rem ed ied b y th e p assin g o f th e T e leg rap h A ct, 186935 w h ich g ran ted to th e

P o stm aste r-G en era l ex c lu siv e p riv ileg e fo r tran sm ittin g te leg ram s w ith in th e U n ited

32 Evidence o f F.D. Finlay, proprietor o f the Northern Whig newspaper in Belfast, 7 July 1868 in Scudamore report, p. 270.33 Report to the Postmaster-General upon certain proposals which have been made for transferring to the Post Office the control and management of the electric telegraphs throughout the UK, July 1866, p. 47.34 31 & 32 Viet., c. 110.35 32 & 33 Viet., c. 73.

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K in g d o m and Ire land , th u s c rea tin g a g o v ern m en t m o n o p o ly in e lec trical

co m m u n ica tio n w h ich w o u ld h av e sig n ifican t rep ercu ssio n s w ith th e in tro d u c tio n o f

th e te lep h o n e in 1878.

Cross channel communications with Great Britain

A s s ta ted ea rlie r in th is chap ter, th e m ain d ev e lo p m en t in th e ea rly days o f th e

te leg rap h serv ice in th e U n ited K in g d o m w as th e tran s itio n fro m p riv a te co m p an y to

sta te contro l. D uring th e e ra o f th e p riv a te co m p an ies d o w n to 1870, th e te leg rap h

system in B rita in and Ire lan d had been n eg lec ted and th e re fo re lack ed co -o rd in a tio n ,

as th e co m p an ies ap p eared m o re in te re sted in in c reasin g ta riffs th an in ack n o w led g in g

th e n ecess ity o f co -o p era tio n am o n g th em selv es. S im ilar to th e w a y in w h ich

co m p etitio n b e tw een th e ra ilw ay co m p an ies in th e e a rlie r p a r t o f th e cen tu ry had

crea ted rep ea ted lines o f ra ilw ay serv in g little p u rp o se in co n fin ed d is tric ts o f th e

coun try , so th e lack o f a sing le co -o rd in a tin g b o d y in th e te leg rap h se rv ice re su lted in

an ill-p lan n ed system . E x am p le s o f th is p o o r p lan n in g a re ev id en t in F ig u re 5.2, p.

186, w h e re ce rta in lines served th e sing le p u rp o se o f co n n ec tin g tw o o r th ree to w n s

only. T ra ffic o n th ese lines w as th e re fo re m in im al w h ils t o th e r lines w e re co m p le te ly

o v erw o rk ed . W h a t th e P o s t O ffice d id ap a rt from ex ten d in g lin es and lay in g new

cab les, w a s to d ivert ex is tin g lin es to m ore c ircu ito u s ro u te s so as to in co rp o ra te a

w id e r ca tch m en t o f tow ns, th e re fo re m ax im isin g th e u se o f each in d iv id u a l w ire .

T he m o st p ressin g m a tte r w ith reg ard to th e te leg rap h system in Ire lan d w a s to

im p ro v e co m m u n ica tio n s w ith G rea t B ritain . T his w as v ery m u ch in th e g o v e rn m e n t’s

in te re st as th e average n u m b er o f m essag es (ex c lu d in g p re ss m essag es) tran sm itted

ac ro ss th e channel on a daily b asis had a lm o st trip led s in ce th e g o v ern m en t tak eo v er,

th e re fo re rep resen tin g a p o ten tia l g ro ss rev en u e o f £ 3 7 ,5 3 7 p e r annum . L ack o f p u b lic

in te re st th e re fo re , w as n o t a p roblem . In th e six w o rk in g d ay s en d in g 23 A pril 1870,

12,375 cross-channel m essag es w e re sen t to Ire land as fo llo w s; 5 ,944 to B elfast,

4,501 to D u b lin and 1,930 to C o rk .36 T he p ro b lem w as th e in ad eq u a te n u m b er o f su b ­

m arin e cab les av a ilab le fo r tak in g th is traffic . A ll tra ffic en te red th e co u n try th ro u g h

tw o rou tes, one th ro u g h B e lfas t in th e north , th e o th er th ro u g h W ex fo rd in th e so u th

(F ig u re 5.2). T his left D ublin , th e m ain c ity in Ire lan d (an d m o st su itab ly -lo ca ted fo r a

36 F.E. Baines and T.H. Sanger, Ireland, reports on circuit arrangements, 1870, pp 45-46, annotated printed manuscript (NAI, uncatalogued).

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Source: Original drawings from Report by Mr Scudamore on the re-organization of the telegraph system of the United Kingdom (1871), in Improved Telegraph System, MPT 1/3, The National Archives, London

[Old wire scheme]Shewing 17 circuits at present carried by circuituous routes, which it is proposed to divert by more direct routes

W'lbSton Srftfea V; jfW o r c tx t t r ' "5

/ m / oGtoucwter I C

.e -

Slreef, iopdon}

/ n v w n w

New wire schemeWires set free by the diversion of the 17 circuits (Black)The new wires to be erected to utilize the same (Red)The new wires to be erected to complete the scheme (Blue)

Figure 5 .2 Telegraph system o f the United Kingdom before and after the Post Office takeover, 1870

186

cro ss-ch an n e l cab le , b e in g s itu a ted on th e easte rn coast o f th e co u n try ab o u t h a lf w ay

b e tw een B e lfa s t and W ex fo rd ) w ith no d irec t link to B rita in . A s a re su lt all tra ffic

d estin ed fo r D u b lin had to fo llo w th e c ircu ito u s ro u te n o rth th ro u g h B e lfa s t, o r sou th

th ro u g h W exfo rd . W ith only one w o rk in g cab le in p lace a lo n g each ro u te ,37 w ires

w e re co m p le te ly o v erw o rk ed causing len g th y d e lay s .38

T he n o rth ern cab le co n ta in in g seven w ires, all o f w h ich w e re u sed fo r c ro ss-ch an n e l

traffic , lin k ed B e lfa s t to Port P a trick in Scotland . T h e so u th e rn cab le lin k in g

W e llin g to n B rid g e in W ex fo rd w ith C a rd iff in W ales co n ta in ed fo u r w ires , on ly tw o

o f w h ich w ere u sed fo r c ro ss-ch an n e l traffic . T he o th e r tw o w ire s w e re a llo ca ted

u n d er ag reem en t to th e A n g lo -A m erican and A tlan tic T e le g rap h C o m p an ies fo r

tran sa tlan tic co m m u n ica tio n w ith L o n d o n v ia th e so u th -w est coast o f Ire la n d .39 O n the

n o rth ern cab le w h ich to o k all tra ffic re lay ed ac ro ss th e channel b e tw een th e fo u r

to w n s o f L iv erp o o l, M an ch es te r, B e lfa s t and D ub lin , de lays o f fro m tw o to th ree

h o u rs on p u b lic te leg ram s w ere by no m eans unco m m o n . O n th e so u th e rn cab le

delays o f fro m one to tw o ho u rs cou ld be ex p e rien ced on m essag es sen t b e tw een

D u b lin and L o n d o n , w h ils t th o se sen t b e tw een C o rk and L o n d o n w e re som etim es

d e lay ed as lo n g as five h o u rs .40 A s ex ch an g es b e tw een D u b lin and L o n d o n co m p rised

m u ch o f th e tra ffic o n th e so u th ern line, C o rk appears to have su ffe red at th e expense

o f D ublin . D e lay s b etw een C o rk and th e tw o to w n s o f L iv e rp o o l and M a n c h e s te r w e re

so g rea t th a t n o tw ith stan d in g th e im p o rtan ce o f the C o rk m ark e ts o n m ercan tile

tran sac tio n s at L iv erp o o l and M an ch este r, th e C o rk m erch an ts had b y 1870, g iv en up

te leg rap h in g th e tw o E n g lish to w n s a ltogether. C o n sid e rin g th a t m e rc h an ts ’ o ffices in

L o n d o n c lo sed fo r b u sin ess at fiv e o ’c lo ck in th e ev en in g and te leg ram s to o k five

h o u rs trav e llin g fro m C ork to L o n d o n , th e te leg rap h cou ld on ly b e u se fu lly em p lo y ed

b efo re tw e lv e o ’c lo ck noon. It w as th e re fo re th o u g h t by F .E . B a in es , o n e o f the

d iv isio n a l en g in eers fo r th e P o s t O ffice in Ire land , th a t i f d e lay s co u ld be m in im ised

37 Three cables were actually in place along the northern route from Belfast to Port Patrick. However only one o f these, that owned by the Electric Telegraph Company was in proper working order. The other two, owned by the Magnetic Telegraph Company were o f little use, one being completely broken, the other in a very poor state o f repair. See Baines and Sanger, Ireland, ... circuit arrangements, p. 45.38 Baines and Sanger, Ireland, ... circuit arrangements, p. 45.39 Ibid.40 ru;,i

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to b e tw een fifteen to th ir ty m in u te s m ax im um , all c ro ss-ch an n e l b u s in ess w o u ld

a lm o st im m ed ia te ly be d o u b led (F ig u re 5 .2 ).41

F ro m a d a ily av erag e o f 750 c ro ss-ch an n e l m essag es sen t to D u b lin in th e w e ek

end ing 23 A pril 1870, th e g re a te r p ro p o rtio n w e re fro m L o n d o n , M a n c h e s te r and

L iv erp o o l, w ith a sm aller am o u n t from G lasg o w . In g o o d w e a th e r de lay s on th ese

m essag es cou ld b e k ep t b e lo w th e one h o u r period , h o w e v e r in bad w e a th e r th e y

cou ld escalate . I f th e lo n g c ircu it fro m L o n d o n to D u b lin v ia B e lfa s t w as w eak , th en

ex cessiv e delays co u ld be ex p e rien ced w ith co m m u n ica tio n s b e tw een th e tw o

m etropo lises. A s a lready show n, w ith an av e rag e o f ab o u t 1,000 m essag es p e r day,

B e lfa s t acco u n ted fo r a lm o st h a lf o f th e en tire m essag es p ass in g b e tw een B rita in and

Ire lan d .42 In M r S an g e r’s o p in io n there fo re , one o r p o ss ib ly tw o n ew ch an n el w ire s

w o u ld b e req u ired fo r C o rk m essages; th ree n ew w ires fo r D u b lin co m m u n ica tio n

b e tw een L o ndon , M an c h es te r and L iv erp o o l; and tw o o r th ree n ew w ire s fo r B e lfa s t

co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een M an c h es te r and L ondon . In o th e r w o rd s, to p u t Ir ish c ro ss­

ch an n el co m m u n ica tio n s on a sa tisfac to ry basis, one n ew cab le o f a t lea s t six w ire s

w a s u rg e n tly requ ired . T he lo ca tio n chosen on th e Ir ish side o f th e channel fo r th is

n ew cab le w as D ub lin ; th e cap ita l b e in g co n sid ered th e m o s t co n v en ien t p o in t from

w h ich to lead land lin es co n n ec ted to th e w ires o f th e n o rth e rn and so u th ern cab les,

and also b ecau se it w o u ld p ro v id e a th ird a lte rn a tiv e c ro ss-ch an n e l rou te . T h e D u b lin

cab le w o u ld be lin k ed to th e W e lsh to w n o f H o ly h ead , m a in ly b ecau se H o ly h e a d w as

th e c lo sest p o in t to D u b lin o n th e B ritish m ain land , b u t also b ecau se o f its c lo se

p ro x im ity to th e tw o im p o rtan t to w n s o f L iv erp o o l and M an ch es te r.43

In S an g e r’s rep o rt d a ted 27 M ay 1870 th e n u m b er and lay o u t o f th e w ire s co m p ris in g

th e n ew D u b lin to H o ly h ead cab le do no t co rresp o n d w ith th e d iag ram s in c lu d ed in

S cu d am o re ’s re p o rt on th e re -o rg an iza tio n o f th e te leg rap h system o f th e U n ited

K in g d o m , p u b lish ed in 1871. H o w e v e r as th e d iag ram s in S c u d a m o re ’s rep o rt (F ig u re

5 .2 ) a re m ere ly p lan s o f p ro sp ec tiv e w orks, no t y e t ca rried o u t in 1871, it is d ifficu lt

to k n o w w h ich is m o re accura te . S an g er p ro p o ses th a t th e n ew cab le from D u b lin to

H o ly h ead be a s ix -w ire cable. F ro m H olyhead , th e six w ire s w e re to co n tin u e to

41 Ibid42 Ibid., p. 47.43 Ibid., p. 48.

188

C hester, tw o tu rn in g o f f fo r L iverpoo l, one fo r M an c h es te r and th e rem a in in g th ree fo r

L ondon . O n the Ir ish side o f th e channel th ree o f th e six w ire s w e re to te rm in a te at

D ublin , o n e to tu rn o f f fo r B elfast, and th e rem a in in g tw o fo r C o rk .44 H o w e v e r in

S cu d am o re ’s p lans a fo u r-w ire ra th e r th an a s ix -w ire cab le is d ep ic ted b e tw e en D u b lin

and H o lyhead . F ro m H o ly h ead , on ly one o f th e se w ire s w a s to co n tin u e as fa r a

C h este r b e fo re tu rn in g o f f fo r L o ndon , tw o w ere to te rm in a te in L iv erp o o l, and th e

rem a in in g one to te rm in a te in M an ch ester. O n th e Ir ish side o f th e ch an n e l all fo u r

w ires w e re to te rm in a te in D u b lin .45 A lth o u g h th e S cu d am o re re p o rt w as p u b lish ed in

1871, one year a fte r th e d a te a ttached to S an g er’s repo rt, m u ch o f th e fin d in g s in th e

1871 rep o rt w ere based on ea rlie r reports, and a lm o st all th o se re la tin g to Ire lan d

w o u ld hav e b een b ased to a la rg e d eg ree o n th e w o rk M r S anger, th e D iv is io n a l

E n g in ee r fo r th e P o s t O ffice in Ireland . H o w ev er, as S an g e r’s re p o rt co n ta in s a

n u m b er o f an n o ta tio n s re fe rrin g to specific w o rk s as b e in g ‘d o n e ’ o r ‘p o s tp o n e d ’, it is

a w o rk in p ro g ress, and th e re fo re n o t all w o rk s re fe rred to w e re n ecessa rily ca rried

th ro u g h .46 W h a t is ce rta in h o w ev er, is th a t a n ew cab le w a s laid b e tw een D u b lin and

H o ly h ead p ro v id in g a th ird and a lte rn a tiv e ro u te b e tw een Ire lan d and B rita in , and th e

ex is ten ce o f th is n ew cab le en ab led p rev io u sly ex is tin g w ire s to be freed up fo r h ig h

p rio rity w orks.

In th e S cudam ore rep o rt T h o m as S anger s ta ted th a t ‘p rio r to th e tran sfe r tak in g p lace

th e re w as n o th in g d one in Ire lan d excep t th e am a lg am a tio n o f th e o ffices at p laces

w h ere th e M ag n e tic and th e E lec tr ic T eleg rap h C o m p an ies co m p e te d ’ .47 T h is w a s to

ch an g e d ram atica lly on ce th e P o st O ffice to o k control. U n d e r th e sp ec if ica tio n s o f th e

n ew system 2 ,8 8 4 m iles o f n ew w ires w ere to b e e rec ted a lo n g sid e th e ra ilw ay s in

Ire lan d and 2 ,234 m iles o f n ew w ire s a lo n g sid e th e roads. B y early sp ring 1871, 2 ,2 7 6

m iles o f w ires (a lm o st h a lf th e sp ec ified num ber) h ad a lread y b een erec ted , w ith the

rem a in d er ex p ec ted to b e co m p le ted by th e end o f th e y ea r.48 T h e p u rp o se o f th is re ­

44 Ibid.45 Original manuscript drawings from the Scudamore report, in Improved Telegraph System (TNA, Kew, MPT 1/3).46 Baines and Sanger’s report, although printed by HMSO in 1871 appears to be a rare document. Contained amongst the large collection o f recently-deposited Eircom files in NAI, as yet uncatalogued (see Report o f the Director o f the National Archives for 2001, part 6.3), this bound report does not appear to be amongst the collection o f British Parliamentary Papers. It is therefore a valuable document o f the decision-making process involved in improving the telegraph system in Ireland.47 Scudamore report, p. 26.48 Ibid.

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o rg an iza tio n o f th e system in Ire lan d w as to ex tend th e n e tw o rk b ey o n d th e ra ilw ay s

in th e fo rm o f loops, fro m th e ra ilw ay sta tion to th e lo ca l p o s t office. A ll o f th is w o rk

co m p rised la rg e -sca le re co n stru c tio n w o rk in th e c ities o f B e lfast, D ublin , C o rk and

L im erick . In B e lfa s t th e ‘h eavy jo b ’ o f re co n stru c tin g and ra is in g th e s tree t w ire s w as

ca rried o u t w h ilst in D u b lin p lan s w ere ap p ro v ed fo r re p lac in g th e ex is tin g o v erh ead

sy stem o f w ire s w ith an u n d erg ro u n d system . In C o rk th e ex is tin g u n d erg ro u n d

system w a s to b e ex ten d ed , w h ils t a n ew system o f s tree t w ire s w as to b e e rec ted in

L im erick .49 In reg ard to co m m u n ica tio n w ith B rita in , th e co n n ec tio n to S co tlan d w as

im p ro v ed w ith th e lay in g o f a new fo u r-w ire cab le b e tw e e n D o n a g h ad ee and P o r t

P atrick . A n ew fo u r-w ire cab le w as also laid b e tw e en V a len tia and th e so u th o f

E n g lan d to im p ro v e co m m u n ica tio n b e tw e en L o n d o n and N o r th A m eric a v ia

V alen tia . W ith th e ex p ec ted co m p le tio n o f a n ew w ire b e tw e en H o ly h ea d an d H o w th

by Jan u a ry 1872, it w as ca lcu la ted th a t n in e teen n ew w ires w o u ld b e read y to tran sm it

co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een G rea t B rita in and Ire lan d by 1 8 7 2 .50 W ith th e b u lk o f tra ffic

com in g from L o n d o n to D u b lin v ia B e lfa s t (F ig u re 5 .2), it w a s crucia l th a t an

e ffec tiv e system be in o p e ra tio n in Ire la n d ’s tw o p rem ie r cities.

Local changes in Dublin and Belfast

D u b lin had te n ex is tin g te leg rap h o ffices in th e c ity b e fo re th e p o s t o ffice b eg an

im p ro v in g th e system in 1870. W h a t Sanger, B a in es an d M r A n d erso n o f th e D u b lin

P o s t O ffice sough t to do w as to ex tend th e system in th e c ity by ad d in g n ew w ire s and

fo u rteen n ew te leg rap h o ffices to th e ex isting n e tw o rk as show n in F ig u res 5.3 and

5.4. T h is it w as th o u g h t cou ld b e ach iev ed a t ‘b u t a tr if lin g c o s t’ and ca rried in to

w o rk in g o rd e r w ith in six o r seven w eeks o f p lans b e in g ap p ro v ed .51 T h e te n ex is tin g

o ffices w e re C o lleg e G reen , E d en Q uay, F o u r C o u rts , G rand C anal H arb o u r,

R a th m in es, S h elb o u rn e H otel, th e G rea t S ou thern and W e ste rn R a ilw ay ’s g o o d s

s ta tio n at N o rth W all, and th e th ree m ain ra ilw ay te rm in a ls at B ro ad sto n e , A m ien s

S tree t and K in g sb rid g e . In s tru m en ts at a lm ost all th e se o ffices w e re d esc rib ed as

‘b a d ’, req u irin g renew al.

49 Ibid.50 Ibid.51 Baines and Sanger, Ireland, ... circuit arrangements, p. 3.

1 9 0

Existing Telegraph Offices.

Proposed new offices at existing Money Order O ffices.....................

/

í í D orset S tjo o t W f / ■

Jo h n R i r i o n s Ò uay

-VJ.v .ÍTrCi ;

■'Ëte'Qôuifnrf Ho!d. #.•

Source: P ost O ffice Totogiäsplu Ireland Reports by Thom as HS a n a c i and F,E Baines on C ire d t Airan-‘jcrrn?ifi l is Dublin,, 1970

0 Metres 800Base map: OS six inch. Dublin, sheet 10 1876

D raw pjby Frani', C ullen

F ig u re 5.3 P ro p o sed n ew te leg rap h o ffices fo r D ublin , p o s t 1870

Fairvie i

Dorset St

iroadstoni

Capel S/I Four Courts" coIlEGe-Sj

Grand Canal Harbour

Sandymount•

Ballsbridge

DUBLINPlan of Circuits

Cattle Market

Amiens St

Kingsbridge RS

James St

Camden St

North WallSir John Rogerson's Quay

-• Nassau St Sliolbotimo Hotel

* Faggot S

Existing Wires...........................Proposed Additions.......

0 Metres 1600Drawn by Frank Cullen

Ranelagh

* Rathmines

Source: Post Office Telegraphs Ireland. Reports by Thomas H. Sanger and F.E. Baines on Circuit Arrangements, Dublin, 1870

Figure 5.4 Proposed improvements to the telegraph network in Dublin, post 1870

R eg ard in g th e ab o v e o ffices, in C o lleg e G reen th ere w a s a sec tio n o f fem a le s ta f f

lo ca ted o n th e g ro u n d f lo o r w h o w o rk ed th e old in s tru m en ts on th e B ro ad s to n e ,

K in g sb rid g e and A m ien s S tree t ra ilw ay c ircu its w h ich ex ten d ed to th is, th e head

office. T h ese w o m en w e re to be g iven re sp o n sib ility fo r w o rk in g th e D u b lin lo ca l

sy stem as w ell as local lin es ru n n in g o u t o f D ub lin . T o do th is th ey w e re m o v ed up

from th e g ro u n d flo o r in to a room lo ca ted n ex t to th e m ain in s tru m en t room . I f

necessary , th e ir h o u rs o f a tten d an ce w e re to be ch an g ed fro m a n in e -h o u r w o rk in g day

fro m 9 .00 a.m ., to 6 p .m ., to a tw e lv e -h o u r w o rk in g day fro m 8 .00 a .m ., to 8 .00 p .m .,

as w as th e case in L o n d o n .52 It w as p ro p o sed to rem o v e th e E d en Q u ay o ff ic e fro m its

p re sen t s ite to th e ad jo in in g C u sto m H o u se in o rd e r to red u ce expenses. T h e F o u r

C o u rts o ffice w as also to b e rem o v ed as it w as n o t ac tu a lly lo ca ted in th e F o u r C o u rts

b u t in a p o o rly -h ea ted ro o m in th e n e ig h b o u rin g ‘rece iv in g h o u se ’ fro m w h e re ‘gas

had to be b u rn t all d a y ’. A cco m m o d a tio n w a s n o to rio u s ly b ad in th e se seco n d ary

o ffices th ro u g h o u t th e city , the G rand C anal H a rb o u r o ffice b e in g d esc rib ed as in a

‘w re tch ed s ta te ’, th e ce ilin g ‘tu m b lin g dow n b y th e sq u are fo o t’. A lth o u g h th is w as

n o t a p ro fitab le o ffice th e P o s t O ffice w as b o u n d by an ag reem en t to k eep a clerk

there , and it w a s th e re fo re p ro p o sed th a t steps sh o u ld b e tak en to re v ise th e

agreem ent. In th e S helb o u rn e H o te l o ffice th e h o te l co m p an y p ro v id ed th e c le rk and it

w as sta ted th a t a ‘fa ir b u s in ess is d o n e ’. T h e R a th m in es o ffice w h ich ‘p ro m ise s to b e a

b u sy o ff ic e ’ w as d escrib ed as o p era tin g u n d e r ‘e x c ep tio n a l’ c ircu m stan ces. T he

c ircu m stan ces b e in g th a t th e te leg rap h c lerk w as ‘v irtu a lly p o s tm is tre ss ’, th e re fo re

o n ly g iv in g ‘d iv id ed a tten tio n to th e in s tru m en t’ and as a re su lt ‘te leg rap h ic b u sin ess

so m etim es su ffe rs’ . A lth o u g h th is ‘en e rg etic c re a tu re ’ did h e r ‘very b e s t’, th is o ffice

still req u ired ‘lo o k in g in to ’.53

T he fo u rteen n ew te leg rap h o ffices to b e ad d ed to th e ex is tin g te n w e re to b e lo ca ted

a t th e G enera l P o s t O ffice in S ackv ille S treet, B ag o t S treet, B a llsb rid g e , C apel S treet,

th e C attle M ark et, C lontarf, C am d en S treet, D o rse t S treet, F airv iew , Jam es S treet,

N assau S treet, R an elag h , S andym oun t and S ir Jo h n R o g e rso n ’s Q uay (F ig u res 5.3 and

5 .4 ).54 A ll b u t five w e re fo r co llec tio n only , B a llsb rid g e , C lon tarf, D o rse t S treet,

F a irv iew and S an d y m o u n t to p rov ide a d e liv e ry serv ice also. T he G en era l P o s t O ffice

52 Ibid., p. 453 Ibid., p. 5.54 Ibid., p. 4.

1 9 2

in S ackv ille S tree t w as said to b e in an ex ce llen t p o s itio n fo r te leg rap h ic b u sin ess ,

b e in g situ a ted n early h a lf a m ile fro m C o lleg e G reen and on th e o p p o s ite side o f th e

L iffey . T h is o ffice w h ich w as fo r co llec tio n p u rp o se s on ly and n o t d e liv ery w o u ld

p ro v id e ‘w ritin g sp ac es’ fo r the public , w h ere m essag es co u ld be w ritte n d o w n b efo re

b e in g fo rw ard ed by m ean s o f a p rin tin g c ircu it to C o lleg e G reen . F ro m C o lleg e G reen

th ey w ou ld th en b e de liv e red to th e ir u ltim a te d estina tion . T h e ca ttle m a rk e t o n th e

N o rth C ircu lar R o ad w as th o u g h t to be an im p o rtan t lo ca tio n fo r an o ff ic e to be

opened du rin g m ark e t hours. C o m m u n ica tio n w as to b e m ade w ith th e M ark e ts

C om m ittee o f th e C o rp o ra tio n to ascerta in w h a t fac ilities th ey w o u ld be p re p a re d to

offer in reg a rd to a n ew te leg rap h o ffic e .55 T h e o th e r o ffices w e re s tra teg ica lly lo ca te d

fo r p ro fitab le b u s in ess w ith in th e c ity and su b u rb s (F ig u res 5.3 and 5 .4). A lth o u g h th e

o ffice at S ir John R o g e rso n ’s Q u ay lo ca ted in th e cen tre o f th e sh ip p in g in te re sts w as

ex p ected to do w ell, it w a s in fa c t p ostponed , as w a s th e w e ll-p o s itio n ed Jam es S tree t

o ffic e .56

In B e lfa s t on ly fiv e te leg rap h o ffices ex is ted in th e to w n b e fo re 1870. T o th e se fiv e

ex isting o ffices it w as p ro p o sed to add seven n ew offices. T he fiv e ex is tin g o ffices

w e re s itu a ted at Q u e e n ’s S quare (th e H ead Post O ffice), D o n eg a ll S treet, D onegall

Square, and th e ra ilw ay stations at G rea t V ic to ria S tree t (U lste r R a ilw ay ) and Y o rk

R o ad (B elfast and N o rth e rn C oun ties R a ilw ay ) (F ig u res 5.5 and 5.6). E x c lu d in g the

ra ilw ay stations, th e th ree reg u la r o ffices w e re s itu a ted in th e cen tre o f th e to w n w ith

n o t m ore th an a h a lf m ile d is tan ce b e tw een all th re e .57 N e w o ffices and n ew w ires

w e re th e re fo re n ecessa ry in B elfast, n o t on ly as th e ex is tin g n e tw o rk w a s co n fin ed to

an area co m p ris in g a h a lf m ile square in th e cen tre o f th e tow n , b u t also as th e system

o f p riv a te w ire s in B e lfa s t w as ‘in secu re ly h ung , b ad ly in su la ted , and c lu m sily

a rran g ed ’ req u irin g an im m ed ia te and th o ro u g h o v erh au lin g o f th e sy s tem .58

T he seven n ew o ffices p ro p o sed fo r B e lfas t w e re Y o rk S tree t re ce iv in g office,

Shankill, B rad b u ry P lace , M o u n t P o ttin g er, C liftonv ille , F a lls R o ad and th e C o u rt

H ouse. Som e o ffices w e re to be u sed fo r co llec tio n and delivery p u rp o ses w h ils t

55 Ibid., p. 3.56 See annotations in margins o f Baines and Sanger, Ireland, ... circuit arrangements, pp 3-457 Baines and Sanger, Ireland, ... circuit arrangements, p. 27.58 Ibid., p. 29.

1 9 3

SMÓlfoad •

CóSrtHoiu>- ' ■ ) '

'XiR _Great Vicloria SI

Existing Telegraph Offices •Proposed Telegraph Offices •

Source Post Office Telegraphs Ireland Rnportr. by T fw rv it t H San$«r F.E Baines on CireuiiArraflgOfnont»- Dublin 1Q7Q fNA). urccotolopucdj

Base map OS six-inch Antrim, sheet 61,1901 and Down, sheet 4,19020 Metres 800 Drawn by Frank Cullen

F ig u re 5.5 P ro p o sed n ew te leg rap h o ffices fo r B e lfast, p o s t 1870

Shankill

Mount PolliDonegalI Squai

Ulster Railway Station

Bradbury Place <Existing lines... Proposed lines.

[Source: P09l Office Telegraphs Ireland Reports by Thomas H Sanger and F.E Baines on Circuit Arrangements. Dublin. 1B70 (NA1, uncalalogued)Drawn by Frank Cullen

BELFASTPlan ofCirouits

Metres 800

DonegalI Street

• I HEAD POST OFFICE IQueen’s Square)

NorthernCliftonville Counties Railway

F ig u re 5 .6 P ro p o sed im p ro v em en ts to th e te leg rap h n e tw o rk in B e lfas t, p o s t 1870

1 9 4

o thers w ere fo r co llec tion pu rp o ses only. T he lo ca tio n o f th e tw e lv e o ffices a fte r

im p ro v em en ts is sh o w n in F ig u res 5.5 and 5.6. T he Y o rk S treet re ce iv in g o ffic e w as

to b e lo ca ted ab o u t h a lf w ay b e tw een th e H e ad O ffice and th e Y o rk R o ad R a ilw ay

T erm inus. T his o ffice w as also to be m ad e a m o n ey o rd e r office. A lth o u g h th e

S hankill d is tric t w as described by B a in es and S an g er as a ‘so m ew h a t p o o r d is tr ic t’,

th e lo ca tio n fo r th e new office in th is p a rt o f th e to w n w as a ‘m o st c en tra l position ,

b e in g n ea r th e ju n c tio n o f fo u r im p o rtan t streets, and v ery n ea r a lso a n u m b er o f m ills

and o th e r m an u fac tu rin g es tab lish m en ts’. T h is an d th e F a lls R o ad o ffice w e re th e o n ly

te leg rap h o ffices in th e w este rn p art o f th e to w n .59 L ik e th e S h an k ill th e F a lls R o ad

w as also a ‘m a n u fa c tu rin g ’ and ‘p o p u lo u s d is tr ic t’ w h ich w o u ld b en e fit f ro m the

es tab lish m en t o f a new te leg rap h office. A n o ffice had b ee n p rev io u s ly lo ca te d on th e

F alls R o ad b u t as B a in es m en tio n s in h is report, th is o ffice had n o t b ee n su ccessfu l

‘be in g b ad ly p laced and n o t w ell co n d u c ted ; m o reo v er, th e g re a te r p a r t o f th e

n e ig h b o u rh o o d w h ich is n o w covered w ith la rg e m ills and m an u fa c to rie s w as

u n in h ab ited ’. In th e n ew lo ca tio n it w as fe lt th e re w o u ld b e ‘ev ery p ro sp e c t o f a fa ir

te leg rap h b u s in e s s ’.60 O nly o n e o ffice w as to b e situ a ted o n th e C o u n ty D o w n side o f

th e L agan . T h is w as th e o ffice a t M o u n t P o ttin g er, a d is tric t w ith a ‘v e ry g o o d second-

ra te n e ig h b o u rh o o d w h ich has la te ly sp rung u p ’. S itu a ted c lose to th e industria l

B a lly m a ca rre tt d istric t, th e es tab lish m en t o f an o ffice at th is p o in t w o u ld b e a ‘v ery

g rea t co n v en ien ce to th e lo ca lity ’.61

W hen d iscu ss in g te leg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n in th e n in e teen th cen tu ry it is im p o rtan t

to rem em b er th a t th e system in th ese ea rly y ea rs w as still q u ite p rim itiv e . T e leg ram

m essag es on ly trav e lled as fa r as th e n ea res t office. F ro m th e re m essen g e rs w e re

em p lo y ed to co m p le te th e final leg o f th e jo u rn ey on fo o t. T he p rin c ip a l re aso n fo r

open in g th e o ffic e at B rad b u ry P lace w a s to enab le th e ‘fa ir n u m b e r o f te le g ra m s ’

de liv ered by m essen g e r from th e H ead O ffice at Q u een ’s S q u are to W in d so r, to be

firs t sen t b y te leg rap h to B rad b u ry P la ce and th en on to W in d so r.62 T h is w a s also th e

m ain re aso n fo r o p en in g th e n ew office in th e g ro w in g suburb o f C lifto n v ille , n o rth o f

th e to w n (F ig u res 5.5 and 5.6). M essen g ers w h o w ere req u ired to d e liv er te leg ram s to

th is d is tan t p a rt o f th e to w n w ere absen t fro m h ead q u arte rs fo r a ‘v e ry lo n g t im e ’. A s

59 Ibid., p. 27.60 Ibid., p. 28.61 Ibid.62 Ibid., p. 27.

1 9 5

it w as y o u n g b o y s w h o d elivered th ese m essag es it cou ld be v ery tire so m e as B a in es

com m ented : ‘T h ey re tu rn to duty fagged , and in sh o rt th e d e liv ery o f te le g ra m s in th is

n e ig h b o u rh o o d , especia lly fo r y o u th fu l legs, is an ex h au stiv e p ro c e s s ’.63

P rov id ing th e n ew lines o f co m m u n ica tio n and n ew o ffices p ro v ed su ccessfu l, th ree

add itional o ffices w e re p lanned at th e C ru m lin R o ad , C arlis le C ircu s and th e C attle

M arket. A ll o ffices w ere to be fitted w ith n eed le in s tru m en ts p ro v id in g a u n ifo rm ity

w h ich w o u ld aid in th e tra in in g o f te leg rap h clerks. S im ilar a llo w an ces w e re to be

m ad e to rece iv ers u n d ertak in g te leg rap h b u sin ess in B e lfa s t as th a t au th o rised to th o se

in D u b lin . A lso sim ila r to D ub lin , th e p ro p o sed sy stem in B e lfa s t w a s to be

inexpensive . In ca rry in g o u t th e w o rk s all ex is tin g w ires h ad to be rep a ired an d ra ised

to a ce rta in h e ig h t above th e fire escapes. T o save on tim e and ex p en ses, all n ew w ire s

w e re s im u ltan eo u sly e rec ted du ring th is p ro cess . I t w as estim ated th a t th e en tire

system in c lu d in g in strum en t, w ire s and th e fittin g up o f o ffices w o u ld n o t co s t m o re

th an th e tr iflin g sum o f £225. C o n sid e rin g p a rliam en t h ad e s tim a ted th e co s ts o f

im p ro v in g th e B e lfa s t system at £500, a sav ing o f up to £275 w a s possib le . T he

p ro p o sa ls w e re th e re fo re su b m itted o n 31 Ju ly 1870 and q u ick ly ap p ro v ed o n 2

A u g u st 1870.64

A s m en tio n ed above, p rio r to th e P o s t O ffice tak eo v e r in 1870 all te leg rap h ic

co m m u n ica tio n w ith Ire land cam e th ro u g h B e lfas t ap a rt fro m a s in g le w ire at

W e llin g to n B rid g e , W ex fo rd (F ig u re 5 .2). A w ire had ex is ted b e tw e en K in g sto w n and

H o ly h ead som e tim e p rio r to 1868 b u t w as d ec lared in th a t y ea r as h av in g ‘been

b ro k en fo r a long t im e ’.65 B ecau se B e lfa s t w as situated fu rth e r fro m th e m etro p o lis

th an D ub lin , it re lied m ore h eav ily on te leg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n in o rd e r to k eep its

n ew sp ap ers and p u b lic up to d a te o n th e la te s t deve lopm en ts. W h ils t D u b lin rece iv ed

th e L o n d o n d a ily n ew sp ap ers th e sam e ev en in g th ey w e re pu b lish ed , th ey did n o t

arrive in B e lfa s t un til th e fo llo w in g m o rn in g .66 T he cen tra l te leg rap h o ffice in B e lfas t

th e re fo re , w as fo r m any years, one o f th e b u s ie s t o ffices in th e co u n try and m o re

63 Ibid., p. 28.64 Ibid., p. 29.65 See evidence o f F.D. Finlay, proprietor o f the Northern Whig, given on 7 July 1868 in Special report from the Select Committee on the Electric Telegraph Bills, HC 1868-9 (348), vi.66 Ibid.

1 9 6

600

500

| 400

l 300

| 200

100

0Liv Man Bir B<t Lds Brs New Car Edn Gla Dub Belf Crk

Table 5.4 Number o f staff employed in U.K. Telegraph Offices in 1876

30000

25000

| 20000

'S 15000to5 10000

5000

0Liv Man Bir Ext Lds Brs New Car Edn Gla [Xib Belf Crk

Table 5.5 Cost o f staff em ployed in U.K. Telegraph Offices in 1876

4500000

4000000

3500000

|j 3000000

I 2500000

8 2000000 cn1500000

1000000

500000

0Liv Man Bir Ext Lds Brs New Car Edn Gla Dub Belf Crk

n n n

Table 5.6 Total number o f messages handled in U.K. Telegraph Offices in 1876

Liv Liverpool Lds ! x'eds Edn Edinburgh Crk CorkMan Manchester Brs Bristol Gla G lasgowMir Birmingham N ew N ewcastle Dub DublinExt Exeter Car Carlisle B elf Belfast

Source for Tables 5.4, 5.5 and 5.6: Appendix No. 2, Return showing cost per message exclusive of news at U.K. Telegraph Offices between 1 Apr. 1875 and 31 Mar. 1876, in Report from the Select Committee on the Post Office Telegraph Department, H.C. 1876 (357), xiii.

197

p ro d u c tiv e th a n th e cen tra l o ffice in D ublin , ca rry in g o u t a s im ilar w o rk lo a d a t far less

co st (T ab les 5 .4, 5.5 and 5.6).

Performance

In D u b lin h o w ev er th e system w a s less p ro d u c tiv e th an in B e lfa s t, a t least in th e early

y ea rs o f the P o s t O ffice tak eo v er. In th e o p in io n o f M r S an g er th e p ro p o sed

u n d erg ro u n d sy stem p lan n ed fo r D u b lin w o u ld ren d er th e co m m u n ica tio n in th a t c ity

‘q u ite sec u re ’, a d esc rip tio n w h ich in h is op in ion cou ld n o t b e ap p lied ‘at p re s e n t’.67

T his w o rk req u irin g a large am o u n t o f lab o u r M r S an g er estim ated , w o u ld co s t th e

d ep a rtm en t several th o u san d p o u n d s and in v o lv ed the lay in g o f p n eu m atic tu b e s68

from the G en era l P o s t O ffice in S ackv ille S tree t to th e C o lleg e G re en O ffice , th e

o ffice at th e F o u r C o u rts and th e C u sto m H o u se O ffice . W h ils t th is co n trib u ted

su b stan tia lly to w ard s im prov ing tech n ica l m atte rs in D u b lin , th e te leg rap h sy stem in

th is c ity also su ffe red fro m s ta ff and o th e r re la ted p rob lem s. B e tw een 1 A pril 1875

and 31 M arch 1876 th e te leg rap h o ffices in B e lfas t and D u b lin h an d led a s im ila r

n u m b er o f m essages. In B e lfa s t th e to ta l w as 1 ,632 ,407 m essages, w h ils t in D u b lin a

s ligh tly h ig h e r to ta l o f 1 ,702 ,027 m essag es w e re dea lt w ith . W h a t is s ig n ifican t ab o u t

th ese fig u res h o w ev er is th a t in B e lfas t th is w as acco m p lish ed b y 153 c le rks and

learn ers co stin g £7 ,755 in w ag es co m p ared to D u b lin ’s 394 s ta f f co stin g £ 1 9 ,4 1 6 in

w ages. T h is m ean t th a t th e av e rag e co s t o f each m essag e in D ub lin w as a lm o st tw o

and a h a lf tim es th a t in B e lfa s t69 (T ab les 5.4, 5.5 and 5 .6). D u b lin h o w e v e r d id n o t

o n ly co m p are u n fav o u rab ly w ith B elfas t. In each o f th e c ities o f G lasg o w , E d in b u rg h ,

L eed s and B irm in g h am , h ig h e r n u m b ers o f m essag es w e re h an d led th a n in D u b lin at

fa r less cost. In h is ev id en ce to th e S e lec t C o m m ittee o n th e P o s t O ffice T e leg rap h

D e p artm en t in 1876, th e F in an c ia l S ecre ta ry o f th e P o s t O ffice, M r S tev en so n A.

B lack w o o d , w h e n asked to exp lain h o w it co st D u b lin £ 1 4 ,0 0 0 m o re th an

B irm in g h am to send a sim ilar n u m b er o f m essages, s ta ted th a t D u b lin had a large

su rp lus o f ‘re d u n d a n t’ fem a le s ta ff w h ich had been w ith d raw n fro m aro u n d th e

co u n try in th e years fo llo w in g th e tak eo v er. H e also ex p la in ed th e h ig h co sts in

D u b lin as b e in g a ttrib u tab le to th e fo rce b e in g sp read o v e r fifteen o ffices a ro u n d th e

67 Scudamore report, p. 26.fis The pneumatic tube system worked by means o f messages being inserted into a metal cylinder which was m oved along an underground pipe to different parts o f the town. The system was worked by means o f compressed air.69 Report... Post Office Telegraph Department, Appendix No. 2. Return showing costs o f message, exclusive o f news, at UK offices between 1 Apr. 1875 and 31 Mar. 1876,

1 9 8

city w h ich necessa rily m ad e it m o re ex p en siv e .70 T his w a s a co n sid e rab le fa c to r as

B irm in g h am in co m p ariso n h ad on ly fo u r o ffices in th e city.

8910 11 12 13

D ra w n b y F ra n k C u lle n . 2 0 0 5

Source: List of data in 'Report from the Select Committee on the Post Office Telegraph Department', 13 July 1876, Appendix No. 2

G P O HQ, Sackvllle Street College Green Four Courts Cattle Market Corn Exchange Customs House Grand Canal Company

Shelborne Hotel Amien Street Railway Station Broadstone Railway Station Harcourt Street Railway Station Kingsbridge Railway Station Westland Row Railway Station

10.000 plus messages ^

3.000 - 5,000 messages

500 - 1,000 messages #

Less than 500 messages •

F ig u re 5 .7 D u b lin T e leg rap h O ffices, 1876

T he d is trib u tio n o f th e te leg rap h o ffices in th e cen tre o f D u b lin is m ost im p o rtan t. In a

re tu rn sh o w in g th e n u m b er o f m essag es dealt w ith in th e v ario u s o ffices in th e U n ited

K in g d o m in 1872 and 1875, o f e ig h t c ities lis ted in c lu d in g D u b lin , B irm in g h am ,

L eeds, L iv erp o o l, M anchester, N ew castle -o n -T y n e , E d in b u rg h and G lasg o w ; D u b lin

70 Report... Post Office Telegraph Department, evidence o f Mr Stevenson A. Blackwood, 13 June 1876, p. 236.

1 9 9

w ith f ifteen o ffices co u ld c la im to hav e th e h ig h es t num ber. N e x t to D u b lin w as

L iv e rp o o l w ith tw elve , M a n c h es te r w ith e ig h t and G la sg o w w ith sev en o ff ic es .71

F ig u re 5 .7 show s th e lo ca tio n o f th e D u b lin o ffices in 1876. O n e ex p lan a tio n fo r the

un u su a lly h ig h n u m b er o f te leg rap h o ffices in D u b lin w a s th e u n u su a lly h ig h n u m b er

o f ra ilw ay sta tio n s in th e city .72 Six o f th e fifteen o ffices w e re lo ca ted at ra ilw ay

stations, five a t th e m ain sta tio n s at A m ien s S treet, B ro ad sto n e , K in g sb rid g e , H a rc o u rt

S tree t and W estlan d R o w , and one at th e G rea t S ou thern and W e ste rn R a ilw a y ’s

N o rth W all S tation. In co m p ariso n n o n e o f th e o th er B ritish c ities lis te d in th e re tu rn

a re sh o w n to have o ffices at ra ilw ay stations. T o p u t th e D u b lin fig u re in p e rsp ec tiv e

how ever, from a to ta l o f 16,368 m essag es d ea lt w ith by th e f ifteen o ffices in one w eek

in 1872, 14,744 o f th e se m essag es w e re dealt w ith b y th e tw o m ain o ffic es in

S ack v ille S tree t and C o lleg e G reen , m ean in g o n ly 1,624 m essag es w e re d ea lt w ith by

th e th ir te en rem a in in g offices. A fte r S ackv ille S tree t and C o lleg e G reen , n ex t in te rm s

o f p e rfo rm an ce in D u b lin w a s th e F o u r C o u rts O ffice, th e N o rth W all R a ilw ay S ta tio n

and th e C u sto m H o u se . F o r details o f th e p erfo rm an ce o f each o f th e D u b lin o ffices

see F ig u re 5.7.

M an y local ch an g es w ere m ad e b y the P o s t O ffice in its re -o rg an iz a tio n o f the

te leg rap h sy stem in D u b lin in th e 1870s. Such ch an g es h o w ev er, w e re n o t only

co n fin ed to th e c ity as the n e tw o rk sp read b ey o n d th e m u n ic ip a l b o u n d arie s in to the

su b u rb s o f th e w id e r county . U n d e r th e P o s t O ff ice ’s p red ecesso r, th e B ritish and Irish

M ag n e tic T eleg rap h C om pany, th e line o f co m m u n ica tio n fro m D u b lin as fa r as

D u n d a lk fo r exam ple , co n sis ted o f fo u r sep ara te w ires ru n n in g a lo n g th e ra ilw a y w ith

no co m m u n ica tio n b ey o n d th e line o f rail (F ig u re 5.8). T h ese fo u r w ire s w e re

co n n ec ted to fo u r sep ara te bell in stru m en ts in D ublin . T h re e o f th e fo u r w ires ran

th ro u g h D ro g h ed a and D u n d a lk w ith no con n ectio n s at e ither to w n w h ils t th e fo u rth

w ire co n n ec ted w ith th ree sing le need le in stru m en ts each at D ro g h e d a R ailw ay

S ta tion , D u n d a lk R a ilw ay S ta tio n and D u n d a lk P o s t O ffice. W h a t th e P o s t O ffice did

w as to add tw o new w ires o n ex is tin g p o les along th e ra ilw ay , one as fa r as D ro g h ed a

th e o th e r as fa r as D u n d a lk , and b o th connecting to w ires b e lo n g in g to th e E le c tr ic and

In te rn a tio n a l T e leg rap h C om pany . F ro m each o f th ese n ew w ires co n n ec tin g lo o p s

71 Report... Post Office Telegraph Department, Appendix No. 8, Return showing the number of messages dealt with in a week in each of the years 1872 and 1875 at each of the under mentioned offices, p. 261.72 For a full analysis of the dislocation of Dublin’s railway termini see Chapter HI.

200

uSource: Improved Telegraph System (TNA, Kew. MPT 1/3

F ig u re 5.8 P ro p o sed ch an g es to th e te leg rap h sy s tem b e tw een D u b lin and D u n d a lk u n d e r P o s t O ffice m an ag em en t, 1870

w e re e rec ted along th e ro ad s to co m m u n ica te w ith to w n s s itu a ted c lo se to th e lin e o f

rail. T h ese lo o p s a re m ark ed in g reen lines in F ig u re 5.8. T e leg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n

th e re fo re w as ex tended b ey o n d th e ra ilw ay and in to th e to w n s o f F a irv iew , C lo n ta rf,

D ru m co n d ra , G lasnev in , S w ords, M alah ide , S kerries and B a lb rig g an in N o r th C o u n ty

D u b lin fo r th e f irs t tim e. N e w in stru m en ts w e re also p laced in each o f th ese to w n s

w ith n ew te leg rap h p o les an d w ire s e rec ted along th e stree ts. T his w a s a co n sid erab le

im p ro v em en t and as F ig u re 5 .8 show s, an ex ten siv e sy s tem o f w ires rad ia ted fro m th e

201

Magherarmlandmagee

Ballycarryi

Whitehead

arrickfergus

tGreenisland hite Abbey

lonaghadeeClandeboye

HolywoodCliftonville

Ligoniel* \Millisle

Strandtown Newtownards

Ballynafeighr Balmoral

DunmurrayComber Ballywalter

Lisburn• Kircubbin

I PortavogieKillincny

Garristown

athoath «AshbourneDunshaughlin

SwordsBatterstowi lahide

p PortmarnockClonee Blanchardstown

CoolockClonsl

Maynooth RahenyCastleknock

DUBLILucan chapelizod

CelbridgeBallsbri

— Sandycove Dalkey

• Brittas Kilternan •

Trunk lines of telegraph Trunk lines of telephone Other lines of telegraph

Redrawn by Frank Cullen 2005

Source: General Post Office Telegraph and Telephone Map of Ireland, 1906 BT Archives. London, Box 8. Maps

Dunboyne

Sandymount Merrlon vfl»'. B<W stown Kingstown

Clondalkin

Rathfarnham m L T allaght # Dundrum • gk

RathcooleSandyford

saiiyDracKCabinteely

Shankill

To Knock BayScotland

WhitehouseCavehillf

Jennymount.

Edenderry* ■ BELFAS

\ c l - n

Figure 5.9 Telegraph and telephone networks in the greater Dublin and Belfast regions, 1906

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cap ita l in all d irec tio n s w ith P o s t O ffice ad d itio n s b rin g in g m ark ed im p ro v em en t to

each line.

B y th e tu rn o f th e cen tu ry m an y o f th e sm all to w n s in co u n ty D u b lin , p a rticu la rly

th o se in p ro x im ity to ra ilw ay lin es had b een b ro u g h t o n to th e ex ten d in g n e tw o rk . F o u r

m ain tru n k lines fo llo w ed th e ro u tes o f th e fo u r m ain ra ilw ay s, th e G rea t N o rth e rn , th e

M id lan d G rea t W este rn , th e G rea t S ou thern and W este rn , and th e D u b lin an d S ou th -

E aste rn , w h ils t a m in o r line w as erec ted along th e D u b lin and K in g s to w n R a ilw a y to

lin k u p coasta l a reas to th e south. U n d e r th is system all co asta l to w n s in D u b lin fro m

B alb rig g an to Shankill en jo y ed th e b en efits o f th e n ew co m m u n ica tio n n e tw o rk . A s

th is in c lu d ed e lev en co ast g u ard sta tions it w as o f u tm o s t im p o rtan ce th a t th e system

be ex ten d ed a lo n g th e co ast.73 A s th e to w n s along and c lo se to th e ra ilw ay s co m p rised

th e m ost den se ly p o p u la ted d is tric ts in th e co u n ty o f D u b lin , a la rg e p ro p o rtio n o f th e

p o p u la tio n o f th e co u n ty had access to te leg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n b y 1900. T he

erec tio n o f a seco n d ary line fro m c lose to D u n d ru m an d ru n n in g w e stw a rd s th ro u g h

th e to w n s o f R ath farn h am , T em p leo g u e , T allagh t, S aggart, R a th co o le an d B ritta s

en su red ev en d is trib u tio n ac ro ss th e sou th ern p a r t o f th e coun ty . M u ch o f th e n o rth ­

w este rn p art o f th e co u n ty how ever, w ith th e ex cep tio n o f th e tw o to w n s o f

G a rris to w n and N au l, rem a in ed w ith o u t te leg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n w e ll in to th e

tw en tie th cen tu ry (F ig u re 5.9).

Conclusion

Flav ing a lready ex am in ed th e ra ilw ay system and th e w ay it w a s h an d led in

n in e teen th -cen tu ry Ire land , th is ex am in a tio n o f th e te leg rap h system serv es to fu rth e r

em p h asise th e im p o rtan ce p laced b y cen tra l g o v e rn m en t o n co m m u n ica tio n . T he

c ircu la tio n and sharing o f u p -to -d a te m ilitary and p o litica l in te llig en ce w as o f

p a ram o u n t im p o rtan ce to a co lon ial p o w er lik e B rita in , and it w as th e re fo re

co n sid ered v ita l th a t such a p o w erfu l to o l o f co m m u n ica tio n b e m an ag ed b y th e

g o v ern m en t. T h e g o v e rn m e n t’s p ro p o sa l to tak e o v er th e sy stem in 1870 rece iv ed

p o p u la r b ack in g fro m m an y quarte rs , one o f th e s tau n ch es t su p p o rte rs b e in g th e

n a tio n al p ress, fo rced , as in th e case o f th e Northern Whig, to depend o n th e ‘d e sp o tic ’

n a tu re o f th e p riv a te co m p an ies fo r its in te lligence . T h e o b v io u s g o v ern m e n t

73 General Post Office Telephone and Telegraph Map o f Ireland, 1906 (BT Archives, London, B ox 8 Maps).

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d ep artm en t to u n d e rta k e th e m an ag em en t o f th e en tire sy s tem w as th e P o s t O ffice and

fro m 1870 w h e n th e tran sfe r to o k p lace , im p ro v em en ts b e g a n ap ace in Ire la n d an d th e

U n ited K ingdom . W ith th e rap id ad d itio n o f n ew ro u te s and o ffices in th e tw o to w n s

o f D u b lin and B e lfa s t, th e te leg rap h w as m ad e m o re access ib le to w id e r sec tio n s o f

th e pub lic . S tan d ard ra te s fo r m essag es h e lp ed to sp read th e n e tw o rk m o re ev en ly

th ro u g h o u t th e coun try . A s te leg rap h w ire s fo llo w ed ra ilw a y lines, a ll th e s ig n ifican t

to w n s in th e g re a te r D u b lin and B e lfa s t reg io n s w e re co n n e c ted to th e n e tw o rk by

1906.

204

Chapter VI

The telephone, 1878-1912

Few of the recent applications of science have attracted so much popular curiosity, and few, perhaps, have been the subject of such extravagant and erroneous statements, as the telephone. It has been said that the sound of a speaker’s voice has been recognized after travelling through 500 miles of wire, that an orchestra can play to a dozen audiences a hundred miles apart, and so on. These arc indeed only American reports and perhaps it would be uncharitable to say that that accounts for their character. Yet the invention is indeed a most startling one - too remarkable, indeed, to be discredited by any amount of exaggeration.1

B y th e 1880s a co m b in a tio n o f sc ien tific k n o w led g e and en g in ee rin g ex p e rtise had

fin a lly su cceed ed in co n q u erin g th e na tu ra l b a rrie rs o f tim e and space. D is ta n c e had

b een tam ed by th e ten ac ity o f th e h u m an m in d in its re len tless p u rsu it o f p ro g ress . A s

th is stu d y has show n th u s far, th e lo n g -h e ld desire am o n g st g o v e rn m e n ts and

in d iv id u a ls to im p ro v e th e m eans o f co m m u n ica tio n at th e ir d isp o sa l had b e g u n apace

in th e n in e teen th cen tury . T he ad v en t o f steam had fac ilita ted im p ro v em en ts in

p hysical co m m u n ica tio n v ia m aritim e and lan d -b ased trav e l, th an k s in no sm all

m easu re to th e p ro fess io n o f civil eng ineering . W ith in a v e ry sh o rt sp ace o f tim e

how ever, th e o n ce th o u g h t o f rem ark ab le fac ilitie s o f ra il trav e l w e re m ad e to ap p ear

v ery o rd in ary b y th e in v en tio n o f th e e lec tric te leg rap h . T h ro u g h a series o f coded

signals trav e llin g a lo n g e lec tro -m ag n e tic cu rren ts , th e te leg rap h h era ld ed a n ew fo rm

o f ‘v ir tu a l’ co m m u n ica tio n w h ere co n tac t o v er th e g rea tes t o f d is tan ces co u ld be

red u ced to m inu tes. T he q u est h o w ev er w as no t y e t over, in fa c t it still g o es o n .2 T h is

ch ap te r ex p lo res th e n ex t b reak th ro u g h in th e p u rsu it o f rap id co m m u n ica tio n , th e

in v en tio n and w id esp read ado p tio n o f th e te lep h o n e a fte r 1878. T h ro u g h th is new

m edium , th e p o ss ib ility o f in stan tan eo u s v erbal co m m u n ica tio n o v er th e g re a te s t o f

d istances b ro u g h t th e q u est to a new level.

T he recep tio n o f th e te lep h o n e w h en it en tered so c ie ty a t th e end o f th e 1870s w as

v aried (A p p en d ix IX ). V iew ed firstly as a m ere toy , th e te lep h o n e w a s u se d m ain ly

fo r tran sm ittin g m u sic to gathered aud iences, h o w ev er it d id n o t tak e lo n g b e fo re th e

1 ‘The telephone’ in The Times, 14 July 1877, p. 6.2 Examples of this quest to facilitate rapid communication between individuals in contemporary society are the e-mail and texting facilities on computers and mobile phones.

2 0 5

o bv ious b en e fits o f th is n ew co m m u n ica tio n d ev ice w e re b e in g ad ap ted to

com m erc ia l, lega l and ad m in is tra tiv e business. W h ils t th e f irs t te lep h o n e lin es w ere

sing le w ire s co n n ec tin g tw o separate ‘in s tru m en ts ’, th ese w e re g ra d u a lly ad d ed to

th u s d ev e lo p in g a sm all iso la ted system in each to w n w h ich b y th e end o f th e 1890s

had g ro w n to a m o re co m p lex in te rco n n ec ted n e tw o rk b rin g in g to w n s an d c itie s in to

co m m u n ica tio n w ith one ano ther. A s te lep h o n e lin es cou ld n o t b e estab lish ed w ith o u t

in te rfe rin g w ith th e p u b lic s tree ts and b u ild in g s, th e m un icipal au th o rity b ec am e m o re

in v o lv ed in th is a rea o f in fra stru c tu re th an in th e p rev io u s a reas ex p lo red in th is study.

A n im p o rtan t o b jec tiv e o f th is ch a p te r is to reco g n ize th e re la tio n sh ip b e tw e en the

te leg rap h and th e te lep h o n e , and in d o in g so, d em o n stra te th e p ro cess o f ev o lu tio n

from first g en e ra tio n to second g en e ra tio n o f te leco m m u n ica tio n ap p a ra tu s . A t first

g lan ce th e te lep h o n e and th e steam lo co m o tiv e w o u ld ap p e a r to hav e v e ry little in

com m on, h o w e v er a c lo ser lo o k rev eals som e in te re stin g co m p ariso n s. B o th

in v en tio n s w e re d esig n ed to o b lite ra te d is tan ce by red u c in g th e tim e it to o k to

co m m u n ica te fro m one p lace to ano ther, b o th in v en tio n s w ere eq u a lly a s to n ish in g fo r

th e ir re sp ec tiv e periods, p articu la rly fo r the d ram atic w ay in w h ic h th ey w e re

u n leash ed on a w h o lly u n su sp ec tin g p ub lic , and as a re su lt b o th in v en tio n s stim u la ted

m an y n ew ideas and co n cep ts ab o u t tim e and space, spark in g a lively p u b lic response .

A ttitu d es o f th e p u b lic there fo re , to w ard s th e n ew ‘te lep h o n ic in s tru m e n ts ’ w ill b e

explored . Som e saw th em as ‘an u n q u a lified n u isan ce and ru d e co m p an io n ’,3 w h ils t

o th ers exalted in th e ir capab ilities. B y th e 1890s th e d ev ice w as b eg in n in g to p ro v e a

g rea t success as th e num b ers o f in stru m en ts and subscribers in c reased in th e to w n s

and c ities o f th e U n ited K ingdom . T h is h o w ev er p o sed a new p ro b lem fo r th e

g o v ern m en t. B y w h ich m eans shou ld th e n ew system be m an ag ed th ro u g h o u t th e

co u n try and by w h o m ? C an d id a tes ran g ed from th e State, by m ean s o f th e P o s tm a ste r-

G eneral, to th e local m u n ic ip a l body , to th e p riv a te com pany. T h is d ilem m a ra ised

im p o rtan t q u estio n s such as th e rig h ts o f local au th o ritie s o v e r th e ir h ig h w ay s and

streets, w h ich w ill a lso b e ad d ressed in th is chap ter. T he m o st im p o rtan t a sp ec t o f the

te lep h o n e h o w e v er from th e v iew p o in t o f th is p a rticu la r s tudy w as th e w a y in w h ic h it

tig h ten ed up th e c ity o v er a fo rty -y ear period , g rad u a lly b rin g in g th e re m o te s t p arts

in to th e n ew n e tw o rk o f ex p an d in g co m m u n ica tio n links. T h is h ig h ly im p o rtan t aspect

3 John Purser Griffith, ‘Presidential address to the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland’ inTransactions of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland {Trans. Inst. Engs. Ire.), xix, 1889, p. 49.

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o f th e te lep h o n e im p act w ill b e exam ined in deta il in th e tw o c ities in question :

B e lfa s t and D ublin .

Early years of the telephone, 1876-1882

O ne o f th e ea rlie s t m en tions o f th e te rm ‘te le p h o n e ’ ap p ears in an 1845 ed itio n o f The

Times b u t re fe rs to an in stru m en t designed to g ive a so und signal to s team ers and

o th er v esse ls in b ad w eather. T his sound co u ld be h eard fo r a d is tan ce o f th ree m iles.

T he artic le s ta tes th a t th e in stru m en t w as a m o d ifica tio n o f an in v en tio n p a ten te d tw o

years p rev io u s ly by C h arles H o o d w h ich w as in ten d ed to e ffec t co m m u n ica tio n

b e tw een g u ard s and eng in em en on ra ilw ay s .4 T he te lep h o n e as a m ean s o f

tran sm ittin g th e h u m an v o ice fro m one lo ca tio n to an o th e r w a s f irs t co n ce iv ed b y

P h ilip R eu ss in 1861 w h en he d isco v ered th a t th ro u g h th e u se o f e lec trica l and

m ag n etic c ircu its the v ib ra tions o f a tu n in g -fo rk cou ld p ro d u c e ex ac tly th e sam e

v ib ra tio n s in an o th e r tu n in g -fo rk no m atte r h o w lo n g th e c ircu it and h o w d is tan t th e

fo rk s .5 H o w ev er, w h en th e q u estio n o f th e in v en tio n o f th e te lep h o n e arises, c red it is

u su a lly g iv en to A lex an d er G rah am B ell, as it w as he w h o firs t p a ten te d a d ev ice fo r

tran sm ittin g th e sound o f th e h u m an v o ice o v e r d istance. B e ll’s p a te n t w as filed o n 3

M arch 1876 and issu ed fo u r days later. E v en ts in A m erica how ever, w e re g en e ra tin g a

ce rta in d eg ree o f in te re st in B rita in and in 1877 S ir Jo h n T illy , sec re ta ry o f th e

G eneral P o s t O ffice, asked th e c h ie f e lec trica l eng ineer, W illiam P re e c e to g a th er

w h a tev e r in fo rm atio n he cou ld reg a rd in g th e te lep h o n e d u rin g h is fo r th co m in g v is it to

th e U n ited S ta tes .6 O n h is re tu rn to B ritain , M r P reece b ro u g h t w ith h im a p a ir o f the

new te lep h o n es and q u ick ly set ab o u t d em o n stra tin g th e ir re m a rk ab le p o w e rs to

exc ited au d ien ces th ro u g h o u t th e country .

O ne o f P re e c e ’s f irs t d em o n stra tio n s w as at a m eeting o f th e B ritish A sso c ia tio n fo r

th e A d v an cem en t o f Science, he ld in P ly m o u th in 1877. A t th is m ee tin g P ree ce w as

th e speaker, w h ils t in th e cha ir w a s P ro fe sso r A llen T hom son , P re s id en t o f th e B ritish

A sso cia tio n . H av in g sp o k en firstly ab o u t te leg rap h y and co n d u c te d a n u m b er o f

exp erim en ts, P reece th en tu rn ed his a tten tio n to th e n ew er in v en tio n o f th e te lep h o n e .

In o rd e r to d em o n stra te its cap ab ilitie s P ree ce firs tly o p en ed te lep h o n ic

4 ‘The Telephone’ in The Times, 13 Aug. 1846, p. 6.5 ‘The telephone’ in The Times, 14 July 1877, p. 6.6 Raymond Joseph Feuerstein, ‘The early history o f the telephone in England 1877-1911’ (D.Phil., thesis, University o f Sussex, 1990), pp 73-4.

2 0 7

co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een th e p la tfo rm w h e re he stood, and th e o p p o site end o f the

room . H e n ex t co m m u n ica ted b e tw een th e p la tfo rm and th e P ly m o u th p o s t o ffice , and

fin a lly b e tw een th e p la tfo rm and th e p o s t o ffice a t E x ete r. A d e ta iled acco u n t o f the

co n v ersa tio n is g iven:

Communication with Exeter was afterwards established, and the operator at that distant city promptly and distinctly responded to the questions addressed to him. He described the state of the weather, declared he heard the applause o f the audience, sang a line o f a song, and when Professor Allen Thomson shouted ‘Hey diddle diddle. Follow that up’. The response was immediately given, ‘The cat and the fiddle’.7

W h ils t it w o u ld b e an ex ag g era tio n at th e tim e to state th a t an o rc h es tra b y m ean s o f

te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n cou ld p lay to a ‘d o zen au d ien ces a h u n d re d m ile s ap a rt’,

th e re can n ev e rth e less be no do u b tin g th e ex trao rd in ary cap ab ilitie s o f th is

rev o lu tio n a ry inven tion . Indeed as P ree ce co n c lu d ed in h is lec tu re: ‘he sh o u ld n o t be

su rprised i f h e w a s in fo rm ed one day no t fa r d is tan t th a t S ir W illiam T h o m so n 8 had

ta lk ed w ith P ro fe sso r G raham B ell ac ro ss th e A tlan tic O c e a n ’.9 P re e c e ’s in itia l

ex c item en t at th is ea rly s tage ap p ears to h av e co o led o v er th e n ex t tw o y ea rs as he

w as to tes tify to a specia l co m m ittee o f th e H o u se o f C o m m o n s in 1879 th a t A m erican

d esc rip tio n s o f th e te lep h o n e w e re ex ag g era ted , and d u e to th e ‘su p e rab u n d an ce o f

m essen g ers , e rrand b oys and th in g s o f th a t k in d ’ in B rita in , its n ecess ity w as n o t as

g rea t in th a t co u n try as in A m eric a .10

In Ire lan d in th e w ak e o f B e ll’s inven tion , lea rn ed g ro u p s h ad also b e g a n d iscu ssin g

ex c ited ly th e p o ten tia l u ses and cap ab ilitie s o f th e te lep h o n e , D ublin an d B e lfa s t being

th e m ain cen tres o f d iscussion :

Further, when it is considered that the construction o f the instrument is o f so sim ple a nature, that those possessing slight knowledge o f electrical science may construct a pair o f telephones for a few shillings, the simplicity o f the parts rather increases than diminishes the wonder with which the instrument is regarded.11

7 ‘The British Association’ in The Times, 20 Aug. 1877, p. 11.8 Sir W illiam Thomson, the Irish physicist, held the Chair o f Natural Philosophy at Glasgow University and was an instrumental figure in the success o f laying the first transatlantic cable, see ‘The Atlantic Telegraph’ in The Times, 5 Nov. 1866, p. 7.9 ‘The British Association’, in The Times, 20 Aug. 1877, p. 11.10 Post Office records, Telephone companies departmental policy and history of relations 1878-90, E. 13267/1889, London, quoted in Eamonn G. Hall, The electronic age, telecommunications in Ireland (Dublin, 1993), p. 37.11 JohnH. Greenhill, ‘Professor Graham B e ll’s “Telephone” ’ in Proceedings of the Belfast Natural History and Philosophical Society (Belfast, 1878), p. 28.

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Various practical applications o f the telephone at once suggest themselves. It is already largely in use in the United States for commercial purposes. It has been successfully tried in diving and mining operations in this country.12

In 1878 th e su b jec t even found its w a y in to th e p ag es o f th e Irish Ecclesiastical

Record w h en th e th eo lo g ica l q u es tio n w as asked o f th e su itab ility o f th e te le p h o n e as

a m eans o f ad m in is te rin g th e sac ram en t o f penance:

The very idea o f the telephone as a medium for the sacrament o f penance is one so entirely new, that in vain should we seek for any direct light to be thrown on the above question by theological writers. M odem experimental science Iras, indeed, in many respects so completely changed the formerly recognised aspect and conditions o f physical phenomena; and has shown that to be now practical which would once have seemed naturally impossible, that often it is very difficult to apply even the general principles o f moral theology, and to adapt the dicta and terminology o f its authors, to a question such as this.13

E very o n e , it appeared , w as eag er to share th e ir o p in io n s re g a rd in g th e n ew

tech n o lo g y . F ro m 1878 to 1882 n ew sp ap ers and sc ien tific jo u rn a ls ca rried n u m ero u s

artic les in w h ich acad em ics lau d ed th e in g en io u s sim p lic ity o f th e te lep h o n e w h ils t

ex c ited ly d eb a tin g th e p rev io u sly u n th in k ab le p o ssib ilitie s it n o w p re sen ted fo r

com m u n ica tio n . O v er th e nex t ten y ea rs B e ll’s te lep h o n e w as g rad u a lly tran sfo rm ed

from b e in g a n o v el and cu rious in v en tio n to b eco m e an in c reas in g ly im p o rtan t asse t

fo r legal, com m erc ia l, m ed ica l, p o litica l and social b u s in e ss .14

A fte r th e o p en in g o f th e f irs t te lep h o n e ex ch an g e in L o n d o n by th e B e ll T e lep h o n e

C o m p an y in 1879, th e p o ten tia l th re a t o f th e te lep h o n e as a su p e rio r m ean s o f

co m m u n ica tio n to th e ex is tin g te leg rap h system w as in c reasin g rap id ly . A s m en tio n ed

in th e p re v io u s ch ap te r the te leg rap h serv ice had b een m ad e a g o v e rn m e n t m o n o p o ly

u n d er th e p ro tec tio n o f th e T e leg rap h A ct, 1869. In an effo rt to fu r th e r p ro tec t th is

serv ice fro m th e po ten tia l th rea t o f th e te lep h o n e , th e P o stm aste r-G en era l a ttem p ted to

in se rt a c lause in to sec tion th ree o f th e new T e leg rap h B ill, 1878, w h ich defined th e

te lep h o n e as an ‘ap p ara tu s fo r tran sm ittin g m essages, o r o th e r co m m u n ica tio n s , w ith

th e aid o f elec tric ity , m agnetism , o r any o th e r like a g e n cy ’. S im p ly speak in g , this

12 W.F. Barrett, ‘On the electric telephone’ in Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society, 1, 1878, p. 77.13 ‘On the telephone in relation to the sacrament o f penance. An inquiry’ in Irish Ecclesiastical Record (Dublin, Oct. 1882), p. 615.14 When the telephone was first invented in 1876 it was thought of more as a toy and object o f pleasure than a serious scientific invention. The sense o f pleasure in playing with the new telephone persisted for two or three years after its introduction until novelty gave way to routine. See Asa Briggs, ‘The pleasure telephone: a chapter in the pre-history o f the media’, in Asa Briggs, The collected essays of Asa Briggs, volume III, serious pursuits: communication and education (Hertfordshire, 1991), pp 77- 97.

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c lau se w o u ld define th e te lep h o n e as a ty p e o f te leg raph , and as such w o u ld in c lu d e it

in th e g o v ern m en t m o nopo ly u n d e r th e p ro tec tio n o f th e T e leg rap h A ct, 1 8 6 9 .15 T his

bo ld a ttem p t to restric t th e p o w ers o f th e p riv a te te lep h o n e co m p an ies fa iled how ever,

and as a re su lt th e p o s t o ffice w as p laced in a ra th e r d e lica te po sitio n . In one re sp ec t it

w as re lu c tan t to in te rfe re to o m uch w ith a system th a t w as o f g rea t p o ten tia l b en e fit to

th e pub lic , w h ils t a t the sam e tim e it d id n o t w an t to g iv e th e p riv a te co m p an ie s a free

hand to develop such a service. T he so lu tion a rriv ed at by th e p o s t o ffic e w as to g ran t

licen ces u n d e r w h ich each te lep h o n e co m p an y w as o b lig ed to operate . T h ese licences

a llo w ed th e co m p an y to o p era te local system s b ased a ro u n d a cen tra l exch an g e , w ith

no co n n ec tio n p erm itted b e tw een any tw o ex ch an g es .16 T h is iso la tio n o f th e te lep h o n e

ex ch an g es w as designed , on ce again , to p ro tec t the g o v e rn m e n t’s s tro n g h o ld on th e

on ly ex is tin g n a tional and in tern a tio n al co m m u n ica tio n n e tw o rk in th e coun try , the

te leg rap h system .

T he re sp o n se o f th e p riv a te te lep h o n e co m p an ies to w h a t th ey co n ce iv ed as a heavy-

han d ed g o v ern m e n t tac tic w as crucial. T hey re fu sed to app ly fo r licen ces fo rc in g th e

P ost O ffice to in itia te legal p roceed in g s. In N o v e m b e r 1879, th e A tto rn ey G en era l v

E d iso n T e lep h o n e C om p an y p ro v ed to be a lan d m ark case in te lep h o n e h isto ry , and

o ne th a t ch an g ed th e fu tu re d ev e lo p m en t o f th e te lep h o n e in B rita in and Ire land .

P ro ceed in g s to o k p lace in fron t o f a p ack ed p u b lic g a lle ry in W e s tm in s te r H all, and

th e tw o m ain co m p an ies th e B ell and E d iso n T e lep h o n e C o m p an ies am alg am a ted

u n d er th e title o f th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y to face th e o p p o sitio n o f th e P o s t

O ffice. In th is un u su al case, te lep h o n es w e re set up a ro u n d th e c o u rt ro o m in o rd e r

th a t th e ju d g e s cou ld see at c lo se han d a w o rk in g te lep h o n e , w h ils t a co n n ec tio n w as

also m ad e b e tw een th e ro o m and th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p a n y ’s n earby

ex c h an g e .17 In th e p ro ceed in g s th e p la in tif fs b ased th e ir case on th e p re m ise th a t the

E d iso n T e lep h o n e p a ten t cou ld b e in te rp re ted as a fo rm o f te leg rap h as it w as an

e lec trica l m essag e -tran sm ittin g system , and as such fell u n d e r th e re s tr ic tio n s o f th e

ea rlie r te leg rap h leg is la tio n o f 1863 an d 1869. T he d efen ce h o w e v er a rg u ed th a t as the

te lep h o n e w as n o t inv en ted un til 1876 it s im ply cou ld n o t h av e b ee n en v isag ed b y th e

ea rlie r te leg rap h leg islation . O n 20 D ecem b er 1880, a fte r a h ard fo u g h t battle,

15 Feuerstein, ‘The early history o f the telephone in England’, p. 84.16 Ibid., p. 89.17 Ibid., pp 90-91.

2 1 0

ju d g e m e n t a ile d in fa v o u r o f th e P o s t O ff ice .18 T h e te lep h o n e w a s d eem ed to b e a

te leg rap h , and a te lep h o n e co n v ersa tio n a ty p e o f te leg ram u n d e r th e m ean in g o f th e

1863 and 1869 T e leg rap h A cts. In re sp o n se to th is ju d g e m e n t th e P o stm aste r-G en era l

ap p lied su ccessfu lly to th e trea su ry fo r p e rm issio n to g ra n t licen ces to p riv a te

te lep h o n e co m p an ie s .19 T h e new licen ces w ere issu ed u n d e r th e s tric te s t o f te rm s w ith

th e co m p an ies p ro h ib ited fro m o p en in g p u b lic call o ffic es and co n stru c tin g tru n k

lines. H o w e v e r in 1884 th e P o s tm a ste r G eneral w ith d re w th e re s tr ic tio n s and

u n lim ited ex ten sio n th ro u g h o u t th e U n ited K in g d o m w a s th e re fo re p erm itted , as w as

th e in te rco n n ec tio n o f ex ch an g es .20 B y 1889 th e re w e re th re e m a jo r licen ce ho lders:

T he U n ited T e lep h o n e C om pany , T h e L an cash ire and C h esh ire T e le p h o n e C om pany ,

and T h e N a tio n a l T e lep h o n e C om pany . In 1893 th ese th re e co m p an ie s am a lg am a ted

u n d er th e n am e o f th e N a tio n a l T e lep h o n e C o m p an y c rea tin g one g ian t

c o n g lo m era te .21 It cou ld b e said th e re fo re th a t th e N a tio n a l T e lep h o n e C o m p an y to o k

o v e r th e P o s t O ffice m o n o p o ly in 1893 and held it u n til th e s ta te ta k e o v er o f th e

te lep h o n e system in 1912.

T he ea rly te lep h o n e co m p an ies w o rk ed on a su b scrip tio n basis. A fte r th e B ell and

E d iso n C o m p an ies am alg am ated in 1880 to form th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C om pany ,

su b scrib e r lists b eg an to g ro w in length . In c reases in th e n u m b er o f su b scrib e rs w ere

g rad u a l as p u b lic in te re st in th e te lep h o n e w as n u rtu re d th ro u g h p u b lic ity and

p ro m o tio n . T h e U T C ’s su b scrib e rs g u id e fo r 1880, co n v in c in g ly p ro m o ted th e

b en e fits o f th e n ew d ev ice in an effo rt to d raw in as m an y su b scrib e rs as possib le . I f

h a lf tru th s w o u ld re su lt in en g ag in g th e in te re st o f th e pub lic , th en th e U T C w as q u ite

p rep a red to cover up u n n ecessa ry details. C laim s th a t co n v e rsa tio n s b e tw een tw o

p eo p le co u ld b e ca rried o n ‘w ith p e rfec t sec recy ’ and ‘w ith o u t th e in te rv en tio n o f a

th ird p e rso n ’ w e re sim ply n o t tru e .22 C o n v ersa tio n s co u ld b e in te rru p te d qu ite s im ply

by th e o p e ra to r p lugg ing in to an engaged line. B e tw ee n A u g u st 1881 and F eb ru a ry

18 Report from the select committee on the telephone service, together with the proceedings of the committee, minutes of evidence, appendix and index, H.C. 1895 (350), xiii (Report... on the telephone service), Appendix No. 11, ‘The National Telephone Company’, paper handed in by Mr James Staats Forbes, 21 May 1895.19 A.J. Litton, ‘The growth and development o f the Irish telephone system ’, in Journal of the statistical and social inquiry society of Ireland, xx, part v, 1961-62, p. 80.20 Litton, ‘The growth and development o f the Irish telephone system ’, p. 81.21 Report... on the telephone service, Appendix No. 11, ‘The National Telephone Company’, paper handed in by Mr James Staats Forbes, 21 May 1895.22 United Telephone Company Subscriber’s Guide (hereafter UTC subscriber’s guide), 1880 (BT Archives, London, POST 84/3).

211

1882 th e U T C ’s B e lfa s t exchange w a s in u n d a ted w ith co m p la in ts fro m su b scrib e rs o f

‘in a tten tio n on th e p a rt o f th e o p e ra to rs ’ and ‘o v erh earin g co m m u n ica tio n s fro m o th e r

w ire s ’ . In te rru p tio n s o n th e p art o f th e o p era to r w e re n o t at all in freq u en t. A s la te as

1895 W illiam P reece , in h is ev id en ce befo re a se lec t co m m ittee o n th e te lep h o n e

serv ice , co m p la in ed o f th is v ery p rac tice w h en d iscu ssin g th e in tro d u c tio n in A m erica

o f lam p signals fo r sw itch b o ard o p era to rs so as to p re v en t in te rru p tio n s:

The great advantage o f these automatic signals is this: that it entirely puts a stop to those questions that irritate us very much, when the fem ale voice comes in the middle o f a conversation and asks us if we have finished, or, as they say in the States: “Are you through?”23

T he U T C p led g ed to ‘tak e im m ed ia te s tep s’ to estab lish ex ch an g es in all p a r ts o f th e

U n ited K in g d o m , w h e rev e r tw en ty su b scrib ers co u ld b e fo u n d ‘w ith in a c irc le o f tw o

m iles d ia m e te r’ and p re sen tin g ‘no ex trao rd in ary d iff ic u ltie s ’ fo r th e e rec tio n o f

w ire s .24 In th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y ’s D u b lin ex ch an g e , o p en ed in O c to b e r

1880, th irty -tw o subscribers w e re lis ted .25

E x ch a n g es cou ld be co n n ec ted to cab stands, te leg rap h o ffices, p o lice s ta tions, fire

s ta tions, facto ries, schoo ls, and shops such as bu tchers, g reen g ro c e rs and chem ists . In

o rd e r to p ro m o te p riv a te h o u se -to -h o u se u se o f th e te lep h o n e th e co m p an y w as

p rep ared to charge a lo w annual ren ta l fo r co n n ec tio n s w ith in o n e -m ile -rad iu s o f th e

exchange. S ound b u s in ess p rin c ip le s w ere also ad o p ted in an e ffo rt to a ttrac t th e

sy m p ath ies, in te re st and co -o p era tio n o f th e b u sin ess co m m u n ity in each locality . T o

su it m ark e t g ardeners, fish and m eat m erchan ts, and th o se gen e ra lly en g ag ed in

b u sin ess co n n ected w ith p e rish ab le goods, specia l a rran g e m e n ts w e re m ad e fo r

co n n ec tin g any tw o sta tions in co m m u n ica tio n all n ig h t i f d es ired .26 F u rth e r ev id en ce

o f th e co m p an y ’s co m m itm en t to im p ro v in g and fa c ilita tin g local b u s in ess w a s th e

co n n ec tio n o f th e ex is tin g te lep h o n e system w ith th e docks. A rran g em en ts w e re m ad e

w ith m erch an ts and sh ip p in g in te re sts fo r p ro v id in g p ro m p t co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een

th e c ity and th e b o n d ed sto res and w areh o u ses a lo n g th e q uays and w h a rv es o f th e

riverside . T his cou ld also be ex ten d ed to tem p o ra ry sta tio n s o n b o a rd sh ips in dock .

Indeed , th e ab u n d an ce o f w ine, te a and sp irit m erch an ts in a list o f su b scrib e rs to th e

23 Report... on the telephone service, W illiam Preece, evidence before the select committee on the telephone service, 1 July 1895.24 UTC subscriber’s guide.25 United Telephone Company, list o f subscribers, 1880 (hereafter UTC list o f subscribers, 1880), (BT Archives, London, POST 84/136).26 UTC subscriber’s guide.

2 1 2

D u b lin ex ch an g e o f th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y fo r 1882 bears te s tim o n y to th e

ad v an tag es o f rap id co m m u n ica tio n fo r su ch b u s in e ss .27 B y 1880 th e te lep h o n e in

B rita in an d Ire land , fa r fro m b e in g reg ard ed as an ob ject o f lu x u ry an d cu rio sity , w as

rap id ly b eco m in g one o f ‘in d isp en sab le n ec e ss ity ’.28 B y th e ea rly 1880s th e te lep h o n e

w as rap id ly b eco m in g a fo rm id ab le rival to te leg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n and

in s tru m en ts cou ld n o w b e fo u n d in th e o ffices o f m an y o f th e to w n ’s m erch an ts ,

so lic ito rs , banks, in su ran ce co m p an ies and hosp ita ls.

Developments in Dublin

A lth o u g h th e firs t te lep h o n e ex ch an g e in Ire lan d d id n o t o p en u n til 1880, co m m erc ia l

te lep h o n e c ircu its had b een in o p e ra tio n in D u b lin and B e lfa s t s ince 1878. T h ese early

c ircu its w e re all s in g le -w ire lines, and w e re ren ted by th e p o s t o ffice to any b u s in esses

w ish in g to avail o f th e n ew fo rm o f com m unica tion . I t w a s a s im p le p o in t-to -p o in t

sy stem w h e re th e sing le w ire co n n ec ted tw o in strum en ts. T h e firs t o f th ese c ircu its

w as ren ted on 31 Jan u ary 1878 co n n ec tin g a te lep h o n e in D u b lin ’s D a w so n S tree t to

one in th e G resham H o te l. T h is c ircu it w as set u p as a p u b lic ity stu n t b y th e D u b lin

h a rd w are m erchan ts, M ag u ire and S ons o f 10 D a w so n S treet, as th e p ro p rie to r, M r

M ag u ire w as also th e so le ag en t in D u b lin fo r B e l l ’s te lep h o n e pa ten t. T he lin e w as

se t u p in co n ju n c tio n w ith W a lte r H o ld er, m an ag e r o f th e G resh am H ote l, w h o h o s ted

a p re ss recep tio n o n 2 F eb ru a ry to rep o rt on th e m atter. In th e Irish Times re p o rt o f 4

F eb ru a ry 1878 it is s ta ted th a t ‘a sp irited co n v e rsa tio n w a s k e p t u p fo r a fe w m in u tes,

th e sp eech b e in g v aried a t th e c lo se b y sing ing an d w h is tlin g ’. T h ro u g h th e te lep h o n e

M ag u ire in v ited th e p re ss rep resen ta tiv e to h is p re m ise s in D a w so n S tree t an d th is

in v ita tio n w a s o p en to any m em b ers o f th e p u b lic w h o b e tw e e n th e h o u rs o f tw e lv e

and one o ’c lo ck each day, w ish ed to in spect th e in s tru m en t in o p e ra tio n .29

27 List o f subscribers to the United Telephone Company Dublin Exchange in 1882, in ‘Report o f the General Purposes Committee, recommending that the departments o f the corporation be placed in telephonic communication and connected with the exchange o f the United Telephone Company’, in RPDCD, vol. 2, 1882, pp 227-8 (DCLA) (hereafter UTC list o f subscribers, 1882).28 UTC subscribers guide.29 Works Order Register 1, p. 115, Records requiring correction book 1, p. 102, both amongst uncatalogued Eircom collection, NAI, and quoted in Thomas Wall, ‘Some notes towards a history o f telecommunications with particular reference to Ireland’ (unpublished paper, 2005), p. 62. Copies o f this paper have been deposited in the Dublin City Library and Archive, Pearse Street, and NLI (hereafter Wall, ‘Some notes’).

213

I t w o u ld ap p ear th a t b u s in esses in D u b lin to o k n o te o f M a g u ire ’s p u b lic ity -seek in g

dem o n stra tio n s as a n u m b er o f fu rth e r w ires w ere ren ted in th e fo llo w in g m onths.

L a te r th a t m onth on 21 F eb ru a ry th e C ity o f D u b lin S team P ack e t C o m p an y re n te d a

w ire b e tw een th e ir o ffices a t E d en Q uay and th e N o rth W a ll.30 T h ro u g h o u t th e p e rio d

fro m 1878 to 1880 a n u m b er o f p riv a te c ircu its w e re set u p in D u b lin . In c lu d e d in

th ese p riv a te w ires w ere co n n ec tio n s b e tw een M a c k e y ’s seed m erch an ts , 23 S ack v ille

S tree t and a sto res at 2 G e o rg e ’s Q uay ; th e o ffice o f th e ch a irm an and th e o ffic e o f th e

m an ag er at th e M id lan d G rea t W este rn R a ilw ay ’s B ro ad s to n e T erm ina l; D u b lin ’s

T h ea tre R oyal and G a ie ty T hea tre ; th e o ffice o f th e Freeman’s Journal w a s co n n ec ted

to th e M an sio n H o u se in Jan u ary 1880, as the p ro p r ie to r o f th e n ew sp ap er, E d m u n d

D w y e r G ray, w a s also th e L o rd M ay o r o f D ublin a t th is tim e ; also in Jan u a ry 1880 th e

G rea t S ou thern and W este rn R a ilw ay connected its K in g sb rid g e s ta tio n to its w o rk s at

Inch i co re .31

T he f irs t six y ea rs o f th e 1880s w as an im p o rtan t p e r io d in th e d ev e lo p m e n t o f

te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n ac ross th e U n ited K ingdom . F o r th e C o rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin

th is p e r io d w itn essed th e e stab lish m en t o f a n u m b er o f ru d im en ta ry , y e t essen tial,

co n n ec tio n s th ro u g h o u t th e city. T hese w ere th e f irs t v ita l s tep s to w ard s the

d ev e lo p m en t o f a co m p reh en siv e c ity w id e netw ork . B y th e end o f 1880 th e fire d ep o ts

in D u b lin had b een co n n ec ted w ith th e cen tral fire station. T h is w as in fo llo w in g w ith

o th e r B ritish c ities w h e re fire an d p o lice stations w ere f irs t to b e b ro u g h t o n to th e

netw ork . A s it w as u su a lly th e to w n council w h o g ran ted p erm iss io n to th e te lep h o n e

co m p an y to lay th e ir w ire s o v er th e city, som e o f th e m o re im p o rtan t o ffices o f th e

local au th o rity w ere also added to th e system . T h e early y ea rs o f th e 1880s h o w ev er

w e re v ery m u ch p io n ee rin g y ea rs in te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n d u rin g w h ic h th e

u n d e r s tru c tu re o f a co m p reh en siv e system w as g ra d u a lly developed . W ith th e

essen tia l p u b lic o ffices co n n ec ted to th e sy stem th e te lep h o n e co m p an ie s th en

co n cen tra ted on ex ten d in g th e ir lis ts o f su bscribers to in co rp o ra te th e co m m erc ia l and

b u sin ess in te re sts in th e city. H o w ev er, b e fo re any o f th is co u ld b e ach iev ed , th e firs t

p rio rity o f th e co m p an y w as to estab lish a w o rk in g re la tio n sh ip w ith th e local

au th o rity o f th e c ity in w h ic h th ey p lan n ed to operate .

30 Records requiring correction book 1, p. 102, Eircom material uncatalogued, NAI.31 Works Order Register N o 1, pp 115, 116, 163, 178, quoted in Wall, ‘Some notes’, p. 63

2 1 4

In 1878 a G enera l P u rp o ses C o m m ittee w as estab lish ed in D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n to lo o k

a fte r m atte rs o f a m isce llan eo u s nature . A ny b u sin ess re la tin g to th e in s ta lla tio n o f the• 32n ew te lep h o n es w ith in th e city w as g iven to th is n ew co m m ittee to deal w ith .

H av in g ju s t op en ed th e firs t te lep h o n e exchange in Ire lan d at C o m m ercia l B u ild in g s ,

D am e S treet, in 1880, th e U nited T elep h o n e C o m p an y , w ith an in itia l lis t o f five

subscribers, in creasin g to th irty -tw o by the end o f th e y ea r (F ig u re 6 .1), ap p lied in

O c to b e r to D ublin C o rp o ra tio n fo r p erm issio n to run th e ir w ire s th ro u g h and o v e r th e

c ity o f D u b lin .33 In re tu rn fo r th is co n cessio n the co m p an y ag reed to supp ly

te lep h o n es to th e p o lice sta tions and fire b rigades in th e c ity w ith a d isco u n t o f 25 p e r

cent. T he q u o te g iv en w as fo r tw e lv e te lephones, one sw itch b o ard and six m iles o f

cab le fo r th e p o lice sta tio n s a t a co st o f £ 7 7 .0 .0 ., less 25 p e r cent. F o r th e fire

b rigades, ten te lep h o n es, one sw itchboard and fiv e m iles o f cab le am o u n tin g to

£48 .15 .0 ., less 25 p e r cen t w e re ag reed upon. In n eg o tia tio n s th e co rp o ra tio n also

secu red a specia l ra te fo r a te lep h o n e con n ectio n to th e M a n s io n H o u se , and a tw en ty -

fo u r h o u r co n n ectio n free o f ch a rg e b e tw een th e C o rp o ra tio n o ffices and th e cen tra l

ex ch an g e .34 A s th e in s ta lla tio n o f te lep h o n es and lay in g o f cab le w a s still a re la tiv e ly

new ven tu re , d isc rep an c ies ex is ted as from w h o m san c tio n shou ld be sough t.

A lth o u g h th e P o s tm a ste r-G e n era l had been g ra n te d th ro u g h th e H ig h C o u rt ex c lu siv e

rig h ts to issue te lep h o n e licences, th e local au th o rity still p o ssessed th e r ig h t to ve to

any d ec isio n s im p in g in g on its ju risd ic tio n . A fte r som e in v es tig a tio n in to th e m a tte r it

w as dec ided th a t p erm iss io n reg ard in g th e lay in g o f te lep h o n e w ire s th ro u g h o u t th e

city , cou ld on ly b e g ran ted by th e ‘G en era l W o rk s and H ig h w a y C o m m itte e ’ o f th e

m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n .35

A s th e co rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin w as in a s tro n g er p o s itio n to n eg o tia te th an th e te lep h o n e

co m p an y it w as th e re fo re ab le to sta te sp ec ifica lly th e te rm s and co n d itio n s u n d e r

w h ich it w o u ld b e w illin g to g ran t perm ission . T h ese co n d itio n s w e re accep tab le to

th e te lep h o n e co m p an y and th e m un icipal co rp o ra tio n su b seq u en tly accep ted th e ir

32 Printed Minutes o f Dublin City Council, vol. 3, 1878 (DCLA).33 Report o f the General Purposes Committee recommending that permission be given to the Telephone Company to carry their wires over the city, in RPDCD, vol. 1, 1881, p. 101 (DCLA), and UTC list o f subscribers 1880.34 Ibid.35 ‘Report o f the General Purposes Committee, recommending that the departments o f the corporation be placed in telephonic communication and connected with the exchange o f the United Telephone Company’ in RPDCD, vol. 2, 1882, pp 212-14 (DCLA).

2 1 5

UNITED T ttEW JH E COMPANY, L IM IT E D ,TH

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k i t Mif^n Y St Cl M urnnJ ,, I. Ul f t /t ! «* f Ai' • » M nvi A U n v f t i i t^ n A C f i .. .

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F ig u re 6.1 L is t o f su b scrib ers to U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y D ub lin , 1880

te n d e r in S ep tem b er 1882. T h e te rm s ag reed u p o n w e re to co n n ec t to th e cen tra l

te lep h o n e ex ch an g e in D a m e S treet, th e fo llo w in g m u n ic ip a l d ep artm en ts : C ity H all;

M an sio n H o u se ; C ity A rc h ite c t’s O ffice, D a w so n S treet; C en tra l F ire S ta tion , W illia m

S treet; and th e F ire S ta tio n at W h iteh o rse Y ard . T h ese sta tions w e re to b e th e

ex ch an g e sta tions and th e serv ice w as to be a co n tin u o u s d ay and n ig h t se rv ice co stin g

£50 p e r annum . I t w a s also ag reed to connect n in e o f th e m ain fire s ta tio n s w ith th e

cen tra l fire s ta tio n in W illiam Street. T he n in e co n n ec ted sta tio n s w e re a t St

C a th e rin e ’s C hurch , T h o m as S treet, K ev in S tree t S ta tion , th e w a te r s ta tio n a t L ee so n

S tree t B ridge, escape sta tio n a t K ild are S treet, escap e s ta tio n at N e lso n ’s P illa r , escap e

s ta tio n a t S t G e o rg e ’s C hurch , escape sta tion a t B o lto n S treet, escap e s ta tio n a t St

P a u l’s church , and th e W a te r B a i l if f s O ffice a t 9 C ity Q u ay (F ig u re 6 .2). T his serv ice

w as to cost £85 p e r annum . T he final p a rt o f th e ag reem en t reg a rd ed th e fire depo ts,

and fo r a sum o f £45 p e r annum th e su p e rin ten d en t’s o ffic e in W h iteh o rse Y a rd w as

2 1 6

# Central Telephone Exchange Commercial Buildings, Dame Street

# LaboratoryRoyal College of Surgeons

# 1 Central Fire StationWilliam Street

# 2 Mansion House, Dawson Street

# 3 City Hall, Cork Hill

# 4 City Architect's OfficeDawson Street

# 5 Fire StationWhitehorse Yard Superintendent's Office

Drawn hy Frank Cullen. 2005

• 1

• 2

• 3

• 4

• 5

• 6

• 7

• 8

Kevin Street Fire Station

Leeson Street Bridge Water Station

O 2 Caroline Row Depot

O 3 Hannover Street Depot

O 4 Marrowbone Lane Depot

Kildare Street, Escape StationExchange Connections

Nelson's Pillar, Escape StationFire Brigade

St George's Church sub-connectionsEscape Station

City HallBolton Street, Escape Station sub-connection

Water Bailiffs Office City Quay

Source: 'R eport o f the G eneral Purposes C om m ittee, recom m ending fo r acceptance tenders o f the United Telephone Com pany', a lso 'R eport o f the Pub lic Health C om m ittee, re Telephonic Com m unication betw een the City Hall and the Laboratory o f the Royal College o f Surgeons', in Reports and printed documents o f the Corporation o f Dublin, vo l. 3, 1882, pp 81-84, and 653-4

St Catherine’s Church Fire Station, Thomas Street

O 1 North Brunswick Street Stables Depot

Figure 6.2 United Telephone Company public connections in Dublin, 1882

217

to b e co n n ec ted w ith th e fire d ep o ts a t N o rth B ru n sw ick S tree t S tables, C aro lin e R o w ,

H an n o v er S treet, and M arro w b o n e L an e .36

In 1882 a D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n rep o rt on te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n in th e c ity lis ted

th e nam es o f 166 su b scrib ers to th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y in D u b lin .37 T his

fig u re show s an in c rease o f 134 su bscribers fro m th e th ir ty -tw o o rig in a lly lis ted in

1880, rev ea lin g ju s t h o w im p o rtan t a ro le th e te lep h o n e had ta k e n on in b u s in ess in

th ese early y ea rs .38 In th e 1882 list o f 166 n am es, deta ils as to th e ad d resses and

p ro fessio n s o f su b scrib e rs a re k ep t to a m in im um . B y c ro ss-re fe re n c in g th is lis t w ith

th e D u b lin trad e d irec to ry o f 1882, it can b e seen th a t th e d ev e lo p m en t o f th e

• Single subscriber• Ten or more subscribers

Draw n by F rank Cullen, 2005

Source: ’Report of the General Purposes Committee, recommending that the departments of the Corporation be placed in telephonic communication and connected with the exchange of the United Telephone Company', in Reports and printed documents o f the Corporation of Dublin, vol. 2, 1882, pp 227-8

F ig u re 6.3 S ubscribers to th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C om pany , 1882

36 ‘Report o f the General Purposes Committee, recommending for acceptance tenders o f the United Telephone Company’ in RPDCD, vol. 3, 1882, pp 81-84 (DCLA).37 UTC list o f subscribers, 1882.38 UTC list o f subscribers, 1880.

218

te lep h o n e sy stem in D u b lin at least, re flec ted th e a sp ira tio n s ex p ressed in th e

co m p an y ’s su b sc rib e rs ’ g u id e fo r th e w h o le U n ite d K in g d o m . In D u b lin th e fac ilitie s

o f th e new m o d e o f co m m u n ica tio n w e re b e in g s tead ily av a iled o f w ith so lic ito rs and

m erch an ts co m p ris in g th e bu lk o f subscribers. F ig u re 6.3 show s a co n c en tra tio n o f

su b scrib ers a lo n g th e n o rth quays o f th e R iv e r L iffey , w h e re m an y o f th e to w n ’s

so lic ito rs h ad th e ir o ffices c lose to th e law courts . T h e co m m erc ia l an d fin an c ia l

ch a rac te r o f th e D am e S tree t d istric t is a lso ev id en t th ro u g h th e h ig h co n c en tra tio n o f

b u sin esses su b scrib in g to th e te lep h o n e com pany . O th e r p ro fess io n s in c lu d ed in th is

list a re land agen ts, p rin ters , ironm ongers, b u ild e rs p ro v id ers , d is tille rie s , d rapers,

p ap e r m an u fac tu rers , to o l m akers, acco u n tan ts , b o o k se lle rs , chem ists , eng ineers,

g ro cers, sh ipp ing co m p an ies and n ew sp ap ers .39 A m o n g st th e m o re n o tew o rth y o f

th ese c lien ts w e re A. G uinness, S on & C o ., th e o ffices o f The Freeman’s Journal, th e

D u b lin U n ited T ram w ay s C o., th e G rand C anal C o ., th e G resh am H o te l, th e M id lan d

G rea t W este rn R a ilw ay C o., A rno tt & C o ., L im ited , E lec tric L ig h t C o., C ity o f D u b lin

S team P ack e t C o., W .H . Sm ith & C o., A lex a n d e r F in d la te r & C o ., W . Jam eso n &

C o., C an tre ll & C o ch ran e and the o ffices o f The Irish Times.

In S ep tem b er 1882 th e C ity A n a ly s t and C h ie f M ed ica l O ffice r o f H e a lth fo r D ub lin ,

D r C h arles C am ero n w ro te to th e T o w n C le rk o f D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n req u es tin g th a t a

te lep h o n e lin e b e set u p to connect h is o ffic e in C ity H a ll w ith th e lab o ra to ry in th e

R o y a l C o lleg e o f S u rg eo n s (A p p en d ix X ). In th is le tte r D r C am ero n ex p la in s th e

u rg en cy fo r co n n ec tin g th e tw o estab lish m en ts fo r te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n by

sta ting th a t ‘ab o u t 1 ,000 ana lyses o f v a rio u s k in d s a re m ad e fo r th e C o rp o ra tio n at th e

R o y a l C o lleg e o f S u rg eo n s’ L ab o ra to ry , w h ich is v irtu a lly th e C o rp o ra tio n

L abo ra to ry , as no analy tica l w o rk is ca rried on th e re fo r th e C o lle g e ’.40 B eca u se o f the

n a tu re o f th e w o rk in v o lv in g th e co n stan t delivery o f sam p les o f d iseased and

un so u n d fo o d to D r C am ero n a t the labo ra to ry , q u ite a lo t o f h is tim e w as b e in g

w asted trav e llin g b e tw e en th e tw o o ffices as he h ad to perso n ally rece iv e each artic le

from th e In sp ec to rs o f F ood . T he ex isten ce th ere fo re , o f te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n

39 UTC list o f subscribers, 1882.40 Letter from Charles Cameron to the Town Clerk, Dublin Corporation, 14 Sept. 1882, in Report o f the Public Health Committee, re Telephonic Communication between the City Hall and the Laboratory at the Royal College o f Surgeons, in RPDCD, vol. 3, 1882, pp 653-4 (DCLA) (hereafter Cameron to town clerk, 14 Sept. 1882).

2 1 9

b e tw een th e tw o o ffices w ou ld in D r C am ero n ’s o w n w o rd s, ‘ten d to ec o n o m ise ’ b o th

h is tim e and th a t o f h is ass is tan ts .41 D r C a m e ro n ’s req u est w as ap p ro v ed on th e 5

D ecem b er o f th e sam e y ea r and th e req u ested line set up (F igu re 6 .2).

D u rin g th e six -m o n th p e rio d from A p ril to O ctober 1883, th e h o sp ita l serv ice in

D u b lin w as rev o lu tio n ised as n ine o f th e c ity ’s h o sp ita ls av a iled o f th e te lep h o n e . In

A p ril 1883 an a rtic le in a m ed ica l jo u rn a l h ig h lig h ted th e cu rious lack o f in te re st on

th e p a rt o f th e m ed ica l p ro fess io n in th e n ew fo rm o f co m m u n ica tio n th a t w as

‘sp read in g by leaps and bounds am ong m ercan tile , legal and fin an c ia l b re th re n ’. T he

a rtic le stated :

In a calling so liable to sudden and immediate summonses at all hours and whose members are mostly distinguished for scientific taste, it might w ell be imagined that the latest resources o f scientific progress would be in common use - but it is sadly otherwise.42

A t th is ea rly p e rio d on ly th e C o rk S treet F ev e r H o sp ita l and a sm all n u m b er o f

su rgeons had access to te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n . T hus, th e o v erw h elm in g

ad v an tag es to b e had by a few m in u tes co n v e rsa tio n w ith th e d o cto r, en ab lin g h im to

d ec ide th e u rg en cy o f th e case and e lim in a te fa lse alarm s, w e re b e in g lost. T h is artic le

sparked a m in i-d eb a te in th e p ag es o f th e Freeman's Journal o v er th e co m in g w eek s

in w h ich it em erg ed th a t n o t all m ed ica l s ta ff w e re in fa v o u r o f ad o p tin g th e new

co m m u n ica tio n apparatus:

Some senior members o f staff ... would be troubled during the day and evening with questions about their bad cases. They would w ish to visit the hospital daily and then forget its existence ... till the next day.43

R efe ren ce w as a lso m ade to th e ‘p ars im o n io u s o b je c tio n ’ o f th e h o sp ita l g o v e rn in g

b o a rd s to ‘any im p ro v em en t o r nov elty th a t costs m o n ey ’.44

T he re sp o n se o f th e c ity ’s h o sp ita ls to th is p u b lic d eb a te w as po sitiv e . T h e R o y a l

C o llege o f P h y sic ian s in K ild are S tree t re sp o n d ed a lm o st im m ed ia te ly b y h av in g tw o

lines in s ta lled o n 30 M ay 1883. O ne o f th ese w a s a p riv a te line to th e re g is tra r’s

house, th e o th e r a line co n n ected to th e cen tra l ex ch an g e in D u b lin .45 O n 11 Ju ly 1883

th e m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin in v o lv ed i ts e lf b y d irec tin g its p u b lic h ea lth

41 Cameron to town clerk, 14 Sept. 1882.42 Medical Press and Circular, 11 Apr. 1883, pp 322-3, quoted in Wall, ‘Some notes’, p. 72.43 Freeman's.Journal, 25 May 1883, quoted in Wall, ‘Some notes’, p. 72.44 Ibid.45 Wall, ‘Some notes’, p. 72.

2 2 0

co m m itte e to in fo rm th e v a rio u s h o sp ita l b o a rd s o f th e d esirab ility o f e s tab lish in g

te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n w ith th e ir m ed ica l staff, as w as th e p ra c tice o n the

E u ro p e an con tinen t. A s th e co rp o ra tio n w a s one o f th e m ain su b scrib e rs to the

hosp ita l b oards, it w as ad v isab le th e b o a rd s ta k e n o te o f th e c o rp o ra tio n ’s req u est. B y

th e end o f Ju ly th e M ater, th e R ich m o n d and th e M ea th had jo in e d th e C o lleg e o f

P h y sic ian s and th e C o rk S treet H o sp ita l, and so o n a fte rw ard s Je rv is S treet, th e D u b lin

O rth o p aed ic and S t V in c e n t’s had fo llo w ed suit. T he la s t tw o to es tab lish te lep h o n ic

co m m u n ica tio n w e re M e rc e r’s and S te ev en ’s H osp ita ls , b rin g in g th e to ta l n u m b er o f

D u b lin h o sp ita ls co n n ected to th e te lep h o n e ex ch an g e to ten , in ad d itio n to six teen

p h y sic ian s and su rgeons, six m ed ica l halls and several w h o lesa le p h arm aceu tis ts .

T h e in tro d u c tio n o f th e te lep h o n e in to Ire lan d o ccu rred d u rin g a p e r io d o f in ten se

p o litica l and ag rarian unrest. T h is w as th e p e rio d o f th e L an d W ar w h ic h rag ed

th ro u g h o u t th e Ir ish co u n try sid e fro m 1879 to 1882 and cu lm in a ted w ith th e sh o ck in g

m u rd ers o f th e n ew ly -ap p o in ted C h ie f S ecre ta ry o f Ire lan d , L o rd F red e rick C av en d ish

and h is U n d er S ecretary , T .H . B urke, as th e p a ir s tro lled c lo se to th e ir o ffic ia l

re s id en ces in th e P h o en ix P ark , D u b lin .46 T his event, k n o w n as th e ‘P h o en ix P a rk

M u rd e rs ’ o ccu rred on 6 M ay 1882 and rece iv ed sen sa tio n al co v e rag e in B ritish and

Ir ish n ew sp ap ers a t th e tim e. W h en it cam e tim e fo r th e accused to face tria l in A pril

1883, C av en d ish ’s successor, G .O . T rev e ly an m ad e an ‘u rg e n t’ re q u e s t to th e trea su ry

th a t te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n be es tab lish ed b e tw een th e C h ie f S e c re ta ry ’s O ffice ,

D u b lin C astle , and th e C o m m issio n s C o u rt, G reen S treet, w h ere th e tria l w a s due to

tak e place. O b v io u sly th e tria l w as ex p ec ted to g en e ra te h u g e p u b lic in te re st and

T rev e ly an w a s k een to m o n ito r th e ev en ts c lo se ly .47 T h is re q u es t w as acco m p an ied by

o th ers fo r te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een th e U n d er S ec re ta ry ’s re s id e n ce and th e

V ice R eg a l and C h ie f S ec re ta ry ’s L o d g es and b e tw een th e C h ie f S e c re ta ry ’s O ffice,

D u b lin C astle and th e L o ca l G o v e rn m en t B o a rd O ffice at th e C u sto m H o u se . W h ils t

th e n o v elty v a lu e o f te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n had ce rta in ly d isap p ea red b y 1883, its

value , n o t on ly as an essen tia l b u s in ess asse t, b u t also as a u se fu l m ean s o f ex ertin g

tig h te r ad m in is tra tiv e and po litica l con tro l, w as qu ick ly b eco m in g apparen t.

46 From 1879 to 1882 Irish political discourse was dominated by the Land War, a nationalist movement which agitated for tenant rights by committing atrocities throughout the countryside. See F.S.L. Lyons, Ireland since the famine (London, 1985, first published 1963), p. 176.47 Letter from GPO to Treasury, 10 Apr. 1883, GPO Telegraphs and Telephones. Dublin telephone service to be established between the Chief Secretary’s office and marine detachment, 1883 (TNA, T l/14384).

2 2 1

In D e cem b er 1884 th e C o rp o ra tio n o f D ublin co n sid ered ex ten d in g its te lep h o n e

n e tw o rk to b ring its n ew offices at C o rk H ill, p rev io u s ly o ccu p ied b y th e H ib e rn ian

B ank , in to co m m u n ica tio n w ith C ity H a ll.48 A t th is tim e th e U n ite d T e lep h o n e

C o m pany w a s no lo n g er in ex istence, h av ing b een ta k e n o v e r b y th e T e lep h o n e

C o m p an y o f Ire land , still b ased at C o m m ercia l B u ild in g s, D a m e S treet. T he

T e lep h o n e C o m p an y p ro p o sed to e rec t and m ain ta in one sw itch b o ard at C ity H all and

supp ly e ig h t new tab le in s tru m en ts to th e fo llo w in g p rin c ip a l d ep a rtm en ts : th e o ffices

o f th e T o w n C lerk , th e C ity E n g in ee r, th e C ity T reasu re r and C ity A cco u n tan t, th e

C ity A rch itec t, th e F in an ce and L ea se s C o m m ittee , th e P u b lic H e a lth C o m m ittee , th e

W a te rw o rk s C o m m ittee and th e P av in g and L ig h tin g C o m m ittee . E a c h in stru m en t

w as co n n ec ted to th e n ew sw itch b o ard w h ich w as in tu rn co n n e c ted v ia tw o cab les to

th e cen tra l ex ch an g e in D am e S treet. T w o cab les w ere u sed fo r th e m a in co n n ec tio n

‘so as to p erm it tw o o f th e o ffices to speak th ro u g h th e E x ch a n g e a t th e sam e t im e ’.49

T he serv ices o f an o p e ra to r to w o rk th e sw itch b o ard w as also p ro v id ed by th e

com pany. T he o p e ra to r u n d er so le co n tro l o f th e com pany , w as to be p ro v id ed b y the

C o rp o ra tio n w ith a ‘sm all p riv a te room , fire, ligh t, and p ro p e r c o n v e n ie n ces’, fo r

sev en ty -s ix p o u n d s sterling p e r annum (A p p en d ix X I) .50

Developments in Belfast51

A s in D ub lin , th e firs t te lep h o n e co n n ec tio n s in B e lfa s t w e re a lso p riv a te w ires . O n 29

M arch 1878 M essrs. C leland , S ta tioners and P rin ters , opened th e f irs t line o f

te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n in B e lfa s t b e tw een H ig h S tree t and G rea t V ic to ria S treet.

A cco rd in g to th e early in d ex es in th e E irco m co llec tion , N A I, th is w as th e o n ly

te lep h o n e line o p en ed in B e lfa s t b e fo re 18 80 .52 In M ay and Ju n e o f 1880 th e U ls te r

S p inn ing C o m p an y and N o rth e rn S p inn ing C o m pany re sp ectiv e ly , e s tab lish ed lines o f

te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n in th e to w n o f B elfast. T he fo llo w in g m o n th th e B e lfa s t

48 ‘Report o f the Leases Committee, recommending telephonic intercommunication between the new offices, Cork-hill and the City H all’, in RPDCD, vol. 1, 1885 (DCLA) (hereafter Report o f the Leases Committee, Cork-hill and City Hall), also Valuation Office map, c. 1854, Dublin sheet 21, five feet to one inch, 1: 1053.49 Report o f the Leases Committee, Cork-hill and City Hall.50 Ibid.51 Despite substantial trawling, comparable data for mapping the Belfast telephone lines has been difficult to find.52 Index to Works Orders in uncatalogued material, Eircom Archive, NAI. This index was compiled by Thomas Wall, Eircom Archivist, 1985-2001, a copy o f which is in possession o f author.

2 2 2

F la x and Ju te C om pany u p g rad ed its co m m u n ica tio n ap p a ra tu s fro m th e A B C 53

te leg rap h w ire to a p riv a te te lep h o n e w ire. T h is line co n n e c ted th e flax -sp in n in g

co m p an y to th e M ilew a te r M ill. In O c to b e r 1880 a fo u rth B e lfa s t sp in n in g com pany ,

E w a rt and Sons, op en ed a p riv a te te lep h o n e w ire in th e to w n . I t co m es as no su rp rise

th a t th e en e rg e tic flax and lin en m erch an ts w ith th e ir k ee n eye fo r b u s in ess , w e re

am o n g st th e firs t to avail o f th e n ew te lep h o n e ap p a ra tu s in B e lfa s t.54

T he firs t s tep s to w ard s setting up a cen tra l ex ch an g e in B e lfa s t in v o lv ed tw o

co m p an ies, th e S co ttish T elep h o n ic E x ch an g e C o m p an y and th e U n ited T e lep h o n e

C om pany . In M arch 1880 th e S co ttish co m p an y arrived in B e lfa s t to se t u p a cen tra l

exchange. H a v in g firs t secu red p e rm iss io n from th e m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n to lay th e ir

w ire s th ro u g h o u t th e tow n, a p ro m o tio n a l line w as se t u p o ffe rin g free se rv ice fo r

th ree m o n th s to fifty lo ca l firm s, g o o d p u b lic ity b e in g v ita l to secu rin g th e p a tro n ag e

o f th e pub lic . P rem ise s w e re tak en a t 2 C astle C h am b ers and an ex ch an g e , eq u ip p ed

w ith a fifty -lin e sw itch b o ard , o p en ed fo r b u s in ess in M a y 1880. A t th e end o f th e

th ree -m o n th free p e rio d on ly tw o o r th re e o f th e fifty firm s ch o se n o t to b eco m e fu ll

su b sc rib e rs .55 T here w as no doub ting th e p o p u la rity o f th e n ew sy stem in th e n o rth ern

to w n as re flec ted b y th e se tting u p o f a second ex ch an g e b y th e riv a l U n ited

T e lep h o n e C o m p an y in A pril 1880. A s th e tw o ex ch an g es w e re n o t co n n ec ted w ith

one an o th er, cu sto m ers h ad to pay th e d o u b le ex p en se o f su b sc rib in g to b o th

co m p an ies i f th ey w e re to en joy th e fu ll b en e fit o f te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n in

B elfast. P u b lic serv ices also had to b e co n n ected to b o th exchanges, as w as th e case

w ith th e fire b rig ad e in A u g u st 1880, in o rd e r to p rev en t h a lf o f th e te lep h o n e

p o p u la tio n b e in g dep riv ed o f th is essen tia l se rv ice .56 A s in D u b lin , th e m u n ic ip a l

co rp o ra tio n in B e lfa s t u sed its p o w e r to full ad v an tag e w h e n it cam e to n eg o tia tin g

ra te s w ith th e te lep h o n e com pan ies, b o th co m p an ies p ay in g in fu ll fo r th e co n n ec tio n s

w ith th e f ire d epartm en t. T he co rp o ra tio n also g av e p e rm iss io n to th e S co ttish

co m p an y to co n n ect th e to w n hall and re c o rd e r’s co u rt w ith its cen tra l exch an g e , a lso

53 The ABC telegraph was invented by Charles Wheatstone as an improvement on the single needle instruments. Unlike the single needle instrument which required much training for operatives to master the art o f telegraphy, the ABC instrument operated similar to the later telephone dial only recently gone out o f use.54 Works Order Registers 1, 2 and 3, Eircom Archive, NAI, in Wall, ‘Some notes’, pp 63-64.55 Wall, ‘Some notes’, p. 66, and Report o f the town improvement committee, 1 Apr. 1880, in Belfast Corporation Minute Book (hereafter BC minutes), 1879-1882 (PRONI, LA7/2EA/14).56 Report o f the Police committee, 2 Aug. 1880, in BC minutes, 1879-1882 (PRONI, LA7/2EA/14).

223

a t th e fu ll ex p en se o f th e co m p an y .57 Such a sy stem it ap p eared , cou ld n o t susta in

its e lf and it seem ed on ly a m atte r o f tim e b efo re one co m p an y w o u ld b e ta k e n o v e r b y

th e o ther. S u rprising ly , th is d id n o t h ap p en and b o th co m p an ie s m an ag ed to co n tin u e

in o p p o sitio n un til th ey w ere b o th abso rbed in 1893 by th e N a tio n a l T e lep h o n e

C o m p an y .58

A lth o u g h th e S co ttish com pany rem a in ed in o p e ra tio n u n til 1893, it w as th e less

su ccessfu l o f th e tw o rivals. H o w ev er, du rin g th e U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p a n y ’s firs t

tw e lv e m o n th s in B e lfas t it s tru g g led to p ro v id e a sa tis fac to ry se rv ice fo r its

subscribers. O n 26 Ju ly 1881 it w as read at a com pany b o a rd m ee tin g th a t ‘T he

p re sen t sy stem o f exchange h av in g fa iled to g ive sa tisfac tio n , and som e o f th e

su b scrib e rs re fu sin g to pay in con seq u en ce , it is ab so lu te ly n ecessa ry th a t th e b es t

k n o w n system o f ex ch an g e b e in tro d u ced w ith o u t d e lay ’.59 P ro b lem s o f ‘in a tten tio n

o n th e p art o f th e o p e ra to rs ’ and ‘o v erh earin g o f co m m u n ica tio n s fro m o th e r w ire s ’

w e re fa r to o n u m ero u s.60 S ubscribers co m p la in ed o f o p e ra to rs ta lk in g in th e

b ack g ro u n d and delays in m ak in g connections. E v en th e se ttin g u p o f a co m p la in ts

b o o k fo r th e p u rp o se o f m o n ito rin g s ta f f m ad e little d iffe ren c e61, and in F eb ru a ry

1882 th e sec re tary o f th e com pany w as fo rced to w rite to th e head o ffic e in L o n d o n to

ad v ise th em o f th e seriousness o f th e s itu a tio n .62 M ean w h ile th e b u sin ess o f se ttin g up

an ex ch an g e in th e c ity h ad to be d ea lt w ith and h av in g lo o k ed at a n u m b er o f

p rem ises th e com p an y settled on a ten -y ea r lease fo r p rem ises in H ig h S tree t in

A u g u st 1881, fo r a ren ta l o f £85 p e r an n u m .63 In o rd e r to p ro m o te th e se rv ice and

deve lop a g o o d pub lic p ro file , th e com pany , ea rly in 1882, p laced in s tru m en ts in th e

lo d g es o f th e B o tan ic G ardens and th e W a te rw o rk s free o f ch a rg e fo r tw e lv e

m o n th s .64 P ro m o tio n s such as th is w e re carried o u t to d raw in m o re su b scrib e rs and

co n tin u e to ex tend th e system .

57 Ibid.58 Wall, ‘Some notes’, p. 66.59 National Telephone Company, Agenda Book, 1881-1884 (hereafter NTC Agenda), 26 July 1881 (PRONI, GPO/3/1).60 NTC Agenda, 12 Aug. 1881, 14 Feb. 1882.61 Ibid., 12 Aug. 1881.62 Ibid., 14 Feb. 1882.63 Ibid., 12, 30 Aug. 1881.64 Ibid., 21 Feb. 1882.

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T eleg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n h ad b een estab lish ed in F e b ru a ry 1883 b e tw e en th e

cen tra l p o lice o ffice and th ir te en o th e r co n stab u la ry s ta tio n s in th e c ity .65 I t w as

b e liev ed th a t such a serv ice w o u ld b e o f ‘g re a t ad v an tag e to th e C o n s ta b u la ry ’

a ffo rd in g a ‘rap id m ean s o f co m m u n ica tio n w ith th e F ire B r ig a d e ’ in ca ses o f

em ergency . T he sch em e w as to cost £308, h a lf o f th e co s t w a s to be d efray ed b y th e

G o v ern m en t, th e o th e r h a lf b y th e T o w n C ouncil as w as u su a l w ith p o lice ex p en ses .66

B e lfa s t h ad b een m arred b y sec ta rian rio tin g fo r m u ch o f th e seco n d h a lf o f th e

n in e tee n th cen tu ry and w a s th e re fo re one o f th e m o st h eav ily -p o liced c itie s o f th e

U n ited K in g d o m . A loca l P ro te s ta n t po lice fo rce had ex is ted u n til 1865 b u t as a resu lt

o f th e rio tin g w a s rep laced b y th e R o y a l Ir ish C o n stab u la ry (w h ic h w a s th e n a tio n a l

p o lice fo rce). T he p u b lic p e rcep tio n o f th e R IC w as o f an a lien fo rce , co m p le te ly

rem o v ed fro m th e m ajo rity p ro te s tan t p o p u la tio n and th e re fo re n o t to b e tru sted . A ny

o u tb reak s o f v io len ce in th e c ity w e re u su a lly seen b y th e w o rk in g c lass P ro te s tan ts

and to a le sse r ex ten t th e C atho lics , as g o o d reaso n to a ttac k th e R IC . A rap id m ean s

o f co m m u n ica tio n b e tw een th e p o lic e sta tions in B e lfa s t w a s essen tia l, p a r tic u la rly

d u rin g th e tro u b leso m e p e rio d o f th e 1880s.67

T h e ac id te s t fo r th e n ew p o lice te leco m m u n ica tio n sy stem cam e in 1886. In th is y ea r

th e B ritish P rim e M in iste r, W illia m G lad sto n e , in tro d u ced th e f irs t o f h is H o m e R u le

b ills w h ich w as e ssen tia lly d es ig n ed to lo o sen B rita in ’s g rip o n Ire land . T h e re sp o n se

o f th e P ro te s tan t p o p u la tio n in B e lfas t, a lth o u g h p red ic tab le , had a v ery d am ag in g

e ffec t o n th e new leg isla tion . R io ts sw ep t th ro u g h th e c ity p a r ticu la rly a ro u n d th e

P ro te s tan t Shankill R o ad d istric t. T h ese rio ts co n tin u ed th ro u g h o u t th e m o n th s o f

June, Ju ly and A ugust. P o lice s ta tions w e re co n tin u o u sly a tta c k ed and b y th e end o f

th e su m m er th irty -tw o c itizen s h ad b een k illed and a lm o st 4 0 0 p o lice o ffic e rs

in ju red .68

65 Report o f the Police Committee, 1 Mar. 1883, in BC minutes (PRONI, LA/7/2EA/15). Although this document refers to ‘telephonic’ and not ‘telegraphic’ communication, this would appear to be an error as five years later in 1883 reference is made to substituting the existing system o f telegraphic communication between the police stations with telephonic communication, see Report o f the Police Committee 2 July 1888, in Belfast Corporation Minute Book, 1887-1890 (PRONI, LA/7/2EA/17).66 Report o f the Police Committee 1 Mar. 1883, in BC minutes (PRONI, LA/7/2EA/15), and NTC Agenda, 27 Feb. 1883 (PRONI, GPO/3/1).67 Mark Radford, “ Closely akin to actual warfare’: the Belfast riots o f 1886 and the RIC’ in History Ireland, vii, no. 4 (1999), pp 27-8.68 Radford, ‘Closely akin to actual warfare’, p. 28.

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So serious w ere th e rio ts o f 1886 (th e w o rs t o f th e en tire n in e teen th cen tu ry ) th a t an

o ffic ia l co m m issio n o f in q u iry w as set u p im m ed ia te ly a f te rw a rd s to ex am in e w h y th e

tro u b le o ccu rred in th e f irs t p lace , and w h a t steps co u ld b e ta k e n to m in im ise th e

p o ssib ility o f a re -o ccu rren ce . In th is rep o rt it w as reco m m en d ed th a t te lep h o n e

Above ground w ires _____________________Below ground wiresAbove and below ground w ires —Railway lines -----------------------------------• Constabulary Police Stations

Source: Data taken from 'Report o f the Town Improvement Committee, 1 Ju ly 1889', in Belfast Corporation M inute Book, 1887-1890, LA/7/2EA, Public Records O ffice o f Northern Ireland, and Belfast Street Directory, 1884

/// Li___

Base map OS six-inch Antrim, sheet 61,1901 and Down, sheet 4,19021 10 Metres 800

F ig u re 6 .4 T e leg rap h n e tw o rk in B elfast b e fo re b e in g rep laced by te lep h o n e n e tw o rk

co m m u n ica tio n shou ld be es tab lish ed b e tw een all p o lice sta tio n s in c lu d in g th e p riv a te

re s id en ces o f th e m ore sen io r officers. T h e c o m m iss io n e r’s o ffice and th e o ffices o f

th e fo u r d istric t in sp ec to rs w e re also to be in te lep h o n e co m m u n ica tio n w ith one

an o th er and w ith p o lice h ead q u arte rs by m eans o f an u n d e rg ro u n d w ire , to p re v en t

m alic io u s dam age. T he d is tric t se rg ean t’s h ouse in every su b -sec tio n w as to be p u t in

2 2 6

te lep h o n e co m m u n ica tio n w ith th e d istric t p o lice s ta tio n .69 T h e re co m m en d a tio n s o f

th e co m m issio n e rs w e re u p h e ld tw o years la te r in a re p o rt o f th e P o lice C o m m ittee o f

th e C o rp o ra tio n o f B e lfa s t, 1888:

In 1883 telegraphic communication was established between the Central Police Station and thirteen other stations in the Borough, ... It has, however, since been found that the telegraph system is not all that could be desired, and that, in cases o f urgency, delay is caused by the want o f immediate verbal communication, and it is considered desirable that telephonic communication should be substituted therefor.70

O nce te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n w as su b stitu ted th e sy s tem w as th en ex ten d ed to

in c lu d e all tw en ty -tw o p o lice sta tions o n th e c ircu it. B y 1889 a substan tia l n e tw o rk o f

te leg rap h w ire s w as ex p an d in g th ro u g h th e stree ts o f B e lfa s t (F ig u re 6 .4). A s ex p ec ted

m o st o f th e s tree ts su rro u n d in g th e p o lice sta tio n s w e re f irs t to avail o f th e new

com m u n ica tio n . A s m o st o f th e rio tin g o f 1886 o cc u rre d in an d a ro u n d th e P ro te s tan t

S hank ill R o ad , th is d is tric t w as w e ll-se rv ed w ith cab les ru n n in g th e en tire len g th rig h t

in to th e c ity cen tre.

T h e p lan to u p g rad e th e system fro m te leg rap h ic to te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n d id n o t

h o w ev er in c lu d e th e serv ices o f th e te lep h o n e com pany . O n 2 Ju ly 1888 th e

co rp o ra tio n ag reed to m ak e an annual p ay m en t o f £6 4 to w a rd s costs, p ro v id ed th e

g o v ern m en t w o u ld e s tab lish and m ain ta in te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n b e tw e en all th e

ex is tin g p o lice b arrack s and th o se to be e rec ted .71 In m ak in g its d ec is io n th e

co rp o ra tio n w as in flu en ced n o t on ly b y th e g rea t ad v an tag e in ‘e ffec tin g im m ed ia te

v erb a l co m m u n ica tio n b e tw e en th e several b a rra c k s ’, b u t a lso in th e ‘g re a t fa c ilit ie s ’

to b e d eriv ed ‘o f g iv in g in stan tan eo u s n o tice to th e fire b r ig a d e ’ th e re b y en ab lin g

th em to b e ‘ea rlie r o n th e sp o t to assist in th e sav in g o f life and p ro p e rty ’ .72

The National Telephone Company, 1893 - 1912

In 1893 th e N a tio n a l T e lep h o n e C o m pany (N T C ) acq u ired th e in te re sts o f its

p red ecesso r, th e T e lep h o n e C o m p an y o f Ire land , and w a s to rem a in in co n tro l o f th e

Ir ish te lep h o n e sy stem u n til th e P o s t O ffice to o k co n tro l in 1912. In D e cem b er 1894

severe sn o w sto rm s an d g a les cau sed w id esp read d am ag e to th e te lep h o n e sy stem in

69 Report by commissioners o f inquiry, 1886, respecting origin and circumstances o f riots in Belfast, June, July, August and September 1886, and action taken by authorities; and magisterial and police jurisdiction, arrangements and establishment fo r Borough o f Belfast, H.C. 1887 [C. 5029], xviii, 631.70 Police Committee, 2 M y 1888, BC minutes (PRONI, LA/7/2EA/17).71 Ibid., 1 Dec. 1888.72 Ibid., 2 July 1888.

227

D ublin , C o rk and B e lfa s t re su ltin g in len g th y in te rru p tio n s to services. A s a re su lt o f

th e sto rm s th e fo llo w in g c ircu la r w as issued to th e su b scrib e rs o f th e N T C ’s B e lfa s t

exchange:

We regret to have to inform you that the main communications o f the telephone system have suffered severely from the effects o f the late gales and snowstorms. Every effort is being made to deal with the emergency which is entirely unprecedented. Extra hands have been brought in where available from other centres and repairs are being proceeded with as rapidly as possible but some weeks must necessarily be required before complete communication is restored.73

T h e B e lfa s t subscribers, in re sp o n se to th is no tice , ap p lied fo r ‘p ro p o rtio n a te

d ed u c tio n s’ in th e ir ren t fo r th e p erio d s du rin g w h ich th e ir te lep h o n e serv ice had b ee n

in te rru p ted . C o n sid erin g th e len g th y in te rru p tio n s to th e serv ice (in som e cases u p to

tw o m on ths), th is w as n o t an u n reaso n ab le req u es t o n th e su b sc rib e rs ’ behalf.

T h e re fu sa l o f th e te lep h o n e co m p an y to en terta in th e re q u e s t o f its su b sc rib e rs had

serio u s rep ercu ssio n s fo r b o th p arties as th e su b scrib e rs re fu sed to pay fo r th e p e rio d

d u rin g w h ich th e ir serv ices had b een d isrup ted . T h e en su in g d isp u te co n tin u ed

th ro u g h o u t 1895 w ith n e ith e r side p rep ared to g ive w a y .74 In a d e lib e ra te a ttem p t to

co e rce subscribers in to p ay in g ren ts, th e com pany th rea ten ed litig a tio n and p e rm a n en t

d isconnec tion . In M arch 1895 th e te lep h o n e co m p an y a ttem p ted to tak e co n tro l o f th e

d ifficu lt s itu a tio n by p e rm an en tly d isco n n ec tin g su b scrib e rs u n til ren ts w e re paid . T he

d isp u te d rag g ed on d u rin g th e sum m er o f 1895 g en e ra tin g m u ch re sen tm e n t to w ard s

th e com pany . O n 15 Ju ly 1895 a co m p la in t w a s lo d g ed w ith th e C o rp o ra tio n o f

D u b lin by th e D u b lin M ercan tile A sso c ia tio n L im ited (D M A L ), on b e h a lf o f th e ir

m em b ers w h o w e re su bscribers to th e N T C . A cco rd in g to th e D M A L its m e m b e rs ’

te lep h o n e serv ices had b e e n su sp en d ed in co n seq u en ce o f th e sto rm s an d th e len g th y

delays in v o lv ed in re s to rin g co m m u n ica tio n w e re said by th em to b e ‘u n re a so n a b le ’ .

T h ey also co m p la in ed o f th e ‘d efec tiv e w o rk in g o f th e p re sen t sy s tem ’, ‘and th e w a n t

o f a tten tio n on th e p a r t o f th e o p era to rs in th e [D ublin ] ex c h a n g e ’. F u rth erm o re , th e

su b scrib ers m ain ta in ed th a t th ey should n o t be ask ed ‘to pay fo r th e p e rio d w h e n th e

co m p an y fa iled to p erfo rm th e ir p a rt o f th e co n tra c t’, b u t ra th e r ‘to pay on ly fo r th e

tim e during w h ich th e ir te lep h o n es hav e b een in w o rk in g o rd e r’.75

73 National Telephone Company Minute Book (hereafter NTC minutes), 1893 to 1898, 14 Jan. 1895 (PRONI, GPO.3/7).74 NTC minutes, 19 Jan. 1895.75 Printed Minutes o f the Municipal Council o f Dublin, 15 July 1895, pp 177-8 (DCLA).

2 2 8

1895 w as n o t a p a rticu la rly g o o d year fo r th e N T C . T h e d isp u te w ith su b sc rib e rs in

Ire lan d d id n o th in g to im p ro v e th e co m p an y ’s g ro w in g u n p o p u la rity . In B rita in

how ever, th in g s w e re ev e r w orse . In M arch 1895 th e H o u se o f C o m m o n s d eb a te d th e

q u estio n o f a m u n ic ip a l te lep h o n e service. T h e g o v ern m en t cam e in fo r m u ch

critic ism fo r a llo w in g a g ig an tic m o nopo ly to o ccu r by tak in g over th e ru n n in g o f the

tru n k rou tes, w h ils t leav in g all th e ex ch an g es u n d e r th e co n tro l o f th e N T C . M an y

local M P s b e liev ed th a t th e m u n ic ip a litie s ‘w o rth y o f th e nam e sh o u ld o w n and

con tro l en terp rises h av in g an y th in g to do w ith th e b reak in g u p o r th e u s in g o f th e

s tre e ts ’.76 T he co rp o ra tio n s o f L o ndon , G lasg o w an d E d in b u rg h led th is c a m p a ig n fo r

m u n ic ip a l te lep h o n e licenses. In o p p o sitio n th e P o stm aste r-G en era l s ta ted th a t a

m u n ic ip a l te lep h o n e sy stem w as no lon g er a p rac tica l co n s id era tio n in 1895 as the

te lep h o n e w as p ro v id in g a n a tional service. A s m u n ic ip a litie s w e re o n ly co n c e rn e d in

local serv ices, a m u n ic ip a l te lep h o n e system w a s no m o re p rac tica l th a n a m u n ic ip a l

P o s t O ffice o r te leg rap h system . N ev erth e le ss th e P o stm aste r-G en era l b o w e d to th e

d em an d o f th e m an y m u n ic ip a litie s k een to co n tro l th e lo ca l te lep h o n e n e tw o rk . T he

T e leg rap h A ct, 1899 p e rm itted m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n s to app ly fo r licen ses to op en

exchanges, h ow ever, fro m th e m any h u n d red s o f m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n s in B rita in

and Ire land , on ly th ir te en m u n ic ip a l te lep h o n e licen ses w e re g ran ted . A m o n g s t th ese

th irteen licen sees w a s th e co rp o ra tio n o f B e lfast. T h e licen ce p e rm itte d th e

co rp o ra tio n to o p e ra te a te lep h o n e system u n til 31 D ecem b er 1911. D u e to the

h esitan cy o f th e co rp o ra tio n to tak e any d efin ite s tep s to w ard s se tting up a m u n ic ip a l

te lep h o n e serv ice, th e licen ce lapsed. O n ly six o f the th ir te en to w n s o p en ed m u n ic ip a l77te lep h o n e exchanges.

In 1897 th e N T C em b ark ed on th e co n stru c tio n o f a n ew an d m u ch la rg e r ex c h an g e in

D u b lin to rep lace th e p re sen t one at C o m m ercia l B u ild in g s, D am e S treet, o ccu p ied by

its p red ecesso rs s ince 1880. T h e n ew ex ch an g e w as to be lo ca ted n o t fa r fro m

C o m m ercia l B u ild in g s o n a site leased from th e C o rp o ra tio n in th e T em p le B ar

d is tric t o f th e c ity .78 N e w offices had also b een o p en ed at 23 S ou th F red e rick S treet,

76 ‘The Post Office and the National Telephone Company’ in The Parliamentary Debates, Fourth Series, xxxi, 1895, 210.77 These were Glasgow (1901), Tunbridge W ells (1901), Swansea (1902), Portsmouth (1902), Brighton (1903) and Hull (1904), sec ‘Events in telecommunications history’ on website o f the BT Archives (http://www.btplc.com/archives), 22 Feb. 2005.78 ‘Report o f the paving committee, Re: application from the National Telephone Company, Limited, relative to the development of telephonic communication, and laying down o f underground telephone

2 2 9

to acco m m o d ate th e S u p erin ten d en t fo r Ire lan d .79 S uch ex p an sio n h o w ev er, w as n o t

w ith o u t problem s. O b jec tio n s had been g ro w in g in reg a rd to th e ‘u n s ig h tlin e s s ’ o f the

ex isting o v erh ead sy stem o f w ires, and as th e co n stru c tio n o f th e n ew ex c h an g e w o u ld

n ecess ita te an in c rease in w ires , it w as p ro p o sed to co n sid e r p lac in g th e m ain ro u te s o f

w ires in th e cen tre o f th e city, u n d erg ro u n d . T h is sy stem had recen tly b e e n ag reed

b e tw een th e sam e co m p an y and the co rp o ra tio n o f B e lfa s t as little as sev en w eek s

p rev iously . In th e B e lfa s t ag reem en t, m ad e on 5 M arch 1897, th e C o rp o ra tio n o f th a t

c ity g av e its co n sen t to th e N T C to lay p ip es co n ta in in g e lec tric w ire fo r te lep h o n e u se

u n d er th e s tree ts o f B e lfa s t, and to co n stru c t m an h o les in th e s tree ts fo r u se in rep a ir

and m ain ten an ce o f th e w ires. A ccess to th e u n d erg ro u n d w ires w as b y m ean s o f th ese

m an h o les only, th e co m p an y b e in g fo rb id d en by th e ag reem en t to b reak up o r

in te rfe re w ith th e streets. B e fo re th e co m m en cem en t o f any such m a in ten an ce w o rk ,

th e com p an y w as o b lig ed to g ive b e tw een sev en and fo u rte en days n o tice o f th e w o rk s

to th e c ity en g in ee r acco m p an ied by a p lan , sec tio n and sp ec ifica tio n o f th e w o rk s.

T he C o rp o ra tio n co u ld at any tim e co n sen t to th e ex ecu tio n o f re p a ir w o rk s in th e

stree ts b y o th e r p arties in re la tio n to te lep h o n ic co m m u n ica tio n , as th e ag reem en t did

n o t con fer on th e N T C exc lusive rig h ts to th e s tree ts fo r th is p u rp o se .80

T he B e lfa s t ag reem en t w as to be u sed as a m odel fo r D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n w ith a s lig h t

v a ria tio n in th e ra te s ag reed b e tw een th e N T C and th e tw o co rpo ra tions. W h ils t

D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n w a s to rece iv e from th e N T C te n sh illin g s fo r each la rg e m an h o le ,

tw o sh illings and six p en c e fo r each sm all m an h o le , and one sh illing fo r each p o le

erected , th e C o rp o ra tio n o f B elfas t w as to rece iv e te n sh illings fo r all m an h o les

construc ted . In te rm s o f finance it w as a lu c ra tiv e ag reem en t fo r th e tw o

m u n ic ip a litie s as th e te lep h o n e com pany w as also o b liged to pay each th e sum o f tw o

sh illing and six p en c e p e r annum fo r each su b scrib e r w ith in th e D u b lin and B e lfa s t

te lep h o n ic a rea .81 S uch arran g em en ts w o u ld b e o f g rea t b en e fit to th e m erch an ts and

trad e rs o f b o th to w n s p rev en tin g in te rfe ren ce to co m m u n ica tio n such as had h ap p en ed

a n u m b er o f years p rev io u sly , o w ing to th e fall o f snow . A lso th e p o ss ib le in ju ry to

th e pub lic from o v erh ead w ire s fa llin g d o w n w o u ld also b e rem oved . In th e ir re p o rt it

wires’, in RPDCD, vol. 1, 1897 (hereafter ‘Report o f the paving committee, NTC and undergroundwires), pp 697-708.79 ‘Report o f the paving committee, NTC and underground wires’, p. 699.80 Ibid., pp 701-708.81 Ibid., pp 699, 704.

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w as co n c lu d ed b y th e P av in g C o m m ittee o f D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n th a t th e p ro p o sed

a rran g em en ts w o u ld b e ‘equal to th e b es t o b ta in ed in any o th e r c ity ’, and w ith ab o u t

2 4 ,0 0 0 m essag es sen t daily on the ‘te lep h o n ic sy stem in D u b lin ’, th ese a rran g em en ts

w e re o f th e u tm o s t n ec ess ity .82 In in v es tig a tin g th e p ro cess o f lay in g u n d e rg ro u n d

w ires, co m m u n ica tio n w a s m ade w ith th e C o m m iss io n ers o f S ew ers o f th e C ity

L o n d o n as th is p a r tic u la r b o d y p o ssessed a d e ta iled k n o w led g e o f u n d e rg ro u n d b o rin g

82 Ibid., p. 700.

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h av in g ju s t co m p le ted th e n ew m ain d ra in ag e sy stem o f L o n d o n , a fe a t th e ir D u b lin

co u n te rp arts w o u ld n o t ach ieve un til th e fo llo w in g cen tu ry .83

In 1892 tru n k line co m m u n ica tio n w as es tab lish ed b e tw een D u b lin and B e lfa s t, th e

M ay o r o f B e lfa s t w ish in g to sp eak to h is co u n te rp a rt in D ub lin . T h is ev e n t w as

covered by th e p ress and in stru m en ts w e re p lace d in th e n ew sro o m o f th e B e lfas t

C h am b er o f C o m m erce fo r b o th g en tlem en to speak th ro u g h (A p p en d ix X II). B y th e

early tw en tie th cen tu ry tru n k lines had b een ex ten d ed as fa r as W ex fo rd , C ork ,

L im erick Ju n c tio n and B a lly m en a (F ig u re 6 .5).

Conclusion

T he fac ility o f th e te lep h o n e w as q u ick ly av a iled o f in D u b lin an d B e lfa s t w ith

ex ch an g es o p en in g in b o th to w n s in 1880. T h ro u g h n ecessity th e te lep h o n e co m p an ie s

d ev e lo p ed g o o d re la tio n s w ith th e local au th o ritie s in b o th to w n s, p ro v id in g

fav o u rab le ra te s in re tu rn fo r p e rm iss io n to e rec t w ires. W ith th e o p en in g o f th ese

ex ch an g es in 1880, th e te lep h o n e b eg an to p re sen t serious co m p e titio n to th e ex is tin g

P o s t O ffice -co n tro lled te leg rap h ic system , and by the end o f th a t y ea r b o th fo rm s o f

co m m u n ica tio n w e re u n d e r th e con tro l o f th e P o s t O ffice. T he d ec is io n o f th e P o s t

O ffice to tak e o v er th e te lep h o n e system w as ju s tif ie d d u rin g th e 1880s w ith th e

g ro w in g lis ts o f su b scrib ers to th e n ew ly -es tab lish ed exchanges. A p art fo r th e o b v io u s

co m m erc ia l ad v an tag es o f th e te lep h o n e , its ev en m ore im p o rtan t ad v an tag es in

m a tte rs o f secu rity had b een d isp lay ed in th is p o litica lly -v o la tile d ecad e w ith th e

estab lish m en t o f a te lep h o n e n e tw o rk b e tw e en all th e p o lice sta tio n s in B e lfa s t to

su b stitu te th e recen tly -estab lish ed te leg rap h system . In th e w a k e o f th e m u rd e r o f th e

c h ie f sec re ta ry in th e P h o en ix P ark , D ub lin , te lep h o n e lines w e re h u rried ly in s ta lle d to

co n n ect th e o ffic ia l re s id en ces in th is iso la ted p art o f th e c ity w ith th e secu rity fo rces

at D ub lin C astle . In 1893 a tru n k line o f co m m u n ica tio n w as e s tab lish ed b e tw e en th e

tw o to w n s o f D u b lin and B elfast, a t w h ich s tag e th e n e tw o rk s in b o th to w n s w e re

sp read ing o u t in to th e suburbs.

83 Printed minutes of the Municipal Council of Dublin, 1898, p. 31 (DCLA).

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Chapter VII

Conclusion

If, by 1922, I re la n d ’s tw o p rem ie r c ities d id n o t d isp lay all th e H a u ssm a n n -lik e

qualitie s o f th e p e rfec tly in teg ra ted u rb a n ideal, it w as ce rta in ly n o t fo r th e w a n t o f

am bition . Indeed , co n sid erin g th e o v erw h elm in g b u reau c ra tic p ro c ed u re s in v o lv ed at

every level, it so m etim es seem s am az in g th a t p ro g ress o f an y ty p e w as ach ieved , b u t

it w as, and o f th is th e re can b e no doubt. H e ro ic effo rts w e re m ad e b y co u n tless

g ro u p s and in d iv id u a ls to im p ro v e v ario u s asp ec ts o f each c ity ’s in fra s tru c tu re

th ro u g h o u t th e p erio d exam ined. N am es o f k ey in d iv id u a ls im m e d ia te ly co m e to th e

fo re such as C u b itt, W alker, and D arg an , N ev ille , B re tlan d an d S toney , n o t fo rg e ttin g

th e th o u san d s o f n am eless in d iv id u a ls w h o sw ea ted and to iled to m ak e th e v ario u s

p ro jec ts w o rk . W ith o u t th is co m b in ed h u m an e ffo rt a t m an y d iffe ren t levels, en g ag in g

th e serv ices o f a w id e array o f g o v e rn m en t offic ia ls, p riv a te b o a rd m em b ers and

co m m ercia l agen ts, only a frac tio n o f th e w o rk w o u ld h av e b e e n ach ieved .

C o n sid e rin g th e p re s tig e and in flu en ce asso c ia ted w ith m u n ic ip a l g o v e rn m e n t in th e

n in e teen th cen tu ry (and also co n sid erin g th e title ch o sen fo r th is w o rk ) , o n e o f th e

m o re su rp ris in g d isco v eries has b ee n th e m in im al in flu en ce e x e rted by th e

co rp o ra tio n s in b o th to w n s o v er m u ch o f th e in d u stria l in fra s tru c tu re w ith in th e ir

m u n ic ip a l b o u n d aries . O f th e v ario u s in fra s tru c tu res exp lo red in th is study , th e w a te r

supp ly o f D u b lin w as th e on ly one u n d e r th e co n tro l o f th e m u n ic ip a l au th o rity in

1830. T he co rresp o n d in g serv ice in B e lfa s t rem a in s to th is day o u ts id e m u n ic ip a l

contro l. B y th e 1850s how ever, d ra in ag e had b eco m e a m u n ic ip a l c o n c e rn in b o th

to w n s and rem a in s so today . N ev erth e le ss , th e tw o ports, h av in g o rig in a lly b een

asso c ia ted w ith th e co rp o ra tio n s since th e early e ig h teen th cen tu ry , b ro k e aw ay in

1785 and 1786 to b eco m e - and rem a in - p riv a te co rpo rations. A s th e D u b lin p o rt

au th o rity w a s re sp o n sib le fo r m ain ta in in g th e bed , quay w a lls and b rid g es o f th e R iv e r

L iffey fro m its m o u th th ro u g h th e cen tre o f th e to w n as fa r as B a rra c k B rid g e , it w as

m o re in v o lv ed in th e ru n n in g o f th e to w n th an th e co rp o ra tio n w a s in th e ru n n in g o f

th e port. T h e ra ilw ay s rem a in ed in th e h an d s o f th e p riv a te co m p an ies th ro u g h o u t th e

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n in e tee n th cen tu ry and had v ery little to do w ith th e co rpo ra tions. A s sh o w n in

C h ap te rs I and III, th e re w as scan t need fo r co m m u n ica tio n b e tw e en th e co rp o ra tio n

and th e ra ilw ay com pan ies, as by th e tim e th e la tte r b eg a n co n stru c tin g sch em es

w ith in th e tow n , th ey had a lread y secu red p arliam en ta ry san c tio n and little co u ld be

d o n e to o p p o se th e ir w orks. P ro v id ed th e co m p an y stayed w ith in th e p o w e rs g ra n te d

b y p a rliam en t and av o id ed d am ag e to pub lic p ro p e rty th e re w as no n eed fo r

o p p o sitio n on th e co rp o ra tio n ’s part. A w e ll-b u ilt ra ilw ay w o u ld a lw ay s b e a w e lc o m e

ad d itio n to a to w n ’s in fra stru c tu re .

In co n tra s t to th e ra ilw ay com pan ies, th e te lep h o n e co m p an ie s d ev e lo p ed so lid

re la tio n s (a lbe it th ro u g h n ecessity ) w ith th e m un ic ipa l au th o rities in b o th to w n s. In

o rd e r to erec t te lep h o n e po les, p u b lic s tree ts and p av em en ts h ad to b e opened . T o

h ang w ire s on th ese po les req u ired in te rfe rin g w ith b u ild in g s in o rd e r to a ttach th e

w ires, o r to lay th em a lo n g th e ro o fto p s. W h en th e f irs t ex ch an g e o p en ed in D u b lin in

1880, it w as v ery c lose to th e C ity H a ll and th e te lep h o n e co m p an y im m ed ia te ly

en te red in to n eg o tia tio n s w ith th e co rp o ra tio n fo r w a y le av e to lay th e ir w ire s

th ro u g h o u t th e tow n. In re tu rn fo r th is concession , th e co m p an y o ffe red specia l ra te s

to th e co rpo ration . B o th co m p an y and co rp o ra tio n th e re fo re en te red in to a rec ip ro ca l

re la tio n sh ip w h e re each one b en e fited b y th e req u irem en ts o f th e o ther. W h e n th e

sy stem o f o v erh ead w ire s w as la id u n d erg ro u n d in 1897, ex cav a tio n w o rk in c reased

and access to th e w ires b ecam e an im p o rtan t concern . U n d e r th e ag reem en t m ade

b e tw e en th e co rp o ra tio n o f B e lfa s t and th e te lep h o n e co m p an y , w h ic h w a s ad o p ted

so o n a fte rw ard s by th e co rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin , th e co m p an y h ad to pay th e

co rp o ra tio n s fo r th e p riv ileg e o f co n stru c tin g m an h o les in o rd e r to g a in access to th e ir

w ires. A lth o u g h th e co rp o ra tio n o f B e lfa s t m ad e ten ta tiv e steps to w ard s e s tab lish in g a

m u n ic ip a l te lep h o n e serv ice in th e 1890s, like th e h a lf d o zen o th e r U K to w n s w ith

sim ila r asp ira tio n s , it n ev e r fo llo w ed th rough . E v id en c e in th is s tu d y th e re fo re

su g g ests th a t th e m un ic ipa l ho ld o n in fra s tru c tu ra l d ev e lo p m e n t w ith in th e city

b o u n d arie s w a s ten u o u s to say th e least.

T h e p h y sica l g eo g rap h y o f th e tw o to w n s and su rro u n d in g reg io n s h as b ee n sh o w n as

a crucia l d e te rm in in g fa c to r in th e ty p e o f im p ro v em en ts th a t to o k p lace b e tw e en 1830

and 1920. D ub lin , a t th e m o u th o f th e R iv e r L iffey in a w id e o p en bay, w as less

sh e lte red th an B elfast. In o rd e r to p ro tec t its sh ipp ing th e au th o ritie s w e re fo rced to

234

co n stru c t th e tw o g rea t sea w a lls in th e la te e ig h teen th and early n in e teen th cen tu ries,

and it w as w ith in th ese tw o w alls th a t th e n in e teen th -cen tu ry p o rt developed . T he

L iffey d issec ted D ub lin , g iv in g a g rad u al rise to the c o n to u r o f th e g ro u n d n o rth and

so u th o f its banks. F o r th is re aso n all w a te r, in c lu d in g sew age, flo w ed n a tu ra lly in to

th is, th e m ain river. H o w ev er, as th e to w n w as ab o v e th e lin e o f h ig h w a te r and free

fro m sw am p, it w as th e re fo re capab le o f b e in g effec tiv e ly sew ered by g rav ity .

G eo g rap h ica lly , B e lfa s t d iffe red fro m D u b lin in a lm o st ev e ry re sp ec t. T h e n o rth e rn

to w n w as w e ll-p ro te c ted fro m th e o p en sea, b e in g s itu a ted at th e recess o f a lo n g

n a rro w lough , and th e re fo re req u irin g no artific ia l b arrie rs . It w a s also a lo w -ly in g

to w n , poo rly d ra in ed and liab le to flood ing . B e lfa s t th e re fo re p re sen ted a m o re

d ifficu lt ta sk fo r a m ain d ra in ag e sch em e th an D ub lin . O n e p h y sica l fe a tu re th e tw o

to w n s d id h av e in com m on , w a s th e ir c lo se p ro x im ity to th e th o u san d s o f ac res o f

s lo b lan d s on th e ir shores. T h ese v a s t areas o f d isused w a s te lan d s w e re ideal fo r

rec lam a tio n pu rp o ses, and b ec am e crucial to the fu tu re d ev e lo p m en t o f b o th tow ns,

p articu la rly in B elfast. B e fo re any m ajo r en g in ee rin g w a s u n d e rta k en th e re fo re , th e

to p o g rap h ica l in h eritan ce o f b o th to w n s and su rro u n d in g reg io n s en su red th a t

p ro g ress w o u ld b e slow and expensive .

T h e s lo b lan d s ad jacen t to B e lfa s t and crucia l to its d ev e lo p m en t w e re o v er 5 ,000 acres

in size. T h is v ast expanse o f w aste lan d s b ecam e c lo se ly lin k ed in a n u m b er o f w ay s to

th e im p o rtan t q uestion o f n e tw o rk s. I t p re sen ted to th e p o rt au th o ritie s an a lm o s t

u n lim ited p lay in g fie ld in w h ic h to execu te th e ir im p o rtan t im p ro v em en t w o rk s,

su b jec t to p erm issio n fro m th e C row n. A s th ese lands co n ta in ed m illio n s o f cu b ic

y ard s o f tid a l w a te rs , th ey w e re cen tra l to th e p re se rv a tio n o f th e po rt, so it w as

im p o rtan t th a t th e h a rb o u r co m m issio n e rs p rev en t en c ro ach m en ts. A s C h ap te r II has

d em o n stra ted , en c ro ach m en ts had b een an ong o in g p ro b lem fo r th e co m m issio n e rs

g o in g b ack to th e p rev io u s cen tu ry , as p riv a te in d iv id u a ls co n tin u o u sly b u ilt sm all

q u ay s and slips a lo n g th e fo resh o re w ith o u t perm ission . A s co n se rv a to rs o f th e

h a rb o u r it w as th e d u ty o f th e co m m issio n e rs to p rev en t th is so rt o f th in g h appen ing ,

b u t firs t th ey needed fu ll title o v er th ese lands. W h en th e B e lfa s t and B a lly m e n a

R a ilw ay th rea ten ed a hu g e en c ro ach m en t by b u ild in g a tw o -m ile em b an k m en t

th ro u g h th e slobs and re c la im in g 2 ,5 0 0 acres, th e co m m issio n e rs w e re fo rced to tak e

m easu res to secu re th e fu ll t itle to th ese im p o rtan t lands. H ere th en is an ex c e llen t

ex am p le o f th e b u reau cracy in v o lv ed in th ese p ro ced u res. T h ese lands o w n ed

235

u ltim a te ly by th e C row n , w e re p ro tec ted by th e A d m ira lty , and fo u g h t o v er in

p a rliam en t by th e h a rb o u r co m m issio n e rs and th e ra ilw ay com pany . W h en p ro p o sa ls

fo r a m ain d ra in ag e sch em e firs t en tered th e p u b lic fo ru m in 1865, th e s lo b lan d s w e re

o n ce ag a in ta rg e ted fo r an e lab o ra te re c lam atio n sch em e in v o lv in g th e irrig a tio n o f th e

rec la im ed lands by sew age.

In D u b lin th e s lo b lan d s p lay ed a lesse r ro le in th e to w n ’s d ev e lo p m en t th an th o se in

B elfast. A s in B e lfa s t how ever, th ey w e re im p o rtan t fo r th e p o r t ’s re len tle ss seaw ard

expansion . T he au th o ritie s in D u b lin had also co n sid e red rec la im in g 2 ,0 0 0 ac res o f

slobs n o rth o f C lon tarf, n ea r th e N o rth B ull sands. T h ese lands, as in B e lfa s t, w e re

a lso to b e u tilised fo r irrig a tio n b y to w n sew age b u t s im ila r to B e lfas t, th is p lan cam e

to no th ing . T he m ain re c lam atio n w o rk s in D u b lin d id n o t o cc u r un til th e 1860s w h e n

th e b u ild in g o f th e d eep -w a te r p o rt a round A lex an d ra B as in w a s com m en ced . Sand

d red g ed in th e ex cav a tio n o f th e b as in and also fro m a lo n g th e L iffey quays, w as u sed

to rec la im th ese lands. T h is m an ip u la tio n o f th e seabed , p ick in g it up and m o v in g it

fro m one p art o f th e bay to ano ther, resu lted in a d ram a tic tran sfo rm a tio n o f th e

sh o re lin e in b o th tow ns. T he co n stru c tio n o f th e D u b lin an d D ro g h e d a R a ilw ay in th e

1840s had left a large am o u n t o f s lob land b e tw een th e ra ilw ay and th e sho re line . T h is

w as rec la im ed b y th e m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n to w ard s th e en d o f th e cen tu ry an d tu rn ed

in to a pub lic park . In B e lfa s t a ro u n d th e sam e tim e, a ‘P e o p le ’s P a rk ’ had a lso been

c rea ted on rec la im ed s lo b lan d in th e C ounty D o w n sid e o f th e lough. T h is w o rk

how ever, w as ca rried o u t b y th e c iv ica lly -m in d ed h a rb o u r co m m issio n e rs an d n o t th e

m u n ic ip a l co rpo ra tion . S u rprising ly then , a rtific ia l in te rfe ren c e w ith th e sh o re lin e

p lay ed an im p o rtan t ro le in th e p ro v is io n o f n e tw o rk ed in fra s tru c tu re in th e tw o

to w n s, p articu la rly B elfast.

A t th e b eg in n in g o f th is s tudy th e q uestions w e re asked: W hy w e re so m any

im p ro v em en ts ca rried o u t to th e in fra stru c tu re in b o th to w n s? W h a t w as th e u ltim a te

re aso n fo r th ese im p ro v em en ts and w h o sto o d to b en e fit? In p ro v id in g an sw ers to

th ese qu estio n s it h as b ee n n ecessary to v iew each in d iv id u a l is lan d o f in fra s tru c tu re

as a co m p o n en t p a rt o f a g re a te r w h o le . I f fo r exam ple , th e th em es o f m aritim e trad e

and d ra inage, a t firs t seem w o rld s apart, a c lo ser ex am in a tio n te lls o therw ise . In th e

tw o to w n s u n d e r study, th e w a ste o f th e en tire p o p u la tio n s flo w ed in to th e m ain riv ers

b e fo re u ltim a te ly d isch arg in g in to th e harbours. O ver m an y y ea rs th ese accu m u la tio n s

2 3 6

o f filth a long th e q uays n ecessita ted co n stan t d red g in g by th e p o rt au th o ritie s to

m ain ta in su ffic ien t dep th s fo r v esse ls w h ich w e re v ita l fo r m ain ta in in g th e tra d e o f th e

h arbour. In D u b lin th e q u es tio n o f sew erage b ecam e tie d u p w ith th e p u rif ic a tio n o f

th e L iffey , w h ich rem a in ed u n d er th e au th o rity o f th e p o rt and d o ck s board . T h e

ou tfa ll w o rk s fo r th e m ain d ra in ag e schem es in b o th to w n s req u ired rec lam atio n w o rk

o n th e slob lands, w h ich in tu rn a ffec ted th e tidal w a te rs n ecessa ry to th e p re se rv a tio n

o f th e harbours. In th e 1860s and 1870s th e ra ilw ay s ex ten d ed n ew b ran ch lines d o w n

to th e quays and d ocks in b o th tow ns. T his o f co u rse b ro u g h t rec ip ro ca l b en e fits to th e

ra ilw ay co m p an ies and th e p o rt au thorities. T h e h a rm o n io u s re la tio n sh ip b e tw e en

ra ilw ay an d p o rt led to th e p u rch asin g o f sh ips b y th e ra ilw a y com pan ies. T he L o n d o n

and N o rth W este rn R a ilw ay C o m p an y o p e ra ted a p asse n g e r fe rry b e tw een H o ly h ea d

and K in g sto w n . In 1861 th is co m p an y m oved its p assen g er te rm in a l fro m K in g s to w n

to N o rth W all w h e re it b u ilt its o w n ra ilw ay sta tio n a t S p en ce r D o ck . T he com ing

to g e th e r o f p o rt and ra ilw ay speeded up th e m ail se rv ice w h ic h w as ru n by th e P o s t

O ffice , w h ich in tu rn to o k o v er th e te leg rap h se rv ice w h ic h had b een in v en ted to

im p ro v e co m m u n ica tio n on th e ra ilw ays. T he te leg rap h g av e rise to th e te lep h o n e , and

so co m p le tin g a w h o le m ass o f in te rtw in in g and in te rd ep en d en t n e tw o rk s and

connections.

B y ex am in in g th is n e tw o rk ed system w ith in each to w n , m any o f th e se in d iv id u a l

w o rk s can b e b e tte r u n d e rs to o d as v ita l p a r ts o f a la rg e r p ro jec t d ev ised b y

W estm in s te r to ex tend B rita in ’s po litica l, eco n o m ic an d m ilita ry p o w e r th ro u g h o u t

Ire land . In th is re sp ec t th e P o s t O ffice, ac ting o n b e h a lf o f th e g o v ern m en t, w as v ery

in fluen tia l, as it w as th e P o stm aste r-G en era l w h o in d irec tly o rc h es tra ted m u ch o f th e

ch an g es in tran sp o rt and co m m u n ica tio n in fra s tru c tu re d u rin g th is period . O n ce th e

rap id ad v an cem en ts in steam co m m u n ica tio n en te red th e soc ia l m ain stream , th e

go v ern m en t, ac ting th ro u g h th e P o s t O ffice, w a s te d little tim e in in v es tig a tin g h o w

b es t to u tilise th is n ew tech n o lo g y in o rd e r to im p ro v e L o n d o n - D ub lin

com m u n ica tio n s. B e fo re th e arrival o f th e ra ilw ay s all L o n d o n m ail d es tin ed fo r

D ublin w en t by m ail co ach to L iverpoo l, th en b y sea to K in g sto w n H arb o u r, th en ce to

D u b lin b y m ail co ach on ce again. T h e ac ce le ra tio n o f th e m ail se rv ice b e tw e en th e

tw o m etro p o lises w as th e re fo re one o f th e m ain ju s tif ic a tio n s fo r b u ild in g n o t on ly

Ire la n d ’s firs t ra ilw ay , th e D u b lin and K in g sto w n in 1831, b u t also th e L o n d o n to

L iv erp o o l R a ilw ay in 1838. B y th e end o f th e 1860s th e p o w erfu l fa c ilitie s o ffe red b y

237

te leg rap h ic com m u n ica tio n , a lth o u g h w e ll k n o w n to th e pub lic , w e re n o t w id e ly

ava ilab le , d u e to h ig h ta riffs and g en era l m ism an ag em en t on th e p a r t o f th e p riv a te

o p era to rs . O nce ag a in it w a s th e P o s t O ffice th a t to o k con tro l, th u s ex ten d in g th e

n e tw o rk and m ak ing it m o re w id e ly av a ilab le fo r p u b lic use. W hen , in th e 1880s, th e

g ro w in g p o p u la rity o f th e te lep h o n e b eg a n to p re sen t a g en u in e th re a t to th e P o s t

O ffic e ’s n ew ly -acq u ired te leg rap h ic co m m u n ica tio n serv ice , th e P o stm aste r-G en era l

w as th e in stru m en ta l fig u re b eh in d th e n ew leg is la tio n w h ich d eem ed th e te lep h o n e to

b e a te leg rap h , th u s g a in in g fo r th e P o s t O ffice, th e p o w e r to issu e licen ces to p riv a te

o p e ra to rs w ish in g to o p en te lep h o n e exchanges.

T h e in flu en ce o f th e P o stm aste r-G en era l w as o n ce ag a in ap p a ren t in 1884 w h e n th e

D ub lin , W ick lo w and W ex fo rd Ju n c tio n R a ilw ay B ill w e n t to p arliam en t. A lth o u g h

o p p o sed by th e m u n ic ip a l co rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin , th e co n v in c in g a rg u m en ts o f th e

te am o f w itn esses ac ting u n d er th e in stru c tio n s o f th e P o s tm a ste r-G e n era l w o n th e

day. T h e m ain a rg u m en t o f th e co rp o ra tio n w a s b ased o n aesthe tics: th e in tru s io n o f

th e ev asiv e ra ilw ay v iad u c t in th e im m ed ia te v ic in ity o f th e C u sto m H o u se w as

w h o lly inap p ro p ria te . H o w ev er as Jo h n A llen , in sp ec to r o f m ails fo r Ire lan d , testified ,

m ail co u ld b e b ro u g h t w ith ‘g rea t sp ee d ’ v ia exp ress tra in s and ‘ex ce llen t s te a m e rs ’

f ro m L o n d o n as fa r as W estlan d R o w in D ublin . H o w ev er, it w as a t th is p o in t th a t th e

w h o le sy stem b ro k e dow n as it h ad to b e ca rted by v an fro m th is s ta tio n to th e o th e r

ra ilw ay sta tio n s in th e city in o rd e r to be d isp ersed th ro u g h o u t th e country . T h e

im p ro v em en t o f th e p o rts and th e ra ilw ay s th e re fo re en ab led th e P o s t O ffice to

p ro v id e a b e tte r serv ice th u s d raw ing Ire lan d c lo se r to th e Im p eria l core.

In ad d itio n to th e acce lera tio n o f th e m ail service, p o rt and h a rb o u r im p ro v em en t also

a llow ed fo r th e rap id d ep lo y m en t o f tro o p s in cases o f em erg en cy . In re la tio n to th e

p o litica lly v o la tile s itu a tio n o f Ire lan d th ro u g h o u t th e n in e teen th cen tu ry , th is w as a

serio u s co n sid era tio n . O n re flec tio n th ere fo re , th e m ore successfu l o f th e

im p ro v em en ts ex am in ed in th is s tu d y w e re th o se w h ich u ltim a te ly serv ed to

s tren g th en th e u n io n b e tw een Ire lan d and B rita in . T h e fa ilu re o f th e tw o to w n s to

ach iev e a m a in d ra in ag e sch em e u n til as la te as th e 1880s and 1890s fu r th e r su p p o rts

th is a rg u m en t. In D ublin , a lth o u g h a m ain d ra in ag e p lan h ad b een d ra fted as early as

1867 and th e firs t m ain d ra in ag e ac t p assed in 1871, w o rk did n o t co m m en ce u n til as

la te as 1896. U n lik e ra ilw ays, h a rb o u rs an d te leco m m u n ica tio n s , th e b en e fit o f th ese

2 3 8

works was purely local and, although of vital importance, was not to the greater good

of the whole United Kingdom. As a result the Chancellor o f the Exchequer in London,

repeatedly refused to grant to the corporation of Dublin the funds necessary to carry

out the works.

This study has also shown the development o f both towns in the early years to have

been very much under the control o f the railway companies and the merchants.

Excluding the canvassing of landowners prior to the initial survey being carried out,

railway companies consulted very little with outside organizations on the type of

works proposed. Once the consent o f the landowner was secured, railway promoters

and engineers found themselves in a very powerful position to influence future town

development. As much of the capital for these early railways came from English

investors, mostly merchants from Liverpool and Manchester with business interests in

Belfast, Drogheda and Dublin, these outside influences were important in determining

future development. In Belfast the merchant influence had been prominent for many

years. When in 1785 control of the port was transferred from the town council to the

energetic merchant community, these individuals played a pivotal role in opening the

way for the future success of the town. By examining transport, communication and

sanitary engineering under the heading of networked infrastructure, it has been

possible to advance new theories on the development o f the two towns.

Although certain works received the backing of powerful groups and organisations,

the final say remained in the hands o f the select committees in Westminster. As

almost every public work examined in this study required an act o f parliament before

as much as a single sod o f earth could be turned in its name, Parliament played a

decisive role in proceedings. It was in this arena that the ultimate decisions were

made. It was here that the engineers, surveyors, merchants, doctors, bankers,

entrepreneurs and every other type of expert, faced the ‘liveliest rubs’ o f those

‘Wonderful Members of Parliament’ so wryly observed by Dickens in 1848.

Parliament acted as the ultimate watchdog, investigating and scrutinizing in explicit

detail every minute aspect o f the proposed works. It was an expensive business

sending officers and witnesses to London and paying their expenses for as long as the

proceedings lasted, in most cases out o f limited funds. For example it cost the harbour

commissioners in Belfast £1,000 to oppose the Belfast and Ballymena Railway Bill in

2 3 9

1845, an extravagance that they met only with the greatest of difficulty. To propose a

bill for a new railway was an even more daunting prospect. As parliamentary sanction

was required to first set up the company in order to raise the necessary capital, if the

bill was thrown out it could prove very costly for all involved.

The energy and finance expended in infrastructural improvement in nineteenth-

century Dublin, along with the hesitancy of the Belfast authorities to address the

serious defects of that town’s sanitary requirements, suggests a re-consideration o f the

general perceptions of the two nineteenth-century towns. Whilst the negative aspects

o f nineteenth-century Dublin, with its slums and sanitary deficiencies is well

documented, the positive impact o f new and ambitious infrastructure has been

overlooked. Due to the work of the city engineer Parke Neville, and the port engineer

Bindon Blood Stoney, the town received international acclaim for its water supply in

1862, and its deepwater port in 1878. Neville’s Vartry waterworks was much

applauded as one of the finest waterworks in its day, bringing an abundant supply of

pure water to the city o f Dublin and was the envy o f many towns in the United

Kingdom. In the port o f Dublin, Stoney’s innovative designs for creating masonry

blocks o f mammoth proportions to construct the deepwater basin, showed the port in a

very positive light.1 As the port expanded and linked up with the city’s growing rail

network, it brought a new dimension to Dublin, transforming the North Lotts part of

the town into a burgeoning industrial district. The large amount of outside capital

invested in the town’s rail network and the construction o f the elaborate Amiens

Street, Kingsbridge, Broadstone and Harcourt Street railway terminals in the 1840s

and 1850s all evoke energy and vitality rather than inertia and decline.

In nineteenth-century Belfast the rapid pace o f industrial and commercial

development is widely acknowledged and sets this town apart from the rest of Ireland.

As the second half o f the nineteenth century opened there was an air of confidence

about Belfast, and awareness that the town was on the verge o f something great. Its

thriving linen industry was known in places far beyond the shores of Ireland, and the

remarkable success o f this industry was reflected in the increasing trade of the port. In

1 The Port of Dublin received wide-spread acclaim in 1878 when members of the ‘British Association for the Advancement of Science’, meeting in Dublin that year, visited the port to witness the block- laying procedure.

240

order to accommodate the rising traffic in the port, major engineering improvements

were carried out in the 1840s which set the way for the future development of the

town. The confidence o f Belfast was reflected in the impressive new railway terminals

at Great Victoria Street, Queen’s Quay and York Road. However, perhaps no greater

evidence o f this awareness can be found than in the prophetic words o f the Admiralty

Commissioner, Mr Farrell, in his inquiry into the improvement o f the harbour in

1847: ‘I believe your trade will prosper to a degree that will astonish yourselves, and

that ere long in consequence of this prosperity the plans for having docks on the

County Down side ... will be carried out’. Farrell went on to describe extended

railway communication, the rapid growth of the manufacturing industry and even

forecasted the future success o f the iron shipbuilding industry. However, lurking

behind this impressive façade, amidst the narrow lanes and courts ‘where one might

shake hands from opposite sides’ was the lesser-known side to nineteenth-century

Belfast.

The serious defects in the sanitary condition of Belfast were brought to public

attention in 1847 and again in 1852 by Dr A.G. Malcolm. The critical condition o f the

town’s water supply, its crude drainage facilities, and the poor condition o f the streets

was exposed in his painstaking town inspections. Whilst hundreds o f thousands of

pounds were being spent on new docks and basins in the 1860s, the town was

practically dying o f thirst. Belfast’s ‘water famine’ became a matter of real urgency

during the summer o f 1865 when the town’s regular water supply became exhausted

and people had to depend on a rapidly dwindling supply from the highly polluted

Lagan. By the end o f the summer even this main watercourse had been all but

exhausted and what little remained, if consumed, would probably have been fatal,

contaminated as it was with dead animals and decaying vegetables. Poorer citizens o f

the town were forced to depend on the charity o f the wealthier members o f society

who benevolently threw open their private pumps for public use.2 This water famine

was not however the first sign that not all was booming in the town of Belfast. The

town had already suffered three epidemics between 1832 and 1849. Its watercourses,

particularly the Lagan, Blackstaff and Pound Burn, were reeking with filth and ordure,

2 In August 1865 between 5 o’clock a.m., and 12 noon a cotton factory in York Lane administered water to 5,000 women and children who had walked for over a mile and queued for hours to attain some small amount for immediate use.

241

and the countless ‘new streets of small houses’ erecting all over the town remained

unsewered and unpaved. This unsanitary condition prompted the Irish Builder to

make the accusation ‘that it has not kept pace in its town improvements with the rapid

increase of population’. The dramatic success o f the port o f Belfast, coupled with the

unprecedented growth o f its population and manufacturing trade, has been such a

conspicuous part of the nineteenth-century town’s development, that a less publicised,

though no less important side of this town has been almost hidden from view.

This study has shown that for every private bill that received parliamentary sanction,

an even greater number failed. For every work carried out, numerous alternative

schemes were discarded. The familiar shape of Dublin and Belfast in the twenty-first

century might be utterly different, but for the decisions made by a select committee in

Westminster in the nineteenth century. As this century witnessed the first period of

large-scale infrastructural development, engineers such as James Walker, William

Cubitt, John MacNeill and others were hugely influential in shaping the future

development o f the two towns. In this respect the development o f each town

throughout the various stages o f this study remained in the hands o f an elite few. In

most cases however, the monuments of concrete and steel created by these people

have stood the test of time and are still as effective now as the day they were built.

Walker’s Victoria Channel will always be important to the city of Belfast as will

Stoney’s Alexandra Basin to Dublin. Much of the rail network in both towns is still in

use today, the failed Belfast Central Railway now probably the busiest section of

railway in the city o f Belfast and running through to a central terminal, finally

fulfilling its original objective. Ambitious water and drainage works o f the late

nineteenth century have been extended rather than replaced, with continually flowing

potable water, and a safe water-borne sewage carriage system taken for granted by the

residents of both cities. Urban death statistics o f the early twenty first century testify

to the elimination of fatal water-borne diseases in both cities, thus reaffirming John

Purser Griffith’s contention regarding the importance o f the sanitary engineer to the

‘benefit of mankind’.

2 4 2

List of Appendices

I Extract o f Mr Farrell’s report on the Belfast Harbour Bill, 1847 244

II Report of Parke Neville, re Dublin Metropolitan Railway, 27 Dec. 1862 245

III Major General Pasley’s Report on Dublin and Drogheda Railway, 1844 246

IV Dublin and Drogheda Railway, Provisional Committee, 1835 247

V Richard Hassard’s letter to Dublin Corporation requesting compensationfor Vartry waterworks, 1862 248

VI Extract from the Diary o f Spencer Harty, re: Vartry waterworks, June toDecember 1867 249

VII Extracts of Report of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners re: disposal ofsewage by irrigation, 11 August 1868 250

VIII Poem entitled ‘The Blackstaff 252

IX Telephone poem entitled ‘The plaint of an old Oxonian’ 253

X Letter from Charles Cameron to Corporation of Dublin, requesting telephonic communication between City Hall and his office at the RoyalCollege o f Surgeons, 1882 254

XI Telephonic communication between Cork Hill and City Hall, 1884 255

XII Opening o f trunk telephone communication between Dublin and Belfast,1892 256

XIII Biographical sketch o f prominent civil engineers mentioned throughout 257the study

243

Appendix I

Extract of Mr Farrell’s report on the Belfast Harbour Bill, 1847

In conclusion I must say that I believe your trade will prosper to a degree that will astonish yourselves, and that ere long in consequence o f this prosperity the plans for having docks on the County Down side as proposed by Mr M ’Cleery will be carried out. The annual tonnage entering the port for 1846 was 544,000, it is now 700,000, an increase of 30 per cent. The extension of railways, the progress o f our manufacturing industry, and the general development of the resources of our country indicate that the tonnage and the consequent requirements of the port will assuredly proceed in future with a greatly accelerated rate.The whole o f Donegall Quay is now occupied by steamers, your docks are full as are also the quays on the County Down side of the river. The necessity will shortly arise for providing dock accommodation for vessels o f the large size which are now coming into general use. A commencement has been made in the construction o f iron ships on a portion of your property and there is ground for believing that this port will be found extensively available for this purpose, which will require a large amount of water frontage.

Source: Report of Mr Farrell, Admiralty Commissioner, on the Belfast Harbour Bill, 1847, quoted in Report of Committee as to obtaining parliamentary title to mud banks in the County Down, no date, in Belfast Harbour, foreshore taken by Harbour Commissioners 1863-7 (TNA, Crown Estate Records, CRES 58/1100).

2 4 4

Appendix II

Report of Parke Neville, re Dublin Metropolitan Railway, 27 Dec. 1862

I have to report, that in compliance with your orders I have examined the plans and sections of the proposed Dublin Metropolitan Railway ... Having briefly described the extent of M r Barry’s very comprehensive scheme o f a Dublin Metropolitan Railway, or rather railways and tramways, I feel bound to state that I cannot recommend the Committee or the Corporation to sanction its construction, but on the contrary consider they should oppose it by every means in their power, for the following reasons.

1st. Because it will disfigure and ruin the appearance of some of the best and most leading streets in the city, as for instance, imagine the effect o f a wide railway crossing Westmoreland Street, near the Ballast Office and D ’Olier Street, at a level o f about 16 feet above the carriage way, utterly destroying the architectural appearance of this, one of the most beautiful parts of the city, then it is to cross Parliament Street, Great Brunswick Street, Eden Quay and Gardiner Street and Talbot Street, some of the best streets in the city.

2nd. Because it is a question whether under the circumstances of the city trade this railway is wanted at all - the more particularly considering that the GSWR Company have given notice of their intention of seeking a Bill next session of Parliament for a line to join their railway with the Liffey Branch o f the MGWR, thus connecting the GSW, the MGW and the D&D Railways, by a line which will be entirely inobjectionable (I believe) as to any injury it can do the city, traversing as it will only through the west and north-western outskirts of it.

3rd. Because it is to cross upwards o f 50 streets and lanes of the city doing them all more or less injury.

4th. Because it will destroy your stabling and stores in Winetavern Street. There are other reasons might be given against the construction o f this system of railways and tramways, but it is unnecessary to go into further detail here.. . .’

Source: Report by Parke Neville, Dublin City Engineer, 27 Dec. 1862, in Dublin City Council Minutes, Vol., 23 (DCLA, CA/A1/23).

2 4 5

Appendix ni

Board o f Trade, Whitehall the 22nd o f May 1844

My Lords,

On Monday last the 20th instant, I inspected the Dublin and Drogheda Railway nearly 32 miles in length, first slowly and stopping to examine the bridges, viaducts &c, and secondly at speed, in returning from Drogheda to Dublin.

The works have been planned and executed with the greatest skill and attention, and as such are highly creditable to Mr Macneill the Engineer-in-Chief and his assistants who accompanied me, as well as to the contractors and others employed. One bridge over the Royal Canal o f 144 feet span is remarkable having been made of iron lattice works, on the principle adopted in America for wooden bridges. This and all the other bridges and works are strong and safe; and the single line o f rails now complete, which the Directors now wish to open for public traffic on Friday next the 24th instant, is in such excellent order, that I request your Lordships will be pleased to authorize them to do so, by this night’s post. Though the permanent stations will not be finished for some time, yet every necessary accommodation for passengers has been provided by temporary booking offices, &c. The second line o f rails also is so far advanced, that it will be completed soon, probably in less than a month from this date.

I have all the memoranda necessary for a detailed description of the works in my possession, which I will submit to your Lordships as soon as I shall have drawn it up in the usual form. In the mean time 1 shall conclude by observing, that I never saw a new railway, in a more satisfactory state, and it is universally admitted, that it will be of the greatest benefit to the Country.

I have the honour to beMy Lords,Your Lordships most obedient humble Servant

C.W. Pasley Major Gen.Inspector Genl. of Railways

Source: Major General Pasley’s report of his inspection of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway, 22 May 1844 (TNA, Kew, MT6/1/299).

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Appendix IV

Dublin and Drogheda Railway, Provisional Committee, 1835

Member ResidenceTliomas Brodigan Pilltown, DroghedaGeorge Alexander Hamilton Hampton Hall. DublinJames H. Hamilton Henry Smith Henry Smith William Taylor William Edward Bolton Thomas M Gresham George Macartney George Smith James McCan James Perry John Heaviside LascombeJohn Kingston James James Bart Thomas C. Hamilton

Source: Dublin and Drogheda Railway Minute Book. 1835-1837, 8 Oct. 1835 (lamrod Eircann, Houston Station, Dublin).

Slieephill, County DublinAnnsbrookDrogheda36 Upper Fitzwilliam Street, DublinNelson Street. DublinSackvillc Street. DublinLisanour CastleDroghedaDroghedaPill Lane, Drogheda Holies Street, Dublin Donnybrook, Dublin Dublin

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Appendix V

Richard Hassard’s letter to Dublin Corporation requesting compensation for Vartry waterworks, 1862

To the members of the Water Works Committee,

Gentlemen,

I beg you will excuse my again troubling you on the subject o f my connection with the Vartry Waterworks Scheme the value of which to the City o f Dublin will be best known hereafter.Not having been associated with or employed to carry out the great project which I originated has been to me a serious professional disappointment and I trust the committee will now take into consideration my claim in relation to this matter.Lest 1 should be considered in attaching undue importance to my own services I requested Mr Hemans to state impartially what remuneration he considers I am fairly entitled to, he named the sum of £300, his letter of that effect having been duly forwarded by me to your Chairman.Under the circumstances I am willing to accept the sum which it appears to me cannot be objected to on the score of amount.

I am Gentlemen,Your most obedient servant,Richard Hassard.

Source: Dublin City Council Minute Book, vol. 23, Aug. 1862 to September 1863, Letter from Richard Hassard C.E., 20 Sept. 1862 (DCLA, C2/A1/23).

Appendix VI

Extract from the Diary of Spencer Harty, re Vartry waterworks, June to December 1867

Wednesday 10Water turned off at Leeson St. Br. at 5 o’c a.m. At 12.15 p.m. this day water was again turned on at Leeson St. Br. Opened the 18” valve at Queens Br. 3 turns and water sent up the 18” to the top o f Queens St. & from thence through the 9” to Stoney Batter, Prussia St. & Aughrim Street. Two split sockets commenced to leak almost immediately opposite Arbour Hill. At !4 to 4 o ’c p.m. a pipe burst on 18” main top of Queens Bridge, tearing up the flags for a length o f 11 feet, some o f which were sent over the parapet. 2 gentlemen passing at the time were soiled with the water & mud thrown up by the burst and an old woman slightly scratched in the face and her clothes a good deal wet & soiled. Hackney Car No. 611 also got some o f the mud. Paid the poor woman 10/- & each of the gentlemen for loss o f clothes £5. The 18” main & the two in Stoney Batter repaired by 8 o’c this evening.

Diary of Spencer Harty, C.E., on the Vartry Water Works, June to Dec. 1867, papers deposited by the Water Division of Dublin Corporation (DCLA, WW/10/4).

Appendix VII

Extracts of Report of the Belfast Harbour Commissioners re: disposal of sewage by irrigation, 11 August 1868

On the 28th o f July last, the Harbour Commissioners had the honour o f receiving a deputation from the town council o f Belfast, who were appointed to confer with them on the subject o f the disposal o f the sewage of the town with special reference to a scheme for that purpose providing for its utilization by irrigation, and the carrying out of which would require the assent and co-operation o f this Corporation.The commissioners, aware of the great and growing evils o f the present system, and of the urgent importance as well to the health and comfort of the inhabitants o f Belfast as to the interest of this trust, that a remedy should be provided, were willing and anxious to exercise whatever powers they possessed to promote a great sanitary reform and harbour improvem ent...

1. Sewage is in some places discharged into rivers, or into harbours, or into the open sea.

2. In others it is sought by filtration, settling, or other means to separate the solid matter o f the sewage from the liquid. The solid matter thus separated is used as manure, and the liquid is discharged into rivers.

3. In other places the sewage is utilized by being employed to irrigate land prepared for the purpose.

... Irrigation in every instance in which the committee had an opportunity of observing it in operation, seemed to them to be successful; and they are disposed to conclude that the agricultural use of sewage flowing directly from the outfall of sewers, over prepared fields, is not only profitable, as compared with the other modes referred to o f utilization, but that it is the true remedy for the many evils complained of in the disposal o f sewage. The soil clothed with vegetation mechanically and chemically deoderizes the sewage, separates and detains the solid and fertilizing matter, and allows the water to flow off the fields in a condition so pure that, at the distance o f a few hundred yards, it appears a clear stream, colourless, odourless, tasteless and fit for fish to live in. Nor is irrigation very offensive - one may walk through fields while the sewage is flowing through open carriers, or spreading over the grass, and scarcely perceive an odour. What is very remarkable is, that there is evidence to prove that the use of sewage water by the animals grazing in the fields, is not injurious but beneficial to them. The committee did not find that the men employed at the sewage works, which they visited, suffered in health from the nature o f their employment; and they noticed in several cases houses (and houses not o f a mean description) in close proximity to fields irrigated by sewage. The committee, therefore, are o f opinion that, in the process of irrigation, sewage flowing over fields does not putrify; that the atmosphere is not contaminated by noxious gases; that every deleterious and offensive ingredient is absorbed; and that the vast quantity o f fertilizing matter which it contains is given back in luxuriant field and garden crops. The questions now arise: (1) Is it practicable to dispose of the sewage of Belfast without creating a nuisance, and to utilize it for agricultural purposes in the form of irrigation? And (2) Would such means remedy or mitigate the evils o f which this

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corporation complains? Both questions may be confidently answered in the affirmative.At present the sewage of this large and rapidly increasing town is poured into the river - the water and the air are in consequence most foully polluted - dredging is necessary to prevent the navigation from being injured by the accumulation of deposits, and the foreshores o f the harbour are covered with a mass o f organic impurity, which poisons the atmosphere with pestilential exhalations.It is important to the interests o f this trust that the sewage system should be changed, and that another should be adopted, which will improve the harbour, by so disposing o f the sewage that it will no longer be discharged in its impure state into the waters of the Lough. The object o f the sanitary authorities is to remove from the habitations of the people all excrementitious matter, the waste products of manufacturing industry, and the general refuse o f the town. If it be compatible with this primary objective, it is their duty (as it is proposed to do) to utilize the sewage, by making it the agent of verdure and fertility, instead of being, as it is at present, the pestiferous source of disease and death. There is not, in the opinion of the committee, any difficulty in accomplishing these objects. On the contrary, the conditions o f the problem are simple, and the facilities for its solution unusually favourable in Belfast ...

James Hamilton, Chairman.W.M. Thompson, Secretary.

Source: Parke Neville, Report to the right honourable, the lord mayor, aldermen, and councillors o f the city o f Dublin, on the general state o f the public works o f the city under their control (Dublin. 1869), Appendix No. IX, pp 292-9.

251

Appendix VIII

The BlackstaffDedicated (without permission) to the Belfast Town Council

Thou filthy Stygian brook Flowing on a filthy sea I can no longer bide to look Nor stand the smell of thee

Like the stream of the Pagan dead You wriggle, and stink, and flow "Facilis descensus averne ”, said Old Virgil long ago

And east, and south and north Wherever a zephyr blows Your horrible stench come sailing forth To my sinful suffering nose

You are neither black nor brown You are neither green nor grey O river of hell! in a Christian town Plague spreading night and day

0 mixture of cats and dogs And mill dregs tumbled inAnd hens defunct and measled hogs And immature waifs of sin

By hovel and poor mans cot You wind with your fetid breadth And your waters factory fed and hot Are the breeding den of death

And the men who have made you soTo the rich man’s suburbs fleeAnd build their homes where the breezes blowAnd the air is fresh and free

And they have their evening pranks And make their music play But the poor who dwell by the river’s bank Alas! Have the piper to pay

For the “sinew and the bone” of the town Are dying like dogs in a ditch - In their huddled homes are smitten, down By the gripping greed of the rich

Who have poisoned the stream for wealth They have made it reek for pay1 wean they are bound to see to the health Of the suffering town today

The men who have made the slime That is sickening me and you Are bound to pay for the bricks and lime That will bury it out of view

By brook and fountain spout Where God’s own sunbeams shine The man whose flax has sickened the trout Is the man who pays the fine

And here, in the huddled town The men whose factories pour Their recking waters seaward down Are tire men who should bridge them o’er

Oh owner of wheel and screw That whistle and whir and spin Are rivers made for nought but you To tumble your hot filth in

Shall fishes be kept by a grasp That knows not low nor high And shall Christian men be left to gasp Plague smit, and sicken and die

Oh cholera fierce and grim O’er the east wind fell and fleat I hear the wings of your cherubim And thread of your blighting feet

Nay pity and pass and spare The houses of the suffering poor But stop and make your ghastly lair At the great mill owners’ door

I do not wish him killedBut scared for a week or moreAnd bottles of doctors’ medicines spilledOn him as well as the poor

And soon they will bridge the drains And roof the fetid airWhen it smites some big Town Councillor’s “weans”Or his Majesty the Mayor

Then strike a tax per poll On the owner of wheel and loom And the stream no more shall rock and roll Like the sluggish wave of Doom

With a Doctor for our Mayor And surgeons in every street We yet contrive to poison the air Which God has made so sweet

O pious and dirty race Whose sewers with filth run broad Bridge o’er your drains and chatter less About sickness sent from God!

J.L.R. inNorthern Whig 252Irish Builder Vol. XII, No. 259, 1 October 1870, p. 236.

Appendix IX

The plaint of an old Oxonian

A graduate I was o f yore Besides the banks of Isis,

Where I imbibed much ancient lore And sundry prejudices.

And when I left, with ripened mind, I ’d learned to view askance

Most things by engineers designed, And most that spell “Advance.”

Judge, then, if unperturbed I see The Telephone in use

Within the Sacred Home of Me, Respectable Recluse!

My hallowed Privacy no more In fullness 1 enjoy.

Each ring may join me to some bore, Or blatant office boy.

A shrill bell tinkles in my room;I speak - as I ’m not used -

With some Young Person unto whom I’ve not been introduced.

Intrusive femininity May wheedle on the wire

And win me for “At Homes” which I Detest, or don’t desire!

The jangling bell seems like a blast Blown from some magic horn

At which my British Castle fast Dissolves like mists at morn.

I lose my father’s honoured name For Six-O-Eight-O West, -

Which may to them sound just the same, -

To me an ill-timed jest.Time was when I (or such as I)

Held steam in like disdain;Yet oft I stoop to travel by

The Liner or the Train. Convenience converted me,

By slow degrees progressing;But shall I learn from that to see

In Telephones a blessing?No! let Americans by wire

Guide their ill-balanced lives; Within my Castle I retire

Where True-Blue temper thrives.

By W.H. Gunston.

National Telephone Journal, vol. 1, June 1906.

253

Appendix X

Letter from Charles Cameron, Chief Medical Officer of Health for Dublin, to Town Clerk, Dublin Corporation, requesting telephonic communication between his office at College of Surgeons and City Hall, 14 Dec. 1882

Public Health Committee City HallDublin, September 14th, 1882

Dear Town Clerk,

With reference to the desirability o f connecting the Laboratory, Royal College o f Surgeons, with the City Hall, I beg to make the following observations

1st. About 1,000 analyses of various kinds are made for the Corporation at the Royal College of Surgeons’ Laboratory, which is virtually the Corporation Laboratory, as no analytical work is carried on there for the College.

2 All the petroleums are tested there for the Markets Committee, and the Inspectors of Markets frequently have to meet me there.

3rd. There are constantly samples o f diseased and otherwise unsound food delivered to me at the Laboratory by the Inspectors o f Food. I f they were enabled to telephone down to me at the City Hall, I could go up to the Laboratory and receive the articles from them.

4th. The Inspectors of Food have to deliver to me personally the articles which they collect for analysis. It would be convenient if my assistants could telephone to me from the Laboratory to the City Hall that the Inspectors had samples to deliver to me.

5th. It is evident that when all the articles o f food, water, illuminating oils, asphalte, paving materials, &c., are analysed at the Laboratory, and that I have to give directions to my assistants, the existence of telephonic communication between the Laboratory and the Public Health Office would tend to economise the time o f myself and my assistants, and of certain officers of the Corporation.

I remain, dear Town Clerk,Faithfully yours,

Charles A. Cameron.

Source: Report of the Public Health Committee, re Telephonic Communication between the City Hall and the Laboratory at the Royal College of Surgeons, in RPDCD, vol. iii, 1882, pp 653-4 (DCLA).

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Appendix XI

Letter from the Telephone Company of Ireland to Dublin Corporation re: telephonic communication between Cork-hill and the City Hall, 20 December 1884

The Telephone Company o f Ireland, Commercial Buildings,

Dublin, 20th December, 1884.

Dear Sir,Referring to your letter o f the 17th inst., I beg to give the following quotation for the telephonic communication required, viz.:To erect and maintain one switch board, eight table instruments, two wires from switch board to Exchange, Dame-street (so as to permit two of the offices to speak through the Exchange at the same time); services of operator at switch board (under the sole control of the company); operator to be provided by the Corporation with small private room, fire, light, and proper conveniences, for seventy-six pounds sterling (£76), per annum.I am desired to add, if this arrangement be adopted, it would appear to be no longer necessary to retain the attendance o f a fireman on the present Exchange wire at City Hall, that wire would then be reserved solely for the use o f the Members, and a perfect system of intercommunication would be obtained at little or no additional expense.

Yours faithfully,James F. Butterworth,Secretary.

Source: Report of the Leases Committee, recommending telephonic intercommunication between the new offices, Cork-hill and the City Hall, in RPDCD, vol. 1, No. 3, 1885 (DCLA).

255

Appendix XII

Letter from the Telephone Company of Ireland to Dublin Corporation, respecting the new trunk connection to Belfast, 31 March 1892

The Telephone Company o f Ireland, Limited,Commercial Buildings,

Dublin, 3 1st March, 1892.

The Town Clerk,Corporation of Dublin.

Dear Sir,I am instructed by the Board of the Telephone Company o f Ireland to inform you that the Trunk Line Communication will be open to Belfast and other Northern towns on Tuesday next.The Mayor of Belfast has expressed his wish to speak with the Lord Mayor of Dublin, and that such communication, with communications between the respective Chambers o f Commerce, here and in Belfast, should be regarded as a formal opening o f the lines.The Council o f the Chamber of Commerce have given permission to place instruments in the newsroom, and I am directed to ask if the Lord Mayor and any member of the Corporation, who would find it convenient to attend, would come to the Chamber of Commerce here at 2 o’clock on Tuesday next, and make the formal opening.

Yours faithfully,

C. Fitzsimon,Secretary

Source: Printed Minutes of the Municipal Council of Dublin, 4 Apr. 1892, p. 72 (DCLA).

Appendix XIII

Biographical sketch of prominent civil engineers mentioned throughout the study

John Frederick La Trobe Bateman (1810-1889)John Frederick La Trobe Bateman was born at Lower Wyke near Halifax on 30 May 1810. At the age o f fifteen Bateman was apprenticed to a surveyor and mining engineer in Oldham who was engaged in the execution o f various works including the construction o f new roads and water works and it was during this period that Bateman learned the basics of his profession.In 1833 at the young age of twenty-three he entered into business on his own account investigating questions of flooding and other matters relating to water. In 1835 he assisted with the laying out of reservoirs on the River Bann in Ireland and from this point on began to specialise in reservoirs and water works. Amongst his principle schemes are the Lough Katrine water works for Glasgow and the Longdendale works for Manchester; in addition to works for Warrington, Accrington, Oldham, Ashton, Blackburn, Stockport, Halifax, Batley, Dewsbury, St. Helens, Kendal, Belfast, Dublin, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Chorley, Bolton, Darwen, Macclesfield, Chester, Birkenhead, Gloucester, Aberdare, Perth, Forfax, Wolverhampton, Colne Valley, and Cheltenham. In all these works Bateman favoured gravitation schemes wherever possible So as to avoid pumping and therefore devoted much time to studying means for measuring rainfall.In addition to his many works in Britain and Ireland, Bateman was also involved in numerous works abroad, not always relating to waterworks. Some of these works include the drainage and water supply for the cities o f Buenos Ayres, Naples and Constantinople; the improvement of docks at Malta and the construction o f a large graving dock at Halifax, Nova Scotia He was also employed in reclamation works in Spain and the island o f Majorca, in addition to designing works for the supply o f water to the city o f Colombo in Ceylon.Bateman was elected a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1840 and was President from 1877 to 1879. He was a Fellow of the Royal Societies o f London and of Edinburgh; the Royal Geographical Society; the Geological Society; the Society o f Arts and the Royal Institution. He died at his residence in Moor Park, Farnham on 10 June 1889 aged seventy-nine years.

Source: ‘Obituary. John Frederick La Trobe Bateman, 1810-1889’, in Minutes o f the Proceedings o f the Institute o f Civil Engineers, vol. 97, part 3, 1888-1889, pp 392-398.

Sir William Cubitt (1775-1861)William Cubitt was born at Dilham in Norfolk, the son of a miller. Having received only a small amount of education, Cubitt’s talents were more technical than academic, and it was his particular talent for mechanical invention that allowed him to become one of the last o f the great self-made engineers o f the nineteenth century. Amongst his more noteworthy inventions were the self-regulating windmill sail and machinery for use in draining marshes. His most notable invention however, was the treadmill for utilizing the labour o f convicts. The object being to grind corn and pump water, it was only later that this invention was used as a means o f punishment.

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From 1812 to 1821 Cubitt was Chief Engineer at the works of Messrs. Ransome of Ipswich where he was engaged in several engineering projects in that town, including the improvement of the port and the gas works. In 1826 his busy schedule took him to London where he was to become engaged in almost all the important works o f the time, providing evidence in Westminster on many questions regarding the improvement o f ports, canals, rivers, and the construction o f railways. Some o f his principle works in Britain include the construction o f the Oxford Canal and the Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal; the improvement o f the Rivers Severn, Thames, Tyne, Tees, Weaver and Ouse; the improvement of the docks at Cardiff and Middlesborough; and he was also Engineer-in-Chief o f the South-Eastern Railway and consulting engineer to the Great Northern Railway.In Ireland Cubitt was engaged on several occasions by the port authorities in Dublin and Belfast and drafted many reports regarding the improvement o f these harbours. He also drew up the plans and sections o f the Dublin and Drogheda Railway and was a member o f the commission for the improvement o f the River Shannon. Beyond the United Kingdom Cubitt’s expertise took him to Germany where he was consulted on the subject of the improvement of the docks at Hamburg, and the question o f the water supply to the city of Berlin. He was also appointed as consulting engineer to the Great Northern Railway o f France.Perhaps Cubitt’s most important undertaking however, was the construction o f the magnificent Crystal Palace in Hyde Park for the International Exhibition o f 1849, for which he received the honour of Knighthood. Sir William Cubitt was a Fellow of the Royal Society, a Fellow of the Royal Irish Academy, and a Member of the Society o f Arts. He joined the Institution of Civil Engineers as a Member in 1823 and became a Member o f Council in 1831; he was elected Vice-President in 1836 and held the post o f President from 1850-1851.Sir William Cubitt retired from the engineering profession in 1858 and died three years later at the age of seventy-seven at his residence in London’s Clapham Common.

Source: ‘Obituary. Sir William Cubitt, 1785-1861’, in Minutes o f the Proceedings o f the Institute o f Civil Engineers, vol. 21, 1861-1862, pp 554-558; Belfast Harbour Bill, 1837, plans (IILRO), Journal of proceedings of the Corporation for Preserving and Improving the Port of Dublin, 1840-1844 (NAI, DPDB 1/17); Minutes of the proceedings of the Dublin and Drogheda Railway Company, 1835-1837 (Irish Rail Archive, Heuston Station, Dublin).

Sir John Purser Griffith (1848-1938)John Purser Griffith was born in Holyhead, Wales, in 1848. His father, a minister, was also a good mathematician and linguist with an appreciation for the arts, and these traits were passed down to the young Purser Griffith at an early age. At the age of seventeen he entered the newly-established School o f Engineering at the University of Dublin, Trinity College; the large-scale improvements in Holyhead Harbour, ongoing throughout his childhood and adolescence being largely influential in his career choice.On completion o f his studies in 1868 Griffith became a pupil of Bindon Blood Stoney, the chief engineer at Dublin Port before taking up the position in 1870 o f assistant county surveyor for Antrim County Council. In 1871 however he returned to Dublin Port as Stoney’s assistant, eventually taking over as chief engineer in 1899. Griffith acted as Stoney’s right-hand man during the construction o f the North Quay

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E x ten sio n and as c h ie f en g in ee r o v ersaw th e e lec trifica tio n o f th e p o rt in th e ea rly tw en tie th century .D u rin g his period in ch a rg e at D ublin P o rt, G riffith w as g iv en th e fre ed o m to ac t as co n su ltin g en g in ee r to m any o th e r p ro jec ts o u ts id e th e p o rt and in 1911 h e re ce iv ed a k n ig h th o o d fo r rep resen tin g Ireland on th e R oyal C o m m iss io n ap p o in ted to rep o rt on th e canals and in land w a te rw ay s o f th e U n ited K in g d o m . H e a lso ac ted as co n su ltin g eng in eer fo r th e w o rk s on W ick low H arb o u r and fo reshore ; fo r th e re p la cem e n t o f b ridges o v er the R ives S han n o n and Suir; and also to D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n fo r im p ro v em en t w o rk s on the V artry re se rv o ir a t R oun d w o o d .O ne o f G rif f i th 's m ost no ticeab le co n trib u tio n s to th e p o rt o f D u b lin w a s th e desig n and co n stru c tio n o f th e T w in S ch erzer L ift B rid g es o n th e N o rth W all ac ro ss th e en trance to th e R oyal C anal and still in ex is ten ce today . B ased on a desig n b y W illiam S cherzer o f C h icag o , th e b rid g es cou ld b e ra ised b y m ean s o f e lec trica l p o w e r to a llo w fo r th e d o ck in g and u n d o ck in g o f vessels. A s th e b rid g es w e re o p e ra ted e lec trically , in te rfe ren ce to traffic along th e N o rth W all w as k ep t to a m in im um . A fte r fo rty -fiv e y ea rs se rv ice w ith D ublin P o rt, G riffith ev en tu a lly re s ig n ed in 1916, fru stra ted w ith the B o a rd ’s re lu c tan ce to b u ild on th e g rea t a c h ie v em en ts o f th e late n in e teen th cen tu ry .S ir Jo h n ’s illu s trio u s ca ree r co n tin u ed long a fte r h is d ep a rtu re from D u b lin P o r t and he w ill be as m u ch rem em b ered fo r ca rry in g o u t th e firs t d e ta iled su rv ey s o f th e w a te r p o w er re so u rces o f th e R iv e r L iffey , la te r to be u sed fo r th e co n stru c tio n o f th e h y d ro ­elec tric p o w e r p lan t a t P o u lap h u ca , as fo r h is w o rk in th e P o r t o f D u b lin . H e w as e lec ted an A sso c ia te M em b er o f th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs in 1877, V ice P res id en t in 1916 and P re s id en t fo r th e sessio n from 1918-1919. S ir Jo h n d ied at his residence, R a th m in es C astle, in h is ad o p ted c ity o f D u b lin at th e age o f n inety .

Source: R.C. Cox, John Purser Griffith 1848-1938 'Grand ole man o f Irish engineering' (Dublin, 1998); Panel for historical engineering works record form HEW 3015 (Institution of Civil Engineers Archives,London).

George Halpin Senior (1775-1854)G eo rg e H a lp in S en io r w as a b u ild er by tra d e w ith no acad em ic q u a lifica tio n s y e t he carved o u t a d istin g u ish ed ca reer as a civ il eng ineer. H av in g b een ap p o in ted to the p o sitio n o f In sp e c to r o f W o rk s fo r th e C o rp o ra tio n fo r P rese rv in g and Im p ro v in g th e P o rt o f D u b lin (B a llas t B o ard ) in 1800, H alp in , and la te r h is son G eo rg e Jun io r, b o th co n trib u ted s ig n ifican tly to th e d ev e lo p m en t o f th is p o rt o v er a p e rio d o f s ix ty years. In 1810 re sp o n sib ility fo r all lig h thouses a ro u n d th e coast o f Ire lan d w as v es ted in the D u b lin B a lla s t B o ard and as In sp e c to r o f W o rk s, H a lp in w as g iv en th e ad d itio n a l ro le o f S u p erin ten d en t o f L igh thouses, a p o sitio n w h ich to o k him all a round th e co u n try in h is ro u tin e in sp ec tio n s . B e tw een h im se lf an d h is son, b o th m en w e re re sp o n sib le fo r co n stru c tin g fifty -e ig h t new lig h thouses a ro u n d th e co ast o f Ire lan d b e tw een 1810 and 1867.In 1818 H a lp in and th e en g in ee r F ran c is G iles su rveyed th e h a rb o u r o f D ublin and d rew u p a jo in t re p o rt fo r th e co n stru c tio n o f a n o rth ern b re ak w ate r k n o w n as th e N o rth B ull W all (see C h ap te r II, pp 44-45 o f p re sen t study, fo r a d esc rip tio n o f th is im p ress iv e fea t o f eng ineering ).In 1830 H a lp in w a s jo in e d by his son w h o ev en tu a lly to o k o v er fro m h im as en g in ee r- in -c h ie f at th e port. H a lp in Ju n io r’s m ost s ig n ifican t co n trib u tio n to th e p o rt w as th e design and co n s tru c tio n o f the N o . 1 G rav ing D o c k b e tw een 1854 and 1860. G eo rg e

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H alp in S en io r w a s e lec ted a M em b er o f th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs o n 24 M arch 1835 h av in g b ee n seco n d ed by Jo h n M acn e ill and Jo sh u a F ie ld . H e d ied in D u b lin in 1854 and is b u ried in th e c ity ’s M o u n t Je ro m e C em etery .

Source: A.W. Skempton, M.M. Chimes, R.C. Cox, P.S.M. Cross- Rudkin, R.W. Rennison, E.C. Ruddock (cds), A biographical dictionary o f civil engineers in Great Britain and Ireland, volume 1: 1500-1830 (London, 2002); Candidate Circular No. 331, George Halpin (Institution of Civil Engineers Archive, London).

George Willoughby Hemans (1814-1885)G .W . H em an s w as b o rn in th e d istric t o f St. A saph, N o rth W ales in A u g u st 1814. H e w as ed u cated o n th e co n tin en t at th e M ilita ry C o lleg e o f S areze in F ran ce , w h e re h is o u ts tan d in g acad em ic p ro w ess led to h im w in n in g six m edals in fo re ig n languages, sc ience and d raw ing . A fte r th ree y ea rs a t Sareze, H em ans, a fte r a sh o rt spell w ith th e O rd n an ce S u rv ey in D ublin , w as p laced as a p u p il o f S ir Jo h n M acn eill, w o rk in g o n a n u m b er o f Ir ish and S co ttish ra ilw ays. O n successfu l co m p le tio n o f h is p u p ilag e he w as ap p o in ted re s id en t en g in ee r on th e D u b lin end o f th e D u b lin and D ro g h e d a R a ilw ay w h e re he su p erin ten d ed th e co n stru c tio n o f th e tw o iron la ttic e -b rid g es designed by M acn eill. A fte r th e open ing o f th is ra ilw ay , M acn eill th en p laced H em an s in ch a rg e o f a m o re ex ten siv e sec tion o f th e G rea t S ou thern and W este rn R ailw ay b e tw een D u b lin and C ork .A fte r w o rk in g u n d e r S ir Jo h n M acn eill on a n u m b er o f successfu l ra ilw ay p ro jec ts in Ire land , H e m a n s w as ap p o in ted as C h ie f E n g in ee r on the M id lan d G re a t W e s te rn R a ilw ay b e tw e en D u b lin and G alw ay in 1845. T his w as a g re a t o p p o rtu n ity fo r H em an s to d isp lay h is ta len ts on his ow n as h e w a s no lo n g e r w o rk in g u n d e r th e in stru c tio n s o f M acneill. M an y p ro b lem s w ere en co u n te red du rin g th e co n s tru c tio n o f th is line in c lu d in g som e heavy ea rth w o rk s ac ro ss deep bog , n u m ero u s b rid g es and th ree large v iad u c ts ac ross th e R iv ers S h an n o n and T u ck and th e e s tu ary o f L o u g h A thalia . N o tw ith s tan d in g d ifficu lties w ith te rra in , th e ex trem e d is tress in th e w e s t o f Ire lan d also re ta rd ed th e w o rk s m ak ing it v e ry d ifficu lt to find labour. H o w e v e r it w as o n H e m a n s’ in s is ten ce th a t W illiam D a rg an w a s ap p o in ted as co n tra c to r fo r th e heavy w o rk s and d esp ite th e nu m ero u s p rob lem s, H em an s su ccessfu lly co m p le ted th e ra ilw ay fiv e m o n th s b e fo re schedu le at a co s t co n sid erab ly less th a n th e o rig in a l estim ate. F o r th is o u ts tan d in g serv ice M r H e m a n s w as g iv en a b an q u e t by th e d irec to rs o f th e co m p an y w h ere he w as p re sen ted w ith a large in scrib ed c la re t ju g and salver.D u rin g th e co n stru c tio n o f th e M id lan d G rea t W este rn R a ilw ay , H e m a n s w a s also inv o lv ed in th e co n stru c tio n o f n u m ero u s o th e r lines in Ire lan d in c lu d in g am o n g st o th ers th e N e w ry and W arrenpo in t; th e N e w ry and A rm agh ; th e W a te rfo rd and L im erick and th e L im erick and K ilk en n y R ailw ays. H e m a n s co n s tru c te d m o re ra ilw ay s in Ire lan d th an any en g in ee r o f h is tim e. In 1854 he m o v ed to L o n d o n and co n stru c ted m an y ra ilw ay s in E n g lan d and W ales in c lu d in g th e V ale o f C ly w d and the T ew k esb u ry and M a lv e rn R ailw ays. In 1865 H em an s and J.F . B a tem an jo in tly d ep o sited p lans fo r th e u tiliza tio n o f th e sew ag e o f L o n d o n , h o w ev er a lth o u g h com m en ced , th ese w o rk s w ere ev en tu a lly abandoned . In 1870 he w as ap p o in ted E n g in e e r- in -C h ie f to th e G ov ern m en t o f N e w Z ealand.T w o years la te r a t th e age o f fifty -e ig h t M r H em an s w as se ized by an a ttac k o f p ara ly sis fro m w h ich he n ev e r recovered . A lth o u g h he liv ed fo r a fu r th e r th irteen y ea rs h e rem a in ed p ara ly sed and n ev e r sp o k e again. M r H em an s w as e lec ted an A sso c ia te o f th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs in 1837, th e fo llo w in g y ea r he w as

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tran sfe rred to G rad u a te and in 1845 b ecam e a M em ber. N o t su rp ris in g ly Jo h n M ac n e ill’s n am e is am o n g st th o se w h o seco n d ed his M em b ersh ip in a d d itio n to R ich ard G riffith and C h arles V igno les. W h e n h is se izu re o ccu rred M r H em an s w as V ice P res id en t o f th e In stitu tio n and a lth o u g h n o m in a ted fo r P resid en cy , h is nam e w as w ith d raw n at th is ow n request.

Source: ‘Obituary. George Willoughby Hemans, 1814-1885’, in Minutes o f the Proceedings o f the Institute o f Civil Engineers, vol. 85, part 3, 1885-1886, pp 394-399; Candidate Circular No. 388, George Willoughby Hemans (Institute of Civil Engineers Archive, London).

Sir John Macneill (1793-1880)John M acn e ill w as b o rn at M o u n t P leasan t, D unda lk , in the y ea r 1793. A fte r a b r ie f spell w ith the L o u th m ilitia, h e b eg an to study m ath em atics and m ech an ics and b ecam e a pupil o f T h o m as T elfo rd , by w h o m he w as ap p o in ted su p e rin ten d en t on th e sou thern d iv is io n o f th e L o n d o n to H o ly h ead R oad . In the 1830s M acneill tu rn ed his a tten tio n to ra ilw ay construc tion , lay in g o u t a n u m b er o f sm all ra ilw ay s in S co tland , w h ils t a lso b eco m in g in v o lv ed in h a rb o u r im p ro v em en ts and canal co n s tru c tio n in th a t country.In 1837 th e Ir ish R a ilw ay C o m m issio n ers ap p o in ted M acn e ill to p lan a sy s tem o f ra ilw ays fo r th e n o rth o f Ire land ; C h arles V ig n o les b e in g ap p o in ted to carry o u t th e sam e serv ice in th e sou th o f th e coun try . In th e end n e ith e r e n g in e e r’s p lan s w e re ca rried in to effect. A fte r p erfo rm in g th is ta sk M acn e ill w as ap p o in ted as en g in ee r to a n u m b er o f Ir ish ra ilw ay s am o n g st w h ich th e p rin c ip le ones w e re th e D u b lin and D ro g h ed a ; th e D u b lin and B e lfa s t Junction ; th e B e lfa s t and C o u n ty D o w n ; and th e G rea t S o u th ern and W este rn R ailw ays. O n co m p le tio n o f th e D u b lin and D ro g h e d a R a ilw ay in 1844 M acn e ill rece iv ed a K n ig h th o o d .A lth o u g h S ir Jo h n gave m o st o f h is a tten tio n to ra ilw ay co n s tru c tio n he w as also in v o lv ed in o th e r w o rk s in c lu d in g th e G ran g em o u th D o ck s and F o rth and C arte Ju n c tio n C an a l in S co tland ; th e rec lam atio n o f s lo b lan d s in L o u g h S w illy and L o u g h F o y le and in th e bays o f W ex fo rd and W aterfo rd . H e also co m p le ted th e B e lfa s t w a te rw o rk s at C av e-h ill in 1843. It w as M acn eill w h o in tro d u ced th e firs t iro n la ttice- b rid g es in to th e U n ited K ingdom , th e f irs t tw o o f w h ich w ere on th e D u b lin and D ro g h ed a R a ilw ay . W h ils t b ased on th e A m erican w o o d en la ttice -b rid g es , M a c n e ill’s in n o v a tiv e d esig n cau g h t on very w e ll and th e iro n la ttice -b rid g e w as to b eco m e a co m m o n sigh t on ra ilw ay s th ro u g h o u t th e w o rld over th e com in g decades.S ir Jo h n M acn eill is d escrib ed in h is o b itu a ry as a m an o f ‘v e ry gen ia l m an n ers, and en d o w ed w ith a co n sid erab le am o u n t o f h u m o u r’, w h ils t a lso b e in g ‘h ard -w o rk in g , q u ick o f th o u g h t, and u n tirin g in h is p ro fess io n a l p u rsu its ’. H e w a s a F e llo w o f th e R o y a l S ocie ty and rece iv ed an h o n o ra ry d o c to ra te from th e U n iv e rs ity o f D ub lin , T rin ity C o lleg e fo r h is serv ices and ad v ice in th e m a tte r o f e s tab lish in g a sch o o l o f en g in ee rin g in th a t college. H e w as also ap p o in ted the f irs t P ro fe sso r o f C iv il E n g in ee rin g in th a t school. H e w as e lec ted an A sso c ia te o f th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in eers in 1827 and w as tran sfe rred to M em b er in 1831. F o r several y ea rs b e fo re h is dea th , b lin d n ess fo rced M acn e ill to leav e th e fam ily h o m e a t M o u n t P leasan t in o rd e r to re s id e w ith h is tw o sons, T orqu il and T elfo rd , in L o n d o n . I t w a s in L o n d o n th a t S ir Jo h n M acn e ill d ied on 2 M arch 1880.

Source: ‘Obituary. Sir John Macneill, 1793-1880’, in Minutes o f the Proceedings o f the Institute o f Civil Engineers, vol. 73, part 3, 1882-1883, pp 361-367.

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Parke Neville (1812-1886)B o rn in D ub lin , th e e ld est son o f A rth u r N ev ille , su rv ey o r to th e co rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin and en g in ee r o f th e G rand C anal, D ublin . In his ea rly ca ree r P a rk e N e v ille w as a p u p il o f th e ce leb ra ted en g in ee r C h arles V ig n o les and w o rk e d w ith th e sen io r en g in ee r o n n u m ero u s ra ilw ays in Ire land in c lu d in g th e D ub lin and K in g sto w n , the G rea t S ou thern and W estern , and th e M id land G reat W estern . A fte r V ig n o les , N ev ille th en b ecam e a pup il o f th e arch itec t, W illiam F arrell, and th e re a f te r co m b in ed th e p ro fess io n s o f en g in ee r and arch itec t ca rry in g ou t n u m ero u s p u b lic w o rk s in co n n ec tio n w ith th e b u ild in g o f p risons, asy lu m s and churches.In A pril 1851 N e v ille b ecam e city en g in ee r to th e co rp o ra tio n o f D ub lin , a p o sitio n w h ich h e re m a in ed in fo r th e re s t o f h is lo n g career. W h en he en te red o ffice he found th e stree ts o f th e city in a v ery bad s ta te and im m ed ia te ly reco m m en d ed th e p av in g o f all the p rin c ip le s tree ts in th e city . A s early as 1853 h e p re p a re d a p lan fo r th e m ain d ra in ag e o f th e city , th e m ain ch a rac te ris tic o f w h ich w a s th e p ro v is io n o f in te rcep tin g sew ers to p reven t th e con tinued p o llu tio n o f th e R iv e r L iffey . D u e to lack o f fu n d in g th is p lan w as no t yet adop ted . N evertheless, y ea r by year, as fu n d s p e rm itted , N ev ille reb u ilt and rem o d elled the sew ers o f th e c ity o n th e m ost m o d ern p rin c ip les . B y 1880 he had a lm o st co m p le ted th e en tire sew erag e o f th e city , sav e th e m ain d ra in ag e schem e, th e g rea t am b itio n o f h is ca ree r as city engineer. A lth o u g h a m ain d ra in ag e ac t had b e e n o b ta in ed in 1871 b ased on a p lan by N e v ille an d Jo sep h B aza lg e tte , co n su ltin g en g in ee r to the co rp o ra tio n o f D ub lin , fu n d s co u ld n o t be ra ised and th e ac t w as a llo w ed to lapse. N ev ille did n o t live to see h is m ain d ra in ag e p lan f in a lly com pleted .N e v ille ’s m o st ce leb ra ted w o rk w as th e D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n W a te rw o rk s, o r V artry w o rk s as it w as know n. O pened in 1862, th e V a rtry w o rk s co m p rised a la rg e s to rag e re se rv o ir in R o u n d w o o d , C o u n ty W ick lo w , designed to ta k e w a te r fro m th e n earby V artry R iv e r and convey it th ro u g h u n d erg ro u n d p ipes in to th e city o f D u b lin , th u s p ro v id in g th e c ity w ith an ab u n d an t supp ly o f p u re w ater.N e v ille a lso designed and b u ilt a sm alle r w a te rw o rk s on th e fifth lock o f th e G ran d C anal fo r su p p ly in g b rew erie s and d is tille rie s in th e area. H e also d es ig n ed an d b u ilt th e ca ttle m ark e t in D ublin , o ccu p y in g an area o f ten acres and co s tin g £36 ,000 . A n o th e r im p o rtan t w o rk carried o u t by N e v ille w as th e co n stru c tio n o f a n ew stree t co n n ec tin g D a m e S tree t w ith C h ris t C h u rch P la ce at a cost o f £70 ,000 . P rio r to the o p en in g o f th is stree t, access to C h rist C h u rch P lace fro m D a m e S tree t could on ly b e atta ined v ia C o rk H ill and C astle S treet.N ev ille w a s e lec ted a M em b er o f th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs on 5 D ecem b er 1865 h av in g b een p ro p o sed by C harles V ig n o les and seco n d ed b y G .W . H em an s, J.F. B atem an , Jo h n H aw k sh aw , Jo sh u a F ie ld and others. H e w a s a P a s t P re s id en t o f th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs in Ire lan d , a V ice P re s id en t o f th e In s titu te o f A rch itec ts , and w as also a m em b er o f m an y lite ra ry and sc ien tific so c ie ties in D ublin . N ev ille to o k ill and died in h is re s id en ce in P em b ro k e R o ad , D ublin , o n 30 O c to b e r 1886, h av ing on ly b een ab sen t from his o ffic ia l du ties fo r tw o days.

Source: ‘Obituary. Parke Neville, 1812 - 1886’, mMinutes o f proceedingso f the Institute o f Civil Engineers, part 1, vol. 87, 1886-1887, pp 424,27;Candidate Circular 1996, Parke Neville (Institution of Civil EngineersArchives, London).

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Bindon Blood Stoney (1828-1909)B o rn at O ak ley P ark , K in g ’s C o u n ty in 1828, B in d o n B lo o d S to n ey g ra d u a ted w ith d is tin c tio n in A rts and E n g in ee rin g fro m th e U n iv e rs ity o f D u b lin , T rin ity C o lleg e in 1850. H av in g sp en t th e firs t tw o years o f h is ca ree r as ass is tan t to L o rd R o sse a t th e O b serv a to ry at P arso n sto w n , S toney th en spen t one y ea r in S p a in su rv ey in g and lay in g o u t th e M ad rid and A lm an za R a ilw ay and th e C o rd o v a and M a lag a R a ilw ay b efo re re tu rn in g to Ire land to spend tw o fu rth e r years as re s id e n t en g in ee r o n th e B o y n e V iad u c t. W ith th e su ccessfu l co m p le tio n o f th is la tte r p ro jec t th e y o u n g en g in ee r th en sp en t one y ea r in th e W est o f Ire lan d engaged in d ra in ag e w o rk s b e fo re tak in g up th e ap p o in tm en t as ass is tan t eng in eer to the B allast B oard in D u b lin in 1856.S toney en te red th e en g in ee rin g p ro fess io n d u rin g th e h e ig h t o f th e ra ilw ay ag e in th e 1850s w h en th e m o re trad itio n a l m eth o d s o f b rick and s to n e w o rk b eg an to be rep laced by n ew er tech n iq u es in v o lv in g th e u se o f iron g ird ers . T h e g rea t tu b u la r b rid g e had ju s t been co m p le ted ac ro ss th e M ena i S tra its and S to n ey co m b in ed h is firs t class tra in in g received at th e U n iv ers ity o f D u b lin w ith h is ‘n a tu ra l c rav in g fo r sc ien tific a c c u ra c y ’ to em ploy g ro u n d b reak in g tech n iq u es in co m p le tin g th e g rea t la ttice g ird e r b rid g e ac ross th e R iver B oyne. O ne o f th e g rea t b en e fits d eriv ed fro m S to n e y ’s in v o lv em en t w ith th is g rea t p ro jec t w as th e p u b lica tio n o f h is c la ss ic w o rk ‘T h e th eo ry o f s tra in s in g ird ers and sim ilar s tru c tu re s’ w h ich b ecam e o n e o f th e m o st h igh ly re fe ren ced w o rk s in th e lib rary o f the In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs .W ith in six y ea rs o f his ap p o in tm en t in 1856 as assistan t en g in ee r in th e P o rt o f D ublin , S to n ey rep laced G eo rg e H a lp in Ju n io r as C h ie f E n g in ee r d u e to th e la tte r ’s ill health .A t th is period D ublin P o rt w as a tidal h a rb o u r w ith a sh a llo w ap p ro ach from th e b ay to the city. T h e m ain d ifficu lty w as the lack o f su ffic ien t w a te r along th e q uays and d red g in g m eth o d s fo r m ain ta in in g dep th w e re slow and exp en siv e . T h is p ro m p ted S toney to design his ow n d red g in g p lan t includ ing large h o p p e r b arg es cap ab le o f co n v ey in g 1,000 tons o u t to sea. It w as the m oney saved by th is ex e rc ise th a t a llo w ed the po rt board to p ress ahead w ith S to n e y ’s n ex t m ajo r p ro jec t: th e N o rth Q uay E x tension . It w as du rin g th is p ro jec t th a t S to n ey ’s ta len t and in v en tio n rea lly cam e to th e fore, w in n in g accla im fo r h im se lf and th e p o rt th ro u g h o u t th e U nited K in g d o m and m an y p a rts o f E u ro p e (see C h ap te r II fo r deta iled d esc rip tio n o f en g in ee rin g m ethods).S toney re tired in 1898 aged sev en ty o n e and fo r th e rem a in in g te n y ea rs o f h is life en joyed full po ssessio n o f his m ental pow ers, m ain ta in in g a k ee n in te re st in th e po rt, and en g in ee rin g sc ience in general. D u rin g h is re tirem en t he d ev o ted m uch tim e to q u estio n s o f national d efence , bo th naval and m ilitarily , and also en q u ired in to m atte rs o f ed u ca tio n and m etaphysics. H e w as a M em b er o f th e R o y a l Ir ish A cadem y, th e In s titu tio n o f N av a l A rch itec ts , and M em b er and P as t-P res id en t o f th e In s titu tio n o f C ivil E n g in ee rs o f Ireland . H e w a s e lec ted an A sso cia te o f th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs (L o n d o n ) in 1858 h av in g b een p ro p o sed by Jam es B a rto n an d seco n d ed by G eo rg e H a lp in and G .W . H em an s am o n g st o thers. In 1863 he w as tran sfe rred to th e class o f M em b er. H e w as also a F e llo w o f th e R oyal S o cie ty and rece iv ed an h o n o ra ry L L .D . fro m th e U n iv ersity o f D ublin .

Source; ‘Obituary. Bindon Blood Stoney, 1828-1909’, inMinutes o f theProceedings o f the Institute o f Civil Engineers, vol. 177, part3, 1908-1909, pp 287-290; Candidate Circular 1390, Bindon Blood Stoney(Institution of Civil Engineers Archives, London).

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James Walker (1781-1862)B o rn at Falk irk , S cotland , W a lk e r g rad u a ted from G lasg o w U n iv e rs ity at an ea rly age and in 1800 w en t to w ork w ith h is un c le R alph W alker, th en a L o n d o n -b a sed en g in ee r o f co n sid erab le im portance. U nder his uncle, W a lk e r w as em p lo y ed o n v ario u s p ro jec ts in L o n d o n ’s ex ten siv e d o ck lan d s and in 1806 w as ap p o in ted en g in ee r to th e C om m erc ia l D o ck s h av in g th re e y ea rs p rev io u sly o v e rseen th e fo rm a tio n o f th e C om m erc ia l R oad , an im p o rtan t th o ro u g h fa re lead in g fro m th e d o ck s to th e M etropo lis .In 1829 W a lk e r v isited B e lfas t to survey th e h a rb o u r and d raw up p lans fo r its im p ro v em en t. T his w a s th e b eg in n in g o f a long a sso c ia tio n fo r W a lk e r w ith th e P o r t o f B e lfast. O v er th e n ex t tw en ty y ea rs in his cap acity as co n su ltin g en g in eer, W a lk e r w as re sp o n sib le fo r ca rry in g o u t m any im p ro v em en ts in th is p o rt, cu lm in a tin g in 1849 w ith th e o p en in g o f th e final s tage o f th e V ic to ria C hannel. A fte r th e d ea th o f T h o m as T e lfo rd in 1834 W a lk e r had tak en o v er m an y o f the d eceased e n g in e e r’s p ro jec ts and a t th is p e rio d carried o u t m uch w o rk fo r th e C ity o f L o n d o n in c lu d in g th e em b an k m en ts on th e T h am es and th e b rid g es at B lack fria rs an d W estm in ste r. D u rin g th e 1830s and 1840s W alk e r and his p a rtn e r M r B u rg es ac ted as co n su ltin g en g in ee rs to n u m ero u s co rp o ra tio n s and p ro fessio n a l b o d ies in th e U n ited K in g d o m u n d erta k in g som e o f th e m o st im p o rtan t en g in eerin g w o rk s in th e coun try . A m o n g st th e se m an y w o rk s is th e co n stru c tio n o f the V au x h all B rid g e o v er th e T h am es and th e V ic to ria B rid g e o v e r th e C lyde; th e co ffe rd am and riv e r w all o f th e N e w H o u ses o f P arliam en t; th e d o ck s at C ard iff, B e lfa s t, G ran ton , Jersey and D o v er in ad d itio n to n u m ero u s canals and a n u m b er o f ra ilw ays. H o w e v e r it is th e lig h th o u se w o rk fo r th e C o rp o ra tio n o f th e T rin ity H o u se th a t th e firm o f W a lk e r and B u rg es w ill be b e s t rem em b ered .In ad d itio n to oversee in g th ese and m an y m ore m ajo r w o rk s , W a lk e r also p en n ed m an y ex ten s iv e rep o rts w h ich g iv e d e ta iled tech n ica l in fo rm a tio n o n th e se h isto rica l w o rk s. In 1859 he v is ited th e P o rt o f D u b lin to d raw up p lan s fo r a g rav in g dock , h o w e v er it w as th e p lans o f th e re s id en t eng ineer, G eo rg e H a lp in th a t w e re f in a lly accep ted fo r th is w ork .W a lk e r jo in e d th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs as a m em b er in 1823 and w as e lec ted a m em b er o f th e counc il and V ice -P res id en t in 1826. W ith th e d ea th o f th e f irs t P res id en t o f th e Institu tion , T h o m as T e lfo rd in 1834, W a lk e r su cceed ed M r T e lfo rd to b eco m e th e second P re s id en t o f th e In s titu tio n and he ld th e ch a ir fo r e lev en years. H e w as a lso a F e llo w o f th e R o y a l S ocie ties o f L o n d o n and E d in b u rg h and a m em b er o f th e S enate o f th e U n iv ers ity o f L ondon .D esp ite h is d ec lin in g hea lth , W a lk e r con tinued to en g ag e ac tiv e ly in h is p ro fess io n rig h t u p to his last days. H e d ied on 8 O c to b e r 1862 and w as in te rred in th e fam ily vau lt at St Jo h n ’s E p isco p a l b u ria l-g ro u n d , E d inburgh .

Source: ‘Obituary. James Walker, 1781-1862’, in Minutes o f theProceedings o f the Institute o f Civil Engineers, vol. 22, 1862-1863, pp630-633; Manuscript Diary of James Walker (Institution of CivilEngineers Archives, London).

264

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. PRIMARY SOURCES

I. MANUSCRIPTS

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B o a rd o f T rad eC o n stru c tio n o f A lex an d ra B asin , 1862, B o ard o f T rad e ‘B lack S e rie s ’ 1829 .1-2 .

H y d ro g rap h ic C h art dep ic ting th e lay ing o f te leg rap h cab le fro m H o w th to H o ly h ead , p ro p o sed by P o s tm a ste r G eneral 1870, B o a rd o f T ra d e ‘B lack S e rie s ’ 1565.1.

N a tio n a l T e lep h o n e C o m p an y L td ., M ap and sec tio n p lan sh o w in g te lep h o n e p o les c ro ssin g sands fro m B a ld o y le R ace C o u rse to P o rtm a rn o c k G o lf club, 30 O c to b e r 1907, B o ard o f T rad e ‘B lack S e rie s’ 7856 .1 -2 .

P lan s and sec tions o f th e D ub lin C en tra l R a ilw ay s and S ta tions, M essrs., C aw ley & N ew to n , E ng in eers, M an ch este r, S ession 1871-72, B o a rd o f T rad e ‘G reen S e rie s’ 1564.12-18 .

C ircu it C o u rtC ity o f D u b lin Ju n c tio n R a ilw ay - P lan s & b o o k s o f re fe ren ce 1884, D ub lin G rand Ju n c tio n R ailw ay - P lan s & b o o k s o f re fe ren ce 1885, R eco rd s o f C ircu it C o u rt D ub lin , C lerks o f th e C ro w n and P eace, 1 C /3 0/67.

D u b lin P o r t and D o ck s B o ardJo u rn a l o f th e p ro ceed in g s o f th e C o rp o ra tio n fo r P rese rv in g and Im p ro v in g the P o rt o f D ub lin , 1840 to 1871, D P D B 1/17-31.

D u b lin P o rt and D o ck s B o ard Journal, 1871 to 1880, D P D B 1/32-37.

O ffice o f P u b lic W o rk sJo u rn a l o f th e p ro ceed in g s o f th e Irish R a ilw ay C o m m ission , 26 O c to b e r 1836 to 18 M arch 1839, O P W 1/10 /1 .

L e tte r B o o k o f th e Ir ish R a ilw ay C om m ission , 22 N o v e m b e r 1837 to 14 A pril 1845, O P W 1/10 /2 /2 .

P em b ro k e E s ta te PapersD ra ft ab strac t o f th e title o f th e tru s tees o f the dev ised e s ta te s o f th e V isco u n t F itz w illiam d eceased to lands req u ired by th e D u b lin T ru n k C o n n ec tin g R a ilw ay C om pany , 24 A u g u st 1865, P em b ro k e E sta te P apers, 1011/9/1 .

265

N ev ille , P ark e ., C .E ., M .I.C .E ., V .P .R .I.A .I., & c., C ity E n g in ee r and L o ca l S u rveyor, R ep o rt to th e R ig h t H o n ., T he L o rd M ayor, A ld erm en , and co u n c illo rs o f th e C ity o f D ub lin , o n th e genera l s ta te o f th e p u b lic w o rk s o f th e c ity u n d e r th e ir co n tro l (D ublin , 1869), M s. 3925.

L arco m P ap ersL e tte rs from C .B . V ig n o les on ra ilw ays 1830-50, L arco m P ap ers , M s. 7518.

L e tte rs from Ir ish R a ilw ay C o m m issio n ers to L ieu ten a n t L arcom , 1839, L a rco m P ap ers , M s 7459.

M an u sc rip ts and D o cu m en ts re la tin g to O P W and ra ilw ay s 1846059, L a rco m P ap ers , M s 7745.

National Library of Ireland, http://w w w .nli.ie

Dublin City Library and Archiveh ttp ://w w w .d u b lin c ity .ie /liv in g _ in _ th e_ c ity /lib ra rie s /h e ritag e_ an d _ h is to ry /

D u b lin C ity C ouncilM in u tes o f M u n ic ip a l C o u n cil o f D u b lin C ity, 1 N o v e m b e r 1841 - 2 9 N o v em b er 1842, C 2 /A 1/11 .

R e p o rts and P rin ted D o cu m en ts fo r th e C o rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin , 1869 to date.

W id e S treets C o m m issio n M in u te B ooks, 1839-41, W S C /M in s/4 5 .

D ia ry o f S p en ce r H arty , C .E ., on th e V artry W a te r W o rk s, June to D e cem b er 1867, pap ers d ep o sited b y th e W a te r D iv is io n o f D u b lin C o rp o ra tio n , W W /1 0 /4 .

Irish Rail Archive, Heuston Station, Dublin

D u b lin and D ro g h e d a R a ilw ayD u b lin and D ro g h ed a R a ilw ay M in u te B ook , 1835 to 1837, 1837 to 1841, 1843 to 1845.

D u b lin and D ro g h e d a R a ilw ay M in u tes o f P ro p rie to rs , 1836 to 1848, and 1848 to 1875.

D ublin and D ro g h e d a R ailw ay W o rk s C om m ittee , 1844 to 1846.

D u b lin and B e lfa s t Ju n c tio n R ailw ayD u b lin and B e lfa s t Ju n c tio n W o rk s C o m m ittee M in u tes 1845 to 1848

D u b lin and B e lfa s t Ju n c tio n B o a rd M in u tes 1844 to 1847.

U ls te r R ailw ayM in u tes o f th e p ro ceed in g s o f th e U ls te r R a ilw ay 1836 to 1841.

266

R ep o rts o f B in d o n B lo o d S toney, 1 A ugust 1876, 8 Jan u a ry 1877, also R ep o rts and acco m p an y in g p lans o f John P u rser G riffith reg a rd in g A lex a n d ra B asin , 17 F eb ru a ry 1900, 20 F eb ru ary 1900, 2 July 1901 and 27 A u g u st 1901,D P A /0 19/001.

Dublin Port Archive, National College of Ireland http://w w w .ncirl.ie

Public Records Office of Northern Ireland, h ttp ://w w w .p ro n i.g o v .u k

B e lfa s t C ity C ouncilB e lfa s t C o rp o ra tio n A rch iv e (L A 7), includ ing C o u n cil M in u te B o o k s 1879 to 1901, L A 7 /2 E A /1 4-21 .

B e lfa s t H a rb o u r C o m m issio n ersLedger o f H a rb o u r Im p ro v em en ts , 1836-46, 1873-77, H A R . 1C /6/1, H A R .1 C /6 /7 .

M ap s & P lan s , H A R .1 D /1 /1 -6 4 , H A R . 1 D /2 /1-31.

G eneral P o s t O fficeN a tio n a l T e lep h o n e C om pany , A g en d a B o o k 1881-1884 , G P O /3 /1 .

N a tio n a l T e lep h o n e C om pany , M in u te B ook , 1884-1886 , G P O .3 /4 , and 1893- 1898, G P O .3 /7 .

U ls te r T ran sp o rt A u th o rityG rea t N o rth e rn R a ilw ay (Ire land), B o o k o f R efe ren ce , U T A /2 3 /F B /1 .

Ir ish R a ilw ay C o m m iss io n P lan s o f th e several lines laid o u t u n d e r th e d irec tio n o f th e C o m m issio n ers , 1837. P resen ted to bo th H o u ses o f P a rliam en t by C o m m an d o f H e r M ajesty , U T A /5 1 /A /1 .

P lan s and sec tio n o f th e B e lfas t C en tra l R ailw ay . S essio n 1863-4, E ng ineers, S ir Jo h n M acN eill, T e lfo rd M acN eill, & W .H . C odd ing ton . S o lic ito rs , M essrs. M acR ory , B o y d & M acR o ry , U T A /30 /B /1 .

M ap o f th e P o rt and H a rb o u r o f B elfast, 1886, M arcu s W a rd & C o., L td ., D /1526 /1 .

The British Library, h ttp ://w w w .b l.u k

M ap o f th e P o rt and H a rb o u r o f B elfast, 1893, T h o m as R o ss S alm ond and G .F .L . G iles, 1104. (34.).

T w o m aps sh o w in g D u b lin P o r t from th e B ay o f D u b lin to C arlisle B rid g e , 1842 and 1911, S E C .l (1447).

267

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B e lfa s t H a rb o u rP lans, Sections, B o o k o f R efe rence, and B o o k o f E v id en c e fo r th e B e lfa s t H a rb o u r B ill, 1837.

P lans, B o o k o f R efe ren ce , and E stim a tes fo r th e B e lfa s t H a rb o u r B ill, 1846.

C ity o f D u b lin Ju n c tio n R a ilw ayP lans, Sections, B o o k o f R efe rence, and B o o k o f E v id en ce fo r th e C ity o f D u b lin Ju n c tio n R a ilw ay B ill, 1884.

D u b lin and D ro g h e d a R a ilw ayP lans, Sections, B o o k o f R efe rence, and B o o k o f E v id en ce fo r th e D u b lin and D ro g h ed a R ailroad , 1836, 8/B /10.

D u b lin and K in g s to w n R a ilw ayP la n o f a p ro p o sed ra ilro ad from D ublin to K in g s to w n b y A lex an d er N im m o C .E ., a long w ith ac co m p an y in g B o o k o f R efe rence , 1830.

D u b lin M ain D ra in ag e S chem eP lans, Sections, B o o k o f R eference, and B o o k o f E v id en ce fo r th e D u b lin M ain D ra in ag e S chem e, 1871.

The National Archives, Kew, h ttp ://w w w .n a tio n a la rch iv es .g o v .u k

B o ard o f T rad eD u b lin P o r t and D o c k s B oard . F o r sanc tion o f w o rk s a t S ir Jo h n R o g e rso n ’s Q uay, M T 10/124.

M a jo r G enera l P a s le y ’s R e p o rt o f h is In sp e c tio n o n th e 20th inst., o f th e D u b lin and D ro g h e d a R a ilw ay , R eco rd ed 22nd M ay 1844, N o . 349 , M T 6/1 /299 .

P ro jec t fo r a M e tro p o litan N av ig a tio n -R a ilw ay Ju n ctio n , C o n cen tra tiv e E lec tr ic T eleg rap h o f Ire land , and T idal L an d R ec la im in g C om pany , no d a te c. 1850,B T 4 1 /8 3 7 /5 1 4 6 .

U lste r R ailw ay , 11 M arch 1845, R ep o rt o n gauge , M T 6 /1 /2 8 6 .

C ro w n E sta teIre land F o resh o re , C oun ty D ow n, B e lfa s t H arb o u r, B e lfa s t L ough . F o resh o re tak en b y H a rb o u r C o m m issio n ers u n d e r B e lfa s t D o c k A ct, 1854, C R E S 5 8 /1098- 1100 .

2 6 8

D u b lin P o rt and D o c k s B o ardD u b lin P o r t and D o c k s ru les and b y e L aw s, m ade, o rd a in ed and e s tab lish ed b y th e D u b lin P o r t and D o ck s B o a rd o n th e 15th day o f N o v e m b e r 1867.

G enera l P o s t O fficeG eneral P o s t O ffice T e leg rap h s and T elephones. D u b lin te lep h o n e se rv ice to b e estab lish ed b e tw een th e C h ie f S ecre ta ry ’s o ffice and m arin e d e tach m en t, 1883, T l/1 4 3 8 4 .

P o s t O ffice ex ten s io n o f te lep h o n e serv ice in Ire lan d 1911, T l / 1 1317.

G eneral P o s t O ffice T e lep h o n e and T e leg rap h M ap fo r Ireland , 1898.

R A ILD ublin T ru n k C o n n ec tin g R ailw ay , 1864, R A IL 1075/305.

Im p ro v ed te leg rap h system o f Ire land , 1871, M P T 1/3.

The National Archives, Kew, continued

British Telecom Archives, London,h t tp : //w w w . b tp lc . co m /T h eg ro u p /B T sH isto ry /B T g ro u p arch ive s

P O S TB elfas t T e lep h o n e E x ch an g e , U p p e r Q u een S treet, 1912, P O S T 31/83B .

U nited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y L im ited , C o m m erc ia l B u ild in g s D u b lin , L is t o f E x ch an g e su b scrib e rs 1880, P O S T 84/136.

U n ited T e lep h o n e C o m p an y S u b scrib er’s G uide, 1880, P O S T 84/3.

M apsN atio n al T e lep h o n e C o m p an y M ap sh ew in g th e ex ch an g e and tru n k line sy stem o f U n ited K in g d o m in c lu d in g Ire land , 1892.

P lan o f T e lep h o n e T ru n k L in e C o m m u n ica tio n in Ire land , 1904.

Ire lan d T e le g rap h and T e lep h o n e R o u te M ap , 1906.

T e lep h o n e E x ch a n g e M ap s o f Ireland , 1915 and 1922.

G erm an T e leg rap h M ap o f th e W orld . Ü b e rs ich ts -K a rte d e r In te rn a tio n a len T eleg rap h en -V erb in d u n g en . E n tw o rfen u n d g eze ich n e t im T e leg rap h en b e trieb s- B u reau d es R e ich s-P o stam ts , B erlin , 1886.

2 6 9

Institution of Civil Engineers, London, h ttp ://w w w .ice .o rg .u k /k n o w led g e

Jo sep h B aza lg e tte , M an u sc rip t rep o rts on the d ra in ag e o f tow ns.

M an u sc rip t d iary o f Jam es W alker.

C an d id a te C ircu lars fo r m em b ersh ip o f th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs .

T w in S ch erzer L ift B ridges, P o rt o f D ub lin . P an el fo r h is to rica l en g in ee rin g w o rk s reco rd fo rm H E W 3015.

II. PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS

The Parliamentary Debates, F o u rth Series, vol. xxxi, 1895

Private Acts

B elfas t P ort and H a rb o u r A ct, 1831, 1 & 2 W ill. IV , c. lv.

B e lfa s t H a rb o u r A ct, 1847, 10 & 11 V iet., c. lii.

D u b lin T ru n k C o n n ec tin g R ailw ay. A n A c t fo r m ak in g R a ilw ay s and T ram w ay s in o r n ea r th e C ity o f D u b lin , 2 7 & 28 V iet., Sess. 1864.

GOVERNMENT REPORTS AND INQUIRIES

Copy o f correspondence between the commissioners o f public works in Ireland andthe proprietors o f the Kingstown railroad, or others on their behalf H .C . 1833 (291),xxxv.

First report o f the commissioners appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland, report on the City o f Dublin, part 1, [25], H .C . 1835, xxvii.

First report o f the commissioners appointed to inquire into the municipal corporations in Ireland, report on the Borough o f Belfast, [27], H .C . 1835, xxvii.

First report o f the commissioners appointed to inquire into the manner in which railway communication can be most advantageously promoted in Ireland [75], H .C . 1837, xxxiii.

Second report o f the commissioners appointed to consider and recommend a general system o f railways fo r Ireland [75], H .C . 1837-8, xxxv.

270

Report from the select committee on Post Office communication with Ireland, together with the minutes o f evidence, appendix and index, H .C . 1842 (3 7 3 ) ix.

Report o f the railway department o f the Board o f Trade on schemes fo r extending railway communication in Ireland, H .C. 1845 (119), xxxix.

Report from the Select Committee on Railway Bills (Ireland), H .C . 1845 (315), x.

Report from the Select Committee on Kingstown and Holyhead mails; together with the proceedings o f the Committee, minutes o f evidence and index, H .C . 1850 (5 0 1 ) xiv.

Correspondence between Board o f Trade, Irish Steam Association and Ballast Corporation o f Dublin on Graving Dock in Port o f Dublin, H .C . 1852-53 (676), xciv.

Report from the select committee on communication between London and Dublin; together with the proceedings o f the committee, minutes o f evidence, appendix and index, H .C . 1852-3 (747), xxiv.

Report o f Captain Gilbert on the proposed extension o f the boundaries o f the Borough o f Belfast as set out in the proposed bill; together with copies o f all documents and memorials laid before him, approving or objecting to such extension by parties, owners or property within the proposed extended boundary, H .C . 1852-3 (958), xciv.

Report o f the commissioners appointed to inquire into the state o f municipal affairs in the borough o f Belfast, [C. 2470], H .C . 1859, xii.

Special report from the Select Committee on the Electric Telegraph Bills, H C 1868-9 (348), vi.

Report by Mr Scudamore on the reorganisation o f the telegraph system o f the United Kingdom [C 304], H .C . 1871, xxxvii.

Report from the Select Committee on the Post Office Telegraph Department, H .C .1876 (357), xiii.

Report o f the Royal Commissioners appointed to inquire into the sewerage and drainage o f the city o f Dublin, and other matters connected therewith, together with the minutes o f evidence, appendix, index, &c, [C. 2605], H .C . 1880, xxx.

Report by commissioners o f inquiry, 1886, respecting origin and circumstances o f riots in Belfast, June, July, August and September 1886, and action taken by authorities; and magisterial and police jurisdiction, arrangements and establishment fo r Borough o f Belfast, H .C . 1887 [C. 5029], xviii.

Report from the select committee on the telephone service, together with the proceedings o f the committee, minutes o f evidence, appendix and index, H .C . 1895 (350), xiii.

271

III. PRINTED SOURCES, 1840-1927

(A) PAMPHLETS, BOOKS and ARTICLES

A nderson , W ., ‘P resid en tia l A d d ress to th e In s titu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs o f I re la n d ’, in Transactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland, vol. v iii, 1868.

B a tem an , J.F ., ‘T he p o rt o f D ublin , su p p lem en t’, Irish Times 1 A u g u st 1867.

‘B e lfa s t H a rb o u r B o a rd ’, in The Irish Builder, 1 D ecem b er 1862.

‘B e lfa s t H arb o u r, its h is to ry ’, rep rin ted from th e Belfast Evening Telegraph (W & G B aird , B e lfa s t, 1895).

‘B e lfa s t im p ro v em en ts - new d o ck s’, in The Irish Builder, 15 O c to b e r 1865.

B enn , G eo rg e , A history o f the town o f Belfast (B elfast, 1877)

C otton , C h arles P ., ‘P resid en tia l A d d ress to th e In stitu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs o f I re la n d ’, in Transactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland, vol. x, 1875.

C rook, H en ry T ipp ing , ‘T he d ev e lo p m en t o f ra ilw ay and tram w ay co m m u n ica tio n in Ire la n d ’, in Transactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland, vol. xv , 1885.

D ick en s, C harles, Dealings with the firm ofDombey and Son, wholesale, retail and fo r exportation (L ondon , 1848)

D u b lin P o r t and D o ck s B oard , The port o f Dublin (D ublin , 1927).

F urse, B rev e t M a jo r G .A ., Studies on military transport (L ondon , 1878).

G ray, John , Speech in vindication o f the municipal council o f Dublin (D ublin , 1864).

G rierson , T h o m as B ., ‘T he en la rg em en t o f W estla n d -ro w T erm inus, w ith a sk e tch o f th e early h is to ry o f th e D u b lin and K in g s to w n R ailw ay , P a rt 1’, in Transactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland, vo l. xv iii, 1888.

G riffith , Jo h n P u rse r, ‘P resid en tia l A d d ress to th e In stitu tio n o f C iv il E n g in ee rs o f Ire la n d ’, in Transactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland, vol. xix,1889.

________ , ‘T h e P o rt o f D u b lin ’, in Transactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o fIreland, vol. xix, 1889.

________ , The Port o f Dublin, an historical sketch. An address to the DublinUniversity Engineering Students' Society, November 27th, 1914 (D ublin , 1915).

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M arm io n , A n thony , The ancient and modern history o f the maritime ports o f Ireland (L ondon , 1855).

M ’C ready , C .T ., Dublin street names, dated and explained (1892), rep rin ted (D ublin ,1987).

N ev ille , P ark e , Report to the Lord Mayor etc. o f the city o f Dublin on the sewerage o f the city and proposed plans for improving same (D ublin , 1853).

________ , Report on the capabilities o f the Dodder to afford a supply o f water fo r theuse o f city and suburbs (D ublin , 1854).

_________, A description o f the Dublin corporation waterworks (D ub lin , 1875).

_________, Report on the improvement o f Carlisle Bridge, R ep o rts and P rin tedD o cu m en ts fo r th e C o rp o ra tio n o f D u b lin , 1875.

_________, ‘P resid en tia l A ddress to th e In s titu tio n o f C ivil E n g in ee rs o f I re la n d ’, inTransactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland, vol. xiv, 1884.

‘O u r h a rb o u r and its im p ro v em en ts’, in The Irish Builder, 1 June 1879.

O w en, D .J ., A short history o f the port o f Belfast (B elfast, 1917).

Pirn, Jo sep h T o d h u n te r, ‘T h e p o rt o f D u b lin ’, Stat. Soc. Inq. Soc. Ire. (1889).

Royal Commission on Railways. Evidence and papers relating to railways in Ireland (L ondon , 1866)

S toney , B .B ., On recent improvements in the port o f Dublin (D ublin , 1878),

S tretton , C lem en t E ., C .E ., Jhe history o f the Holyhead mail boat service. A paper read on the occasion o f the Jubilee o f the City o f Dublin Company's working, May 1st, 1900 (L eeds, 1901).

‘T he M id lan d R a ilw ay D o c k s ’, in The Irish Builder, 1 A pril 1873.

‘T he P o rt o f D u b lin ’, in The Irish Builder, 1 January 1867.

‘T h e R iv er L ag an and H a rb o u r o f B e lfa s t’, in Jhe Irish Builder, 15 N o v e m b e r 1878.

‘Harbour im provem ents’, in The Irish Builder, 1 April 1868.

273

(B) CONTEMPORARY PERIODICALS AND NEWSPAPERS

Dublin Builder, 1859-67, con tinued as Irish Builder 1867-1922

Dublin Penny Journal

Dublin University Magazine

Freeman's Journal, 1840-1922

Irish Engineers: Journal o f the Institution o f Engineers o f Ireland

Irish Time.s 1840-1922

Irish Railway Gazette

London Illustrated News

London Times

Transactions o f the Institution o f Civil Engineers o f Ireland, ¡845-

The National Telephone Company's Directory, Dublin District, 1910 and ¡912

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I. REFERENCE

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II. PRINTED BOOKS AND ARTICLES

(A )B E L F A S T

B ain , R .E .D ., & H ew lett, J.P ., ‘B e lfas t w a te r su p p ly ’, in Irish Engineers: Journal o f the Institution o f Engineers o f Ireland, vol. 30, (D ublin , 1977), p p 3 - 6.

B eck e tt, J.C . (ed.), Belfast: the making o f a city, 1800-1914 (B elfast, 1983).

B eck e tt, J .C ., and G lasscock , R .E . (eds), Belfast: origin and growth o f an industrial city (B elfast, 1967).

B lack , E ileen , The People’s Park: the Queen’s Island, Belfast, 1849-1879 (B elfast,1988).

C larkson , L eslie , ‘T h e c ity and th e co u n try ’, in B eck e tt, J.C . (ed .), Belfast: the making o f a city, 1800-1914 (B elfast, 1983), pp 153 - 165.

D o h erty , P au l, Geographic perspectives on the Belfast region, G eo g rap h ica l S ocie ty o f Ire lan d S pecial P u b lic a tio n s N o. 5 (A ntrim , 1990).

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G lassco ck , R .E ., ‘T he g ro w th o f th e p o r t ’, in B ecke tt, J.C ., and G lassco ck , R .E . (eds), Belfast: origin and growth o f an industrial city (B elfast, 1967), pp 98 - 108.

G ribbon , S., Edwardian Belfast: a social profile (B elfast, 1982).

Jo h n sto n e , R o b ert, Belfast: portraits o f a city (L ondon , 1990).

Jones, E m rys, A social geography o f Belfast (L ondon , 1965).

L o u d an , Jack, In search o f water, being a history o f the Belfast Water Supply (B elfast, 1940).

L y n ch , J.P ., An unlikely success story: the Belfast shipbuilding industry 1880-1935 (B elfast, 2001).

M agu ire , W .A ., Belfast (K eele, 1993).

________ , ‘L o rd D onegal and th e sa le o f B elfast: a case h is to ry fro m th e E n cu m b eredE sta te s C o u rt’, in The Economic History Review, Second Series, x x ix (1976), pp 570 - 84.

O ’L eary , C orneliu s, ‘B elfast u rb an g o v ern m en t in th e age o f re fo rm ’, in H a rk n ess , D ., and O ’D ow d, M ., The town in Ireland: historical studies x iii (B e lfa st, 1981), pp 187 - 202 .

R oyle , S .A ., P ring le , M .E ., & B oal, F .W ., ‘N ew in fo rm atio n on th e d ev e lo p m en t o f B a lly m acarre tt: L ord T em p lem o re ’s p lan o f 1853’, in Ulster Journal o f Archaeology, 46 (1983), pp 1 3 7 -4 2 .

S train, R .W .M ., Belfast and its Charitable Society: a story o f urban social development (London, 1961).

Sw eetnam , R obin , ‘T h e d ev e lo p m en t o f th e p o r t’, in B eck e tt, J.C . (ed .), Belfast: the making o f a city, 1800-1914 (B elfast, 1983), pp 57 - 70.

Sw eetnam , R obin , and N im m o n s, C ecil, Port o f Belfast 1785-1985 (B elfast, 1985).

(B) DUBLIN

A alen , F .H . A. and W helan , K . (eds), Dublin city and county from prehistory to present: studies in honour ofJ.H. Andrews (D ublin , 1992).

A b ercro m b ie , P ., K elly , S ydney A ., & R o b ertso n , M an n in g ., Dublin sketch development plan (D ublin , 1941).

B rady , Joseph , and S im m s, A nngre t, (eds), Dublin through space and time, c.900- 1900 (D ublin , 2001).

277

C am pbell, H ugh, ‘R a ilw ay s, p lan s and u rb an p o litic s in n in e teen th -cen tu ry D u b lin ’, in R o th , R a lf & P o lino , M arie -N o e lle (eds), The city and the railway in Europe (A ld ersh o t, 2003), pp 183 - 202.

C lark, P eter, and G illesp ie , R aym ond , (eds), Two capitals, Dublin and London (L ondon , 2002).

C ullen , F rank , Cleansing rural Dublin: public health and housing initiatives in the South Dublin Poor Law Union 1880-1920 (D ublin , 2001).

D aly , M ary E ., Dublin the deposed capital: a social and economic history 1860-1914 (C ork , 1984).

D ick so n , D av id (ed .), The gorgeous mask: Dublin 1700-1850 (D ublin , 1987).

G illigan , H .A ., A history o f the port o f Dublin (D ublin , 1988).

M cC u llo u g h , N iall, Dublin, an urban history (D ublin , 1989).

M cM an u s, R u th , Dublin: building the suburbs, 1910-1940 (D ublin , 2002).

M artin , John, ‘T h e social g eo g rap h y o f m id n in e tee n th -cen tu ry D u b lin c ity ’ in S m yth , W .J. and W helan , K ev in (eds), Common ground: essays on the historical geography o f Ireland (C ork , 1988), p p 173 - 188.

O ’C o n n o r, C harles N ., ‘T he h is to ry and d ev e lo p m en t o f D u b lin ’s w a te r su p p ly ’, in Irish Engineers: Journal o f the Institution o f Engineers o f Ireland, vol. 29 (D ublin , 1976), pp 1 4 - 1 9 .

O ’D onne ll, K ., ‘T he h is to ry o f D u b lin ’s m ain d ra in ag e sy s tem ’, in Irish Engineers: Journal o f the Institution o f Engineers o f Ireland, vol. 32 (D ublin , 1979), pp 3 - 10.

P run ty , Jacin ta , Dublin slums 1800-1925: a study in urban geography (D ublin , 1998).

(C ) G E N E R A L

A b b o tt, Carl, ‘R ead in g u rb an h istory : in fluen tia l b o o k s and h is to ria n s ’, in Journal o f Urban History, vol. 21, 1994, pp 31 - 43.

A rm strong , John, ‘F ro m S h illib eer to B uchanan : tran sp o rt and th e u rb an en v iro n m e n t’, in D au n to n , M .J. (ed .) Cambridge Urban History o f Britain, vo l 3: 1840-1950 (C am bridge , 20 0 1 ), pp 229 - 57.

B ak er, A lan R .H ., Geography and history, bridging the divide (C am bridge , 2003).

B est, G eoffrey , Mid-Victorian Britain 1851-75 (F on tana, 1979, firs t p u b lish ed 1971).

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B riggs, A sa, The collected essays o f Asa Briggs, volume III, serious pursuits: communication and education (H ertfo rdsh ire , 1991).

________ , ‘T h e p leasu re te lephone : a ch ap te r in th e p re -h is to ry o f th e m e d ia ’, inB riggs, A sa, The collected essays o f Asa Briggs, volume III, serious pursuits: communication and education (H ertfo rdsh ire , 1991).

________ , Victorian cities (Pelican , 1968, firs t p u b lish ed O dham s P ress, 1963).

C annad ine , D av id , Lords and landlords: the aristocracy and the towns 1774-1967 (L eicester, 1980).

C asserley , H .C ., Outline o f Irish railway history (N o rth P o m fre t V erm o n t, 1974).

C larke, H o w a rd B ., P run ty , Jac in ta , and H en n essy , M a rk (eds), Surveying Ireland’s past: multidisciplinary essays in honour o f Anngret Simms (D ublin , 2004).

C om erfo rd , R . V ., Inventing the nation, Ireland (L ondon , 2003).

de C ourcy , John, ‘A h is to ry o f en g in eerin g in Ire la n d ’, in Irish Engineering: Journal o f the Institution o f Engineers o f Ireland, vol. 38 (D ublin , 1985), pp 23 - 35.

C ox, R o n a ld C., Bindon Blood Stoney: biography o f a port engineer, In s titu tio n o f E n g in eers o f Ire lan d (D ublin , 1990).

________ , John Purser Griffith 1848-1938: ‘‘Grand old man o f Irish engineering”,paper presented on 5 October 1998 to a joint meeting o f the Civil Division and the Heritage Society o f the Institution o f Engineers o f Ireland (D ublin , 1998).

D aly , M ary E ., ‘Irish u rb a n h istory : a su rv ey ’, in Urban History Yearbook (1986), pp 61 - 72.

D au n to n , M .J ., (ed .), Cambridge Urban History o f Britain, vo l 3: 1840-1950 (C am bridge , 2001).

D o d g sh o n , R .A ., and B u tlin , R. A. (eds), An historical geography o f England and Wales (L ondon , 1990).

D yos, H .J. & W olfe , M . (eds), The Victorian city: images and reality (2 vols., L ondon , 1973).

F arrell, B rian , Communications and community in Ireland (C o rk and D ub lin , 1984).

F reem an , T .W ., Ireland, its physical, historical, social and economic geography (L ondon , 1950).

G raham , B .J., and P ro u d fo o t, L .J ., ‘A p ersp ec tiv e o n th e n a tu re o f Ir ish h is to rica l g e o g rap h y ’, in G raham , B .J ., and P ro u d fo o t, L .J. (eds), An historical geography o f Ireland (L ondon , 1993), pp 1 - 18.

2 7 9

G raham , B rian , and P ro u d fo o t, L .J. (eds), An historical geography o f Ireland (L ondon , 1993).

G raham , S tephen , and M arv in , S im on, Splintering urbanism: networked infrastructures, technological mobilities and the urban condition (L o n d o n and N e w Y ork , 2001).

H arkness, D ., and O ’D o w d , M ary , (eds), The town in Ireland: historical studies xiii (B elfast, 1981).

H en n o ck , E .P ., Fit and proper persons: ideal and reality in nineteenth-century urban government (L ondon , 1973).

H erries D av ies , G o rd o n L ., (ed .), Irish Geography, the Geographical Society o f Ireland Golden Jubilee 1934-1984. Issu ed as a su p p lem en t to Irish Geography v o lu m e 17, 1984 (D ublin , 1984).

Irish , Bill, Shipbuilding in Waterford 1820-1882, a historical, technical and pictorial study (W ick low , 2005 , firs t pub lished 2001).

K ellett, J.R ., The impact o f railways on Victorian cities (L ondon , 1969).

L eckey , J. J., Nineteenth-century railway politics in the Belfast - Dublin - Enniskillen triangle (D ublin , 1973).

L ees, L ynn H o llen , ‘U rb an n e tw o rk s’, in D au n to n , M .J ., (ed .) Cambridge Urban History o f Britain, vol 3: 1840-1950 (C am bridge , 2001), pp 59 - 94.

M cD ow ell, R .B . (ed .), Social life in Ireland 1800-45 (C ork , 1957).

________ , ‘D u b lin and B e lfa s t - a co m p ariso n ’ in M cD ow ell, R .B . (ed .), Social life inIreland 1800-45 (C ork , 1957), pp 11-24.

M orris, R .J., & R od g er, R ichard , The Victorian city: a reader in British urban history 1820-1914 (London, 1993).

O ’C onnor, K evin , Ironing the land, the coming o f the railways to Ireland (D ublin ,1999).

P ounds, N .J .G ., An historical geography o f Europe 1800-1914 (C am bridge , 1985).

R obbins, M ichae l, The railway age (P enguin , 1965, firs t pub lish ed by R o u tle d g e & K e g a n P a u l, 1962).

R odger, R ichard , The transformation o f Edinburgh: land, property and trust in the nineteenth century (C am b rid g e , 2001).

R oth , R a lf & P o lin o , M arie -N o elle (eds), The city and the railway in Europe (A ldersho t, 2003).

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R oyle, S tephen . A ., ‘Industria liza tion , u n b an iza tio n an d u rb an so c ie ty in P o s t-F a m in e Ireland , c. 1 8 5 0 -1 9 2 1 ’, in G raham , B .J ., and P ro u d fo o t, L .J., An historical geography o f Ireland (L ondon , 1993), pp 258 - 92.

S ch ivelbusch , W olfgang , The railway journey: the industrialization o f time and space in the nineteenth century (L eam in g to n Spa, 1986).

S im m ons, Jack , ‘T he p o w e r o f th e ra ilw a y ’, in D y o s, H .J. & W olfe , M . (eds), The Victorian city: images and reality, v o l .l (L ondon , 1973) pp 2 77 - 310.

Sm ith, D av id , ‘T h e ra ilw ay m ap p in g o f B ritish to w n s ’, in The Cartographic Journal, vol. 35, no. 2, 1998, pp 1 4 1 - 1 5 4 .

Sm yth, W illiam J. and W helan , K ev in (eds), Common ground: essays on the historical geography o f Ireland (C ork , 1988).

S trikw erda, Carl, ‘The city in history rev isited : n ew o v erv iew s o f E u ro p e an u rb a n iz a tio n ’, in Journal o f Urban History, vol. 13, 1987, pp 42 6 - 50.

T hrift, N igel, ‘T ra n sp o rt and co m m u n ica tio n 1 7 3 0 -1 9 1 4 ’, in D o d g sh o n , R .A ., and B utlin , R. A ., (eds), An historical geography o f England and Wales (L ondon , 1990), pp 453-86 .

W allace , J o h n E ., ‘T h e d ev e lo p m en t o f Ire lan d th ro u g h civil en g in ee rin g ’, in Transactions o f the Institution o f Engineers o f Ireland, vol. 115 (D ublin , 1990), pp 3 - 7.

W eeks, W illle t, The man who made Paris: the illustrated biography o f Georges- Eugene Haussmann (L ondon , 1999).

III. UNPUBLISHED THESES AND PAPERS

C leary , P .G ., ‘S patial ex p an sio n and u rb an eco lo g ica l ch an g e in B e lfa s t w ith spec ia l re feren ce to th e ro le o f local tran sp o rta tio n , 1 8 6 1 -1 9 1 7 ’ (Ph.D . thesis , Q u e e n ’s U niversity o f B e lfas t, 1980).

F euerste in , R ay m o n d Joseph , ‘T h e early h is to ry o f th e te lep h o n e in E n g lan d 1877- 1911’ (D .Phil. thesis , U n iv e rs ity o f Sussex, 1990).

L ee, Joseph , ‘A n eco n o m ic h is to ry o f ea rly Ir ish ra ilw ay s 1 8 3 0 -1 8 5 3 ’ (M .A . thesis, U n iv ers ity C o lleg e D ub lin , 1965).

Ö M aitiü , Seam as, ‘T h e R a th m in es to w n sh ip and u rb an d is tric t local g o v e rn m e n t in D ublin , 1 8 4 7 -1 9 3 0 ’ (P h .D . thesis, N U IM a y n o o th , 2001).

281

O ’R eilly , B ren d a R ose, ‘A n in tro d u ctio n to V ic to rian ra ilw ay a rch itec tu re in Ire la n d ’(M .A . thesis, U n iv e rs ity C o lleg e D ublin , 1983).

W all, T hom as, ‘R a ilw ay s and te lec o m m u n ica tio n s’ (p ap er d ep o sited in th e lib ra ry o f th e Irish R a ilw ay R e c o rd Society, H eu sto n S tation, 1999).

________ , ‘Som e n o tes to w ard s a h isto ry o f te leco m m u n ica tio n s w ith p a rticu la rre fe ren ce to Ire la n d ’ (p ap e r deposited in th e D u b lin C ity L ib ra ry and A rch iv e , P ea rse S treet, 2005).

IV. ONLINE RESEARCH DATABASES

B O P C R IS B ritish O fficial P u b lic a tio n s C o llab o ra tiv e R e a d e r In fo rm a tio n S erv ice h ttp ://w w w .b o p cris .ac .u k

E P P I E n h an ced P a rliam en ta ry P ap e rs fo r Ire lan d h ttp ://w w w .ep p i.ac .u k

I H R In s titu te o f H isto rica l R esea rch h ttp ://w w w .h is to ry .a c .u k

P O R T C U L L IS G a tew ay to th e arch ives o f P a rliam en th ttp ://w w w .p o rtcu llis .p a rliam en t.u k

R A S C A L R esea rch and specia l co llec tio n s av a ilab le lo ca lly in N o rth e rn Ire lan d h ttp ://w w w .ra sca l.ac .u k

R H S R o y a l H isto rica l S o cie ty (Irish H is to ry O n line) h ttp ://w w w .rh s .ac .u k

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