One of the most famous Usshers was James Ussher (1581–1656), who served as archbishop of Armagh between 1625 and 1656. Born in the parish of St Nicholas on 4 January 1581, he was a prolific scholar and theologian. Also described as a gifted linguist, Ussher entered Trinity College to study theology at the age of just thirteen.
Ussher’s greatest claim to fame was his chronology of creation, published in 1650, that has since become known as the Ussher – Lightfoot Calendar . In this work, Ussher came up with a theory that the world actually began on 23 October 4004 BC by counting the number of ‘begats’ in the Book of Genesis. Later disciples of Ussher’s method have even come to the conclusion that the world began at 9 a.m. Greenwich meantime on that date.
Ussher’s chronology has been used as a source for the dates in several editions of the King James version of the Bible.
During his lifetime, Ussher compiled a vast collection of books and valuable manuscripts said to number at least 10,000 volumes, and on his death in 1656, the entire collection was donated to Trinity College.
William Mulholland
Dublin man William Mulholland (1855–1935) was instrumental in creating a water supply system for the city of Los Angeles and his monumental achievement has been compared favourably to the building of the Panama Canal.
William Mulholland, son of Dubliners Hugh Mulhol-land and Ellen Deakers, was born on 11 September 1855 in Belfast while his father, a railway worker was stationed there.
The Mulhollands returned to Dublin in 1860 and put down roots in the north inner city.
William Mulholland attended O’Connell’s Christian Brothers School on North Richmond Street. He left before completing his studies there but he was said to have been reasonably well advanced at mathematics. He would later refer to his time at O’Connell’s when he was asked about his qualifications to head up one of the largest construction projects ever undertaken. Mulholland replied: ‘Well, I went to school in Ireland when I was a boy, learned the three r’s and the Ten Commandments – most of them – kissed the Blarney Stone … and here I am.’
Mulholland ran away to sea for the first time when he was fourteen following a row with his father and joined the British merchant navy a year later. After many adventures on the high seas, he ended up working in a logging camp in Michigan where he was almost killed in an accident. While in hospital he overheard doctors saying that they would have to amputate one of his legs that had become infected.
Mulholland decided that he had overstayed his welcome and escaped from the hospital and eventually followed his brother Hugh to Cincinnati, where he arrived almost penniless and suffering from his injuries. He recovered and in 1876 the brothers decided to try their luck in California, walking most of the way to save on the railroad fare. They arrived in San Francisco in February 1877. They travelled south on horseback to Los Angeles, which was then just a small town with less than 10,000 inhabitants.
William got his first job in 1878 with the Los Angeles City Water Company, digging and maintaining water ditches and he studied engineering in the evenings. He rose quickly through the ranks and was appointed superintendent of the company in 1886 at the age of thirty-one. When the city of Los Angeles bought out the company, Mulholland was appointed chief of the Department of Water and Power, a position that he continued to hold until 1928.
By 1900, Los Angeles was expanding rapidly and the city’s population had increased to 100,000 and was growing steadily. However, if the city was to expand further, a new water supply was urgently required.
Mulholland soon identified a suitable water source that would sustain the growing city’s needs. The only problem was that the source he had in mind – the Owens River – was over 200 miles away from Los Angeles and it belonged to the residents of the Owens Valley.
Mulholland was given the task of building a 233-mile-long aqueduct from the Owens River to the San Fernando Valley but first, all of the land and water rights along the proposed route had to be bought up. This goal was eventually achieved through a combination of legitimate land purchases, bullying and bribery in 1905. Mulholland’s massive project took a further eight years to complete and nearly 4,000 workers were employed in the construction of the aqueduct.
As the first waters from the Owens River flowed into the San Fernando reservoir on 5 November 1913, Mulholland made what must surely be one of the shortest speeches ever recorded when he addressed the crowd of 40,000 that had gathered to witness the event. Just as the waters gushed into the reservoir, Mulholland turned to the crowd and simply said: ‘There it is. Take it.’
Asculv
The River Steyne or Stein is just one of many Dublin rivers that have been forced underground by the expansion of the city over the course of the centuries. This little river arose somewhere around Harcourt Terrace and made its way to the Liffey via St Stephen’s Green, down through Clarendon Street and past the front of Trinity College. It probably entered the Liffey at the junction where Townsend Street and Hawkins Street now stand.
Although it has disappeared from view, the river and the surrounding Stein district featured prominently in the early history of Dublin. The name ‘Stein’ evolved from the Viking custom of erecting a long stone at their landing places. For centuries this spot was marked by a fourteen-foot-high stone, which only disappeared from public view a little over 200 years ago.
The Stein was one of the city’s main landing points during Viking times and it was there that Asculv (or Hasculf ) Mac Thorkil landed in 1171 in an attempt to regain control of Dublin, which he had lost to the Anglo-Normans and Dermot McMurrough a year earlier.
In his Expugnatio Hibernica, written in the late twelfth century, Giraldus Cambrensis says that McMurrough attacked Dublin on that occasion because he was hell bent on avenging the death of his father, whom the Dublin Hiberno-Norsemen – led by Asculv – had killed and buried at the Thingmote of Dublin along with the corpse of a dog.
McMurrough and the Normans laid siege to the city and Asculv and his men were forced to flee from Dublin in their longboats for the safety of the northern isles. Giraldus claimed in his Topographia Hiberniae that Asculv and the fleeing Norsemen attempted to take the famous ‘talking crucifix’ of Christchurch with them, but no amount of force on their part could get the cross to move.
When Asculv returned to Dublin a year later he was – according to Giraldus – accompanied by reinforcements from the Isle of Man, the Orkney Islands and Norway in a fleet of sixty longboats. Another source from that period
– The Song of Dermot and the Earl – states that Asculv’s fleet consisted of 100 ships containing an attacking force of 20,000 warriors.
Asculv’s army landed on the sandy shore of the Steyne and they were led in the attack on Dublin by John ‘the Wode’, which translates roughly as John ‘the mad’ or John ‘the furious’. Giraldus describes Asculv’s forces as: ‘warlike figures, clad in mail in every part of their body after the Danish manner. Some wore long coats of mail, others iron plates skilfully knitted together, and they had round red shields protected by iron round the edge.’
They made their way across Hoggen Green and laid siege to the east gate of the city known as St Mary del Dames Gate. John ‘the Wode’ featured prominently during this attack hacking one Norman’s leg off at the hip and killing ten others before being killed himself, either by Walter de Ridelisford or Miles de Cogan, the Norman governor of Dublin.
Many Norsemen were killed in the fighting and Askulv himself was captured while attempting to flee and taken back to the city. Giraldus claimed that de Cogan had originally intended to hold Asculv as a hostage in case of further attacks on the city. Asculv, however, swore that he would return with a larger force to take back what was rightfully his. On hearing this de Cogan ordered Asculv’s immediate execution and according to The Song of Dermot and the Earl ‘they then beheaded Asculv, on account of his outrageous conduct, they rightfully beheaded him on account of his insolence and mad sayings’.
Croke Park
While browsing in a second-hand bookshop recently, I came across a very interesting publication issued by the GAA on Sunday 7 June 1959 to mark the opening of the old Hogan Stand in Croke Park and to celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of the association.
The stand was built to replace the old wooden Hogan Stand, which had been erected in 1924 for the first Tailteann Games held in Croke Park, which was a sort of a Gaelic Olympics, if you can imagine such a thing. As well as hurling, football, camogie and handball, there were a wide range of other events such as poetry, Irish dancing, shooting, cycling and swimming. Naturally enough, the swimming competition wasn’t held in Croker but it did take place on at least one occasion in the ornamental lake in Dublin Zoo.
The programme informs us that the new Hogan Stand, one of the largest of its kind in Western Europe, could seat 16,000 punters, bringing the total ground capacity to 85,000. The work on the stand was carried out by Thomas McInerney & Sons and it took two years to build using 700 tons of Irish steel reinforcing bars which, the writer helpfully tells us, ‘if placed end to end … would stretch from Dublin to Shannon Airport and back again’.
The booklet also gives a short account of the history and rules and early regulations of the GAA. Teams originally consisted of twenty-one players and ‘individual wrestling’ was permitted during games – no change there then!
From 1886 to 1910, the scoring area for both hurling and football was larger than it is now. In addition to the H-shaped goalposts used at the moment, there were two additional posts on either side, just like those used in Australian Rules football today. The scoring system was much the same as it is now. A ball going under the crossbar was still worth a goal (three points), while a ball going over the crossbar or anywhere between the outer posts was a point.
The most interesting aspect of this fascinating little publication, however, concerns the history of Croke Park itself. The modern stadium sits on two parcels of land. One of these was a twelve-acre site leased to a John Bradley in 1829, which contained ‘an orchard, dwelling house, yard and garden together with the fields adjoining’, while the adjoining plot containing twenty-one acres was owned by a Maurice Butterly.
In 1894 a company named the City and Suburban Racecourse and Amusements Grounds bought the land and it was used for a wide variety of sports including Gaelic games, soccer, athletics and whippet racing. The first All-Ireland finals for hurling and football took place there in 1896.
The grounds were put up for sale in 1906 and two years later Limerick man and GAA member Frank Dineen borrowed heavily and bought the land for £3,250. Dineen didn’t buy the land at Jones Road for his own use but he recognised that it would, in time, become an important asset to the GAA.
In 1910 Dineen was forced to sell off a portion of the land to Belvedere College in order to meet his obligations with the bank. The GAA bought the Jones Road sports ground from Dineen in 1913 for £3,500 and renamed it Croke Park in honour of one of its patrons, Dr Thomas Croke.
At that time there were two small wooden stands at the ground on the Hogan Stand side of the ground. One of these was called the ‘grand stand’ while the structure closer to the canal was called the ‘stand’.
Trinity Riots
During the days of British rule in Ireland the arrival of a new lord lieutenant to these shores was traditionally marked by a state procession through the streets of Dublin city and when Archibald William Montgomerie, thirteenth earl of Eglinton was appointed to that position in early 1858, the city prepared to greet him in the traditional fashion.
He arrived at Westland Row railway station on 3 March of that year where he was greeted by the lord mayor and corporation of Dublin and he was escorted with great pomp and ceremony through the streets on his way to Dublin Castle.
At College Green, where the majority of the crowd had gathered to witness the spectacle, a large group of students from Trinity College had assembled just inside the railings and they were heavily armed with a variety of missiles, including stones, eggs, oranges and firecrackers. Although the lord lieutenant was allowed to pass through College Green unmolested, the students indiscriminately pelted everyone else in sight with their missiles.
There was a large detachment of the Dublin Metropolitan Police on duty that day outside the college and they soon became the object of the students’ attention. They threw firecrackers and gravel at the police horses and several DMP men had their helmets knocked off during the mêlée. The junior dean of the college, Dr Stubbs, pleaded with the students to withdraw but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
The DMP were under the command of Colonel George Browne – brother of the Dublin poet Felicia Hemans – that day. He was hit in the eye by a missile and the enraged colonel recited the bits of the riot act he could remember and ordered his men to attack the students. The DMP – some on horseback – drew their batons and sabres and charged through the gates of the college trampling the students and using their batons at will.
The students eventually managed to flee to safety inside the college walls, but not before at least thirty of their number were injured. Many received wounds of a serious nature while one student named Leeson was carried in an unconscious state from the scene. The students must have given as good as they got, however, as eighteen DMP men were also injured.
The riot received a great deal of attention in the press and four thousand people signed a petition in the tobacco shop opposite Trinity demanding an inquiry into the behaviour of the police. Questions were asked in relation to the incident in the British House of Lords and House of Commons, and the British government instigated an inquiry into the events some weeks later.
Colonel Browne eventually admitted full responsibility for the incident and he, along with seven of his colleagues, was sent forward for trial at Green Street Courthouse on 21 June 1858.
The DMP gave evidence that they had been severely provoked by the students and one constable claimed that he was forced to draw his sword when one student attempted to cut the reins of his horse. Another stated that while the DMP on horseback had indeed drawn their swords, the students were only hit with the flat side to avoid doing too much damage to them.
The jury retired to consider its verdict and returned just five minutes later with a verdict of ‘not guilty’ on Colonel Browne, but the damage had been done to his reputation and he resigned from his post as commissioner of police soon afterwards.
Great Fire
During the nineteenth century, two great fires occurred in Dublin city that resulted in major destruction of property and loss of life. The first of these occurred at the Custom House in August 1833 and was described as ‘the greatest fire which ever took place in Dublin’; and the second – which sent rivers of flaming whiskey flowing through the streets of the Liberties – took place in June 1875.
The Liberties conflagration began shortly after teatime on Friday 18 June when a fire broke out at Malone’s Bonded Spirit Stores in Ardee Street. The blaze was said to have been so intense that the clouds over the city seemed to the thousands of spectators who had gathered to witness the spectacle like a vast red canopy because of the reflection of the flames.
Malone’s Bonded Stores contained vast amounts of whiskey and nearly all of the city’s leading distilleries such as Jameson’s and Power’s stored liquors there.
The fire at Malone’s took hold very quickly and within a short space of time there were streams of blazing whiskey flowing down Ardee Street. While the city’s firemen had arrived immediately after the blaze had started, they were powerless to act because adding water to the burning spirits would only have made matters worse.
Trenches were dug around the surrounding streets and alleyways in an attempt to contain the fiery liquid, but to no avail. Captain Ingram – the first chief officer of Dublin Fire Brigade – ordered his men to erect barricades of sand, tar and rubble at strategic locations to try and halt the flow but the flames rolled over them as if they weren’t there. As the fire spread
to the nearby streets of Chamber Street, Ormond Street, Cork Street and Mill Street, loud explosions rocked the city as thousands of barrels of whiskey were ignited.
As more and more whiskey stores were set alight the volume of burning whiskey flowing through the streets increased accordingly and, at the height of the blaze, the streets of the Liberties resembled a burning river of flame.
The burning river rapidly made its way down through Cork Street and Ardee Street, consuming several houses in its wake. It continued to flow into Chamber Street and Mill Street, where an entire row of houses was destroyed by the blaze.
Hundreds of residents fled the area in terror from the advancing wall of fire as it consumed everything in its path. Many tenement dwellers lost their homes and their few meagre possessions in the blaze, although none was killed as a direct result of the fire.
However, at least three people died from excessive consumption of alcohol in the immediate aftermath of the fire. According to a report in the Dublin Evening Post, some civic-spirited folk remained at the scene of the blaze and ‘rescued’ some of the barrels of whiskey before the fire could reach them. The Dublin newspapers reported that many of the barrels were taken to other areas of the city where their contents were redistributed in pots, jars, buckets, pitchers and any other container that was handy. There were even reports of men heroically fighting their way through the flames to fill their shoes with whiskey, while some were observed lying face down in the gutter attempting to lick the spirit off the cobblestones.
The fire was eventually brought under control by the erection of large embankments of damp soil at strategic locations in the path of the flames, although it continued to smoulder for several days afterwards.
Hidden Dublin Page 14