Passage West

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Passage West
Location
WGS-84 (GPS) Coordinates: 51.872888° N 8.343086° W
Irish Grid Reference W767687
Statistics
Province:	Munster
County:	County Cork
Elevation:	5 m (16 ft)
Population (2006)  - Town:  - Rural:	4,824  851
Website: [http://[1] [2]]

Passage West (An Pasáiste in Irish) is a town in County Cork in the Republic of Ireland, situated on the west bank of Cork Harbour. It is some 10 km from Cork city centre, separated from the urban sprawl of Douglas and Rochestown, but close to all services, shopping and amenities.

[edit] Modern Day Passage West:

The Town suffered from relatively high unemployment for much of the late 1980s and early 1990s, due in part to the closure of the Ford & Dunlop factories in Cork and the Verolme Cork Dockyard at Rushbrook.In recent years it has become an important dormitary town and would now be considered one of Cork's most desirable places to live. There has been a substantial amount of new housing development in the last seven or eight years - especially on the northern edge of the town.The centre of the town has suffered over many decades from a long decline in commercial activities. The site of the old Royal Victoria Dockyards was used from the 1940s as a ship breaking yard and controversially as a commercial docks since the 1980s,used mainly for the import of animal feed and and dry building timber and the export of Scrap metal and wood chip.

[edit] Brief History:

Passage West has been designated a conservation area in the 2003 Cork County Development Plan. The buildings in the town centre are mainly late 18th and early 19th century, while the architecture of nearby Glenbrook and Monkstown is mainly from the later Victorian period. In 1690, at the time of the landing of the Duke of Marlborough with his army to lay siege to Cork, history describes Passage as an insignificant fishing village. Its development from an obscure hamlet to a town may be principally attributed to its deep safe harbour. The advancement of Cork's commercial trade was a wonderful benefit to Passage. Owing to the shallowness of the channel above the latter town vessels of over 150 tons were unable to proceed to Cork, and were compelled to discharge their cargoes here. These were either unloaded on to lighters and brought up the river to Cork or put ashore and taken to the city in carts or on horseback. The only road to Cork then was via Church Hill through the site of the present Capuchin Monastery at Rochestown and then through what is now the entrance to the farm-yard at Oldcourt, on to Douglas and Cork. In 1836 a new quay was built where the vessels could berth and land their passengers and freight. It was no uncommon sight to see between 70 and 80 vessels anchored in the harbour. Sir John Arnott was chiefly responsible for the building of the Granaries, intended for the storing of the freight from the vessels. They cost £32,000 to build when labour was half a crown a day. The freight from one ship only was received there before the channel was dredged. Later when boats put into the dock-yard for repairs the cargo was stored there until they were ready for sea. The town then possessed three hotels and two dozen public houses. The dredging of the channel put an end to a great extent to the importance of Passage as a port. The ferry between Passage and Carrigaloe greatly promoted the trade of the town. Until the opening of the Cork to Cobh Railway the traffic on this ferry was enormous. Between 200 and 300 covered-in-cars (jingles) brought passengers from Cork to Passage Ferry daily. In the first half of the 19th century Cove was the principal sea-side resort in Munster thereby richly benefiting the Ferry. During the first twenty days of August 1836 over twenty thousand people crossed the ferry. This gave considerable employment. The boats were apparently large flat-bottomed ones worked by a system of cables and pulleys, and capable of taking very heavy cargoes. This ferry dated back to the reign of James 1 or even earlier. In his reign it was regranted to a Patrick Terry for a yearly rent of 35/-. The fares fixed were:- for a person, a cow, horse, 6 sheep, swine or goats one penny. The opening of the Cobh Railway ruined the Passage Ferry,however it is still running.

In the 19th century Passage became a popular bathing resort for the citizens of Cork. and the houses at Glenbrook and Toureen were in great demand during the Summer. Fr. T.R. England, P.P. records in the Parish Register that Passage and more particularly Monkstown had many visitors during the summer season. According to a census taken by him in 1831 the population of Passage was 1,457 of whom 1,136 were Catholics. There were two hydropathic establishments in Glenbrook. The Victoria Baths was opened about 1808 and was very prosperous for a while. It closed owing to lack of support soon after the extension of the railway to Monkstown. Judging by its ruins it was a pretentious building. The other Baths was situated almost directly opposite the Victoria. Baths and was run in conjunction with St. Ann's Hydro, Blarney. In front of the Glen was a large pier, which was, very much frequented until the railway was extended to Monkstown. It was then practically abandoned and became so unsafe that it was removed. The opening of the Cork, Blackrock, and Passage Railway in June 1850 was very much in the town's favour as many visitors came to the town, which was for some time the railway terminus. The railway was extended to Monkstown in August 1902 and two years later to Crosshaven. From this time Passage was no longer popular as a tourist resort, Crosshaven taking it’s place. The railway was closed in 1932. The greatest of the Passage industries were the Dockyards. There were two dockyards. Hennessy's yard was situated in front of the site of the present Convent National School. The precise date of its opening is unknown. This yard had the great distinction of launching in 1815 the "City of Cork" which was the first steamship built in Ireland. The first steamship to cross the Atlantic (Pg.4) to America was under the command of Lt. Richard Roberts, R.N., a native of Passage, to whose memory a monument is erected on the road to monkstown,it was moved there due to the fact that when it used to be in the town square it was often vandilised by teenagers. The closing date of this dockyard is unrecorded. The other and bigger dockyard was the Royal Victoria Dockyard, which was laid down by Messrs. Henry and William Brown in 1832 and cost £150,000 to build and equip. It received it’s name from Queen Victoria on her first visit to Cork in 1849. It changed ownership several times. During the First World War it did a wonderful business under Oliver Piper, and employed at that time over 1,000. He sold it to Messrs. Furness and Whity & Co. Ltd. , who had another dockyard in Rushbrooke. In 1925 most of the workers were paid off, owing to a slump in the shipbuilding trade and it completely closed down in 1931. Many of the workers emigrated to the English Naval Yards and to America. The Rushbrooke Dockyard was re-opened in 1940 and gave employment to many men who previously worked in the Royal Victoria Yard. DWELLINGS - OLD AND MODERN In Wendele's "History of Cork" published in 1839 Passage is described as consisting of two old irregular streets extending in a kind of forked direction. From 1763 two fairs were held there yearly, one on the first of May, and the other on the 25th of July. The fairs were held in the vicinity of Fair Hill, from, which the latter received Its name. On Saturday a weekly market was held in a house on the site of the C.Y.M.S. Hall. In 1752, in the Market House, John Wesley - the founder of the Wesleyan religion - addressed the people of Passage whom he described afterward, as "as dull a congregation as I have seen. They would have been rude only they were afraid." The old Courthouse, which is now fast becoming a ruin was a Wesleyan Chapel and was built some time after his visit here. In the past several cottages existed of which very little trace can be found at present. Cottages in Horsehead were knocked down to make way for the building of Rockenham House and Lecarrow. There was a row of cottages at the back of Toureen Terrace, all of which have practically disappeared during the past twenty years. Traces of the cottages, which extended from Leemount Lodge almost to Killmurry Graveyard, can be seen on the road wall. Beyond the entrance to the graveyard as one approached the summit of the hill there were some more cottages. Between the Catholic and Protestant Churches on Church Hill was a large number of little houses. A number of houses on the Main Street were cleared for the laying down of the railway and for the building of the Convent School. In what is now Dock Street were several houses which were cleared for the building of the Dock Offices. On Beach Road, which was the main road, was a row of cottages the last of which was recently pulled down. There were a few cottages in the Copse, and there were far more houses in the Glen at Glenbrook than at present. According to Shaw Mason's "Survey of the South of Ireland" Irish was the language spoken in 1809 by the inhabitants of these humble dwellings. Toureen House was the former Custom's House and Toureen Terrace was known as Mariner's Row, as most of the houses were occupied by sea-faring captains. Dock Cottages and Terrace and Marina View were built to accommodate the Dockyard workers. The Council Building Scheme at Rockenham was completed in 1940 and was primarily intended as a slum clearance for the old houses in the town that had not been fit for habitation. St. Mary's Cottages were occupied at the end of 1936 and St. Joseph's early in 1940. Passage together with Monkstown was first constituted a Local Authority with Town Commissioners in July 1920. A year later it became an Urban District with an Urban Council. Owing to abuses a Public Inquiry was held in 1938 and the Urban Council dissolved. The area: was then placed under a Manager, and in 1942 It was deurbanised and put under a Manager with Town Commissioners.

Passage West was directly affected by the events of the Irish Civil War 1922-23. Passage West saw a large scale landing of Free State (pro-treaty) troops on the 2nd of August 1922 as part of a wider offensive. These 1,500 men, well equipped with artillery and armour, went on to re-take Cork city from the badly armed republican troops who were holding it.

Irish political leader Charles Stuart Parnell once made a speech from a building in the centre of the town, while famous hurling legend Gavin 'Frankie' O'Connor is also from the area.

[edit] External Links:

http://www.passagewestmonkstown.ie