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Cork - History

Blarney Castle

No, Cork didn't get its name from the brewing industry that thrives in the city. Murphy's and Bemish are world-famous beers, but other fluids put the cork in Cork, which comes from the Gaelic "corcaigh," meaning marsh.

Cork City is built on water. Indeed, the city centre is on an island in the River Lee, just upstream from the Cork Harbour, and the river divides the city into distinct north and south regions. Throughout its 1,000-plus years of existence, Cork has been an important port and mercantile centre. Its rich history includes invasions by the Vikings and Normans.

Cork, the second-largest city in Ireland with about 175,000 people, is also the site of the University College, an international jazz festival and many cathedrals. The city is the focal point of County Cork, the largest of the nation's 32 counties with a land area of 2,880 square miles. It comprises much of the southern coast of Ireland, with smaller towns such as Kinsale (birthplace of William Penn), Mallow and Bantry.

A few miles northwest of Cork is the Blarney Castle, home of the Blarney Stone. For those who have difficulty speaking, a trip to the castle and a touch of the stone is said to provide the gift of gab.

CORK GLASS - A HISTORIC TRADITION

The history of glass manufacturing in Cork dates back to 1783 when Messrs. Hayes, Burnett and Rowe established the Cork Glass House Company. Having secured aid from the government, as well as substantial personal investment, Mr.Hayes and Co. erected the glass factory at Hanover Street. Using skilled artificers and the finest equipment brought from England, glassware was now being made in Cork for the first time. From decorative pieces such as glass candle holders, vases, globes, dishes, bowls and goblets, to durable bottle and window glass, the company turned out a whole range of high quality glass products. Over the years and into the nineteenth century the company's ownership changed hands many times but continued the commitment of its founders to the manufacture of fine glassware in the city until its closure in 1818.

Three years previous to the demise of the Cork Glass House Company another glass factory was established by Mr. Daniel Foley - the Waterloo Glass House Company, so named after the great battle of that year. Housing over a hundred workers, Foley built his glass house on Wandesford Quay, just beyond the shadow of the great chimney of the Hanover Street works. Here both bottle and flint glass were made. To advertise the skill of his workmen, Foley commissioned the cutting of a glass pleasure boat and a whole orchestra of glass musical instruments for public display. In 1824 a retail warehouse was bought in Sackville Street in Dublin where glass goods from the Waterloo House could be sold to a wide market. In 1830 Daniel Foley retired and sold his interest in the company to his partner, Mr. Geoffrey O'Connell. However, O'Connell experienced severe financial difficulties with the increase of excise duty on glass and in 1835, to pay off debts, had to sell the remaining stock, workshop fittings and the premises on Wandesford Quay.

The third company of Cork's early glass industry was the Terrace Glass Works, established in 1818. Set up by the brothers Edward and Richard Ronayne on the South Terrace the company made only flint glass, but of superior quality with the latest patterns and at the lowest prices as any glass house in the Empire. The company opened retail shops in Patrick Street in Cork and Dame Street in Dublin for the display and sale of their products such as richly cut decanters, claret jugs and other various items of table glass as well as plain glass pieces. In 1838 Richard Ronayne left the partnership and Edward carried on the business alone, promising the manufacture of glass with the most perfect and brilliant metal. Sadly his promise was not fulfilled for very long as the works on the South Terrace was advertised to be let in 1841 and was then subsequently used as a timber store.

Nearly 60 years of glass production in Cork had come to an end, but those years had earned the city a unique tradition of glassmaking among the other glass cities of Waterford, Dublin and Belfast. It was a time when Cork's glassmen were among the most exalted of skilled workers, this being reflected by the high wage they earned and the esteem in which they were held by other craftsmen. It was a time when the furnaces rumbled in the heart of the city, firing the glass to be shaped by the blower's breath and honed by the cutter's eye - a time when Cork glass sparkled like a jewel in the crown of Irish glassmaking.

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