In and around Capel Street

**

CHAPTER III.**

In and around Capel Street - Mint House of King James II. - Lottery Offices - Sir William Newcomen and the Union-Religious Associations of the Neighbourhood - Great Britain** Street-Denmark Street - Metal Bridge-Strand Street - “Flying Mercury.” **

The** **first street the syndicate (consisting of Sir H. Jervis, J. Stafford, and some few other gentlemen) laid out was Capel Street, which they named after the then Viceroy; Jervis Street and Jervis Quay (now Lower Ormond Quay) after Sir H. Jervis, and Stafford Street after one of his partners.

Up to the opening of Capel Street there was virtually no connection between the northern parts of the County Dublin and Smithfield except the Great Northern road from North King Street to Swords, passing through Drumcondra, then a most populous place. That portion of the road was then and for many years later called Drumcondra Lane (1697); now it is known as Bolton Street (1724)** and Dorset Street (1756). New streets were opened in rapid succession. St. Mary Street (1728), Liffey Street (1728), Henry Street (1729), **Dominick Street (1743). As already stated, Capel Street was opened in the year 1697. It became one of the most popular places of residence, many notable persons residing in its immediate vicinity.

minthouse.gif (22069 bytes)The first house of historic note was that of King James’s Mint. This stood where are now Nos. 27** and 28. From this place was issued the famous brass money of King James II. This mint was in the occupation of Sir John Knox when James arrived in Dublin. This worthy man, so as to increase his exchequer, authorised his Commissioners to offer the people as an inducement to exchange their gold and silver tokens by giving them 20s. 6d. for every 20s. **so tendered. The material from which these gun money coins were struck was largely composed of old church bells, kitchen utensils, and disused cannon, whence their name.

The quantity of gun metal pieces struck was enormous-viz., 216,993 lbs. 13 ounces. The value of this metal at 4d. per lb. was £3,616 5s. 6d., which was declared current at the sum of £907,420 13S. After the Battle of the Boyne, when William III. seized the mint only £22,489 was found there. By an Act of William and Mary this amount was declared to be only value £641 195. 53 d. In this house was born Thomas Sheridan, the friend of Swift and father of Thomas B. Sheridan, born in Dorset Street. Thomas Heridan kept a famous school here, and in this house Henry Brooks, the famous dramatist, and father of Carlotta Brooke, is also stated to have died.

In Capel Street we find the homes of many notabilities of the printing trade, Coyne, Grace, Fitzpatrick, and Watson. It was Watson who founded, in October, 1792, a society, which was the forerunner of the English Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge. In the year 1736 Capel Street was the home of the drama. In consequence of a disagreement between the managers of Smock Alley Theatre, a rival one was started at the corner of Mary’s Lane, about where the Messrs. Galvin’s establishment now stands. It had a short but brilliant career. About 70 years ago a showman’s booth was in the same place.

At a later date we had Loftus’ Singing Hail opposite Mary Street. In this street was founded O’Connell’s Repeal Association; also its precursor, the Catholic Association. This street is the birth-place of Mossop, the engraver of many of the finest medals and coins of the pre-Union times in Ireland.

Malton in his “Views of Dublin” gives one of Capel Street, from which we can realise what it was 130** **years ago. The rage at that time for lotteries, and many of the houses were devoted solely to the disposal of tickets. In the picture are shown two such. The first house has a sign painted “The Old State Lottery Office,” whilst on the second is emblazoned “The Military State Office.”

One can fully gauge the important position which Mary’s Abbey held in Dublin’s commercial life when we recall the fact that the Bank of Ireland was first started in that place, in the building which is now Mr. Mather’s ice stores. The original board was founded in 1782** **with a capital of £600,000. It was then more a national bank than the quasi-Government one of to-day. It carried on its trade here till the time of the Union, when the governors secured the old Parliament House for their banking concerns.

Since then the old building in Mary’s Abbey has had a varied experience. In 1825** the Anti-Burghers, having to leave Mass Land, now Chancery Place, in consequence of the enlarging of the Four Courts, removed to the old Bank building in Mary’s Abbey, but in 1834, having erected a larger meeting house in Lower Abbey Street, they sold theirs in Mary’s Abbey to the Jews, who were again becoming numerous in Dublin, and who converted it into a Synagogue, where they worshipped till 1892, when they removed to their new place of worship on Adelaide Road, which was consecrated on Sunday, 4th December, 1892. **The cost of this new building was over £5,000.

Previous to the establishment of the Bank of Ireland in Mary’s Abbey we find that Sir William Newcomen had from 1777** to 1781 a bank at 19 **Mary’s Abbey. When his new premises in Castle Street were finished in the latter year, he transferred his business there. Sir William was one of those who changed sides at the time of the Union.

Sir Jonah Barrington in his “Rise and Fall of the Irish Nation gives the Black List. This has the following:- 100. Sir W. G. Newcomen, Bart. Bought, and a peerage for his wife.” In order that we in our day may try and realise some of the means by which the union was carried, we quote the following from the Irish Quarter/y Review:-

“Sir William G. Newcomen, Bart., member for the Co. Longford, in the course of the debate, declared he supported the Union, as he was not instructed to the contrary by his constituents. This avowal surprised many, as it was known that the county was nearly unanimous against the measure, and that he was well acquainted with the fact However, he voted for Lord Castlereagh, and he asserted that conviction alone was his guide. His veracity was doubted, and in a few months some of his bribes were published. His wife was also created a peeress. One of his bribes has been discovered registered in the Rolls Office - a document which it was never supposed would be exposed, but which would have been found for impeachment against every member of the Government who thus contributed his aid to plunder the public and corrupt Parliament. The following is a copy from the Rolls Office of Ireland:-

“‘By the Lord Lieutenant and General Governor of Ireland.

“‘Cornwallis.

“‘Whereas Sir William G. Newcomen, Bart., hath by his memorial laid before us represented that on the 25th day of June, 1785, John, late Earl of Mayo, then Lord Viscount Naas, Receiver-General of Stamp Duties, together with Sir Thomas Newcomen, Bart., and Sir B. Denny, Bart., both since deceased, as sureties for the said John, Earl of Mayo, executed a bond to his Majesty conditioning to pay into the Treasury the stamp duties received by him; that the said Earl of Mayo continued in the said office of Receiver-General until the 30th July, 1786, when he resigned the same, at which time he was indebted to his Majesty in the sum of about £5,000,** and died on the 7th of April, 1792; that the said sureties are dead, and the said Sir Thomas Newcomen, Bart., did by his last will appoint the memorialist executor of his estate; that the memorialist proposed to pay into his Majesty’s Exchequer the sum of £2,000 as a compensation for any money that might be recovered thereon, upon the estates being released from any further charge on account of said debt due to his Majesty. And the before-mentioned memorial having been referred to his Majesty’s Attorney-General for his opinion what would be proper to do in this matter, and the said Attorney-General having by his report unto us, dated the 20th day of August, 1800, advised that, under all the circumstances of the case, the sum of £2,000 **should be accepted of the memorialist on the part of the Government, etc., etc.

“‘J. TOLER.”

“By this abstract it now appears, even by the memorial of Sir William Glandowe, that he was indebted at least £5,000 from the year 1786 to the public Treasury and Revenue of Ireland; that; with the interest thereon, it amounted in 1800 to £10,000 that Sir William had assets in his hands as executor to pay that debt, and that, on the Union, when all such arrears must have been paid in to the Treasury, the Attorney-General (afterwards the famous Lord Norbury), under a reference of Lord Castlereagh and Cornwallis, was induced to sanction the transaction as reported-viz., under all the circumstances to forego the debt except £2,000. Every effort has been made to find if any such sum as £2,000 was credited to the public-none such was discovered. The fact is that Lord Naas owed £10,000, consequently Sir William owed £20,000; that he never bona-fide paid to the public one shilling, which, with a peerage, the patronage of his county, and the pecuniary pickings also received by himself, altogether formed a tolerably strong bribe even for a more qualmish conscience than that of Sir William.”

On the 3oth July, 1800, Lady Newcomen was raised to the Irish peerage by the title of Baroness Newcomen of Mosstown, and in 1803, she was advanced to the dignity of Viscountess Newcomen. She was succeeded by her son, on whose death, in 1825, the title became extinct.

Newcomen House in Castle Street, is now known as the Municipal Buildings, in which are the offices of the City Treasurer, the Public Health Committee, Comptroller of Rates, etc. The two banks, La Touche’s and Newcomen’s, in Castle Street, gave rise to the conundrum: Why is Castle Street like a river?

The vicinity of Capel Street seemed to have an attraction for a number of religious bodies, which recalls Moore’s lines on the breaking of a rose vase

“You may break, you may shatter the vase as you will,

But the scent of the roses will hang round it still.”

The associations and memories of the past in connection with this neighbourhood evidently had their effect, for we find in the early eighties the Catholics in Liffey Street and Abbey Street, the Quakers in Strand Street, the Walkerites in Stafford Street, the Anti-Burghers in Mary’s Abbey, the Presbyterians in Strand Street and Mary’s Abbey; the latter, known as the Scots’ Church; it had entrance from Capel Street, now portion of “Bolands.”

In Great Britain Street during the period of the Irish Parliament trade of all kinds flourished, but in particular the coachmaking element. Amongst the largest firms that existed here previous to the Union were those of Hutton, Costello, Smyth, Coole, and Williams. The first-named was that of John Hutton, the founder of the firm which has its present factory on Summer Hill. In the coachbuilding yard of Mr. Tonge; one of the last of the coachmaking establishments in this street, Mons. Soyer, the celebrated French cook, conducted a soup kitchen in the year of the famine. In addition to trade the street was the residence of many of the upper ten, among whom were the Earl of Altamont, Viscount St. Leger, the Hon. A. Atcheson.

In the year 1794 died in Britain Street Arthur O’Neill, the lineal descendant of Owen Roe O’Neill, of whom sang Thomas Davis

“Soft as woman’s was your voice, O’Neil ! bright was your eye!

Oh! why did you leave us, Owen? why did you die?

Your troubles are all over, you’re at rest with God on high;

But we’re slaves and we’re orphans, Owen! why did you die!”

Where now stands Simpson’s Hospital was at one time a large brick mansion known as Rutland House, in which the family resided till about the last quarter of the eighteenth century, when they removed to Lower Mount Street, which is now a convent for nuns. In 1778 Mr. G. Simpson, a wealthy merchant of 24** Jervis Street, bequeathed a large estate for the purpose of founding an asylum exclusively for blind and gouty men in reduced circumstances. The original mansion was used as an hospital till 1781, when it became unsuitable. The trustees had it taken down and the present structure erected at a cost of £7,000. The hospital income is about £2,700 **per annum.

stsaviour.gif (15561 bytes)Denmark Street, although in the hands of brokers for many years, at one time was the centre of trade and commerce. High lofts and warehouses with their windlasses and tackle, extensive stores piled with bales and sacks of foreign merchandise, and vaults with bins well filled with the best vintages of France and Spain, no longer exist. [Pictured is St. Saviour’s Schools, Cook Street, adjoining Bridge Street Chapel. Precursor of Denmark Street Schools]

Its days of affluence were not very prolonged. When the blast of adversity came, one after another of the props fell, and in a short time the street was left to its fate, and an unfortunate one, as we may behold, has overtaken it. A few doors from the Typographical Society Rooms, (lately removed to 35 Lower Gardiner Street), in this street stands an alms-house, which was founded by Tristram Fortick. Over the door you may read:

“This Charity House was built and endowed in the year 1755*** ***by Tristram Fortick, a citizen of Dublin, late of Fortick’s Grove, in the Co. of Dublin, Esq., for the use of reduced women who had lived in good repute.” This worthy man lived for many years in the eighteenth century at Jones’s Road in a house called Fortick’s Grove, after the owner, and subsequently inhabited by Frederick Jones, the patentee of old Crow Street Theatre. Fortick Grove is now the site of Clonliffe College.

Fortick’s gardens at Clonliffe were a curiosity. Figures of men in various positions, animals, fowls, and birds were to be seen cut in yew and box. The gardens were open on certain days to the citizens. Denmark Street could boast in the eighteenth century of schools and academies like many of the neighbouring streets. The stone-fronted building, now a boy’s school, was formerly a Dominican Chapel. Here in days gone by met the Catholic Young Men’s Society.

Abbey Street (1728)** **has undergone a melancholy change within the past fifty years. Wealth once reigned here; its rise in affluence and fashion was rapid, and its fall was also just as rapid. Merchant princes had their warehouses and countinghouses here, as a general rule, dwelling over the latter. Celebrated classical and mercantile academies were out and about this quarter; and here no inconsiderable quota of the literature of the eighteenth century was published. In this street was issued The Press, seized by Major Sirr and its plant destroyed. Here, at No. 150, **Watty Cox had his printing office and published his magazine for many years. This mysterious character managed to worm out some important Castle secrets which he used against the authorities with deadly vengeance. He accepted a pension from the Government for his silence, and eventually died in humble circumstances in Bride Street. In this street was born in 1747 one of the most popular dramatic writers of his day, John O’Keeffe.

Where the Metal Bridge now spans the river there was formerly a ferry, the property of the old Corporation, the place of embarkation being called the Bagino Slip. Some enterprising speculators conceived the idea that a toll bridge would turn out a paying speculation, more particularly as it would afford a short cut to Crow Street Theatre, which early in the last century was the chief theatre in the city. Alderman Beresford and William Walsh purchased the tolls of the ferry, and erected at a cost of about £3,000** **the present structure. It was opened in the year 1816, and received the name of Wellington Bridge, but it is known to the man in the street as the Metal Bridge. Years ago there were, as now, efforts made to have the tolls done away with, but those engaged in this object failed in freeing the bridge, the lease of which expires in 1916.

From an old auction bill we learn that there was sold by Mr. Bennett, at his rooms on Ormond Quay, on the 1st May, 1878, the late William Walsh’s moiety of the tolls, which produced a net annual income of £329 35.** **A rather amusing story is told of two tinkers, with their budgets, who hurriedly arrived at the tollbar - before the days of turnstiles-and one of them accosted the tollman. “Do you charge anything, mister, for luggage, or for what a man may carry over on his back?” Having been informed there was no extra charge for luggage over the halfpenny toll, the tinker said to his fellow-craftsman:- “Get up on my back, Jim.” The tollman looked on in mute astonishment, while one tinker mounted the other’s back. Dropping the copper into the palm of the tollman’s hand, Tinker No.1 carried Tinker No.2, despite the remonstrances of the custodian of the gate.

One of the old Dublin printers, William Folds, established his business in Strand Street. He was one of the old school of respectable Dublin citizens, rigidly adhering to the habits and customs of the seventeenth century. His son, John, in the year 1832, removed to No. 6 Bachelor’s Walk, which was a rather historical printing office. It was in its time one of the largest printing offices in the city. It was destroyed by fire in the year 1841. Folds was awarded £2,000 as damages for malicious burning. It is stated that a short time previous to the fire Folds was offered £8,000 for his goodwill from a London firm, but he wanted £10,000. The fire occurred whilst the sheets of Lever’s “Charles O’Malley” were going through the press. In a letter to James, the English novelist, Lever writes

“With a scrap of notepaper just saved from the flames,

I sit down to write to you, my dear James.”

From this office, after reconstruction in 1845, Folds issued *The Dublin Times, *and it being a failure was the means of having him adjudged a bankrupt. He retired to America and died there. In passing from this office, let me add that *The Warder, *still in existence, was originally issued from it.

There are many houses of interest on Ormond Quay, but there is one deserving of our passing attention, No. 36 (Upper). In this house 120 years ago lived a famous Dublin printer and bookseller and stampseller named Peter Hoey. This shop was known by the sign of the “Flying Mercury.” After Hoey’s death his widow carried on the trade till 1820; she was succeeded by Robert Dalton; at his decease his widow carried on the business till 1851. Mrs. Dalton was succeeded by Mr. King, who died in 1874; he was succeeded by his son, who carries on the trade up to this day.

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