Project Manager’s Note As you may have already noticed, there are big changes in Issue #15 of The Archive. First, we have a new name and are now officially the Cork Northside Folklore Project, CNFP, making our identity in the wider world a little clearer. Secondly, we have made a dramatic visual leap into colour, Picking 'Blackas' 3 while retaining our distinctive black and white exterior. It was A Safe Harbour for Ships 4-5 good fun planning this combination, and satisfying being able Tell the Mason the Boss is on the Move 6-7 to use colour where it enhances an image. The wonders of dig- Street Games 8 ital printing make it possible to do this with almost no addi- The Day The President Came to Town 9 tional cost. We hope you approve! The Coppingers of Ballyvolane 10-11 The Wireless 11 As is normal, our team is always evolving and changing with Online Gaming Culture 12 the comings and goings of our FÁS staff, but this year we have Piaras Mac Gearailt, Cúirt na mBurdún, agus had the expansion of our UCC Folklore & Ethnology Depart- ‘Bata na Bachaille’ in Iarthar Déise 13 ment involvement. Dr Clíona O’Carroll has joined Dr Marie- Cork Memory Map 14-15 Annick Desplanques as a Research Director, and Ciarán Ó Sound Excerpts 16-17 Gealbháin has contributed his services as Editorial Advisor for Burlesque in Cork 18-19 this issue. We would like to thank all three of them very much Restroom Graffiti 19 for their time and energies. Medieval Medicine in St Mary’s of the Isle 20-21 Urban Landscape 21 One thing that hasn’t changed, at least not for the better, is the The Heritage of Irish Seeds 22-23 state of our funding for The Archive. Luckily we have once Oral History News 24-25 again received a Local Heritage Grant from Cork City Soundings: Poetry of a Generation 26 Council towards our printing costs, for which we are very Book Reviews 27 grateful. However, this covers only a portion of the total and all To the Editor 27 other funding has disappeared, leaving us for the first time in Photo and a Story 28 our history, unable to guarantee a next issue. Print by Aleo print & design www.aleoprint.com From the start, Dr Desplanques made the decision that The Front Cover Photo: Courtesy of the Cork Operative Archive should be a free publication, as a way of giving back Society of Masons and Bricklayers Historical Society to the community that provides our material, our staff and our home. We want to continue to honour this commitment. The Available for sale from the money needed for printing is virtually our only hard cost; no one is paid for any material included in the journal, and all Cork Northside Folklore Project other work, including layout, design, editing and proofreading is completed in-house by our team. How’s it goin’, boy? Book !18 If you believe our work is important and value The Archive, CD Radio Series !15 you can help by purchasing one of the items listed below, by Book/CD Set !30 making a direct donation or by encouraging others to donate. Every cent helps, and all those donating will be thanked in our Produced as part of next issue. We know times are tough everywhere, but if each Cork 2005, European reader could spare us one or two euro, it would mean that there Capital of Culture will be The Archive Issue #16 for you to enjoy next year. Mary O’Driscoll DVDs Corrections from !10 each In The Archive #14, we incorrectly credited two photos in the article, ‘Urban Ex- ploration’. The cover photo and photo on page five were both taken by Chris Blackpool: Wright. We apologise sincerely for this inadvertent error, and thank him for the Old Heart, use of these images. New Face & We also apologise to Pat Poland for an error in his article, ‘The Auxiliary Fire Service in Cork 1939 – 1945’. We referred to him as being the District Fire Of- I Went Down ficer, North Lee, when in fact this position was held by his father, Matt Poland. To The North This was solely our error and we regret any confusion it may have caused. Infirmary Thanks to the Cork City Council Heritage Grant Scheme, whose continued financial support made this publication possible 2 The Archive Issue 15 2011 In earlier times, the blackberry was considered a valuable food Picking 'Blackas' source in Ireland. They were eaten directly from the hand or made into a form of porridge by mashing oatmeal and the berries to- by Gráinne Mcgee gether. The bramble or briar itself was also highly valued; the longer shoots of which were used in wickerwork, in the making Working on the Cork Northside Folkore Project, I have had the of bee skeps and in the securing of thatching. The roots of the privilege of reading many people’s memories of growing up in bramble were used as the core for sliotars and pipes and in pro- Cork, and slowly the seeds for a new interest were planted; to go viding dyes for wool. The bramble had also many medicinal prop- blackberry hunting. Blackberry picking excursions feature promi- erties. It was used in remedies for ailments such as diarrhoea, skin nently as a Corkonian childhood adventure, with popular desti- cuts, swellings and sore feet. No wonder the blackberry bramble nations including Fairhill, Blackash and Murphy’s Rock. Not that was protected under old Irish Brehon laws, which named it one blackberry picking was unknown to me. In Kerry, we used to go of the ‘bushes of the wood’ and prohibited any unlawful clear- as kids, out with our sand buck- ance of brambles from a field. ets along the hedgerows, but this was a distant childhood memory. However, the most common and However, recessionary times call well known use for the soft fruit for recessionary measures and is in the making of jam. I trav- looking at the expensive prices elled out to talk to Mairín for a small punnet of blueberries O’Lionáird of Folláin Teo, the or blackberries in the supermar- award winning jam and preserve kets only strengthened my re- makers. Folláin Teo source as solve to rediscover some of much fruit as possible from Cork’s old blackberry trails. local pickers, favouring the complex flavour of the wild va- On further research, a lot of these rieties, so they are very much in trails have since disappeared, tune with harvest times and swallowed up in the outward ex- local lore surrounding the black- pansion of Cork city. What berries, or sméara dubha as they would once have been consid- are called. The season begins in ered countryside, areas on the August, and 2010 was a particu- Northside such as those beyond larly good year for the pickers, Fairhill, Spring Lane and Dublin as it was dry. The berries need Hill, Ballincollie Road or Bal- heat and sun to ripen and very lyphelane Road, have since the wet weather can mean a poor 1960s been built up with resi- harvest. Also, if the local Coun- dential housing or industrial de- cil come along with hedgerow velopment. Likewise on the cutters, it can bring a very Southside, the agricultural lands abrupt end to any thoughts of of Togher and Blackash, once berry picking. popular blackberry picking des- tinations, are now an extension The jam is made as soon as pos- of the city. Therefore it seemed sible from the fresh berries and Murphy’s Rock was the safest Mairín gives a general outline of bet to find some blackberries, as the jam making process. The it still lies largely untouched by quantities are roughly half and modernisation. Martin Mcgee picking blackberries half, fruit to sugar. The trick is Photo by Gráinne Mcgee to cook the berries slowly at first Armed with bucket and wellies, I made my way to Murphy’s for 20-30 minutes to soften the fruit and to let the juices evapo- Rock. It is quite wild and takes some navigating, but I emerged rate. Only then add the sugar to avoid caramelisation. Cook at the triumphant with a half bucket of berries. The only fright I got was highest possible temperature, then quickly take the saucepan off when three piebald ponies started galloping towards me, thinking the heat, to cool in a sink of cold water. To test for ‘setness’, add my blackberry container was a feeding bucket! After this, I ven- some of the jam to a cold plate and press it with your thumb to see tured further afield, sometimes accompanied by my dad. From if it will ‘wrinkle’. country lanes by Churchfield, to the byroads of Macroom and Baile Bhúirne, people were so delighted to see someone out pick- Blackberry season traditionally ends on the 29th of September on ing ‘blackas’, I got the impression it was now an unusual sight. the feast of Michaelmas. It is a popular belief that the púca goes This is just a reflection of the times we live in. Twenty years or round and soils the blackberries on this date, ‘...go gcacadh na so ago, blackberries were considered a treat. The children went púcaí ar na sméara, is dócha.’ Of course, around the end of Sep- out to forage for berries, from which their mothers’ made lovely tember a frost will destroy the blackberries, rendering them ined- jams or tarts. In Cork, children used to sell blackberries to local ible.