Relatives of Ireland’s martyred heroes rally to preserve Easter Rising HQ

Heart of a Dublin - Last Battlefield of 1916, on Moore Street, is the soul of a nation

Larger Text

Print

E-mail

45 Comments

Last Battlefield of 1916, on Moore Street, is the soul of a nation

Photo by Google Images

Tweet

She believes that many Irish people simply presumed that the Rising ended when the members of the GPO Garrison walked out of that building and surrendered on what is now O’Connell Street, a presumption supported by Hollywood’s version of events depicted in the movie Michael Collins.

But the GPO Garrison did not surrender as Hollywood tells the story. Rather, after days of bombardment from British guns, and with the GPO in flames, the garrison evacuated the Post Office, under fire, through Henry Place, and on to Moore Street. They first stopped at No. 10, but then broke through the interior walls of the attached buildings.

The provisional Government set up their last headquarters in the back room of No. 16, Plunketts Poulterers. The volunteers continued tunneling through to No. 25, thus occupying the entire block. Structural evidence of the rebels’ tunneling remains in several properties within the terrace, according to Committee members. And the brickwork on some of the buildings reflects the scars inflicted by British ordnance.

James Connolly Heron, great-grandson of the Commander of the Irish Citizens Army and Proclamation signatory, the executed James Connolly, feels the fight to Save Moore Street, is very important because “it is incumbent on the State to honour the memory of all the men and women of 1916 through the creation of a 1916 cultural and historic quarter in this area - the very birthplace of our nation. They were, after all, our golden generation - a generation prepared to sacrifice their lives for their country unlike those of a later one - prepared to sacrifice their country for their lavish lifestyles.”

And it appears that the government may be listening. On April 24th, the 96th anniversary of the start of the Easter Rising, Ireland’s Minister for Tourism Leo Varadkar annonced that he plans to commission a feasibility study to determine whether the upper end of Dublin’s O’Connell Street could be turned into a 1916 heritage quarter.

Moore Street, Dublin already had a long history before April 1916. The area was developed on land which originally was part of a 12th century Cistercian monastery, and during the 18th century, the Moore Street Terrace, currently Nos. 10 to 25, was built to provide housing for tradesmen and professionals who served the grand houses which lined what was then called Sackville Mall and is now O’Connell Street, just one block away, according to history provided by Mr. Heron.

As time passed, storefronts replaced the homes and the area developed into a market street, where Dubliners shopped for fresh meat and poultry.

Helen Litton, the grand-niece of executed Rising leaders Thomas Clarke, who was a member of the Provisional Government and Ned Daly, who commanded the Four Courts Garrison, and the granddaughter of a Volunteer who made a charge up Moore Street to clear the way for the evacuation, recalls shopping at the outdoor market stalls with her granny and as a young housewife. She believes that an important part of the preservation effort on Moore Street is maintaining the character of the area by providing for a street market.

Print

E-mail

Tweet