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KANTURK COURTHOUSE

Published in Issue 5 (September/October 2023), Letters, Volume 31

Above: An example of the graffiti in the bridewell of Kanturk courthouse (Eddie O’Hare/Irish Examiner)

Sir,—Kanturk courthouse complex has an important and indeed unique place in the architectural heritage of County Cork. It was built in 1824–6 to the designs of the prominent English architects James and George Richard Pain. At the time County Cork had high levels of rural unrest and violence, so the Grand Jury decided to build a network of courthouses and prisons throughout the county all to the same design, of which Kanturk alone remains intact and basically unaltered to this day. While the courthouse itself appears in reasonable condition despite its vacancy, the same cannot be said of the bridewell, which contains graffiti from many generations of prisoners, including detainees from the War of Independence and the Civil War. These graffiti are now very much at risk and are deteriorating before our eyes owing to the poor condition of the roof and general lack of maintenance. Only Kilmainham Gaol and Cork Women’s Prison contain graffiti from this period, and they are preserved and treasured. Unless emergency work to weatherproof this building is undertaken immediately to prevent its deterioration, it will result in the irretrievable loss of the graffiti and inevitable additional costs in any future restoration project. This is a national treasure and it will be a sin against the men and women who fought and died for the freedom of our country. The remit for its repair and maintenance lies with the Courts Services and I would ask any of your readers with any influence to encourage this government department to resolve the situation immediately before the coming winter does further irreparable damage. There will be no second chance to save this wonderful asset.—Yours etc.,

DAN DENNEHY
Kanturk

On this Day

September 08

1806 Patrick Cotter (46), giant, died. Born in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Cotter was just eighteen when he began exhibiting himself in England as Patrick Cotter O’Brien, ‘a lineal descendant of the old puissant King Brien Boreau’. It was recorded that Cotter ‘had less imbecility of mind than the generality of overgrown persons’ but also had ‘all the weakness of body by which they are characterized. He walked with difficulty, and felt considerable pain when rising up or sitting down.’ He also feared that his remains would be taken by grave-robbers and sold to anatomists. Retiring after some five years on the road, he directed that his casket be encased with lead and interred in a grave secured with iron bars. Thus they remained undisturbed for over a century before being reinterred in a crypt at the Jesuit chapel in Trenchard Street, Bristol, where they still rest. It was established then that he was 8ft. 1in. tall at the time of his death, the first of only seventeen people in medical history to stand at a verified height of 8ft or more.
1966 The first episode of Star Trek, ‘The Man Trap’, was broadcast, in which Captain Kirk faced an alien desperate to suck the salt out of human bodies.
1812 ‘Honest John’ Martin, Young Irelander and Home Rule MP, born in Loughorne, Newry, Co. Down.
1798 The Rising in Connacht ended with the defeat of Jean Joseph Humbert’s French/Irish forces by Crown forces under Lord Lieutenant Cornwallis at the Battle of Ballinamuck, Co. Longford.
1944 The SS Empire Heritage, en route from New York to Liverpool with a cargo of war supplies, was struck by two German torpedoes some fifteen miles off Malin Head, Co. Donegal, with the loss of 113 lives.

KANTURK COURTHOUSE

Personal Histories

On this Day

September 08