Lewis Topographical Dictionary - OSi Online Shop

COR
tion; there are at present SO inmates in this institution.
There are various almshouses, principally of parochial
character, among which the chief are the corporation
almshouses, and those of the parishes of St. Finbarr, St.
Nicholas, Christ-Church, and St. Peter and St. Paul; the
almshouses in connection with the South Presentation
convent, founded by Miss Nagle for aged women; and
St. John’s Asylum, in Douglas-street, for aged men, the
two latter of Roman Catholic origin. Capt. Bretridge,
in 1683, devised the lands of East Drumcummer to the
corporation for ever, in trust for the payment of 10s. 6d.
weekly to seven poor old Protestant men that had been
soldiers, the surplus to be applied in apprenticing the
children of poor soldiers of the Protestant religion in the
city and liberties, or in default of such, the children of
other poor Protestant parents; the present income is
£258 per annum. In 1584, Stephen Skiddy bequeathed
to the mayor and aldermen £24 per annum, to be paid
by the Vintners’ Company of London, and to be distri-
buted among ten poor, honest, and aged persons of the
city. Almshouses were built for each of these charities,
and in 1718 a new house was erected for both near the
Green Coat Hospital, at an. expense of £1150, arising
-from the sale of the former site; the piazzas were sub-
sequently added at the expense of some benevolent
individuals: the animal income of Skiddy’s charity, aris-
ing from the original bequest and the rents of certain
premises granted by the corporation in 1702, is now
£235. 18., and is expended in the support of 41 aged
widows and five aged men, who have apartments in the
almshouse. Mr. William Masterson bequeathed £30
per annum to the poor of the parish of St. Mary, of
which sum, £16 is distributed in sums of £2 to poor
Protestant tradesmen, £10 is given as marriage portions
to two Protestant female servants married to Protestant
tradesmen, and the remaining £4 to the Green Coat
Hospital. In 1832, W. Lapp, Esq., bequeathed £30,000
for the support of poor old Protestants in the city; but
the will not being properly attested to pass freehold
estates, the heir resists payment; it, is, however, thought
that the personal property will be sufficient to pay nearly
the whole of the bequest. There are various societies
for the diffusion of religious knowledge. The charitable
loan fund originated in the establishment of a society
for the relief of poor confined debtors by Henry Shears,
in 1774; by a deed dated March 30th, 1785, trustees
•were empowered by the Musical Society of Dublin to
lend money, at first free of interest, to industrious
tradesmen in sums from £2 to £5, but subsequently
with a charge of 1s. interest on each loan of £3 under
the authority of the act of the 4th of Geo. IV. cap. 32.
The funds are now entirely appropriated to the purposes
of the loan society, and are lent in sums of £3, the
borrower giving security for repayment by weekly in-
stalments of 2s. 6d.: the number of families repaying
the loan in 1834 was 1150.
Among the remains of antiquity one of the most
ancient was Gill Abbey, which, after standing 980 years,
fell down in 1738; no vestiges of it can now be traced,
but near the site is a cave, anciently called the cave of
St. Finbarr, and several fragments of stone pillars and
other sculptured ornaments have been lately turned up
on the spot. An Augustinian monastery, also on the
south side of the town, is the only one of which there
are any remains: it is stated by various writers to have
428
COR
been founded at different periods, by some in the reign
of Edw. L, by others in that of Hen. V. or VI., and by
some even so late as 1472 or 1475 j the remains consist
of the tower, which is 64 feet high, and is called the Red
abbey. The Franciscan monastery had a stately church
in which many illustrious persons were interred, but it is
now entirely demolished, and Hebert’s-square is built
on its site. On digging the foundations of the buildings
in this square in 1836, a stone curiously sculptured with
the date 1567 marked on it was discovered, also a plate
of metal 34 inches by 30, now in Mr. Hebert’s posses-
sion, on which is represented the Nativity, accom-
panied by a long description, apparently in Dutch.
The site of the Dominican friary, called the Abbey of St.
Mary of the Island, is now occupied by Mr. O’Keefe’s
distillery. A nunnery, dedicated to St. John the Bap-
tist, and from which St. John’s-street took its name, was
founded early in the 14th century; the site was disco-
vered a few years since, when several tombstones were
dug up near the spot. St. Stephen’s priory for lepers
was founded in the south suburbs, at a very early period,
on the site now occupied by the Blue Coat Hospital;
and a Benedictine priory is said to have been founded
by King John on the south side of the city, and made a
cell to the English abbey at Bath. Bourke mentions a
house of White friars and a preceptory of Knights Tem-
plars, of which not the slightest vestiges can be traced.
Of the ancient walls of the city, with their circular
towers, there are considerable remains near the North
bridge, and in the rear of the foundry the wall is perfect:
of the fortifications in and near it, the last, which was
called from its founder Skiddy’s castle, was taken down
in 1785. A mint was established in the city after the
English settlement, but the specimens of coinage are
extremely scarce; the earliest extant are silver pennies
and halfpennies of the reign of Edw. I., which have on
the obverse the king’s head within a triangle, with the
inscription EDW: R: ANGL: DUX: HYB:. Among
the writers who have contributed to elevate the literary
character of the city, exclusively of professional writers,
are Arthur Murphy, the translator of Tacitus, and author
of several successful tragedies and comedies; O’Keefe,
the writer of comedies; Edw. Murphy, editor of Lucian;
the celebrated Arthur O’Leary, equally distinguished for
his wit, learning, and eloquence, and his biographer the
Rev. Thos. England; Thos. Crofton Croker, author of
“Fairy Legends” and other works illustrative of Irish
customs and superstitions; James Roche, author of seve-
ral articles on the history and descent of the principal
commoners of the empire; Dr. Wood, a writer on na-
tural history and on the antiquities of Ireland; John
O’Driscol, late judge of Dominica, who published a
work in two volumes on the state of Ireland; the Rev.
Thos. Townsend, author of the statistical survey of the
county of Cork; Dr. Maginn, a principal contributor
to Fraser’s Magazine; the Rev. Dr. Hincks, already-
noticed as a former minister of the Presbyterian con-
gregation in connection with the Synod of Munster;
Henry Uppington, a writer on various scientific sub-
jects; the writer of the articles in Fraser’s Maga-
zine, under the fictitious name of Father Prout, is a
native of this city; Richard Milliken, both a poet and
a painter; Miss Milliken, writer of several novels. Of
eminent painters, Cork is the native place of the cele-
brated Barry, professor of Painting in the Royal Aca-