The Grand Parade in Cork was quite different 11 years ago. Outside Bishop Lucey Park was an uneven path, the centre of the street was a narrow section between two busy strips of tarmac. And of course the Capitol Cinema was still open. I’m glad the monstrosity pictured here was never built there, even if the site is still dormant. More info on the history of that site available here.
This shot was taken within minutes of this Grand Parade shot I posted last month.
The city of Reykjavík as seen from the bell tower of the cathedral there.
I’ve recently taken a keener interest in older photos of Cork but the realisation that I have photos in my own archive that are “sort-of old” has dawned slowly on me.
Here’s a shot of The Grand Parade in Cork shot in 2003. The street looks completely different now of course. The street isn’t split in two, there aren’t cars parked in the middle of the street like that any more, and there’s a huge pedestrian area where that bus stop used to be. The bus stop is in fact about 10m or more over to the left.
In the foreground is the cannon I have posted here a few times. You can see in that picture some of the changes that make the modern street a more friendly place to pedestrians.
A derelict house on the Lower Glanmire Road in Cork as it existed in 2004, almost ten years ago. Now there’s a bridge across the road nearby obscuring this view and the house is boarded up.
This unusual lump of metal sticking out of the pavement on the Grand Parade could be the oldest street furniture in the city. I had forgotten I had posted this photo way back in 2007 but I prefer this version of the photo as it has more detail.
What do you think? Which photo is better, colour or black and white?
I think it’s fascinating that a cannon is embedded in the ground there but when I last posted about it I wasn’t sure if it was one. Take a look at this page where there’s a picture of the cannon with the surrounding earth dug up.
The cannon’s trunnion, consisting of two cylinders of solid metal projecting from each side and designed to support the gun in place on a gun carriage, is immediately below the present ground level
There’s also this page where there’s an interesting description of what the street was like hundreds of years ago. It’s hard to believe there was a bridge across a water channel that was the Grand Parade from Tuckey Street to Oliver Plunkett Street!
A street in San Francisco, 2006.
“This will change everything he thought”. Err, no. It won’t.
Billboards like this sprang up near the Elysian in Cork in 2007 and later as construction of that building continued. Well. It didn’t change anything except that the country went into recession and the building is mostly empty even now.
Some nice photos here from when they had an open day in late 2008.
The flyover over the Bandon Road Roundabout in Bishopstown is completed (or so I’ve read, I haven’t driven over it yet) but here’s what it looked like 2006, well before any work was done. The pedestrian walkway I took this from is long gone and the area itself looks a lot different now!
Now, all we need is a north-south road with a 100kph speed limit and we’re all sorted.
Further info on boards.ie and Evening Echo and here too.
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2013
A NEW era of motoring in Cork dawned today as the city’s new 60 million twin flyovers opened to traffic on the South Ring Road.
Traffic travelling both east and west on the N25 were directed on to the new flyovers at the Sarsfield Road and Bandon Road roundabouts from 6am this morning.
Up to 60,000 vehicles every day will now be taken off the two roundabouts, vastly reducing traffic congestion in the Bishopstown and Wilton areas.
Travel times are also expected to be cut by up to 30 minutes at peak traffic periods with the opening of the flyovers which took two years to complete.
| Aperture | ƒ/22 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 20D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 200 |
| Shutter speed | 1/20s |
ALEX is the name of a tugboat that operates in Cork Harbour. This photo was actually taken back in 2006 but I found a more recent shot of it as well as a mention on the Port of Cork website.
ALEX
- On charter to Whitegate Refinery
- Bollard pull: 49 ton
- Azimuth stern drive
- Fi-Fi
- Notice: normal 1 hr, emergency 30min approx
We spent this evening at Garrettstown Beach. Wow, what a day. First time swimming in the sea in several years. IT WAS COLD! I’d forgotten just how cold the Atlantic can be.
| Aperture | ƒ/10 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 24mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/200s |
View of the Ratty River as seen from the top of Bunratty Castle, Co Clare.
Despite the cloudy sky temperatures were in the low twenties so it was quite warm, especially after climbing up the many steps to the top of the castle!
Oddly enough I couldn’t find this view in a search for the river name on Google or Flickr. It’s probably there if you look for Bunratty Castle but I’ll leave that to other inquisitive minds.
| Aperture | ƒ/9 |
| Camera | Canon EOS 40D |
| Focal length | 10mm |
| ISO | 100 |
| Shutter speed | 1/160s |
