Halloween Night

It’s Halloween, and the magic is here

Laughter too, with much to cheer

Sparkling rockets will fly

Into the dark sky

Heavenly burst, as bright stars do appear

Heavenly Light

Smock Alley Theatre

Smock Alley Theatre, on the south bank of the Liffey, is in one of the oldest parts of the city where many a Viking walked about long before an actor tread the boards of the old theatre. Dublin, as the second city to British Empire, was given its very own Theatre Royal. In fact, it was the only Theatre Royal outside beyond London.

Smock Alley Theatre

The theatre opened in 1662, two years into the reign of Charles II who was determined to bring back ‘the good times’ that Oliver Cromwell and his followers had previously banned. No funds were spared in getting the place ready, and the sparkling chandeliers, colourful drapes and decorated sceneries were an instant success with the audience. It was a leader in the use of ‘footlights’ on the stage, a new innovation that added excitement to the whole experience.  

The Theatre Royal at Smock Alley was a training ground for works by great Irish playwrights, like Oliver Goldsmith (She Stoops to Conquer) and Richard Brinsley Sheridan – below – (The Rivals), both of which are still regularly performed. Nearly three hundred people attended the theatre each night of the week, where they were entertained by actors, acrobats, dancers, musicians and trapeze artists. Candles blazed in brass chandeliers as David Garrick, the greatest actor of the time, moved about the stage holding theatregoers’ rapt attention.

As time moved on other theatres opened and took business away. Then structural problems threatened and soon the place was forgotten about, and it closed its doors in 1787.  A number of different owners came and went before it was stripped bare of its fine interior. The once great theatre now became a warehouse for whiskey barrels!

In 1811 the place was recreated as a Catholic Church and the church bell rang out for the first time in three centuries.

In 2012, Smock Alley returned as a theatre having been restored  – it became Dublin’s Oldest Newest Theatre.

Kathleen Lynn

Kathleen Lynn, born 28 January 1874 in Mullafarry, Co. Mayo, was the second of three daughters and one son of Robert Lynn, Church of Ireland clergyman, and Catherine Lynn of Drumcliffe, Co. Sligo.

Kathleen Lynn

Although she had a privileged childhood she was exposed to poverty and disputes over land in her native county, which informed her political outlook in later years. She attended Alexandra College, graduated in 1899 before taking-up postgraduate work in America. Ten years later she became a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

She worked in both Sir Patrick Dun’s Hospital and the Rotunda Lying-In Hospital before taking up the post of clinical assistant at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, where she was, notably, the first female resident doctor.

Work in the soup kitchens during the 1913 lock-out brought a sharper focus to her politics and she joined the Irish Citizen Army (ICA) and later instructed members of Cumann na mBan in first-aid techniques. During the Easter Rising she was the chief medical officer of the ICA and helped combatants from her post at City Hall. She spent time in Kilmainham prison before being sent to England where she worked with a doctor in Bath. She returned to Ireland later that summer and soon had re-established her medical practice at 9 Belgrave Road, Rathmines.

However, Kathleen Lynn is best remembered as being one of the founders, along with Madeleine ffrench-Mullen, of St. Ultan’s Hospital for Infants on Charlemont Street in 1919. This was very much in response to the need for access to appropriate care for the poorer women in society.

In 1923 General Election she was a winning Sinn Fein candidate for Dublin county, but did not take her seat. She lost the seat in the 1927, but was a member of Rathmines  district council between 1920 and 1930.

She died on 14 September 1955 at St Mary’s Nursing Home and, in recognition of her contribution during the Easter Rising, she was given a full military funeral and is buried in Deansgrange Cemetery.

City Hall

Samuel Haughton

Samuel Haughton was born 21 December 1821 in Carlow, second of three sons of Samuel Haughton, merchant, and Sarah Haughton. He entered TCD at the age of 16 and remained there, first as a student and then as a teacher for the rest of his life. Initially he studied mathematics and graduated with a Gold Medal in 1843 and in 1844 he was elected to fellowship.

Samuel Haughton

He was a Renaissance Man with an interest in various subjects that included mathematics, geology, and medicine. His did research in mathematics and fluid mechanics and in 1851 he was appointed to the chair of geology, a post he held for 30 years. He worked out the age of the earth by various methods and opposed Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, believing that man was a recent creation.

In 1859 he began studying medicine, and after graduation (1862) developed an interest in animal physiology. He was involved in medical administration, and was the registrar of the college’s medical school, and was a board member of Sir Patrick Dun’s hospital.

Today, he is best known for the ‘Haughton Drop’. In this scheme he calculated the best (most humane) way for hanging prisoners. This was to ensure an instantaneous death which, up to that point, was not always guaranteed leaving the prisoner to die a slow and painful death. His work was published in 1866 under the title “On hanging, considered from a mechanical and physiological point of view”.

Haughton showed mechanical and medical calculations and determined that the long drop would be best. So, his rule was: “Divide the weight of the patient, in pounds, into 2,240 and the quotient will give the length of the long drop in feet”. Therefore, for a prisoner weighing 160 lb, a drop of 14 feet would be sufficient to ensure fracture of the spine and sudden death.

He died at home, 12 Northbrook Road, Dublin, on 31 October 1897 and is buried in Killeshin churchyard, Co. Carlow.

Trinity College, Dublin

Henry Grattan Bridge

It was the third bridge over the Liffey and known as Essex Bridge when it opened in 1676. Humphrey Jervis, a local developer, named it in honour of the Earl of Essex who had been recently appointed as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland by Charles II. The fashionable area of Capel Street was connected to the crowded, narrow streets on the southside of the river. The bridge, however, was often in need of repair as a result of floods and passage across was sometimes chaotic with carts, horses becoming entangled. With trade growing a new bridge was required and this was undertaken by the engineer George Semple.

Henry Grattan statue on College Green

He had also recommended that a new street should be built on the south side of the bridge, facing Capel Street. It was designed in the style of Westminster Bridge and opened in 1755. The new street, Parliament Street, was finished in 1757 and was the same width as the bridge to assist and improve traffic flow.

Almost a century later it was decided to rebuild the bridge, and Bindon Stone was tasked with important job. The Dublin Port engineer’s work was a masonry bridge with five arches, similar to Semple’s. He did, however, make the new bridge flatter which made traffic safer. Also, he added to the width of the bridge with raised footpaths on both sides which he adorned with iron parapets. These were then completed by the addition of ornamental lamps which are both unique and popular with photographers.

In 1875 the bridge had its last name change in honour of the parliamentarian Henry Grattan (1746-1820). He was a local having been born in nearby Fishamble Street and who worked hard to improve Ireland’s economic position. For his work in the 1780s & 1790s the government buildings on College Green was commonly known as ‘Grattan’s Parliament’.

Henry Grattan Bridge