Thoms Lookup please :) Donnelly Shops - Dublin

[Alicat84]

Hey Quaxer,

The picture is very small cause it's the only size I can get on the forum, a clearer one is at the link in my first message.

In the very top left corner it says Cuffe Street. It's at a perpendicular angle to the photographer so it's very hard to see unless you're looking at a decent copy with magnification.
The Shop front in the picture says " Fruiter - Donnelly - Florist ", not "Patrick, and it's fruit that's in the baskets beside the little boy. Notice the bananas hanging in the window?

The numbers on the shop front, the one on the right is definitely 26. The one on the left (covered by a plant) is either 25 or 26, we thought it might be 25 because there are two doorways which could have indicated two separate dwellings. But it COULD be 26 as well.

When I searched the Times Online for Donnelly shops in Cuffe Street, it threw up the 25 repeatedly so we thought it a possibility that the shop was passing between family members and their respective trades.

Nothing is certain at this stage and I'm open to all suggestions and corrections though

[shanew147]

a little bit later than the timeframe mentioned originally - from Thom's 1914 :

  Cuffe St.

   25 William Coffey, victualler,
   26 Thos. Donnelly, fruiterer

hope you dont mind Alicat84 .. I've attached a cropped and slightly enhanced version of your photo..

also attached a blowup / enhancement and negative of the number on the left - which I think looks like another 26.



Shane

[Alicat84]

Oh my goodness that's super Shane, thank you so much for looking that up!

1914 fits perfectly really, seeing as the Photographer in the family was only 18 in 1911 so I figured it couldn't have been much earlier than that.

So it might also explain why Thomas is down as a "Motorman" in 1911, he hasn't opened his shop yet.

Like my own father, he seems to be a jack of all trades. We also have a photo of him with tea-traders that he used to deal with when he apparently(!) was involved with/ran/owned a hotel in Ballsbridge.

[Quaxer]

Dear Alicat & Shane
I missed the link ,sorry but the blow up was good. It most likely shows No.26 Cuffe Street for the following.
No. 25 was on the south side of Cuffe street with No.1 Harcourt on its right flank and at right angles. I've checked all the maps in my possession but unfortunately none show (as the photo doeson the left hand side) where No.25 projects forward of the building line of No.26 etc. Could anybody check this in a large scale map.
My Irish Times work shows on 27/8/79 in an advert. on P.1 that a Thomas Byrne (victualler) was in occupation and P. Donnelly (meats) was there in 1887 as previously stated. If we look at the sign board on No.25 at right angles to the one on No.26 it is not quite legible to me (Shane more wizardry please)  but in the Irish Times I have an entry on 27/8/98 on P.5 in the Police Court William Coffey was fined for furious cycling. The photo looks  like Coffe... to me .
For No.26  theI.T. on P.3 of issue of 10/12/86 shows that a William Doyle was fine d for having an unregistered dairy yard here.Presumably there must have been space at the rear of No.26 together with a rear entrance . Can anybody check this on a map. Maybe at the Valuation Office?

Regards       Quaxer

[shanew147]

here's a blow up of the other text to the left of the main shop sign - looks like 'Cuffe' to me.. although the top of the letters are in shadow. Maybe some sort of street sign?

I had a look at an 1860 OS map, it does not show any distinctive features which would help confirm the exact location. Going by the street numbers and side street details listed in Thom's I would say the shop was on the south side of the street, and second to the west from the Cuffe St., Harcourt St junction

see the rough map below.



Shane

[aghadowey]

Could it perhaps say COFFEE?

[shanew147]

Could it perhaps say COFFEE?

I was thinking that - then I had a closer look at the directory and realized that the shop to the left at #25 was a William Coffey, victualler.. 



Shane

[Quaxer]

Dear Shanew & A

Thank you for the map. I had hoped to see No.25 projecting forward but my O.S. 1849 and 1911 show just one solid block for that side of the street. Unfortunately I have no personal recollection of the exact spot. I have a vivid memory of Nos30- being demolished . In fact when passing then I could hear bits of debris falling within the buildings.
Although one cannot be certain ,I believe that the writing is a trade sign for the William Coffey whom I mentioned earlier in No.25. I would go for Cuffe Street as being the scene of the photo.

Regards      Quaxer.

[Alicat84]

Thank you for all the effort you're putting in to this!

Do you know is there anywhere that might have old photos of Cuffe Street? One of the city libraries maybe? Seeing as it's so close to The Green maybe there's photos of the Green with the corner of Cuffe Street in view?

And that "Coffey" on the side of the building is very interesting, I always thought it was Cuffe