Dublin Tramways
by
John Kelleher
by
John Kelleher
(c) 2016 Mount Merrion Historical Society
8.00pm, Thursday 4th May, 2023
Fitzwilliam Rooms
Mount Merrion Community Centre
Fitzwilliam Rooms
Mount Merrion Community Centre
Presented By:
Cormac Lowth
Cormac Lowth
The Sailing Trawlers of Ringsend
Throughout the hundred years from 1819 to 1919, a fleet of large wooden sailing trawlers existed in Ringsend. The first of these boats came from Brixham in Devon having been bought by the new Dublin Fishery Company. The crews and their families came with the boats and that established a pattern over the next hundred years of an exchange of boats and people from Devon to Ringsend. Many of the population of the Ringsend area are descended from these Brixham fishermen. Dublin Fishery Company closed down in 1830 but the fishing continued as the boats became more plentiful. Many of the type of boats were now being built in the boatyards located on the bank of the Dodder in Ringsend. These boats existed in an almost unchanged state for the hundred years. Over the period there were about three hundred boats that came and went and the number of boats at any one time reached its zenith in about 1879. The number of crew remained constant at three men and a boy. The very last of the sailing trawlers was seen in 1919 when motor and steam trawlers came to the fore. It represents a period of the maritime history of Dublin that has been almost forgotten.
Cormac Lowth has had a lifelong interest in the sea and its historical matters and has an abiding interest in Maritime art. He has served on the Councils of the Maritime Institute of Ireland, and The Old Dublin Society. He is a frequent lecturer on maritime matters to many Historical Societies and is a regular contributor of articles to several Historical journals including the “Dublin Historical Record”. He is one of the crew of the Naomh Crónán, a traditional style Galway Hooker which is based in Ringsend.
