How Ireland got on track for the future

ONE of the striking things from Building Ireland, a six-part TV series that examines Ireland’s building and engineering heritage, is to realise how prominent the country was on the world stage in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Dublin housed some majestic banking halls on Dame St. Mayo had a thriving textile industry. Cork was the world’s most important transatlantic shipping port and was riding the crest of a huge economic boom during the Napoleonic wars. Its beef processing was renowned. Cork butter turned up on dining tables in places as far flung as New York, and modern-day Delhi and Istanbul.

The warren of streets around Shandon on the north side of Cork city was home to the largest shambles in Ireland, and the way in which its narrow, slopping streets careered down towards the River Lee provided a natural draining system for animal blood and effluent.