In the second of the Beyond The Cutting articles , the blog now turns its attention to the old Hangdog Road. Information contained here is based on the research of Togher Historical Association and the memoirs of Mary Walsh.
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Hangdog Road ( renamed Tramore Road in 1960 by Cork Corporation following general consensus of the then residents ) is approximately 2000ft in length topped and tailed by Togher Road and Casey's Cross. It boasts a Post Office and a Garda Station. During the 1980s , it was also home to Fitzgerald's Bakery. In recent decades it has seen 2 new estates constructed - Woodlawn/Woodlawn Mews and Sheridan Park.
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Hangdog Road was created towards the tail end of the Great Famine 1845 - 1852 , quite possibly 1848 , as it is not shown in Griffith's Valuations of 1847. It was commissioned by Capt. Sarsfield of Doughcloyne , Togher as a shortcut ( see Legend of Hangdog Road below ) to Pouladuff Road to enable him to save time when attending meetings in the City where he served on the Board of Guardians. *Note: Cork Macroom Direct Railway was not set down until 1866 and would run parallel with the road. The road itself would traverse 2 Townlands ; Killeenreendowney and Freagh & Vicar's Acre in a straight line from Togher Road using existing field boundaries save for a bend towards Pouladuff Road to avoid a property there. Maps below show the transition from non existent to it's creation and the inevitable building of properties along its axis thereafter which has continued to this day.
Griffith's Valuations in the 1840s shows the absentee Landlord Geo. Piggott as owner with Plot 61 & 62 in Killeenreendowney rented by Maurice Murphy and Margaret Murphy respectively with Plot 4 in Freagh & Vicar's Acre rented by Maurice Murphy.
and Plot 4 Freagh & Vicar's Acre
showing future Macroom railway line
The Legend of Hangdog Road
The modern day Tramore Road is Togher's tie to a dark past ( 1847 ) in that it is a famine road solely built on the whims and desires of a local landowner , Capt. Sarsfield. He was a member of the Board of Guardians who would meet every week at the Workhouse located off Douglas Road. His journey by horseback took him from his home in Doughcloyne all the way to the Lough and by means of a convoluted series of routes over to the Workhouse. Knowing the topography of the land , he knew he could shorten his trek considerably by having a connecting road to Ballyphehane Road which would bring him to the Curragh Road and down the Douglas Road to his destination saving valuable time. To that end and using his influence , he saw to it that a gang of impoverished men could be employed to build his new shortcut from Togher Road to Pouladuff Road , their measly payment being Indian Corn. So it was that construction began. However one day while arriving to inspect the progress of the men he was angered at the sight of dogs accompanying the men. He called for the foreman and informed him that if the men could afford to feed dogs then they were not as poor as they appeared and ordered that no more food was to be given to the canines. Later that week , he again returned to inspect the new road and was coldly surprised by the scene which met his eyes. From every branch of every tree , a dog was found to be hanging by a rope , all killed. When he asked what prompted such a bizarre act , the foreman informed him that the men , so ordered not to feed the dogs , could not bear to see them starve to death and quickly hung them all to spare them their fate. Nonplussed , the Captain departed , safe in the knowledge that his new road was almost complete. Thereafter and up to the change of name in 1960 , the road was known as Hangdog Road!
* Note tightly grouped collection of cottages
close to Togher Road - 1951
* Note McCarthy's cottage north of road
and O'Sullivans farm south of road 1951
During the mid 1950s Tommy Marshall ( Marshall House , The Cutting ) in his trade as a builder constructed a slew of houses on Hangdog Road. Mary and Eileen Walsh would clean the interiors and windows before occupation. The list below highlights the original cottages as they were up to the late 1960s. However given modern development , selling on of plots in days gone by and demolition of original builds in some cases , it is impossible save for a select few to completely identify each of the original homes and tie them to the original occupants as per the list shown below.
S.W. side of road
This lists the original cottages on the right side of Tramore Road starting from the Togher Road side and ending at Casey's Cross.
1 - Birdie Buckley
Originally the Home of Birdie Buckley ( see here ) , it is now the Scout Centre.
in front of Scout Hall
2 - Long / Walsh / Donoghue
The Longs lived in this house originally but were evicted due to non payment of rent. Mary's cousin Tom Walsh next rented the house where he specialized in growing tomatoes in a hothouse. He moved out in 1958/9 and died recently in his 90s. The next tenant to spend there was the O'Donoghue family who moved out in the late 1960s.
3 - Gallivan - The head of the household was a guard. Mary Walsh went to school with some of his daughters - one of whom Nuala won the Miss Cork show in the 1950s. Her proud mother went to every house to inform the locals of the win. One incident which entered into the local folklore at the time centred around Garda Gallivan. He used to get his cigarettes on tick from a shop on Barracks St. but incensed the owner due to lack of payment. One summer evening the shop owner was drunk and came out to his house demanding his debt be settled. This of course drew a large crowd as he roared at the top of his voice for all and sundry to hear.
4 - Callaghan
5- Murray
6 - Hipwell
7 - Morgan - home to Mrs. Morgan who is over a hundred years old being born in 1922! It is now Togher Post Office , being one of two based in Togher. Morgan's shop 59/60. Now run ironically by Lilly's nephew John O'Callaghan.
8 - McLennon / Daunt
9 - Cronin
10 - O'Neill
11 - Callaghan
12 - O'Leary - Builder - siblings - Kathleen , Michael and Sean
13 - Georgie Roche - Ann Sisks ( from The Cutting ) first cousin.
beyond the hedging
14 - Murphy
15 - Winning
16 - Sullivan - Farmer - now site of Togher Garda station.
now Togher Garda station
N.W. side of road
This lists the original houses on the left side of the road starting from the corner of Togher Road and ending at Casey's Cross
1 - Roche
2 - Kelly - she kept a collection of spider monkeys in a glasshouse , miniature trees for them to swing on the kids finished school to view them.
3 - Ross - of Greek nationality who worked down the quays. His first wife died and he then married an English woman. He would often ask Mary Walsh's mother to " knit me a couple of jumpers ". He once gave her a radio in the 1950s for 8 pounds after cheekily assuming the jumpers were free of charge! He and his new wife adopted a son Tony who would go on to be a messenger boy for a butchers in town , whom Mary Walsh would tease mercilessly about his basket full of meat. His mom knocked at their door to complain and demanded that Mary get on her hands and knees to scrub the floor possibly to insult her with her mother retorting , the floor is clean enough!
4 - Hourigan
5 - Murray - twin boys
6 - Tim Crowley
7 - O'Sullivan - Home of Joe O'Sullivan and his wife Sheila and daughter Eileen; Joe's sister , Lilly , postmistress of Togher Post Office on Togher Road lived with them ( she never married ). Sadly Joe and his 12 year old daughter Eileen drowned tragically in 1960/2 while out on a fishing boat with a postman from West Cork who was a good friend of the family. Lilly took the fateful call on the P.O. phone!
8 - Roche - market gardeners
big gap right up to near the cross
( now Woodlawn / Mews housing estate )
9 - McCarthy - aka Nana Macs , married to Denis aka Dinny who was a National Hunt Stalwart and drove an Austin A40 car. ** Elizabeth Murphy Sheehan recalls : " Patty
Mac from that house was married to Mr. Daly , a great man in the Lough
Credit Union whose first name I can't recall. They had a number of
children including Denis , Patricia , Marion and Ann. " **
now Sheridan Park
** Old Fitzgeralds bread factory was next to them and opened there in the mid 1970s. Ginelles clothing factory and Youngline shoe company also backed onto Tramore Road.
* Note : Field to right future Woodlawn/Mews
Nana Mac's to left of field
& site to right future Fitzgerald's Bread
** Note also at bend in road original O'Sullivan house ( Garda Stn )
now Sheridan Park
former site of Nana Mac's and Fitzgerald's bakery
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Three old sites have an historic tie to Hangdog Road ; first is the Wella in Freagh & Vicars Acre which flows into the Tramore River ; second is the Sitecast Industrial Park in Lehenagh Beg which was the former home of a tenant farmer in the 1840s who is remembered in Casey's Cross and third is the Pouladuff Bridge now Overpass!
John Pa Murphy's farm
A plot of land to the south of the Tramore River in Lehenagh Beg has a strong historical link with the Hangdog Road of old. Griffith's Valuations marks John C. Kearney down as the Landlord of Plots 1a/b. However it is his tenant farmer who speaks to us from the past - one Edward Casey - who no doubt had the cross above his land named after him.
after whom Casey's Cross is named
( bottom left of Pouladuff Road )
Former land of John Pa Murphy
named after a tenant in the 1840s
In the 1950s however , the land is in the possession of John Pa Murphy snr. He had a huge farmhouse which fronted onto the main Pouladuff Road. He also had stables on his land for his horses and grew cabbages , carrots , onions and potatoes for the English Market. His son sold off the land circa 1977/8 and it is now home to Sitecast Industrial Park.
The Wella
The Wella was a shallow spring with stones around it left of the railway embankment known as Buckley's Field located between the railway track and the Tramore River into which it flowed ; watercress used to grow around it because of its purity. Mary recalls how even in summer the water was ice cold. She also commented on how steep the climb up the Pouladuff Railway bridge was. A small culvert enabled access over the Tramore River with the railway bridge starting on the opposite side of the river. A perilous dirt track came off the embankment about halfway up which locals utilized to get water from the well and collect the watercress which grew around it. Up to recently and following the creation of the South Ring Road in 1994 , the well was capped and piped into the nearby stream. Sadly reports have come in that the well is now completely covered in concrete and therefore not visible any longer.
Left of Pouladuff Road and south of Tramore River
*Note well in Buckley's Field north of the river
Pouladuff Overpass bridge was opened in 1995 and completely traverses the Tramore River and the South Ring Road right up to Casey's Cross from Pouladuff Road.
showing location of Well right of Tramore River
and John Pa's farm left of Tramore River
now Sitecast Industrial Park
Pouladuff Overpass 2016
* This article is dedicated to Eamonn Pearse R.I.P.
who trod up and down the old Hangdog Road with me
countless times. His energy and enthusiasm are sorely missed.
