Yellow Horse Street

NOTE:The copyright in the pictures below belongs to Cork City Council, whose permission to reproduce them is, sincerely, gratefully acknowledged.

For most of my working life, I have used this street.

I occasionally wondered rather idly about the origin of the name, because it has a rather Native American sound, does it not ? One does not expect that on the eastern side of the Atlantic - even in the Rebel City of Europe's Wild West.

Those Corkonians who think only in the language of the Age-old Oppressor will have no idea as to the identity of the street of which I speak. Here's a hint for them: it's the one which now covers the channel running vertically down the middle here

Some people call it "The Grand Parade".

Then, a couple of days ago, with Frank Hannigan's help, I found this:

and all became clear.

For the full story of the picture, see here.

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about the photograph, taken in the 1850s, is the evidence which it provides of the advanced state of photographic technology in Cork at the time. Although only one colour breaks the monochrome of the picture, that is one more than was to be seen in photographs generally for nearly a century elsewhere ! :-)