A History of Fenns Quay and Cork
In the middle ages Cork was a walled island
with enclosed suburbs on the hills to the north and south and low lying marshes on its east and sides. In the marshes on the western side was a
mill-pond which fed water to "Droops" mill, the only water-powered corn
mill within Cork's medieval town walls. During the siege of Cork in 1690
the Williamite forces "took care to have the course
of the millstream turned" to cut off the water supply of those inside
the walls. Cork was bombarded for three full days and nights during which
a group of defenders made a desperate attempt to flee by night through the
western marshes but they were forced back into ther city. Eventually the
wall on the eastern side was breached and the city finally surrendered.
Records
show that in 1708 Joseph Pike leased the marsh to the north and west of
the city walls from the city council. The Pikes were a prominent Quaker
family in Cork at this time. Another lease from 1712 which refers to Droops
mill-pond shows that on the 20th of March of that year Water Gate Marsh
(Fenn's Marsh) was leased by Mr. Ebenezer Pike to Joseph Fenn, sugar maker.
As
on the eastern side of the city the western marshes were gradually reclaimed.
In 1720 construction of the Mardyke walk began at the private expense of
Mr. Edward Webber. Around this time William Fenn, the son of Joseph, also
proposed to lay out a street along the channel which ran from where the
Mardyke began to the corner of Fishamble Street (present day Liberty Street)
and Clothiers Lane (Cross Street). Fenn granted a series of leases along
this quayside and specified that the lease-holder should construct and maintain
a 20-foot wide walkway in front of the canal. At the Cork Spring Assizes
of 1793 William Roberts and Henry Fowkes were granted £84 6s 10d for "covering over with an arch sixty six and half
feet in lenght" part of Fenn's Quay Dock. By the end of the century
the entire waterway was covered over.
The ownership of the property at Fenn's Quay can be traced
from Joseph Pike in 1708 to the present day using leases, wills, registry
of deeds and other documents. It is difficult, however, to establish when
and by whom the terrace of houses was built. Some maps of Cork from the
18th century show plots of land on Fenn's Marsh, for instance Carty's map
of 1726 and Rocque's map of 1759, however Corbett's map of 1750 does not
show Fenn's Quay developed. At first the row of houses on Fenn's Quay were
in residential use, but in the 19th century the ground floors were converted
into shops.
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