![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/5272806_5_articleinlinemobile_received_745009066750287.jpeg\" "\\"The")
The photo of Kate Davis at 8, North Mall in Cork city, which was investigated in Throwback Thursday in 2023 – a reader online recently discovered a family connection to her<\/p>\nDeclan Hourihan has written to us, seeking information on a family link highlighted in a Throwback Thursday column we ran back in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m reaching out because I\u2019m currently researching the Irish side of my family and recently came across your article on EchoLive.ie. I was delighted to find references to my family\u2019s history within it,\u201d said Daniel.<\/p>\n
The article in question related to a marvellous old picture we published of an elderly lady sitting on the steps of No.8, North Mall, which had been supplied to us by Fintan Bloss.<\/p>\n
He had found it in his family album, with no explanation of who she was, or why it was there, other than that the name Kate Davis was written on the back, and that it came from the Rembrandt Studio.<\/p>\n
Well, at the time Frank Roche saw this as a challenge and really got to work on the research, checking out the censuses, street directories, and everything else he could think of to find more information about the photo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI located details of the Rembrandt Studio in Guy\u2019s Directory of 1935,\u201d revealed Frank, \u201cThe entry for 27, North Main Street, reads \u2018Healy Sean, confectionery\u2019 (and) \u2018Vanbrook J, photo studio\u2019 – this was John Vanbrook of Glanmire.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s more likely that whoever took the photo got their film developed and printed by John Vanbrook at the Rembrandt Studio.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of his ads in the 1934 Echo offers to develop a Kodak Brownie No. 2 film and provide eight prints for one shilling – which would have been approximately the price of two loaves of bread at that time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here is Frank\u2019s exhaustive summary of Kate (Hourihan) Davis, which reflects weeks of hunting, checking, and noting.<\/p>\n
The photo of Kate Davis at 8, North Mall in Cork city, which was investigated in Throwback Thursday in 2023 – a reader online recently discovered a family connection to her<\/p>\n
\u201cCatherine Hourihan was born in the village of Ballincollig in 1857, daughter of Timothy (Thade) Hourihan and Margaret Murphy who had married in 1852. The couple had (at least) six more children. In various records, Timothy Hourihan is described as a charcoal burner or labourer so he may have worked in the Gunpowder Mills.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1883, Kate married Joseph Davis, a Londoner who was an army pensioner: the couple had no children.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the census of 1901, they are living with Kate\u2019s widowed mother who had a boarding house in Ballincollig. By 1911, her mother having died, Kate and Joseph were living at Blarney Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn St Patrick\u2019s Day, 1911, Joseph Davis died so the census two weeks later shows \u2018Catherine Davis, widow, 50\u2019 living alone (she would in fact have been 53).<\/p>\n
\u201cAt marriage, Kate is recorded as a laundress and in Census 1901 as a domestic servant. In 1911 she is described as a \u2018shore woman\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
Frank\u2019s research continued: \u201cThe Cork Examiner of July 23, 1937, tells us, \u2018A woman named Kate Davis, 357, Blarney Street, Cork, fell on some steps at Winter\u2019s Hill last night. She broke her ankle and having been treated at the North Infirmary, was subsequently removed to the Co. Home where she is detained. She is aged 78 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
Was this possibly why Kate was photographed sitting on a rug on the steps of 8, North Mall?<\/p>\n
Frank added: \u201cIt is likely that it was after her fall that she came to live at Kyle Street. In the street directories from 1930 to 1945, \u2018Mrs Hourihan, clothes dealer\u2019 is listed at 9, Kyle Street. This Mrs Hourihan, nee Hayes, was the wife of Daniel Hourihan, a son of Kate\u2019s brother John who lived in Grattan Street – so Kate was living with her nephew and his wife in Kyle Street.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kate died in 1942 at the age of 85, stated Frank. Her death record says 67 but the Examiner\u2019s \u2018aged 78\u2019 in 1937 was much closer to her true age. She was buried in Ovens, and Frank explained: \u201cHer brother John (died 1922) and his son Daniel (died 1943) were also buried in Ovens, but their wives, who came from North Main Street and Evergreen Street, were buried in St Joseph\u2019s and St Finbarr\u2019s respectively.\u201d<\/p>\n
This was the Throwback Thursday article that excited Declan Hourihan very much, as he explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m the great-grandson of Daniel and Annie Hourihan of 9, Kyle Street. From the family connections described in the article, Kate (Catherine) Hourihan Davis would have been my great-great-aunt,\u201d explained Declan.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was particularly interested in the section mentioning the photograph of Kate. If it would be possible, I would be very grateful if you could share any photographs, links, articles, or other references relating to her or the wider Hourihan family.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny information would be greatly appreciated as I continue to piece together our family history.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately,\u201d adds Declan, \u201cI don\u2019t have much to contribute to the research myself. I only knew my grandfather, John Hourihan (Daniel and Annie\u2019s eldest son), when I was very young. Sadly, he passed away from cancer when I was still a boy, so much of the family history was lost before I had the chance to learn more about it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank-you for the wonderful work you do in preserving and sharing Cork\u2019s history,\u201d adds Declan. \u201cReading the article was a real highlight in my family research, and I very much appreciate the care and effort that went into it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Well, thank-you for that tribute, Mr Hourihan. Fintan Bloss, that picture came from you in the first place, didn\u2019t it? Get in touch with us right away and we will link you and Declan together.<\/p>\n
Who knows what hitherto hidden family history may yet be uncovered!<\/p>\n
And now back to the streets of our beloved Cork city, those old routes and ways tramped by so many feet over so many years.<\/p>\n
Patrick O\u2019Donovan wrote to share his own memories of one particularly well-known thoroughfare and ask if others could add to his recollections.<\/p>\n
\u201cEnjoying your columns as usual,\u201d says Patrick. \u201cReading about people\u2019s recollections of past times in Cork got me thinking of my own memories. This lad me to recall, as a small boy, making my way to \u2018town\u2019 from Jewtown which meant traversing Oliver Plunkett Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I tried to remember the shops, pubs, and other businesses that I passed on the way.<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember Hickeys hardware, the PMPA offices, The Vicarstown Bar, Promusica, Buckleys for cakes, Liam Ruis\u00e9al\u2019s book shop, Keane\u2019s Jewellers, O\u2019Connor\u2019s Shoes, Cronin\u2019s for jeans, Kelly\u2019s Kitchen, The Bodega, Uneeda bookshop, Moran\u2019s flowers.<\/p>\n
![\"Plunkett](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/5272809_5_articleinlinemobile_800241_800241.jpg\" "\\"Plunkett")
Plunkett Fruit Stores on the road in 1953.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCan anyone recall all the other ones that I\u2019ve forgotten? It would save me racking my brain, such as it is.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gosh, Ollie Plunk (as it is sometimes called to save time!). What a wonderfully long, narrow street, with so many side streets opening off it, reaching right from Parnell Place through to the Grand Parade.<\/p>\n
Every kind of shop you could imagine, all sorts of services and repairs, specialist outlets, plus of course an entrance to the legendary English Market itself, and not forgetting the Winthrop Arcade, a place of fascination all by itself.<\/p>\n
Over the decades, and indeed the centuries, those businesses have come and gone, although there just might be a few remaining from at least the early 20th century?<\/p>\n
It was, in fact, the very first street built east of the Grand Parade, in an area then known as the East Marsh or Dunscombe Marsh. Well older than Patrick Street, we will have you know, where the Lee still flowed majestically.<\/p>\n
Originally christened George\u2019s Street after the then King of Great Britain, large parts of the thoroughfare were destroyed by British troops during the Burning of Cork.<\/p>\n
Once the Irish Free State was established in 1922, it was renamed Oliver Plunkett Street after the 17th century martyr. You can still see references to \u2018late George\u2019s Street\u2019 in some business directories as late as 1945.<\/p>\n
![\"Interior](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/5272812_5_articleinlinemobile_835521_835521.jpg\" "\\"Interior")
Interior of Hennessey’s Record Shop, Oliver Plunkett Street in 1960.\u00a0<\/p>\n