What's the problem?
Up until the sixteenth century most of the houses in Cork were made of wood.
This material was convenient to source and inexpensive to use. However, there was one major danger which a wooden house always faced!
Can you think what it is?
18th century houses Gillabbey Street, Cork
A photograph of an 18th century house in Gillabbey Street, Cork. You can see the house is divided into two very small homes. The houses are built in the vernacular style. Note the new windows and doors and the pipes carrying natural gas into the house.
© Cork City Libraries18th century houses Gillabbey Street, Cork
© Cork City Libraries
© Cork City Libraries
18th century houses Gillabbey Street, Cork
A photograph of an 18th century house in Gillabbey Street, Cork. You can see the house is divided into two very small homes. The houses are built in the vernacular style. Note the new windows and doors and the pipes carrying natural gas into the house.
© Cork City LibrariesEverybody must get stones
FIRE of course!
This was the reason houses couldn't be made from wood. Most wooden houses would have had central hearths on which to build fires to warm the home. Although wide chimney provided ventilation, a stray spark could still start a blaze which could burn down a whole street!
Therefore from the 17th Century on, most new houses in Cork were built from stone. The one to the right is a good example of a standard stone house built in the 19th century.