Tour of Blackpool

Blackpool was the heart of industry in Cork in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries for industries such as tanning through big names such as Dunn’s Tannery and distilling through families such as the Hewitts. The leather industry at one time was vibrant in Blackpool – with no fewer than 21 tanyards at work there in 1837 giving employment to over 700 hands and tanning on average 110,000 hides annually.

Blackpool also has messages about public relief projects in the form of the former Poor House site at Murphy’s Brewery to Madden’s Buildings to highlighting the work of Ireland’s social reformers through street names such as William O’Brien, Gerald Griffin, Daniel O’Connell and Tomás McCurtain. All these messages inject the place with memories of difficult times but also times of determination to survive against the odds.

free, 2 hours, no booking required