While enjoying a coffee on Cow’s Lane recently, a friendly woman by the name of Aine said this was her favourite street in Dublin and proceeded to tell me why.
Arguably one of the most colourful streets in Temple Bar (especially during the weekly Saturday market), Cow’s Lane was opened in the year 2000. A modern complex made up of five different schemes designed by five different architect firms, its population of a half dozen people 13 years ago has swelled to 2,000-plus.
Temple Bar (selected because of the street name which this modern area is built around) was entrusted more than 20 years ago to a government-sponsored body (Temple Bar Properties) whose mission was to “develop a bustling cultural, residential and small-business precinct that will attract visitors in significant numbers”. Judging by the look and feel of Cow’s Lane – mission accomplished.
The street called Cow Lane in medieval times (which was changed a number of times over the centuries, including to Red Cow Lane and Cock Lane), with the addition of an apostrophe and an s, was reclaimed when the current complex of apartments and shops sprang up.
A striking and curious fact about this street is that its history, having not been well recorded, is mostly a mystery – apart from the fact that it has been a part of Dublin since Viking times.
Though its past may be dark, its future looks bright. Today Cow’s Lane is a clean, modern street sporting an eclectic mix of fashionable shops attracting visitors from around the world. Credit for part of its allure goes to Maya Derrington and Abigail Anderson, who had the foresight to open a “fashion market” there.
When the Saturday Market started, Aine says she frequented the Cow’s Lane Designer Studio, a collaboration of Dublin based designers (including the renowned milliner John Shevlin). This group was so successful they opened their own shop around the corner on West Essex Street. After browsing in the excellent Gutter Bookshop and “poking around” in Find – “A New Shop for Old Things” (specialists in design-oriented furniture), she said, “I always come for tea and scones here in The Queen of Tarts”.
Before leaving, she pointed to a tree a few yards up the lane that was dedicated by the Lord Mayor of Dublin to the City of Barcelona on November 10th last. The tree – a symbol of human rights and a living testament to man’s desire for freedom – was donated by Bill Shipsey to Dublin City in 2006.
The Mayor of Barcelona said that he was “extremely grateful for the dedication of this 300-year- old olive tree to my city, Barcelona, and to human rights”.
Back in 1665, Dublin’s first Lord Mayor, Sir Daniel Bellingham, built one of the many fashionable houses on this street, described as “a large, elegant structure across the ancient entrance to Cow Lane at the corner of Fishamble Street and Castle Street”. Fittingly, he seems to be a man who was concerned with human rights and “bequeathed certain lands . . . for the relief of poor debtors confined in the city and Four Courts Marshalseas”.
I paid the smiling waitress for my coffee and, as I walked down the street towards the Smock Alley Theatre, the motto on the Bellingham coat of arms – Ainsi il est amicus amico (meaning friendly to a friend) – came suddenly to life.
