Bride Street, Dublin, 1954…
(My new poem inspired by Flora Mitchell’s painting…)
The walking woman who wears a long, warm coat lures me into this scene,
Leading me towards the shop premises, windows stuffed with goods, from the dairy
To next door, ‘Johnny Foxes’, whose claim was that he could sell and buy
Anything, an attraction for Irish working folks, whose lives had likely proved tough.
The outer walls above the stores are dulled by neglect to a pale olive green,
Some window shutters are lifted and a couple of residents can be seen, wary
Perhaps and watchful of daily life, maybe shaking out dusters, or even just to spy
Upon neighbours below, window shopping, lurking, or buying their essential stuff.
The grim street projects simple convenience though, not constructed to appear serene,
Its importance bundled up with hardship, harshness and history.
Yet there is colour in the primes of red, blue and yellow, painted upon passers-by
And the bottle green van, which against the kerb is parked snugly enough…
Pete Ray…
12th March 2026…
Bride Street was named after a 12th century church, St Brides and Flora Mitchell used her own illustrations of the street in her book, ‘Vanishing Dublin’…
The thoughts of the independent source, The Sand Martin...
'The very light grey white of the road and pavement in the foreground along with the rear view of a lady walking into the scene of Bride Street in Dublin in 1954 initially shocked me. My first instinct was to gasp as the buildings looked so dilapidated and dreary. I wondered whether perhaps the rooftops had suffered bomb damage but upon closer inspection one could see that in fact they were of a deliberate style and architecture.
Following the steps of the main character one is drawn in to the detail of the terraced buildings with their fascinating, carefully depicted shop fronts. She is almost centrally placed right in the foreground
and wearing a hat and coat, possibly of fur judging by the texture and shape. She commands attention and seems to have a purposeful stride.
Despite the weary shades of olive grey, the buildings are delicately coloured such that shadow from the other side of the street is apparent. The sash windows look grimy and the shop frontages bleak and perhaps not at all enticing to our modern tastes, when one has become accustomed to malls and shops shouting bright vivid neon colours to attract our attention.
These shops are exquisitely drawn and painted in shades of
greys and browns but they no doubt catered as best they could for customers at a time when some goods were still rationed and scarce. Unlike today when cars are so ubiquitous there is just a single vehicle in the street. It is a dull green coloured vehicle, perhaps a serviceable van of
sorts.
As if heralding the dawn of a new age we see a woman with two children wearing brightly coloured clothes in blue, orange and mustard. Six years from that time the Swinging Sixties would
arrive.
The quaint old streets in so many towns and cities would be transformed by very different architecture with high rise homes and shopping centres constructed in steel and concrete. The motor vehicle would be a dominant feature of the streets.
This carefully drawn and painted watercolour clearly details the architecture and ambience of days gone by when most town streets would have consisted of similar looking shop frontages. Ironically today in many upmarket areas such as Harrogate, old buildings are now very highly prized and their
architecture is cherished.
The shop frontage styles of yesteryear with individuality are the perfect antidotes to the
shopping malls of today...'
