Sources

Old trade and business directories give a fascinating snapshot of commercial and industrial activity in Cork. Excerpts from the following Trade Directories are available to download in pdf format. (Adobe Acrobat Reader required).

Slaters 1846 Commercial Directory (Cork Section) (2,891KB)

Guys 1895 Directory (3,364KB)

Guys 1945 Directory (3,984KB)

List of Street Traders and Stall Holders in Cork City, 1928 (65KB)

The List of Street Traders and Street Traders and Stall Holders in Cork City, 1928 (pdf) is transcribed from an archive file from the Town Clerk's Department, Cork Corporation, (now Cork City Council) (66KB)

Further trade directories and sources are available to consult at Cork City and County Archives and Cork City Library.

Merchant City Web Site Contents

The images on the Merchant City web site are mainly of documents and photographs held in the Cork City and County Archives. 2 items were loaned by Cork Public Museum and Crawford Art Gallery.

Items from the following CCCA collections were used:

B111 Chillingworth & Levie
B500 J.W. Dowden & Company
B501 R.& H. Hall
B505 Sunbeam Wolsey
B507 Dwyer & Company
BS522 Lawson & Company
PR11 Clanchy Papers
SM606 Healy Apprenticeship
U5 Apprentices Fees
U15 Cork Distilleries Company
U15B Hewitt Papers
U18 Beamish and Crawford
U217 Cork Typographical Society Records
U218 Cork Coopers Society
U220 Cork Plumbers Society
U259 Hare Letterbook
U368 Blair’s Chemist
U370 B. & I. Steampacket Company
U399 Wilkie Collection
U401 Cork Butter Market

To consult these and other sources about the Merchant City, contact the Archives.

‘Merchant City’ Select Bibliography

Bielenberg, Andy, Cork’s Industrial Revolution 1780-1880: Development or Decline, 1991.
Cadogan, Tim and Jeremiah Falvey, A Biographical Dictionary of Cork, 2006.
Crowley, John, Robert Devoy, Denis Linehan and Patrick O’Flanagan, Atlas of Cork City, 2005.
Dickson, David, Old World Colony: Cork and South Munster 1630-1830, 2005.
Harrison, Richard S., Merchants, Mystics and Philanthropists: 350 years of Cork Quakers, 2006.
Jefferies, Henry Alan, Cork: Historical Perspectives, 2004.
Johnson, Gina, The Laneways of Medieval Cork, 2002.
Leland, Mary, That Endless Adventure: A History of the Cork Harbour Commissioners, 2001.
Murray, Peter, Illustrated Summary Catalogue of The Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, 1991.
Murray, Peter, Maritime Paintings of Cork 1700-2000, 2005.
Nicholson, David with Philip MacKeown, The Story of Woodford Bourne, 2005.
ӠDrisceoil, Diarmuid and Donal ӠDrisceoil, The Murphy’s Story: The History of Lady’s Well Brewery, Cork, 1997.
Phelan, Jack, Ferries of Cork, 1995.
Rynne, Colin, At the Sign of the Cow: The Cork Butter Market: 1770-1924, 1998.
Rynne, Colin, The Industrial Archaeology of Cork City and its Environs, 1999.