Courting The Dame

Some of the articles over the next couple of months will include The Story of Sam's Barbers The Stags Head History The Moira Hotel The Exchequer Hotel The Sugar House The History of the Mercantile Dame Street and the lotteries

I recently wrote about The Bankers pub on the corner of Trinity Street and Dame Lane and some readers have asked me about the Kinahan Distillery and its Whiskey. Daniel Kinahan was born in the Dublin suburb, then the countryside of Goatstown in 1756. He would create one of the early global successes of Irish business ‘Kinahan’s Whiskey’ and in particular ‘Kinahan’s LL Whiskey’. The Kinahan story begins in 1779 on Trinity Street where today the Bankers public house now stands. He opened his business originally known as ‘Kinahan and Gregg’ and quickly expanded when they purchased the entire stock of wines and spirits from Messers Beatty on Andrew Street. As a grocer he took full advantage of the nearby Sugar House on Dame Court and began to distil whiskey and port. It was an instant success and became a favourite of the Lord Lieutenant in Ireland, the Royal representative in Ireland. By 1807 Charles Lennox, the then Lord Lieutenant was so impressed with their whiskey that L.L. (Lo

Connecting No 4 Georges Street with Dame Court is the beautifully appointed and busy public house J T Pim's. Today you will find some of the finest dressed ladies of Dublin in Pim's but forty years ago it was a similarly named business that dressed the ladies of Dublin with the finest garments. The pub gets its name from a large department store that once occupied a large swathe of Georges Street. No 4 Georges Street itself was at one time a travel agents and then a restaurant. In the 19th century you could have added a little sweetness to your life as a confectioner occupied the building. The building that now houses the Dame Court entry was once Phillip Cooney's shop in the late 19th century. Pim's is well worth a visit and its history is rich and varied and why not enjoy a pint and soak up the atmosphere of by gone days in a modern setting.

From the Dublin City Archives this is one of the earliest maps of Dame Lane after the expansion of the area by the Wide Streets Commission. To the left is Trinity Street to the right Georges Lane now Georges Street. 

Throughout the 1920’s the newspapers reported deaths and murders primarily of a political nature whether inflicted by the Irish on the British forces or visa versa but occasionally a traditional murder, a murder investigation and trial took place in those turbulent times. One such fatal occurrence took place in the early hours of October 27 th 1920. The previous night had seen serious disturbances in the Dame Street and a British military curfew enforced to clear the streets. Depending on the newspaper report in competing publications either the cries of a desperate woman alerted a passing policeman or a phone call to Great Brunswick Street police station (now Pearse Street Garda station) from a local directed the police to Dame Lane. When Sergeant John Nelson arrived in Dame Lane at 2.15am he found the body of thirty one year old Elizabeth Carberry. Known locally as Bessie, the unmarried Ms. Carberry lived at 8 Vicar Street and her lifeless body showed signs of a violent assaul

At the corner of Dame Lane and Trinity Street (once known as Trinity Lane) is The Bankers Pub.  Originally the site of one of Ireland's most successful distilleries in the 19th Century, Daniel Kinahan's whiskey could at one time be found in more venues around the world than Jameson. In 1818, Kinahan's business became so successful that he moved from Trinity Street to the Carlisle Building at O'Connell Bridge. After being used as a candle makers warehouse the building was redeveloped and a public house was born. In the mid 1800's the pub was in the hands of one of the then big pub chains in the city Fortune and Co. Subsequent owners included a publican named Mr Bagnaill who then sold it to Patrick Cahill  who sold his pub on January 13th 1888. In 1916 the owner was Cavan born Simon Tormey when the pub was known as the Trinity Inn. He passed away in 1927 leaving the running of the popular pub to his nephews. Today the pub is in the hands of Alan

The Area in the late 1800's (c) OSI  Welcome to Courting The Dame blog where we will endeavor to uncover the history and stories of Dame Lane and Dame Court. These two small lanes house a eclectic array of businesses and they run parallel to Dame Street and Exchequer Street. Dame Lane connects through Georges Street to the gates of the 12th Century built Dublin Castle. Dame Street itself runs from the front entrance of Trinity College up to the rising ground of Cork Hill and Dames Gate, or the Eastern Gate of Dublin Castle and the ancient walls of the city. Dame Street took its name from a church erected near it, inside the city walls called the Church of St. Mary Les Dames and therefore Dame Lane and Dame Court were named similarly. The area had been redeveloped by the Wide Streets Commission, who had been tasked in 1757 by an Act of Parliament to bring order to the chaotic streets of Dublin. Patrick Sweetman’s Sugar House was demolished, and new housing put in place includi