Monto
Monto (also with article: the Monto ) was the colloquial name of the former red light district in the northern inner city of Dublin , the capital of Ireland . It was also known as the Kips , the Digs , the village , the bad area (Eng. "The bad area") or hell's gates (Eng. "Hell gates ").
history
The area was on the North Dock, between the Custom House and Mountjoy Square . It was bounded roughly by Talbot Street , Amiens Street , Gardiner Street, and Gloucester Street (now Seán McDermott Street ). The name is derived from Montgomery Street (now Foley Street ), which runs parallel to the lower end of Talbot Street towards what is now Connolly Station . The street was named after Elisabeth Montgomery, wife of Luke Gardiner, 1st Viscount Mountjoy (1745-1795). The center of the district, however, was the lower Mecklenburgh Street and the lanes that branch off from it, which have mostly disappeared due to the current development. Mecklenburgh Street (so named in 1733 after Sophie Charlotte von Mecklenburg-Strelitz ) was renamed Tyrone Street in 1887 and finally Railway Street in 1911 to disguise its poor reputation.
The first brothel landlady, Mary "Moll" Hall , opened her brothel at the end of the 18th century, when the area was still modern and dominated by stately, two- to four-story Georgian houses . With the social decline of the quarter, caused by the loss of Dublin's capital city function as a result of the Act of Union 1800, and the conversion of the houses into tenements for the lower classes, further brothels (" kip houses "), pubs and shebeens were added. Upper Mecklenburgh Street largely retained an upper-class image and housed better brothels (" flash houses ") for the upper class. Mid-range establishments could be found in Mabbot Street (now James Joyce Street ) and Faithful Place . On the back streets of Lower Mecklenburgh Street , Montgomery Street , Mabbott Lane , Beaver Street and others were second- and third-rate brothels. In its heyday from the 1860s to the 1920s, there were up to 1,600 prostitutes working in Monto's brothels. The suitors came from all walks of life. It was reportedly the largest red light district in Europe at the time. Its financial viability was supported by its proximity to Dublin harbor, the nearby train station on Amiens Street and a number of British Army barracks and thus many soldiers in the city, especially the Aldborough Barracks and the Royal Barracks (later Collins Barracks , now a site of the National Museum of Ireland). Richer suitors came through tunnels that led to the Customs House , some of them unrecognized . The young Prince of Wales and later King Edward VII is said to have been among them .
Monto was also a place of activity for the IRA , especially around the time of the Irish War of Independence with various safe hiding places for the IRA's mobile units ( flying columns ), for example Phil Shanahan's Pub, which existed from 1914 to 1927.
Between 1923 and 1925, religious movements led by Frank Duff of the Legion of Mary , a Roman Catholic lay organization, and Jesuit Father Richard S. Devane sought to close the brothels. They reached the cooperation of the Dublin Police Commissioner , General William Murphy. The campaign ended with 120 arrests and the closure of the brothels after a police raid on March 12, 1925. The financial basis had already been provided by the withdrawal of British soldiers as a result of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921 and the establishment of the Irish Free State on March 6 , 1925 . Endangered December 1922.
Most of the old tenements that dominated the quarter disappeared between the late 1940s and 1970s and were replaced by modern apartment buildings, so that today there is hardly anything reminiscent of the old quarter. Only a few of the pubs still exist. B. Lloyd’s and Mullet's Bar on the corner of Amiens Street and Foley Street . Bella Street (including the side streets Bella Avenue and Bella Place ) north of Seán McDermott Street was named after Ellen "Bella Cohen" Cannell , one of the most famous brothel owners .
Monto in literature and music
Monto became immortal as "Nighttown" in the Circe chapter of the novel Ulysses by James Joyce , in which the main character Leopold Bloom visits a brothel with Stephen Dedalus . Oliver St. John Gogarty describes Monto in his works As I Was Going down Sackville Street and Tumbling in the Hay and Liam O'Flaherty in Der Denunziant . There is an Irish folk song called Monto (Take Her Up To Monto) , written by George Desmond Hodnett and made popular by The Dubliners . Monto is also mentioned in the folk song Waxies' Dargle . Monto, Frank Duff and the Legion of Mary are also mentioned in Peter Yeates' song "Honor Bright" , which is about the murder of the prostitute Lizzie O'Neill in 1925, who carried the pseudonym Honor Bright .
literature
- Story of Monto (Mercier mini book) by John Finegan (Author), Mercier Press (February 1978) ISBN 0-85342-515-9
- Monto: Madams, Murder and Black Coddle by Terry Fagan and the North Inner City Folklore Project (2000)
- Sex in the City: The Prostitution Racket in Ireland by Paul Reynolds (Author), Pan (November 7, 2003) ISBN 978-0-7171-3688-9
- Prostitution and Irish Society, 1800-1940 by Maria Luddy, Cambridge University Press (November 2007) ISBN 978-0-521-70905-7
- To Hell or Monto: The Story Of Dublin's Most Notorius Districts by Maurice Curtis, The History Press Ireland (2015), ISBN 978-1-845-88863-3
See also
Web links
- Madams and Murder
- The miracle of Monto? A checked history, from prostitution to pilgrimages
- Dublin Folklore - Monto Stories from Dublin, James Joyce, Night Town, Ireland Researched by Terry Fagan, historian and tour guide.
- Montgomery Street, Dublin (Irish Place and Street Names)
- Dublin Brothel Faces Bulldozer (2003)
- "Abandoned Women and Bad Characters": prostitution in nineteenth-century Ireland by Maria Luddy, Journal Article (1997) (PDF)
- An Outcast Community: the "wrens" of the Curragh by Maria Luddy, Journal Article (1992) (PDF)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d Maggie Armstrong: The Bloomsday world tourists never get to hear about . In: Irish Independent , June 14, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2012.
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original from July 8, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Read Ireland Book Review - Issue 126 ( Memento of the original from October 11, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ To Phoblacht / Republican News
- ^ The history of Dublin's old Red Light district
Coordinates: 53 ° 21 '8.8 " N , 6 ° 15' 7.3" W.