Cork City Council is aware that a much loved dog drinking trough, created by Cork’s best known sculptor of the 20th century, Seamus Murphy, has been removed from St Patrick’s Street without permission. An Garda Siochána have been informed and are investigating the theft.
Picture: Seamus Murphy dog trough in its original location on St. Patrick’s Street (from the Evening Echo).
The limestone drinking trough was set into the base of a shop front at 124 St. Patrick’s Street and was commissioned during the 1950s by Mr Knolly Stokes, owner of the Old Bridge Restaurant.
Cork City Council Heritage Officer, Niamh Twomey is appealing for the safe return of the piece and asked members of the public to contact Anglesea St Garda Station or Cork City Council Heritage Office if they have any information on the sculpture’s whereabouts or if they see the item for sale.
“Our overriding concern is that this item is returned safely as this is a significant piece of Cork city’s heritage, created by the sculptor Seamus Murphy. It is held in great affection by many Corkonians. It really is a great loss and every effort needs to be made to retrieve it and return it to its rightful place,” she said.
In Tom Spalding’s book ‘Cork City A Field Guide to its Street Furniture’, he described Seamus Murphy (1907 – 1975) as responsible for much public sculpture in Cork City and also the design of Blackpool Church. “Apart from his main works he also undertook private commissions. Mr Stokes, who commissioned the piece, was a dog lover and arranged for a staff member to clean and re-fill the drinking trough each morning. It is said that he asked Seamus Murphy whether all of his dog-owning customers would understand the Irish for ‘dogs’, so crisply carved into it. Murphy is reputed to have said that whether the owners were bilingual or not, he was sure the dogs would be able to cope with the Gaeilge!”
Important Numbers for members of the public with any information:
Anglesea Street Garda Station: 021-4522000
Niamh Twomey, Heritage Officer, Cork City Council: 021-4924018
