view + comment on Flickr
Here’s a fine Flickr Commons tale. The National Library of Ireland has developed an extraordinarily committed (and funny!) group of commenters who are tenacious when there’s a mystery to solve. Headlines, automobile models, even clock faces are studied and analyzed to identify the unidentified. Last November, a group of early 20c. images from the Fergus O’Connor Collection were uploaded to Flickr Commons, and one was only called “Large house, with a clock tower and crenellated rooftop, in an unknown location.” For ten months, the location remained unknown, but comments and guesses kept arriving–two pages worth! Was it in Cork? A film set, perhaps, or a convent?
This week, Flickr user zetetic2006 finally had the answer: Sandymount Castle, near Dublin. Here’s the comment left:
I recognised it immediately! It’s Sandymount Castle on Sandymount Green in Dublin, the crenellated clock-tower is a giveaway. The rear of the castle backs onto the southern side of the Green where you can still see the clock tower, check out Google Maps. The view in this photo is no more, Castle Park was built in these grounds, sometime in the 50’s or 60’s I think.
Fellow Flickr user Niall McAuley confirmed this identification promptly, from Google Streetview, maps, and Bing’s bird’s-eye view, and the National Library of Ireland confessed speechlessness at the mystery’s solution. “I live under a mile from this building,” noted the amazed librarian, “and pass by Sandymount Green at least once a week!”
