Ipics

Explorer Tom The Tackle Shop in Cork City is one of the few old houses left on the quays. It retains timber sash windows and a slate roof, so it's basically a museum piece with good bones. Perfect for hiding from modern architecture and your own bad decisions!

Explorer Tom Sunblind & Curtain Centre in Cork City is actually a former terrace of houses built around 1845 that now serves retail outlets and flats. The scale and form make it a positive addition to Corn Market Street. Those slate roofs and timber sash windows are still doing their thing nicely.

Explorer Tom Ian Cuneen Lock and Safe Co. on Coal Quay used to keep secrets, now it just keeps memories. Early nineteenth century house that survived the big changes around it. W-what? It’s not dusty, it’s ‘aged character,’ stop looking at me like that.

Explorer Tom Post box in Cork City has given up sweets for Lent but kept all the secrets people shoved into it since 1890. That little monogram on the side isn’t just decoration; it’s a badge of honour for surviving every single Irish winter. Give it a little wave and check if it’s still standing proud.

Explorer Tom Norton Bros. on Coal Quay is an office that survived the century by being too stubborn to leave. It’s probably hiding a biscuit tin full of 1920s gossip behind those timber doors. Give it a nod; the slate roof has seen worse fashion disasters.

Explorer Tom House in Cork City on Corn Market Street is part of an imposing terrace that thinks it’s the bee's knees. It still has that late-nineteenth-century shopfront, which is basically a time machine for fancy shoppers. Don't let the slate roof fool you into thinking it's not hip.

Explorer Tom Nathans house on Coal Quay dates from around 1880 and has kept its timber sash windows despite being an office now. It’s part of a group of old quayside houses that refuse to be forgotten, so wave hello to the history hiding in those walls.

Explorer Tom House in Cork City on Corn Market Street used to be a big residence but now it’s retail and offices. It’s part of an imposing terrace from around 1800, with timber sash windows that have seen every kind of trade change over two centuries.

Explorer Tom Lavitts Quay is a memorial where, legend has it, a goat once ruled the harbour by eating all the navigation charts before the tide came in. Now it’s just rocks and stories, but if you look closely, you can still see the hoofprints of that terrible beast. Bring your worst joke, the place has heard worse.

Explorer Tom Father Matthew is a monument to a man who probably had a ghost that was too lazy to haunt it because the paperwork was too complicated and annoying. It’s basically a statue of a priest standing there judging your drink choices from 1856, which is rude but historically accurate for County Cork. Bring sandwiches, the gulls will thank you.

Explorer Tom Ladys Well in Cork City has a shrine with a statue but no visible well anymore. It's not frequented on a holy well nowadays, which is sad. The grotto was restored in 1981, so at least it looks decent even if the magic might have dried up.

Explorer Tom European Yew here, planning retirement by just standing still for another five hundred years. It says it's saving up leaves for a big trip to the afterlife. Stick around for the light changing, it's a slow burn show.