Hi All,
I have joined this conversation late, I know, but a few quick words on some questions which have arisen.
First of all, wrt the dates of the slum clearances- it may be that Collins Lane in the Fair Lane area might have been one of the later lanes to be demolished. The houses in the Old Market Place, also in the same area, began to be demolished in the late 1950s, certainly around 1957. I can still remember some of the demolition going on in the mid 1960s. Collins Lane would have been very near them. My dad lived in the Old Market Place and he might remember the lane.
My own grandmother's family lived on Walshe's Lane and one of her sisters is still alive and well, so if you need to know anything, perhaps she might remember. The area around where that lane was has been redeveloped and redeveloped again and I'm afraid the mess that has been made of that truly historic area is scandalous.
Peacock Lane is still alive and well, up by the North Monastery. It is featured as one of the lanes in the film version of Angela's Ashes. The asylum there might refer to what became the Magdalen Laundry attached to St Vincent's convent. I remember the Magdalen laundry well from even the late 1970s, when it was still in existence and possibly into the early '80s.
God, I feel old now...!
Sean
