The Tenters Pub It was built around 1850 and remodelled around 1925 but despite its local importance it was never a protected structure.

I first came across the Tenters Pub on Mill Street in July 2012 when I took part in a historic walking tour organised by Pat Liddy. Back then it was unused but the building appeared to be in reasonable condition. The upper parts of the building had modern windows and according to Pat the building had, in general been well maintained, but was decaying rapidly as it had been derelict for many years.

In 2016 BAM Property applied for permission to knock down the pub’s facade and build a replica, claiming that the structure was rotten. There were many objections to the demolition of the building and while I do not know the exact agreement my photographs from 2017 show that not much of the structure was retained. It is now part of a Hotel and Student Accommodation Complex.

In the 12th century, King Henry II of England decreed that an Abbey of St Thomas the Martyr be established on land close to the modern church of St Catherine in Dublin. The monks of the Abbey were given extensive lands to the west of the city as well as privileges and powers to control trade within their “liberty”, hence the name the Liberties.

In the 16th and 17th centuries the area had a large Huguenot population and it became a centre of excellence in wool production. The cloth needed to be stretched and dried on tenterhooks in the fields between what is now O’Curry Avenue and Clarence Mangan Road and the area was known locally as the Tenters.